Gustavus Library Movie Guide: Anglophone Cinema

"One of the most powerful forces in world culture, American cinema has a long and complex history that stretches through more than a century. This history not only includes a legacy of hundreds of important films but also the evolution of the film industry itself, which is in many ways a microcosm of the history of American society as a whole. The Historical Dictionary of American Cinema provides broad coverage of the people, films, companies, techniques, themes, and genres that have made American cinema such a vital part of world cinema. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of American Cinema." - from the publisher

"The history of Hollywood and filmmaking comes alive in this spectacular nine hour celebration of movie magic. It's a mesmerizing, epic analysis that combines rare archival film, key scenes from immortal movies, interviews with leading filmmakers and commentary from noted film scholars and critics. As seen on PBS, this highly acclaimed series is the definitive chronicle of the American cinema, from its beginning to today. Includes interviews with Robert Altman, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Sidney Lumet, Julia Roberts, Martin Scorsese, Gene Siskel, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, and many more! Episodes: The Hollywood Style, The Star, Romantic Comedy, Film Noir, The Western, The Combat Film, The Studio System, Film in the Television Age, The Film School Generation, The Edge of Hollywood." - from Amazon.com

"An anthology of films from 18 American film archives. Films include documentaries, newsreels, the earliest American movies, avant-garde and independent works, pioneering special effects, amateur and home movies, animated and industrial films, and silent movies from the earliest years of motion pictures (1893-1985)."

"Based on Neal Gabler's best-selling book An Empire of Their Own, this feature-length documentary tells the story of the men who founded Hollywood. Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount; Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal; the Warner brothers, Harry and Jack; Louis B. Mayer, founder of MGM; William Fox of 20th Century Fox; and Harry Cohn, head of Columbia. All were immigrants, or children of immigrants, who wanted to reinvent themselves as Americans. In the process, they reinvented America. First hand accounts of the movie moguls' lives are told through a series of original interviews with their children and grandchildren, and with comments by film historians, critics, actors and producers." - from The National Center for Jewish Film

"Between the death of the old Hollywood studio system and the rise of the counterculture, the late 1960s and early '70s were a near-revolutionary time in American filmmaking, as detailed in this documentary by Ted Demme and Richard LaGravanese. Equally influenced by the foreign films of art-house cinemas and the cheap B-movies of late-night TV, eager young filmmakers and actors rewrote Hollywood's rules. This film includes interviews with most of the era's leading figures." Includes interviews with Robert Altman, John G. Avildsen, Peter Bogdanovich, Marshall Brickman, Ellen Burstyn, John Calley, John Cassavetes, Julie Christie, Francis Ford Coppola, Roger Corman, Bruce Dern, Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, William Friedkin, Pam Grier, Monte Hellman, Dennis Hopper, Sidney Lumet, Paul Mazursky, Mike Medavoy, Polly Platt, Sydney Pollack, Jerry Schatzberg, Roy Scheider, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Sissy Spacek, Robert Towne, and Jon Voight.

Volumes include V. 1. The emergence of cinema : the American screen to 1907 / Charles Musser - "The origins of motion picture technologies are described and analyzed by Charles Musser in this lavishly illustrated volume. He considers social and economic as well as aesthetic aspects of the beginnings of movie making." - v. 2. The transformation of cinema, 1907-1915 / Eileen Bowser - "Eileen Bowser chronicles the history of the American film business from the days of storefront nickelodeons to the premiere of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. The effect of the surroundings—the size of the hall; whether the film was shown alone or along with vaudeville entertainment; and the size, quality, and relevance of the musical background—are all examined for their impact on the filmgoing experience." - v. 3. An evening's entertainment : the age of the silent feature picture, 1915-1928 / Richard Koszarski - "The silent cinema was America's first modern entertainment industry, a complex social, cultural, and technological phenomenon that swept the country in the early years of the twentieth century. Richard Koszarski examines the underlying structures that made the silent-movie era work, from the operations of eastern bankers to the problems of neighborhood theater musicians. He offers a new perspective on the development of this major new industry and art form and the public's response to it." - v. 4. The talkies : American cinema's transition to sound, 1926-1931 / Donald Crafton - "The Talkies offers readers a rare look at the time when sound was a vexing challenge for filmmakers and the source of contentious debate for audiences and critics. Donald Crafton presents a panoramic view of the talkies' reception as well as in-depth looks at sound design in selected films, filmmaking practices, censorship, issues of race, and the furious debate over cinema aesthetics that erupted once the movies began to speak." - v. 5. Grand design : Hollywood as a modern business enterprise, 1930-1939 / Tino Balio - "The advent of color, big musicals, the studio system, and the beginning of institutionalized censorship made the thirties the defining decade for Hollywood. The year 1939, celebrated as "Hollywood's greatest year," saw the release of such memorable films as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Stagecoach. It was a time when the studios exercised nearly absolute control over their product as well as over such stars as Bette Davis, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart. In this fifth volume of the award-winning series History of the American Cinema, Tino Balio examines every aspect of the filmmaking and film exhibition system as it matured during the Depression era." - v. 6. Boom and bust : the American cinema in the 1940s / Thomas Schatz - "Boom and Bust traces the movie industry through the momentous decade of the 1940s. It discusses changes in the structure of the studio system—including the shift to independent production—and the dominant stars, genres, and production trends through the period." - v. 7. Transforming the screen, 1950-1959 / Peter Lev - "Completing the landmark, award-winning, ten-volume series on the first century of American film, The Fifties covers a particularly tumultuous period. Peter Lev explores the divorce of movie studios from their theater chains; the panic of the blacklist era; the explosive emergence of science fiction as the dominant genre (The Thing, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds); the rise of television and Hollywood's response to the new medium, as seen in widescreen spectacles (The Robe, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur) and mature Westerns (High Noon, Shane, The Searchers). The richly detailed text elucidates a number of emerging trends as Hollywood, with its familiar stars and genres, reached out as an industry to the newly acknowledged “teenage” generation with rock and roll films, and movies as diverse as Rebel Without a Cause and Gidget." - v. 8. The sixties, 1960-1969 / Paul Monaco - "Amid the turbulence of political assassinations, the civil rights struggle, and antiwar protests, American society was experiencing growing affluence and profound cultural change during the 1960s. The film industry gradually redirected its energies, resulting in a distinctive break from traditional business and stylistic practice and emergence of a new "cinema of sensation." Feature films became faster-paced and more graphic, the antihero took his place alongside the classic Hollywood hero, and "downer" films like Midnight Cowboy proved as popular as those with upbeat fare. Paul Monaco gives a sweeping view of this exhilarating decade, ranging from the visceral sensation of Bonnie and Clyde, to the comic-book satire of Dr. Strangelove, to the youthful alienation of The Graduate." - v. 9. Lost illusions : American cinema in the shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979 / David A. Cook - "The American film industry transformed itself during the 1970s: a new order emerged out of the chaos of the former studio system. A new rating system freed directors to explore serious subjects but allowed for the expansion of exploitation films as well. So while unprecedented social and political commentary emanated from the film-school-trained "New Hollywood" auteurs, the bigger change was the major studios' embrace of sensationalist content, mass advertising, and saturation booking. The methods of fringe exploitation producers became the norm. Some of the films discussed in this book include: Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, Carnal Knowledge, Straw Dogs, A Clockwork Orange, Mean Streets, The Conversation, Nashville, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, and Apocalypse Now." - v. 10. A new pot of gold : Hollywood under the electronic rainbow, 1980-1989 / Stephen Prince. - "Facing an economic crisis in the 1980s, the Hollywood industry moved boldly to control the ancillary markets of videotape, video disk, pay-cable and pay-per-view, and the major studios found themselves targeted for acquisition by global media and communications companies. This volume examines the decade's transformation that took Hollywood from the production of theatrical film to media software."

"In A History of American Movies: A Film-by-Film Look at the Art, Craft and Business of Cinema, Paul Monaco provides a survey of the narrative feature film from the 1920s to the present. The book focuses on 170 of the most highly regarded and recognized feature films selected by the Hollywood establishment: each Oscar winner for Best Picture, as well as those voted the greatest by members of the American Film Institute. By focusing on a select group of films that represent the epitome of these collaborations, Monaco provides an essential history of one of the modern world's most complex and successful cultural institutions: Hollywood. Divided into three sections, 'Classic Hollywood, 1927-1948,' 'Hollywood In Transition, 1949-1974,' and 'The New Hollywood, 1975 To The Present,' Monaco examines some of the most memorable works in cinematic history, including The General, Wings, Bringing Up Baby, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, On the Waterfront, The Searchers, Psycho, West Side Story, The Godfather, Cabaret, Raging Bull, Rain Man, Toy Story, and Saving Private Ryan. This is the only book that thoroughly treats Hollywood―and the most significant movies that it has made―simultaneously as the coming together of an art, a craft, and a business. This approach provides unique insight into the workings of one of the most accomplished and successful art forms in human history: the Hollywood feature film." - from the publisher

"With its sprawling celebrity homes, the Walk of Fame and the iconic sign on the hill, Hollywood is truly the land of stars. Glamorous and larger-than-life, many of the most memorable motion pictures of all time have emanated from its multimillion-dollar film industry, which exports more films per capita than that of any other nation. Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood lays out the cinematic history of Tinseltown – the industry, the audiences and, of course, the stars – highlighting important thematic and cultural elements throughout. Profiles and analyses of many of the industry’s most talented and prolific directors give insights into their impact on Hollywood and beyond. A slate of blockbuster successes – and notable flops – are here discussed, providing insight into the ever-shifting aesthetic of Hollywood’s enormous global audience. User-friendly and concise yet containing an astonishing amount of information, Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood shows how truly indispensable the Hollywood film industry is and provides a fascinating account of its cultural and artistic significance as it marks its centennial." - from the publisher

"Considering the Hollywood cinema as both commercial and aesthetic practice, Hollywood Cinema offers comprehensive coverage of the world's most powerful film industry, and some of its most popular and profitable movies. Examining films as diverse as Rudolph Valentino's The Son of the Sheik and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall this original study combines a wealth of information on the operation of Hollywood, with a polemical account of those criticisms and theories through which movie scholars have sought to understand its labyrithine operations. For this new edition, the book has been extensively revised, with the historical material updated and references added to Hollywood movies after 1990. New features include box sections, further reading lists, and chapter summaries. Well illustrated and clearly written, this is an indispensable text for students and readers of Hollywood history and culture." - from the publisher

"Hollywood is facing unprecedented challenges and is changing rapidly and radically as a result. In this major new study of the contemporary film industry, leading film historian Tino Balio explores the impact of the Internet, declining DVD sales and changing consumer spending habits on the way Hollywood conducts its business. Today, the major studios play an insignificant role in the bottom lines of their conglomerate parents and have fled to safety, relying on big-budget tentpoles, franchises and family films to reach their target audiences. Comprehensive, compelling and filled with engaging case studies (TimeWarner, DreamWorks SKG, Spider Man, The Lord of the Rings, IMAX, Netflix, Miramax, Sony Pictures Classics, Lionsgate and Sundance), Hollywood in the New Millennium is a must-read for all students of film studies, cinema studies, media studies, communication studies, and radio and television."

"This introduction to American Independent Cinema offers both a comprehensive industrial and economic history of the sector from the early twentieth century to the present and a study of key individual films, filmmakers and film companies. Ordered chronologically, beginning with independent filmmaking in the studio era (examining both top-rank and low-end independent film production), moving to the 1950s and 1960s (discussing both the adoption of independent filmmaking as the main method of production as well as exploitation filmmaking) and finishing with contemporary American independent cinema (exploring areas such as the New Hollywood, the rise of mini-major and major independent companies and the institutionalisation of independent cinema in the 1990s), readers will develop an understanding of the complex dynamic relations between independent and mainstream American cinema. Ordered chronologically, beginning with independent filmmaking in the studio era (examining both top-rank and low-end independent film production), moving to the 1950s and 1960s (discussing both the adoption of independent filmmaking as the main method of production as well as exploitation filmmaking) and finishing with contemporary American independent cinema (exploring areas such as the New Hollywood, the rise of mini-major and major independent companies and the institutionalisation of independent cinema in the 1990s), readers will develop an understanding of the complex dynamic relations between independent and mainstream American cinema." - from the publisher

"Flourishing in the United States during the 1940s and 50s, the bleak, violent genre of filmmaking known as film noir reflected the attitudes of writers and auteur directors influenced by the events of the turbulent mid-twentieth century. Films such as Force of Evil, Night and the City, Double Indemnity, Laura, The Big Heat, The Killers, Kiss Me Deadly and, more recently, Chinatown and The Grifters are indelibly American. Yet the sources of this genre were found in Germany and France and imported to Hollywood by emigré filmmakers, who developed them and allowed a vibrant genre to flourish. Andrew Dickos's Street with No Name traces the film noir genre back to its roots in German Expressionist cinema and the French cinema of the interwar years. Dickos describes the development of the film noir in America from 1941 through the 1970s and examines how this development expresses a modern cinema. Dickos examines notable directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, John Huston, Nicholas Ray, Robert Aldrich, Samuel Fuller, Otto Preminger, Robert Siodmak, Abraham Polonsky, Jules Dassin, Anthony Mann and others. He also charts the genre's influence on such celebrated postwar French filmmakers as Jean-Pierre Melville, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard. Addressing the aesthetic, cultural, political, and social concerns depicted in the genre, Street with No Name demonstrates how the film noir generates a highly expressive, raw, and violent mood as it exposes the ambiguities of modern postwar society." - from the publisher

"Part of the 'Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts' series, this work features brief essays, ranging from half a page to upwards of five pages, covering the lively and innovative record of British film art, production, and industry. The volume opens with a useful chronology of British cinema, beginning in 1888 and running through January 2012. The bulk of the book's contents comprise the extensively cross-referenced essays that cover directors, writers, producers, actors, films, series, characters, genres, studios, and other organizations involved in British film."

"Encompassing the careers of over 350 directors who have worked within the British and Irish film industries over the last twenty years, this volume covers stalwarts such as David Lean, Richard Attenborough, and Neil Jordan; pioneers of 1960s Social Realism such as Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson, 1980s heritage filmmakers Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory; stylistic innovators such as Sally Potter, Lynne Ramsay and Derek Jarman; documentarists Nick Broomfield and Kevin MacDonald; and many emergent contemporary talents such as Danny Boyle, Shane Meadows and Guy Ritchie. For each director, the volume provides brief biographical material, a complete filmography, and critical analysis of individual works." - from the publisher

"This volume of first-hand reminiscences, celebrating 50 years of British filmmaking, records the Golden Age of British Cinema as remembered by 180 great and best-loved names of the British cinema, including Lindsay Anderson, Dirk Bogarde, Julie Christie, Alec Guinness, Thora Hird, Richard Attenborough, Glenda Jackson, Sarah Miles, Richard Todd, Michael Caine, Moira Shearer and Norman Wisdom, plus a whole new generation of British filmmakers and actors like Sally Potter, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jarman, Peter Greenaway, Emma Thompson and Stephen Frears."

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A fresh, concise, but wide-ranging introduction and overview to British and Irish cinema, this volume contains 24 essays, each on a separate seminal film from the region. Films ranging from 1928 to 2002 are featured from directors such as John Boorman, Nicolas Roeg, Sally Potter and Jack Clayton. As well as discussions of genre and influences, The Cinema of Britain and Ireland includes in-depth studies of films such as Room at the Top (1958), The Italian Job (1969), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), Orlando (1992), and Sweet Sixteen (2002)." - from the publisher

"This book explores British cinema in relation to its social, political, and cultural contexts. Each chapter deals with a specific topic and includes close readings of key films from different historical periods. Designed for the general reader, this volume is suitable for use as a textbook, providing comprehensive coverage of British cinema and detailed discussion of specific films that can be used in tandem with screenings."

"From the first jerky one-reelers screened in 1896 to the opening of Ardmore Studios in 1958 to Section 481's tax breaks, Arthur Flynn's The Story of Irish Film is a comprehensive account of Ireland's relationship with the big screen." "The early history of film-making in Ireland is mainly the story of the production of feature films by foreign directors. Up to the late 1970s the Irish contribution was confined almost entirely to shorts and documentaries. Indigenous feature film-making only began on an acceptable level after the foundation of the Irish Film Board." "Arthur Flynn has written a fascinating account, guaranteed to interest the movie buff and occasional cinema-goer." - from the publisher

"Screening Ireland examines a century of screen representations of Ireland from a cultural studies perspective. Skillfully analyzing historical and contemporary examples from both film and television, this innovative book provides a clear, theoretically-informed synthesis of the most influential research on Irish audio-visual culture in the last decade." - from the publisher

"The Oxford Companion to Australian Film is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in Australian movies. This Companion is a comprehensive guide to the people and ideas that have made Australian cinema. It contains more than a thousand entries and was written by almost a hundredscholars and writers with expertise in different facets of Australian film. No other reference book on this subject contains so many features:* succinct yet detailed entries on key figures (actors, directors, producers, writers, designers, composers etc.)* incisive discussions of major films, with credits and plot summaries, longer essays on critical and historical themes, a series of extended interviews (specially prepared for this Companion) with some of the luminaries of Australian film, including Goeffrey Rush and Pamela Rabe, over 100 illustrations (portraits, stills, and posters) thorough bibliography, full list of AFI awards, subject index providing easy access to relevant entries.This Companion celebrates Australia's love of the movies and provides a comprehensive and entertaining account of its unique contribution to the art."

"Birth of a Movement: The Battle Against America’s First Blockbuster is an historical documentary that tells the little-known story of William Monroe Trotter, a fire-breathing editor of a Boston black newspaper who helped launch a nationwide movement in 1915 to ban a flagrantly racist film, The Birth of a Nation. This film tells the story of a black civil rights movement few are familiar with—one that occurred a full 40 years before the one we know. D.W. Griffith’s masterpiece The Birth of a Nation is credited with transforming Hollywood and pioneering many of the techniques that have made the feature film one of America’s most celebrated and widely exported cultural creations. The movie was also flagrantly racist and glorified the Ku Klux Klan as its central protagonist. But what is neither famous nor infamous is the way America reacted to this revolutionary film. While The Birth of a Nation was a box office smash that became the first motion picture ever to be screened at the White House, it proved divisive in a country still struggling in the aftermath of Civil War Reconstruction and galvanized leaders of the national African American community into adopting a more aggressive approach in their fight for equality. Birth of a Movement interweaves the civil rights story of newspaperman Trotter and the years leading up to the release of The Birth of a Nation with the story of D.W. Griffith and the rise of a new medium, the feature film." - from PBSinternational.org

"In this deeply researched and vividly written volume, Melvyn Stokes illuminates the origins, production, reception and continuing history of this ground-breaking, aesthetically brilliant, and yet highly controversial movie. By going back to the original archives, particularly the NAACP and D. W. Griffith Papers, Stokes explodes many of the myths surrounding The Birth of a Nation (1915). Yet the story that remains is fascinating: the longest American film of its time, Griffith's film incorporated many new features, including the first full musical score compiled for an American film. It was distributed and advertised by pioneering methods that would quickly become standard. Through the high prices charged for admission and the fact that it was shown, at first, only in "live" theaters with orchestral accompaniment, Birth played a major role in reconfiguring the American movie audience by attracting more middle-class patrons. But if the film was a milestone in the history of cinema, it was also undeniably racist. Stokes shows that the darker side of this classic movie has its origins in the racist ideas of Thomas Dixon, Jr. and Griffith's own Kentuckian background and earlier film career. The book reveals how, as the years went by, the campaign against the film became increasingly successful. In the 1920s, for example, the NAACP exploited the fact that the new Ku Klux Klan, which used Griffith's film as a recruiting and retention tool, was not just anti-black, but also anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish, as a way to mobilize new allies in opposition to the film. This crisply written book sheds light on both the film's racism and the aesthetic brilliance of Griffith's filmmaking. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the cinema." - from the publisher

"He transformed a nickelodeon novelty into a new art form and a powerful, glamorous American industry. He codified the rules and techniques of screen story-telling, and pioneered the conventions that brought films to life, from surging spectacle to soul-baring close-ups. A poor farm boy from the South, Griffith rose to fame with The Birth of a Nation, a cinematic masterpiece stained by the racism that infected his heritage. Though he went on to direct some of the most.Legendary films of the silent era, Griffith was doomed by his over-reaching drives, and he died an embittered man, shunned by the community he had largely created. His story is told here with unsparing truth and compelling narrative sweep." - from publisher

"Twenty two of the best early films directed by D.W. Griffith which helped shape cinematic narrative for two generations."

"A Civil War spectacular. Portrays life in the South during and after the Civil War as revealed in a story depicting the war itself, the conflict between the defeated Southerners and emancipated renegade Negroes, the despoiling of the South during the carpetbagger period, and the revival of the Southern white man's honor through the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan."

Librarian's note: Please see modern scholarly commentary on this influential, if highly controversial film. See also the book American racist : the life and films of Thomas Dixon for more information about the author of the novel The Klansman, which The birth of a nation is based on.

"D.W. Griffith’s masterpiece encompasses four stories (the modern era, Jerusalem, 1572 Paris, and Babylon), tackling both time and geography. Boasting a cast of thousands, gargantuan sets, chariot races, the crucifixion, death defying stunts, and the fall of Babylon, Intolerance truly gives meaning to the words, "epic cinema." There can be no complete collection of silent cinema without this celluloid masterpiece."

"Fields never got around to writing his autobiography, but at his death in 1946, he left behind a vast assortment of notes, outlines, scrapbooks, letters, scripts, scenarios, and photographs. Now his grandson, Ronald J. Fields, has edited and woven this wealth of previously unpublished material into a unique new portrait of the Great One--in his own words. This book establishes the true facts about W.C. Fields's early years: how, around 1895, he really got started juggling; how met his future wife Hattie; and how he felt about his incessant tours, triumphs, and film career." - from the publisher

"W. C. Fields’s prolific career placed him at the forefront of slapstick comedy. Gathered here are six gems that feature the comic genius at his peak: The Golf Specialist, Pool Sharks (silent), The Pharmacist, The Fatal Glass of Beer, The Barber Shop, and, of course, the notorious The Dentist. This unique collection will delight new generations of viewers with Fields’s hilariously sardonic routines." - from Criterion.com

"When a scientist in China invents a television, everyone around the globe clamors to purchase the rights to the mesmerizing new invention."

"A henpecked New Jersey grocer makes plans to move to California to grow oranges, despite the resistance of his overbearing wife."

"The owner of a debt-ridden circus contends with pursuant bill collectors and sheriffs and his beloved daughter's relationships with one of his performers and a stuffy but wealthy young man."

"Henpecked Egbert Sousé is a lowly bank guard who divides his time between the Black Pussy Cat Café and his dreaded family. His humdrum life changes when fate leads him to heroism, Hollywood and the good life."

"After a scandal runs a gold-digger out of town, she meets a con artist and becomes embroiled in a string of petty deceits."

"Cecil B. DeMille was an American filmmaker. Between 1914 and 1958, he made a total of 70 features, both silent and sound films and is acknowledged as a founding father of the cinema of the United States and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. He made silent films of every genre: social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. DeMille began his career as a stage actor in 1900 and later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer. After more than thirty years in film production, DeMille reached the pinnacle of his career with Samson and Delilah (1949), a biblical epic which did "an all-time record business. He went on to receive his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for his circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama. His last and most famous film, The Ten Commandments (1956), also a Best Picture Academy Award nominee, is currently the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time. In addition to his Best Picture Award, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his film contributions, the Palme d'Or (posthumously) for Union Pacific, a DGA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He was also the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which was later named in his honor."

"The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic." - from Criterion.com

"A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero."

"Four passengers escape their bubonic plague-infested ship and land on the coast of a wild jungle. In order to reach safety they have to trek through the jungle, facing wild animals and attacks by primitive tribesmen."

"Egypt, 48 B.C. Cleopatra is facing palace revolt in her kingdom. She decides to embrace the arrival of Julius Caesar as a way of solidifying her power under Roman rule. When Caesar is led astray by Cleopatra and is killed, she transfers her affections to Marc Antony. She does all that she can to dazzle Marc on a barge fit for a king. But her trick may not work this time around. A web of royal deception and betrayal."

"King Richard of England (Henry Wilcoxon) has no desire to marry the awful Princess Alice of France (Katherine DeMille). The Third Crusade offers him a good excuse to flee, so he sets off with his knights on a long journey to the Holy Land. When supplies diminish, Richard marries Princess Berengaria of Navarre (Loretta Young) in exchange for food from her father. Nearing their destination, Berengaria is captured by Saladin, Sultan of Islam (Ian Keith), whom Richard is determined to destroy."

"Veteran Dick Allen (Robert Preston) and gambler Sid Campeau (Brian Donlevy) plot to derail the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad at the behest of crooked banker Asa M. Barrows, a major investor in a competing railroad line who will profit from any delay. Meanwhile, Allen and his old friend, railroad boss Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea), compete for the attention of Mollie Monahan (Barbara Stanwyck), beautiful postmistress and daughter of the railroad engineer."

"Samson (Victor Mature), the hero of the Israelites, wins the hand of a Philistine woman, Semadar (Angela Lansbury), in a contest of strength. When she is killed during a conflict on her wedding night, however, Samson becomes a hunted man whom the Philistines, including Semadar's sister, Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), want to punish. This becomes complicated, however, when Samson suddenly acquires God-given superpowers, and Delilah's true feelings for Samson surface."

"A splashy, colorful look at life under the big top that weaves the personal stories of the performers in with the spectacle and color of the circus. Includes an incredible train wreck." "To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground. Subplots involve the secret past of Buttons the Clown and the efforts of racketeers to move in on the game concessions. Let the show begin!" - IMDb.com

"The Ten Commandments dramatizes the biblical story of the life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and thereafter leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives, from God, the Ten Commandments. The film stars Charlton Heston in the lead role, Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, and John Derek as Joshua; and features Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Seti I, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka, among others. Filmed on location in Egypt, Mount Sinai, and the Sinai Peninsula, The Ten Commandments was DeMille's most successful work, his first widescreen film, his fourth biblical production, and his final directorial effort before his death in 1959.[9] It is a remake of the prologue of his 1923 silent film of the same title, and features one of the largest exterior sets ever created for a motion picture." - from Wikipedia

"Set in seventeenth century England, a surgeon becomes a pirate after he is arrested and condemned to slavery for caring for a rebel against the king." Based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini.

"Captain Geoffrey Thorpe is the terror of the Spanish Main, striking crippling blows against the oppressive Spanish war machine, freeing English slaves from the galley ships and filling England's coffers with Spanish gold--with the tacit approval of England's Queen Elizabeth I. When the dashing Thorpe raids and sinks a diplomatic vessel bringing ambassador Don José Alvarez de Cordoba and his beautiful niece Dona Maria to England, he's gentlemanly enough to deliver them safely onto English shores--along with the galley full of wrongfully imprisoned slaves. Smarting from this insult, Don Alvarez conspires with the duplicitous Lord Wolfingham to stop Thorpe and smash the Sea Hawks: the small fleet of privateers that stands between England and King Philip of Spain's thirst for global domination!" Based on another novel by Rafael Sabatini.

"In World War II Morocco, seething with European refugees desperate for passage to neutral Lisbon, only a world-weary and bitter nightclub owner can help his former lover and her Resistance-hero husband escape from the Nazis." "Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to stand out among the hundreds of pictures produced by Hollywood yearly. [...] Exceeding expectations, Casablanca went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Curtiz was selected as Best Director and the Epsteins and Koch were honored for Best Adapted Screenplay. Its reputation has gradually grown, to the point that its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song have all become iconic, and it consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films in history." - from Wikipedia

""In their relentless battle against Hitler, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were comrades ... or at least comrades-in-arms. Hollywood joined the fight with Mission to Moscow, based on Ambassador Joseph E. Davies' bestseller about his pre-World War II experiences in the Soviet Union. The film features Academy Award winner Walter Huston as Davies, plus accomplished actors playing the headline-dominating figures of Churchill, Stalin, von Ribbentrop, Litvinov, Molotov and more. For its sometimes-sympathetic picture of Stalin's regime, the film sparked impassioned debate then and remains fascinating now, both for its insights into early American-Soviet relations and its urgent sense of the danger the emerging Axis Powers posed to the world."

"Mildred Pierce is a happily married woman with two kids, living in the suburbs of sunny California. She secretly takes a job as a waitress so that she can pay for piano lessons and expensive clothes for her eldest daughter, Veda. Her growing financial independence permits her to open her own restaurant, and eventually a chain of eateries. She has divorced her intolerant first husband, and married well-connected Monte in order to get Veda into high society. Greedy, self-absorbed Veda is still ungrateful, and demands an even greater sacrifice of her mother. Eventually, Mildred finds herself ensnared in the world of police and suspicion when Monte is mysteriously murdered."

"Two talented song-and-dance men team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. Joined by two sisters, they travel to Vermont for a white Christmas."

"After his partner is killed, aging Texas Ranger Jake Cutter (John Wayne) is assigned to capture gambler Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman), a condemned prisoner who managed to escape hanging, and return him to Louisiana to face his sentence. But once Cutter has him in custody, they encounter the Comancheros, a fierce band of outlaws providing guns and booze to the Comanches, and are forced to work together to stop them. When Regret proves his worth in the fight, Cutter begins to reevaluate his duties."

"In this classic musical fantasy, Judy Garland stars as Dorothy Gale, a young Kansas farm girl who dreams of a land 'somewhere over the rainbow.' Dorothy's dream comes true when she, her dog, Toto, and her family's house are transported by a tornado to a bright and magical world unlike anything she has seen before. Unfortunately, she makes a mortal enemy of a wicked witch when the house falls on the hag's sister. Now, befriended by a scarecrow without a brain, a tin man with no heart and a cowardly lion—and protected by a pair of enchanted ruby slippers—Dorothy sets off along a yellow brick road for the Emerald City to beseech the all-powerful Wizard of Oz for his help to return home. Winner of Academy Awards for the classic song, 'Over The Rainbow' and for 'Best Score,' the family classic also received an Oscar nomination for 'Best Picture.' A special Oscar for 'the best juvenile performer of the year' was awarded to Judy Garland." - from WarnerBros.com

"Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel star in this classic epic of the American South. On the eve of the United States Civil War, rich, beautiful and self-centered Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh) has everything she could want--except Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). But as the war devastates the South, Scarlett discovers the strength within herself to protect her family and rebuild her life. Through everything, she longs for Ashley, unaware that she is already married to the man she really loves (Gable)--and who truly loves her--until she finally drives him away. Only then does Scarlett realize what she has lost ... and decide to win him back. Considered one of the greatest classic American movies, Gone With The Wind won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Hattie McDaniel, the first Oscar awarded to an African-American actor.​" - from WarnerBros.com

"Academy Award-winner Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca) is spellbinding as the 15th century French peasant girl who rouses a nation and inspires the world with her faith and bravery. Fiercely believing that she is directed by God, Joan triumphantly leads an army into battle against the British, who are driven from France. When a new king (Jose Ferrer in a extraordinary film debut) is crowned, Joan's influence grows and makes him wary of her power, ultimately betraying her to martyrdom. This powerful, visually stunning epic of one of history's most fascinating heroines features spectacular action and unforgettable drama! Completely restored, original full-length version with footage not seen in the U.S.,from Victor Fleming, Director of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Winner of three Academy Awards®: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Honorary Award to producer Walter Wanger with Five additional Academy Award®: nominations: Best Actress (Ingrid Bergman), Best Supporting Actor (Jose Ferrer), Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Score." - from Amazon.com

"When Anne Boleyn (Elaine Stewart) is executed for infidelity, her daughter Elizabeth (Jean Simmons) is sent into exile by King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton). Elizabeth grows into a spirited young woman. Eventually, she is summoned back to London to meet Henry's latest bride, Catherine Parr (Deborah Kerr). She also meets Admiral Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger) and becomes instantly enamored. Unfortunately for her, the machinations of politics prove far more potent than love."

"A young farmer named Wang Lung marries a selfless, loyal slave girl, O-Lan. Wang is initially devoted to the land and rises to prosperity. Later, however, Wang deserts the land and takes a second wife and tragedy threatens to overwhelm him. Eventually Wang realizes that the land and O-Lan mean more to him than his wealth." Based on the novel by Pearl S. Buck.

"This radical re-reading of Ford's work studies his films in the context of his complex character, demonstrating their immense intelligence and their profound critique of our culture." - from the publisher

"This book provides an intimate and affectionate view of one of Hollywood's most admired directors. The fifty-year career of John Ford (1895-1973) included six Academy Awards, four New York Film Critics' Awards, and some of our most memorable films, among them The Informer (1934), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Quiet Man (1952), The Long Gray Line (1955), and The Wings of Eagles (1957). In addition, the name John Ford was practically synonymous with the great Westerns that came out of Hollywood for many years-- Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), for example. After his death a European newspaper mourned Ford as 'the creator of the Western,' although many of his finest films were far removed from that genre. Combining interviews with John Ford with his own reflections, director Peter Bogdanovich captures both the artist and the man in a highly readable, compact book that will please film lovers and Ford admirers alike. Over a hundred stills are included, along with the most completed filmography yet compiled for John Ford." - from the publisher

"A British patrol is crossing the deserts of Mesopotamia during World War I when the commanding officer is suddenly struck down by an unseen sniper. Their sergeant (Victor McLaglen) suddenly finds himself in charge of the surviving members of his regiment, with no idea where they are or what their mission is. Barricaded at a desert oasis and surrounded by enemy snipers, with no way of summoning reinforcements, the sergeant is forced to call for volunteers for a suicide mission."

"Gypo Nolan (Victor McLaglen) is a former Irish Republican Army man who drowns his sorrows in the bottle. He's desperate to escape his bleak Dublin life and start over in America with his girlfriend (Margot Grahame). So when British authorities advertise a reward for information about his best friend, current IRA member Frankie (Wallace Ford), Gypo cooperates. Now Gypo can buy two tickets on a boat bound for the States, but can he escape the overwhelming guilt he feels for betraying his buddy?"

"Mary Stuart (Katharine Hepburn), the Queen of Scotland, returns to her native highlands upon the death of her husband, the King of France -- which is one of the rival nations of English queen Elizabeth Tudor (Florence Eldridge). After Mary's third marriage to the Earl of Bothwell (Fredric March), the Scottish people become divided, and Mary is forced to abdicate her throne. She seeks help from Queen Elizabeth, who fears Mary's influence and has her imprisoned, and later executed."

"Nine disparate travelers are thrust together in a perilous journey, a ride on a stagecoach destined for Apache territory." "Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. The film has long been recognized as an important work that transcends the Western genre. [...] Stagecoach was the first of many Westerns that Ford shot in Monument Valley, on the Arizona–Utah border in the American Southwest. Many of the movies Ford shot there also starred John Wayne. [...] Still, Stagecoach has not avoided controversy. Like most Westerns of the era, its depiction of Native Americans as simplistic savages has been criticized." - from Wikipedia

"Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, and Winner of two, including Best Director for John Ford, THE GRAPES OF WRATH comes to Blu-ray for the first time! This American classic based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follows Tom Joad (Henry Fonda in an Oscar-Nominated role) and his family as they escape the Depression-era Oklahoma dust bowls for the promised land of California. But the arduous trip and harsh living conditions offer little hope, and family unity proves as daunting a challenge as any other they face."

"Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall), the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father (Donald Crisp) doesn't want to rock the boat. Meanwhile, Huw's eldest sister, Angharad (Maureen O'Hara), pines for the new village preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon)."

"In the middle of a long cattle drive, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find their cattle stolen, and one of the brothers is dead. Earp suspects the Clanton family, owners of the O.K. Corral, but wants his revenge to be legal. He becomes sheriff of Tombstone and forges a rough peace with an alcoholic gambler, Doc Holiday (Victor Mature). Earp also takes a liking to Holiday's former girlfriend, Clementine (Cathy Downs)."

"The last job of Cavalry Captain Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) before retirement is to soothe relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians after Custer's last stand. At the same time, he must transport the wife (Mildred Natwick) and niece (Joanne Dru) of his commanding officer to a safe destination. After both his missions stall, Brittles attempts a face-to-face meeting with an important Native American chief in order to stave off an impending war."

"Fifteen years back, Lt. Colonel Kirby Yorke's devotion to military duty led him to destroy the plantation home of his southern-born wife during the Civil War. He is now a lonely man, fighting Indians in the west. Returning from his latest skirmish with the Apaches, Yorke finds that his son Jeff--enlisted as an ordinary soldier after failing at West Point--has been assigned to his command. Kirby's estranged wife, Kathleen, has also arrived at the fort in an effort to buy her son's way out of the army. A group of renegade Apaches keeps eluding Yorke by crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico, but he plans a raid in hopes that it will end the problem for good."

"An American prizefighter returns to Ireland in order to forget the past and live peacefully in his village birthplace. He falls in love with the hot-tempered sister of a belligerent neighbor, and trouble ensues over the payment of her dowry."

"In this revered Western, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns home to Texas after the Civil War. When members of his brother's family are killed or abducted by Comanches, he vows to track down his surviving relatives and bring them home. Eventually, Edwards gets word that his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood) is alive, and, along with her adopted brother, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), he embarks on a dangerous mission to find her, journeying deep into Comanche territory."

"At a U.S. Army fort in the Arizona Territory in 1881, an officer is murdered and his beautiful young daughter is beaten, raped and strangled. Army lawyer Tom Cantrell (Jeffrey Hunter) defends the accused, African-American sergeant Braxton Rutledge (Woody Strode), a soldier who had once been under his command. Under questioning by Cantrell and the prosecutor (Carleton Young), multiple witnesses piece together the truth of what happened at the fort that day."

"Director [John] Ford brings us to the lawless frontier village of Shinbone, a town plagued by a larger-than-life nemesis, Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). [James] Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid Shinbone of Valance, and he finds that he has an unlikely ally -- in the form of a rugged local rancher (John Wayne). The two men also share the same love interest (Vera Miles). But when the final showdown becomes inevitable, one of the two will attempt to get the gunman ... but the other one will wind up getting the girl."

"Large-scale frontier epic telling the true story of a band of Cheyenne Indians who, starved nearly to extinction on an inhospitable reservation, embark on the long trek back to their distant ancestral homelands in Wyoming, despite opposition from the US Army. Their journey revives old hatreds - and the threat of war."

"Howard Hawks is now regarded as one of the greatest directors ever to work in Hollywood. His career stretched from the silent era through the seventies and left an indelible stamp on American cinema. A filmmaker of incomparable versatility, he made the landmark gangster film Scarface, aviation classics (The Dawn Patrol, Only Angels Have Wings, Air Force), several of the best screwball comedies (Twentieth Century, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday), an immortal war story (Sergeant York), two sizzling Bogart-Bacall melodramas (To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep), a dazzling musical (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), and several towering Westerns (Red River, Rio Bravo, El Dorado)." "He was Hollywood's leading starmaker, having discovered or given important roles to Lauren Bacall, Montgomery Clift, Carole Lombard, Rita Hayworth, Frances Farmer, Jane Russell, Paul Muni, Joan Collins, James Caan, and Angie Dickinson." "Howard Hawks was the filmmaking partner of Howard Hughes; the drinking buddy and working colleague of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway; cofounder of Hollywood's first elite motorcycle gang; an inveterate gambler constantly in trouble with gangsters; and a self-styled ladies' man whose second wife was to become the celebrated Slim Keith. This first biography of Hawks penetrates the persona he so carefully constructed for himself and reveals one of the most formidable, complex, and enigmatic figures of Hollywood's Golden Age." - from the publisher

"Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is often credited as being the most versatile of all of the great American directors, having worked with equal ease in screwball comedies, westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and adventure films. He directed an impressive number of Hollywood's greatest stars—including Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Rosalind Russell, and Marilyn Monroe—and some of his most celebrated films include Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and Rio Bravo (1959). Hawks on Hawks draws on interviews that author Joseph McBride conducted with the director over the course of seven years, giving rare insight into Hawks's artistic philosophy, his relationships with the stars, and his position in an industry that was rapidly changing. In its new edition, this classic book is both an account of the film legend's life and work and a guidebook on how to make movies." - from the publisher

"An exciting story of organized crime's brutal control over Chicago during the Prohibition Era ... This compelling tale of ambition, betrayal and revenge is a groundbreaking masterpiece that influenced all gangster films to follow"

"A scatterbrained heiress uses her pet leopard, Baby, to attract the attention of a stuffy paleontologist."

"An unscrupulous newspaper editor uses every dirty trick in the book to keep his ace reporter/ex-wife from retiring and remarrying in this twist on The front page."

"Private investigator Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is hired by General Sternwood to help resolve the gambling debts of his wild young daughter, Carmen (Martha Vickers). Sternwood's older daughter, Vivian (Lauren Bacall), provides assistance when she implies that the situation is more complex, and also involves casino owner (John Ridgely) and a recently disappeared family friend. As people linked to the Sternwoods start being murdered, Marlowe finds himself getting ever deeper into the case."

"With no market for his herd, the master of a vast cattle ranch and his son decide to head the first cattle drive over the now famous Chisholm Trail, past the Red River, into Missouri. The path is filled with hardship and the drive looks hopeless as the men struggle to prevail."

"In the mid-thirties, Rouben Mamoulian was a gilt-edged proposition, snatched from Paramount by M-G-M and entrusted not only with the direction of Garbo in Queen Christina, but with the first film in the new three-colour Technicolor process, Becky SHarp. Fromthere on the story is one of decline. Not, virtually every historian of the cinema to the contrary, in Mamoulian, but in critical appreciation of his work, and more importantly, in his employment by the Hollywood studios." - from the introduction

"When Greta Garbo made Queen Christina for MGM in 1933, she was at the height of her powers. International stardom had given her unprecedented control over her career. A new contract with the studio assured her consultation on story material and a veto over the directors of her films. The story of Christina, the seventeenth-century queen of Sweden forced to choose between her private and public life, was ideally suited to Garbo's image. Indeed, Christina's eventual abdication was uncannily prophetic of Garbo's sudden withdrawal from the cinema only eight years after this film.The role called for the expression of an intense eroticism, most notoriously in the famous bedroom scene with co-star (and former lover) John Gilbert. Sixty years later Garbo's mysteriously compelling sexuality continues to fascinate both male and female audiences. The various masculine costumes worn by Garbo in the film are signs of the androgynous persona she projects. Marcia Landy and Amy Villarejo explore this with great subtlety, showing the ways in which power and gender impose contradictory pressures." - from the publisher

"Portrayal of the 17th century Queen of Sweden who relinquishes her throne for her lover, the ambassador from Spain."

"Although Frank Capra (1897-1991) is best known as the director of It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and It's a Wonderful Life, he was also an award-winning documentary filmmaker as well as a behind-the-scene force in the Director's Guild, the Motion Picture Academy, and the Producer's Guild. He worked with or knew socially everyone in the movie business from Mack Sennett, Chaplin, and Keaton in the silent era through the illustrious names of the golden age. He directed Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, and others. Reading his autobiography is like having Capra sitting in your living room, regaling you with his anecdotes. In The Name Above the Title he reveals the deeply personal story of how, despite winning six Academy Awards, he struggled throughout his life against the glamors, vagaries, and frustrations of Hollywood for the creative freedom to make some of the most memorable films of all time." - from the publisher

"A rich young woman marries an idle playboy against her father's will. Her father holds her captive on his yacht but she escapes and, while on her way to New York, becomes entangled with an unemployed news reporter."

"When the stenographer from an eccentric family falls in love with the son of a rich mogul, the two families clash. Their love will change everything."

"Propaganda series originally produced by the United States government for the Morale Services Division which documents the causes and events leading up to World War II and exhorts Americans to support the war effort."

"George Bailey is not having a good day. His life in the sleepy little town of Bedford Falls has been thrown off track, perhaps never to recover. His business has failed, he's wanted by the police, and he's had a fight with his beloved wife Mary. On this disastrous day, his responsibilities and frustrations overwhelm him, leading him to a bridge and serious contemplation of suicide. It's up to an angel named Clarence to convince George that his life has been one of worth and that it's still worth living. After taking a long look at George's life, the angel offers a portrait of what life in Bedford Falls would be like if George had never been born. This classic, sentimental favorite has become a Christmas tradition."

"Preston Sturges was the great writer and director of Hollywood screwball comedies of the thirties and forties. At the height of his career, Sturges had not only won an Academy Award but was also one of the most highly paid executives in the country. The only account of his life in his own words, Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges unveils the source of his extraordinary creativity: a life that was every bit as antic and unconventional as his movies." - from the publisher

"Barbara Stanwyck sizzles, Henry Fonda bumbles, and Preston Sturges runs riot in one of the all-time great screwballs, a pitch-perfect blend of comic zing and swoonworthy romance. Aboard a cruise liner sailing up the coast of South America, Stanwyck’s conniving card sharp sets her sights on Fonda’s nerdy snake researcher, who happens to be the heir to a brewery fortune. But when the con artist falls for her mark, her grift becomes a game of hearts—and she is determined to win it all. One in a string of matchless comedic marvels that Sturges wrote and directed as part of a dazzling 1940s run, this gender-flipped battle-of-wits farce is perhaps his most emotionally satisfying work, tempering its sparkling humor with a streak of tender poignancy supplied by the sensational Stanwyck at her peak." - from Criterion.com

"Tired of churning out lightweight comedies, Hollywood director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) decides to make O Brother, Where Art Thou?—a serious, socially responsible film about human suffering. After his producers point out that he knows nothing of hardship, Sullivan hits the road disguised as a hobo. En route to enlightenment, he encounters a lovely but no-nonsense young woman (Veronica Lake)—and more trouble than he ever dreamed of. This comic masterpiece by Preston Sturges is among the finest Hollywood satires and a high-water mark in the career of one of the industry’s most revered funnymen." - from Criterion.com

"After the death of her mother, Sylvia Scarlett (Katharine Hepburn) decides that she can help her debt-ridden father, Henry (Edmund Gwenn), by dressing like a young man in order to move more freely in society. Returning to England from France, the pair are conned by smuggler Jimmy Monkley (Cary Grant), but are impressed enough by him to join several of his unsuccessful swindling schemes. Sylvia is unexpectedly brought out of her liberated masculine persona when she meets a breezy bohemian artist."

"Be careful what you say in private. It could become a movie. Some gossip overheard by Clare Boothe Luce in a nightclub powder room inspired her Broadway hit that's wittily adapted for the screen in The Women. George Cukor directs an all-female cast in this catty tale of battling and bonding that paints its claws "Jungle Red" and shreds the excesses of pampered Park Avenue princesses. Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine, Mary Boland and Paulette Goddard are among the array of husband snatchers, snitches and lovelorn ladies. Norma Shearer is jilted Mary Haines, who ultimately learns to claw without ruining her manicure. All the glamming and slamming comes with a shimmery bauble: a fashion-show sequence in eye-popping Technicolor." - from Amazon.com

"With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era’s most iconic leading lady—thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestrations. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn acquired the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award–winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time." - from Criterion.com

"Determined to educate the town's illiterate children, schoolmarm L.C. Moffat (Katharine Hepburn) opens a school in a dismal Welsh coal-mining community. Battling both the ignorance of the villagers and the contrary local squire (Bill Fraser), Miss Moffat becomes increasingly discouraged until she sees extraordinary potential in one of her students, Morgan Evans (Ian Saynor). When Morgan fathers an illegitimate child, the teacher fears her pupil's chance at a college education may be destroyed."

"After the death of her famous opera-singing aunt, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to study in Italy to become a great opera singer as well. While there, she falls in love with the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The two return to London, and Paula begins to notice strange goings-on: missing pictures, strange footsteps in the night and gaslights that dim without being touched. As she fights to retain her sanity, her new husband's intentions come into question."

Librarian's note: This film inspired the modern verb gaslight, meaning "to manipulate (someone) using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity or powers of reasoning." (Dictionary.com)

"As a band singer guided to heights of show-business success by an alcoholic ex-matinee idol, Judy Garland performs one superb song after another (most by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin) in a production – also starring James Mason and directed by George Cukor – that exhilarates with its craft and style even as it moves toward a heartbreaking finale. Shortened after its 1954 premiere and reconstructed to near its original length in 1983, A Star Is Born endures as one of Hollywood’s supreme triumphs." - from Amazon.com

"Arrogant, irascible, and misogynistic professor of phonetics Henry Higgins believes that the accent and tone of one's voice determines a person's prospects in society. He boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering--also an expert in phonetics--that he could teach any woman to speak so "properly" that he could pass her off as a duchess at an embassy ball. He chooses as an example a sassy, young working-class London flower seller from the slums, Eliza Doolittle, who has a strong Cockney accent. Can Higgins turn Eliza into a duchess? And will Eliza care to remain a lady for long? When the humble flower girl blossoms into the toast of London's elite, her teacher may have a lesson or two to learn himself."

"This classic history of Walt Disney's life and works takes us from his wandering youth through the desperate gamble of opening his own animation studio, his daring decision to crash Hollywood, the sudden and inspired invention of Mickey Mouse-and on to the creation of a multimillion-dollar international entertainment empire. Throughout Richard Schickel asks penetrating questions about Disney's achievements and shortcomings, and the enormous popularity of the 'Disney version.'" - from the publisher

"The Grimm fairy tale gets a Technicolor treatment in Disney's first animated feature. Jealous of Snow White's beauty, the wicked queen orders the murder of her innocent stepdaughter, but later discovers that Snow White is still alive and hiding in a cottage with seven friendly little miners. Disguising herself as a hag, the queen brings a poisoned apple to Snow White, who falls into a death-like sleep that can be broken only by a kiss from the prince."

"Woodcarver Geppetto has pets Figaro the cat and Cleo the fish. He has just made a little wooden puppet called Pinocchio. Wishing upon a star before he goes to bed, Geppetto wishes that Pinocchio would become a real boy. As Geppetto sleeps, the Blue Fairy arrives and partially grants his wish. Pinocchio can come to life, but he must prove himself worthy before becoming a real boy. He will require some guidance, and Jiminy Cricket agrees to act as his conscience. After some unfortunate incidents, Pinocchio finds himself in trouble. The Blue Fairy appears. Pinocchio lies to her and his nose grows. He is forgiven, but warned not to lie again."

"The stork delivers a baby elephant to Mrs. Jumbo, who happens to be a veteran of the circus, but the newborn is soon ridiculed because of his truly gigantic ears and is dubbed "Dumbo". Dumbo is relegated to the circus' clown acts. It is up to Dumbo's only true friend, Timothy Q. Mouse, to assist Dumbo to achieve his full potential."

"Hailed as the Prince of the Forest at his birth, wobble-legged Bambi the fawn lives deep in the woodland with his mother. His youth is filled with friends--Thumper, a jovial rabbit who says all the wrong things; Flower, a skunk with an inferiority complex; and Friend Owl, misanthrope of the treetops. As he grows, fun-and-games give way to the hardship of winter and the most terrifying, ever-looming threat to survival--man. When the hunters come, Bambi must learn to be as brave as his father The Great Prince, and lead the other deer to safety."

"Cinderella has faith her dreams of a better life will come true. With help from her loyal mice friends and a wave of her Fairy Godmother's wand, Cinderella's rags are magically turned into a glorious gown and off she goes to the Royal Ball to meet her Prince. But when the clock strikes midnight, the spell is broken, leaving only a single glass slipper ... the only key to the ultimate fairy-tale ending!"

"Pongo and Perdita have a litter of 15 Dalmatian puppies. Cruella De Vil takes a fancy to the puppies and tries to buy them from their human owners, Roger and Anita. Cruella wants to get ahold of those puppies, as well as more puppies, to make herself a lovely dalmatian skin coat. She hires some thugs to kidnap the puppies and hold them at an abandoned mansion. Now Pongo and Perdita must use an animal communication system to help find all the puppies."

"Mowgli is a boy who has been raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. When the wolves hear that the fierce man-hating tiger Shere Khan has returned, they decide to send Mowgli to a local "man tribe" for his own safety. With the help of Bagheera the wise panther and the happy-go-lucky bear Baloo, Mowgli meets and befriends many jungle animals as he makes his way to the village."

"A moving drama about a middle-class English family learning to cope with war, told in a series of dramatic vignettes. The family, headed by the lovely and gracious matriarch, endures the departure of the father for the beaches at Dunkirk, the discovery of a wounded Nazi pilot, the death of the daughter-in-law in an air raid, and the entry of the son into the Royal Air Force."

"Recounts the problems faced by three returning veterans of WWII as they attempt to pick up the threads of their lives. Captain Derry is returning to a loveless marriage, Sergeant Stephenson is a stranger to a family that's grown up without him, and sailor Parrish is tormented by the loss of his hands."

"James McLeod (Kirk Douglas) is a stern police detective who has no tolerance for crime. At home, however, he is a loving husband to his wife, Mary (Eleanor Parker). The police are ready to conclude the case of abortionist Karl Schneider (George Macready), who is responsible for the death of at least one patient, but McLeod's hatred for the doctor prolongs the investigation. The detective soon uncovers a dark secret that threatens to destroy his sanity and ruin his life."

"Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck),who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way."

"The patriarch of a peace-loving Quaker family, Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper), begins to question his pacifist values when the Civil War moves toward his close-knit Indiana community. Meanwhile, Jess's daughter, Mattie, is in love with a soldier, and her brother, Josh (Anthony Perkins), contemplates picking up arms to defend his home lest he be considered a coward. As Confederate forces draw nearer, the Birdwells must make some difficult, life-altering decisions."

"Epic drama about an aristocratic Jew living in Judaea who incurs the wrath of a childhood friend, now a Roman tribune. Although forced into slavery on a galley and compelled to witness the cruel persecution of his family, he survives, harbouring dreams of vengeance. A battle at sea and a chariot race are among the memorable sequences. The film used 300 sets at Rome's Cinecitta Studios and won a record 11 Oscars."

"In Conversations with Wilder, Hollywood's legendary and famously elusive director Billy Wilder agrees for the first time to talk extensively about his life and work. Here, in an extraordinary book with more than 650 black-and-white photographs -- including film posters, stills, grabs, and never-before-seen pictures from Wilder's own collection -- the ninety-three-year-old icon talks to Cameron Crowe, one of today's best-known writer-directors, about thirty years at the very heart of Hollywood, and about screenwriting and camera work, set design and stars, his peers and their movies, the studio system and films today. In his distinct voice we hear Wilder's inside view on his collaborations with such stars as Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, William Holden, Audrey Hepburn, and Greta Garbo (he was a writer at MGM during the making of Ninotchka. Here are Wilder's sharp and funny behind-the-scenes stories about the making of A Foreign Affair, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Love in the Afternoon, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and Ace in the Hole, among many others. Wilder is ever mysterious, but Crowe gets him to speak candidly on Stanwyck: 'She knew the script, everybody's lines, never a fault, never a mistake'; on Cary Grant: 'I had Cary Grant in mind for four of my pictures . . . slipped through my net every time'; on the 'Lubitsch Touch': 'It was the elegant use of the super-joke.' Wilder also remembers his early years in Vienna, working as a journalist in Berlin, rooming with Peter Lorre at the Chateau Marmont -- always with the same dry wit, tough-minded romanticism, and elegance that are the hallmarks of Wilder's films. This book is a classic of Hollywood history and lore." - from the publisher

"Garbo plays a dour, severe Soviet official who comes to Paris on business involving the sale of some czarist jewels. But soon business turns to pleasure as she discovers the special magic of Paris and finds herself succumbing to the charms of a suave Frenchman named Leon D'Algout (Melvyn Douglas). The plot bubbles merrily as Ninotchka chooses between romance and duty--and must even confront a rival for Leon's affection in the exiled Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire)."

"Has dialogue ever been more perfectly hard-boiled? Has a femme fatale ever been as deliciously wicked as Barbara Stanwyck? And has 1940s Los Angeles ever looked so seductively sordid? Working with cowriter Raymond Chandler, director Billy Wilder launched himself onto the Hollywood A-list with this epitome of film-noir fatalism from James M. Cain’s pulp novel. When slick salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) walks into the swank home of dissatisfied housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), he intends to sell insurance, but he winds up becoming entangled with her in a far more sinister way. Featuring scene-stealing supporting work from Edward G. Robinson and the chiaroscuro of cinematographer John F. Seitz, Double Indemnity is one of the most entertainingly perverse stories ever told and the standard by which all noir must be measured." - from Criterion.com

"Writer Don Birnam (Ray Milland) is on the wagon. Sober for only a few days, Don is supposed to be spending the weekend with his brother, Wick (Phillip Terry), but, eager for a drink, Don convinces his girlfriend (Jane Wyman) to take Wick to a show. Don, meanwhile, heads to his local bar and misses the train out of town. After recounting to the bartender (Howard da Silva) how he developed a drinking problem, Don goes on a weekend-long bender that just might prove to be his last."

"Pursued by creditors, Joe swerves into a driveway of a seemingly abandoned Sunset Boulevard mansion. He finds Norma, an ex-screen queen dreaming of a dramatic comeback and her husband/servant living there. She takes a fancy to Joe and, learning that he is a scriptwriter, persuades him to help her with her comeback screenplay. Being broke he accepts. He falls in love with a young script reader, but Norma breaks up their romance, setting tragedy into motion."

"Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole is one of the most scathing indictments of American culture ever produced by a Hollywood filmmaker. Kirk Douglas gives the fiercest performance of his career as Chuck Tatum, an amoral newspaper reporter who washes up in dead-end Albuquerque, happens upon the scoop of a lifetime, and will do anything to keep getting the lurid headlines. Wilder’s follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is an even darker vision, a no-holds-barred exposé of the American media’s appetite for sensation that has gotten only more relevant with time." - from Criterion.com

"Chauffeur's daughter Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) returns home from two years in Paris a beautiful young woman, and immediately catches the attention of David (William Holden), the playboy son of her father's rich employers. David woos and wins Sabrina, who has always been in love with him, however their romance is threatened by David's serious older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart), who runs the family business and is relying on David to marry an heiress in order for a crucial merger to take place."

"Frank Flannegan, an American playboy infamous for his scandalous affairs is smitten by Ariane, the beautiful, innocent daughter of the worldly detective, hired by a man who believes that Frank is carrying on with his wife. Frank turns out to be no match for Ariane and they stumble through one of the funniest seductions."

"One of the most beloved films of all time, this sizzling masterpiece by Billy Wilder set a new standard for Hollywood comedy. After witnessing a mob hit, Chicago musicians Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, in landmark performances) skip town by donning drag and joining an all-female band en route to Miami. The charm of the group’s singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe, at the height of her bombshell powers) leads them ever further into extravagant lies, as Joe assumes the persona of a millionaire to woo her and Jerry’s female alter ego winds up engaged to a tycoon. With a whip-smart script by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, and sparking chemistry among its finely tuned cast, Some Like It Hot is as deliriously funny and fresh today as it was when it first knocked audiences out six decades ago." - from Criterion.com

"How far will a man go to climb the corporate ladder? C.C. 'Bud' Baxter, a lowly insurance clerk, has a trump card: his apartment. He "loans" it out to married company executives for secret trysts. In return, he's well looked after, although he does grapple with his conscience. One day he asks out one of the elevator girls, Miss Kubelik, but she stands him up because of a crisis in her relationship with the big boss, Mr. Sheldrake. On Christmas Eve, Miss Kubelik realizes she is only the most recent in a long line of girls, with possibly disastrous consequences. Bud intervenes, which may give each of them a chance to be more than another faceless employee in a heartless corporation."

"Berlin, after the Second World War: C.R. MacNamara presides over the German branch of Coca-Cola, dreaming of being promoted to London, by capturing the untapped Russian market. His plans for advancement run into a snag, when he is asked to watch over the boss' ditsy, impulsive 17 year-old daughter Scarlett on her European vacation. Unsurprisingly, she almost immediately gets into trouble of the worst kind by slipping across the border to East Germany, to marry the violently anti-Yankee Communist Otto. When the home office headman decides to visit his daughter, Cagney masterminds an elaborate masquerade that backfires."

"John Huston's Filmmaking analyzes the career of one of cinema's most versatile artists. Lesley Brill argues that Huston created a body of work far richer than the formulaic stories of masculine failure with which he is often credited. Stylish, superbly scripted, and informed by a wry sense of humor, Huston's films portray characters who attempt to conceive their identities. His work consistently returns to questions of love and mortality; of happiness and home; of society and the individual; and of the connections among what one of his most famous characters called 'the Lord or fate or nature.'" - from the publisher

"One of the finest detective films ever, John Huston's directorial debut stars Humphrey Bogart as San Francisco private eye Sam Spade. Spade takes on mysterious femme fatale Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor) as a client and soon finds himself suspected of murdering his partner and up to his trench coat in the search for the titular jewel-encrusted statue." - from Amazon.com

"A hurricane swells outside, but that is nothing compared to the storm that rages inside the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up, holding hostage the hotel owner Nora Temple, her invalid father-in-law, and ex-GI Frank McCloud. McCloud's the one man capable of standing up against the belligerent Rocco, but postwar world realities may have taken all the fight out of him."

"In a smog-choked city somewhere in the American Midwest, an aging criminal mastermind, newly released from prison, hatches a plan for a million-dollar jewel heist and draws a wealthy lawyer and a cherry-picked trio of outlaws into his carefully devised but inevitably doomed scheme. Anchored by an abundance of nuanced performances from a gifted ensemble—including a tight-jawed Sterling Hayden and a sultry Marilyn Monroe in her breakout role—this gritty crime classic by John Huston climaxes in a meticulously detailed anatomy of a robbery that has reverberated through the genre ever since. An uncommonly naturalistic view of a seamy underworld, The Asphalt Jungle painstakingly depicts the calm professionalism and toughness of its gangster heroes while evincing a remarkable depth of compassion for their all-too-human fragility, and it showcases a master filmmaker at the height of his powers." - from Criterion.com

"At the start of World War I, German imperial troops burn down a mission in Africa. The mission's clergyman was so overtaken with disappointment that he passes away. Shortly after his well-educated, snooty sister Rose buries her brother, she must leave on the only available transport, the 'African Queen' steamboat. The boat is manned by the ill-mannered bachelor, Charlie. Together they embark on a long difficult journey, without any comfort. Rose grows determined to assist in the British war effort and presses Charlie until he finally agrees and together they steam up the Ulana encountering an enemy fort, raging rapids, bloodthirsty parasites and an endlessly branching stream which always seems to lead them to what appear to be impenetrable swamps. Despite their opposing personalities, the two grow closer to each other and ultimately carry out their plan to take out a German warship."

"Nominated* for seven Academy Awards(r) (including Best Picture) and winner of two, this visually stunning biography of master artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a 'painting come to life' (Time)! 'Flawlessly directed' (The Hollywood Reporter) by John Huston (The African Queen), from a script by Anthony Veiller and Huston, Moulin Rouge is simply 'irresistible' (Newsweek)! As a dwarf, Toulouse-Lautrec (Jose Ferrer) believes he's too ugly to ever fall in love. So he loses himself in painting and cognac. A fixture at Paris' infamous turn-of-the-century Moulin Rouge nightclub, Lautrec meets a girl from the street who then breaks his heart. Luckily, newfound artistic success, copious amounts of drink and friendship with a new woman keep him alive. Will he be able to mend his broken heart in time to recognize the true love now staring him inthe face?" - from Amazon.com

"Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Huston and Ray Bradbury. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn. The music score was written by Philip Sainton. Set in 19th-century New England, the story follows the whaling ship Pequod and its crew. Leading them is Captain Ahab, who was almost killed in an encounter with the "great white whale", Moby Dick, which bit off much of his left leg. Now he is out for revenge. With the crew that has joined him, Ahab is out to destroy the huge sea mammal, but his obsession with vengeance is so great that he cannot turn back, eventually leading to the death of Ahab and all of his crew, save his newest able seaman, Ishmael."

"Based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling, this adventure film follows the exploits of Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) and Danny Dravot (Sean Connery), English military officers stationed in India. Tired of life as soldiers, the two travel to the isolated land of Kafiristan, where they are ultimately embraced by the people and revered as rulers. After a series of misunderstandings, the natives come to believe that Dravot is a god, but he and Carnehan can't keep up their deception forever."

"A festive holiday dinner in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century brings epiphanies for a married couple. At the home of his spinster aunts Kate (Helena Carroll) and Julia (Cathleen Delaney), the socially maladroit Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) and his reserved wife, Gretta (Anjelica Huston), reflect on their marriage, Gretta's memories of her first love and what it means both to live and to love. Director John Huston's final film is a faithful adaptation of the James Joyce short story."

"Elia Kazan's varied life and career is related here in his autobiography. He reveals his working relationships with his many collaborators, including Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, James Dean, John Steinbeck and Darryl Zanuck, and describes his directing "style" as he sees it, in terms of position, movement, pace, rhythm and his own limitations. Kazan also retraces his own decision to inform for the House Un-American Activities Committee, illuminating much of what may be obscured in McCarthy literature." - from the publisher

"Selected by the Los Angeles Times as one of the Best Books of 1999, these never-before-published interviews conducted in the early 1970s prove to be 'an invaluable addition to film scholarship, [which] allows aspiring filmmakers to study the working methods and wisdom of one of our greatest artists.'—Martin Scorsese. Illustrated with 72 photos and 19 original movie posters, this fascinating book conveys the essence of Young's hundreds of hours of interviews with Kazan, featuring a summary of each film plot and a discussion of 18 of the director's films in his own words, concluding with Young's commentary on Kazan's final film, The Last Tycoon." - from the publisher

"When journalist Phil Green (Gregory Peck) moves to New York City, he takes on a high-profile magazine assignment about anti-Semitism. In order to truly view things from an empathetic perspective, he pretends to be a Jew and begins to experience many forms of bigotry, both firsthand and through a Jewish friend, Dave Goldman (John Garfield). Phil soon falls in love with beautiful Kathy Lacy (Dorothy McGuire), but their relationship is complicated by his unusual endeavor."

"Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, this renowned drama follows troubled former schoolteacher Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) as she leaves small-town Mississippi and moves in with her sister, Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter), and her husband, Stanley (Marlon Brando), in New Orleans. Blanche's flirtatious Southern-belle presence causes problems for Stella and Stanley, who already have a volatile relationship, leading to even greater conflict in the Kowalski household."

"Marlon Brando gives the performance of his career as the tough prizefighter-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy in this masterpiece of urban poetry. A raggedly emotional tale of individual failure and social corruption, On the Waterfront follows Terry’s deepening moral crisis as he must decide whether to remain loyal to the mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) and Johnny’s right-hand man, Terry’s brother, Charley (Rod Steiger), as the authorities close in on them. Driven by the vivid, naturalistic direction of Elia Kazan and savory, streetwise dialogue by Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront was an instant sensation, winning eight Oscars®, including for best picture, director, actor, supporting actress (Eva Marie Saint), and screenplay." - from Criterion.com

"A Face in the Crowd chronicles the rise and fall of Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes (Andy Griffith), a boisterous entertainer discovered in an Arkansas drunk tank by Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal), a local radio producer with ambitions of her own. His charisma and cunning soon shoot him to the heights of television stardom and political demagoguery, forcing Marcia to grapple with the manipulative, reactionary monster she has created. Directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Budd Schulberg, this incisive satire features an extraordinary debut screen performance by Griffith, who brandishes his charm in an uncharacteristically sinister role. Though the film was a flop on its initial release, subsequent generations have marveled at its eerily prescient diagnosis of the toxic intimacy between media and politics in American life." - from Criterion.com

"As hard-hitting as its title, Brute Force was one of Jules Dassin’s first forays into the crime genre, a prison melodrama with a scathing critique of the punitive American incarceration system at its heart. Burt Lancaster is the timeworn Joe Collins, who, along with his fellow inmates, lives under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey (a riveting Hume Cronyn). Only Collins’s dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey’s chains? Matter-of-fact and ferocious, Brute Force builds to an explosive climax that shows the lengths men will go to when fighting for their freedom, and asks the question of who society’s real brutes are." - from Criterion.com

"Two-bit hustler Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) longs for 'a life of ease and plenty.' Trailed by an inglorious history of go-nowhere schemes, he tries to hatch a lucrative plan with a famous wrestler. But there is no easy money in this underworld of shifting alliances, bottomless graft, and pummeled flesh—and Fabian soon learns the horrible price of his ambition. Luminously shot in the streets of London while Hollywood blacklisters back home were closing in on director Jules Dassin, Night and the City, also starring Gene Tierney, is film noir of the first order, and one of Dassin’s crowning achievements." - from Criterion.com

"After making such American noir classics as Brute Force and The Naked City, the blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious robbery in the City of Light. Rififi is the ultimate heist movie, a mélange of suspense, brutality, and dark humor that was an international hit, earned Dassin the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and has proven wildly influential on the decades of heist thrillers that have come in its wake." - from Criterion.com

"Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score. When the cocky three-time convict picks the pocketbook of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters), he finds a more spectacular haul than he could have imagined: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. information. Tailed by manipulative Feds and the unwitting courier’s Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, right against Red, and passion against self-preservation. With its dazzling cast and writer-director Samuel Fuller’s signature hard-boiled repartee and raw energy, Pickup on South Street is a true film noir classic by one of America’s most passionate cinematic craftspeople." - from Criterion.com

"The setup is pure pulp: A former prostitute (a crackerjack Constance Towers) relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But in the strange, hallucinatory territory of writer-director-producer Samuel Fuller, perverse secrets simmer beneath the wholesome surface. Featuring radical visual touches, full-throttle performances, brilliant cinematography by Stanley Cortez, and one bizarrely beautiful musical number, The Naked Kiss is among Fuller’s greatest, boldest entertainments." - from Criterion.com

"With films ranging from High Noon to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Stanley Kramer (1913–2001) was one of the most successful and prolific director-producers of his day. But even as critics praised his courage in taking on such issues as nuclear war, racism, fascism, and the battle between science and religion, others condemned his work as 'emptily pretentious' and 'hollow, falsely sentimental, overproduced.' Whether Kramer was 'one of the great filmmakers of all time' (Kevin Spacey at the Golden Globe Awards) or 'one of Hollywood’s worst directors' (preeminent film critic Andrew Sarris in The Village Voice), he had a strong and undeniable influence on American culture during the Cold War. Producer of Controversy is the first book to take a close-up look at Kramer’s career, films, and liberal politics in an effort to explain his contributions and historical significance. Kramer learned filmmaking within the old studio system, but over a career spanning forty years he did much to shape the independent moviemaking that emerged after World War II. Jennifer Frost pays particular attention to four of his key 'message movies'—The Defiant Ones, On the Beach, Inherit the Wind, and Judgment at Nuremberg—to show how Kramer’s controversial films opened up public debate about the most important issues of his time—among average filmgoers as well as professional critics, political commentators, and public figures. In this context, she for the first time fully documents the Hollywood Right’s attacks on Kramer in the 1950s; details his resistance to the anticommunist Red Scare and the Hollywood blacklist; exposes his role as a cultural diplomat with the Soviet Union; and reveals his important contribution to the liberal and radical politics of the 1960s. Her book is at once an absorbing work of cultural history and a thoroughgoing reassessment of Stanley Kramer’s place in the pantheon of American filmmakers." - from the publisher

"This is the classic tale of a lawman who stands alone to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of revenge-seeking criminals. In the greatest showdown in the history of cinema, the lawman stands to lose not only the town but his new wife." "Former marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is preparing to leave the small town of Hadleyville, New Mexico, with his new bride, Amy (Grace Kelly), when he learns that local criminal Frank Miller has been set free and is coming to seek revenge on the marshal who turned him in. When he starts recruiting deputies to fight Miller, Kane is discouraged to find that the people of Hadleyville turn cowardly when the time comes for a showdown, and he must face Miller and his cronies alone."

"In the 1920s, Tennessee schoolteacher Bertram Cates (Dick York) is put on trial for violating the Butler Act, a state law that prohibits public school teachers from teaching evolution instead of creationism. Drawing intense national attention in the media with writer E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) reporting, two of the nation's leading lawyers go head to head: Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March) for the prosecution, and Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) for the defense."

"American judge Daniel Haywood presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of 'legalizing' Nazi atrocities. But as graphic accounts of sterilization and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood into making the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career."

"Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance) are unforgettable as perplexed parents in this landmark 1967 movie about mixed marriage. Joanna (Katharine Houghton), the beautiful daughter of crusading publisher Matthew Drayton (Tracy) and his patrician wife Christina (Hepburn), returns home with her new fiance John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), a distinguished black doctor. Christina accepts her daughter's decision to marry John, but Matthew is shocked by this interracial union; the doctor's parents are equally dismayed. Both families must sit down face to face and examine each other's level of intolerance. In GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, director Stanley Kramer has created a masterful study of society's prejudices." - from Amazon.com

"Innovative film and theater director, radio producer, actor, writer, painter, narrator, and magician, Orson Welles was the last true Renaissance man of the twentieth century. Welles was a master storyteller, as expansive as he was enigmatic. This collection of penetrating and witty conversations between Welles and Peter Bogdanovich includes insights into Welles's radio, theater, film, and television work; Hollywood producers, directors, and stars; and almost everything else, from acting to magic, literature to comic strips, bullfighters to gangsters. The revised edition of this book, which Welles ultimately considered his autobiography, now includes Welles's revealing memo to Universal about his artistic intentions for Touch of Evil." - from the publisher

"George Orson Welles (1915–1985) is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. At just twenty-five years old, he cowrote, produced, directed, and starred in his Academy Award–winning debut film Citizen Kane (1941). His innovative and distinctive directorial style—nonlinear narratives, unusual camera angles, deep focus shots, and long takes—continues to be emulated by directors and cinematographers to this day. The brilliant yet provocative Welles won multiple Grammys, a Golden Globe, and the greatest honor the Directors Guild of America bestowed: the D. W. Griffith Award. His final film, The Other Side of the Wind, was released in 2018, 33 years after his death. In Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles, author Frank Brady presents a comprehensive and complete picture of the artist and auteur. Painstakingly researched, Brady delves into Welles's creative achievements, from his critically acclaimed film Citizen Kane and controversial radio broadcast 'The War of the Worlds' (1938) to his starring turn on Broadway in Shaw's Heartbreak House (for which he made the cover of Time). Brady also explores other notable films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Touch of Evil (1958), and Chimes at Midnight (1965). This all-encompassing work also details the personal side of Welles's life, including his romances with Rita Hayworth and Dolores Del Rio and the confounding tragedy of his final years. Presented is a captivating and compelling encapsulation of the revered and respected artist." - from the publisher

"Through his radio and film works, such as The War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane, Orson Welles became a household name in the United States. Yet Welles's multifaceted career went beyond these classic titles and included lesser-known but nonetheless important contributions to television, theater, newspaper columns, and political activism. Orson Welles in Focus: Texts and Contexts examines neglected areas of Welles's work, shedding light on aspects of his art that have been eclipsed by a narrow focus on his films. By positioning Welles's work during a critical period of his activity (the mid-1930s through the 1950s) in its larger cultural, political, aesthetic, and industrial contexts, the contributors to this volume examine how he participated in and helped to shape modern media. This exploration of Welles in his totality illuminates and expands our perception of his contributions that continue to resonate today." - from the publisher

"David Thomson has brought a lifetime's fascination with Orson Welles and his work to this dazzling biography. Rosebud is written as a story, one that summons up the man and the artist and does justice to the genius and the fraud; the man of the world and the solitary; the spoiled kid and the sage; the infant prodigy; the chronic fabricator of his own legend; the boy who flirted with homosexuals; the ladies' man; the youth who took Broadway and radio by storm, and rocked the nation in 1938 with an airwaves fantasy of invasion; the begetter of the incomparable Citizen Kane. And here, also, is the man who famously 'failed,' the man who made The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, The Trial and Chimes at Midnight. But to Thomson, those allegedly lesser films are the furnishings of another kind of masterpiece, as large and melancholy as Kane's Xanadu. Here Welles reveals himself as at once a monster of self-destruction and a triumph of self-invention.Thomson's view of Welles's 'fall' is vital to his grasp of a profoundly complex character. We see Welles as a genius haunted by boredom and by the inability to believe in anything, as a victim of indiscipline and the helpless pleasures of talk. He is a man who attracts people, spurns them and then finds them guilty of betrayal. And so people like John Houseman, Herman Mankiewicz and Rita Hayworth, along with so many others, come and go, astonished. Rosebud traces a career of endless striving and continuous drama. At the same time, it is a book of astute film commentary that helps us appreciate Kane anew as the masterpiece of what is too often a shallow medium. It is written with an insight, a daring and a flair worthy of its remarkable protagonist." - from the publisher

"Orson Welles’ timeless masterwork is more than a groundbreaking film. Presented here in a magnificent 70th anniversary digital transfer with revitalized digital audio from the highest quality surviving elements, it is also grand entertainment, sharply acted and superbly directed with inspired visual flair. Depicting the controversial life of an influential publishing tycoon, this Best Original Screenplay Academy Award Winner (1941) is rooted in themes of power, corruption, vanity—the American Dream lost in the mystery of a dying man’s last word: 'Rosebud.'" - from Amazon.com

"Orson Welles’s beautiful, nostalgia-suffused second feature—the subject of one of cinema’s greatest missing-footage tragedies—harks back to turn-of-the-twentieth-century Indianapolis, chronicling the inexorable decline of the fortunes of an affluent family. Adapted from an acclaimed Booth Tarkington novel and featuring restlessly inventive camera work and powerful performances from a cast including Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead, the film traces the rifts deepening within the Amberson clan—at the same time as the forces of progress begin to transform the city they once ruled. Though RKO excised over forty minutes of footage, now lost to history, and added an incongruously upbeat ending, The Magnificent Ambersons is an emotionally rich family saga and a masterful elegy for a bygone chapter of American life." - from Criterion.com

"A seaman becomes involved in a complex murder plot when he is hired to work on a yacht. He soon finds himself implicated in the murder, despite his innocence. The film is best remembered for it's climax 'hall of mirrors' scene with a shoot out amidst shards of shattering glass."

"Gloriously cinematic despite its tiny budget, Orson Welles’s Othello is a testament to the filmmaker’s stubborn willingness to pursue his vision to the ends of the earth. Unmatched in his passionate identification with Shakespeare’s imagination, Welles brings his inventive visual approach to this enduring tragedy of jealousy, bigotry, and rage, and also gives a towering performance as the Moor of Venice, alongside Suzanne Cloutier as the innocent Desdemona, and Micheál MacLiammóir as the scheming Iago. Shot over the course of three years in Italy and Morocco and plagued by many logistical problems, this fiercely independent film joins Macbeth and Chimes at Midnight in making the case for Welles as the cinema’s most audacious interpreter of the Bard." - from Criterion.com

"On honeymoon with his new bride, Susan, Mexican-born police officer Mike Vargas agrees to investigate a car bombing. In so doing, he incurs the wrath of local police chief Hank Quinlan, a corrupt, bullying behemoth with a perfect arrest record. Vargas suspects that Quinlan has planted evidence to win his past convictions, and he is not about to let the suspect in the current case be railroaded. Determined to get Vargas out of his hair, Quinlan makes a deal with local crime boss Uncle Joe Grandi to frame Susan on a drug rap. Dissecting the nature of good and evil in a hallucinatory, nightmarish ambiance, this baroque south-of-the-border mystery opens with one of the most remarkably extended long takes in movie history."

"One of Orson Welles' most well-crafted masterpieces, The Trial has been beautifully restored for its 60th anniversary. Based on Franz Kafka's novel, it is a masterclass in tension building and avant-garde filmmaking featuring outstanding performances by Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau and Romy Schneider. One morning, Josef K. is arrested without knowing the charges against him. Completely stunned, K. slowly finds himself trapped in a dehumanised nightmare and realizes he is the victim of a grotesque plot. He is accused by everyone, friends and enemies, until, worn down, he ends up doubting his own innocence." - from Amazon.com

"The crowning achievement of Orson Welles’s extraordinary cinematic career, Chimes at Midnight was the culmination of the filmmaker’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare’s ultimate rapscallion, Sir John Falstaff. Usually a comic supporting figure, Falstaff—the loyal, often soused friend of King Henry IV’s wayward son Prince Hal—here becomes the focus: a robustly funny and ultimately tragic screen antihero played by Welles with looming, lumbering grace. Integrating elements from both Henry IV plays as well as Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, Welles created a gritty and unorthodox Shakespeare film as a lament, he said, “for the death of Merrie England.” Poetic, philosophical, and visceral—with a kinetic centerpiece battle sequence that rivals anything in the director’s body of work—Chimes at Midnight is as monumental as the figure at its heart." - from Criterion.com

"Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In F for Fake, a free-form sort-of documentary by Orson Welles, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully reengages with the central preoccupation of his career: the tenuous lines between illusion and truth, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of the world- renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes—not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, F for Fake is an inspired prank and a clever examination of the essential duplicity of cinema." - from Criterion.com

"Until now, Maya Deren's essays on the art and craft of filmmaking have not been available in a comprehensive volume equally handy for students, film enthusiasts, and scholars. Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film contains all of Deren's essays on her own films as well as more general essays on film theory, the relation of film to dance, various technical aspects of film production, the distinction between amateur and professional filmmaking, and the famous 1946 chapbook titled "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film," which has been reset here for the first time. There are hard-to-find articles written for magazines and art journals, as well as lectures, Q&A sessions, program notes, and manifestoes. This book will be particularly welcomed by the large audience that saw Martina Kudlacek's documentary, "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," during its theatrical release in the U.S. and Europe in 2002. The importance of Maya Deren's films and writings is further evidenced by the American Film Institute having named its highest award for independent filmmaking the 'Maya Deren.'" - from the publisher

"6 short films by surrealist Russian-American filmmaker Maya Deren, the "Mother of the trance film", that evoke and exemplify the American avant-garde film movement of the 1940s and 1950s, studying identity, movement, and freedomMeshes of the afternoon: In this expressionistic "trance film," full of dramatic angles and innovative editing, a woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality.At land: Maya Deren washes up on the shore of the beach, and climbs up a piece of driftwood that leads to a room lit by chandeliers, and one long table filled with men and women over which, seemingly invisible, she crawls.A Study in choreography for camera: An exploration of a man who dances in a forest, and then seems to teleport to the inside of a house because of how continuous his movements are from one place to the next, showing a progression from nature to the confines of society, and back to nature.Ritual in transfigured time: In this surreal silent avant garde film Deren weaves together her interest in dance with the exploration of myth and symbol, using movement and gestural play as a metaphor for courtship, sexual union, and fear of rejection, illuminated by concepts drawn from Greek legend.Meditation on violence: Based on traditional training movements of the Wu-tang and Shaolin schools of Chinese boxing, Deren captures dancer Chao Li Chi performance as she experiments with film time through edited sequences altering between slow motion footage, reversed footage and doubled footage, reversing the film part way through producing a loop that returns to the first sequence.The very eye of night: Dancers, shown in photographic negative, perform a series of ballet moves - solos, pas de deux, larger groupings - the dancers gliding and rotating untroubled by gravity against a slowly changing starfield background."

"Winner of two Oscars®, the romantic comedy that sparkles like diamonds! From the opening strains of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's haunting, Oscar®-winning song 'Moon River,' you'll once again be under the alluring spell of that madcap, carefree New York playgirl known as Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in this 24-carat romantic comedy based of Truman Capote's best-selling novella. George Peppard is the struggling and "sponsored" young writer who finds himself swept into Holly's dizzying, delightfully unstructured lifestyle as she determinedly scours Manhattan for a suitable millionaire to marry. The sparkling special features on this Anniversary Edition DVD only add to the luster of director Blake Edwards' timeless film classic. Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam and Mickey Rooney co-star; Mancini won an additional Academy Award® for his enthralling musical score." - from Amazon.com

"A harrowing tale of an ad executive and his wife whose social drinking spirals out of control. Their lives and marriage degenerate as their alcoholism progresses."

"12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the dissenting member on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. The result is a saga of epic proportions that plays out over a tense afternoon in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature film debuts." - from Criterion.com

"When drifter Valentine Xavier (Marlon Brando) arrives in a southern town, he catches the eye of the married Lady Torrance (Anna Magnani) and the oversexed alcoholic, Carol Cutrere (Joanne Woodward). Both vie for his attention, with Lady Torrance emerging victorious, offering Xavier employment in her general store, while her cancer-stricken husband is bedridden upstairs. After impregnating Lady Torrance and butting heads with friends of her husband, Xavier must make a crucial decision."

"A quiet Connecticut vacation home is the backdrop for domestic decline. Sensitive son Edmund (Dean Stockwell) returns home from spending time at sea to a family in a state of collapse. His father (Ralph Richardson) is an alcoholic miser. His mother, Mary (Katharine Hepburn), is addicted to morphine. His brother, Jamie (Jason Robards), is aggressive and unstable. As Edmund and his brother clash over how to help their mother, she becomes increasingly concerned about Edmund's worsening health." Based on the play by Eugene O'Neill.

"Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton), a psychiatrist who has grown unhappy with his life, takes on the peculiar case of Alan Strang (Peter Firth), a reserved teenager who has been accused of brutally blinding six horses. Dysart slowly unravels Alan's background, learning that he grew up in a strained household with a devoutly religious mother (Joan Plowright) and an atheist father (Colin Blakely). But as Dysart begins to trace the roots of Alan's problems, his own also begin to surface." Based on the play by Peter Shaffer.

"When inexperienced criminal Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) leads a bank robbery in Brooklyn, things quickly go wrong, and a hostage situation develops. As Sonny and his accomplice, Sal Naturile (John Cazale), try desperately to remain in control, a media circus develops and the FBI arrives, creating even more tension. Gradually, Sonny's surprising motivations behind the robbery are revealed, and his standoff with law enforcement moves toward its inevitable end."

"Medical resident Dr. Werner Ernst (James Spader) aspires to help sick people, but is constantly warned by his mentor, Dr. Butz (Albert Brooks), to treat only patients with good insurance coverage. Soon, Ernst must deal with two sisters, Felicia (Kyra Sedgwick) and Connie (Margo Martindale), who are arguing over the proper treatment for their ill father. Although he tries to remain uninvolved, Ernst finds himself attracted to Felicia, though he suspects both women are really after money."

"More than any other filmmaker, Sam Peckinpah opened the door for graphic violence in movies. In this book, Stephen Prince explains the rise of explicit violence in the American cinema, its social effects, and the relation of contemporary ultraviolence to the radical, humanistic filmmaking that Peckinpah practiced. Prince demonstrates Peckinpah's complex approach to screen violence and shows him as a serious artist whose work was tied to the social and political upheavals of the 1960s. He explains how the director's commitment to showing the horror and pain of violence compelled him to use a complex style that aimed to control the viewer's response. Prince offers an unprecedented portrait of Peckinpah the filmmaker. Drawing on primary research materials—Peckinpah's unpublished correspondence, scripts, production memos, and editing notes—he provides a wealth of new information about the making of the films and Peckinpah's critical shaping of their content and violent imagery. This material shows Peckinpah as a filmmaker of intelligence, a keen observer of American society, and a tragic artist disturbed by the images he created. Prince's account establishes, for the first time, Peckinpah's place as a major filmmaker. This book is essential reading for those interested in Peckinpah, the problem of movie violence, and contemporary American cinema." - from the publisher

"In this gritty Western classic, aging outlaw Pike Bishop (William Holden) prepares to retire after one final robbery. Joined by his gang, which includes Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine) and brothers Lyle (Warren Oates) and Tector Gorch (Ben Johnson), Bishop discovers the heist is a setup orchestrated in part by his old partner, Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan). As the remaining gang takes refuge in Mexican territory, Thornton trails them, resulting in fierce gunfights with plenty of casualties."

"One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H* focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons, brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious major, an otherworldly corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse."

"This unorthodox dream western by Robert Altman may be the most radically beautiful film to come out of the New American Cinema. It stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as two newcomers to the raw Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, who join forces to provide the miners with a superior kind of whorehouse experience. The appearance of representatives of a powerful mining company with interests of its own, however, threatens to be the undoing of their plans. With its fascinating flawed characters, evocative cinematography by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, innovative overlapping dialogue, and haunting use of Leonard Cohen songs, McCabe & Mrs. Miller brilliantly deglamorized and revitalized the most American of genres." - from Criterion.com

"Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe faces the most bizarre case of his life, when a friend's apparent suicide turns into a double murder.For The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman successfully transports Philip Marlowe, incarnated by Elliott Gould, to the over-privileged, full-color 70s. Marlowe is lonely and shabby, yet does not seem an anachronism in the contemporary world. Unlike Bogart's Marlowe, this is a not especially tough Marlowe. He's a bright, conscientiously solemn nut, a guy who hopes for the best but expects the worst. This particular Philip Marlowe, despite evidence to the contrary, persists in believing that not all relationships need be opportunistic or squalid." Based on the Raymond Chandler novel.

"This cornerstone of 1970s American moviemaking from Robert Altman is a panoramic view of the country’s political and cultural landscapes, set in the nation’s music capital. Nashville weaves the stories of twenty-four characters—from country star to wannabe to reporter to waitress—into a cinematic tapestry that is equal parts comedy, tragedy, and musical. Many members of the astonishing cast wrote their own songs and performed them live on location, which lends another layer to the film’s quirky authenticity. Altman’s ability to get to the heart of American life via its eccentric byways was never put to better use than in this grand, rollicking triumph, which barrels forward to an unforgettable conclusion." - from Criterion.com

"By 1885, beloved cavalryman Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman) has hired a publicist and producer to help shape and promote his traveling Wild West show, which presents historically inaccurate reenactments of conflicts between U.S. troops and Native Americans. Cody hires Chief Sitting Bull (Frank Kaquitts) to play himself, as a villain, in stagings of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. But, to Cody's dismay, star performer Annie Oakley (Geraldine Chaplin) and spectators both take to Sitting Bull."

"A Hollywood studio executive with a shaky moral compass (Tim Robbins) finds himself caught up in a criminal situation that would be right at home in one of his movie projects, in this biting industry satire from Robert Altman. Mixing elements of film noir with sly insider comedy, The Player, based on a novel by Michael Tolkin, functions as both a nifty stylish murder story and a commentary on its own making, and it is stocked with a heroic supporting cast (Peter Gallagher, Whoopi Goldberg, Greta Scacchi, Dean Stockwell, Fred Ward) and a lineup of star cameos that make for an astonishing Hollywood who’s who. This complexly woven grand entertainment (which kicks off with one of American cinema’s most audacious and acclaimed opening shots) was the film that marked Altman’s triumphant commercial comeback in the early 1990s." - from Criterion.com

"Robert Altman, one of America's most distinctive filmmakers, journeys to England for the first time to create a unique film mosaic with an outstanding ensemble cast. Set in the 1930's, 'Gosford Park' brings a group of pretentious rich and famous together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect."

"As if the result of some strange mass-media fluke, the popular radio program "A Prairie Home Companion" somehow managed to survive the television age to entertain its audience every Saturday night from the stage of the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn. Week after week, hangdog host G.K. serves as unflappable emcee to an amiable hodgepodge of radio-friendly acts that include the likes of popular country duo Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson and singing cowboys the Old Trailhands. This is one show where the under-the-line antics are nearly as entertaining as the program itself. The efforts of down-on-his-luck private dick and backstage doorkeeper Guy Noir discovers the true identity of a mysterious blonde and helps aspiring teen singer Lola to find her true voice before a live audience. There is still plenty of fun and mystery to be had at the old Fitzgerald before the final curtain falls."

" The two-disc Legacy Series edition of To Kill a Mockingbird offers a definitive tribute to this timeless classic and the Hollywood star who embodied its enduring family values. Disco 1 offers the film itself (digitally remastered), along with four features that honor the late Gregory Peck. In an archival clip from the Academy Awards ceremony in 1963, Sophia Loren presents Peck with his Oscar® for Best Actor, and Peck's acceptance speech is characteristically humble and dignified. In accepting his Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1989, Peck recalls an amusing anecdote from fellow actor James Mason to express his appreciation for "the later years" and his intentions to work for as long as he can in the profession he loves. In the posthumous Academy tribute to Peck, daughter Cecilia gives a heartfelt appreciation of Peck's devotion as a father and husband, and it serves as an object lesson to parents everywhere on how consistent involvement in child-raising should be every parent's top priority. As Mary Badham recalls in "Scout Remembers," it was this quality of Peck's that made him a real-life embodiment of Atticus Finch, resulting in a close relationship (in part because Badham had lost her own parents at an early age) that lasted until Peck's death in 2003. The feature-length commentary by director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan Pakula is a bit sparse at times, but it's an essential record of the film's production history." - from Amazon.com

"Academy Award winner Gregory Peck stars as an army scout who rescues a woman (Eva Marie Saint) kidnapped by Apaches 10 years earlier. He takes the woman and her son to his ranch in New Mexico, but the boy's Apache father follows them to retrieve his son, leaving a trail of death in his path. The single-minded Indian and the trained scout, determined to protect the woman and her child, battle to the death in game of cat-and-mouse through the New Mexican chaparral. From the novel by Theodore V. Olsen." - from Amazon.com

"Two green reporters and rivals working for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), research the botched 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex. With the help of a mysterious source, code-named Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), the two reporters make a connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. Despite dire warnings about their safety, the duo follows the money all the way to the top."

"Adapted from William Styron's best-selling novel, this passionate tale of a writer's love for a holocaust survivor is an exhilarating and compelling revelation. Screen favorite Meryl Streep received an Academy Award´ for her portrayal of Sophie Zawistowska in this penetrating drama set in post-World War II Brooklyn. Kevin Kline plays her all-consuming lover, Nathan." - from Amazon.com. Based on the novel by William Styron.

"The Political Mel Brooks analyzes both Mel Brooks's more popular and lesser-known works to explore how his use of parody and satire, his keen sense of the history of Jewish comedic conventions, and his deep awareness of social issues encompass a political project that, while often implicit, nonetheless speaks to the enduring political and social impact of his films. Brooks's work often employs a nuanced political style that acts as a social commentary against those in power and in favor of oppressed and misunderstood persons." - from the publisher

"In the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, erstwhile count Ippolit Vorobyaninov (Ron Moody) has been reduced to being a simple clerk. But, before his mother-in-law dies, she reveals to him and local priest Father Fyodor (Dom DeLuise) that the family jewels, thought lost, are hidden in one of 12 English chairs that once adorned their mansion in Moscow. Partnering with small-time hood Ostap Bender (Frank Langella), Ippolit races to find the loot before Father Fyodor, who wants it for himself."

"Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) learns that he has inherited his infamous grandfather's estate in Transylvania. Arriving at the castle, Dr. Frankenstein soon begins to recreate his grandfather's experiments with the help of servants Igor (Marty Feldman), Inga (Teri Garr) and the fearsome Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). After he creates his own monster (Peter Boyle), new complications ensue with the arrival of the doctor's fiancée, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn)."

"In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the people of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new leader. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend (Gene Wilder) are the only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population."

"In this dialogue-free slapstick comedy, film director Mel Funn (Mel Brooks) travels to the ailing Big Picture Studios to pitch his comeback film: the first feature-length silent movie in many years. Desperate for a hit, the studio chief (Sid Caesar) gives Funn and his cronies, Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Bell (Dom DeLuise), the go-ahead -- but only if they can get big celebrities to act in it. Excited, Funn begins an adventure across the country in his effort to secure superstars for his film."

"Just after becoming the director of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) is greeted by a series of mysterious events. When his colleagues -- including the militaristic and mustachioed Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman) -- become leery of his questions, they accuse him of murder. Thorndyke's own mental health comes into question as he struggles to clear his name in the midst of a crippling bout of a condition known as 'high anxiety.'"

"Human history is traced through a series of vignettes, beginning with cavemen awestruck by their own magnificence. Then Moses (Mel Brooks) receives the tablets containing the "15" commandments, and Emperor Nero (Dom DeLuise) presides over a madcap Rome with his wife, Nympho (Madeline Kahn). Jumping ahead, the Spanish Inquisition softens repression with song and dance, and a few centuries later Madame Defarge (Cloris Leachman) is fomenting revolution in France."

"Frederick Bronski (Mel Brooks) and his adulterous wife, Anna (Anne Bancroft), are a pair of hammy actors running a low-rent theater in Warsaw, Poland. When the Nazis invade, the Bronskis find their theater becoming a makeshift refuge for local Jews and a gateway to the Polish underground. Using their limited acting skills, the members of the theater troupe attempt to deceive the Nazis and lead an escape. Meanwhile, a Polish pilot (Tim Matheson) thinks he has found a spy in England."

"Crusading nobleman Robin of Loxley (Cary Elwes) escapes from prison in Jerusalem and returns home to find that the evil Prince John (Richard Lewis) has confiscated his family estate and is abusing the citizenry. Robin enlists his blind attendant, Blinkin (Mark Blankfield), his friend Will Scarlett O'Hara (Matthew Porretta) and Little John (Eric Allan Kramer) to help regain his home. Robin also hopes to woo the beautiful Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck), but her chastity belt may prove a challenge."

"An engrossing biography of one of the most influential filmmakers in cinematic history, Kubrick grew up in the Bronx, a doctor's son. From a young age he was consumed by photography, chess, and, above all else, movies. He was a self-taught filmmaker and self-proclaimed outsider, and his films exist in a unique world of their own outside the Hollywood mainstream. Kubrick's Jewishness played a crucial role in his idea of himself as an outsider. Obsessed with rebellion against authority, war, and male violence, Kubrick was himself a calm, coolly masterful creator and a talkative, ever-curious polymath immersed in friends and family. Drawing on interviews and new archival material, Mikics for the first time explores the personal side of Kubrick's films."

"Stanley Kubrick is one of our most brilliant, innovative and difficult filmmakers. Norman Kagan's analysis cuts a lucid path through those difficulties. He summarizes the plots of each of Kubrick's films, providing a running commentary as he goes along. He moreover lists thematic obsessions that run through all the films he describes, offering an intriguing sense of Kubrick's career as a whole." - from the publisher

"This expanded edition of Thomas Nelson's trenchant study of a master of film includes new chapters on Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. In the wake of the director's death, Nelson reconsiders his body of work as a whole. By placing Kubrick in a historical and theoretical context, this study is a reliable guide into--and out of--Stanley Kubrick's cinematic maze."

"This book tells how Stanley Kubrick makes films--how he translates his won vision of a story into cinematic terms, finding original ways to use camera angles and camera movement, lighting, composition, depth, and other techniques; and how he edits to achieve jarring juxtapositions, suspense and surprise, a heightened sense of time, and a perfectly crystallized total concept. The book also shows how his films relate to one another. The more than 350 photographs illustrate the visual flow of Paths of Glory, Dr. Strange love, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, as well as the methods used in Killer's Kiss, The Killing, and Lolita." - from the publisher

"Stanley Kubrick Produces provides the first comprehensive account of Stanley Kubrick's role as a producer, and of the role of the producers he worked with throughout his career. It considers how he first emerged as a producer, how he developed the role, and how he ultimately used it to fashion himself a powerbase by the 1970s. It goes on to consider how Kubrick's centralising of power became a self-defeating strategy by the 1980s and 1990s, one that led him to struggle to move projects out of development and into active production. Making use of overlooked archival sources and uncovering newly discovered 'lost' Kubrick projects (The Cop Killer, Shark Safari, and The Perfect Marriage among them), as well as providing the first detailed overview of the World Assembly of Youth film, James Fenwick provides a comprehensive account of Kubrick's life and career and of how he managed to obtain the level of control that he possessed by the 1970s. Along the way, the book traces the rapid changes taking place in the American film industry in the post-studio era, uncovering new perspectives about the rise of young independent producers, the operations of influential companies such as Seven Arts and United Artists, and the whole field of film marketing." - from the publisher

""How do the films of Kubrick communicate mental events of characters in a purely visual manner? And how does the music in his films express meaning when music in essence is an abstract and non-representational art form? Drawing on state-of-the-art discoveries within embodied cognitive science, this book sets out to address these and other questions by revealing Kubrick as a genuine artist of embodied meaning-making, a filmmaker who perhaps more than any other, uses all the resources of filmmaking in such a controlled and dense manner as to elicit the embodied tools necessary to achieve a level of conceptual clarity." - from the publisher

"The work of Stanley Kubrick amounts to a sustained reflection on the male condition: past, present, and future. The persistent theme of his filmmaking is less violence or sex than it is the pressurized exertion of masculinity in unusual or extreme circumstances, where it may be taxed or exaggerated to various effects, tragic and comic--or metamorphosed, distorted, and even undone. The stories that Kubrick's movies tell range from global nuclear politics to the unpredictable sexual dynamics of a marriage; from a day in the life of a New York City prizefighter preparing for a nighttime bout to the evolution of humankind. These male melodramas center on sociality and asociality. They feature male doubles, pairs, and rivals. They explore the romance of men and their machines, and men as machines. They figure intensely conflicted forms of male sexual desire. And they are also very much about male manners, style, taste, and art. Examining the formal, thematic, and theoretical affiliations between Kubrick's three bodies of work--his photographs, his documentaries, and his feature films--Kubrick's Men offers new vantages on to the question of gender and sexuality, including the first extended treatment of homosexuality in Kubrick's male-oriented work." - from the publisher

"In Listening to Stanley Kubrick: The Music in His Films, Christine Lee Gengaro provides an in-depth exploration of the music that was composed for Kubrick's films and places the pre-existent music he utilized into historical context. Gengaro discusses the music in every single work, from Kubrick's first films, including the documentary shorts The Flying Padre and Day of the Fight, through all of his feature films, from Fear and Desire to Eyes Wide Shut. No film is left out; no cue is ignored. Besides closely examining the scores composed by Gerald Fried for Kubrick's early works, Gengaro pays particular attention to five of the director's most provocative and acclaimed films--2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. For each film, she engages the reader by explaining how the music was excerpted (and changed, in some cases), and how the historical facts about a musical piece add layers of meaning--sometimes unintended--to the films." - from the publisher

"During his career Stanley Kubrick became renowned for undertaking lengthy and exhaustive research prior to the production of all his films. In the lead-up to what would eventually become Dr. Strangelove (1964), Kubrick read voraciously and amassed a substantial library of works on the nuclear age. With rare access to unpublished materials, this volume assesses Dr. Strangelove's narrative accuracy, consulting recently declassified Cold War nuclear-policy documents alongside interviews with Kubrick's collaborators. It focuses on the myths surrounding the film, such as the origins and transformation of the "straight" script versions into what Kubrick termed a "nightmare comedy." It assesses Kubrick's account of collaborating with the writers Peter George and Terry Southern against their individual remembrances and material archives. Peter Sellers's improvisations are compared to written scripts and daily continuity reports, showcasing the actor's brilliant talent and variations." - from the publisher

"In 1980 Stanley Kubrick released his masterpiece of modern horror, The Shining. Over 30 years later we're still struggling to understand its hidden meanings. Rodney Ascher's wry and provocative documentary fuses fact and fiction through interviews with both fanatics and scholars, creating a kaleidoscopic deconstruction of Kubrick's still-controversial classic."

"Stanley Kubrick’s account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywood’s tautest, twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson, and a phenomenal cast of character actors, including Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Timothy Carey, Elisha Cook Jr., and Marie Windsor, The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony, it’s Kubrick to the core." - from Criterion.com

"Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is among the most powerful antiwar films ever made. A fiery Kirk Douglas stars as a World War I French colonel who goes head-to-head with the army’s ruthless top brass when his men are accused of cowardice after being unable to carry out an impossible mission. This haunting, exquisitely photographed dissection of the military machine in all its absurdity and capacity for dehumanization (a theme Kubrick would continue to explore throughout his career) is assembled with its legendary director’s customary precision, from its tense trench warfare sequences to its gripping courtroom climax to its ravaging final scene." - from Criterion.com

"Stanley Kubrick directed a cast of screen legends—including Kirk Douglas as the indomitable gladiator that led a Roman slave revolt—in the sweeping epic that defined a genre and ushered in a new Hollywood era. The assured acting, lush Technicolor cinematography, bold costumes, and visceral fight sequences won Spartacus four Oscars; the blend of politics and sexual suggestion scandalized audiences. Today Kubrick's controversial classic, the first film to openly defy Hollywood's blacklist, remains a landmark of cinematic artistry and history." - from Criterion.com

"Stanley Kubrick’s painfully funny take on Cold War anxiety is one of the fiercest satires of human folly ever to come out of Hollywood. The matchless shape-shifter Peter Sellers plays three wildly different roles: Royal Air Force Captain Lionel Mandrake, timidly trying to stop a nuclear attack on the USSR ordered by an unbalanced general (Sterling Hayden); the ineffectual and perpetually dumbfounded U.S. President Merkin Muffley, who must deliver the very bad news to the Soviet premier; and the titular Strangelove himself, a wheelchair-bound presidential adviser with a Nazi past. Finding improbable hilarity in nearly every unimaginable scenario, Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a subversive masterpiece that officially announced Kubrick as an unparalleled stylist and pitch-black ironist." - from Criterion.com

"2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a landmark, science fiction classic - and probably the best science-fiction film of all time about exploration of the unknown. It was released, coincidentally, at the height of the space race between the USSR and the US. It appeared at the same time as NASA's exploratory Apollo Project with manned Earth orbiting missions - a prelude to orbiting and landing on the Moon with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. And it prophetically showed the enduring influence that computers would have in our daily lives. Director Stanley Kubrick's work is a profound, visionary and astounding film (a mysterious Rorschach film-blot) and a tremendous visual experience. This epic film contained more spectacular imagery (about what space looked like) and special effects than verbal dialogue. Viewers are left to experience the non-verbal, mystical vastness of the film, and to subjectively reach into their own subconscious and into the film's pure imagery to speculate about its meaning. Many consider the masterpiece bewildering, boring, slow-moving or annoying, but are still inspired by its story of how man is dwarfed by technology and space." - from Filmsite.com

"Based on the futuristic novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange is a masterwork of cinematic satire. When a flamboyant, Beethoven-obsessed, murderous gang leader agrees to undergo experimental violence-aversion therapy in exchange for early release from prison, he winds up “cured” of his own free will. The film’s highly stylized sets, choreographed brutality, and Moog synthesizer score―conceived to heighten the effect of each scene―were so ahead of their time that, to many, they obscured the overall message. In fact, so much controversy over the violent scenes ensued that the film’s notoriety became, itself, the stuff of legend. From a contemporary perspective, what stands out above all is Kubrick’s extraordinary gift for entertaining us while making us think. To quote Burgess: 'Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him?' The ethical queries so central to this visionary film are every bit as relevant today, and every bit as difficult to answer." - from Amazon.com

"Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis (Matthew Modine), quickly christened "Joker" by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant (R. Lee Ermey), and pudgy Private Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio), nicknamed "Gomer Pyle," as they endure the rigors of basic training. Though Pyle takes a frightening detour, Joker graduates to the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam as a journalist, covering -- and eventually participating in -- the bloody Battle of Hué."

"Cross-cutting between two generations, James Ivory’s sprawling epic of self-discovery is also a lush evocation of the prismatic and sensuous beauty of India. As she searches for answers to the mystery surrounding a long-ago affair between her aunt Olivia (Greta Scacchi) and an Indian prince (Shashi Kapoor), Anne (Julie Christie) becomes immersed in the local culture, the pull of the past simultaneously leading her into a clearer view of her own future. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s screenplay adapts her own novel to great effect, and Richard Robbins provides the haunting score. The film earned the Merchant Ivory team 9 BAFTA nominations and a Palme d'Or nomination at Cannes for director James Ivory." - from Coen Media

"Merchant Ivory Productions, led by director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, became a household name with A Room with a View, the first of their extraordinary adaptations of E. M. Forster novels. A cherubic nineteen-year-old Helena Bonham Carter plays Lucy Honeychurch, a young, independent- minded, upper-class Edwardian woman who is trying to sort out her burgeoning romantic feelings, divided between an enigmatic free spirit (Julian Sands) she meets on vacation in Florence and the priggish bookworm (Daniel Day-Lewis) to whom she becomes engaged back in the more corseted Surrey. Funny, sexy, and sophisticated, this gargantuan art-house hit features a sublime supporting cast–including Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliott, and Maggie Smith–and remains a touchstone of intelligent romantic cinema." - from Criterion.com

"The traditional bildungsroman, or novel of education, ends with a marriage. E.M. Forster's Maurice(1914), the second of his novels to be adapted by Merchant Ivory, takes on a subject that no major novel in the genre had ever addressed: the problem of coming of age as a homosexual in a restrictive society. First published in 1971, after Forster's death, and long neglected by critics, it is only recently (and largely since the release of the film adaptation) that critics have come to set Mauricein its unique place among "Reader, I married him" narratives.Starring James Wilby (Maurice) and Hugh Grant (Clive) as two Cambridge undergraduates who fall in love, the film is set amidst the hypocritical homoerotic subculture of the English university in Forster's time. In an environment in which any reference to " the unspeakable vice of the Greeks" is omitted, and any overture toward a physical relationship between men might be punishable by law, Maurice and Clive struggle to come to terms with their own feelings toward each other and toward a repressive society." - from merchantivory.com

"The pinnacle of the decades-long collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, Howards End is a luminous vision of E. M. Forster’s cutting 1910 novel about class divisions in Edwardian England. Emma Thompson won an Academy Award for her dynamic portrayal of Margaret Schlegel, a flighty yet compassionate middle-class intellectual whose friendship with the dying wife (Vanessa Redgrave) of rich capitalist Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) commences an intricately woven tale of money, love, and death that encompasses the country’s highest and lowest social echelons. With a brilliant, layered script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (who also won an Oscar) and a roster of gripping performances, Howards End is a work of both great beauty and vivid darkness, and one of cinema’s best literary adaptations." - from Criterion.com

"In the entracte between world wars, Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) is the perfect English butler at the estate of the politically-inclined Lord Darlington (James Fox). Stevens's obsessively dutiful, thoroughly unsentimental way of life is challenged with the arrival of the new housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), who is as spirited as she is capable. Stevens's myopic worldview, his unequivocal loyalty to his master, comes to blows with Miss Kenton's sense of moral outrage as Lord Darlington is made an unwitting Nazi pawn. While England wavers between "peace in our time" appeasement and war against Hitler, Darlington Hall becomes the fulcrum upon which the fate of the continent rests and Stevens, who has spent his adult life more concerned with attending to his master than with attending to his own personal happiness, begins to awaken to the possibility of a relationship with Miss Kenton. Based on the 1989 Booker Prize winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. The Remains of the Day is told in a series of flashbacks as Stevens, near the end of his life, makes a trip across the English countryside for a meeting that he hopes might reconcile his past mistakes." - from merchantivory.com

"With the idiosyncratic American fable Harold and Maude, countercultural director Hal Ashby fashioned what would become the cult classic of its era. Working from a script by Colin Higgins, Ashby tells the story of the emotional and romantic bond between a death-obsessed young man (Bud Cort) from a wealthy family and a devil-may-care, bohemian octogenarian (Ruth Gordon). Equal parts gallows humor and romantic innocence, Harold and Maude dissolves the line between darkness and light along with the ones that separate people by class, gender, and age, and it features indelible performances and a remarkable soundtrack by Cat Stevens." - from Criterion.com

"Jack Nicholson is at his very best in this highly-acclaimed dramatic comedy about three sailors on the loose. Two hard-boiled career petty officers, Buddusky (Nicholson) and Mulhall (Otis Young), aredetailed to take a young sailor, Meadows (Randy Quaid), from a Virginia Naval Base to a New Hampshire Naval Prison to serve an eight-year sentence for a trivial offense. Buddusky and Mulhall take a liking to Meadows and are determined to show him a good time on their journey north. Their escapades begin in Washington where they narrowly escape a bar fight, then get blind drunk in their hotel room. In New York, they tangle with some Marines, and in Boston, Buddusky takes Meadows to a brothel forhis first sexual experience. Finally, after reluctantly turning in Meadows, Buddusky and Mulhall realize they are as much prisoners of their own world as Meadows now is of his." - from Amazon.com

"Shampoo gives us a day in the life of George (Warren Beatty), a Beverly Hills hairdresser and lothario who runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying to make heads or tails of his financial and romantic entanglements. His attempts to scrape together the money to open his own salon are continually sidetracked by the distractions presented by his lovers—played brilliantly by Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, and Lee Grant (in an Oscar-winning performance). Beatty dreamed up the project, cowrote the script with Robert Towne, and enlisted Hal Ashby as director, and the resulting carousel of doomed relationships is an essential seventies farce, a sharp look back at the sexual politics and self-absorption of the preceding decade." - from Criterion.com

"In one of his most finely tuned performances, Peter Sellers plays the pure-hearted, childlike Chance, a gardener who is forced into the wilds of Washington, D.C., when his wealthy guardian dies. Shocked to discover that the real world doesn’t respond to the click of a remote, Chance stumbles into celebrity after being taken under the wing of a tycoon (Melvyn Douglas, in an Oscar-winning performance), who mistakes his protégé’s horticultural mumblings for sagacious pronouncements on life and politics, and whose wife (Shirley MacLaine) targets Chance as the object of her desire. Adapted from a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, this satire, both deeply melancholy and hilarious, is the culmination of Hal Ashby’s remarkable string of films in the 1970s, and a carefully modulated examination of the ideals, anxieties, and media-fueled delusions that shaped American culture during that decade." - from Criterion.com

“American Dreaming is an intense and intriguing exploration of the films of John Cassavetes, whom author Raymond Carney heralds as 'America’s greatest, yet most astonishingly neglected and misunderstood, filmmaker.' According to Carney, no one has ever undertaken a study of Cassavetes’ work before, because the actor–director’s films neither look nor feel like other movies. In order to appreciate the man, says Carney, we must free ourselves from ‘prefabricated structures and codes of understanding, including, but not limited to, the systems of meaning most critics look for and describe in works of art.’ What emerges is a complex portrait of an iconoclast who acts in studio productions primarily to finance his own independent films, a man Carney sums up as ‘our noblest, most inspiring, and truest historian of the American experience.’ While one may dispute that assessment, American Dreaming does spark a desire to review Cassavetes’ films, and therein lies one of the biggest frustrations of the book. With the exception of Gloria, available on videocassette, the films discussed are rarely screened.” - Kathryn Jankowski, SF Chronicle Sunday, qtd. on author's website

"This uncompromising portrait of domestic turmoil details the emotional breakdown of a suburban housewife and her family’s struggle to save her from herself. Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk give unforgettably harrowing performances as a married couple deeply in love but unable to express their ardor in terms the other can understand. This landmark American film is perhaps the most beloved work from the extraordinary John Cassavetes." - from Criterion.com

"John Cassavetes engages with film noir in his own inimitable style with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara brilliantly portrays a gentleman’s club owner, Cosmo Vitelli, desperately committed to maintaining a facade of suave gentility despite the seediness of his environment and his own unhealthy appetites. When he runs afoul of loan sharks, Cosmo must carry out a terrible crime or lose his way of life. Mesmerizing and idiosyncratic, the film is a provocative examination of masculine identity." - from Criterion.com

"The indefatigable Clint Eastwood, the great old man of American film, is still controversial after all these years. Many of the critical essays in this collection focus on Eastwood’s 2014 American Sniper, a particularly controversial film and a devastating personal account of the horrors of war. Additional essays within the collection address his films that deserve more recognition than they have received to date. The chapters vary by topic and identify themes ranging from aging, race, and gender to uses of Western conventions and myth to the subtleties of quieter themes and stylistic choices in Eastwood’s body of cinematic work. As a collection, these essays show that none of these themes account for Eastwood’s entire vision, which is multifaceted and often contradictory, dramatizing complex issues in powerful, character-driven narratives." - from the publisher

"In Hold It Real Still, Lawrence Jackson examines Clint Eastwood's influence on the western film while also exploring how that genre continues to operate into the twenty-first century as an ideological channel for ideas about race and imperialism. Jackson argues that the western genre pivoted from an initial doctrine of racial liberalism, albeit a clumsy one, during the John Wayne years to a motile agenda of substitution, exclusion, and false equivalency during the Clint Eastwood period. The book traces how Eastwood, an actor first associated with the avant-garde, anti-colonialist discourse of "'spaghetti' western cinema, reversed himself in the second half of the 1970s with The Outlaw Josey Wales—a film that had at its heart the fantasy of Black erasure from American life. Jackson situates Eastwood's work as a response to massive social and political upheavals in America: defeat in Vietnam, riots in northern cities, the civil rights movement and associated legislation, and the Great Migration, which made possible a degree of mixed-race public interaction that was impossible even as late as the 1960s. Hinged by a close reading of four blockbuster films which continue to shape discourses in cinematic arts, American liberalism, the westerns, and race relations today—The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Josey Wales, Ride with the Devil, and Django Unchained—Jackson's unique critique flashes on the contradictory symbolic structures at work in these masterpieces. Juxtaposing the films' motifs, tropes, and hidden Black figures with historicist readings lays bare the containment strategies of the 1970s and beyond used to stymie civil rights progress and racial equity in the United States. Tackling the rise of neoracism and the domestic apparatus of surveillance, control, and erasure, Hold It Real Still offers an astonishing revision of what audiences and critics thought they understood about a uniquely American genre of film." - from the publisher

"In this risk-taking book, a major feminist philosopher engages the work of the actor and director who has progressed from being the stereotypical 'man’s man' to pushing the boundaries of the very genres―the Western, the police thriller, the war or boxing movie―most associated with American masculinity. Cornell’s highly appreciative encounter with the films directed by Clint Eastwood revolve around the questions “What is it to be a good man?” and 'What is it to be, not just an ethical person, but specifically an ethical man?' Focusing on Eastwood as a director rather than as an actor or cultural icon, she studies Eastwood in relation to major philosophical and ethical themes that have been articulated in her own life’s work. In her fresh and revealing readings of the films, Cornell takes up pressing issues of masculinity as it is caught up in the very definition of ideas of revenge, violence, moral repair, and justice. Eastwood grapples with this involvement of masculinity in and through many of the great symbols of American life, including cowboys, boxing, police dramas, and ultimately war―perhaps the single greatest symbol of what it means (or is supposed to mean) to be a man. Cornell discusses films from across Eastwood’s career, from his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me to Million Dollar Baby. Cornell’s book is not a traditional book of film criticism or a cinematographic biography. Rather, it is a work of social commentary and ethical philosophy. In a world in which we seem to be losing our grip on shared symbols, along with community itself, Eastwood’s films work with the fragmented symbols that remain to us in order to engage masculinity with the most profound moral and ethical issues facing us today." - from the publisher

"After a gang of men unsuccessfully attempts to lynch him for a cattle rustling crime he did not commit, Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is saved by marshal Dave Bliss (Ben Johnson) and judge Adam Fenton (Pat Hingle). The lawmen offer him a job as a federal marshal with the caveat that he not abuse his new power to seek revenge against his tormentors. But, when Cooper finds that some of the men who attacked him are involved in another set of crimes, he fights to bring them to justice."

"The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers (Antonio Prieto, Benny Reeves, Sieghardt Rupp) and sheriff John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy). When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit."

"In the Wild West, a murderous outlaw known as El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte) and his gang are terrorizing and robbing the citizens of the region. With a bounty on El Indio's head, two bounty hunters, Monco (Clint Eastwood) and Col. Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), come to collect the prize. Upon their first meeting, the two men view each other as rivals, but they eventually agree to become partners in their mutual pursuit of the vicious criminal."

"In the Southwest during the Civil War, a mysterious stranger, Joe (Clint Eastwood), and a Mexican outlaw, Tuco (Eli Wallach), form an uneasy partnership -- Joe turns in the bandit for the reward money, then rescues him just as he is being hanged. When Joe's shot at the noose goes awry during one escapade, a furious Tuco tries to have him murdered. The men re-team abruptly, however, to beat out a sadistic criminal and the Union army and find $20,000 that a soldier has buried in the desert."

"Director Clint Eastwood, a noted jazz aficionado, directs this heartfelt study of pioneering bop saxophonist Charlie Parker (Forest Whitaker). Moving forward and backward through Parker's brief life before his death of a heroin overdose at age 34, the film foregrounds the saxophonist's difficult relationship with his wife, Chan Parker (Diane Venora), but also features lengthy scenes of Parker improvising on stage, lit with the neon and cigarette smoke of vintage jazz clubs."

"Bill Munny, a retired, once ruthless killer-turned-hog farmer, is flat broke. A widower with two young children to tend to, he feels he has no choice but to accept one last bounty hunter mission to find and kill two young gunslingers who brutalized and cut up the face of a local prostitute. Bill teams up with his old partner Ned and the cocky greenhorn, The Schofield Kid. The three men soon find out this bounty has many more obstacles to overcome besides just finding and killing the gunslingers. Little Bill is the town sheriff of Old Whiskey who keeps a tight hold on what goes on in his town and outlaws all firearms within the city limits. He has little respect for assassins and hired guns, and enforces his law with the most brutal of measures."

"Academy Award winners Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman star in this gritty drama of a veteran boxing trainer, his former boxing cohort--and the woman who strides into his gym and announces she intends to become a professional fighter, a Million Dollar Baby. Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) has never had much, but she knows what she wants and she will do whatever it takes to get it. In a life of constant struggle, Maggie has gotten by on raw talent, unshakeable focus and a tremendous force of will--which persuade Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), against his better judgment, to train someone who's both female and too old to begin a career. With Dunn's experience and Fitzgerald's talent and determination, the boxer finds herself on track to be the first female to win one million dollars in prize money. But the risks are high, the odds long and the ring unforgiving--as Dunn and Fitzgerald will discover--in this lacerating, knockdown drama." - from Warnerbros.com

"In February and March of 1945, U.S. troops fight and win one of the most crucial and costly battles of the war on the island of Iwo Jima. A photo of U.S. servicemen raising the flag on Mount Suribachi becomes an iconic symbol of victory to a war-weary nation. The individuals themselves become heroes, though not all survive the war and realize it."

"In 1945, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform what was predicted to be a quick and bloody defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and resourceful combat."

"A Korean War vet stops a young Hmong teen from stealing his prized car, and reluctantly proceeds to reform the boy, learning about himself along the way."

"In 1994, having been released from his long imprisonment, Nelson Mandela is elected as the first president of post-apartheid South Africa. Racial tension runs high, even in the president's offices, and especially among the members of his half black, half Afrikaner security team. As hosts of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, South Africa's low ranked national team, the Springboks, have a berth in the tournament. Mandela begins making public appearances supporting the team, and meets privately with captain Francois Pienaar, encouraging him to inspire his teammates to victory. The Springboks' new slogan is 'One team, One nation.' President Mandela is betting that if they win the Cup, it might even be a bit true."

"U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission: to protect his brothers-in-arms. His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield. However, his reputation is also growing behind enemy lines, putting a price on his head and making him a prime target of insurgents. He is also facing a different kind of battle on the home front: striving to be a good husband and father from halfway around the world."

"The world is first introduced to Richard Jewell as the security guard who reports finding the device at the 1996 Atlanta bombing, his report making him a hero whose swift actions save countless lives. But within days, the law enforcement wannabe becomes the FBI's number one suspect, vilified by press and public alike, and his life ripped apart. Reaching out to independent, anti-establishment attorney Watson Bryant, Jewell staunchly professes his innocence."

"A magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges--some of the worst largely unknown until now--by the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back. Mike Nichols burst onto the scene as a wunderkind without parallel: while still in his 20's, he was half of a lucrative hit improv duo with Elaine May that was the talk of the country. Next he directed four hit Broadway plays, picking up the Best Director Tony for three of them, and by his mid-30's the first two films he directed, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate, were the highest-grossing movies of 1966 and 1967 respectively, and The Graduate had won him an Oscar for Best Director. Well before his 40th birthday, Nichols lived in a sprawling penthouse on Central Park West, drove a Rolls Royce, collected Arabian horses, and counted the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Avedon and the Aga Khan as good friends. Where he had arrived is even more astonishing given where he began: born Igor Peschkowsky to a Jewish couple in Berlin in 1931, he and his younger brother were sent alone to America on a ship in 1939. Their father, who had gone ahead to find work, was waiting for them; their mother would follow, in the nick of time. His name changed by his father to "Michael Nichols," the young boy caught very few breaks: his parents were now destitute, and his father died when Mike was just 11, leaving his mentally unstable mother alone and overwhelmed. Perhaps most cruelly, Nichols was completely bald: as a small child an allergic reaction to an immunization shot had caused total and permanent hair loss. His parents claimed they could not afford to buy him even a cheap wig until he was almost in high school. Mark Harris gives an intimate and even-handed accounting of success and failure alike; the portrait is not always flattering, but its ultimate impact is to present the full story of one of the most richly interesting, complicated, and consequential figures the worlds of theater and motion pictures have ever seen. It is a triumph of the biographer's art." - from the publisher

"The oral history of Angels in America, as told by the artists who created it and the audiences forever changed by it--a moving account of the AIDS era, essential queer history, and an exuberant backstage tale. When Tony Kushner's Angels in America hit Broadway in 1993, it won the Pulitzer Prize, swept the Tonys, launched a score of major careers, and changed the way gay lives were represented in popular culture. Mike Nichols's 2003 HBO adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, and Mary-Louise Parker was itself a tour de force, winning Golden Globes and eleven Emmys, and introducing the play to an even wider public. This generation-defining classic continues to shock, move, and inspire viewers worldwide. Now, on the 25th anniversary of that Broadway premiere, Isaac Butler and Dan Kois offer the definitive account of Angels in America in the most fitting way possible: through oral history, the vibrant conversation and debate of actors (including Streep, Parker, Nathan Lane, and Jeffrey Wright), directors, producers, crew, and Kushner himself. Their intimate storytelling reveals the on- and offstage turmoil of the play's birth--a hard-won miracle beset by artistic roadblocks, technical disasters, and disputes both legal and creative. And historians and critics help to situate the play in the arc of American culture, from the staunch activism of the AIDS crisis through civil rights triumphs to our current era, whose politics are a dark echo of the Reagan '80s. Expanded from a popular Slate cover story and built from nearly 250 interviews, The World Only Spins Forward is both a rollicking theater saga and an uplifting testament to one of the great works of American art of the past century, from its gritty San Francisco premiere to its starry, much-anticipated Broadway revival in 2018." - from the publisher

"A collection of comedy skits completely improvised at the recording session."

"History professor George (Richard Burton) and his boozy wife, Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), return late one Saturday night from a cocktail party at the home of the college president, Martha's father. Martha announces that she invited another couple, newly appointed instructor Nick (George Segal) and his timid wife, Honey (Sandy Dennis), over for a nightcap. When the younger couple arrive, the night erupts into a no-holds-barred torrent of marital angst and verbal tirades." Based on the play by Edward Albee.

"One of the most beloved American films of all time, The Graduate earned Mike Nichols a best director Oscar, brought the music of Simon & Garfunkel to a wider audience, and introduced the world to a young actor named Dustin Hoffman. Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) has just finished college and is already lost in a sea of confusion and barely contained angst when he becomes sexually involved with a friend of his parents’, the indomitable Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), before turning his attention to her college-age daughter (Katharine Ross). Visually imaginative and impeccably acted, with a clever, endlessly quotable script by Buck Henry (based on the novel by Charles Webb), The Graduate had the kind of cultural impact that comes along only once in a generation." - from Criterion.com

"This scathing war satire follows Capt. John Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a pilot stationed in the Mediterranean who flies bombing missions during World War II. Attempting to cope with the madness of armed conflict, Yossarian struggles to find a way out of his wartime reality. Surrounded by eccentric military officers, such as the opportunistic 1st Lt. Milo Minderbinder (Jon Voight), Yossarian must resort to extreme measures to escape his dire and increasingly absurd situation." Based on the novel by Joseph Heller.

"Professor Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson), an expert on the work of 17th-century British poet John Donne, has spent her adult life contemplating religion and death as literary motifs. Diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, she consents to an aggressive and experimental form of chemotherapy administered by Dr. Kelekian (Christopher Lloyd) and his assistant, Dr. Posner (Jonathan M. Woodward), her former student. Facing death on a personal level, she reflects on her life and work."

"Set in 1985. Revolves around two very different men with AIDS, one fictional, one fictionalized. Roy Cohn personifies all the hypocrisy, delusion and callousness of the official response to the plague. Nothing shakes Roy's lack of empathy: even on his death bed, he's fighting with his gay nurse and taunting the woman he helped put to death, Ethel Rosenberg. The other patient is Prior Walter, who is visited by an angel and deserted by his self-pitying lover, Louis. Louis moves on to a relationship with Joe Pitt, a Mormon lawyer whose closeted homosexuality drives his wife to delusions and brings his mother to New York." Based on the play by Tony Kushner.

"Working completely outside the mainstream, the wildly prolific, visionary Stan Brakhage made more than 350 films over a half century. Challenging all taboos in his exploration of "birth, sex, death, and the search for God," he has turned his camera on explicit lovemaking, childbirth, even autopsy. Many of his most famous works pursue the nature of vision itself and transcend the act of filming. Some, including the legendary Mothlight, were made without using a camera at all, as he pioneered the art of making images directly on film, by drawing, painting, and scratching. Criterion is proud to present twenty-six masterworks by Stan Brakhage." - from Criterion.com

"On a seemingly ordinary day, Joe Turner (Robert Redford), a quiet CIA codebreaker, walks into his workplace and finds that all of his coworkers have been murdered. Horrified, Joe flees the scene and tries to tell his supervisors about the tragedy. Unfortunately, he soon learns that CIA higher-ups were involved in the murders. With no one to trust, and a merciless hit man (Max von Sydow) close on his tail, Joe must somehow survive long enough to figure out why his own agency wants him dead."

"In Tootsie, Michael Dorsey lands the role of a lifetime—as did the actor playing him, Dustin Hoffman. This multilayered comedy from Sydney Pollack follows the elaborate deception of a down-on-his-luck New York actor who poses as a woman to get a soap opera gig; while “Dorothy Michaels” skyrockets to fame, Michael finds himself learning to be a better man. Given support by a stellar cast that includes Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Teri Garr, George Gaynes, Bill Murray, and, in a breakthrough performance, Jessica Lange, Tootsie is a funny, cutting, and poignant film from an American moment defined by shifting social and sexual identities." - Criterion.com

"The most acclaimed motion picture of 1985 stars Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in one of the screen's great epic romances. Directed by Oscar® winner Sydney Pollack, Out of Africa is the fascinating true story of Karen Blixen, a strong-willed woman who, with her philandering husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer), runs a coffee plantation in Kenya, circa 1914. To her astonishment, she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious white hunter (Redford). The masterfully crafted, breathtakingly produced story of love and loss earned Oscars® for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (based on material from another medium), Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction (Set Decoration) and Sound."

"Jack Weil (Robert Redford), a professional gambler, enjoys the hedonistic lifestyle of Batista's Cuba, where he is organizing a crucial poker game that could make or break him. He meets seductive Bobby Duran (Lena Olin) and is surprised that she, a wealthy woman, is aiding Fidel Castro and his communist rebels. Apolitical Jack doesn't usually take sides, but after Bobby and her husband, Arturo (Raul Julia), are arrested, he contemplates risking everything to help their cause."

"The first independent investigation of Woody Allen, our era's most celebrated, distinctive, and confounding filmmaker, reveals the controversial private life behind the icon. Until now, there has been little scrutiny of that life. The reason: Woody viewed biographers as the Ebola plague, dangerous, uncontrollable contagions that might squish his public persona into mousse. Allen's prolific achievements are all but unparalleled in cinematic history. To fans, his films have always represented an ongoing autobiography, through which he has bared his self-deprecating overanalytical soul to the world. It was not until 1992, when his stormy private life turned into sensational headlines, that the cracks in the familiar persona appeared. The lines separating art and fact, myth and reality, public and private life, became increasingly blurred. Marion Meade has tracked down scores of people in Allen's life who have never before spoken to an Allen biographer: boyhood pals; Brooklyn neighbors and teachers; colleagues Buddy Hackett and Mel Brooks from his early career as a television writer and stand-up comic; actors Maureen Stapleton, Max von Sydow, and Bob Hope; director Sydney Pollack; and the film reviewers who have followed his career for decades -- Vincent Canby, Roger Ebert, Stanley Kauffmann, Andrew Sarris, and John Simon. She also details the numerous examples of art imitating life in Allen's films, particularly the extraordinary saga behind his marriage to the adopted daughter of his long-time lover, Mia Farrow. In reconstructing Allen's life, Meade explores the cult of celebrity in America -- how it is our own infatuation with the rich and famous that has made it possible for this supremely talented man to shrewdly manipulate both the media and the moviegoing public." - from the publisher

"Farce elicits an immediate, elemental response from all age levels, cutting across national and intellectual boundaries. It dates back to people’s first attempts to scoff in public at whatever their neighbors cherished in private: social prestige, eccentricities, virtues that are vices, friendships, and enmities. Albert Bermel, teacher, writer, and translator of farce, takes readers on an instructive and hilarious voyage from the classical Greek stage through English Restoration and French farce, to the young Hollywood of Mack Sennett, Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, the other silent farceurs of the Jazz Age, and on to W. C. Fields, Mae West, Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Monty Python—including other greats along the way like Hope and Crosby, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx Brothers." - from the publisher

"Directors Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Spike Lee emerged as filmmakers toward the end of the 1960s, when the breakdown of the studio system paved the way for new production partnerships and gave more creative authority to directors, actors, and writers. In what has come to be called the “Indie” movement, these directors were able to explore ethno-racial themes with more frankness than previously allowed. From the perspectives of their own minority communities, Scorsese, Allen, and Lee dramatized and critiqued the challenges this restless, ethno-racial underclass posed to the 'White Republic' imagined by the Founding Fathers. The three directors whose work is at the heart of this book explore the question of how identity formation is a process of negotiation, particularly among America’s ethno-racial minorities. They emphasize the stresses related to the double burden in the assimilative process of patterning oneself after the majoritarian culture, while acknowledging in complex ways the culture of the community of origin. Annie Hall tells Alvie Singer, 'you’re a real Jew.' Buggin’ Out instructs his homeboy friend, 'Stay Black, Mookie!' What implications do these phrases carry? Will Alvie have a chance to modify his identity? Should he? Will Mookie honor his friend’s admonition? Is 'black' also susceptible to a cultural makeover? Is identity a personal choice? This book highlights how various films by these three directors explore the ways in which 'cultural capital' (musical, artistic, intellectual, athletic, etc.) is used to erase 'ethno-racial taint' (skin tones, supposed biological “traits,” offensive cultural habits). The formula ordains that assimilation and interculturation will be asymmetrical, favoring those groups or individuals who bring with them the most cultural capital." - from the publisher

"Without Feathers is one of Woody Allen's best-known books, spending four months on the New York Times Best Seller List. It is a collection of essays and two one-act plays, Death and God." - from Wikipedia

"Annie Hall is one of the truest, most bittersweet romances on film. In it, Allen plays a thinly disguised version of himself: Alvy Singer, a successful--if neurotic--television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (the wholesomely luminous Dianne Keaton) is a Midwestern transplant who dabbles in photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate--if repressed. Alone in her apartment for the first time, Alvy and Annie navigate a minefield of self-conscious "is-this-person-someone-I'd-want-to-get-involved-with?" conversation. As they speak, subtitles flash their unspoken thoughts: the likes of 'I'm not smart enough for him' and 'I sound like a jerk.' Despite all their caution, they connect, and we're swept up in the flush of their new romance. Allen's antic sensibility shines here in a series of flashbacks to Alvy's childhood, growing up, quite literally, under a rumbling roller coaster. His boisterous Jewish family's dinner table shares a split screen with the WASP-y Hall's tight-lipped holiday table, one Alvy has joined for the first time. His position as outsider is uncontestable he looks down the table and sizes up Annie's 'Grammy Hall' as 'a classic Jew-hater.' The relationship arcs, as does Annie's growing desire for independence. It quickly becomes clear that the two are on separate tracks, as what was once endearing becomes annoying. Annie Hall embraces Allen's central themes--his love affair with New York (and hatred of Los Angeles), how impossible relationships are, and his fear of death. But their balance is just right, the chemistry between Allen's worry-wart Alvy and Keaton's gangly, loopy Annie is one of the screen's best pairings. It couldn't be more engaging." - Susan Benson, Amazon.com

"Director Woody Allen's love letter to New York City stars Allen as frustrated television writer Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced malcontent facing middle age alone after his wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), leaves him for a woman. Isaac is dating fresh-faced Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), a high school girl he knows is wrong for him, and begins to wonder if he and brainy writer Mary (Diane Keaton), the mistress of his best friend, Yale (Michael Murphy), might make a better couple."

"This spoof of documentary films stars Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, the famous 'Chameleon Man' of the 1920's, whose personality was so vague he would assume the characteristics of whomever he came into contact with. Filmed in black-and-white, the movie simulates the look of a newsreel, complete with stentorian narration."

"The eldest daughter of show-biz parents, Hannah is a devoted wife, loving mother, and successful actress. A loyal supporter of her two aimless sisters Lee and Holly, she's also the emotional backbone of a family that seems to resent her stability almost as much as they depend on it. But when Hannah's perfect world is quietyly sabotaged by sibling rivalry, she finally begins to see that she's as lost as everyone else, and in order to find herself, she'll have to choose -- between the independence her family can't live with ... and the family she can't live without."

"Judah (Martin Landau) is a philandering eye doctor who wants to preserve his marriage, and his dangerous brother Jack (Jerry Orbach) comes up with what appears to be the only viable solution. Certain that his mistress (Anjelica Huston) is about to tell his wife (Claire Bloom) about his affair, Judah agrees to Jack's murderous plan. Twinned with Judah's tale is that of Cliff Stern (Woody Allen), a documentary filmmaker whose problems, which involve love and art, are tame but funny."

"Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), he has taken to touring the city alone. On one such late-night excursion, Gil encounters a group of strange -- yet familiar -- revelers, who sweep him along, apparently back in time, for a night with some of the Jazz Age's icons of art and literature. The more time Gil spends with these cultural heroes of the past, the more dissatisfied he becomes with the present."

"A middle-aged man dealing with both unemployment and divorce, William Foster (Michael Douglas) is having a bad day. When his car breaks down on a Los Angeles highway, he leaves his vehicle and begins a trek across the city to attend his daughter's birthday party. As he makes his way through the urban landscape, William's frustration and bitterness become more evident, resulting in violent encounters with various people, including a vengeful gang and a dutiful veteran cop (Robert Duvall)."

"Fast-paced thriller, based on the John Grisham bestseller, about a boy whose life is endangered after he stumbles across vital information about a politician's murder. His lawyer is the only person offering protection from the unwanted attentions of the Mob and the FBI - but is she capable of saving his life?"

"Batman (Val Kilmer) faces off against two foes: the schizophrenic, horribly scarred former District Attorney Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), and the Riddler (Jim Carrey), a disgruntled ex-Wayne Enterprises inventor seeking revenge against his former employer by unleashing his brain-sucking weapon on Gotham City's residents. As the caped crusader also deals with tortured memories of his parents' murder, he has a new romance, with psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman)."

"This superhero adventure finds Batman (George Clooney) and his partner, Robin (Chris O'Donnell), attempting to the foil the sinister schemes of a deranged set of new villains, most notably the melancholy Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who wants to make Gotham into an arctic region, and the sultry Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), a plant-loving femme fatale. As the Dynamic Duo contends with these bad guys, a third hero, Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), joins the ranks of the city's crime-fighters."

"Deep in the passageways below the Paris Opera lives a lonely, talented, horribly disfigured man who revels in terrorizing the theater's employees as The Phantom of the Opera. But when the masked Phantom sees young Christine Daaé, his heart melts. He secretly trains her, transforms her into a star ... and loves her. But when she cannot return his affection, as her heart already belongs to another, all the pain that the Phantom has held within is revealed with horrifying results." - from warnerbros.com

"Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, this mob drama, based on Mario Puzo's novel of the same name, focuses on the powerful Italian-American crime family of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). When the don's youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), reluctantly joins the Mafia, he becomes involved in the inevitable cycle of violence and betrayal. Although Michael tries to maintain a normal relationship with his wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), he is drawn deeper into the family business."

"Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired by a mysterious client's brusque aide (Harrison Ford) to tail a young couple, Mark (Frederic Forrest) and Ann (Cindy Williams). Tracking the pair through San Francisco's Union Square, Caul and his associate Stan (John Cazale) manage to record a cryptic conversation between them. Tormented by memories of a previous case that ended badly, Caul becomes obsessed with the resulting tape, trying to determine if the couple are in danger."

"In what is undeniably one of the best sequels ever made, Francis Ford Coppola continues his epic Godfather trilogy with this saga of two generations of power withing the Corleone family." "The compelling sequel to 'The Godfather'" contrasting the life of Corleone father and son. Traces the problems of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in 1958 and that of a young immigrant Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) in 1917's Hell's Kitchen. Michael survives many misfortunes and Vito is introduced to a life of crime."

"Francis Ford Coppola's groundbreaking classic - with 49 minutes of additional footage in the APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX edition!" - Amazon.com

"Secret ops assassin Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent on a mission up a river during the Vietnam War to 'terminate with extreme prejudice' the errant Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). In addition to being re-edited with the new footage, the film has been completely restored, converted to digital, and reprinted by dye-transfer, improving color reproduction." Loose adaption of Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness.

"A teen gang in rural Oklahoma, the Greasers are perpetually at odds with the Socials, a rival group. When Greasers Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio) get into a brawl that ends in the death of a Social member, the boys are forced to go into hiding. Soon Ponyboy and Johnny, along with the intense Dallas (Matt Dillon) and their other Greaser buddies, must contend with the consequences of their violent lives. While some Greasers try to achieve redemption, others meet tragic ends." Adapted from the novel by S.E. Hinton.

"In the final installment of the epic Corleone trilogy, Al Pacino reprises his role as powerful family leader Michael Corleone. Now in his 60s, Michael is consumed with guilt for his past deeds while he plans his family's re-emergence as a completely legitimate corporation in this exciting, long-awaited film."

"Few mainstream filmmakers have as pronounced a disregard for the supposed rules of filmmaking as Martin Scorsese. His inventiveness displays a reaction against the “right” way to make a movie, frequently eschewing tradition in favor of something flashy and unexpected. Despite this, he’s become one of the most influential directors of the last fifty years, a critical darling, and a fan favorite. In The Films of Martin Scorsese: Gangsters, Greed, and Guilt, Eric San Juan guides readers through the crooks, the mobsters, the loners, the moguls, and the nobodies of Scorsese's 26-movie filmography. San Juan examines the techniques that have made Scorsese one of the most innovative directors in history, the themes that drive his works, and what Scorsese might be trying to tell us through his films. Iconic movies such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, GoodFellas, and The Irishman are all examined in fascinating and insightful detail. With rare behind-the-scenes photos and over five decades of Scorsese interviews, even the most ardent Scorsese fan will find new information in this book to discuss, dissect, and debate." - from the publisher

"Directors Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Spike Lee emerged as filmmakers toward the end of the 1960s, when the breakdown of the studio system paved the way for new production partnerships and gave more creative authority to directors, actors, and writers. In what has come to be called the “Indie” movement, these directors were able to explore ethno-racial themes with more frankness than previously allowed. From the perspectives of their own minority communities, Scorsese, Allen, and Lee dramatized and critiqued the challenges this restless, ethno-racial underclass posed to the 'White Republic' imagined by the Founding Fathers. The three directors whose work is at the heart of this book explore the question of how identity formation is a process of negotiation, particularly among America’s ethno-racial minorities. They emphasize the stresses related to the double burden in the assimilative process of patterning oneself after the majoritarian culture, while acknowledging in complex ways the culture of the community of origin. Annie Hall tells Alvie Singer, 'you’re a real Jew.' Buggin’ Out instructs his homeboy friend, 'Stay Black, Mookie!' What implications do these phrases carry? Will Alvie have a chance to modify his identity? Should he? Will Mookie honor his friend’s admonition? Is 'black' also susceptible to a cultural makeover? Is identity a personal choice? This book highlights how various films by these three directors explore the ways in which 'cultural capital' (musical, artistic, intellectual, athletic, etc.) is used to erase 'ethno-racial taint' (skin tones, supposed biological “traits,” offensive cultural habits). The formula ordains that assimilation and interculturation will be asymmetrical, favoring those groups or individuals who bring with them the most cultural capital." - from the publisher

"This lauded documentary by revered director Martin Scorsese explores the history of American cinema by focusing on the work of a number of highly influential filmmakers. In addition to examining pioneering productions by D.W. Griffith and F.W. Murnau, Scorsese looks at a variety of other key directors, including Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Vincente Minnelli and Orson Welles, while featuring interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow and other cinema luminaries."

"A slice of street life in Little Italy among lower echelon Mafiosos, unbalanced punks, and petty criminals. A small-time hood gets in over his head with a vicious loan shark. In an attempt to free himself from the dangers of his debt, he gets help from a friend who is also involved in criminal activities."

"Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city. When Travis meets pretty campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), he becomes obsessed with the idea of saving the world, first plotting to assassinate a presidential candidate, then directing his attentions toward rescuing 12-year-old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster)."

"With this stunningly visceral portrait of self-destructive machismo, Martin Scorsese created one of the truly great and visionary works of modern cinema. Robert De Niro pours his blood, sweat, and brute physicality into the Oscar-winning role of Jake La Motta, the rising middleweight boxer from the Bronx whose furious ambition propels him to success within the ring but whose unbridled paranoia and jealousy tatter his relationships with everyone in his orbit, including his brother and manager (Joe Pesci) and his gorgeous, streetwise wife (Cathy Moriarty). Thelma Schoonmaker’s Oscar-winning editing, Michael Chapman’s extraordinarily tactile black-and-white cinematography, and Frank Warner’s ingenious sound design combine to make Raging Bull a uniquely powerful exploration of violence on multiple levels—physical, emotional, psychic, and spiritual." - from Criterion.com

"Oscar Winner Robert De Niro stars in Martin Scorsese's dark satire as a desperate comedian who kidnaps his TV idol (Jerry Lewis) in an attempt to claim the spotlight for himself."

"The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese, is a towering achievement. Though it initially engendered enormous controversy, the film can now be viewed as the remarkable, profoundly personal work of faith that it is. This fifteen-year labor of love, an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s landmark novel that imagines an alternate fate for Jesus Christ, features outstanding performances by Willem Dafoe, Barbara Hershey, Harvey Keitel, Harry Dean Stanton, and David Bowie; bold cinematography by the great Michael Ballhaus; and a transcendent score by Peter Gabriel." - from Criterion.com

"Details the rise and fall of Henry Hill, a Brooklyn kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" from his neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero. In his teens, Hill distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his partner Tommy, he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters."

"In 1937, a two-and-a-half year old boy from a simple family in Tibet was recognized as the 14th reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion, and destined to become the spiritual and political leader of his people. Director Martin Scorsese brings to the screen the true story of the Dalai Lama. Told through the eyes of His Holiness, "Kundun" brings to life the account of the Dalai Lama's early life, from childhood through the Chinese invasion of Tibet and his journey into exile."

"Follows the life of Howard Hughes as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, who comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. It doesn't take long for Hughes to jump from producer to director of his first major film project, a World War I air epic. The film was a massive hit, and the eccentric inventor became a mogul in Hollywood, making Jean Harlow a star and enjoying a romance with Katharine Hepburn. But Hollywood's old-boy network never fully accepted Hughes, and in time his passion for flying began to reclaim his attentions. He began designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing aircraft. Hughes also found time to romance Ava Gardner and founded his own airline, Trans-World Airlines. As his ideas became bolder and more eccentric, he gained many powerful enemies."

"In South Boston, the state police force are waging a war on Irish-American organized crime. Undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate, which is run by gangland chief Frank Costello. Billy quickly gains Costello's confidence. Colin Sullivan is a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer for the syndicate. Colin is rising to a position of power within the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there are moles in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly thrust into danger. Afraid of being caught and exposed to the enemy, they each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself."

"When U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels arrives at the asylum for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, what starts as a routine investigation quickly takes a sinister turn. As the investigation unfolds and Daniels uncovers more shocking and terrifying truths about the island, he learns there are some places that never let you go."

"Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together to change Hugo's life forever."

"Sex. Money. Power. Drugs. Brace yourself for an outrageous true story from legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Jordan Belfort, a young stockbroker, is hungry for fame and glory in New York City, where corruption is king and more is never enough."

"Terrence Malick’s debut film, Badlands, announced the arrival of a unique talent. In the 40 years since that debut, Malick has only made 5 films, but they are distinctive in their beauty.This book is not meant to be a biography of Terrence Malick. The purpose behind the book is to introduce readers to the extraordinary universe of his film-making and to aid them in understanding his work. And to do this through the words of his closest collaborators – cinematographers, set designers, costumers, cameramen, directors, producers, and actors such as Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Chastain. As their words flow from one to another, they form a fascinating, kaleidoscopic vision of American film and specifically Malick’s artistic world. who make up a film.This book is the fruit of a journey began years ago when Luciano Baracaroli, Carlo Hintermann, Gerardo Panichi and Daniele Villa made a documentary on the work of Terrence Malick, which led to the making of this book as well."

"Badlands announced the arrival of a major talent: Terrence Malick. His impressionistic take on the notorious Charles Starkweather killing spree of the late 1950s uses a serial-killer narrative as a springboard for an oblique teenage romance, lovingly and idiosyncratically enacted by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The film introduced many of the elements that would earn Malick his passionate following: the enigmatic approach to narrative and character, the unusual use of voice-over, the juxtaposition of human violence with natural beauty, the poetic investigation of American dreams and nightmares. This debut has spawned countless imitations, but none have equaled its strange sublimity." - from Criterion.com

"One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting films of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor, and he, his girlfriend (Brooke Adams), and his little sister (Linda Manz) flee to the Texas panhandle, where they find work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating a timeless American idyll that is also a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor." - from Criterion.com

"After directing two of the most extraordinary movies of the 1970s, Badlands and Days of Heaven, American artist Terrence Malick disappeared from the film world for twenty years, only to resurface in 1998 with this visionary adaptation of James Jones’s 1962 novel about the World War II battle for Guadalcanal. A big-budget, spectacularly mounted epic, The Thin Red Line is also one of the most deeply philosophical films ever released by a major Hollywood studio, a thought-provoking meditation on man, nature, and violence. Featuring a cast of contemporary cinema’s finest actors—Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, and Woody Harrelson among them—The Thin Red Line is a kaleidoscopic evocation of the experience of combat that ranks as one of the greatest war films ever produced." - from Criterion.com

"This singular vision of early seventeenth-century America from Terrence Malick is a work of astounding elemental beauty, a poetic meditation on nature, violence, love, and civilization. It reimagines the apocryphal story of the meeting of British explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Powhatan native Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher, in a revelatory performance) as a romantic idyll between spiritual equals, then follows Pocahontas as she marries John Rolfe (Christian Bale) and moves to England. With production designer Jack Fisk’s raw re-creation of the Jamestown colony and Emmanuel Lubezki’s marvelous, naturally lit cinematography, The New World is a film of uncommon power and technical splendor, one that shows Malick at the height of his visual and philosophical powers." - from Criterion.com

"Four decades into an already legendary career, Terrence Malick realized his most rapturous vision to date, tracing a story of childhood, wonder, and grief to the outer limits of time and space. Reaching back to the dawn of creation, Malick sets a story of boyhood memories on a universal scale, charting the coming of age of an awestruck child (newcomer Hunter McCracken) in Texas in the 1950s, as he learns to navigate the extremes of nature and grace represented by his bitter, often tyrannical father (Brad Pitt) and his ethereal, nurturing mother (Jessica Chastain, in her breakout role). Achieved with the aid of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and production designer Jack Fisk, the Palme d’Or–winning The Tree of Life marks the intimately personal, cosmically ambitious culmination of Malick’s singular approach to filmmaking." - from Criterion.com

"Based on real events, this is the story of an unsung hero, Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife Fani and children that keep his spirit alive."

"The last members of a dying Native American tribe, the Mohicans -- Uncas (Eric Schweig), his father Chingachgook (Russell Means), and his adopted half-white brother Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) -- live in peace alongside British colonists. But when the daughters (Madeleine Stowe, Jodhi May) of a British colonel are kidnapped by a traitorous scout, Hawkeye and Uncas must rescue them in the crossfire of a gruesome military conflict of which they wanted no part: the French and Indian War." Based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper.

"After seeking the expertise of former "Big Tobacco" executive Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), seasoned TV producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) suspects a story lies behind Wigand's reluctance to speak. As Bergman persuades Wigand to share his knowledge of industry secrets, the two must contend with the courts and the corporations that stand between them and exposing the truth. All the while, Wigand must struggle to maintain his family life amidst lawsuits and death threats."

"Presents the life of George Lucas, the creator of the famous Star Wars films."

"An enduring classic, American Graffiti celebrates an America of the early 1960s, where teenagers cruise the streets in hot rods and rock and roll tops the music charts. Inspired by his youth in the valley town of Modesto, California, Graffiti was George Lucas’ second feature film, and is a masterwork of vibrant colors, exciting soundtracks, and endearing characters. A story of coming-of-age, it remains one of the most successful films in history. Over the course of a summer evening, four teenage friends ponder their futures, navigating relationships centered around the cruising culture of their sleepy town in California’s San Joaquin valley. After a madcap series of hilarious encounters, they each make decisions that will forever change their lives." - from Lucasfilm.com

"The Imperial Forces -- under orders from cruel Darth Vader (David Prowse) -- hold Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hostage, in their efforts to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), captain of the Millennium Falcon, work together with the companionable droid duo R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to rescue the beautiful princess, help the Rebel Alliance, and restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy."

"The adventure continues in this 'Star Wars' sequel. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi master's help will Luke survive when the dark side of the Force beckons him into the ultimate duel with Darth Vader (David Prowse)."

"Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) battles horrible Jabba the Hut and cruel Darth Vader to save his comrades in the Rebel Alliance and triumph over the Galactic Empire. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) reaffirm their love and team with Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), the Ewoks and the androids C-3PO and R2-D2 to aid in the disruption of the Dark Side and the defeat of the evil emperor."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) ; Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and become known as Darth Vader, is just a 9-year-old boy. When the Trade Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are assigned to settle the matter."

"Set ten years after the events of 'The Phantom Menace,' the Republic continues to be mired in strife and chaos. A separatist movement encompassing hundreds of planets and powerful corporate alliances poses new threats to the galaxy that even the Jedi cannot stem. These moves, long planned by an as yet unrevealed and powerful force, lead to the beginning of the Clone Wars -- and the beginning of the end of the Republic."

"It has been three years since the Clone Wars began. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) rescue Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) from General Grievous, the commander of the droid armies, but Grievous escapes. Suspicions are raised within the Jedi Council concerning Chancellor Palpatine, with whom Anakin has formed a bond. Asked to spy on the chancellor, and full of bitterness toward the Jedi Council, Anakin embraces the Dark Side."

"In this chilling adaptation of the best-selling novel by Thomas Harris, the astonishingly versatile director Jonathan Demme crafted a taut psychological thriller about an American obsession: serial murder. As Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee who enlists the help of the infamous Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter to gain insight into the mind of another killer, Jodie Foster subverts classic gender dynamics and gives one of the most memorable performances of her career. As her foil, Anthony Hopkins is the archetypal antihero—cultured, quick-witted, and savagely murderous—delivering a harrowing portrait of humanity gone terribly wrong. A gripping police procedural and a disquieting immersion into a twisted psyche, The Silence of the Lambs swept the Academy Awards® (best picture, director, screenplay, actress, actor) and remains a cultural touchstone." - from Criterion.com

"Hailed as a landmark film that dazzles with deep emotion and exceptional acting, PHILADELPHIA stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington as two competing lawyers who join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. And as their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries." - from Amazon.com

"In 1873 Ohio, Sethe is a mother of three haunted by her horrific slavery past and her desperate actions for freedom. As a result, Sethe's home is haunted by a furious poltergeist, which drives away her two sons. Sethe and her daughter endure living with the spirit for 10 more years, until an old friend, Paul D. Garner, arrives to run it out. After Garner moves in, a strange woman named Beloved enters their lives, causing turmoil." Based on the novel by Toni Morrison.

"From his early experimental projects to such films as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and INLAND EMPIRE, director David Lynch has created a body of work that continues to both intrigue and challenge viewers. In David Lynch: Beautiful Dark, Greg Olson explores the surreal intricacies of the director's unique visual and visceral style, not only in his full-length films but also in his early forays into painting and short films, as well as his television landmark, Twin Peaks. This in-depth exploration is the first full-length work to analyze the intimate symbiosis between Lynch's life experience and artistic expressions: from the small-town child to the teenage painter to the sixty-year-old Internet and digital media experimenter." To fully delineate the director's life and art, Olson received unprecedented participation from Lynch, his parents, siblings, old school friends, romantic partners, children, and decades of professional colleagues, as well as on-set access during the production of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Throughout this study, Olson provides thorough analyses of the filmmaker's works as Lynch conceived, crafted, and completed them. Consequently, David Lynch: Beautiful Dark is the definitive study of one of the most influential and idiosyncratic directors of the past four decades." - from the publisher

"Todd McGowan launches a provocative exploration of weirdness and fantasy in David Lynch's groundbreaking oeuvre. He studies Lynch's talent for blending the bizarre and the normal to emphasize the odd nature of normality itself. Hollywood is often criticized for distorting reality and providing escapist fantasies, but in Lynch's movies, fantasy becomes a means through which the viewer is encouraged to build a revolutionary relationship with the world.Considering the filmmaker's entire career, McGowan examines Lynch's play with fantasy and traces the political, cultural, and existential impact of his unique style. Each chapter discusses the idea of impossibility in one of Lynch's films, including the critically acclaimed Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man; the densely plotted Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive; the cult favorite Eraserhead; and the commercially unsuccessful Dune. McGowan engages with theorists from the "golden age" of film studies (Christian Metz, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Louis Baudry) and with the thought of Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Hegel. By using Lynch's weirdness as a point of departure, McGowan adds a new dimension to the field of auteur studies and reveals Lynch to be the source of a new and radical conception of fantasy."

"Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, writer-director David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their person of interest, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini)—and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, Blue Velvet is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the past few decades." - from Criterion.com

"After serving prison time for a self-defense killing, Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) reunites with girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Lula's mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), desperate to keep them apart, hires a hit man to kill Sailor. But he finds a whole new set of troubles when he and Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), an old buddy who's also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store. When Sailor lands in jail yet again, the young lovers appear further than ever from the shared life they covet."

"Schindler's List not only afforded director Steven Spielberg a cinematic vehicle loaded with Hollywood-hardware to create his master narrative about the Holocaust, the film also invited a renewed scholarly and intellectual discussion about racism, 'historical voyeurism' and the 'limits of representation.' This thought-provoking critical anthology tackles these issues and many others." - from the publisher

"The 30th anniversary edition of the classic 'I'm-Never-Going-In-The-Water-Again' story of a killer shark that has taken over the waters near a seaside community, and the three men who set out to kill it." "Often considered the first modern summer blockbuster, Jaws was released in 1975 and became a breakthrough for director Steven Spielberg. With mostly TV work under his belt, Spielberg reteamed with Richard D. Zanuck, the producer of his first film, The Sugarland Express. However, many production difficulties on the film stemmed from the malfunctioning mechanical sharks, nicknamed 'Bruce.' Undaunted, Spielberg and the crew came up with inventive solutions involving unusual editing and camera angles. Spielberg didn’t want to cast major names in his film, feeling 'the superstar was gonna be the shark.' Complete with an innovative ad campaign, Jaws defied the odds and continues to influence films today." - from Oscars.org

"Steven Spielberg's classic film is back now on this never-before-released Ultimate Edition DVD, which includes all three versions of the sci-fi blockbuster. Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who along with several other stunned bystanders experience a close encounter of the first kind - witnessing UFOs soaring across the sky. After this life-changing event, the inexplicable vision of a strange, mountain-like formation haunts him. He becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences are happening around the world. Government agents have close encounters of the second kind - discovering physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost fighter aircraft from World War II and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to suddenly reappear in unusual places. Roy continues to chase his vision to a remote area where he and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind - contact." - from sonypictures.com

"Originally released in 1981 as a collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Raiders redefined the possibilities of adventure cinema and launched actor Harrison Ford to a legendary status. Indiana Jones is the classic hero for this adventure set in the 1930s, as the quick-witted and hardy archaeologist goes on the hunt for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Often facing insurmountable odds, Indy always manages to succeed in the nick of time, joined by endearing companions and opposed by notorious villains. With an impressive team of supporting actors including Karen Allen, John-Rhys Davies, Denholm Elliott, and Paul Freeman, combined with innovative special effects techniques by Industrial Light & Magic, Raiders has captured the spirits of movie-goers for generations and continues to inspire adventures yet to come…" - from lucasfilm.com

"Relive the adventure and magic in one of the most beloved motion pictures of all-time, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, from Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg. Captivating audiences of all ages, this timeless story follows the unforgettable journey of a lost alien and the 10-year-old boy he befriends. Join Elliot (Henry Thomas), Gertie (Drew Barrymore) and Michael (Robert MacNaughton) as they come together to help E.T. find his way back home. Now digitally remastered with enhanced picture and sound for its 30th Anniversary, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is "one of the great American films" (Leonard Maltin) that forever belongs in the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere." - from Amazon.com

"Another exciting collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Temple of Doom brought Harrison Ford back with new friends and new enemies. A 1930s adventure set in the depths of India, Indy and his friends investigate the strange disappearances of children from a small village. As the mystery leads them within a foreboding temple, Indy is in for a challenge, with alligators, creepy-crawlies, menacing villains, a precarious mine tunnel, and even supernatural powers. With groundbreaking special effects technology, Temple of Doom was a critical stage in the development of more refined optical effects, such as making a mine cart seemingly fly through the air. A character for all time, Indy promised the greatest of adventures and the most fantastic of spectacles." - from lucasfilm.com

"An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson (Danny Glover), things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Based on the novel by Alice Walker."

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is perhaps best known for its pairing of Harrison Ford as the title character and Sean Connery as Indy’s father, Henry Jones, Sr. The hard-nosed professor was a fitting match for the foolhardy archaeologist. With a playful chemistry as endearing as it is entertaining, The Last Crusade is led by these two cinema legends. Produced as cinema began to enter the computer age, The Last Crusade helped literally bridge the gap to digital technology. The stunning visuals created by Industrial Light & Magic ensured that Indy and his companions would partake in an epic adventure rich in history and romance. With speedboats, trains, planes, motorcycles, a zeppelin, and even a tank, Indy embarks on another globetrotting mission, this time to track down the elusive Holy Grail. Directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas, The Last Crusade remains a favorite of moviegoers, and would be the last Indiana Jones adventure on movie screens for nearly two decades…" - from lucasfilm.com

"In Steven Spielberg's massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park's mastermind, billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt."

"Winner of seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, this incredible true story follows the enigmatic Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. It is the triumph of one man who made a difference and the drama of those who survived one of the darkest chapters in human history because of what he did. Meticulously restored from the original film negative in pristine high definition and supervised by Spielberg, Schindler’s List is a powerful story whose lessons of courage and faith continue to inspire generations. The film also earned Oscars® for composer John Williams, screenwriter Steven Zaillian and director of photography Janusz Kaminiski, as well as art directors Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, editor Michael Kahn and producers Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig." - from universalpictures.com

Based on the book Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally.

"John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) summons chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to his home with some startling information -- while nearly everything at his Jurassic Park had been destroyed, his engineers happened to have a second site, where other dinosaurs were kept in hiding. It seems the dinosaurs on the second island are alive and well and even breeding; and Hammond wants Malcolm to observe and document the reptiles before Hammond's financiers can get to them."

"Based on a true story, the movie chronicles the incredible journey of a group of enslaved Africans who overtake their captor's ship and attempt to return to their beloved homeland. When the ship, La Amistad, is seized, these captives are brought to the United States where they are charged with murder and await their fate in prison. A battle ensues that captures the attention of the entire nation, confronting the very foundation of the American justice system. But for the men and women on trial, it is simply a fight for the basic right of all mankind ... freedom."

"Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in France during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), on their mission to extricate Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) from the war after his three brothers are killed in battle. The cast also includes Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, and Jeremy Davies. [...] Spielberg wanted to make Saving Private Ryan as authentic as possible, and hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to perform uncredited rewrites based on research and interviews with veterans. The main cast went through a week-long boot camp to understand the soldier experience. Filming took place from June to September 1997, on a $65–$70 million budget, almost entirely on location in England and Ireland. The opening Omaha Beach battle was the most demanding scene, costing $12 million to film over four weeks with 1,500 extras. Saving Private Ryan is considered one of the greatest films ever made. Its battle scene filming techniques impacted many subsequent war, action, and superhero films, and numerous directors have cited Saving Private Ryan as an influence. It is credited with helping renew interest in WWII at the turn of the century, inspiring other films, television shows, and video games set during the war." - from Wikipedia

"Based on a story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, 'Minority Report' is an action-detective thriller set in Washington D.C. in 2054, where police utilize a psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crime. Tom Cruise plays the head of this Precrime unit and is himself accused of the future murder of a man he hasn't even met."

"It's the 1972 Olympics and PLO terrorists have just kidnapped and murdered 11 Israeli athletes. After the tragic incident is over and several of the terrorists have gone free, the Israeli government of Golda Meir recruits Avner to lead a team of undercover agents to hunt down those responsible throughout Europe, and eliminate them one-by-one. It is physically and emotionally messy work, and conflicts between Avner and his team's handler, Ephraim, over information Avner doesn't want to provide only make things harder. Soon the work starts to take its toll on Avner, especially as it becomes clear that Avner is being hunted in return, and that his family's safety may be in jeopardy."

"Many of the franchise’s original creators returned for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, including producers George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, director Steven Spielberg, and the legendary Harrison Ford in the starring role. With the passage of time came a new era for the fabled archaeologist as the setting moved to America of the late 1950s and an expedition into the jungles of South America. With the return of Ford came also the beloved actress Karen Allen in her role as Indy’s strong-willed leading lady, Marion Ravenwood. An adventure that combined the finest elements in the craft of filmmaking, Crystal Skull was created like a modern classic, with the best in digital imagery from Industrial Light & Magic and the tested practical methods used on the original films. Crystal Skull proved another endearing adventure full of as much grit, whimsy, and spectacle as Indy himself." - from lucusfilm.com

"Set in rural England and Europe during the First World War, the story begins with the friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets; British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter."

"A revealing drama that focuses on the 16th president's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country, and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come."

"During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks), recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court."

"This historical drama is based on the events surrounding the release of the Pentagon Papers, documents which detailed the history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam. The story centers on Kay Graham, the first female newspaper publisher in the country (specifically of the Washington Post), as well as her tough editor, Ben Bradlee. The two become involved in an unprecedented power struggle between journalists and the government, exposing a cover-up that has spanned four different American presidencies."

"Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see 'The Greatest Show on Earth.' Armed with a camera, Sammy starts to make his own films at home, much to the delight of his supportive mother."

"

This book analyses the work of Oliver Stone - arguably one of the foremost political filmmakers in Hollywood during the last thirty years. From early productions like Platoon (1986) and Wall Street (1987) to contemporary dramas and documentaries such as World Trade Center (2006), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) and The Untold History of the United States (2012) Stone has re-defined political filmmaking in an era when Hollywood and the United States in general has been experiencing rapid and radical change. Drawing on previously unseen production files as well as hours of interviews with the director and his associates within the industry, this book is a thematic exploration of Stone's life and work, charting the development of political and aesthetic changes in his filmmaking. Those changes are mapped onto academic debates about the relationship between film and history as well as wider critiques about Hollywood and the film industry." - from the publisher

"Unable to find work in America because of his penchant for booze and drugs, photojournalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) heads to El Salvador with his DJ friend Doctor Rock (James Belushi) to see if he can get a gig covering the country's ongoing civil war. Boyle decides it's time to flee the country when the violence escalates to a level that even he is uncomfortable with, but his relationship with an El Salvadorian woman (Elpidia Carrillo) complicates matters."

"Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and based on the first-hand experience of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, Platoon is powerful, intense and starkly brutal. 'Harrowingly realistic and completely convincing' (Leonard Maltin), it is 'a dark, unforgettable memorial' (The Washington Post) to every soldier whose innocence was lost in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam. Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young, naive American who, upon his arrival in Vietnam, quickly discovers that he must do battle not only with the Viet Cong, but also with the gnawing fear, physical exhaustion and intense anger growing within him. While his two commanding officers (OscarÂ(r)-nominated*** Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe) draw a fine line between the war they wage against the enemy and the one they fight with each other, the conflict, chaos and hatred permeate Taylor, suffocating his realities and numbing his feelings to man's highest value life." - from Amazon.com

"On the Wall Street of the 1980s, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a stockbroker full of ambition, doing whatever he can to make his way to the top. Admiring the power of the unsparing corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), Fox entices Gekko into mentoring him by providing insider trading. As Fox becomes embroiled in greed and underhanded schemes, his decisions eventually threaten the livelihood of his scrupulous father (Martin Sheen). Faced with this dilemma, Fox questions his loyalties."

"In the mid 1960s, suburban New York teenager Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) enlists in the Marines, fulfilling what he sees as his patriotic duty. During his second tour in Vietnam, he accidentally kills a fellow soldier during a retreat and later becomes permanently paralyzed in battle. Returning home to an uncaring Veterans Administration bureaucracy and to people on both sides of the political divide who don't understand what he went through, Kovic becomes an impassioned critic of the war." "Winner of two Oscars, including Best Director for Oliver Stone." - from Amazon.com

"This acclaimed Oliver Stone drama presents the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner). When Garrison begins to doubt conventional thinking on the murder, he faces government resistance, and, after the killing of suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman), he closes the case. Later, however, Garrison reopens the investigation, finding evidence of an extensive conspiracy behind Kennedy's death."

"Le Ly (Hiep Thi Le) lives in a small Vietnamese village whose serenity is shattered when war breaks out. Caught between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, the village is all but destroyed. After being both brutalized and raped, Le Ly resolves to flee. She leaves for the city, surviving desperate situations, but surviving nonetheless. Eventually she meets a U.S. Marine named Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones) who treats her kindly and tells her he would like to be married -- maybe to her."

"Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are two young, attractive serial killers who become tabloid-TV darlings, thanks to a sensationalistic press led by Robert Downey Jr. The press reports the pair as they go on a 52 people killing spree. A controversial look at the way the media portrays criminals."

"Oliver Stone spends three days filming with Fidel Castro in Cuba, discussing an array of subjects with the president such as his rise to power, fellow revolutionary Che Guevara, the Cuban Missile crisis, and the present state of the country."

"For better or worse (and in this case, it's mostly for better), Oliver Stone's Alexander Revisited should stand as the definitive version of Stone's much-maligned epic about the great Asian conqueror. Following the DVD release of his previous Director's Cut, Stone offers a video introduction here, explaining why he felt a third and final attempt at refining his film was necessary. Essentially, he's using this opportunity to re-create the "road show" format of the Biblical epics of the 1950s and '60s, with a three-and-a-half-hour running time (with an intermission at the two-hour mark) including 45 minutes of previously unseen footage. Stone has also significantly restructured the film, resulting in substantial (if not exactly redemptive) improvements in its narrative flow. Alexander (played in a torrent of emotions by Colin Farrell) is dying as the film opens, his final moments serving to bookend the film's epic story, which incorporates flashback sequences to flesh out the Macedonian king's back-story involving the turbulent battle of fate between his father, King Philip (Val Kilmer) and his scheming sorceress mother Olympia (Angelina Jolie, ridiculous accent and all), who insists that Alexander is literally a child of the gods. In Stone's final cut, epic battles remain chaotic (although Alexander's strategy is somewhat easier to follow, with on-screen titles indicating left, right, and center during his army's greatest maneuvers) and the ultra-violent battles are more graphically gory than ever (hence their "unrated" status). The animalistic lovemaking of Alexander and his barbarian bride Roxana (Rosario Dawson) is slightly extended (with Dawson as ravishing as ever), and Stone's additional footage also improves the overall arc of Alexander's relationship with his closest generals and male companions, although his most intimate homosexual encounters remain mostly discreet. As Alexander Revisited makes clear, the film's weaknesses remain unavoidable, but Stone deserves credit for recognizing how a longer running time, and more disciplined narrative structure, would bring Alexander closer to the respect it never earned from critics and filmgoers alike. This is unquestionably a better film than it used to be, leaving us to wonder why it took three separate efforts to shape Alexander into its best possible presentation." - Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

"The true story of Port Authority policemen John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, who volunteered for rescue duty and became trapped in the rubble of the Towers on September 11, 2001. The men became two of the last survivors extracted from Ground Zero. It is a story of the true heroes and of that fateful time in United States history, when buildings would fall and heroes would rise, literally from the ashes to inspire the entire human race."

"When a group of Mayan Indians decides to organize a labor union to improve conditions in their village, their community is violently destroyed by the Guatemalan army. Teenage siblings, Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez) and Enrique (David Villalpando) manage to escape the massacre and decide to start a new life in El Norte -- the USA. The two trek through Mexico, meeting a variety of characters and facing trials and tribulations on their journey toward lives as illegal immigrants in Los Angeles."

"Presents the three-generation saga of the Sanchez family as told by the eldest son. From the beginnings of his father's journey from Mexico to California in the 1920s, to his brother Chucho's tragic rebellion of the 1950s, to the stark realities of modern day, the struggle to live the American dream is sometimes darkened but never diminished for Paco Sanchez and his family."

"In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla (Jennifer Lopez) is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham (Edward James Olmos), realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez (Jon Seda), who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete."

"US Army Staff Sergeant Will James, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge comprise the Bravo Company's bomb disposal unit stationed in Baghdad. James is the tech team leader. When he arrives on the scene, Bravo Company has thirty-nine days left on its current deployment, and it will be a long thirty-nine days for Sanborn and Eldridge whose styles do not mesh with that of their new leader. James' thrill of the dismantlement seems to be the ultimate goal regardless of the safety of his fellow team members, others on the scene or himself. On the other hand, Sanborn is by the book: he knows his place and duty and trusts others in the army to carry out theirs as well as he. Eldridge is an insecure soldier who is constantly worried that an error or misjudgment on his part will lead to the death of an innocent civilian or a military colleague. While the three members face their own internal issues, they have to be aware of any person at the bomb sites, some of whom may be bombers themselves."

"For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. ZERO DARK THIRTY reunites the Oscar-winning team of director-producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal (2009, Best Picture, THE HURT LOCKER) for the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man." - from Amazon.com

"Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon) is the leader of a 'family' of drug addicts consisting of his wife, Dianne (Kelly Lynch), and another couple who feed their habit by robbing drug stores as they travel across the country. After a tragedy befalls a member of his group, Bob decides he must leave his dysfunctional clan and go straight. Parting ways with his junkie past proves more difficult than expected when Bob is stalked by an old acquaintance looking to score drugs at any price."

"River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star in this haunting tale from Gus Van Sant about two young street hustlers: Mike Waters, a sensitive narcoleptic who dreams of the mother who abandoned him, and Scott Favor, the wayward son of the mayor of Portland and the object of Mike’s desire. Navigating a volatile world of junkies, thieves, and johns, Mike takes Scott on a quest along the grungy streets and open highways of the Pacific Northwest, in search of an elusive place called home. Visually dazzling and thematically groundbreaking, My Own Private Idaho is a deeply moving look at unrequited love and life on society’s margins." - from Criterion.com

"Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Professor Lambeau makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams)."

"An ordinary day at a typical American high school takes a sudden tragic turn into unspeakable violence. Winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Director prizes at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival." - from Amazon.com

"Gay Rights Activist. Friend. Lover. Unifier. Politician. Fighter. Icon. Inspiration. Hero. His life changed history, and his courage changed lives. In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans. Academy Award winner Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk under the direction of Academy Award nominee Gus Van Sant in the new movie filmed on location in San Francisco from an original screenplay by Dustin Lance Black and produced by Academy Award winners Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen." - from Focus Features

"Visually gripping and filled with corruption, murder and heartbreak, this film rendition of Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio stars English tenor Philip Langridge in the title role, with Jessye Norman as the commanding Jocasta and Bryn Terfel as Creon. Produced, directed and designed by Julie Taymor, the production also features accompaniment by the Saito Kinen Orchestra, under the baton of maestro Seiji Ozawa." - from Letterboxd.com

"Adaptation of Shakespeare's `Titus Andronicus', an epic revenge tragedy of brutal savagery based in Roman times. Titus the general returns to Rome victorious and decides to sacrifice the son of his enemy, the Goths, to appease the Roman dead. After the Queen of Goths pleads for her son's life to no avail, she sets out on a mission of retaliation that leaves few of the participants unscathed."

"Biopic of the bold and controversial life of artist Frida Kahlo. Set in Mexico City, this visually evocative film traces her lifelong, tempestuous relationship with her mentor, along with her illicit affairs with Trotsky and various women. Her forward-thinking artistic, political and sexual attitudes are explored as we witness a hard-drinking, passionate woman of the early 1900s, which earned an Oscar nomination for Salma Hayek."

"In this 1980s sci-fi classic, small-town California teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is thrown back into the '50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) goes awry. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents (Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson), and must make sure that they fall in love or he'll cease to exist. Even more dauntingly, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown."

"In this zany sequel, time-traveling duo Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) return from saving Marty's future son from disaster, only to discover their own time transformed. In this nightmarish version of Hill Valley, Marty's father has been murdered and Biff Tannen, Marty's nemesis, has profited. After uncovering the secret to Biff's success -- a sports almanac from the future -- Marty and the Doc embark on a quest to repair the space-time continuum."

"In this final chapter, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) obtains a 70-year-old message from the time-traveling Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), in which he informs Marty that he has retired to a small town in the Old West. Marty then finds out that the Doc was murdered shortly after sending the letter. In order to save his friend, Marty will have to travel back in time, disentangle a lovestruck Doc from a local schoolmarm, and repair the DeLorean -- all while avoiding a posse of gunslingers."

"The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and other historical events unfold from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart." "Toom Hanks gives an astonishing performance as Forrest, an everyman whose simple innocence comes to embody a generation." - from Amazon.com

"Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) has a problem with drugs and alcohol, though so far he's managed to complete his flights safely. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober -- but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation."

"The heart-stopping story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War, GLORY stars Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman. Broderick and Elwes are the idealistic young Bostonians who lead the regiment; Freeman is the inspirational sergeant who unites the troops; and Denzel Washington, in an Oscar - winning performance (1989, Best Supporting Actor), is the runaway slave who embodies the indomitable spirit of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts." - from Amazon.com

"After terrorists attack a bus in Brooklyn, a Broadway theater and FBI headquarters, FBI anti-terrorism expert Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) teams up with CIA agent Elise Kraft (Annette Bening) to investigate. Soon, martial law is declared in New York City, and General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis), a sadistic racist, is put in command. When Devereaux begins rounding up Arab-Americans and forcing them into a detention camp, Hubbard and Kraft must fight back in the name of freedom."

"Set in Japan during the 1870s, The Last Samurai tells the story of Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a respected American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country's first army in the art of modern warfare. As the Emperor attempts to eradicate the ancient Imperial Samurai warriors in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly government policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly impressed and influenced by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds, with only his own sense of honor to guide him."

"An ex-mercenary turned smuggler (Leonard DiCaprio). A Mende fisherman (Djimon Hounsou). Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed across the alternately beautiful and ravaged countryside. Directed by Edward Zwick (Glory, The Last Samurai), this urgent, intensely moving adventure shapes gripping human stories and heart-pounding action into a modern epic of profound impact." - from Amazon.com

"The deep forests of Poland and Belarus are the domain of the occupying Germans during World War II. The three Bielski brothers go into the forests to undertake the impossible task of foraging for food, weapons and survival, not just for themselves but for a large mass of Polish Jews fleeing from the German war machine. The brothers, living with the fear of discovery, must contend with neighboring Soviet partisans and deciding whom to trust. They take on the responsibility of guardians and motivate hundreds of women, men, children and elderly to join their fight against the Nazi regime while hiding in makeshift homes in the dark, cold, unforgiving forest. At the same time, the brothers turn a band of war defectors into powerful freedom fighters. Based on true events." Based on the book Defiance : the Bielski Partisans, the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews during World War II by Nechama Tec.

"With this breakout film, Jim Jarmusch established himself as one of the most exciting voices in the burgeoning independent-film scene, a road-movie poet with an affinity for Americana at its most offbeat. Jarmusch follows rootless Hungarian émigré Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie (Richard Edson), and his visiting sixteen-year-old cousin, Eva (Eszter Balint), as they drift from New York’s Lower East Side to the snowy expanses of Lake Erie and the drab beaches of Florida, always managing to make the least of wherever they end up. Structured as a series of master-shot vignettes etched in black and white by cinematographer Tom DiCillo, Stranger Than Paradise is a nonchalant masterpiece of deadpan comedy and perfectly calibrated minimalism." - from Criterion.com

"Jim Jarmusch combined his love for the ice-cool crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki with the philosophical dimensions of samurai mythology for an eccentrically postmodern take on the hit-man thriller. In one of his defining roles, Forest Whitaker brings a commanding serenity to his portrayal of a Zen contract killer working for a bumbling mob outfit, a modern man who adheres steadfastly to the ideals of the Japanese warrior code even as chaos and violence spiral around him. Featuring moody cinematography by the great Robby Müller, a sublime score by the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, and a host of colorful character actors (including a memorably stone-faced Henry Silva), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai plays like a pop-culture-sampling cinematic mixtape built around a one-of-a-kind tragic hero." - from Criterion.com

"For more than three decades, Joel and Ethan Coen have produced some of the most unique and thought-provoking works in modern cinema. In broad comedies such as Raising Arizona, violent thrillers like No Country for Old Men, and black comedies such as Fargo, the filmmakers have offered brilliant takes on a variety of film genres. One of the most distinctive features of their movies is their skewed view of America itself. In The Coen Brothers' America, M. Keith Booker discusses feature films produced by the pair since their 1984 debut Blood Simple. The author focuses on how the Coen brothers' films engage with American cultural history and are embedded in specific geographical settings. From New York to Los Angeles, from Texas to Minnesota, the Coens capture the essence of real locations from unusual angles, which often make the films appear as if they are taking place in an alternate reality. In addition, many of the brothers' films are steeped in America's cultural past, from the deep south of the 1930s in O Brother, Where Art Thou to the Greenwich Village of the 1960s in Inside Llewyn Davis. The Coens make particularly effective use of films from Hollywood's Golden Age, producing their own updated versions of such genres as film noir (The Man Who Wasn't There), the Western (True Grit), and screwball comedy (The Hudsucker Proxy)--not to mention their idiosyncratic depictions of Hollywood itself in Barton Fink and Hail Caesar! This book also explores how the Coens draw upon cultural phenomena outside of film, including literature, music, and television. Approaching each film within the framework of Ethan and Joel's overall vision. The Coen Brothers' America provides an entertaining look at the pair's work that will appeal to scholars and fans alike." - from the publisher

"The films of the Coen brothers have become a contemporary cultural phenomenon. Highly acclaimed and commercially successful, over the years their movies have attracted increasingly larger audiences and spawned a subculture of dedicated fans. Shunning fame and celebrity, Ethan and Joel Coen remain maverick filmmakers, producing and directing independent films outside the Hollywood mainstream in a unique style combining classic genres like film noir with black comedy to tell off-beat stories about America and the American Dream. This study surveys Oscar-winning films, such as Fargo (1996) and No Country for Old Men (2007), as well as cult favorites, including O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and The Big Lebowski (1998). Beginning with Blood Simple (1984), it examines major themes and generic constructs and offers diverse approaches to the Coens' enigmatic films." - from the publisher

"'Blood Simple' was the first feature film from Joel and Ethan Coen. This is the newly restored and re-edited director's cut of the film, introduced by Mortimer Young. The stylish crime thriller premiered at film festivals in 1984. 'Blood Simple' begins deep in the heart of Texas, where a jealous saloon owner hires a cheap divorce detective to kill the saloon owner's younger wife and her bartender lover. But the detective gets a better idea: he follows the two lovers, and..."

"An ex-con and a police officer decide to get married and start a family. To their dismay, they discover that they can neither have nor adopt children. Desperate, they resort to kidnapping one of the newborn quintuplets of the wealthy Arizona family. However, their attempt at living a normal life is complicated by neurotic co-workers, two fugitives, and a mysterious bounty hunter."

"A satire about a New York playwright who relocates to Hollywood to write screenplays and experiences writer's block.A darkly comic ride, this Coen brothers film gleefully attacks the Hollywood system and those who seek to sell out to it, portraying the writer's suffering as a loony vision of hell. John Turturro plays the title character, a pretentious left-wing writer from New York City who is brought to 1930s Hollywood to write a script for a wrestling movie for palooka actor Wallace Beery. Fink thinks the job is beneath him, but his desire for acceptance gets the better of him, and he suddenly finds himself holed up in a fleabag hotel in Los Angeles, where he is almost immediately afflicted with writer's block. Various distractions begin to enter his life, first in the form of a famous southern writer (John Mahoney) whom Fink idolizes, and then his neighbor in the hotel, a seemingly amiable salesman played by John Goodman. The writer turns out to be a self-loathing drunk whose secretary (Judy Davis) is the one actually doing the writing. And the neighbor, the working-class hero who Fink made his reputation writing about, may have a horrifying secret of his own."

"Things go terribly awry when small-time Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) hires two thugs (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife so he can collect the ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. Once people start dying, the very chipper and very pregnant Police Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) takes the case. Is she up for this challenge? You betcha." - from Amazon.com

"Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) is having difficulty adjusting to his hard-labor sentence in Mississippi. He scams his way off the chain gang with simple Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and maladjusted Pete (John Turturro), then the trio sets out to pursue freedom and the promise of a fortune in buried treasure. With nothing to lose and still in shackles, their hasty run takes them on an incredible journey of awesome experiences and colorful characters."

"In a sleepy Northern California town in the 1940s, Ed Crane, a humble barber, suspects that his wife Doris is having an affair with her boss. When a stranger comes into town hinting that there is a fortune to be made in investing in the new invention of dry cleaning, Ed hatches a blackmail scheme he hopes will make him rich and get him some revenge at the same time. His plan goes horribly awry when he accidentally commits a murder for which Doris is blamed, landing her in jail, and Ed at the mercy of big-city lawyer Freddy Riedenschneider."

"Llewelyn Moss stumbles onto a drug deal gone monumentally wrong while hunting in the parched Texas scrubland near the Mexico border. A satchel filled with $2 million seems to be a ship finally arrived, and he dreams of moving his wife Carla Jean out of the trailer park and into the good life. It isn't long before he's being tracked by Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic "debt collector." Sheriff Bell sets out to find Llewelyn, not so much for the propriety of recovering the money but to protect one of his citizens from Chigurh, an evil like nothing Bell has ever seen. The border is a hard land, yet Bell finds that the reflexive murders Chigurh inflicts upon others transforms the lonely vistas, somber deserts, and austere mountains into something horrendous--into no country for old men--or for young ones." Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy.

"One ordinary man's quest to become a serious man. Physics professor Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg) can't believe his life. His wife is leaving him for his best friend, his unemployed brother won't move off the couch, someone is threatening his career, his kids are a mystery and his neighbor is tormenting him by sunbathing nude. Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family, delinquent behavior, and mortality." Filmed in Minneapolis.

"Directors Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Spike Lee emerged as filmmakers toward the end of the 1960s, when the breakdown of the studio system paved the way for new production partnerships and gave more creative authority to directors, actors, and writers. In what has come to be called the “Indie” movement, these directors were able to explore ethno-racial themes with more frankness than previously allowed. From the perspectives of their own minority communities, Scorsese, Allen, and Lee dramatized and critiqued the challenges this restless, ethno-racial underclass posed to the 'White Republic' imagined by the Founding Fathers. The three directors whose work is at the heart of this book explore the question of how identity formation is a process of negotiation, particularly among America’s ethno-racial minorities. They emphasize the stresses related to the double burden in the assimilative process of patterning oneself after the majoritarian culture, while acknowledging in complex ways the culture of the community of origin. Annie Hall tells Alvie Singer, 'you’re a real Jew.' Buggin’ Out instructs his homeboy friend, 'Stay Black, Mookie!' What implications do these phrases carry? Will Alvie have a chance to modify his identity? Should he? Will Mookie honor his friend’s admonition? Is 'black' also susceptible to a cultural makeover? Is identity a personal choice? This book highlights how various films by these three directors explore the ways in which 'cultural capital' (musical, artistic, intellectual, athletic, etc.) is used to erase 'ethno-racial taint' (skin tones, supposed biological “traits,” offensive cultural habits). The formula ordains that assimilation and interculturation will be asymmetrical, favoring those groups or individuals who bring with them the most cultural capital." - from the publisher

" Set on one block of Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy Do or Die neighborhood, at the height of summer, this 1989 masterpiece by Spike Lee confirmed him as a writer and filmmaker of peerless vision and passionate social engagement. Over the course of a single day, the easygoing interactions of a cast of unforgettable characters—Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Mister Señor Love Daddy, Tina, Sweet Dick Willie, Buggin Out, Radio Raheem, Sal, Pino, Vito, and Lee’s Mookie among them—give way to heated confrontations as tensions rise along racial fault lines, ultimately exploding into violence. Punctuated by the anthemic refrain of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” Do the Right Thing is a landmark in American cinema, as politically and emotionally charged and as relevant now as when it first hit the big screen." - from Criterion.com

"A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride."

"A disparate group of African-American men climb on a bus bound for the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. -- among them, Evan Sr. (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) and his son, Smooth (De'aundre Bonds), who have been shackled together as a condition of Smooth's temporary probation. Although the group begins the trip as strangers, their shared stories and experiences unite them as their discourse builds a portrait of what it means to be black in America."

"When a bomb tears through the basement of a black Baptist church on a peaceful fall morning, it takes the lives of four young girls; Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins. This racially motivated crime, taking place at a time when the civil rights movement is burning with a new flame, could have doused that flame forever. Instead it fuels a nation's outrage and brings Birmingham, Alabama to the forefront of America's concern."

"The world watched in horror as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Many were shocked, not only by the scale of the disaster, but the slow, inept and disorganized response of the emergency and recovery efforts. Structured into four acts, each dealing with a different aspect of the events that preceded and followed Katrina's catastrophic passage through New Orleans. Tells the heartbreaking personal stories of those who endured this harrowing ordeal and survived to tell the tale."

"In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth becomes the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a difference, he bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. He recruits a seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman, into the undercover investigation. Together, they team up to take down the extremist organization aiming to garner mainstream appeal. BlacKkKlansman offers an unflinching, true-life examination of race relations in 1970s America that is just as relevant in today's tumultuous world."

"Just after the end of the Gulf War, four American soldiers decide to steal a cache of Saddam Hussein's hidden gold. Led by cynical Sergeant Major Archie Gates (George Clooney), three of the men are rescued by rebels, but Sergeant Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) is captured and tortured by Iraqi intelligence. The Iraqi rebels beg for the American trio to help fight against the impending arrival of Hussein's Elite Guard. The men agree to fight in return for help rescuing Troy." - from the publisher

"After losing his job and wife, and spending time in a mental institution, Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) winds up living with his parents (Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver). He wants to rebuild his life and reunite with his wife, but his parents would be happy if he just shared their obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Things get complicated when Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who offers to help him reconnect with his wife, if he will do something very important for her in exchange."

"Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) dabbles in forgery and loan-sharking, but when he falls for fellow grifter Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), things change in a big way. Caught red-handed by FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), Irv and Sydney are forced to work under cover as part of DiMaso's sting operation to nail a New Jersey mayor (Jeremy Renner). Meanwhile, Irv's jealous wife (Jennifer Lawrence) may be the one to bring everyone's world crashing down. Based on the 1970s Abscam case."

"One of the most influential and resolutely maverick directors in modern Hollywood, Tim Burton has consistently demonstrated versatility without sacrificing the thematic and stylistic unity of his work. From his surprising career start as an animator at Disney to his diverse film projects—such as the striking Batman and Sleepy Hollow to the smaller, more personal Ed Wood—Burton has left a personal mark that identifies him as one of contemporary cinema's visionaries. Featuring a range of old and new interviews with key figures, contemporary criticism, and a look at Burton's forgotten piece, Luau, this authoritative guide is a crucial release for Burton fans and anyone interested in the creation of unorthodox mainstream cinema." - from the publisher

"Tim Burton has had a massive impact on twentieth and twenty-first century culture through his films, art, and writings. This book examines how his aesthetics, influences, and themes reflect the shifting social expectations in American culture by tracing his Burton's move from a peripheral figure in the 1980s to the center of Hollywood filmmaking. Tim Burton has had a massive impact on twentieth and twenty-first century culture through his films, art, and writings. The contributors to this volume examine how his aesthetics, influences, and themes reflect the shifting cinematic practices and social expectations in Hollywood and American culture by tracing Burton's move from a peripheral figure in the 1980s to the center of Hollywood filmmaking. Attentive not only to Burton's films but to his art and poetry, this collection explores Burton's popularity and cultural significance as both a nonconformist and a mainstream auteur." - from the publisher

"Unlike anything currently available, A Critical Companion to Tim Burton is a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of all the works of one of the world's most renowned directors and artists. Written by some of the top scholars working in fields as diverse as philosophy, film and media studies, and literature, all chapters of this book illuminate for both scholars and fans alike the entire artistic career of Burton, giving attention to both his early works and his global blockbusters." - from the publishers

"This definitive study charts the career of Tim Burton from his days as a malcontent animator at Walt Disney Productions to his current place as one of America’s most remarkable directors. It examines Burton's “monster culture” influences — from the films of Ed Wood, Jr. to Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine — that imbue his films with rich visual imagery and emotional depth. For each film, the book provides a detailed analysis, articles and interviews, and a vivid selection of stills." - from the publisher

Tim Burton's films are well known for being complex and emotionally powerful. In this book, Helena Bassil-Morozow employs Jungian and post-Jungian concepts of unconscious mental processes a long with file semiotics, analysis of narrative devices and cinematic history to explore the reworking of myth and fairy tale in Burton's gothic fantasy world." "Tim Burton: The Monster and the Crowd offers an entirely fresh perspective on Tim Burton's works. The book is essential reading for students and scholars of film or Jungian psychology, as well as anyone interested in critical issues in contemporary culture. It will also be of great help to those fans of Tim Burton who have been searching for a profound academic analysis of his works." - from the publisher

"Tim Burton is one of the great modern-day visionaries of cinema, a director who has fabricated his own deliciously nightmarish universe in movies as extraordinary as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks! and The Nightmare before Christmas - not to mention his twisted takes on the tales of Batman, Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes. Following the release of his re-imagining of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with long-time comrade Johnny Depp (who also provides a new foreword here), this updated and fully illustrated new edition of the definitive Burton interview book casts light on Burton's Burbank childhood, his early work at Disney, the recurrent themes and stunning designs of his movies, and the creative obsessions that fuel them." -from the publisher

"In Tim Burton: Interviews, the director discusses how animation and art design affect his work, how old horror films have deeply influenced his psyche, why so many of his protagonists are outcasts, and how he's managed to make personal films within the Hollywood system. He gives tribute to writers he's worked with, his favorite actors-including Johnny Depp and Vincent Price-and talks enthusiastically about pulp horror fiction and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. These interviews show his progression from an inarticulate young director to a contemplative and dry-witted artist over the course of twenty years. In later interviews, he opens up about being in therapy and how his childhood fantasies still affect his art. Tim Burton: Interviews reveals a man who has managed to thrive inside Hollywood while maintaining the distinctive quirks of an independent filmmaker." - from the publisher

"Michael Keaton, Academy Award winner Geena Davis, Alex Baldwin and Winona Ryder star in director Tim Burton's comic twist on supernatural horror tales--Beetlejuice. When a couple of nice, young homebody ghosts (Baldwin and Davis) try to haunt the pretentious humans who have moved into their house, they ask for help from a demonic wraith (Keaton) they cannot control in this comic fantasy that mixes the quick and the dead with a laugh and a fright." - from warnerbros.com

"Tim Burton directs; Michael Keaton stars as Batman; and Jack Nicholson stars as his arch foe, The Joker. As the Dark Knight, defender of law and order in Gotham City, Batman treads the shadow zone between right and wrong, fighting with only his skill in martial arts and his keenly honed mind to defend the innocent and to purge the memory of his parents' brutal murder--always keeping his true identity as millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne a closely guarded secret. Based upon Batman characters created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics." - from warnerbros.com

"A scientist (Vincent Price) builds an animated human being -- the gentle Edward (Johnny Depp). The scientist dies before he can finish assembling Edward, though, leaving the young man with a freakish appearance accentuated by the scissor blades he has instead of hands. Loving suburban saleswoman Peg (Dianne Wiest) discovers Edward and takes him home, where he falls for Peg's teen daughter (Winona Ryder). However, despite his kindness and artistic talent, Edward's hands make him an outcast."

"In the second of the blockbuster Batman films, the physically deformed criminal genius The Penguin threatens Gotham City--and, helpless, the entire city can only pray that Batman Returns. Only Batman (MichaelKeaton) can defend the city from total chaos as The Penguin (DannyDeVito) lays twisted waste to a great metropolis. Meanwhile, the Dark Knight may have met his equal in the lethally lithe Catwoman (MichellePfeiffer)--only he doesn't know if she is feline friend ... or foe." - from warnerbros.com

"Jack Skellington is the King of Halloween. He becomes bored with the same routine every year. He decides to take a walk in the woods. There, he discovered a door leading to Christmastown and decides to spread Christmas joy to the world. When he is back in Halloweentown he shows his friends what Christmas is like, and he suggests doing Christmas this year instead. But things do not go as planned when Oogie Boogie, an evil gambling boogey man, plots to play a game with Santa Claus' life and creates a nightmare for all the good little boys and girls everywhere. Although Sally attempts to stop him, Jack embarks into the sky on a coffin-like sled pulled by skeletal reindeer."

"Because of his eccentric habits and bafflingly strange films, director Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) is a Hollywood outcast. Nevertheless, with the help of the formerly famous Bela Lugosi and a devoted cast and crew of show-business misfits who believe in Ed's off-kilter vision, the filmmaker is able to bring his oversize dreams to cinematic life. Despite a lack of critical or commercial success, Ed and his friends manage to create an oddly endearing series of extremely low-budget films."

" Master storyteller Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands) weaves an eerie, enchanting version of this classic tale of horror. Johnny Depp is Ichabod Crane, an eccentric investigator determined to stop the murderous Headless Horseman. Christina Ricci is Katrina Van Tassel, the beautiful and mysterious girl with secret ties to the supernatural terror." - from Amazon.com

"When Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) becomes ill, his son, William (Billy Crudup), travels to be with him. William has a strained relationship with Edward because his father has always told exaggerated stories about his life, and William thinks he's never really told the truth. Even on his deathbed, Edward recounts fantastical anecdotes. When William, who is a journalist, starts to investigate his father's tales, he begins to understand the man and his penchant for storytelling." Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace.

"Based on the beloved Roald Dahl tale, this comedic and fantastical film follows young Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) and his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) as they join a small group of contest winners who get to tour the magical and mysterious factory of eccentric candy maker Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Aided by his diminutive Oompa Loompa workers (Deep Roy), Wonka has a hidden motivation for the tour, one that he will reveal only after the children in the group show their true colors."

"Victor has messed up his vows during a wedding rehearsal, and is traveling through the woods, reciting his vows. He stops to rest in the woods, and while practicing. He finally gets them right and ceremoniously puts the wedding ring on a finger-shaped stick in the ground and says his wedding vows. The stick turns out to be a rotted finger belonging to a murdered girl who has returned as a zombie and insists that she is now Victor's lawfully wedded wife."

"Reinventing himself as Sweeney Todd, a man unjustly sent to prison returns to exact revenge on those who ruined his life, especially the evil Judge Turpin who sent the man to prison. Not only does he seek revenge for the cruel punishment he suffered in prison, but also for what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to his home town, he reopens his barber shop, where Mr. Todd becomes the Demon of Fleet Street. Mrs. Lovett is Sweeney's amorous accomplice who creates diabolical meat pies out of the remains of Mr. Todd's victims." An adaptation of the 1979 Stephen Sondheim musical, based on the 1970 Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond.

"Alice Kingsleigh is a young woman at a crossroads. Not knowing what she wants from life, she is being pushed, pulled, strong-armed, and confused into doing what everyone expects of her. A marriage proposal in front of friends and family pushes Alice over the edge and down the rabbit hole into a place she hasn't visited since her father died 10 years before. Only problem is, she's now a very different person, has no memories of Underland, and is somehow still expected to be someone she's not. How can she argue with something that's mapped out in full visual splendor in the prophetic Oraculum? With the help of The Mad Hatter, The White Queen, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Absolom, The Cheshire Cat, and the Bandersnatch, can Alice unlock the mystery of her past and light a path to her future?"

"From Slacker (1991), a foundational work of independent American cinema, to the Before trilogy, Richard Linklater’s critically acclaimed films and aesthetic ambition have earned him a place as one of the most important contemporary directors. In this second edition of The Cinema of Richard Linklater, Rob Stone shows how Linklater’s latest films have redefined our understanding of his work. He offers critical discussions and analysis of all of Linklater’s films, including Before Midnight (2013) and Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), as well as new interviews with Linklater and a chapter on Boyhood (2014), hailed as one of the best films of the twenty-first century. Stone explores the theoretical, practical, contextual, and metaphysical elements in Linklater’s filmography, especially his experimentation with cinematic representations of time and growth. He demonstrates that fanciful lives and lucid dreams are as central as alternative notions of America and time to Linklater’s films. Stone also considers Linklater’s collaborative working practices, his deployment of such techniques as rotoscoping, and his innovative distribution strategies. Thoroughly revised, updated, and extended, the book includes analysis of all of Linklater’s films, including Dazed and Confused (1993), Waking Life (2011), and A Scanner Darkly (2006) as well as his documentaries, short films, and side projects." - from the publisher

"Transcending the boundaries of technology and imagination, "Waking Life" is a revolutionary breakthrough in film animation. In 'Waking Life,' Wiley Wiggins ('Dazed and Confused') travels through a series of encounters and observations in a world that may or may not be reality. It is this surreal existence, flourishing with endless ideas and possibilities, that ultimately leads to the question -- Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?"

"If it's true that we are what we eat, then how do we even know who we are? Don Anderson is trying to balance his search for the truth with an apparent desire not to do anything that might hurt his career. Raul and Sylvia, having crossed the border illegally, take up dangerous, stomach-turning jobs at the meat-processing plant. Amber is a teenage burger-slinger who wants to both change the world and get out of town. These two desires--to fight the system and to win by its rules--are not necessarily incompatible, though they may seem contradictory. Everyone has something to say, but hard ethical choices are set down by the logic of 21st-century consumer capitalism."

"The joys and pitfalls of growing up are seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), his parents (Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke) and his sister (Lorelei Linklater). Vignettes, filmed with the same cast over the course of 12 years, capture family meals, road trips, birthday parties, graduations and other important milestones. Songs from Coldplay, Arcade Fire and other artists capture the time period."

"Civics teacher Jim McAllister is worried: obnoxious, perennial overachiever Tracy Flick looks likely to win the student body presidency--she is running unopposed. Seeking to inject some democracy into the process, he persuades nice but dim football hero Paul Metzler to stand against her. This merely makes Tracy even more determined to win, and when Paul's alienated younger sister Tammy joins the race, leads her to use extreme measures to guarantee success. Meanwhile, Mr. McAllister's life becomes increasingly complicated as he strays from the principles he teaches. Politics is rarely pretty, but the students and faculty at Carver High are about to find out just how ugly it can get."

"Warren Schmidt is at sea after being left a widower shortly after retiring from a lifetime as an actuary at Woodmen of the World Insurance in Omaha, Nebraska. He matter-of-factly explains that, since he is 67, retired, and a widower, he should be dead within nine years--this in a letter to the African boy he is sponsoring through a charitable relief organization. As daughter Jeannie's wedding to waterbed salesman fiancé Randall looms, Warren sets out for Denver in his Winnebago Adventurer to attend, and discovers along the way that slavish devotion to an insurance company hasn't exactly made for a life well spent."

"Miles, a divorced man, and Jack, his libertine friend, take a road trip through California's wine country to celebrate Jack's final bachelor days. They indulge in wine, women and a yearning for the past, but eventually collide with reality."

"Native islander Matt King (George Clooney) lives with his family in Hawaii. Their world shatters when a tragic accident leaves his wife in a coma. Not only must Matt struggle with the stipulation in his wife's will that she be allowed to die with dignity, but he also faces pressure from relatives to sell their family's enormous land trust. Angry and terrified at the same time, Matt tries to be a good father to his young daughters, as they too try to cope with their mother's possible death."

"Cantankerous old buzzard Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) can barely walk down the street of his home in Billings, Mont., without stopping for a drink. So when Woody receives receives a sweepstakes notice in the mail and insists on making a 750-mile trip to Lincoln, Neb., to collect his prize, it falls to baffled son David (Will Forte) to accompany him. During a stop in their Nebraska hometown, word gets out about Woody's fortune, first making him a hero, then later, the target of predatory people."

"A depressed man (Edward Norton) suffering from insomnia meets a strange soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and soon finds himself living in his squalid house after his perfect apartment is destroyed. The two bored men form an underground club with strict rules and fight other men who are fed up with their mundane lives. Their perfect partnership frays when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), a fellow support group crasher, attracts Tyler's attention." Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk.

"In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. Investigators (Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards) and reporters (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.) become obsessed with learning the killer's identity and bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, Zodiac claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers and menacing phone calls."

"Daisy Fuller Williams is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital the day that Hurricane Katrina hits. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud from the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life. The unusual aspect of his life is that he ages backwards, being born an old man. He is diagnosed with several aged diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival. He does survive and gets younger with time." Inspired by the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"In 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer genius Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) begins work on a new concept that eventually turns into the global social network known as Facebook. Six years later, he is one of the youngest billionaires ever, but Zuckerberg finds that his unprecedented success leads to both personal and legal complications when he ends up on the receiving end of two lawsuits, one involving his former friend (Andrew Garfield). Based on the book 'The Accidental Billionaires.'"

"Disgraced financial reporter Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) finds a chance to redeem his honor after being hired by wealthy Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to solve the 40-year-old murder of Vanger's niece, Harriet. Vanger believes that Harriet was killed by a member of his own family. Eventually joining Blomkvist on his dangerous quest for the truth is Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), an unusual but ingenious investigator whose fragile trust is not easily won." Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson.

"At the age of twenty-six, Steven Soderbergh launched his career in the film industry with astonishing success. His film sex, lies, and videotape (1989), which he wrote in only eight days, won the prestigious Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, a bittersweet blessing that shaped high expectations for the young director. The film, also nominated for an Academy Award, is regarded by most film experts as a turning point in the history of American independent cinema. The Philosophy of Steven Soderbogh examines Soderbergh's full body of work, from films that brought him commercial success such as Erin Brockovich (2000), to more controversial films such as The Limey (1999), which put his name among the ranks of such celebrated filmmakers as the Coen brothers, David Lynch, and Orson Welles. Editors R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders introduce readers to the imaginative storylines, philosophically salient themes, and inventive approaches to filmmaking that distinguish Soderbergh's work. Expert scholars analyze Soderbergh's films individually, exploring topics such as the nature of reality in Solaris (2002); the heritage of Enlightenment thought in Schizopolis (1996); guilt, punishment, and redemption in The Limey (1999); altruism in Erin Brockovich (2000); truth, knowledge, and ethics in sex, lies, and videotape (1989); politics as reality and fiction in K Street (2004); and Kantian ethics, performance, and agency in Traffic (2000) and the Ocean's trilogy (2001-2007). Like the Coens and David Lynch, Soderbergh places emphasis on character over narrative, self-conscious stylistic display and visual exuberance, and a deep, often disturbing engagement with the problematic aspects of the human condition. His films take on a variety of cinematic forms, often by joining the traditions of film noir and crime cinema with European styles and themes. By consistently challenging the viewer to question the foundations of knowledge, understanding, and reality, Soderbergh's films have played a significant role in the advancement of American art cinema." - from the publisher

"Ann (Andie MacDowell) is trapped in a sexually and emotionally unfulfilled relationship with her husband, John (Peter Gallagher), a successful but unpleasant lawyer who is sleeping with her sister, Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo). The underlying tensions in the couple's marriage rise to the surface when Graham (James Spader), a friend of John's from college who's been drifting for nine years, returns to town and videotapes Cynthia and Ann as they talk about their sexual desires."

"Google users
Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is a woman in a tight spot. Following a car accident in which Erin is not at fault, Erin pleads with her attorney Ed Masry (Albert Finney) to hire her at his law firm. Erin stumbles upon some medical records placed in real estate files. She convinces Ed to allow her to investigate, where she discovers a cover-up involving contaminated water in a local community which is causing devastating illnesses among its residents."

"Far from a conventional biopic, Steven Soderbergh’s film about Che Guevara is a fascinating exploration of the revolutionary as icon. Daring in its refusal to make the socialist leader into an easy martyr or hero, Che paints a vivid, naturalistic portrait of the man himself (Benicio Del Toro, in a stunning, Cannes-award-winning performance), from his overthrow of the Batista dictatorship to his 1964 United Nations trip to the end of his short life. Composed of two parts, the first a kaleidoscopic view of the Cuban Revolution and the second an all-action dramatization of Che’s failed campaign in Bolivia, Che is Soderbergh's most epic vision." - from IMDb.com

"When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to Minnesota from a Hong Kong business trip, she attributes the malaise she feels to jet lag. However, two days later, Beth is dead, and doctors tell her shocked husband (Matt Damon) that they have no idea what killed her. Soon, many others start to exhibit the same symptoms, and a global pandemic explodes. Doctors try to contain the lethal microbe, but society begins to collapse as a blogger (Jude Law) fans the flames of paranoia."

"In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans--and all movie lovers--could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining. At once film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history, it is all written in the singular voice recognizable immediately as QT's and with the rare perspective about cinema possible only from one of the greatest practitioners of the artform ever." - from the publisher

"This book explores the intriguing cinematic world of Quentin Tarantino, the historical moment when it came to being and the cross feeding it has generated from the 1990s to the present day. Brancati analyzes the author, the characters, the films, the fetishes, the obsessions, the linguistic codes, and the references to literature, theater, cinema and music. The books includes anecdotes and unpublished interviews. It is the most complete and up to date monograph on the director." - from the publisher

"Django Unchained is certainly Quentin Tarantino's most commercially-successful film and is arguably also his most controversial. Fellow director Spike Lee has denounced the representation of race and slavery in the film, while many African American writers have defended the white auteur. The use of extremely graphic violence in the film, even by Tarantino's standards, at a time when gun control is being hotly debated, has sparked further controversy and has led to angry outbursts by the director himself. Moreover, Django Unchained has become a popular culture phenomenon, with t-shirts, highly contentious action figures, posters, and strong DVD/BluRay sales. The topic (slavery and revenge), the setting (a few years before the Civil War), the intentionally provocative generic roots (Spaghetti Western and Blaxploitation) and the many intertexts and references (to German and French culture) demand a thorough examination. Befitting such a complex film, the essays collected here represent a diverse group of scholars who examine Django Unchained from many perspectives." - from the publisher

"Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. Honey Bunny and Pumpkin are a couple of young lovers and small time thieves who decide they need a change of venue. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together in a wildly entertaining and exhilarating motion picture adventure that both thrills and amuses." - from Miramax.com

"A former assassin, known simply as The Bride (Uma Thurman), wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies."

"The Bride (Uma Thurman) picks up where she left off in volume one with her quest to finish the hit list she has composed of all of the people who have wronged her, including ex-boyfriend Bill (David Carradine), who tried to have her killed four years ago during her wedding to another man. Leaving several dead in her wake, she eventually tracks down Bill in Mexico. Using skills she has learned during her assassin career, she attempts to finish what she set out to do in the first place."

"During World War II, a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers, led by Lt. Aldo Raine, become known as 'The Basterds.' They are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish woman who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers. A plot is set in motion to kill the Nazis at the theater's movie premier, including Adolph Hitler."

"Two years before the Civil War, Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave, finds himself accompanying an unorthodox German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) on a mission to capture the vicious Brittle brothers. Their mission successful, Schultz frees Django, and together they hunt the South's most-wanted criminals. Their travels take them to the infamous plantation of shady Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), where Django's long-lost wife (Kerry Washington) is still a slave."

"From 1958 to 1963, American actor Rick Dalton knew the height of fame and fortune as the lead in the television series Bounty Law. Yet, Rick wasn't satisfied with the work and used his popularity to try to become a movie star. By 1969, Rick's career has stalled so much that he takes jobs as a guest star on various shows. He even starts wondering if the only way he can make a comeback is by acting in Italian productions. Cliff Booth, Rick's long-time friend and stunt double, helps him see that possibilities for success still exist in the Los Angeles film industry if they work together."

"The most critically acclaimed film of the year, WENDY AND LUCY is a touching political road movie about an idealistic young drifter, her faithful dog and the wide-open spaces of the Pacific Northwest. Played by Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams, Wendy is a down-on-her-luck girl who's hoping to turn things around for herself with a summer job in Alaska. On route to her new life, Wendy's car breaks down in Oregon and the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart. Gorgeously filmed in stark, luminous imagery, WENDY AND LUCY addresses issues of sympathy and generosity at the edges of American life, revealing the limits and depths of people's duty to each other in our modern times." - from Amazon.com

"Kelly Reichardt once again trains her perceptive and patient eye on the Pacific Northwest, this time evoking an authentically hardscrabble early nineteenth century way of life. A taciturn loner and skilled cook (John Magaro) has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) also seeking his fortune; soon the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a nearby wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. From this simple premise Reichardt constructs an interrogation of foundational Americana that recalls her earlier triumph Old Joy in its sensitive depiction of male friendship, yet is driven by a mounting suspense all its own. Reichardt again shows her distinct talent for depicting the peculiar rhythms of daily living and ability to capture the immense, unsettling quietude of rural America." - from A24.com

"Lana and Lilly Wachowski are intensely political film writers, directors, and producers whose work has made an indelible impact on American popular culture. From The Matrix (1999) to Cloud Atlas (2012), they have left their mark as innovators in the industry, consistently pushing the boundaries of what is perceived as technically and topically possible in studio film. They are also the world's first major transgender film directors and arguably the most influential transgender cultural producers in human history. Their coming out makes possible a reevaluation of the Wachowskis' entire oeuvre as curating alternate approaches to gender, embodiment, and perception, that might be retrospectively theorized as "trans." In this study, Cael Keegan will argue that the Wachowskis' work can be read as an aesthetic history of transgender political consciousness as it has evolved in popular media. He explores the significance of the Wachowskis as film and genre innovators who have permanently altered the technology and aesthetics of mainstream Hollywood cinema. Keegan sees the radical identities at play in many of their early films as emerging from a queer sensibility and a hoped-for sense of the body's plasticity. Moving chronologically through the Wachowskis' filmography, he uses the films' theorization of gender and embodied identity at the intersection of convergence, virtuality, biopolitical surveillance and capitalist realism to open these much-discussed works to new modes of analysis." - from the publisher

"Neo (Reeves), mild-mannered software author by day, feared hacker by night, is recruited into a cell of cyber-rebels, led by Morpheus (Fishburne) and the warrior Trinity (Moss). They have made a fundamental discovery about the world: It does not exist. It is only a seedy utopia where humanity is preserved, protected, and endlessly recycled by a mega-computer. Cypher (Pantoliano) turns traitorous for access to comforts unmatched by the drab post-apocalyptic real world, while Agent Smith (Weaving) dismisses humans as 'a plague,' for which non-organic life is 'the cure.'"

"Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, Evey, a young working-class woman, is rescued by a masked man known only as 'V.' She becomes his ally in his plan to bring freedom and justice to a cruel and corrupt society." Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore.

"Just how did this amateur filmmaker from Texas -- with only one camera, no crew, and a budget largely raised by subjecting himself to medical experimentation -- manage to complete a feature film for $7,000 and get himself wined and dined by Hollywood's biggest movie moguls? Now, in his own words, Robert Rodriguez discloses all the unique strategies and innovative techniques he used to make his first movie, El Mariachi, on the cheap. You'll see firsthand Rodriguez's whirlwind "Mariachi-style" filmmaking, where creativity -- not money -- is used to solve problems. Culminating in his "Ten-Minute Film School," this book may render conventional film-school programs obsolete. Rodriguez's nuts-and-bolts account features the full El Mariachi shooting script, post-production tips, film festival anecdotes, publicity blitz secrets -- and even an insider's view of the courtship he enjoyed with Hollywood's A-list." - from the publisher

"El Mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) is a traveling guitar player with the modest desire to play music for a living. Looking for a job, he stops at a bar in a tiny town, where his simple, peaceful lifestyle is interrupted. Local hit men, expecting enemy assassin Azul (Reinol Martinez) to invade their town, believe that the visiting musician is the professional killer they are looking for. Unwittingly embroiled in vicious mob warfare, El Mariachi must shoot his way out of town if he is to survive."

"Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his best friend (Steve Buscemi) and a beautiful bookstore owner (Salma Hayek), the Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves a trail of blood of his own."

"Return of the mythic guitar-slinging hero, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), in the final installment of the Mariachi/Desperado trilogy. The saga continues as El Mariachi makes his way across a rugged landscape on the blood trail of Barrillo (Willem Dafoe), a cartel kingpin with one last score to settle who is planning a coup d'etat against the president of Mexico. Enlisted by Sands (Johnny Depp), a corrupt CIA agent, El Mariachi demands retribution."

"The financial meltdown from the perspective of a number of players: Michael Burry, a bizarre autistic-like stock-picking genius, and the first to realize that the market's housing boom is based on a "house of cards" sham; Mark Baum, self-loathing fictional character whose firm picks up insider trading information from a wrong number phone call; Jared Vennet, a smart-aleck broker who confirms the ominous suspicion; and Charlie Gellar and Jamie Shipley, small-time players who hit it big."

"Christian Bale stars as Dick Cheney in this epic tale of how a bureaucratic Washington insider quietly became the most powerful man in the world. Co-starring Amy Adams, Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell, it is a darkly comic look behind the scenes of American politics."

"The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom have made Wes Anderson a prestige force. Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums have become quotable cult classics. Yet every new Anderson release brings out droves of critics eager to charge him with stylistic excess and self-indulgent eclecticism. Donna Kornhaber approaches Anderson's style as the necessary product of the narrative and thematic concerns that define his body of work. Using Anderson's focus on collecting, Kornhaber situates the director as the curator of his filmic worlds, a prime mover who artfully and conscientiously arranges diverse components into cohesive collections and taxonomies. Anderson peoples each mise-en-scéne in his ongoing "Wesworld" with characters orphaned, lost, and out of place amidst a riot of handmade clutter and relics. Within, they seek a wholeness and collective identity they manifestly lack, with their pain expressed via an ordered emotional palette that, despite being muted, cries out for attention. As Kornhaber shows, Anderson's films offer nothing less than a fascinating study in the sensation of belonging--told by characters who possess it the least." - from the publisher

Wes Anderson is considered one of the most important directors of the post-Baby Boom generation, making films such as Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) in a style so distinctive that his films are often recognizable from a single frame. Through the travelogue The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and the stop-motion animation of Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), his films examine issues of gender, race, and class through dysfunctional family dynamics, with particular focus on masculinity and male bonding. Anderson's auteur status is enriched by his fascination with Truffaut and the French New Wave, as well as his authorship of every one of his screenplays, drawing on influences as diverse as Mark Twain, J.D. Salinger, Roald Dahl, and Stefan Zweig. Works such as Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) continue to fascinate with their postmodern, hyper-nostalgic attention to detail. This book explores the filmic and literary influences that have helped make Anderson a major voice in 21st century "indie" culture, and reveals why Wes Anderson is one of the most inventive filmmakers working in cinema today." - from the publisher

"Wes Anderson's films can be divisive, but he is widely recognized as the inspiration for several recent trends in indie films. Looking at Wes Anderson's shorts and films from Bottle Rocket to Moonrise Kingdom, this collection considers how Anderson's distinctive form and content work together to create films that are simultaneously reverent toward their sources and original in their execution. Using both practical and theoretical lenses, the contributors address and explain the recurring stylistic techniques, motifs, and themes that dominate Anderson's films and have had such an impact on current filmmaking" - from the publisher

"A full-length consideration of this director's work, Wes Anderson: Why His Movies Matter is organized chronologically to encompass all of Anderson's films, from 1996's Bottle Rocket to Rushmore, The Royal Tenebaums, and the 2009 release, Fantastic Mr. Fox. The study includes analysis of Anderson's work in commercials, his representation of race and class, his main stylistic influences, and his innovations in the use of frame.Beyond that, the author Mark Browning considers whether Anderson's allusions create resonance or simply play a game with an audience keen to spot references. He argues that, in Anderson's films, the style is the substance, and the apparent comedic superficiality is what actually provides depth. Chapters covering the individual films are followed by an examination of Anderson as set designer, author, and stylist. The conclusion explains how his films can be viewed as relevant, exploring links to events and figures in the real world." - from the publisher

"Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary --- all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father's fault. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is the story of the family's sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter."

"The year is 1965, and the residents of New Penzance, an island off the coast of New England, inhabit a community that seems untouched by some of the bad things going on in the rest of the world. Twelve-year-olds Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) have fallen in love and decide to run away. But a violent storm is approaching the island, forcing a group of quirky adults (Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray) to mobilize a search party and find the youths before calamity strikes."

"In the 1930s, the Grand Budapest Hotel is a popular European ski resort, presided over by concierge Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes). Zero, a junior lobby boy, becomes Gustave's friend and protege. Gustave prides himself on providing first-class service to the hotel's guests, including satisfying the sexual needs of the many elderly women who stay there. When one of Gustave's lovers dies mysteriously, Gustave finds himself the recipient of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in her murder."

"Numbers whiz Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) is stunted by psychological delusions of paranoia and debilitating headaches. He lives in a messy Chinatown apartment, where he tinkers with equations and his homemade, super-advanced computer. One day, however, Cohen encounters a mysterious number. Soon after reporting his discovery to his mentor (Mark Margolis) and to a religious friend (Ben Shenkman), he finds himself the target of ill-intentioned Wall Street agents bent on using the number for profit."

"Harry and his best friend, Tyrone, are impoverished heroin addicts living in Coney Island, NY. Harry's girlfriend, Marion, is a fellow addict trying to distance herself from her wealthy father. Harry's mother, Sara, spends her days watching television and wants to lose weight to go on a game show. She visits a sleazy doctor who prescribes her amphetamines and soon Sara has a drug habit of her own." "Drugs. They consume mind, body and soul. Once you're hooked, you're hooked. Four lives. Four addicts. Four failures. Doing their best to succeed in the world, but failing miserably, four people get hooked on various drugs. Despite their aspirations of greatness, they succumb to their addictions. Watching the addicts spiral out of control, we bear witness to the dirtiest, ugliest portions of the underworld addicts reside in. It is shocking and eye-opening but demands to be seen by both addicts and non-addicts alike." - from Amazon.com

"Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina whose passion for the dance rules every facet of her life. When the company's artistic director decides to replace his prima ballerina for their opening production of "Swan Lake," Nina is his first choice. She has competition in newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis) however. While Nina is perfect for the role of the White Swan, Lily personifies the Black Swan. As rivalry between the two dancers transforms into a twisted friendship, Nina's dark side begins to emerge."

"When God decides that mankind has become too sinful and must be wiped off the Earth, he chooses Noah (Russell Crowe), a pious man, for a great task. Noah must build an ark large enough to hold his wife (Jennifer Connelly), adopted daughter (Emma Watson), sons (Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Leo McHugh Carroll) and their wives -- plus breeding pairs of every animal. When the task is completed, Noah and his family witness God's wrath in the form of an apocalyptic flood."

"This volume will provide a comprehensive critical study of all of Paul Thomas Anderson's feature films, from Hard Eight (1996) to Licorice Pizza (2021), as well as his under-studied short films and music videos. As a filmmaker who came into prominence at the height of the Tarantino-driven Indiewood period, in which major studios gave unprecedented creative freedom to young directors, Anderson began his career as something of an enfant terrible, a defiant self-anointed auteur who wore his influences on his sleeve with such overstuffed epics as Boogie Nights and Magnolia. As Ethan Warren argues, however, Anderson's maximalist ethos eventual gave way to a more restrained period, in which both his directorial choices (such as camera movement, shot selection, and editing choices) and his characters abruptly switched from the earlier logorrheal mode to one much more restrained. Most recently, Warren sees Anderson as entering a new phases of his career in which elements of both postmodern intensified style and a more classical restraint are combined to plumb greater artist depths than Anderson was able to reach before. Warren covers these three periods of Anderson's career thematically, focusing on key areas of interest, such as the role of place (specifically Anderson's native San Fernando valley), the hyper-masculine conflicts that frequently drive his narratives, and on the director's repeated simplifications and surface-level engagement with history. Interspersed with these critical chapters are ones that deal with other aspects of Anderson's career, including an analysis of his screenwriting methods through readings of early and unpublished or unproduced drafts of his screenplays; his career as a music video director for Fiona Apple and Haim; and a technical analysis of his consistent use of filmic alienation effects." - from the publisher

"A down-and-out silver miner raising a son, self-made oilman Daniel Plainview has a voracious appetite for oil, and it turns him into a California tycoon in the early years of the 20th century. Getting the oil from the ground is an intensely physical process that later broadens into Plainview's equally indomitable urge to control land and power. Along the way, Plainview deals with a mighty derrick fire, a visit from a long-lost brother, the ongoing involvement of Plainview's poker-faced adoptive son, and Plainview's rivalry with Eli Sunday, the local preacher."

"Set in the glamour of the 1950's post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock and his sister Cyril are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover, disrupting his once controlled and fastidious existence."

"All too often, the movies of Sofia Coppola have been dismissed as "all style, no substance." But such an easy caricature, as this engaging and accessible survey of Coppola's oeuvre demonstrates, fundamentally misconstrues what are rich, ambiguous, meaningful films. Drawing on insights from feminist philosophy and psychology, the author here takes an original approach to Coppola, exploring vital themes from the subversion of patriarchy in The Virgin Suicides to the 'female gothic' in The Beguiled. As Rogers shows, far from endorsing a facile and depoliticized postfeminism, Coppola's films instead deploy beguilement, mood, and pleasure in the service of a robustly feminist philosophy." - from the publisher

"ob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) are two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young woman tagging along with her workaholic photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi). Unable to sleep, Bob and Charlotte cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar. This chance meeting soon becomes a surprising friendship. Charlotte and Bob venture through Tokyo, having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, and ultimately discover a new belief in life's possibilities. Shot entirely on location in Japan, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation is a valentine to the nature of close friendships and to the city of Tokyo. Ms. Coppola's film, from her original screenplay, contemplates the unexpected connections we make that might not last—yet stay with us forever." - from Amazon.com

"Inspired by actual events, The Bling Ring tells the story of a group of fame-obsessed teenagers living in the suburbs of Los Angeles who use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their empty homes. Ringleader Rebecca leads the group of misfits including Marc, Nicki, Sam and Chloe on the ultimate heist for designer clothes and jewelry; and what starts out as teenage fun quickly spins out of control."

"From acclaimed writer/director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) comes an atmospheric thriller that unfolds at a secluded girls' boarding school in Civil War-era Virginia. When a wounded Union soldier, Corporal McBurney (Colin Farrell), is found near the school, he's taken in by its headmistress, Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman). As the young women provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries when McBurney seduces several of the girls. Taboos are broken and events take an unexpected turn in this gripping and haunting thriller also starring Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning." - from Amazon.com

"Based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who was executed in 2002 for the brutal murders of at least 6 men in Florida. Homeless most of her life, Wuornos subsisted by working as a prostitute. In Florida, down to her last five dollars and pondering suicide, she stopped into a bar for a beer where she meets Selby. One night, after a john attacks her, Aileen pulls a gun and kills the man. Aileen's loathing for the men who pay her for sex becomes so extreme that she begins killing her customers regardless of their behavior."

"Before she was Wonder Woman she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war to end all wars, discovering her full powers and true destiny."

"A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective."

"A lighthouse keeper, living off the coast of Australia with his wife, finds a baby on an adrift rowboat. They rescue and raise the child as their own, changing their lives and that of a stranger."

"Calm and competent, Grace is a young counsellor at a California care unit for at-risk teens. However, her cool facade begins to crack in the pressure cooker atmosphere as she and some of the unruly residents are reminded of past and present abuses."

"Based on a memoir [by Jeanette Walls], four siblings must learn to take care of themselves as their responsibility-averse, free-spirit parents both inspire and inhibit them. When sober, the children's brilliant and charismatic father captured their imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Meanwhile, their mother abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want to take on the work of raising a family."

"A powerful and thought-provoking true story follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley. One of his first and most incendiary cases is that of Walter McMillian."

"A young black man struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami." "A timeless story of human connection and self-discovery, Moonlight chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. At once a vital portrait of contemporary African-American life and an intensely personal and poetic meditation on identity, family, friendship, and love, Moonlight is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that reverberates with deep compassion and universal truths. Anchored by extraordinary performances from a tremendous ensemble cast, Barry Jenkins's staggering, singular vision is profoundly moving in its portrayal of the moments, people, and unknowable forces that shape our lives and make us who we are."

"A timeless love story set in early 1970s Harlem involving newly engaged nineteen-year-old Tish and her fiancé Fonny who have a beautiful future ahead. But their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Now the pair and their families must fight for justice in the name of love and the promise of the American dream."

"Seventeen-year-old Lady Bird McPherson struggles to balance the challenges of her last year of high school with her family relationships."

"Writer-director Greta Gerwig ... has crafted a 'Little women' that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author's alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig's take, the beloved story of the March sisters--four young women each determined to live life on her own terms--is both timeless and timely."

"New England, 1630. Upon threat of banishment by the church, an English farmer leaves his colonial plantation, relocating his wife and five children to a remote plot of land on the edge of an ominous forest—within which lurks an unknown evil. Strange and unsettling things begin to happen almost immediately—animals turn malevolent, crops fail, and one child disappears as another becomes seemingly possessed by an evil spirit. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, family members accuse teenage daughter Thomasin of witchcraft, charges she adamantly denies. As circumstances grow more treacherous, each family member’s faith, loyalty and love become tested in shocking and unforgettable ways. In this exquisitely made and terrifying new horror film, the age-old concepts of witchcraft, black magic and possession are innovatively brought together to tell the intimate and riveting story of one family’s frightful unraveling in the New England wilderness." - from A24.com

"From Robert Eggers, the visionary filmmaker behind modern horror masterpiece The Witch, comes this hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s." - from A24.com

"Andrew Neyman is an ambitious young jazz drummer, single-minded in his pursuit to rise to the top of his elite East coast music conservatory. Plagued by the failed writing career of his father, Andrew hungers day and night to become one of the greats. Terence Fletcher, an instructor equally known for his teaching talents as for his terrifying methods, leads the top jazz ensemble in the school. Fletcher discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into his band."

"A jazz pianist falls for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. Struggling actress Mia (Emma Stone) and aspiring jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) begin a whirlwind romance as they both pursue their dreams in Los Angeles. However, their blossoming relationship is challenged when their careers pull them in different directions."

"Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-making of Blackness, through an interdisciplinary and intersectional analysis of Black Panther, discusses the importance of superheroes and the ways in which they are especially important to Black fans. Aside from its global box office success, Black Panther paves the way for future superhero narratives due to its underlying philosophy to base the story on a narrative that is reliant on Afro-futurism. The film’s storyline, the book posits, leads viewers to think about relevant real-world social questions as it taps into the cultural zeitgeist in an indelible way. Contributors to this collection approach Black Panther not only as a film, but also as Afrofuturist imaginings of an African nation untouched by colonialism and antiblack racism: the film is a map to alternate states of being, an introduction to the African Diaspora, a treatise on liberation and racial justice, and an examination of identity. As they analyze each of these components, contributors pose the question: how can a film invite a reimagining of Blackness?" - from the publisher

"Filmmaker Ryan Coogler makes his feature directorial debut with this drama centered on the tragic shooting of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a vibrant 22-year-old Bay Area father who was senselessly gunned down by BART officers on New Year's Day in 2009, and whose murder sent shockwaves through the nation after being captured on camera by his fellow passengers."

"Filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s Creed reunites Coogler with his Fruitvale Station star Michael B. Jordan as the son of Apollo Creed, and explores a new chapter in the Rocky story, starring Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone in his iconic role. Adonis Johnson (Jordan) never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born. Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa. Once in the City of Brotherly Love, Adonis tracks Rocky (Stallone) down and asks him to be his trainer. Despite his insistence that he is out of the fight game for good, Rocky sees in Adonis the strength and determination he had known in Apollo—the fierce rival who became his closest friend. Agreeing to take him on, Rocky trains the young fighter, even as the former champ is battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring. With Rocky in his corner, it isn’t long before Adonis gets his own shot at the title…but can he develop not only the drive but also the heart of a true fighter, in time to get into the ring?" - from WarnerBros.com

"King T'Challa returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from divisions within his own country. When two enemies conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must join forces with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Wakandan Special Forces, to prevent Wakanda from being drawn into a world war."

"A few words for anyone who sits at the poker table with the Kid: Read ’em and weep. Steve McQueen brings his cool fire to the role of the Cincinnati Kid, a small-timer eager to take his chances in high-stakes poker. He gets his chance. Regal, ruthless Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson), the elite gambler called the Man, accepts the Kid’s challenge. Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck) directs this taut exploration of backroom gaming, building suspense with each turn of a card. And Ann-Margret, Karl Malden, Rip Torn, National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress Award winner Joan Blondell and many more comprise a full house of talent. Grab a chair and ante up." - from WarnerBros.com

"Passing through the backwoods town of Sparta, Mississippi, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder case. He forms an uneasy alliance with the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger), who faces mounting pressure from Sparta’s hostile citizens to catch the killer and run the African American interloper out of town. Director Norman Jewison splices incisive social commentary into this thrilling police procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler’s vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones’s eclectic score, and two indelible lead performances—a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning master class in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for best picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most enduring Hollywood films of the civil rights era." - from Criterion.com

"'An outstanding accomplishment in every category' (Boxoffice), this lavishly produced and critically acclaimed screen adaptation of the international stage sensation tells the life-affirming story of Tevye (Topol), a poor milkman whose love, pride and faith help him face the oppression of turn-of-the century czarist Russia. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and featuring such classic songs as 'If I Were A Rich Man,' 'Matchmaker' and 'Sunrise, Sunset,' Fiddler on the Roof is a universal story of hope, love and acceptance, a 'stunning, joyful and jubilant' (New York Daily News) musical masterpiece." - from Amazon.com. Based on the Tevye the Dairyman stories by Sholom Aleichem.

"This dazzling interpretation of the hit Tim Rice - Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera tells the story of Christ's (Ted Neeley) final weeks in a bold and epic production. Shot entirely on location in Israel, producer-director Norman Jewison creates a brilliant example of modern movie making with groundbreaking vision and the unforgettable songs of Rice and Webber. Nominated for several Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress, this legendary classic is a collector's must-have in this Special Edition." - from Amazon.com

"Shot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget, by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, Night of the Living Dead, directed by horror master George A. Romero, is a great story of independent cinema: a midnight hit turned box-office smash that became one of the most influential films of all time. A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of recently dead, flesh-eating ghouls, Romero’s claustrophobic vision of a late-1960s America literally tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combining gruesome gore with acute social commentary and quietly breaking ground by casting a Black actor (Duane Jones) in its lead role." - from Criterion.com

"George Romero's 1978 follow-up to his classic Night of the Living Dead is quite terrifying and gory (those zombies do like the taste of living flesh). But in its own way, it is just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping mall to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewelry shops, making gourmet meals, etc. It is Romero's take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film when all is said and done, and even some of Romero's best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat." - from Amazon.com

"When Max Renn goes looking for edgy new shows for his sleazy cable TV station, he stumbles across the pirate broadcast of a hyperviolent torture show called Videodrome. As he struggles to unearth the origins of the program, he embarks on a hallucinatory journey into a shadow world of right-wing conspiracies, sadomasochistic sex games, and bodily transformation. Starring James Woods and Deborah Harry in one of her first film roles, Videodrome is one of writer/director David Cronenberg’s most original and provocative works, fusing social commentary with shocking elements of sex and violence. With groundbreaking special effects makeup by Academy Award®-winner Rick Baker, Videodrome has come to be regarded as one of the most influential and mind-bending science fiction films of the 1980s." - from Criterion.com

"Screen adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway play. A French civil service officer risks and then abandons everything in his life in his obsessive pursuit of an enigmatic Chinese opera diva who harbors a secret."

"Harry Tasker is a top spy for the ultra-secret Omega Sector, but his wife thinks he's just a boring computer salesman. Then his two lives collide when he and his wife find themselves kidnapped by international terrorists."

"Deep-sea explorer Brock Lovett has at last reached the most famous shipwreck of all--the Titanic. Emerging with a safe believed to hold "The Heart of the Ocean"--A legendary diamond--he finds only a drawing of a beautiful woman, wearing it. During a television interview, Brock shows the drawing on camera, and a 100-year-old woman named Rose Calvert recognizes the woman in the drawing--herself! Brock invites Rose to visit his ship over the wreck, and she tells the story of her experience on Titanic's ill-fated voyage. Rose and her mother are penniless, so Rose's engagement to steel magnate heir Cal Hockley represents their salvation, but Rose has come to loathe him. They board Titanic at Southampton, to return to America and a society wedding. Jack Dawson and his friend Fabrizio are in 3rd class, after winning their tickets in a poker game. When Jack dissuades Rose from committing suicide, it forges a bond between them. Later, Rose commissions a portrait, wearing the priceless blue diamond Cal has given her, which Jack draws. Hockley resorts to desperate measures to keep them apart, but the collision with an iceberg, and the sinking of the 'unsinkable' ship seals the fate of all aboard."

"Jake Sully is a former Marine who uses a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where a corporate consortium is mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life--which changes everything."

"Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a lobbyist for big tobacco, finds it difficult to balance his duties defending the dangerous substance with those of being a good role model for his young son. Nick's life gets even more complicated when a liberal senator mounts an anti-smoking campaign that he must counter. Based on the novel by Christopher Buckley."

"Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page) is a cool, confident teenager who takes a nine-month detour into adulthood when she's faced with an unplanned pregnancy - and sets out to find the perfect parents for her baby. With the help of her charmingly unassuming boyfriend (Michael Cera), supportive dad (J.K. Simmons) and no-nonsense stepmom (Allison Janney), Juno sets her sights on an affluent couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) longing to adopt their first child."

"Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizing expert who flies all over the world on business. Just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles, and meeting the frequent traveler woman of his dreams, his company grounds him. When Bingham goes on his last cross country firing expedition, he will learn that life isn't about the journey, but about the connections made along the way."

"Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, and actor Sarah Polley's Run Towards the Danger explores memory and the dialogue between her past and her present. These are the most dangerous stories of my life. The ones I have avoided, the ones I haven't told, the ones that have kept me awake on countless nights. As these stories found echoes in my adult life, and then went another, better way than they did in childhood, they became lighter and easier to carry. Sarah Polley's work as an actor, screenwriter, and director is celebrated for its honesty, complexity, and deep humanity. She brings all those qualities, along with her exquisite storytelling chops, to these six essays. Each one captures a piece of Polley's life as she remembers it, while at the same time examining the fallibility of memory, the mutability of reality in the mind, and the possibility of experiencing the past anew, as the person she is now but was not then. As Polley writes, the past and present are in a 'reciprocal pressure dance.' Polley contemplates stories from her own life ranging from stage fright to high-risk childbirth to endangerment and more. After struggling with the aftermath of a concussion, Polley met a specialist who gave her wholly new advice: to recover from a traumatic injury, she had to retrain her mind to strength by charging towards the very activities that triggered her symptoms. With riveting clarity, she shows the power of applying that same advice to other areas of her life in order to find a path forward, a way through. Rather than live in a protective crouch, she had to run towards the danger. In this extraordinary book, Polley explores what it is to live in one's body, in a constant state of becoming, learning, and changing." - from the publisher

"Do nothing. Stay and fight. Or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.The women of an insular, ultraconservative religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith. Through the backstory, we see a community of women come together in the aftermath of pervasive sexual assault to figure out how they might move forward to build a better world for themselves and their children. They discuss how to proceed after the exposure of vicious serial rapes perpetrated by the men of their own community who used livestock tranquilizers to drug female community members of all ages, violently raping them at night. Stay and fight or leave. They will not do nothing."

"Charlie Chaplin was one of the cinema's consummate comic performers, yet he has long been criticized as a lackluster film director. In this groundbreaking work--the first to analyze Chaplin's directorial style--Donna Kornhaber radically recasts his status as a filmmaker. Spanning Chaplin's career, Kornhaber discovers a sophisticated "Chaplinesque" visual style that draws from early cinema and slapstick and stands markedly apart from later, "classical" stylistic conventions. His is a manner of filmmaking that values space over time and simultaneity over sequence, crafting narrative and meaning through careful arrangement within the frame rather than cuts between frames. Opening up aesthetic possibilities beyond the typical boundaries of the classical Hollywood film, Chaplin's filmmaking would profoundly influence directors from Fellini to Truffaut. To view Chaplin seriously as a director is to re-understand him as an artist and to reconsider the nature and breadth of his legacy." - from the publisher

"One of America's most distinguished biographers, Lynn goes far beyond a mere recounting of the well-known events in Chaplin's career. By setting his life, his art, and his controversial politics in the context of his times, Lynn gives the book extra richness and dimension. In penetrating and exquisite detail, Lynn also traces the deep psychological connections between the man and the artist and brings his own keen critical intelligence and historical awareness to the.Meanings of Chaplin's films. And he has at last succeeded in separating the facts of his life from Chaplin's own artful fictions. Combining the strengths of a seasoned literary biographer and social historian, Lynn debunks the Chaplin myths passed on by unquestioning film critics, biographers, adulatory documentary filmmakers - and by Chaplin himself. He returns to the original sources to trace the origins of Chaplin's comic routines, and relates the story lines of his.Films to events in his childhood as well as his adult preoccupations. Lynn documents Chaplin's meteoric rise as a film actor, his failed early marriages and love affairs with glamorous stars, his communist sympathies, the infamous Joan Barry case, his voluntary exile in Switzerland with his young wife, Oona O'Neill Chaplin, and his triumphant return to America in 1972. And through it all is the gleaming thread of Chaplin's films. By delving deeply into the unique.Combination of slapstick and sentiment, wit and whimsy that characterize Chaplin's art, Lynn deftly captures both the magnetism of the man and the magic he created in his films." - from the publisher

"This book focuses on the relationship between Charlie Chaplin and American society. Maland traces the ups and downs of Chaplin's star image from 1913, when he began his movie career, to the 1980s, when his "Charlie" figure emerged in an ad for personal computers. He analyzes the cultural forces that led to the spectacular growth of his popularity, to the dramatic collapse of his reputation and his 20-year exile in Switzerland, and to his restored prestige. Maland details the hostilities of the press and the government's conspiracies, and shows why Chaplin had to pay a high price for breaking American norms: the paternity suit of the 1940s, and his controversial progressive politics." - from the publisher

"In the last film he made during the silent era, Charlie Chaplin revels in the art of the circus, paying tribute to the acrobats and pantomimists who inspired his virtuoso pratfalls. After being mistaken for a pickpocket, Chaplin’s Tramp flees into the ring of a traveling circus and soon becomes the star of the show, falling for the troupe’s bareback rider along the way. Despite its famously troubled production, this gag-packed comedy ranks among Chaplin’s finest, thanks to some of the most audacious set pieces of the director-performer’s career, including a close brush with a lion and a climactic tightrope walk with a barrelful of monkeys. The Circus, which was rereleased in 1969 with a new score by Chaplin, is an uproarious high-wire act that showcases silent cinema’s most popular entertainer at the peak of his comic powers." - from Criterion.com

"City Lights, the most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (a magical Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form. The result was the epitome of his art and the crowning achievement of silent comedy." - from Criterion.com

"Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times—though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!)—is a timeless showcase of Chaplin’s untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy." - from Criterion.com

"In his controversial masterpiece The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish “Tomainian” dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie and Paulette Goddard in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.’s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin’s famously impassioned speech." - from Criterion.com

"Charlie Chaplin plays shockingly against type in his most controversial film, a brilliant and bleak black comedy about money, marriage, and murder. Chaplin is a twentieth-century bluebeard, an enigmatic family man who goes to extreme lengths to support his wife and child, attempting to bump off a series of wealthy widows (including one played by the indefatigable Martha Raye, in a hilarious performance). This deeply philosophical and wildly entertaining film is a work of true sophistication, both for the moral questions it dares to ask and for the way it deconstructs its megastar’s lovable on-screen persona." - from Criterion.com

"Alfred Hitchcock's American films are not only among the most admired works in world cinema, they also offer some of our most acute responses to the changing shape of American society in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The authors of this anthology show how famous films such as Strangers on a Train, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Rear Window, along with more obscure ones such as Rope, The Wrong Man, and Family Plot, register the ideologies and insurgencies, the normative assumptions and the cultural alternatives, that shaped these tumultuous decades. They argue that, just as these films occupy a visual landscape defined by the grand monuments of American civic life--Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations--they are also marked by their preoccupation with the social mores and private practices of mid-century America. Not only are big-city and suburban life the explicit subjects of films like Rear Window and Shadow of a Doubt, so are the forms of experience that emerge within these social spaces, whether the urban voyeurism examined by the former or the intertwining of banality and violence depicted in the latter. Indeed, just about every form of American life that was achieving social power at this time--the national security state; the science and art of psychoanalysis; the privileging of the free-wheeling, improvisatory self; the postwar codification and fissuring of gender roles; road-culture and its ancillary creation, the motel--is given detailed, critical, and mordant examination in Hitchcocks films. The Hitchcock who emerges is not merely the inspired technician and psychological excavator that critics of the past two generations have justly hailed; he is also a cultural critic of remarkable insight and undeniable prescience." - from the publisher

"Although he was a visual stylist who once referred to actors as cattle, Alfred Hitchcock also had a remarkable talent for innovative and creative casting choices. The director launched the careers of several actors and completely changed the trajectory of others, many of whom created some of the most iconic screen performances in history. However, Hitchcock's ability to fit his leading men and women into just the right parts has been a largely overlooked aspect of his filmmaking skills. In Hitchcock's Stars: Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System, Lesley L. Coffin looks at how the director made the most of the actors who were at his disposal for several decades. From his first American production in 1940 to his final feature in 1976, Hitchcock's films were examples of creative casting that strayed far from the norm during the structured Hollywood star system. Rather than examining the cinematic aspects of his work, this book explores the collaboration the director engaged in with some of the most popular stars in Hollywood history. Coffin explains how the master of on-screen manipulation exploited the nervous insecurity of Joan Fontaine for the lead in Rebecca, subverted the wholesome image of Robert Walker to play a deranged killer in Strangers on a Train, and plucked an unknown actress to star in The Birds. Documenting Hitchcock's Hollywood output from his arrival in America through his final effort, Family Plot, the author chronicles each film's casting process, performances, and the personas each star brought to his or her role. Inspiring a fresh look at several films, this book will engage fans and encourage them to reconsider a number of Hitchcock classics in a new light." - from the publisher

"No filmmaker has more successfully courted mass-audience understanding than Alfred Hitchcock, and none has been studied more intensively by scholars. In Hidden Hitchcock, D. A. Miller does what seems impossible: he discovers what has remained unseen in Hitchcock's movies, a secret style that imbues his films with a radical duplicity. Focusing on three films--Strangers on a Train, Rope, and The Wrong Man--Miller shows how Hitchcock anticipates, even demands a "Too-Close Viewer." Dwelling within us all and vigilant even when everything appears to be in good order, this Too-Close Viewer attempts to see more than the director points out, to expand the space of the film and the duration of the viewing experience. And, thanks to Hidden Hitchcock, that obsessive attention is rewarded. In Hitchcock's visual puns, his so-called continuity errors, and his hidden appearances (not to be confused with his cameos), Miller finds wellsprings of enigma. Hidden Hitchcock is a revelatory work that not only shows how little we know this best known of filmmakers, but also how near such too-close viewing comes to cinephilic madness." - from the publisher

"When Hitchcock's Films was first published, it quickly became known as a new kind of book on film and as a necessary text in the growing body of Hitchcock criticism. This revised edition of Hitchcock's Films Revisited includes a substantial new preface in which Wood reveals his personal history as a critic--including his coming out as a gay man, his views on his previous critical work, and how his writings, his love of film, and his personal life and have remained deeply intertwined through the years. This revised edition also includes a new chapter on Marnie." - from the publisher

"Iconic, groundbreaking interviews of Alfred Hitchcock by film critic François Truffaut—providing insight into the cinematic method, the history of film, and one of the greatest directors of all time. In Hitchcock, film critic François Truffaut presents fifty hours of interviews with Alfred Hitchcock about the whole of his vast directorial career, from his silent movies in Great Britain to his color films in Hollywood. The result is a portrait of one of the greatest directors the world has ever known, an all-round specialist who masterminded everything, from the screenplay and the photography to the editing and the soundtrack. Hitchcock discusses the inspiration behind his films and the art of creating fear and suspense, as well as giving strikingly honest assessments of his achievements and failures, his doubts and hopes. This peek into the brain of one of cinema’s greats is a must-read for all film aficionados." - from the publisher

"With his third feature film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, Alfred Hitchcock took a major step toward greatness and made what he would come to consider his true directorial debut. This haunting silent thriller tells the tale of a mysterious young man (matinee idol Ivor Novello) who takes up residence at a London boardinghouse just as a killer known as the Avenger descends upon the city, preying on blonde women. The film is animated by the palpable energy of a young stylist at play, decisively establishing the director’s formal and thematic obsessions. In this release, The Lodger is accompanied by Downhill, another silent from 1927 that explores Hitchcock’s “wrong man” trope, also headlined by Novello—making for a double feature that reveals the master of the macabre as he was just coming into his own." - from Criterion.com

"An ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination. This fleet and gripping film is the first of the early thrillers the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, made during the fertile phase of his career spent at the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. Besides affirming Hitchcock’s genius, it gave the brilliant Peter Lorre his first English-speaking role, as a slithery villain. With its tension and gallows humor, it’s pure Hitchcock, and it set the tone for such films as The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes." - from Criterion.com

"A heart-racing spy story by Alfred Hitchcock, The 39 Steps follows Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) as he stumbles upon a conspiracy that thrusts him into a hectic chase across the Scottish moors—a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued—as well as into an unexpected romance with the cool Pamela (Madeline Carroll). Adapted from a novel by John Buchan, this classic wrong-man thriller from the Master of Suspense anticipates the director’s most famous works (especially North by Northwest), and remains one of his cleverest and most entertaining films." - from Criterion.com

"A ring of saboteurs is causing havoc in London with a series of explosive terrorist attacks. Karl Verloc (Oscar Homolka) is part of the group, but he maintains a cover as a kind movie theater owner. His wife (Sylvia Sidney) is beginning to suspect something, though, and so is Scotland Yard Detective Sgt. Ted Spencer (John Loder). What neither of them know, however, is that Verloc uses his wife's little brother (Desmond Tester) to deliver the bombs in film canisters."

"British intelligence fakes the death of Edgar Brodie (John Gielgud) to send him on a mission in Switzerland, where as Richard Ashendon he is to locate and kill a Germany spy. Accompanying Brodie are fellow agents Elsa Carrington (Madeleine Carroll), who is to play Brodie's wife, and an eccentric assassin known as The General (Peter Lorre). Locating the spy on a train, Brodie and Elsa have second thoughts about their mission just as an American (Robert Young) ingratiates himself with them."

"In Alfred Hitchcock's most quick-witted and devilish comic thriller, the beautiful Margaret Lockwood, traveling across Europe by train, meets a charming spinster (Dame May Whitty), who then seems to disappear into thin air. The younger woman turns investigator and finds herself drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure. Also starring Michael Redgrave, The Lady Vanishes remains one of the great filmmaker's purest delights." - from Criterion.com

"Romance becomes psychodrama in the elegantly crafted Rebecca, Alfred Hitchcock’s first foray into Hollywood filmmaking. A dreamlike adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel, the film stars the enchanting Joan Fontaine as a young woman who believes she has found her heart’s desire when she marries the dashing aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter (played with cunning vulnerability by Laurence Olivier). But upon moving to Manderley—her groom’s baroque ancestral mansion—she soon learns that his deceased wife haunts not only the estate but the temperamental, brooding Maxim as well. The start of Hitchcock’s legendary collaboration with producer David O. Selznick, this elegiac gothic vision, captured in stunning black and white by George Barnes, took home the Academy Awards for best picture and best cinematography." - from Criterion.com

"Charming scoundrel Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) woos wealthy but plain Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine), who runs away with him despite the warnings of her disapproving father (Cedric Hardwicke). After their marriage, Johnnie's risky financial ventures cause Lina to suspect he's becoming involved in unscrupulous dealings. When his dear friend and business partner, Beaky (Nigel Bruce), dies under suspicious circumstances on a business trip, she fears her husband might kill her for her inheritance." Based on the novel Before the Fact by Anthony Berkeley/Frances Iles.

"Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) visits his relatives in Santa Rosa. He is a very charming man, but his niece slowly realizes that he is wanted for murder and he soon recognizes her suspicions. Although one of the suspected murderers is killed and the case is considered closed, she still has her suspicions."

"Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychiatrist with a firm understanding of human nature—or so she thinks. When the mysterious Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) becomes the new chief of staff at her institution, the bookish and detached Constance plummets into a whirlwind of tangled identities and feverish psychoanalysis, where the greatest risk is to fall in love. A transcendent love story replete with taut excitement and startling imagery, Spellbound is classic Hitchcock, featuring stunning performances, an Academy Award®-winning score by Miklos Rozsa, and a captivating dream sequence by Surrealist icon Salvador Dalí." - from Criterion.com

"With this twisted love story, Alfred Hitchcock summoned darker shades of suspense and passion by casting two of Hollywood’s most beloved stars starkly against type. Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia, an alluring woman with a checkered past recruited by Devlin (Cary Grant), a suave, mysterious intelligence agent, to spy for the U.S. Only after she has fallen for Devlin does she learn that her mission is to seduce a Nazi industrialist (Claude Rains) hiding out in South America. Coupling inventive cinematography with brilliantly subtle turns from his mesmerizing leads, Hitchcock orchestrates an anguished romance shot through with deception and moral ambiguity. A thriller of rare perfection, Notorious represents a pinnacle of both its director’s legendary career and classic Hollywood cinema." - from Criterion.com

"Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) wants to have his wealthy wife, Margot (Grace Kelly), murdered so he can get his hands on her inheritance. When he discovers her affair with Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he comes up with the perfect plan to kill her. He blackmails an old acquaintance into carrying out the murder, but the carefully-orchestrated set-up goes awry, and Margot stays alive. Now Wendice must frantically scheme to outwit the police and avoid having his plot detected."

"As a photographer with a broken leg, Stewart takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbors during a summer heat wave. Things really begin to get hot when he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife and buried the body in a flower garden. He actively enlists the help of his girlfriend to investigate the highly suspicious chain of events ... Events that ultimately lead to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in film history."

"An ex-police officer who suffers from an intense fear of heights is hired to prevent an old friend's wife from committing suicide, but all is not as it seems. Hitchcock's haunting, compelling masterpiece is uniquely revelatory about the director's own predilections and hang-ups and is widely considered to be one of his masterworks."

"This classic suspense film finds New York City ad executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) pursued by ruthless spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) after Thornhill is mistaken for a government agent. Hunted relentlessly by Vandamm's associates, the harried Thornhill ends up on a cross-country journey, meeting the beautiful and mysterious Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) along the way. Soon Vandamm's henchmen close in on Thornhill, resulting in a number of iconic action sequences."

"Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother." "One of the most shocking films of all time, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho changed the thriller genre forever. Join the Master of Suspense on a chilling journey as an unsuspecting victim (Janet Leigh) visits the Bates Motel and falls prey to one of cinema's most notorious psychopaths—Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Named #1 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills list, this notorious film has become a cultural phenomenon." - from Amazon.com

"Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a romance. One day birds start attacking children at Mitch's sisters party. A huge assault starts on the town by attacking birds." Based on a story by Daphnie du Maurier.

""When allied troops invaded Germany and liberated Nazi death camps at the end of World War II, they found unspeakable horrors that still haunt the world's conscience. In 1945, British and American film crews accompanying the troops liberating the camps captured these atrocities firsthand. The resulting film directed in part by Alfred Hitchcock but never finished, was discovered by Frontline in 1984 in the archives of the Imperial War Museum. Sixty years after the war ended, Frontline now re-broadcasts this powerful memorial in its entirety."

" Michael Powell's prolific life as a filmmaker stretched over half a century, almost from the very beginnings of popular cinema. In this, the first volume of his autobiography, Powell captures the startling momentum of his early career, which began while he was still in his teens when a serendipitous meeting with the great silent filmmaker Rex Ingram garnered him a job at Victorine Studios. From there he went on to apprentice with Alfred Hitchcock and then to Alexander Korda's studio, where he would meet Emeric Pressburger, his principal collaborator for many years. With wit and candor Powell recalls their astounding work together on such classics as Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes -- all of this narrated in his inimitable prose. But A Life in Movies is more than just one man's story. Full of politics, intrigue, glamour, and grit, it's a fast-paced, atmospheric ride that sheds new light on the early days of the film business." - from the publisher

"Two families living on a remote island off the coast of Scotland, the Mansons and the Grays, are united by friendship and the romance between young Ruth and Andrew. Ruth's brother Robbie plans to leave the island in spite of Andrew's objections, believing that there is no future living there. To settle their argument, the two men follow an ancient local tradition and race to the top of the island's 1,220-foot cliffs to see whose opinion should prevail. The outcome shatters the island's peace and splits the two clans apart. Shot entirely on the wild, windswept island of Foula in the Shetlands, The Edge of the World is beautiful, thrilling, and profoundly moving. For cinema great Powell (who went on to make such enduring masterpieces as The Red Shoes and I Know Where I'm Going!), this was his first important film and one that remained dear to his heart. Film fans will especially enjoy seeing director Powell himself in the role of the yacht owner." - from Milestone Films

"Legendary producer Alexander Korda's marvel The Thief of Bagdad, inspired by The Arabian Nights, is one of the most spectacular fantasy films ever made, an eye-popping effects pioneer brimming with imagination and technical wizardry. When Prince Ahmad (John Justin) is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu (the incomparable Sabu, in his definitive role) to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess (June Duprez). With its luscious Technicolor, vivid sets, and unprecedented visual wonders, The Thief of Bagdad has charmed viewers of all ages for decades." - from Criterion.com

"Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is a stirring masterpiece like no other. Roger Livesey dynamically embodies outmoded English militarism as the indelible General Clive Candy, who barely survives four decades of tumultuous British history, 1902 to 1942, only to see the world change irrevocably before his eyes. Anton Walbrook and Deborah Kerr provide unforgettable support, he as a German enemy turned lifelong friend of Candy’s and she as young women of three consecutive generations—a socially committed governess, a sweet-souled war nurse, and a modern-thinking army driver—who inspire him. Colonel Blimp is both moving and slyly satirical, an incomparable film about war, love, aging, and obsolescence, shot in gorgeous Technicolor." - from Criterion.com

"In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's stunningly photographed comedy, romance flourishes in an unlikely place—the bleak and moody Scottish Hebrides. Wendy Hiller stars as a headstrong young woman who travels to these remote isles to marry a rich lord. Stranded by stormy weather, she meets a handsome naval officer (Roger Livesey) who threatens to thwart her carefully laid-out life plans." - from Criterion.com

"The Red Shoes, the singular fantasia from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is cinema’s quintessential backstage drama, as well as one of the most glorious Technicolor feasts ever concocted for the screen. Moira Shearer is a rising star ballerina torn between an idealistic composer and a ruthless impresario intent on perfection. Featuring outstanding performances, blazingly beautiful cinematography by Jack Cardiff, Oscar-winning sets and music, and an unforgettable, hallucinatory central dance sequence, this beloved classic, dazzlingly restored, stands as an enthralling tribute to the life of the artist." - from Criterion.com

"Taking place largely over the course of one tense night, Carol Reed’s psychological noir, set in an unnamed Belfast, stars James Mason as a revolutionary ex-con leading a robbery that goes horribly wrong. Injured and hunted by the police, he seeks refuge throughout the city, while the woman he loves (Kathleen Ryan) searches for him among the shadows. Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker (who would collaborate again on The Third Man) create images of stunning depth for this fierce, spiritual depiction of a man’s ultimate confrontation with himself." - from Criterion.com

"The Fallen Idol was the first of three masterpieces to result from the legendary meeting of director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene, who together would also create The Third Man and Our Man in Havana. Elegantly balancing suspense and farce, this tale of the fraught relationship between a boy and the beloved butler he suspects of murder is a delightfully macabre thriller of the first order and a visually and verbally dazzling knockout." - from Criterion.com

"Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas's evocative zither score; Graham Greene’s razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker’s dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass." - from Criterion.com

"A young orphan, Oliver is left to fend for himself until he is befriended by a band of young thieves who quickly train him in their craft. But Oliver is not content to be a thief--for he knows that life holds great joys and true happiness cannot be stolen--but must be earned. Arguably the last great old-fashioned movie musical to receive near-universal critical acclaim, Oliver! first hit screens more than 37 years ago. As transformed into a film, the timeless West End and Broadway show remains incredibly faithful to the classic work of literature by Charles Dickens, dank and dark, an anomaly of song-and-dance cinema. A film of many facets, it is both a warts-and-all view of Victorian London, an adaptation of a classic novel, a salient slice of significant social commentary, and a rip-roaring tune-filled toe tapper to boot."

"Widely regarded as one of cinema's most accomplished directors, David Lean helmed such classics as Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist. He twice received the Academy Award for best director, and two of his films, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia won the Oscar for best picture. Both are featured on the American Film Institute's Top 100, with Lawrence of Arabia at number seven. Despite the awards and accolades for these motion pictures, many critics often look more favorably upon the smaller films that Lean produced earlier in his career, and in recent years his reputation as a director has diminished. In this study, Constantine Santas seeks to restore these now undervalued epics to the elevated esteem they once held. Without dismissing the earlier works or regarding them as irrelevant to Lean's evolution as an artist, this book shows that the epics, if analyzed from certain vantage points, are as worthy as any of Lean's previous films. In addition to Lean's Academy-Award-winning blockbusters, Santas also provides close analytical looks at Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, and the director's final film, A Passage to India. Santas argues that the epics show a progression and refinement of Lean's work and that they are thematically broader and feature more complex characterization than his earlier films. In his analyses, Santas provides background material on the production of each epic; insights into structure, characters, techniques, and themes; and a look into the relationship between the films and their literary sources. Written in a clear and engaging manner, The Epic Films of David Lean will appeal not only to cinema students and scholars but also to the general fan of David Lean and his work." - from the publisher

"The life and its biographer provide a landmark work on the cinema. Emerging from a childhood of nearly Dickensian darkness, David Lean found his great success as a director of the appropriately titled Great Expectations. There followed his legendary black-and-white films of the 1940s and his four-film movie collaboration with Noel Coward. Lean's 1955 film Summertime took him from England to the world of international moviemaking and the stunning series of spectacular color epics that would gain for his work twenty-seven Academy Awards and fifty-six Academy Award nominations. All are classics, including The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and A Passage to India. Kevin Brownlow, a film editor in his own right and author of the seminal silent film trilogy initiated with The Parade's Gone By. . ., brings to Lean's biography an exhaustive knowledge of the art and the industry. One learns about the making of movies as realized by a master, but also of the highly personal costs of genius. The troubled Quaker family from which Lean came influenced his relationship with his son, his brother, and his six wives. Yet he showed in his work a deep understanding of humanity. The vastness of this scholarly and entertaining enterprise is augmented by sixteen pages of scenes from Lean's color films, thirty-two pages from his black-and-white movies, and throughout the text a vast number of photographs from his life and location work." - from the publisher

"After a chance meeting on a train platform, a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) begin a muted but passionate, and ultimately doomed, love affair. With its evocatively fog-enshrouded setting, swooning Rachmaninoff score, and pair of remarkable performances (Johnson was nominated for an Oscar), this film, directed by David Lean and based on Noël Coward’s play Still Life deftly explores the thrill, pain, and tenderness of an illicit romance, and has influenced many a cinematic brief encounter since its release." - from Criterion.com

"One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean's Great Expectations brings Charles Dickens's masterpiece to robust on-screen life. Pip, Magwitch, Miss Havisham, and Estella populate Lean’s magnificent miniature, beautifully photographed by Guy Green and designed by John Bryan." - from Criterion.com

"With this sublimely bittersweet tale of romantic longing, director David Lean left behind the British soundstage to capture in radiant Technicolor the sun-splashed glory of Venice at the height of summer. In a tour de force of fearless vulnerability, Katharine Hepburn portrays the conflicting emotions that stir the heart of a lonely, middle-aged American tourist who is forced to confront her insecurities when she is drawn into a seemingly impossible affair with a charming Italian shopkeeper (Rossano Brazzi) amid the ancient city’s canals and piazzas. Lean’s personal favorite among his own films, Summertime is an exquisitely tender evocation of the magic and melancholy of a fleeting, not-quite-fairy-tale romance." - from Criterion.com

"British soldiers captured by the Japanese during World War II are forced to construct a strategic railroad bridge which a commando team is instructed by the British High Command to destroy." "Spectacularly produced, and the winner of seven Academy Awards® (1957), including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Alec Guinness), THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI continues to be one of the most memorable cinematic experiences of all time. Experience director David Lean’s legendary classic like never before with this 60th anniversary edition." - from Amazon.com

"Winner of 7 Academy Awards® including Best Picture of 1962, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA stands as one of the most timeless and essential motion picture masterpieces. The greatest achievement of its legendary, Oscar®-winning director, David Lean (1962, Lawrence of Arabia: 1957 the Bridge on the River Kwai), the film stars Peter O’Toole — in his career-making performance — as T.E. Lawrence, the audacious World War I British army officer who heroically united rival Arab desert tribes and led them to war against the mighty Turkish Empire." - from Amazon.com

" David Lean's Doctor Zhivago is an exploration of the Russian Revolution as seen from the point of view of the intellectual, introspective title character (Omar Sharif). As the political landscape changes, and the Czarist regime comes to an end, Dr.Zhivago's relationships reflect the political turmoil raging about him. Though he is married, the vagaries of war lead him to begin a love affair with the beautiful Lara (Julie Christie). But he cannot escape the machinations of a band of selfish and cruel characters: General Strelnikov (Tom Courtenay), a Bolshevik General; Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), Lara's former lover; and Yevgraf (Alec Guinness), Zhivago's sinister half-brother. This epic, sweeping romance, told in flashback, captures the lushness of Moscow before the war and the violent social upheaval that followed. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Boris Pasternak." - from Amazon.com

"Based on the renowned E.M. Forster novel, this expansive period drama centers on the changing dynamic between British colonials and native locals in India during the 1920s. When an outing to explore scenic caves ends in English tourist Adela Quested (Judy Davis) accusing Indian doctor Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee) of rape, the incident results in a major court case, one that reinforces tensions between the British Empire and the growing movement towards Indian independence."

"This genuinely frightening, exquisitely made supernatural gothic stars Deborah Kerr as an emotionally fragile governess who comes to suspect that there is something very, very wrong with her precocious new charges. A psychosexually intensified adaptation of Henry James’s classic The Turn of the Screw, cowritten by Truman Capote and directed by Jack Clayton, The Innocents is a triumph of narrative economy and technical expressiveness, from its chilling sound design to the stygian depths of its widescreen cinematography by Freddie Francis." - from Criterion.com

"This third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel was one of the most hyped movies of the summer of 1974. Robert R edford star s as self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who uses his vast (and implicitly ill-gotten) fortune to buy his way into Long Isl and society. Most of a ll, Gatsby wants to win back the love of socialite Daisy Buchanan (Mia F arrow), now married to "old money" Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern). Calmly ob serving the passing parade is Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), Gatsby's be st friend, who narrates the film. Francis Ford Coppola's screenplay is meticulously faithful to the original novel, but Theoni Aldridge's costu me design and Ne lson Riddle's nostalgic musical score won the film its only Oscars. The huge supporting cast includes Howard da Silva, who play ed To m Wilson in the 1949 Great Gatsby, and a very young Patsy Kensit a s Daisy's daughter." - Amazon.com

"Brook by Brook: A revealing film about Peter Brook made by his son, Simon, offering a privileged view into Brook's family, theater, and films in a collective father-son journey that is personal and moving.Tragedy of hamlet: Discover the new meaning in Hamlet in Peter Brook's original performances in Paris and its worldwide theatrical tour."

"Screen legends Jeanne Moreau (Jules and Jim, The Train) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Le Doulos, Le Magnifique) star in this mesmerizing drama from the brilliant mind of Marguerite Duras (Hiroshima Mon Amour, India Song). Moreau, who won the award for Best Actress at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, is Anne Desbarèdes, a wealthy, bored housewife who believes she has witnessed a murder in a quayside bistro. Rushing to the scene of the crime, she strikes up a conversation with Chauvin (Belmondo), an employee of her husband who also saw the crime. The troubled woman continues to return to the café, increasingly identifying herself with the murder victim and becoming obsessed with Chauvin. Director Peter Brook (Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade) and cinematographer Armand Thirard (The Wages of Fear, Diabolique) create repetitive patterns of sound and image that reflect Anne’s frustration with the 'moderato cantabile' nature of her life and the absence of true passion that draws her inexorably to the café and Chauvin." Based on the novel by Marguerite Duras.

"Adapted by Peter Brook from his renowned stage production, this period drama depicts French writer and aristocrat Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee) directing a performance while institutionalized in an asylum. Relating the death of revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (Ian Richardson) at the hand of Charlotte Corday (Glenda Jackson, in her first major role), the play, also starring de Sade, sees the disturbed mental patients become increasingly unruly during the course of the story."

"One of the great masterpieces of world literature comes to vivid life in an elaborate production from acclaimed theater and film innovator Peter Brook (Marat/Sade, Lord of the Flies). This collection of ancient Sanskrit stories (composed into the longest book ever written) comprises a series of enlightened fables at the heart of countless beliefs, legends, and teachings; indeed, its very title means "the great story of mankind." Brook and award-winning writer Jean-Claude Carriere worked for eight years to develop this epic concerning two sides of a royal family, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, whose struggle leads to a fascinating voyage of emotions, contradictions, and dreams, filled with subplots which are alternately comic and tragic but always gloriously entertaining." - from Amazon.com

"Ireland, 1920. Damien O'Donovan is leaving for London for an internship, until the dreaded Black and Tans attack his hurling mates, killing one for not speaking English. Thus sidetracked by the Irish War for Independence, Damien is convinced by his brother Teddy to throw his lot in with the IRA. Damien is a purist, an idealist, and therefore marked for a tragic destiny, while Teddy is a fatefully pragmatic politician. These differences between the brothers propel the film through its terrible final act, as the signing of Anglo-Irish Treaty establishes the Irish Free State, splits the Republican movement, and unleashes the Irish Civil War."

"Ken Loach directs this Glasgow-set drama about a young juvenile delinquent who is given one last chance to stay out of jail and carve out a future for himself. Small-time criminal and new father Robbie (Paul Brannigan) narrowly escapes a prison sentence after his most recent foray into the world of crime. With the help of a team of supportive community service workers, he makes a last-ditch attempt to get back onto the straight and narrow and to set up a small whisky distillery business."

"An urgent response to the political realities of con­­tem­porary Britain, this bracing drama from celebrated filmmaker Ken Loach takes a hard look at bureaucratic injustice and ineptitude through the eyes of an unassuming working-class hero. After a heart attack leaves him unable to hold a job, the widowed carpenter Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) begins a long, lonely journey through the Kafkaesque labyrinth of the local welfare state. Along the way, he strikes up a friendship with a single mother (Hayley Squires) and her two children, at the mercy of the same system after being evicted from their home. Imbued with gentle humor and quiet rage and conceived for maximum real-world impact, the Palme d’Or–winning I, Daniel Blake is a testament to Loach’s tireless commitment to a cinema of social engagement." - from Criterion.com

"This is the first book to analyze Ridley Scott's film Gladiator from historical, cultural, and cinematic perspectives: The first systematic analysis of Ridley Scott's film, Gladiator. Examines the film's presentation of Roman history and culture. Considers its cinematic origins and traditions. Draws out the film's modern social and political overtones. Includes relevant ancient sources in translation." - from the publisher

"A landmark of science fiction and horror, Alien arrived in 1979 between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back as a stylishly malevolent alternative to George Lucas's space fantasy. Partially inspired by 1958's It! The Terror from Beyond Space, this instant classic set a tone of its own, offering richly detailed sets, ominous atmosphere, relentless suspense, and a flawless ensemble cast as the crew of the space freighter Nostromo, who fall prey to a vicious creature (designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger) that had gestated inside one of the ill-fated crew members. In a star-making role, Sigourney Weaver excels as sole survivor Ripley, becoming the screen's most popular heroine in a lucrative movie franchise. To measure the film's success, one need only recall the many images that have been burned into our collective psyche, including the "facehugger," the "chestburster," and Ripley's climactic encounter with the full-grown monster. Impeccably directed by Ridley Scott, Alien is one of the cinema's most unforgettable nightmares." - Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. "Harrison Ford stars in this fascinating, dark vision of the near future as a policeman who tracks engineered humans--a Blade Runner. In the year 2019, the police department forces Rick Deckard (Ford) out of retirement to hunt four genetically engineered humans who have come to earth. Designed to do difficult, hazardous work, the manufactured humans are stronger, faster and smarter than non engineered humans. They feel no pain or remorse; they are almost indistinguishable from other humans ... and they are killing people. Now Deckard must stop them before they kill again." - from WarnerBros.com

"Two women, a turquoise Thunderbird, the ride of a lifetime. With this pop-culture landmark, screenwriter Callie Khouri and action auteur Ridley Scott rewrote the rules of the road movie, telling the story of two best friends who find themselves transformed into accidental fugitives during a weekend getaway gone wrong—leading them on a high-speed southwestern odyssey as they elude police and discover freedom on their own terms. Propelled by irresistible performances from Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (plus Brad Pitt in a sexy, star-making turn)—and nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one for Khouri—the exhilaratingly cathartic Thelma & Louise stands as cinema’s ultimate ode to ride-or-die female friendship." - from Criterion.com

"In this epic historical drama from director Ridley Scott, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is one of the Roman army's most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus' devious son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences. Determined to avenge himself against the man who took away his freedom and laid waste to his family, Maximus believes that he can use his fame and skill in the ring to avenge the loss of his family and former glory." - from Amazon.com

"This film recreates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters."

"Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of visionary director Sir Ridley Scott's cinematic masterpiece with this 2-Disc Blu-ray Edition that includes all three versions of the film - the Director's Cut, Director's Cut Roadshow Version and Original Theatrical Version - all presented in high definition, plus over nine hours of in-depth special features, including a full-length documentary that takes you on the path from pre-production to release. A truly legendary cast leads this visually spectacular epic, including Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson and Academy Award-Winner Jeremy Irons. Bloom stars as Balian, a young blacksmith who has lost his family and his faith. But when his father (Neeson) reveals his destiny, Balian joins the heroic fight to protect his people from overwhelming forces, and rises to knighthood." - from Amazon.com

"In times of tyranny and injustice when law oppresses the people, the outlaw takes his place in history. England at the turn of the 12th century was such a time. King Richard the Lionheart, bankrupt of wealth and glory, is plundering his way back to England after ten years on his crusade. In his army is an archer named Robin Longstride. This is the story of his return home where, for defending the weak against the strong, he will be condemned to live outside the law. Whether thief or hero, one man from humble beginnings will become an eternal symbol of freedom for his people. And so the legend begins."

"After a bad storm blows across Mars, astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead and left behind. Now stuck on a hostile planet, he must find a way to signal Earth and in the meantime survive on limited supplies." Based on the novel by Andy Weir.

"A comprehensive look at the work of Britain's independent and controversial director. Best known as an iconoclastic, wildly inventive filmmaker, Derek Jarman was also an author, painter, and landscape designer. Author Ellis considers Jarman's works to present a study of the life and career of one of the most provocative, engaged, and important artists of the twentieth century. He analyzes Jarman's films, including Caravaggio, Jubilee, Edward II, Blue, and Sebastiane, in relation to Jarman's critiques of the government and his activism in the gay community, from the liberationist movement to the AIDS epidemic. While others have frequently focused on Jarman's biography, Ellis looks at how his politics and aesthetics are intertwined to comprehend his most radical aspects, particularly in films such as War requiem and The last of England. Jarman is revealed as an artist who keenly understood the role of history and mythology in creating a personal and national identity; as an activist, he sought to challenge old histories while producing new ones to carve out a space for alternative communities in Britain late in the twentieth century." - from the publisher