Less filling than our full-length reviews but still informative, our DVD capsule reviews offer technical and supplemental information for each release, along with a quick look at whether the title is any good and/or entertaining or enjoyable.
Length: 98 minutes
Screen Formats: 1.85:1, 16x9, Full Screen (Pan & Scan)
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Sides: 2
Extras:
Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
Running audio commentary by cinematographer Roger A. Deakins.
Minnesota Nice - 27+ minute feature about the film and its production.
The Charlie Rose Segment (20+ minutes from the show).
Optional Trivia Track (during playback of the film).
Photo Gallery.
Advertising Gallery (Theatrical Trailer, TV Spot, American Cinematographer Article).
Blue Velvet Special Edition DVD trailer.
Extra Hidden Menu Screens.
A car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard (WILLIAM H. MACY), has devised a new way to make quick money. He arranges the kidnapping of his wife, the daughter of a rich businessman, and then will split the ransom money with the two kidnappers. Lundegaard hires Carl Showalter (STEVE BUSCEMI) and Gaear Grimsrud (PETER STORMARE) to do the kidnapping and they perform the deed.
However, they run into trouble when Grimsrud, the strong silent type, gets homicidal which brings Marge Gunderson (FRANCES McDORMAND) into the story. Marge is a pregnant sheriff who finds some bodies in her jurisdiction and then begins snooping around looking for answers. Lundegaard's plot begins to unravel as all kinds of things go wrong and Marge gets closer to solving the case.
Released in 1996, this film from Joel and Ethan Coen ("Raising Arizona," "The Big Lebowski") won two Oscars (for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for McDormand) out of seven total nominations (including for Best Picture).
Dark, comical and disturbing, the film obviously won't appeal to all viewers (the wood chipper scene usually does the sensitive ones in), but is a masterful piece of filmmaking, with terrific work in front of and behind the camera.
Gary Oldman, Jean Reno, Natalie Portman and Danny Aiello star in LEON THE PROFESSIONAL, a go-for-broke thriller about a professional assassin whose work becomes dangerously personal. Calling himself a "cleaner", the mysterious Leon (Reno) is New York's top hitman. When his next-door neighbors are murdered, Leon becomes the unwilling guardian of the family's sole survivor - 12-year-old Mathilda, but Mathilda doesn't just want protection; she wants revenge.
Training her in the deadly tricks of his trade, Leon helps her track the psychotic agent (Oldman) who murdered her family. From the electrifying opening to the fatal finale, LEON THE PROFESSIONAL is a non-stop crescendo of action, suspense and surprises. Includes 24 minutes of footage never before seen in the U.S. (Studio Copy)
Running audio commentary by film critic Richard Schickel.
Biography - Tyrone Power: The Last Idol - 44+ minute program about the actor.
Studio Classics: Trailers for "All About Eve, "An Affair to Remember," "Anastasia, "The Day the Earth Stood Still, " "Gentleman's Agreement, " "The Ghost and
Mrs. Muir, " "How Green Was My Valley, " "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing."
Tyrone Power stars as 19th century nobleman Don Diego de Vega, whose father, the mayor of Los Angeles, is removed from office by the sinister Captain Pasquale (Basil Rathbone), and a new corrupt "alcalde."
By day, the crooked politicians rob the citizenry at ever turn, and at night, Don Diego, wearing a mask, defies their laws and avenges the innocents. As he leaves his trademark - the letter "Z" - wherever he goes, he also leaves an impression on the mayor's niece, (Linda Darnell), who can't help but love the hero in disguise. (Studio Copy)
Length: 129 minutes
Screen Formats: 1.85:1, Full Screen (Pan & Scan)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Sides: 2
Extras:
Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
They're giving love a shot - in the back of the head! The Prizzi family's principal hit man, Charley (Jack Nicholson), is about to discover that he and his new bride (Kathleen Turner) share more than just body heat: They're both cold-blooded assassins, and their next job is to ice each other! Now Charley must choose which contract to honor - the one to his wife or the one on his wife. (Studio Copy)
From legendary director John Huston came this quite funny 1985 black comedy that earned 8 Oscar nominations (including for Best Picture, Director and Actor) and one win for Angelica Huston's superb performance. Written by Richard Condon and Janet Roach, based on Condon's novel, this terrific flicks comes highly recommended, but for adult audiences only.
Length: 104 minutes
Screen Formats: Full Screen (Pan & Scan)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
Sides: 1
Extras:
Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
Running audio commentary by writer/director John Sayles.
Interview with John Sayles and Maggie Renzi (11+ minutes).
Trailer for "Casa de los Babys."
The visionary writer-director behind such films as Passion Fish, Lone Star and Sunshine State, Oscar® nominee John Sayles has been at the forefront of the independent film movement for more than twenty years.
In his directorial debut, Sayles delivers an engaging look at seven friends who reunite ten years after their radical college days for a dramatic, poignant and revelatory weekend. Hailed by critics, Return of the Secaucus 7 inspired the later hit film The Big Chill and heralded the arrival of a brilliant new force in independent cinema. (Studio Copy)
Length: 110 minutes
Screen Formats: 166:1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
Sides: 1
Extras:
Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
Theatrical trailer.
Oscar® winners Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and John Schlesinger pool their talents for this film about two Londoners coping with the noncommittal affections of the lover they have in common.
Alex Greville (Jackson) and Daniel Hirsch (Finch) are deeply in love...with a young artist named Bob (Murray Head). And though Bob professes to love each of them, he moves freely between them, unencumbered by any sense of guilt. Realizing that their situation is a temporary comfort in an uncomfortable world, Alex and Daniel each grapple with their predicaments, she to face her fear of being alone, and he to come to terms with his homosexuality. (Studio Copy)
Length: 99 & 101 minutes
Screen Formats: Full Screen (Pan & Scan)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Sides: 1
Extras:
Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
Watchers: They were created in a top secret government laboratory, enhanced by genetic masterminds, given superior intelligence, and bred to be the perfect weapons. Now they are on the loose. From the pages of Dean R. Koontz's best-selling thriller, Watchers explodes onto the screen with relentless fury more terrifying than any nightmare. Corey Haim (The Lost Boys) stars as Travis Cornell, who befriends a magnificent golden retriever. Little does he know that his extraordinary dog is about to lead him on the most bizarre and terrifying adventure of his life.
Watchers II: Based on the best-selling Dean R. Koontz novel, Watchers II continues the terrifying saga of two genetically altered life forms turned loose. Once is a super intelligent gold retriever with an uncanny ability to communicate and reason. The other is a hybrid monster, a non-human assassin created to track the dog and destroy all who come in contact with it.
The golden retriever finds and befriends a fugitive from the Marine Corps (Marc Singer). The clever dog prompts the Marine Captain to call an animal psychologist from the top secret lab where the genetic manipulation occurred. Together with his trusted psychologist (Tracy Scoggins), they attempt to elude the murderous monster and the gory trail of death closing in on them. (Studio Copy)
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