Film Archive 1990
| FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION |
| 011290 |
 |
| no synopsis available. |
| THE LITTLE THIEF |
| 011290 |
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| A troubled young girl who gets by in life by stealing, begins a new chapter of her life after she is arrested. When she eventually gets pregnant, she sets off to face the future and accept her responsibilities with renewed courage and faith. |
| SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE |
| LATENITE 011290 |
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| Steven Soderbergh explodes onto the scene with this provocative, intelligent drama about infidelity and voyeurism. Ann Milaney (Andie MacDowell) lives in a comfortable Louisiana home with her lawyer husband, John (Peter Gallagher). She spends her days fretting over the insurmountable problems of the world and her own unfocused sense of melancholy. Although she doesn't know it, she has a good reason to be upset: John is having a torrid affair with her younger, more extroverted sister, Cynthia (the sexy Laura San Giacomo). When Graham Dalton (James Spader), an old college pal of John's, comes to visit, all three are momentarily distracted from personal problems and intrigues as they scrutinize the odd outsider. Ann soon discovers that Graham has some strange habits and problems of his own. Plagued by impotency since the calamitous breakup of his last relationship, the young drifter finds sexual gratification by videotaping women willing to talk about their sexual past and fantasies in front of the camera. A chain of attraction and jealousy develops as the four interconnect in several varied pairings, culminating with Ann’s decision to become Graham’s latest subject. Soderbergh’s highly influential debut independent feature plays like a dangerous thriller that builds in tension until everyone’s secrets are bitterly exposed. |
| LETHAL WEAPON 2 |
| LATENITE 011990 |
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| Murtaugh is still the family man. Riggs is still the daredevil, but now he counts the odds before bucking them. This time, they must protect an accountant who has laundered a half billion dollars in narcotics money. He leads them to a murderous syndicate with ties to a foreign power. Along the way, there's a six-story plummet from a window, a booby-trapped toilet, an underwater escape, and more. Academy Award Nominations: Best Sound Effects Editing. |
| SIDEWALK STORIES |
| 012690 |
|
Nearly silent comedy filmed in black and white follows a street artist (Charles Lane), who rescues a baby after her father was murdered. The artist then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately he ends up in a horse drawn chase of the murderers. |
| SEA OF LOVE |
| 020290 |
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| New York cop Frank Keller is on the trail of a serial killer who murders men answering personal ads in the classifieds. The ads, written in poetic couplets, are quite romantic, but those who meet their mysterious author end up dead in their own apartments with a 45rpm copy of the '50s single "Sea of Love" on their turntables. Keller, suspecting the murderer is a woman, places his own advertisement in the paper and sets up dinner dates (one every half-hour) with the respondents; he lifts their fingerprints from their wine glasses and matches them against those of the murderer, taken from the crime scene. But Keller's scheme fails when he falls in love with one of the suspects and refuses to check her prints. With each passing day their romance grows hotter... and the growing evidence keeps pointing more strongly to her guilt. |
| PARENTHOOD |
| 020290 |
|
| The trials and tribulations of middle-class family life are depicted in director Ron Howard's humorous and loving ode to the joys of parenthood. Middle-manager Gil Buckman struggles to reconcile his ambitions at work with his loyalty to his family, particularly to his troubled son, Kevin. His divorced sister Helen has a sullen and withdrawn son and a sexually active teenage daughter. Gil's other sister, Susan, is a schoolteacher married to an ambitious yuppie determined to make a genius of their 3-year-old daughter. Their long-lost brother, the irresponsible Larry, has always been daddy's favorite and returns home with an illegitimate son named Cool. |
| BLAZE |
| 020990 |
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| Based on the true story of Louisiana Governor Earl Long's scandalous love affair with stripper Blaze Starr, BLAZE retells the tale of the fiery, eccentric governor, who falls for a New Orleans stripper. Their relationship forces him to choose between the office he's got and the woman he wants. He chooses both! Blaze Starr appears in several movies listed in Videolog! Academy Award Nominations: Best Cinematography (Haskell Wexler). |
| HARLEM NIGHTS |
| LATENITE 020990 |
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| Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) became Quick's (Eddie Murphy) adopted father when an adolescent Quick saved his life. 25 years later, in 1938, Ray runs the most popular club in Harlem, with Quick as his right hand man. Before long, Bugsy, a white mobster (Michael Lerner) comes knocking for a piece of the club's action in the form of weekly protection money, with a crooked cop (Danny Aiello) as the muscle and a dangerous woman (Jasmine Guy) as the bait. But by fixing a big boxing match, Ray and Quick just may be able to thwart Bugsy's plan and make off with a wad of his cash in the process. Murphy wrote and directed. Academy Award Nominations: Best Costume Design. |
| THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT NO CHASER |
| 021690 |
|
| Documentary about legendary jazz pianist/composer Thelonious Monk. Much of the film is centered around the six months of footage cinematographer Christian Blackwood shot of Monk in 1967-68. The footage reveals a lot about Monk's personality, including his dramatic mood swings, his eccentric behavior, as well as his sense of humor. The footage also shows Monk "behind the scenes" in the studio and on tour in Europe. Interviews, photos and many of Monk's songs round out this biography. |
| APARTMENT ZERIO |
| 021690 |
|
| The proprietor of a Buenos Aires revival-house cinema meets an American "free spirit;" and before long, he has agreed to let the stranger board in his flat, which is decorated with pictures of movie stars. Although the theater owner obsequiously vies for the American's affections, he becomes aware that unexplained murders have been taking place in the city, and that his lodger may not be exactly what he seems. As their relationship develops, both men attempt to discover who the other one is, and what he is striving to attain. |
| BLACK RAIN |
| LATENITE 021690 |
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| Director Ridley Scott's international crime thriller stars Michael Douglas as Mike Conklin, a New York detective under investigation for corruption. When yakuza hit man Sato (Yusaku Matsuda) kills two American mobsters in New York, he's extradited to Osaka to face trial, with Conklin and Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia) as his escorts. Mistakenly turning over their prisoner to yakuza disguised as police, Conklin and Vincent realize, after running down some blind alleys, that they have no chance of finding Sato in the unfamiliar city and enlist the services of Japanese desk cop Masahiro "Mas" Masumoto (Ken Takakura). While relaxing with Mas at a karaoke bar, the cops also get information on the world of the yakuza from Joyce Kinglsey (Kate Capshaw), a high-class bargirl. As they continue the search for Sato, the scrupulous, methodical, and civilized style of Japanese police work rubs the improvisational, rule-breaking Americans the wrong way. But when Vincent is murdered, Mas and Conklin realize that success will come only through a blending of investigative and cultural styles. The almost impenetrably sooty, neon-saturated city of Osaka is superbly photographed by future director Jan de Bont. |
| LOOK WHO'S TALKING |
| LATENITE 021890 |
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| An accountant becomes pregnant by her married boyfriend who then refuses to leave his wife and assume responsibility for the child. Left to her own devices, the expectant mother is befriended by the warm-hearted cab driver who races her to the hospital during labor. He quickly falls in love with both her and her precocious infant who comments on the action (including his own birth) omnisciently in the wise-cracking voice of Bruce Willis. Still pining over her businessman ex-boyfriend, the accountant at first refuses the attentions of the cabbie, until, gradually, she begins to see him as more than just a babysitter. |
| BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 |
| LATENITE 022490 |
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| Time-traveling Marty McFly propels himself into the year 2015 in order to keep his future son from going to prison. But while there, he commits a careless error that threatens to disrupt the precarious balance of the space-time continuum. What follows is a dizzying chase back and forth through nearly seven decades in an attempt to set events back into their proper order. And many of the scenes from the first film are revisited, only this time from a slightly different point of view. |
| MY LEFT FOOT |
| 030290 |
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| In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life. Later, through the help of his strong-willed mother, a dedicated teacher, and his own courage and determination, Christy not only learns to grapple with life's simple physical tasks and complex psychological pains, but he also develops into a brilliant painter, poet and author. |
| WAR OF THE ROSES |
| 030290 |
|
| A black comedy about a wealthy couple embroiled in a bitter divorce. Oliver Rose is a successful lawyer; his wife Barbara has been a committed homemaker with a flair for interior decorating. Together they created a home that looks like something off the pages of "House Beautiful." But after their two kids grow up and leave home, Barbara decides that their perfect marriage isn't so perfect anymore and wants out. Unable to reach an agreement about who will keep the house and everything in it, the Roses become engaged in a vicious battle to the death over the possession of their material objects. |
| TREMORS |
| LATENITE 030290 |
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| A couple of luckless dreamers leave the small town of Perfection and cross the desert in search of odd jobs. Instead of a pot of gold, they find worms... humungous man-eating worms that tunnel underground and eat everything in sight, from men to automobiles. With quick thinking -- and a conveniently placed cement wall -- the duo outwit the hungry sand beasts. Back home they brag of their escape to the weird collection of townsfolk. A seismologist who just happens to be studying the area tells them there are lots more of the creatures hanging around. And, like everybody else, the worms are aiming for Perfection... |
| ROGER AND ME |
| 030990 |
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| Ex-journalist Michael Moore's blistering, satirical documentary about the closing of the General Motors plants in Flint, Michigan in the mid-1980s. This move, which eliminated 33,000 jobs and left the one-industry town destitute, was a particularly bitter tragedy, considering that Flint was the town that gave birth to General Motors during post-war boom era of the 1950s. The film revolves around Moore's dogged attempts to gain an interview with Roger Smith, the elusive and well-insulated head of GM and the man responsible for the layoffs. While tracking the eponymous Roger, Moore takes time out to record the devastation of Flint and the desperate, often unintentionally hilarious attempts of the citizens and the city fathers to deal with the catastrophe. |
| ERIK THE VIKING |
| LATENITE 030990 |
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| Tim Robbins stars as Erik the Viking, a thoughtful man in a violent time who does not enjoy killing and raping like the rest of his people. When he accidentally kills a woman while defending her, he reevaluates his life and goes off in search of the Horn Resounding, which has the power to bring him to his true home--and end the Age of Ragnarok, bringing peace to the kingdom. To get there he has to lead a pathetic group of seasick sailors through the Gates of the World and into sunlight, on their way to Valhalla. But all threatens to come undone when the local blacksmith plots to sabotage the journey to protect his lucrative weapons business. The film includes wonderfully unexpected turns from Mickey Rooney and Eartha Kitt and an especially funny performance by John Cleese as a torturing warlord who enjoys having men killed in myriad creative ways. The film is more similar in tone to Terry Gilliam's JABBERWOCKY than to any of the Monty Python farces. |
| INTERNAL AFFAIRS |
| LATENITE 031690 |
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| The plot of INTERNAL AFFAIRS is simple and familiar--good guy Raymond Avila (Andy Garcia) works for the internal affairs division of the LAPD and has to take down Dennis Peck (Richard Gere), a corrupt officer. The twist is that the film is really about social change in America. Gere plays Peck as an iconoclastic force of nature; he charms everyone he meets, runs the force by trading favors and protecting his own, and has eight kids with four wives. He sees himself as a throwback to an older notion of manhood and professional effectiveness. Avila, on the other hand, is a hero but also--as Peck calls him--a yuppie, seeking promotion in the internal affairs division and involved in a childless marriage with a successful museum curator (Nancy Travis). As Peck pushes Avila's buttons, the situation is further complicated by Avila's Latin temper--a kind of suppressed, true ethnic self that increasingly reveals itself as the two men's struggle reaches a primal level. British director Mike Figgis is an outsider looking in, and his ideas about American society are to some extent generalizations, but nevertheless they have the ring of truth in this intense cop fable. |
| HEAVY PETTING |
| LATENITE 032390 |
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| How did America view sex in the 1950s? The filmmakers try to answer that question by looking at a wealth of archival material, as well as by interviewing a variety of actors, performance artists, and beat writers. While the stars comment on the images that shaped their first sexual encounters, the film cuts together clips from steamy teenage angst films, riotous sex-ed films and other material from the period. |
| MYSTERY TRAIN |
| 033090 |
|
| Jim Jarmusch broadens his scope with this episodic tale of a night in the life of several Memphis, Tennessee, inhabitants who unknowingly find themselves lodging at the same hotel. The first episode, "Far from Yokohama," is about two Japanese teenagers (Youki Kudoh and Masatoshe Nagase) on a pilgrimage to the birthplace of rock and roll, Sun Studios, where Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins got their start. In the second story, "A Ghost," two strangers meet and become friends. One is an Italian tourist, Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi), who is on the way back to Rome in order to bury her husband; the other, Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco), has just dumped her British boyfriend, Johnny (Joe Strummer). During the middle of the night, Luisa is visited by the ghost of Elvis. "Lost in Space," the final segment, brings all the characters together briefly, as Johnny goes on a violent drinking spree with Dee Dee's brother (Steve Buscemi) and another friend (Rick Aviles). Throughout all of this, the hotel’s night clerk (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) and bellboy (Cinque Lee) listen to the local radio and engage in aimless conversation. Jarmusch once again uses his distinct sense of humor to dispel cultural myths--this time it’s the legend of Memphis--by placing an eclectic group of tourists into an unquestionably American environment. |
| TOM JONES |
| 040690 |
|
| Tony Richardson's rousing adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic comic novel stars Albert Finney as the eponymous swordsman. TOM JONES achieved enormous critical and commercial success, benefiting from an excellent cast, lively score, and unusually realistic art direction. While the film surely deserves this praise, Richardson initially considered it a failure, and it's likely that he saved the film in the editing room, emphasizing the farcical elements of the story with rapid intercutting, and adding amusingly ironic voice-over narration. The end product is one of the most entertaining costume dramas ever put on celluloid. |
| COMEDY'S DIRTIEST DOZEN |
| LATENITE 040690 |
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| A round-up of raw stand-up nastiness from popular comics, including the uncensored comedy stylings of Chris Rock, Tim Allen, Bill Hicks, and more. |
| FAMILY BUSINESS |
| LATENITE 040690 |
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| Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick star as three generations of a family formerly linked to organized crime. Grandfather Jesse has been in and out of jail, and his son Vito has decided to leave a life of crime in order to become a respectable family man, but when grandson Adam comes up with a can't-miss heist plan, the intergenerational sparks begin to fly. |
| LOVE AT LARGE |
| 041390 |
|
| Tom Berenger stars in this goofy detective story as clumsy gumshoe Harry Dobbs, who is hired by a beautiful woman (Anne Archer) to tail her mysterious paramour. Poor Harry ends up following the wrong guy, a bigamist (Ted Levine) living a double life with two different families (Annette O'Toole and Kate Capshaw play the wives). As Harry winds up embroiled in confusion he can't comprehend, he becomes aware that he too is being followed--by a pretty female detective named Stella (Elizabeth Perkins) who is recovering from heartbreak of her own. |
| MADHOUSE |
| LATENITE 041390 |
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| Mark and Jessie have finally achieved a coveted part of the American dream: home ownership. But no sooner do they move in and settle down when they are nearly unsettled and moved out by force. Down and out relatives descend upon them and they get a class "A" education on one of the greatest scourges of all time - the overnight houseguest. |
| STORY OF WOMEN |
| 042090 |
|
| Claude Chabrol traces the sordid and sad trajectory of Nazi-occupied France during World War II through the tragic, tumble-down journey of one woman. Isabelle Hupert plays Marie, a young woman with two children who has carved out a life for herself during her husbands absence, barely managing to feed her children, gleaning some happiness from jukeboxes and girlfriends, and by performing and occasional amateur abortion for her neighbors. When her shell-shocked husband returns from the labor camps, Marie takes matters into her own hands and turns her skills into a booming abortion business, boarding prostitute friends on the side and taking a collaborator for a lover. While Chabrol details Marie's descent into amorality with brutal honesty, he nonetheless contextualizes her sins and shows her truly as a victim of the chaos of France's confused response to Nazi occupation. |
| DEPECHE MODE 101 |
| LATENITE 042090 |
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| This fascinating journey into the Depeche mode touring-machine takes a look at events from the perspective of the fans, and from backstage. Infamous director D.A. Pennebaker (DON'T LOOK BACK) mixes up footage of a live show from Pasadena in 1988 with interviews from the band, and competition winners who won the chance to be in the movie. As a bonus, the DVD version includes a second disc that contains the full uninterrupted concert. Tracks include "Never Let Me Down Again," "People Are People," "Master & Servant," "Everything Counts," "Just Can't Get Enough," and more. |
| LOOK WHO'S TALKING |
| LATENITE 042090 |
|
| An accountant becomes pregnant by her married boyfriend who then refuses to leave his wife and assume responsibility for the child. Left to her own devices, the expectant mother is befriended by the warm-hearted cab driver who races her to the hospital during labor. He quickly falls in love with both her and her precocious infant who comments on the action (including his own birth) omnisciently in the wise-cracking voice of Bruce Willis. Still pining over her businessman ex-boyfriend, the accountant at first refuses the attentions of the cabbie, until, gradually, she begins to see him as more than just a babysitter. |
| CAMILLE CLAUDEL |
| 042790 |
|
| Biopic of sculptor Camille Claudel. Her talent and ambition catch the attention of the legendary sculptor Rodin, who serves first as her mentor, and then as her lover. But Camille's independence and fierce desire to win acceptance for her own work clashes with the social restrictions of turn-of-the-century Europe, leading to her eventual destruction. Academy Award Nominations: Best Actress--Isabelle Adjani. |
| CAF... FLESH |
| LATENITE 042790 |
|
| no idea what this is supposed to be. |
| REVENGE |
| LATENITE 042790 |
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Michael "Jay" Michael "Jay" Cochran has just left the Navy after 12 years. He's not quite sure what he's going to do, except that he knows he wants a holiday. He decides to visit Tiburon Mendez, a powerful but shady Mexican businessman who he once flew to Alaska for a hunting trip. Arriving at the Mendez mansion in Mexico, he is immediately surprised by the beauty and youth of Mendez' wife Miryea. Their attraction to each other is undenyable, but Cochran is aware that Mendez is a powerful, vindictive, and very posessive man who does not tolerate betrayal. |
| BAD INFLUENCE |
| LATENITE 050490 |
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| In this psychological thriller directed by Curtis Hanson, James Spader stars as Michael Boll, a meek executive who lives a boring life. Though he wants nothing more than to be successful at work, Michael does nothing when a sneaky coworker consistently throws wrenches into his plan. His love life is not much better--he's engaged to a woman who has their entire future planned. Escaping from the office for a drink, Michael is saved from a violent barroom brawl by the mysterious Alex (Rob Lowe). Wimpy Michael befriends Alex, who introduces him to the seedy underground scene in Los Angeles. At first Michael enjoys his new adventure and is empowered by the advice that Alex offers, becoming bolder and taking action to get what he wants. But when Alex begins to influence every aspect of Michael’s professional and personal life, drawing him into his own dark world of theft, sex, voyeurism, and murder, Michael has to save himself from this sadistic stranger’s depravity. Christian Clemenson stars as Michael’s brother, and Lisa Zane is the seductive Claire. Blink and you’ll miss David Duchovny, who is billed as Club Goer. |
| KRISHNAMURTI: WITH A SILENT MIND |
| 050590 |
|
| A richly detailed biographical portrait of Jiddu Krishnamurti, the world-renowned teacher of religious thought who was discovered as a young boy on the beach in South India by C.W. Leadbeater of the Theosophical Society. The film combines the teacher's own deep insights with thoughts about him by authors, educators, friends, scientists, and students. Also used to tell his story is archival footage from India, England (where he was educated), and America in the 1920s and 1930s. |
| HENRY V |
| 051190 |
|
| Kenneth Branagh makes his directorial debut and also plays the title role in HENRY V, a film that began a resurgence of interest in films of Shakespeare’s plays. Henry is a young king seeking a way to make his mark on history. He gets his chance when he learns he can make a legal claim to the throne of France. He does, and arrives in France with a small army that soon meets with violent resistance from the French. The film follows Henry and his men through the brutality of fifteenth century warfare as the ragtag band confronts heavy opposition and their own destinies on a rainy French battlefield. The film expertly balances the thrilling heroics of the battle sequences with the painful and complex reactions of men who are sometimes unsure of the justice of their cause. True to Shakespeare’s original text, an unnamed Chorus (Derek Jacobi) appears periodically, filling in details and offering a running commentary on the action. HENRY V is a rousing, fascinating film about the power of courage and the price of glory. |
| NIGHTBREED |
| LATENITE 051190 |
|
| A man flees a disturbed past and an empty future pursued by the law, a psychopathic killer, and a woman who still loves him. His goal is to seek sanctuary in the tiny town of Midian, somewhere in central Canada. In this town, which appears on the surface to be nothing but a graveyard, but "Midian is where the monsters go," according to legend. Under the graves lies a massive complex for the lost souls to live, but at a terrible price. Adapted by Clive Barker from his novel, "Cabal." |
| 22ND INTL TOURNEE OF ANIMATION |
| 051890 |
|
| no synopsis available |
| CRY-BABY |
| LATENITE 051890 |
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| Cry-Baby has the talent to shed one tear and have the girls screaming. He has a gang of hoodlums as his circle of friends. Allson is a rich girl who is falling for Cry-Baby. This is a very strange musical with a variety of weird characters. |
| FOR ALL MANKIND |
| 052590 |
|
| Pulled from several million feet of archival film and eighty hours of interviews with the men who lived the experience, FOR ALL MANKIND is the official story of the Apollo missions to the moon, which took place between 1968 and 1972. Capturing the beauty of the technology, the enthusiasm of the astronauts and the pride of the nation that watched, the film steers clear of any political ramifications of the time, choosing wisely to present the stunning footage of the actual events with voice overs from the men themselves, creating a fitting tribute to a proud event in American history. |
| JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO |
| LATENITE 052590 |
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| When an average man living a thoroughly unfulfilling life is diagnosed with a terminal disease he quits his job and accepts a millionaire's odd offer -- to travel to a south seas island and sacrifice himself to a volcano. In this odd but touching film Meg Ryan plays three roles. |
| DR. CALIGARI |
| LATENITE 052590 |
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| The granddaughter of the original Dr. Caligari is a pleasure-seeking temptress who seeks to replicate her grandfather's experiments on the patients of her asylum. |
| HANDMAID'S TALE |
| 060190 |
|
| Based on Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, THE HANDMAID'S TALE presents a harrowing vision of (as the film's opening legend reads) "the very near future." In Gilead, formerly the United States, a series of ecological disasters rendering most women infertile has been followed by a coup d’état by puritanical right-wing fundamentalists. Attempting to escape the increasingly unjust and brutal oligarchy, Kate (Natasha Richardson) is captured by border guards while her husband is killed and her daughter lost. Because she is fertile, Kate is sent for training as a handmaid, where she meets the defiant Moira (Elizabeth McGovern). Kate then becomes handmaid to the Commander (Robert Duvall) and is forced to enact a ceremony, based on the biblical story of Rachel, in which she lies between the Commander and his infertile wife, Serena Joy (Faye Dunaway), so he can impregnate her. The ceremony leaves Serena Joy angry, the Commander unfulfilled, and Kate humiliated, rebellious, and desperate for freedom. |
| HOUSE PARTY |
| LATENITE 060890 |
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| Adolescent knaves Kid 'n Play -- two handsome homeboys from around the way -- are planning the ultimate house party. There's only one hitch: Kid's super-strict dad forbids the star student to do anything but study. So he sneaks out of the house and over to Play's to get in on the fun. But to get there he has to dodge two hardened hoods from high school just itching to kick his butt; redneck cops cruising the 'Hood in search of a punching bag, and his irate old man who's angry Kid left the house in the first place. If he can clear these hurdles, he'll make the party in time to rock the mike and jam with a few of the buxom black beauties he and Play have invited to their lair. |
| ENCOUNTER AT RAVEN'S GATE |
| 061590 |
|
| A mysterious otherworldly force is affecting a small town; first strange things start occurring with the machines, then to the water supply and finally to the minds of the townsfolk. People begin to murder one another on impulse. An ex-con and his sister-in-law must flee that madness when their farm is destroyed and his crazed brother is out for blood. |
| MIAMI BLUES |
| LATENITE 061590 |
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| Junior (Alec Baldwin), an ex-con psychopath who sets twisted goals and achieves them at any cost, meets his match in Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward), a weather-beaten Miami detective who attempts to avenge Junior's antics when the lifelong criminal steals the detective's badge, gun, and even his false teeth and poses a Miami police officer. Along the way he also meets Susie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a hooker who wants to live happily ever after and unfolds another chapter in Junior's fast-paced life. |
| NUNS ON THE RUN |
| LATENITE 061590 |
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| After an ill-fated bank robbery, a couple of petty criminals end up with two suitcases of stolen cash and an assortment of angry thugs -- including their boss, a vicious London mobster -- on their tails. They decide to hide out in a convent school disguised as nuns -- and they do so with the blessing of one very practical and hard-nosed Sister Superior who hopes to refill the convent's shrunken coffers with some of the cash from their suitcases. |
| LONGTIME COMPANION |
| 062290 |
|
| A touching portrayal of a close-knit group of gay friends and lovers during the 1980s. The men watch as AIDS begins to devastate their community, and try to deal with the painful reality of watching their friends, one by one, succumb to death. |
| SWEETIE |
| 062290 |
|
| Jane Campion’s (THE PIANO) first theatrical feature is a darkly comic look at one odd Australian family’s dysfunction. The sexual problems of emotionally withdrawn Kay (Karen Colston) and her spiritual boyfriend, Louis (Tom Lycos), become exacerbated by the unexpected arrival of Kay’s overweight, psychotic sister Dawn, aka Sweetie (Genevieve Lemon). Fresh out of the asylum, Sweetie has brought along her "manager," Bob (Michael Lake), a continually zonked-out swinger who nurtures her unrealistic fantasies of becoming a star. As the two completely opposite sisters fight and rampage through the horribly furnished house, their father arrives with his own troubles: their mom has left him to find herself in the outback, as cook for an eccentric band of jack-a-roos. |
| TANGO AND CASH |
| LATENITE 062290 |
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| Tango and Cash are two L.A. narcotics cops that go together like caviar and French fries. Dressed in three-piece suits and glasses, Tango is the suave policeman. In his $9 shirts and jeans, Cash is his salt-of-the-earth rival on the force. Each has spent his days and nights cracking down on drug dealers -- to the fury of crime boss Yves Perret. Perret and his gang frame the two cops and have them sent to prison. It turns out Tango and Cash don't get along any better behind bars than they did in the station house. They trade insults, and they protest having to shower together. But when the ruling underground goons of the penitentiary torture them, Tango and Cash join forces to overthrow the prison menace, and, in the process, escape. Once free, they pursue Perret and attempt to destroy his cartel for good. And, ruffling Tango's feathers, Cash also gets involved with Tango's sister, Kiki, an exotic dancer. |
| M3-D! |
| LATENITE 062990 |
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| no synopsis available. |
| Q & A |
| LATENITE 062990 |
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| A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuse to help him in this gritty crime film. |
| CHATTAHOOCHEE |
| 070690 |
|
| Based on a true story about a a decorated Korean war hero who fought an important battle on the homefront -- a battle to improve life for those living in mental institutions. In 1955, after successfully finishing his tour of duty, soldier Emmett Foley returns to his small southern town. Unable to cope with civilian life, and believing he's worth more to his family dead, Emmett tries to goad the police into killing him in a shootout. Though he gets hit, he survives, and ends up committed to the Chattahoochee State Mental institution in Florida. Although he accepts his fate calmly at first, he quickly discovers the institution's brutality, and so begins a personal crusade to change its cruel practices and unsanitary conditions. |
| THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY II |
| LATENITE 070690 |
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| Xixo the bushman who lives deep in the African desert, following the life of his ancestors, collides again with civilization when he embarks on a search for his children. Soon, he crosses paths with two very odd couples lost in the desert and the crazy adventure begins. |
| THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER |
| 071390 |
|
| Master director Greenaway (THE PILLOW BOOK) outdoes himself with this grisly fairy tale. The thief, Albert Spica, (Gambon) is a gangster, repugnant and boorish, who holds court at the same table in his opulent restaurant every night surrounded by his lackeys (Tim Roth and the late Ian Dury included). When his cultured and repressed wife Georgina (Mirren) becomes magnetically attracted to a solitary diner in the restaurant, the two begin a secret affair under the nose of her dangerous husband. With the help of the restaurant's chef, the time the lovers share is kept secret from the vicious Albert...for a while. Despite the breathtaking production design and artful camera work, this violent, disturbing and very darkly comic work is not for everyone. Those with the stomach for it, however, will reap generous rewards. |
| TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR YOU |
| 072090 |
|
| Bernard Barthélémy seems to have it all: a steady job, a stunningly beautiful wife and a nice home; in fact, he's the envy of all his friends. But oddly enough, Bernard finds that he is not truly fulfilled by either his marriage or his work. So what does he do? He tries to shake up his life by having an affair with Colette, a dowdy temporary secretary in his employ -- and the two fall hopelessly in love. Bernard is suddenly a happy man, but, if he isn't careful, he may just lose everything he's got. |
| SANTA SAGNRE |
| 072090 |
|
| A hallucinatory, dreamlike study of one individual's disturbed psyche; the line between truth and imagination blurs in this surreal universe. Fenix has always lived in the rarefied and strange world of the circus, where both his parents work. But when his mother spots his father going off with another woman, a tragic battle results in which Fenix's father is killed, and his mother loses her arms. The boy goes insane, and remains institutionalized... until, many years later, his mother reclaims him, and together they embark on a bloody trail of revenge. And only one person from the past knows the secret of the serial murders. |
| THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER |
| LATENITE 072790 |
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| In the tradition of DIE HARD and PREDATOR, Director John McTiernan presents audiences with yet another techno thriller: THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. Sean Connery plays Captain Marko Ramius, a dissatisfied Russian commander who navigates his submarine towards America in an attempt to defect. Soviet intelligence claims that Ramius is a warmonger and that he plans to launch nuclear missiles at the United States. |
| TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE |
| LATENITE 072790 |
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| George Romero's (NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) popular television becomes a feature film, with some help from Stephen King and Michael McDowell (screenwriter of BEETLEJUICE), in the form of three chilling tales with a connecting story. In "Lot 249" is a college student (Christian Slater) is menaced by a mummy. "Cat From Hell" finds the millionaire owner of the titular feline hiring a hitman to kill the pet. Finally, in "Lover's Vow" an artist suffers severe retribution after taking a vow of silence after witnessing the murder of a friend. |
| TIE ME UP, TIE ME DOWN |
| 080390 |
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| Antonio Banderas caught the world's attention with his portrayal of Ricky, an orphaned mental patient who stalks and kidnaps Marina (Victoria Abril), a porn actress and junkie, in order to make her love him in this decided departure for iconoclastic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. Suspense, tension, and uneasy humor mingle as Marina grapples with her addictive nature, a very bad toothache, and her own confusion about the need to be loved and the need for freedom. Meanwhile, Máximo (Francisco Rabal), an aging director who has just shot Marina's latest film, finds himself obsessed with her, while sister Lola (Loles León) worries Marina might be back on drugs and starts trying to track her down. The tension mounts as her sister closes in, and Marina becomes torn by her desire to escape and her growing affection for her captor. Almodóvar followed up his hit WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN with this controversial, steamy thriller that contains nudity and some very passionate sex. The cast includes Almodóvar regulars Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano, and María Barranco and features a tense musical score by Ennio Morricone. |
| HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER |
| 080390 |
|
| HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, loosely based on the case of Henry Lee Lucas, a confessed serial killer, is a terrifyingly intimate journey into the twisted life of a murderous psychotic. As the blank-eyed Henry (Michael Rooker) drifts from place to place, he selects victims at random, slaughters them, and captures the brutality on videotape. When he is joined by his deranged roommate, a loudmouthed ex-convict named Otis (Tom Towles), the almost unfathomably malevolent acts multiply. |
| ROBOCOP 2 |
| LATENITE 080390 |
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| An even darker, more violent sequel to the dark and violent original. This time around, in addition to the corporate goons who are busy exploiting the blighted city of Detroit, RoboCop must battle a psychotic drug lord known as Cain and his vicious, foul-mouthed, 12-year-old assistant. Now that his own brain has been zapped by a potent new drug known as Nuke, Cain plans to market the substance to the citizens of Detroit. The diabolical drug dealer soon proves to be not only evil, but indestructible; when RoboCop finally succeeds in killing him, Cain is resurrected as RoboCop 2 and embarks on a rampage of murder and destruction. |
| A CLOCKWORK ORANGE |
| LATENITE 080390 |
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| From its opening shot of Malcolm McDowell staring with evil intent directly into the camera (which pulls back to reveal him drinking a glass of milk), Stanley Kubrick's brilliant CLOCKWORK ORANGE announces itself as a completely new kind of viewing experience. Banned in Britain for decades, the film, set in an unidentified future, overwhelms the senses with its almost comic depictions of rape and violence set to an upbeat classical and pop music score; its magnificent, colorful, futuristic set designs; and its utter determination to shock, frighten, and thoroughly entertain its audience. Kubrick based his chilling masterpiece on Anthony Burgess's culture-shaking novel about a young man, growing into adulthood, who has a bit of a problem with authority figures. (Interestingly, Burgess's stunning piece of fiction contains 21 chapters, but Kubrick ends his film after chapter 20.) When Alex (a career-defining performance by McDowell) and his droogs go out for a little bit of the old ultraviolence, he is caught and forced to undergo controversial treatment that will make it impossible for him to commit violent acts--but has severe side effects. Kubrick's film purposely confuses crime and punishment, cause and effect, hero and villain, irony and satire, filled with oxymoron and paradox, taking on science, politics, societal mores, education, sexual awakening, and parental responsibility all in a new language (both verbal and visual) that would change the cinema forever. No one who has seen it has ever been able to hear "Singin' in the Rain" or Ludwig van again in quite the same way. |
| TOTAL RECALL |
| LATENITE 081090 |
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| Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as Quaid, a 2084 construction worker haunted by dreams of Mars in this crowd-pleasing science fiction spectacle. Against the wishes of his sexy blonde wife (Sharon Stone), Quaid goes to Rekall, a company that implants artificial memories, so he can "remember" visiting the red planet that is now being settled by human inhabitants. However, Quaid is actually an amnesiac secret agent from Mars--or is he? Enemy agents led by a thug named Richter (Michael Ironside) start trying to kill him before Quaid remembers anything more. Bullets and bone-crunching mayhem follow in large doses as Quaid heads to Mars to deal with mutants, ancient alien races, and Cohagen (Ronny Cox), a greedy capitalist controlling the colonists' air supply, in an effort to remember his real identity. TOTAL RECALL is based on the story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick and was a big box-office hit, helping to firmly establish director Paul Verhoeven as a specialist in darkly satiric, blood-drenched genre films. His next stop: BASIC INSTINCT, also with Stone. |
| STRAPLESS |
| 081790 |
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| Dr. Lillian Hemphill is an American in London where she's been practicing medicine for 12 years. She lives a solemn and organized life unlike her irresponsible younger sister, Amy. While on vacation in Portugal, Lillian meets Raymond Forbes, a handsome, seemingly well-to-do gentleman who wines-and-dines her persistently. At home, they continue dating, eventually becoming live-in-lovers. It isn't until after they're married and Raymond mysteriously disappears that Lillian discovers his hidden secrets: a wife and child he previously abandoned. Her orderly life is further complicated by the British government's health service cutbacks. But Lillian is resilient. She and Amy manage to overcome their bad relationships with men and rebuild their friendship in the process. |
| THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE |
| LATENITE 081790 |
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| One of America's most controversial comics, Andrew Dice Clay, plays a detective (Ford Fairlane) who investigates cases involving rock stars and the music industry. So when someone kills a loudmouthed deejay, the not-too-bright Fairlane gets cracking and tries to solve the murder. |
| BLACK RAIN |
| 082490 |
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| Director Ridley Scott's international crime thriller stars Michael Douglas as Mike Conklin, a New York detective under investigation for corruption. When yakuza hit man Sato (Yusaku Matsuda) kills two American mobsters in New York, he's extradited to Osaka to face trial, with Conklin and Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia) as his escorts. Mistakenly turning over their prisoner to yakuza disguised as police, Conklin and Vincent realize, after running down some blind alleys, that they have no chance of finding Sato in the unfamiliar city and enlist the services of Japanese desk cop Masahiro "Mas" Masumoto (Ken Takakura). While relaxing with Mas at a karaoke bar, the cops also get information on the world of the yakuza from Joyce Kinglsey (Kate Capshaw), a high-class bargirl. As they continue the search for Sato, the scrupulous, methodical, and civilized style of Japanese police work rubs the improvisational, rule-breaking Americans the wrong way. But when Vincent is murdered, Mas and Conklin realize that success will come only through a blending of investigative and cultural styles. The almost impenetrably sooty, neon-saturated city of Osaka is superbly photographed by future director Jan de Bont. |
| GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH |
| LATENITE 082490 |
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| Just when they thought they were safe, young sweethearts Billy (Zach Galligan) and Kate (Phoebe Cates) from Joe Dante's GREMLINS have moved on to the Big Apple, landed jobs in a high-tech office park, and have met up with Gizmo once again. When a series of accidents creates a whole new generation of Gremlins, the three pals must use everything they know to prevent another comic catastrophe. The monsters wreck havoc at Clamp Industries, the "smart building" where Billy and Kathy work, creating madness and mayhem for the Donald Trump-like owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), who sees the invasion as yet another opportunity for media attention. But, when the monsters invade "Splice of Life," the top-secret genetics laboratory housed at Clamp Industries, the Gremlins develop new genetically altered powers that make them even harder to destroy. This highly inventive sequel to GREMLINS, successfully combines wicked horror and dark humor in an outrageous and eerily realistic post modern setting. |
| THE BELLY OF AN ARCHITECT |
| 083190 |
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| Architect Stourley Kracklite and his wife travel to Rome, where he's supposed to curate an exhibition honoring a French architect of the 1800s. But Stourley gradually begins to suspect that his wife is both unfaithful and poisoning him... |
| NAVY SEALS |
| LATENITE 083190 |
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| An elite naval attack group known as "Seals," embarks upon a mission to rescue captives being held in the Middle East. Once there, they stumble upon important information: the terrorists have gotten hold of hand-held nuclear weapons, and they're planning to launch an attack. Now, with the help of a half-Lebanese TV reporter, the unit must make sure they find those weapons before it's too late. |
| BIRD ON A WIRE |
| LATENITE 083190 |
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| Happy-go-lucky hairdresser Rick Jarmin (Mel Gibson) did a good turn fifteen years ago when he gave the government a much-needed testimony in a court case that put a dangerous drug dealer behind bars. The Witness Protection Program kept up its side of the bargain, moving him around over the years and hiding his identity. Now they have him working in a Detroit gas station, but his cover is blown when a former girlfriend, Marianne Graves (Goldie Hawn) discovers Rick at about the same time that the now-released, and very angry, drug dealer has caught up to him. A shootout ensues and Rick and his ex barely escape with their lives. Now the former lovers must flee together; on the run, they rediscover their shared past as they desperately try to keep one step ahead of the killers. Set against thrilling backdrops and fantastical settings, director John Badham's film is a funny and heartwarming romantic adventure highlighting the bumbling antics of Goldie Hawn and the action heroics of Mel Gibson |
| MONSIEUR HIRE |
| 090790 |
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| The murder of a young girl strikes a chord of fear in a neighborhood, with the local voyeur, Monsieur Hire, pegged as the prime suspect. His solitary ways and peculiar behaviors elicit the suspicion of the local residents, but the lovely woman across the way--upon whom Hire spies--may have a different answer to the mystery. A taut and intricate character-based suspenser. |
| THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER |
| 090790 |
|
| A story filled with love and courage about five dejected appliances left alone in a country cottage for five years after their young master moved away. Led by the Courageous Toaster, the compatriots embark on a long and arduous journey to the big city in search of the boy. A talented voice cast includes Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman. |
| CADILLAC MAN |
| LATENITE 090790 |
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| When one car salesman gets the opportunity to redeem himself from all his sleazy sales pitches, financial philandering, and relentless womanizing, he is forced to confront all his demons in one very long afternoon. |
| JESUS OF MONTREAL |
| 091490 |
|
| When attendance at a church's annual Passion Play flags, a troupe of young actors is hired to stage a newer interpretation of the teachings of Jesus. While their newer, more modern version brings the house down, it also brings down the condemnation of church hierarchy, creating a strange parallel between the actors--now persecuted believers--and the authorities. But the actor, who is beginning to feel at peace with the character he plays (Christ), insists that the show will go on... no matter what happens to him in the process. |
| HEAVY METAL |
| LATENITE 091490 |
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| An astronaut brings home a glowing green orb for his daughter. However, the orb kills him and corners the girl for his purposes. Claiming to the embodiment of all evil, the malevolent sphere, known as the Locnar, terrorizes the little girl by showing a series of bizarre and fantastic tales in which he has influenced. The first is "Harry Canyon," a cynical taxi driver in a squalid futuristic New York who finds himself involved with a damsel in distress who is relentlessly pursued by murderous thugs who desire the Locnar her archaeologist father found. The second is "Den" which chronicles the adventures of a nerdish boy who is thrown into the fantasy world of Neverwhere where he is transformed into a studly naked muscle-man desired by beautiful women who must get involved in a conflict revolving around possession of the Locnar. The third is "Captain Stern" where the title character is a handsome but irredeemable scoundrel who stands accused in a trial that Locnar throws into chaos. The fourth is "B-17" where a World War II bomber plane limps home after a bombing run only to have the Locnar ram into it and revive the dead crew-members as murderous zombies. The next is "So Beautiful, So Dangerous" where a boxum secretary at the Pentagon is abducted by stoned alien wastrels and a oversexed robot. The final story is "Tarrna", where the Locnar has to come to a future Earth and changes a peaceful people into a horde of murderous barbarians who rampage with genocidal zeal. Only the last Tarackian, a silent swords-woman known as Tarrna, can avenge the victims and stop the Locnar. |
| THE FRESHMAN |
| LATENITE 091490 |
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| A wry and winsome film about a freshman film student in New York City who is made an offer he can't refuse by a Mafia don who is the spitting image of Don Corleone. As he weighs the romance against the danger of his association, he finds himself rapidly more involved. The Godfather himself, Marlon Brando, brilliantly reprises his famous role in this oddly affecting comedy. |
| GRIM PRAIRIE TALES |
| 092190 |
|
| A bounty hunter and a bookish clerk spin a quartet of gory campfire tales set in the Old West. The supernatural horror stories involve premature burials, mysterious seductresses, lynchings, and ruthless gunfighters. |
| AFTER DARK MY SWEET |
| 092890 |
|
An ex-boxer is drifting around after escaping from the mental hospital. He meets a widow who convinces him to help fix up the neglected estate her ex-husband left. Her Uncle talks them both into helping kidnap a rich boy for ransom money, and the ex-fighter must make decisions about his loyalties and what is right. |
| MO' BETTER BLUES |
| LATENITE 092890 |
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| Spike Lee ventures into the world of jazz music with this stylish romantic drama. Forced by his mother to study the trumpet, Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) has grown up to become the leader of a successful jazz quintet. Managed by his inept friend, Giant (Lee), Bleek clashes with fellow band member Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes). Making matters worse is Bleek’s romantic situation: trying to balance two different women at the same time--schoolteacher Indigo Downes (Joie Lee) and aspiring singer Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Williams). In a hysterical moment, the line is blurred when, while making love, Bleek calls each woman by the other’s name. As he struggles to keep the quintet alive and flourishing, he must decide once and for all what it is he really wants: Indigo, Clarke, or his trumpet. The son of jazz musician Bill Lee, who contributes music to the film, Lee has written a script that crackles with witty behind-the-scenes banter that feels natural and fresh. Ernest R. Dickerson’s camera moves at an even brisker pace than in other Lee films, which compliments the bouncy soundtrack, making MO’ BETTER BLUES an entertaining ride. |
| PRETTY WOMAN |
| LATENITE 092890 |
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| While driving back to his Beverly Hills hotel, millionaire corporate raider Edward Lewis takes a wrong turn and ends up on Hollywood Boulevard, where he meets prostitute Vivian Ward. She steers him back to his hotel, charming him along the way, and he decides to hire her for the rest of the evening. In the morning, Edward realizes that he could use an escort for the week, so he hands Vivian $3000 to stay -- and sends her on a fantasy shopping spree. What begins as a purely business transaction develops into something more, but can a poor prostitute and a rich businessman really live happily ever after? |
| ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW |
| LATENITE 101190 |
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| THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is a magical phenomenon unlike anything ever before seen onscreen. Borrowing largely from cinema's horror conventions, the film begins as an innocent young couple is stranded at the home of a mad scientist who is building the perfect man. The castle is filled with a most bizarre group of characters who worship their master, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, played magnificently by the fabulously sexy Tim Curry, in leather jacket, pearls, fishnet stockings, and heavy makeup. Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) are forced to examine their own sexuality as the voluptuous doctor releases the hidden desires in each of them. |
| AKIRA |
| 101290 |
|
| A landmark film that introduced much of the Western world to modern animé, AKIRA is a marvel of modern animation. Based on Katsuhiro Otomo's 2,000 page manga, AKIRA begins on July 16, 1988, when what was believed to be an atomic bomb was dropped on Tokyo, completely destroying the city and marking the beginning of WWIII. Thirty-one years later, Neo-Tokyo has sprung from the ruins of the old city and is experiencing a prolonged period of civil unrest caused by student uprisings, political instability, and, most destructively, biker gangs. One of the members of these biker gangs, Tetsuo, is detained by the military after a near accident with a strange young boy. After recognizing innate psychic ability in him, the military begins using Tetsuo as a test subject to channel Akira, a source of unimaginable power and the cause of the explosion that destroyed the original Tokyo. However, the military's plan backfires, and instead of locating the source of Akira's power, Tetsuo becomes a medium for it. Endowed with incredible psychic powers that make every one of his destructive impulses a reality, Tetsuo begins to go on a rampage that threatens to completely annihilate Neo Tokyo. Combining a complex science-fiction universe with intricately detailed animation and phantasmagoric images, AKIRA is a stunning visual experience and a disturbing vision of the future. |
| LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN |
| 101290 |
|
| The mean and desolate streets of Brooklyn are home to a host of unhappy, hopeless characters stuck in dead-end lives. A young prostitute, emotionally numb from having sold her body so many times, regularly leads her prospective clients to a dark alley where a gang beats and robs them; an office worker cannot deal with his repressed homosexuality; and a young girl's father refuses to admit that she is eight months pregnant. All these stories take place in a world waiting to explode: local workers are engaged in an angry strike against a nearby factory, while, not too far away at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, soldiers sail daily for Korea, many never to return. The personal and the political intermingle in this bleak look at poverty, drugs and violence in the inner-city in the early 1950s. |
| BIJOU TENTH ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE |
| 101290 |
|
| no synopsis available. |
| THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH |
| 101290 |
|
| In Nicolas Roeg's sci-fi tale based on the novel by Walter Tevis, a humanoid alien from a dried-up husk of a planet falls to Earth in a spaceship--and later falls again metaphorically through alcohol abuse and the manipulations of a hostile culture. Arriving as a secret ambassador from a dying world, the masquerading Mr. Newton (David Bowie) patents several basic devices, including a self-developing color film and music recordings in the shape of small silver balls, in order to amass the tremendous capital necessary to build a spaceship. Along the way he solicits the help of a crack patent lawyer (Buck Henry) and a country-fried small-town girl (Candy Clark) who introduces him to gin, which he soon begins to substitute for his customary glass of water. Newton debates the reality of returning to his dead world only to have the choice made for him when he is swept from the launchpad by government agents. After serving his time with men in black, he is released, blinded by x rays, into the world. As a last drunken hurrah, he records an album under the name the Visitor with the hope that it may someday be broadcast and heard by his family and friends back home. Connected throughout by intercut clips of television programs, classic movies, and film soundtracks, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is an fine example of the postmodern technique of work referring to its own medium and history. Like much 1970s sci-fi, it is heavily indebted to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; a scene in which an upset tray of cookies is juxtaposed with flying bodies echoes the film’s flying bone and spaceship. Juxtaposing the free love enjoyed by Dr. Bryce (Rip Torn) with post-Altamont, pre-Reagan paranoia, Roeg's film manages to be at once artistically groundbreaking and a crystallization of the post-Summer of Love era. |
| DAS BOOT |
| 101490 |
|
| In the midst of World War II, as the tide turns against the Axis, a German U-boat crew is sent out to patrol the Atlantic and fire at Allied ships bringing supplies to England. The submarine also carries a press correspondent, there to report from the front lines of nautical warfare. Meanwhile, the crew's captain (Jürgen Prochnow) is becoming disillusioned with the Nazi regime and with war in general. What starts out as a routine mission is soon livened up beyond the crew's expectations when their boat's surprise attack on a convoy is thwarted by a fast-moving destroyer. Battered by depth charges, the crew must pull together to survive the attacks of their unseen enemy. |
| STRANGER THAN PARADISE |
| 101790 |
|
| Beginning in New York City and ending up in Florida, Jim Jarmusch’s STRANGER THAN PARADISE is a highly original comedy that has greatly influenced a new generation of filmmakers (most notably, Kevin Smith and Finland’s Aki Kourismaki). Willie (John Lurie) is annoyed to learn that his younger cousin, Eva (Eszter Balint), is flying in from Hungary and plans on staying with him for ten days. When she arrives, she and Willie waste their days doing nothing. Eventually, Eva gets bored and leaves New York in order to visit her Aunt Lotte in Cleveland. When Willie and his friend Eddie (Richard Edson) get into trouble while cheating in a poker game, they decide to hit the road and track down Eva. Cleveland is even less exciting than New York, so the trio decide to take the plunge and journey to Florida, where they dream of winning an enormous amount at the track. Unfortunately, the reverse occurs, forcing them to confront the gravity of their situation head-on. Jarmusch fuses his love of European cinema with a New York hipness to create one of the decade’s most influential films. Photographed in a static black and white by Tom Di Cillo (director of JOHNNY SUEDE and LIVING IN OBLIVION), STRANGER THAN PARADISE features comically understated performances by its three leads--who are all professional musicians. |
| MY LIFE AS A DOG |
| 101990 |
|
| Twelve-year-old Ingemar (Anton Glanzlius) has a life far too complex for a kid his age. His beloved mother (Anki Liden), once soft and loving, is now an angry invalid. His older brother (Manfred Serner) torments him daily. But there must be worse things in life, and Ingemar does not hesitate to obsess over them: people meeting freak accidents, for one, and Laika, the doomed Soviet space dog, for another. There is also his own pet dog, whose fate, it turns out, is as uncertain as Ingemar's. But when Ingemar is sent away for the summer to stay with his lighthearted Uncle Gunnar (Tomas von Bromssen) and Aunt Ulla (Kicki Rundgren), his world begins to open in a way he could never have imagined. In their little village, Ingemar meets a menage of eccentric, good-hearted people and their interactions with him give him the strength he'll need when things at home get even worse. |
| BERKELY IN THE SIXTIES |
| 101990 |
|
| This highly acclaimed documentary chronicles the 1960s counterculture as it was born and bred at the University of California, Berkeley. What began as a campus Free Speech Movement blossomed into a generation's social revolution--eventually encompassing the antiwar movement, women's liberation, and the Black Panthers' struggle. Key figures from the period (such as Allen Ginsberg, Mario Savio, and Huey Newton) offer their assessment of the events. One interesting segment examines how the political contingent parted ways with the hippies, who were not especially concerned with politics. BERKELEY IN THE SIXTIES unrolls in three sections: Confronting the University, Confronting America, and Confronting History. |
| KOYAANISQATSI |
| 102190 |
|
| Titled from a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance," this unusual, lyrical film suggests that humanity is an ugly blight on the face of this beautiful planet. An awesome epic undersold by an adjective like "powerful." Sequel: POWAQQATSI. |
| HARDWARE |
| LATENITE 102190 |
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| Violent, post-apocalyptic cult movie about Moses, a terminally ill scavenger, and Julie, his dope-smoking girlfriend. One day, while scouring the remains of civilization, Moses retrieves a collection of mysterious hardware. Unfortunately, the hardware turns out to be a robot programmed to kill human beings and it quickly takes over Julie's technology-intensive apartment. |
| KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN |
| 102490 |
|
| Hector Babenco's Oscar-nominated drama, adapted from Manuel Puig's novel and set in an unspecified Latin American country, takes a penetrating look at the role of entertainment in a politically oppressive regime. When activist Valentin (Raul Julia) is tossed in a cell, already beaten and tortured by prison guards anxious to get information out of him, he ends up sharing the space with Molina (William Hurt), a homosexual deeply engaged with popular culture--especially the movies. The two men have widely divergent views of life: while the leftist Valentin strives to bring forth a revolution, Molina buries himself in elaborate fantasies taken directly from the cinema. In particular, he relates two fanciful narratives--one a Nazi melodrama, the other an escapist fable about a glamorous "spider woman" (Sonia Braga), harkening back to the glory days of film noir and murderous femme fatales. The impatient and dedicated Valentin tries to raise his cellmate's conscience, and gradually the two men come together and, in a stunning and shocking conclusion, each one truly learns to put himself in the other's place. Hurt delivers an Oscar-winning performance in this captivating tribute to the power of film and fantasy as an escape from inhumane conditions. |
| BYE BYE BLUES |
| 102690 |
|
| When Daisy's husband is called to serve in WWII, the separation allows the mother of two to spread her wings. She does this by taking piano lessons and becoming the lead singer in a local band, travelling with them from town to town. But just when Daisy is enjoying the fruits of her independence, two crucial events occur. One is that the ensemble is offered a national radio contract; the other is that her husband suddenly returns home. Daisy must decide which is more important: her burgeoning career -- or her responsibilities as a wife and mother. |
| FLATLINERS |
| LATENITE 102690 |
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| Using themselves as guinea pigs, a group of medical students decide to experiment with life after death and find out what's really awaiting them on the "other side." One by one they each take turns "flatlining" -- stopping their hearts and brains to create a condition of clinical death registered as a flat line on the EKG and EEG monitors. They then use emergency procedures to resuscitate each other. Things get increasingly dangerous as the flatliners become more daring, attempting to remain dead for longer and longer periods of time. The leader of the group, plagued by a demon that has followed him back from the world beyond, soon discovers that there is a price to pay for tampering with the line between life and death. |
| DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER |
| LATENITE 102890 |
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| An action-packed sequel to the 1989 film "Die Hard." While former New York City cop John McClane, now a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, waits to pick up his wife in DC's Dulles Airport, gunmen suddenly commandeer the building. They're intent on rescuing a drug-dealing foreign despot who's being brought to the US to stand trial. And once again McClane finds himself enmeshed in a terrorist plot that only he can prevent... |
| THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH |
| 110290 |
|
| In Hal Hartley's first feature film, THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH, Josh (Robert Burke), a criminal who has just been released from prison, returns home to Lindenhurst, Long Island. There he's hired as a mechanic by Vic Hugo (Christopher Cooke), the owner of a local garage. Through a mutual interest in George Washington, Josh falls in love with Vic's daughter, Audry (Adrienne Shelly). However, their romance proves to be difficult due to Audry's possessive ex-boyfriend and the mystery surrounding Josh's past. |
| DARKMAN |
| LATENITE 110490 |
|
| A scientist disfigured by a gang of sadistic criminals develops a mask-like second skin which allows him to change identities. Peyton Westlake, his face hidden behind bandages, is transformed into the Darkman, a lonely psycho who prowls the streets of Los Angeles by night. Disguised as different characters, the Darkman seeks out the men who ruined him and exacts brutal revenge. |
| METROPOLITAN |
| 110990 |
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| A chronicle of the social scene of a group of young Park Avenue socialites and their vanishing debutante scene. Into thier midst comes an outsider, a radical from the socially alien west side. But, because of an escort shortage he is welcomed into their group by the dominant, arrogant leader and his charming girlfriend. Academy Award Nominations: Best (Original) Screenplay. |
| HOLLYWOOD MAVERICKS |
| 110990 |
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| Meet the directors who successfully scorned the conventions of Hollywood to make movies their way: Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Orson Wells, David Lynch, and others. |
| NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD |
| LATENITE 111190 |
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| George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is a low-budget, homegrown classic that had great difficulty finding a distributor at the time of its 1968 release, and has since become one of the most influential horror films of all time. Aside from its visceral impact years before realistic gore became the fashion, the film is also important for its portrayal of a black man as the protagonist during a time when race relations were an extremely sensitive issue in the United States. |
| MILLER'S CROSSING |
| 111690 |
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| An Irish gangster (Albert Finney) and his trusted lieutenant (Gabriel Byrne) and counselor find their domination of the town threatened by an ambitious Italian underboss (Jon Polito). Just as this threat erupts, the two sever their friendship when they realize that they love the same woman (Marcia Gay Harden). When one joins ranks with the enemy, a bloody gang war erupts. Violent and compelling work from the Coen brothers. |
| REBECCA |
| 111690 |
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| A string of classic suspense films produced in England had earned Alfred Hitchcock a reputation in the United States, and his first American production, REBECCA, cemented his fame. Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, REBECCA was conceived to rival producer David O. Selznick's previous epic, GONE WITH THE WIND. This psychological thriller, however, derives its grandeur from Hitchcock's careful cultivation of the title character's haunting legacy. Joan Fontaine takes the starring role and narrates the story of her life as the second Madam de Winter. Fontaine, young and innocent, meets the worldly and sophisticated Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) while vacationing on the Riviera. After a whirlwind romance and marriage, the two return to his opulent English estate, Maderley, where Fontaine begins to realize she is not entirely welcome in her new role. Chief among her detractors is housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who points out her every failing in relation to the previous mistress of the house, Rebecca. Fontaine is nearly driven to suicide by her inability to understand the mysterious legacy of the first wife. However, when a ship washes ashore, the mystery begins to unravel, setting the stage for the memorable and fiery climax. |
| SEX PISTOLS: GREAT ROCK AND ROLL SWINDLE |
| LATENITE 111690 |
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| One of the funniest, pithiest rock films ever made with its own particular brand of a seriocomic chaos. A mock-machiavellian mock-rockumentary masterpiece. Songs include: "God Save the Queen," "No Feelings," "Pretty Vacant," "My Way," "Rock Around the Clock," and many others. |
| MICHELANGELO: A SELF-PORTRAIT |
| 112190 |
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| Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Robert Snyder returns to the subject matter that earned him an Oscar for THE TITAN: STORY OF MICHELANGELO. This time, Snyder lets Michelangelo speak in his own words, painting an even more intimate portrait of the brilliant artist. By the end of this engaging biographical film, viewers will know Michelangelo as they've never known him before. |
| LOBSTER MEN FROM MARS |
| LATENITE 112390 |
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Young film student tries to sell his weird movie to a desparate film producer who is in need of a tax write-off. The producer screens the film "Lobster Man From Mars". What follows is one of the most bizarre and funny film within-a-film sendups: Mars suffers from an air leakage, and send the dreaded Lobster Man to Earth to steal its air. The plot is foiled by a mad scientist, a girl, and an army colonel. The producer buys the movie, but it makes a huge profit and the producer is sent to jail, with the film student taking his place as the studio hot shot. |
| MARKED FOR DEATH |
| LATENITE 112390 |
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| A retired DEA agent returns to his bucolic hometown only to discover that a dangerous drug lord has taken over. When the agent ventilates one of the drug lord's gunmen, he finds himself marked for death. In retaliation, he goes after the bad guys...with a vengeance. |
| TWILIGHT OF THE COCKROACHES |
| 112690 |
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| Japanese classic, composed of live action and animation. Filmmaker Yoshida has devised a story reflecting on life below the refrigerator and our ability to take the good life for granted until it is gone. |
| THE TALL GUY |
| 113090 |
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| A charming British comedy, set in the less glamorous regions of the theatrical world. Dexter King is an American actor performing as the sidekick to a popular comic in the West End. While Dexter's career is languishing, he falls in love with Kate Lemon, a hospital nurse who administers weekly shots to him. After months of fumbling, the two finally hook up romantically, only to become enmeshed in an hilarious slapstick bedroom scene. But, as luck would have it, just as Dexter's love life perks up, he loses his theater job. Soon, though, he wins the lead role in "Elephant" -- a musical version of "The Elephant Man"! |
| SHADOW OF THE RAVEN |
| 113090 |
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Trausti returns to Iceland just in time to be entangled in a family feud over a stranded whale-cadaver. His mother (the family head) is mortally wounded and Grim kills Erikur; the other clan leader. Isold, daughter of Erikur now takes his place. Isold and Trausti are attracted to each other, but Isold was promised to Hjoerleifur - the son of the Bishop (of Iceland) and his powerful wife. However, Isold has a plan... |
| BLONDE EMMANUELLE 3-D |
| LATENITE 113090 |
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| An erotic retelling of the CASABLANCA story, this classic soft-core film follows the sexual antics at a nightclub also functioning as a bordello. Presented in 3-D, BLONDE EMMANUELLE boasts performances by adult film legends William Margold and John Holmes. |
| FRANKENHOOKER |
| LATENITE 113090 |
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| When his pretty fiancee goes to pieces under the blades of a runaway lawnmower, aspiring mad scientist Jeffrey Franken hatches an unorthodox scheme to bring his beloved back to life. He reassembles her using body parts of New York prostitutes. Gory and exploitative, but worth seeing for some New Jersey color, as well as giant pimp Zorro and some murderous "Supercrack." |