Film Archive 1996

 
 
 
 
 
THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD
010397
Jimmy is a likeable, silver-tongued ex-gangster. Although he's no longer a criminal, his former crime boss asks him to threaten a young man, so that he won't come to Denver. Since the money's good, Jimmy agrees, and contacts his old gang of eccentric characters for help. But when the guys attempt to carry out their plan, things go seriously wrong -- and suddenly Jimmy and company find themselves marked for death...
 
COPYCAT
010596
A psychopath is copying the crimes of renowned serial killers such as Son of Sam and the Boston Strangler, and the detective on the case turns to a forensic psychologist who specializes in the field. Unfortunately, the doctor has become a paranoid agoraphobic as the result of an earlier assault at the hands of the killer. A violent, bloody thriller.
 
MIGHTY APHRODITE
011296
MIGHTY APHRODITE is Woody Allen's stab at Greek comedy/tragedy, and it is wildly successful. Allen stars as Lenny Weinrib, a sportswriter married to ambitious Amanda Sloan (Helena Bonham Carter), who desperately wants her own art gallery in New York City and is willing to play the game to get it. Amanda convinces a reluctant Lenny to adopt, and they end up with beautiful Max. Lenny soon becomes obsessed with finding out who Max's biological parents are, and he is not exactly happy when he discovers that the mother is a high-pitched actress wanna-be who is also a minor porn star and hooker (Mira Sorvino, in an Oscar-winning performance). Lenny is determined to turn her life around--but at the same time is forced to examine his own marriage, which is failing.
 
WHEN NIGHT IS FALLING
011996
Camille is a beautiful young theology professor at a Christian college in Canada in the midst of a mid-life upheaval. Her beloved dog has mysteriously died and she and Martin, her boyfriend of three years, are up for the chaplaincy at the college. However, the pressure is on for them to marry before getting the job, and Camille is hesitant about the whole situation. One night when she is doing her laundry, Camille meets Petra, a stunning and intriguing performance artist for an avant-garde circus, who consoles her about the dog. Petra is instantly smitten and ardently pursues Camille. Soon enough Camille willingly succumbs to Petra and the two begin a torrid love affair. As a result, Camille is faced with the possibility of altering her life's destiny.
 
SEVEN
011996
Gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust--these are the seven deadly sins that are being punished with unimaginable cruelty and calculation by an enigmatic killer in David Fincher's bleak thriller SEVEN. Set in a perpetually gloomy unnamed city, the film follows Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a retiring police detective, as he experiences his final week on the job, reluctantly working with assertive newcomer Mills (Brad Pitt). When an obese man is found brutally murdered in his home, the seasoned Somerset realizes this is no ordinary killing--someone tortured him because of his appetite. Slayings that reflect the sins of greed and sloth soon follow, leading Somerset and Mills on a desperate search to find the mysterious John Doe, who is responsible for these methodical murders. As the case builds to a startling conclusion, both Somerset and Mills become more involved than they ever could have imagined.
 
LEAVING LAS VEGAS
012696
With LEAVING LAS VEGAS, director Mike Figgis spun critical gold out of what would appear to be a maudlin and hackneyed premise--a down-and-out drunk meets a hooker with a heart of gold. The reason for the film's success lies partly in its refusal to moralize, but mostly it is the strong performances of Nicholas Cage and Elisabeth Shue that make the story believable and poignant. Ben Sanderson (Cage) is a Hollywood screenwriter who has become an alcoholic. After being fired, he takes his severance pay to Las Vegas, where he plans to drink himself to death. There he meets Sera (Shue), a streetwise prostitute who responds both to Ben's wild antics and to his absolute gentleness. What Sera needs most is to be needed, and Ben needs her a lot. Figgis uses his whole bag of tricks--Sera talks to the camera, the exteriors are shot in grainy 16mm--but finally it is the perfectly-conceived relationship between these two wounded people that drew the rave reviews. The film was based on a novel by John O'Brien.
 
TO DIE FOR
012696
Suzanne Stone is a blond, glamorous, ambitious and ruthless TV weatherperson in Little Hope, N.H. She's also completely obsessed with both the notion of celebrity, and with becoming one -- no matter what she has to do. But when Larry, Suzanne's blue-collar husband, naively suggests she give up her career to raise a family, Suzanne realizes that Larry is merely an obstacle on the road to fame. She then comes up with an idea: manipulate three local teens (emotionally and physically) into killing Larry. The resulting tabloid media coverage brings Suzanne the notoriety she's always desired, and she enjoys every moment. But what Suzanne doesn't know is that small-mindedness is about to contribute to her downfall.
 
CITY OF LOST CHILDREN
020296
In THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, an imaginative fantasy from the creators of DELICATESSEN, a prematurely aging mad scientist named Krank (Daniel Emilfork) kidnaps children so he can steal their dreams. However, Krank runs into trouble when his henchmen grab Denrée (Joseph Lucien), a little boy whose adopted brother, One (Ron Perelman), is a circus strongman. One desperately tries to find Denrée and begs for help from Miette (Judith Vittet), a 9-year-old girl who heads up a gang of orphans. Together, One and Miette finally find Krank's castle, meeting along the way the lost identical brother--the original--of the three clones (each played by Dominique Pinon) who serve as Krank's assistants.
 
THE NEW LEGEND OF SHAOLIN
020296
A young father and his infant son are beset by forces of evil and corruption. They wander China, upholding their sense of honor and protecting the weak. When they are forced into combat, spectacular and hilarious fast-motion kung fu sequences follow. In the end, they must call on all of their abilities in a battle royale, to attempt to vanquish a supernatural man-monster or die trying.
 
THE TAI CHI MASTER
020996
A pair of lifelong friends are expelled from their Shaolin temple after being accused of cheating. Tienbao becomes a powerful and oppressive military leader while the other, Junbao, (Li) joins the rebels. Only the discipline of Tai Chi can help Junbao defeat his former friend. Includes some of the most spectacular martial arts fight scenes ever filmed, including a huge finale with a cast of thousands.
 
HIGH RISK
021696
A Hong-Kong DIE HARD starring international action star Jet Li, who stars as Kit Li. Li works as a stunt double and bodyguard for Frankie Laine (Jacky Cheung), a cowardly, tippling, flabby has-been action hero. During an exhibition of the Russian crown jewels in Hong Kong, a group of terrorists try to steal the jewels while taking over the building, Laine with the help of his skilled, brooding bodyguard, must get his act together in time to save a group of partygoers --and save his public image in the process. Plenty of Wong Jing's celebrated industry jabs.
 
FOUR ROOMS
021696
It's New Year's Eve, and new bellboy Ted is in for a wild night, as the inhabitants of four rooms enmesh him in some strange goings-on. In one room, a coven of young witches congregate to bring their leader back from the dead... and they're just dying to use Ted in a rather personal way. In another room, the bellhop becomes a pawn in a couple's kinky psychological games. A third room is being torn apart by two unruly kids while their parents are out painting the town red. And in a fourth, three men involve Ted in a bet -- one that has potentially bloody results.
 
HEMP REVOLUTION
022396
Award-winning documentarian Clarke presents a broad, balanced history of the versatile hemp plant, only one of whose myriad uses is its notorious consumable by-product, marijuana. The various interviewees consider the plant's industrial applications, its effect on society, and both sides of the "war on drugs."
 
WING CHUN
022396
An exciting action film in which a tough female goes up against a gang of horse thieves.
Although Wing Chun is a woman skilled in the martial arts, the men around her still doubt her strength. But she's quite prepared to show them all just what deadly weapons her arms and legs can be. And she also wants to let the criminals know that she means business.
Eventually, Wing Chun comes face to face with the vicious leader of the crooks. But, despite her abilities, can one lone woman actually defeat this powerful and villainous posse?
 
CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY
030196
The third film adaptation of Alan Paton's novel. Father Stephen Kumalo lives in a small South African town, detached from the Apartheid-related hardships of the larger cities. But when he receives a letter indicating that his sister is in trouble, Father Kumalo journeys to Johannesburg. Once there, his eyes are opened to the violence, poverty, and hardships that his fellow countrymen must suffer. After an arduous search, Kumalo finds his sibling and later his estranged son, only to find that both are engaged in illegal activities just to stay alive. Furthermore, Kumalo's son has killed a white man. Father Kumalo realizes that he faces an uphill battle if he is going to keep his reunited family together.
 
HEAT
030196
"Never have anything in your life you can't walk out on in thirty seconds..." is the motto of expert thief Neil McCauley (De Niro). After his next break-in, McCauley plans to retire from his outlaw life and move to New Zealand. However, Vincent Hanna (Pacino), a Los Angeles police detective, obsessively tracks McCauley's gang of thieves, who have left three security guards dead in an armored truck robbery. As the detective gets closer to tracking them down, the crooks plan another big heist, this time at a bank. Hanna soon gets a lead that helps him determine the identity of the criminal mastermind who engineered the thefts, and discovers McCauley is a man as driven and relentless as the detective himself.
 
SHANGHAI TRIAD
030196
A visually dazzling gangster film from director Zhang Yimou. Nightclub singer Xiao Jingbao lives a pampered life as the mistress of Shanghai godfather Mr. Tang. However, she gets in over her head after she begins an affair with Song, Mr. Tang's number two man, who wants to wrench control of the crime dynasty.
Eventually, Xiao Jingbao finds herself caught in the middle of a mob war. Forced to leave behind her life of luxury and go into hiding with Mr. Tang, she gradually realizes just how expendable she is to both men.
 
ANGELS AND INSECTS
030896
In this sexually charged Victorian drama, based on a novella by A. S. Byatt, Mark Rylance plays William Adamson, a naturalist who has just arrived back in England after a long stay in the Amazon, where he studied insects. He has lost nearly all his worldly possessions in a terrible shipwreck, but is offered an assistant position at the country estate of a wealthy aristocrat (and fellow entomologist), Sir Harold Alabaster. William soon grows enamored of the languid Eugenia (Patsy Kensit), Alabaster's lovely but distant oldest daughter, who is mourning her fiancé's recent death. Although Eugenia's arrogant brother, Edgar, disapproves of the match, William and Eugenia marry and over the years have a number of children. Also staying with the Alabasters is an educated but poor distant relative (played by Kristin Scott Thomas), who plays a vital role in the shocking drama that unfolds when William discovers a dark, illicit family secret involving his wife, Edgar, and Eugenia's dead lover. The acclaimed second film by director Philip Haas, ANGELS & INSECTS is a lavish period piece incorporating original costumes and opulent imagery.
 
GEORGIA
031596
A tale of intense sibling rivalry between two sisters who are also both singers. Georgia is a happy, popular and successful folk singer, who's self-assured enough to place her husband and kids before her career. In stark contrast, her younger sibling Sadie is an angry, untalented, childish, substance-abusing punk rocker. Sadie is obsessively jealous of her sister's fame and home life, so Georgia wants as little to do with her as humanly possible.
After a particularly horrific falling-out between the sisters, Georgia finally reaches the end of her rope. Now Sadie must find a way to make peace with both herself and her family -- before she completely self-destructs.
 
SABRINA
031596
Sydney Pollack directs this whimsical remake of the 1954 romantic comedy by Billy Wilder. Greg Kinnear and Harrison Ford deftly portray the two wealthy Larrabee brothers, who end up fighting over the affections of their chauffeur’s daughter. When Sabrina (Julia Ormond) originally attempts to win over David Larrabee (Greg Kinnear), the younger of the two brothers, and the notorious playboy whom her father works for, he barely even knows she's alive. To help get her mind off David, Sabrina's dad sends her on a trip to Paris, where she trains to become a fashion photographer. In Europe, the mousy young girl blossoms into a beautiful woman before returning to the Larrabee estate on Long Island. At first David doesn't recognize the altered Sabrina. Once he does, however, he falls hard, which jeopardizes his impending marriage to Elizabeth, a wealthy doctor. This turn of events greatly concerns his older, more serious brother, Linus (Harrison Ford), who's counting on the marriage to cement a merger between his company and a business owned by Elizabeth's rich father. So Linus decides to woo Sabrina, hoping she'll fall for him and forget his brother. However, the scheme backfires when Linus himself begins to find the charming Sabrina irresistible.
 
A MIDWINTER'S TALE
032296
In Kenneth Branagh's loving tribute to actors and the theater, a London actor named Joe (Michael Maloney) finds himself in a rut. His career is going nowhere, his life seems on hold, and he's beginning to lose touch with the reasons he became an actor in the first place. Faced with the prospect of spending a miserable Christmas season alone and unemployed, Joe has a flash of inspiration: He vows to produce, direct, and star in the production of HAMLET he's long dreamed about. Assembling a ragtag cast mostly made up of actors who also couldn't find work, Joe finds himself with only a few days to mount the greatest play in the English language in an empty church. Along the way, Joe and the cast rediscover the joy in performing live theater that is often lost in the cynicism of trying to forge a career. Now they have only one question: Will they be able to find an audience?
 
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN
032296
The reptilian Gecko brothers, Richard and Seth, are headed south of the border after a gruesome killing spree. Along the way, they kidnap jaded preacher Jacob Fuller and his two teenage kids. When they arrive in Mexico, the quintet pull up to the Titty Twister, the toughest, nastiest, raunchiest biker bar on either side of the border. Unfortunately, the Titty Twister is also home to a nest of violent vampires -- who can transform an hombre into a fellow bloodsucker with just one bite. This sets the stage for the mother of all gorefests, as the Geckos, their hostages, and a few allies use their wits and endless ammo to battle the nocturnal creatures.
 
FRENCH TWIST
032996
Husband-and-wife Laurent and Loli live with their two young sons in a quiet, upscale suburban neighborhood near Avignon. Then, one day, a seemingly minor incident turns their lives upside-down: coy, butch lesbian Marijo has car trouble in front of their home, and the friendly Loli invites her in. Laurent, who himself has been cheating on Loli with half the town, immediately accuses the two women of having an affair -- and, in revenge, reveals his own trespasses.
 
SUDDEN DEATH
032996
In this action-packed thriller, a ruthless gang of criminals holds the Vice-President of the United States hostage at a Stanley Cup finals ice hockey game in Pittsburgh's Civic Arena. The demented leader of the group threatens to blow up the building unless the government hands over $1.7 billion.
However, the villains aren't prepared for Darren McCord, a tough fire marshal skilled in martial arts. McCord, who happens to be attending the game with his two children, struggles desperately to disconnect the ten bombs set to explode in the arena -- and rescue his own daughter, who the creeps have taken hostage.
Can he complete the mission before time runs out?
 
THE WHITE BALLOON
040596
Hours before the Iranian New Year, a seven-year-old girl begs her mother for money to buy a goldfish. The mother grudgingly relents, but, on the way to the store, the girl accidentally drops her 500-toman bill into an open sewer grate. In a relentless attempt to retrieve her money in time to purchase the much-coveted goldfish, she enlists the help of her enterprising brother and a varied cross-section of Teheran's marginalized citizens.
A quiet, unpretentious gem about the beauty in everyday life.
 
WAITING TO EXHALE
040596
The adaptation of Terry McMillan's best-selling novel, about four middle-class, African-American friends, and their continuing efforts to find Mr. Right.
The story begins with Bernadine, whose husband John calmly announces that he's leaving her -- for a white woman. Furthermore, the wealthy John has been manipulating his finances, and leaves Bernadine virtually broke. But Bernie gets her revenge, in a rather "fiery" fashion. Then there's Savannah, who re-ignites a relationship with her ex-boyfriend, who's married with children. Meanwhile, dim-bulb Robin dates hordes of Mr. Wrongs before going back to Russell, who's also married. Will either come to her senses? Finally, portly, single mom Gloria gave up on finding a man years ago, concentrating instead on raising her son. Ironically, it is she who finds love, with her new neighbor.
For these women, finding a man is secondary to one thing: their close love and affection for one another. And it is this bond that helps them get through the pain and heartache of their lives.
 
THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET
041296
THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET is a surprisingly restrained film (no drag queens, raunchy sex, or murders) from Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, and is considered one of his best. Romance novelist Leo (Marisa Paredes) experiences a nervous breakdown when she realizes her U.N. peacekeeper husband (Imanol Arias) no longer loves her, and the morbid novel she has just finished will never be accepted by her profit-minded publisher. Depressed, alcoholic, and suicidal, she begins to write for a Spanish newspaper under a pseudonym, starting with a scathing critique of her previous, best-selling work. The paper’s hard-drinking, overweight editor Ángel (Juan Echanove) falls in love with Leo, never realizing the "flower of her secret"--that her other pen name is Amanda Gris, and that she is the writer of the romance novels he loves. The delightful cast includes Rossy De Palma and Chus Lampreave--hilarious as Leo's constantly bickering sister and mother--and Carmen Elías as her best friend, a woman who trains doctors in soliciting organ donations from grieving relatives. Almodóvar fills this beautiful film with sharply realized scenes, rich helpings of Spanish flavor, and a vibrant compassion for his characters.
 
BLACK SHEEP
041296
When politicians run for office, their biggest problems are usually a skeleton in the closet, or their controversial stance on an issue. But gubernatorial candidate Al Donnelly's greatest dilemma is his oafish, clumsy, stupid brother Mike, who has an uncanny knack for creating havoc everywhere he goes. And to Al's dismay, his opponent and her staff are also well aware of Mike's "gift," and intend to exploit it for what it's worth. As a result, one of the candidate's aides is assigned to keep Mike in check -- with disastrous results.
Things get even worse when the incumbent's team frames Mike for setting a fire in a recreation center. Will Mike inadvertently destroy his brother's political career?
 
NOBODY LOVES ME
041296

On the brink of her 30th birthday, Fanny feels the door to marital happiness closing up on her. She is obsessed with death, even visits evening classes on dying and so it seems fitting, that she encounters a skeleton in the malfunctioning elevator of her apartment building. The skeleton is her neighbour Orfeo, a black, gay self-declared psychic, who convinces her that she is about to meet "him". But is it really Lothar, the new yuppie apartment manager ...?
 
ANTONIA'S LINE
041996
This Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film embarks on a fanciful, magical exploration of the life of a strong-minded, nonconforming Dutch woman and her descendants.
As the story begins, the elderly Antonia is convinced that she is going to die that very day. With the end approaching, she reflects for the last time on her long, fruitful life.
The film then flashes back to the end of World War II, when the 40-year-old Antonia returned to the small farming community where she grew up. With her teenage daughter Danielle in tow, and without a husband, Antonia intends to start a new life. Before long, she has become a successful farmer and an integral part of the village, although she challenges the strict customs so loved by many residents. In the process, she touches the lives of everyone around her.
 
RESTORATION
041996
This lavishly-mounted costume drama focuses on one of England's most fascinating periods: the restoration of the monarchy after 11 years of Puritan rule, which led to an explosion of culture and learning.
A young, womanizing doctor named Robert Merivel earns the admiration of Charles II after curing the King's sick dog. For his achievement, the King gives Merivel an estate. However, the doctor must also marry Celia Clemence, the monarch's mistress.
Although Celia has been causing the King some headaches, he still wants to keep her close by. A sham marriage, he reasons, will make her less troublesome. Charles picks Merivel to be the groom because of the playboy doctor's seeming inability to fall in love with any one woman.
However, Robert does indeed fall in love with Celia, which the King is none too pleased to discover. Stripped of his land, Merivel joins his friend, John, a doctor who's treating patients at a remote Quaker asylum.
There, he helps a young Irish woman and the two become lovers. But he returns to the city to find himself caught up in two of the period's most famous events -- the outbreak of the bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London.
 
DON'T BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD
042696
This film is a parody of the recent "hood" movies made by African-American directors, in particular John Singleton's "Boyz 'N the Hood."
The plot focuses on Ashtray, a do-gooder who comes to South Central L.A. to live with his father. Unfortunately, Dad turns out to be a poor role model, as he extols the virtues of unsafe sex and drunk driving. Ashtray's cousin Loc Dog is no better, with his hair-trigger temper and extensive weaponry (including a nuclear bomb). Ashtray manages to find romance with a pretty poet named Dashiki, but it turns out that she's a little too popular with the men in her neighborhood -- and not for her writing skills.
Will Ashtray become disillusioned by what he's seen and experienced in South Central?
 
CASINO
042696
Martin Scorsese, one of America's most influential filmmakers, returns to the world of mobsters, greed, and excess that he explored so compellingly in 1990’s GOODFELLAS. Set in the 1970s and reveling in the minute details of how Las Vegas casinos operate, the film chronicles the rise and fall of casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro). As the king of his domain, Ace efficiently runs the business and regularly sends lots of cold cash to his bosses. Helping him keep the casino's employees and customers honest is his best friend, Nicky (Joe Pesci), a violent sociopath. Although Ace aims to run a relatively respectable casino, the volatile Nicky wants to take over the entire gambling mecca, and when Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), a seasoned Vegas hustler, enters the picture, Ace and Nicky's friendship is complicated even further. As drugs and alcohol become a bigger part of Ginger's life, all three are eventually brought down by their own greed and blind ambition. CASINO shares many similarities with GOODFELLAS, beginning with a script that was cowritten by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi. Regulars De Niro and Pesci are first rate once again as the dissimilar companions, but it is Stone who steals the show with her grueling, intense performance.
 
ANNE FRANK REMEMBERED
042696
Anne Frank was a Jewish teenager who, along with her family, friends and others, hid in an attic for two years to avoid Nazi persecution. Her famous diary of that period provided a unique, personal view of the Holocaust. This documentary examines her short, tragic life, using interviews, archival photographs, family correspondence, and rare footage. The events covered range from her parents' marriage in 1925 to her father's death in 1980. The wide variety of materials provide insight into Anne's personality and reveal that, despite her circumstances, she still experienced all the normal growing pains of a teenage girl.
In 1944, the Nazis discovered Anne Frank and her group. She died in a concentration camp in 1944 -- only a few days before Allied troops marched in to liberate the camps.
 
12 MONKEYS
050396
In this intriguing science fiction film from director Terry Gilliam, penal colony prisoner James Cole must travel back in time from the year 2035 to find the cause of a virus that killed five billion people in 1997.
Cole's trip into the past won't be easy. For starters, he winds up in the wrong year on his first attempt. Once, as he time-travels, Cole ends up a prisoner in an insane asylum in 1990. There, he meets psychiatrist Kathryn Railly and inmate Jeffrey Goines, who could hold the key to the epidemic's spread. Cole later winds up in the middle of a World War I battlefield.
After meeting James for a second time, in another year, Dr. Railly gets further involved in his quest. Although she thinks at first that Cole must be crazy, Kathryn soon starts to believe him and attempts to help.
But James has already started to question his own sanity and tries to figure out if his journeys through time are real or if he's just been imagining everything.
 
BEAUTIFUL GIRLS
050396
"Beautiful Girls" takes place in a sleepy New England town, the bucolic home of a group of Generation X-ers involved in a number of romantic goings-on. The film takes a close look at the differences between men and women, particularly in matters of love, sex and relationships.
Perhaps the most intriguing pair in the movie is Willie and his (female) neighbor Marty -- who's only 13. The streetwise, flirtatious Marty has a killer crush on Willie (who is intrigued by her), but both are well aware that she's "jail bait." The duo considers waiting five whole years for Marty to become of age... but can they really do that?
 
RICHARD III
051096
This unique adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Richard III" switches the story's setting from the 1480s to the 1930s and imagines what a fascist coup in England might have been like.
Despite the change in milieu, the story remains the same. The malformed, evil Richard III wants to gain control of the throne and brutally kills anyone who gets in his way -- including the members of his royal family.
Among Richard's victims are his overly-trusting brother, Clarence, and Queen Elizabeth's brother, Rivers. And their murders are just the beginning of Richard's devious plan to gain power.
The film's many offbeat touches include Richard giving his famous "winter of our discontent" speech as a public political address, and uttering his classic line "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" when his jeep gets stuck in mud.
 
SPIKE AND MIKE'S SICK AND TWISTED
051796
more spike and mike debauchery!
 
YOUNG POISONER'S HANDBOOK
051796
A disturbing black comedy based on the real life story of poisoner Graham Young, whose killing spree shocked English society in the 1960s.
Graham became a chemistry enthusiast at a young age. His fascination with toxic substances led him to embark on a series of a bizarre experiments in which he used his stepmother, sister and others as guinea pigs.
After Graham was arrested for his deeds, a dedicated doctor attempted to rehabilitate the young man so he could once again enter society. But can Graham actually change his ways?
 
TAXI DRIVER
052496
Martin Scorsese's intense film, a hallmark of 1970s filmmaking, graphically depicts the tragic consequences of urban alienation when a New York City taxi driver goes on a murderous rampage against the pitiable denizens inhabiting the city's underbelly. For psychotic, pistol-packing Vietnam vet Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), New York City seems like a circle of hell. Driving his cab each night through the bleak Manhattan streets, Bickle observes with fanatical loathing the sleazy lowlifes who comprise most of his fares. By day he haunts the porno theaters of 42nd Street, taking his cues from the violent vision of life portrayed in these movies. As badly as Travis wants to connect with the people around him--including Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a lovely blonde campaign worker, and Iris (Jodie Foster), a prepubescent prostitute he tries to save--his attempts are thwarted and his pent-up rage grows, turning him into a Mohawk-wearing walking time bomb. Scorcese fills Paul Schrader's screenplay with a tragic realism, brilliantly capturing the muck and grime of New York City. De Niro, playing the fragile hero, steps so deep inside his role that the results are deeply frightening. Bernard Herrmann's haunting score--which turned out to be his last--completes the urban nightmare.
 
CHUNGKING EXPRESS
052496
Acclaimed Hong Kong New Wave director Wong Kar-Wai presents a kinetic, offbeat look at his city in these two stories. The first concerns a young woman (Brigitte Lin) who has been double-crossed in a heroin deal and her budding romance with a lovelorn cop (Takeshi Kaneshiro). The second deals with another officer (Tony Leung) whose girlfriend has left him and the young waitress (Faye Wong) who tries to help him without his knowledge.
 
BROKEN ARROW
053196
"Broken arrow" is a military term for a nuclear warhead that has been stolen -- and villainous Air Force pilot Vic Deakins (John Travolta) has done just that. In fact, he's pilfered TWO bombs, in an effort to extract a huge amount of cash from the government in exchange for their safe return. However, there's a fly in the ambitious thief's ointment: Riley Hale (Christian Slater), Vic's former co-pilot, whom Vic thought he had killed when he robbed the bombs. Helping Riley is gutsy female Park Ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis). Together the duo uses all the artillery, ammo, vehicles, and gumption they can muster, as they risk life and limb to thwart Vic and his vile gang. Hong Kong action specialist John Woo propels the film through trains, Humvees, exploding helicopters and more.
 
MAN OF THE YEAR
053196
An uproarious account of the exploits of Dirk Shafer, a gay man who ended up becoming "Playgirl's" Man of the Year.
After the magazine's editors picked his picture out of the pile, Shafer spent a year pretending to be straight during a promotional tour that made him an object of desire for thousands of women throughout the country.
As part of his duties, Shafer appeared on various interview shows and agreed to go on a magazine-sponsored dream date with one Playgirl reader. The act led to various -- often hilarious -- complications. Among his toughest obstacles was convincing his lover to play the part of his "roommate" and not let anybody else know about the true nature of their relationship.
The film, written and directed by Shafer himself, combines re-enactments of the comic highlights of the promotional tour with mock interviews of his family and friends. Also included is actual footage of him on a variety of talk shows -- among them Jenny Jones, Phil Donahue, and Joan Rivers. All were fooled by the charade.
 
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX
053196
After years as the biggest star in Asia, Jackie Chan (abetted by his able collaborator director Stanley Tong) took North America by storm in 1996 with RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, the first Hong Kong film to make it to number one at the U.S. box office. Keung (Chan) visits his uncle in the Bronx and ends up helping protect a local grocery store from thugs. A beautiful neighbor's involvement with the gang catapults Keung into even more trouble, and it will take all of his wits--and whiplike kicks--to save himself. The film introduced Chan's original combination of masterful martial arts and goofy comedy to a widespread American audience. As in other Chan movies, blooper scenes run during the credits, showcasing the hilarious and disastrous blunders made during filming and revealing that Chan, who performs all his own stunts, seems willing to take mind-boggling risks to create his distinctive brand of celluloid magic.
 
FARGO
060796
Poor Jerry Lundegaard. He's deep in debt. His wealthy father-in-law has no respect for him. He cheats customers at the car dealership where he works. And now he's hired a bumbling duo to kidnap his wife--a plan that goes horribly awry, leading to homicide.
 
BOTTLE ROCKET
060796
The debut feature film for director Wes Anderson and actors Luke and Owen Wilson, BOTTLE ROCKET is a kind-hearted yet quirky tale about three friends who fashion themselves into modern-day robbers. After leaving his voluntary confinement in a mental home, Anthony (Luke Wilson) joins his friends Dignan (the film's co-writer, Owen Wilson) and Bob (Robert Musgrave) in a bookstore heist. In need of direction, more so than money, the three guys prove to be polite, but rather inept, criminals. Nevertheless the job is a success, and the trio head out to a remote hotel, planning to lay low until they can return to join a gang of supposed professional criminals lead by the infamous Mr. Henry (James Caan).
 
DENISE CALLS UP
060796
Director/writer Hal Selwen has fashioned an ingenious film from the use of one simple device: all the dialogue takes place on the phone. This little trick not only forces a great deal of free-wheeling conversation and witty asides, but it also serves as an overarching metaphor for romance in the modern age. The film focuses on six friends who are all too busy to actually see each other; instead, they apologize over the phone for missing this or that event. The comic mayhem percolates as they conduct their romantic entanglements with the help of the phone, fax, and modem.
 
DOWN PERISCOPE
060796
Inept Navy Lieutenant Tom Dodge has been given one last chance to clean up his record. But thanks to his nemesis, Admiral Graham, he is assigned the leadership of The Stingray, a rusty, beat-up, creaky submarine, that will play the role of the enemy in a series of practice war games. Dodge's unenviable task is made worse when he meets his crew, an eccentric, incompetent bunch that includes a flatulent cook and an accident-prone electrician. Also, as an experiment in sexual integration, a woman has come onboard to join these misfits.
Dodge must find a way to shape up this motley crew, if he's ever going to prove his worth to Graham, the Navy -- and himself.
 
THE LAST SUPPER
061496
Every Sunday, a group of five college buddies invite a guest over, and exchange views on various topics. When a heated discussion during one of these gatherings leads to the death of a racist visitor, it gives the quintet a warped idea: why not have an undesirable over each week -- and then kill and bury him! (The scheme even yields an unexpected and pleasant side effect: loads of juicy tomatoes sprout in their "newly fertilized" garden!) But exactly how long can the friends get away with murder?
 
BED OF ROSES
061496
Lisa, an investment broker, is such a workaholic that she just can't find the time to stop and smell the roses. But that changes after a hopelessly romantic florist named Lewis spots Lisa crying by her apartment window. To make Lisa happy, Lewis delivers a bouquet of flowers to her, letting her believe that it's from a secret admirer. But when Lewis eventually admits that he was the sender, the two begin dating.
However, Lisa is carrying around some serious emotional baggage from a traumatic childhood. This painful past prevents the broker from opening up to, and accepting, Lewis as the new man in her life.
Lisa now must find a way to resolve her problems -- before she loses what could be her one true love.
 
ANGELA
061496
ANGELA is the debut film from director Rebecca Miller, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2002 for her second film, PERSONAL VELOCITY. Angela (Miranda Stuart Ryne) and Ellie (Charlotte Blythe) are two sisters caught up in an increasingly deteriorating family life. They cope with their troubles by conjuring up a whole new world all of their own, and navigate their way through some fantastic new pastures limited only by Angela's imagination. Rebecca Miller captures the lives and lively minds of 10-year old children to a stunningly accurate degree through some moving performances from Blythe and Ryne, as well as a stellar supporting cast which includes Vincent Gallo (BUFFALO 66), John Ventimiglia (THE SOPRANOS) and Anna Thomson (UNFORGIVEN).
 
CELLULOID CLOSET
062196
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's documentary chronicles the way movies have portrayed homosexuals for the past 100 years and how these images, both positive and negative, have helped shape America's attitudes toward gays. Among the topics examined via interviews and film clips are the various gay stereotypes that recur onscreen, gay subtexts in such macho films as SPARTACUS and BEN-HUR, and how negative images of homosexuality created emotional conflict within the gay moviegoer. But the film also shows how the times have greatly changed, bringing more--and more realistic--gay characters to the silver screen. Interviewees include Susan Sarandon, Tony Curtis, Shirley MacLaine and Tom Hanks, among others. The film is based on the 1981 book by Vito Russo.
 
BARB WIRE
062196
Based on the Dark Horse comic book, "Barb Wire" takes place in the town of Steel Harbor during the year 2017, after the second Civil War. Steel Harbor is one of the few cities still free from the grip of either government troops or rebel fighters. It is also home to blonde bombshell Barb Wire, a leather-clad, pistol packin', cycle-ridin' bounty hunter, who ALWAYS gets her man. Barb becomes enmeshed in a "Casablanca"-esque plot, involving resistance fighters, wicked federal agents, and a very special pair of contact lenses that allow the user to avoid detection by the feds.
In between shootouts, explosions and chases, Barb becomes the owner of the coveted lenses. Will she use them to help the rebels? Or sell them to pay for her blind brother's operation?
 
DEAD MAN
062196
In bringing his distinct vision to the Western genre, writer-director Jim Jarmusch has created a quasi-mystical avant-garde drama that remains a deeply spiritual viewing experience. After losing his parents and fiancée, a Cleveland accountant named William Blake (a remarkable Johnny Depp) spends all his money and takes a train to the frontier town of Machine in order to work at a factory. Upon arriving in Machine, he is denied his expected job and finds himself a fugitive after murdering a man in self-defense. Wounded and helpless, Blake is befriended by Nobody (Gary Farmer), a wandering Native American who considers him to be a ghostly manifestation of the famous poet. Nobody aids Blake in his flight from three bumbling bounty hunters, preparing him for his final journey--a return to the world of the spirits.
 
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000
062896
This film follows the same premise of the cable TV series it's based on: a man named Mike Nelson, along with two witty robots, is held captive in outer space by mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester. As an experiment, Forrester subjects them to a barrage of horrible, "cheesy movies". Nelson and the bots proceed to make fun and crack wise at virtually everything that happens in the film, from the opening to closing credits.
In this big-screen version, the film lampooned by the gang is 1955's "This Island Earth", a campy, no-budget film about earthlings who are kidnapped by aliens.
But will Mike and his metallic buddies ever find a way to escape from the demented Forrester?
 
THE MONSTER
062896
The rubber-faced Roberto Benigni, Italy's most beloved slapstick comic, stars in THE MONSTER as Loris, a bumbling con man whose everyday activities consist of shoplifting from the local supermarket and preventing anyone from buying the apartment he is squatting in. Suspected of being a vicious rapist, he is seduced by a voluptuous female cop (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's wife in real life) who hopes to overstimulate his sexual urges and catch him in the act of committing a crime. A comedy of misidentification like Benigni's box-office smash JOHNNY STECCHINO, THE MONSTER features Benigni doing his best imitation of the innocent everyman pioneered by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Whether it's dropping a cigarette down his pants or dealing with an out-of-control chain saw, Benigni is all arms, legs, and statically charged hair. Once censured by the pope, Benigni pushes the edge in risqué scenes with his wife, who spends much of the movie gamely thrusting her pelvis and chest in front of Loris. THE MONSTER is a great introduction to a comic whose jokes, it is said, contributed to the downfall of an Italian prime minister.
 
LONE STAR
070596
Sheriff Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey) is a legend in the Texas border town of Frontera, the archetypical hero who supposedly saved the town from corruption. The discovery of a 40-year-old murder, however, threatens to tarnish Deeds's reputation and upset a fragile community riven between whites, Latinos, and blacks. LONE STAR follows the murder investigation through the lives of several characters, including the Latina schoolteacher, Pilar (Elizabeth Peña); the African American colonel, Delmore (Joe Morton); and Deeds's estranged son, Sam (Chris Cooper), who is the town's current sheriff. At times recalling the structure of CITIZEN KANE, LONE STAR presents many different views on the morally ambiguous character of Buddy Deeds. However, the film is primarily about how Frontera's residents deal with the complex, often violent history they have inherited and the borders they must cross to live in peace. As with his earlier film, CITY OF HOPE, director John Sayles juggles complex race and class issues with ease and shows that the political is often the personal.
 
CEMETARY MAN
070596
A gruesome horror comedy about a cemetery caretaker's battle with zombies who rise from their graves. To destroy them, he must mutilate their heads -- a task easier said than done, especially when the undead fiends start popping up from the ground with increasing frequency. His plight is made considerably more pleasant when he meets and falls in love with a beautiful widow. Unfortunately, she gets attacked by the creatures and transforms into one of them. Will he kill her -- or join her?
 
HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF
070596
In the early 18th-century, a Carbonaro renegade on the run from advancing Austrian troops finds in the province of Manosque the beautiful wife of a French marquis who offers him shelter. Smitten, he risks his freedom to ensure her safe return to her home in Theus. A chivalrous tale adapted from the novel by Jean Giorno.
 
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX
071296
After years as the biggest star in Asia, Jackie Chan (abetted by his able collaborator director Stanley Tong) took North America by storm in 1996 with RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, the first Hong Kong film to make it to number one at the U.S. box office. Keung (Chan) visits his uncle in the Bronx and ends up helping protect a local grocery store from thugs. A beautiful neighbor's involvement with the gang catapults Keung into even more trouble, and it will take all of his wits--and whiplike kicks--to save himself. The film introduced Chan's original combination of masterful martial arts and goofy comedy to a widespread American audience. As in other Chan movies, blooper scenes run during the credits, showcasing the hilarious and disastrous blunders made during filming and revealing that Chan, who performs all his own stunts, seems willing to take mind-boggling risks to create his distinctive brand of celluloid magic.
 
WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE
071296
Todd Solondz's WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE follows the painful daily trials of Dawn "Wienerdog" Wiener (Heather Matarazzo), an awkward, nerdy 12-year-old. The middle child between her geeky older brother, Mark (Matthew Faber), and her sickeningly sweet little sister, Missy (Daria Kalinina), Dawn has a rough time with her family and everything else, including school and boys. She's obsessed with Mark's hunky bandmate, Steve (Eric Mabius), but the only guy who pays her any attention is the local thug, Brandon (Brendan Sexton III), who constantly threatens her with rape.
 
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
071996
Writer-director David O. Russell follows up his dark independent comedy SPANKING THE MONKEY with this hilarious romp about a man who goes on a quest to find his biological parents. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller), a new father, is convinced that he won’t be able to give his son a name until he reunites with his real mother and father. So Mel, his depressed, neglected wife, Nancy (Patricia Arquette), and a sexy adoption consultant named Tina (Tea Leoni) set out to find them. By the time they reach the New Mexico home of Mel's true parents (Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin)--two laid-back hippie scientists who are in the LSD business--Mel’s marriage appears to be completely demolished. But the wackiness doesn't end there, since his neurotic, overbearing adoptive parents (George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore) arrive just in time to add even greater confusion to the mix.
 
COLD COMFORT FARM
072696
When a young society woman from London becomes suddenly orphaned she's forced to take up residence with a group of her unsophisticated, oddball relatives at their farm. Despite protests from the bedridden, iron-willed matriarch of the farm, the aspiring lass tries to achieve some semblance of order and class in the house. From the novel by Stella Gibbons.
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS
072696
In this modern variation of CYRANO DE BERGERAC, Abby (Janeane Garofalo) is a savvy, witty veterinarian who hosts a radio show about pets. She and a caller named Brian (Ben Chaplin) are drawn to each other while talking during her show, but when Brian asks Abby to describe herself, the average-looking woman cannot resist offering a description of her statuesque, gorgeous, and slightly dim-witted neighbor, Noelle (Uma Thurman), instead. Later, Brian makes a surprise visit to the radio station just when Noelle also happens to be there--and naturally thinks she's Abby. Scared of what might happen if Brian learned the truth, Abby asks Noelle to continue the masquerade. To complicate matters more, Brian is such a wonderful guy that both women fall for him. Will Abby--or Noelle--fess up to Brian? And will either one win his heart? Michael Lehmann (HEATHERS, AIRHEADS) directed this romantic comedy that tackles friendship, loyalty, matters of the heart, and the things that make people fall in love.
 
TRAINSPOTTING
080296
A kinetic, intimate look inside the subculture of heroin abuse, this acclaimed adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel follows the misadventures of Renton, a brash, twenty-something Edinburgh junkie, and his nihilistic chums Tommy, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie. Alternately comic and off-putting, the film ultimately comes down to Renton's choice between self-destruction or life. The stellar soundtrack should not be missed.
 
EDDIE
080296
Wisecracking Eddie is probably the New York Knicks' biggest fan -- and she's got the mouth to prove it. She's always at the home games, jeering the lowly team's head coach.
One night, Eddie wins a contest and is named the team's honorary coach. This leads to bigger and better things, for after the team's owner fires Coach Bailey, he gives the job to Eddie, to her shock and delight.
Having no coaching experience, Eddie sets out to earn the respect of her players and transform them into winners. Does she have enough gumption, skill and luck to make her dreams come true?
 
PRIMAL FEAR
080296
In Chicago, an Archbishop has been brutally murdered, and a sweet-faced altar boy named Aaron -- who was seen fleeing the scene of the crime and whose clothes were soaked in blood -- is charged with the crime. Aaron claims he was present when the murder occurred, but that he is not the killer.
Coming to Aaron's rescue in this high-profile case is Martin Vail, a cocky lawyer who loves the media's spotlight as much as he loves his job. The legal road ahead of Martin and Aaron is filled with many obstacles, including a very determined prosecuting attorney (who's Martin's ex-lover), revelations about the Archbishop's "relationship" with the altar boys, and Aaron himself, who has a very violent, repugnant second personality named Roy.
Is Aaron/Roy guilty? Or is he taking the fall for someone else?
 
THE CRAFT
080996
Sarah, the troubled new kid in town, has just begun attending St. Benedict's Academy. There, she draws the attention of dysfunctional outcasts Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle -- and discovers that they, like her, can perform "the craft." By joining their clique, Robin provides the last of the four elements (earth, fire, air, water) needed for the girls to concoct magic spells.
Armed with this new supernatural ability, the bewitched quartet set out to make life a living hell for the students who taunted and abused them in the past. Revenge is indeed sweet, that is until a power struggle begins between Sarah and Nancy....
 
STRIPTEASE
080996
Although sensible, mild-mannered Erin Grant has a great face and body, she's an unlikely candidate to become a stripper. That all changes when she loses custody of her young daughter to her lowlife ex-husband, and needs some quick cash for an appeal. So she begins working at the Eager Beaver strip club -- and finds her life changed forever.
This is because the club attracts a wide array of oddballs, including some of the strippers, a tough bouncer with a frightening get-rich quick scheme, and Senator/sex fiend David Dilbeck, who becomes wildly obsessed with Erin after seeing her perform. Furthermore, Erin becomes involved in a blackmail scheme, a kidnapping, and even underworld types -- who soon want Erin dead.
Will Erin survive all of this craziness? And will she regain custody of her beloved child?
 
ERASER
081696
Muscle-bound, heavily-accented John Kruger is employed by the Witness Protection Program as an "eraser." In other words, he wipes out a witness's identity in order to save him or her from potential harm. One such person is beautiful Lee Cullen, who possesses vital information regarding super high-tech weapons -- and a government conspiracy connected to them. Krueger's job protecting Cullen will lead to some action-packed, death-defying adventures for the pair, as gunmen and goons and even alligators seem to be waiting for them around every corner. Furthermore, a traitor within the Witness Protection Program is hell-bent on violently erasing Krueger himself.
 
I SHOT ANDY WARHOL
082396
Mary Harron (AMERICAN PSYCHO) transports New York to a pre-feminist, late 1960s, Andy Warhol art scene in this stylistically inflammatory flick that harkens back to such films as BORN IN FLAMES. Lili Taylor plays the angry Valerie Solanas with a vengeance that just won't quit. Solanas is mad. She's a manic spitfire, has hell to raise, and is armed with the SCUM MANIFESTO. Encouraged by Warhol's queerly noncommittal attitude, Solanas is convinced he will produce her play UP YOUR ASS. Between writing and turning tricks at the Chelsea Hotel, she meets Maurice Girodias, famous publisher of writers like William S. Burroughs, Jean Genet and Pauline Reage. Intrigued by her subversive quality, he signs a contract with her for the completion of two novels. When Solanas realizes she's signed the rights over to Girodias, she begins to unravel and sets out on a paranoid mission to stop him and Warhol from controlling her life.
 
SUPERCOP
082396
Director Stanley Tong's wildly successful collaboration with international action hero Jackie Chan gets off to a flying start in SUPERCOP, the story of an affable, tenacious, and unstoppable Hong Kong cop's quest to bring down the biggest drug syndicate in the Pacific Rim. Kevin Chan (Chan) and a stunningly beautiful female police officer from mainland China, Hanna Yang (Michelle Khan), pose as brother and sister to infiltrate the crooked operation and once there unleash their spectacular arsenal of high-kicking, bone-rattling kung fu.
 
THE BIRDCAGE
082396
In Mike Nichols's hilarious remake of the 1978 French comedy LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, Robin Williams stars as Armand Goldman, a gay cabaret owner who lives in Miami's South Beach with his partner, Albert (Nathan Lane), the club's star performer. Armand and Albert must try in vain to pass as a typical couple when the prospective in-laws of Armand's son, Val (Dan Futterman), come for dinner. While accepting their alternative lifestyle personally, Val demands that they tone it down for his girlfriend's (Calista Flockhart) parents--who happen to be a political couple running on a family values platform. Lane's hilarious attempts to "play it straight" and Hank Azaria's brilliantly flamboyant houseboy, Agador, are the highlights of the film, which also features a beautifully understated Williams as the more "normal" of the pair. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest are delightfully square as the future in-laws.
 
COLD FEVER
082396
A charming, acclaimed Icelandic road saga about a Japanese man's spiritual quest through a snowbound landscape littered with winsome native inhabitants. Hirata is forced to cancel his annual golf vacation in Hawaii in order to fulfill a Japanese tradition. He must travel to the river where his parents were killed in an accident seven years earlier and perform the necessary rituals that will finally lay their souls to rest. Kristinsson's gorgeous photography elevates the seemingly lighthearted proceedings to a deeper, more soulful level. This juxtaposition, in the tradition of Jim Jarmusch's DEAD MAN, makes COLD FEVER a relevant, lasting experience.
 
WALKING AND TALKING
083096
Catherine Keener and Anne Heche star as childhood friends who have now grown up, moved to the big city, and are trying to maintain their friendship as they each deal with their ever-changing life and loves. WALKING AND TALKING, writer-director Nicole Holofcener's debut feature film, is a smart, witty, perceptive film that explores what it's like to be single in New York City in the 1990s. As Laura (Heche) gets engaged to Frank (Todd Field), Amelia (Keener) grows closer with ex-boyfriend Andrew (Liev Schreiber) while considering going out with Bill (Kevin Corrigan), a film geek who works in a video store. The strain that their individual relationships put on each other soon threatens to drive Amelia and Laura apart, as Laura prepares to get married, and Amelia must care for her sick cat.
 
BASQUIAT
090696
At age 19, Jean Michel Basquiat was a poor, struggling graffiti artist. Eight years later, he was one of the most famous, acclaimed painters in the world -- and dead of a heroin overdose.
"Basquiat" details the tumultuous years in between, concentrating on his meteoric rise within Soho's trendy art world. The charismatic but self-destructive Basquiat had his share of personal demons, including his mother's mental illness, and his hatred of middle-class society... which courted and exploited him. The young artist's heroin addiction eventually led to his death, extinguishing a great talent in the process.
 
FRIGHTENERS
090696
Offbeat horror director Peter Jackson goes Hollywood with this follow-up to his acclaimed 1994 feature, HEAVENLY CREATURES. THE FRIGHTENERS, part horror-comedy, part supernatural thriller, stars Michael J. Fox as psychic investigator Frank Bannister. Bannister is able to see and communicate with spirits as a result of the trauma of witnessing his wife die in a car accident. Now a series of mysterious deaths in Frank's hometown has left authorities at wit's end. The deaths appear to be caused by heart attacks, but eventually it is revealed that they are actually the work of a menacing, Grim Reaper-like phantom. Bannister becomes a suspect after several deaths occur in his presence, and in order to prove his innocence, he and a team of three friendly ghosts attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding the murderous specter. But what emerges is far more than they bargained for, and soon a psychotic killer's lust for revenge from beyond the grave threatens the lives of both Bannister and his new love interest (Trini Alvarado). THE FRIGHTENERS is a fun and fast-paced cinematic romp with plenty of stunning computer-generated special effects.
 
CELESTIAL CLOCKWORK
091396
A young woman from Venezuela encounters an assortment of colorful characters when she tries to find a sense of purpose in her life.
 
KINGPIN
091396
Roy Munson was once an expert bowler. Now he's a balding, polyester-clad loser, who wears a hook where his bowling hand used to be. The cash-free Roy finds a potential goldmine in Ishmael, an oafish Amish man who's a bowling prodigy. Munson trains the ingenuous, sheltered Ishmael, and enters him in a million-dollar bowling tournament in Reno. But the bumbling pair need money to get there, so with the aid of a sexy babe who joins them, they hustle unsuspecting bowlers as they travel across the country.
During their VERY wacky trek, Ishmael is exposed to some rather un-Amish things -- like a strip club. But when the climactic tournament begins, Roy considers coming out of retirement (hook and all), when he discovers that one of the competitors is Big Ern McCracken, a cheesy, sleazy ex-champ -- who caused Roy to lose his hand.
 
NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
092096
A cerebral attraction blossoms between a dignified, plutocratic former magistrate and the dynamic young woman he hires to record his memoirs. A subdued yet poignant love story from the director of UN COEUR EN HIVER.
 
FARGO
092096
Poor Jerry Lundegaard. He's deep in debt. His wealthy father-in-law has no respect for him. He cheats customers at the car dealership where he works. And now he's hired a bumbling duo to kidnap his wife--a plan that goes horribly awry, leading to homicide.
 
PURPLE NOON
092796
Sent to Italy to retrieve Philip, an American industrialist's wayward son, Tom Ripley, a charming young man whose social skills allow him to insinuate himself into most any situation, finds his target and gets seduced by Philip and his decadent lifestyle. Deciding to take Philip's father's money as far as it will go, Tom begins to make himself a part of Philip's circle of privileged friends in Europe. However, when Tom's money is cut off and Philip begins to tire of his company, Tom resorts to desperate measures to retain his new lifestyle. An acclaimed adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY.
 
TWISTER
092796
This special effects-laden blockbuster chronicles one day in the life of a band of gung-ho "storm chasers," who track and follow twisters and tornadoes. The group, led by the gutsy Jo and her macho, soon-to-be-ex Bill, have invented "Dorothy," a tank containing sensors that can provide much-needed info about these mysterious, severe weather conditions.
But in order for Dorothy to work, she first must be swallowed by a twister. So Jo, Bill, and the gang put their lives on the line innumerable times, as getting close to the storm means dodging everything from windswept cattle to flying oil tankers.
For Jo and Bill in particular, making meteorological history means having firsthand experience of the inside of a twister...
 
MANNY AND LO
092796
Runaway teenage sisters Manny and Lo have escaped from numerous foster homes, and are accustomed to living on the road. The sisters' lives take a bizarre turn when they kidnap a very strange woman named Elaine, and shack up at an abandoned house in the woods. But when Lo makes a shocking revelation, it actually serves to bond Elaine with her young captors, and the three form a makeshift family.
However, many surprises await this trio, and their unity may be the only thing they can count on...
 
BIG NIGHT
100496
A provocative tale of two immigrant brothers who pin hopes to save their struggling restaurant on a banquet honoring star vocalist, the gold golf sweater-wearing Louis Prima, who a friend is supposed to bring there. Awarded the 1996 Sundance Award for Screenwriting.
 
DRUNKEN MASTER
100496
Though teenage Wong Fei Hong (Jackie Chan) is the son of a martial arts teacher, he'd much rather clown around and get in and out of trouble on the streets of Hong Kong than learn kung fu. When one of his pranks causes injury to the son of a powerful man, his father calls in a sadistic uncle to teach Fei Hung some self-discipline. The uncle specializes in a bizarre form of kung fu known as the "Drunken Boxer," and after losing a fight with a local assassin who has been hired to kill his father, Fei Hung realizes that it may be worth learning. This martial arts classic was the second collaboration between Chan and director Yuen Woo Ping, fight choreographer for THE MATRIX and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.