Film Archive 1989
| DEAR AMERICA: LETTERS... FROM VIETNAM |
| 011389 |
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| The above stars and others read letters written home by American soldiers stationed in Vietnam. Includes newsreel footage, NBC newscasts, veterans' home movies, and original music from Bruce Springsteen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones. |
| ALIEN NATION |
| LATENITE 011389 |
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| Set in a futuristic Los Angeles, 300,000 humanoid extra-terrestrials (called "Newcomers" or "Slags") from an alien refugee slave ship decide to stay on earth and integrate themselves into human society. When Matthew Sykes, an alcoholic and bigoted cop, is paired with one of these Newcomers to investigate a murder, they uncover a sinister conspiracy that threatens to destroy the fragile harmony between aliens and humans. |
| WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? |
| 012089 |
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| The time is Hollywood in its heyday, and cartoons are king. But falling star Roger Rabbit's about lose his place as ruler of the empire. Distracted by his wife's alleged infidelities, Roger is one falling anvil away from being fired -- and studio head R.K. Maroon wouldn't mind hastening the process. So the befuddled bunny hires down-and-out detective Eddie Valiant to help him get back the sultry, bosomy Jessica Rabbit. At first Valiant refuses -- he's got his own reasons for hating the 'toons. But when the studio tycoon Maroon is found dead, Roger's one marked rabbit. So Valiant ignores his better judgment and tries to save the harassed hare from a nefarious Judge just aching to terminate him. For Roger's sake, he ventures into a dangerous and tempting space, the place where anything can happen and imagination rules... the magical, maniacal 'Toontown. |
| SCROOGED |
| LATENITE 012089 |
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| A network TV president is perhaps the most cold-hearted man ever, but his holiday spirit is given a painful booster shot by three vengeful ghosts. In this darkly comic updating of Charles Dicken's Christmas classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Bill Murray portrays Frank Cross, an evil, crass, executive who caters to the lowest-of-the-lowest common denominators, firing people whenever he wants to and for the flimsiest of reasons. Therefore, to change his cruel and tasteless ways, Cross is taken on a trip through his past to his future, accompanied by ghosts David Johansen and Carol Kane, so that he can achieve redemption. From a screenplay by SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's "Mr. Mike," Michael O'Donoghue. Academy Award Nominations: Best Makeup. |
| CHILD'S PLAY |
| LATENITE 012089 |
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| The Lake Shore Strangler, a mass murderer who has plagued the Chicago area for months, meets his untimely end when he gets shot in a toy warehouse. Left for dead, the killer summons the strength to recite a voodoo chant which causes his soul to be "reincarnated" into one of the dolls resting on the shelves. The incantation also sparks an unnatural lightning storm, and when lightning hits the warehouse, it burns to the ground. Only one doll survives: the doll possessed by the killer's soul. Later, a mother innocently buys this doll as a present for her son. At first, everything seems fine, but soon the doll starts communicating with the young boy. Then he slays the child's babysitter. That's only the first of his many gruesome exploits, however. So watch out... because just when you think Chucky's gone -- he might be coming back. |
| CROSSING DELANCY |
| 012789 |
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| Amy Irving stars as Isabella Grossman in this enjoyable, slightly off-kilter romantic comedy from Joan Micklin Silver. A beautiful woman in her early thirties, Isabella works as the manager of New York City bookstore, putting her in contact with a wide range of stellar literary figures. Among them is Anton Maes (Jeroen Krabbe), an egotistical European poet who, smitten, offers her a job as his personal secretary. However, it becomes clear that typing and filing were not what Anton had in mind, and Isabella is soon involved with him. But her grandmother, Bubbie (Reizl Bozyk), unhappy with Isabella's unmarried status, intervenes, contracting with a matchmaker (Sylvia Miles) to introduce her to a nice Jewish man. Isabella agrees to date pickle salesman Sam Posner (Peter Riegert), and, predictably, it doesn't go too well. Naturally, things are not always as they seem, and Isabella has to rethink some of her assumptions before she can find love in this charming, old-fashioned take on romance in the 1980s. |
| GORILLAS IN THE MIST |
| 012789 |
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| Based on anthropologist Dian Fossey's autobiography, and an article by Harold T. P. Hayes, GORILLAS IN THE MIST is a portrait of the determined woman who will do anything to save the mountain gorillas that she studies, and for whose well-being she has a passionate commitment. In the process, she draws international attention to their declining population, yet her obsessive work to save them also eclipses her personal life and brings her into ruinous confrontation with relentless, impoverished poachers. At times recalling Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS, the film touches on both Fossey's nobility--and inhumanity. To capture her passion, and the sublime African landscape, director Michael Apted (known for his documentary series 7 UP in Britain) shot on location in Rwanda, where the anthropologist lived and worked. Sigourney Weaver, playing Fossey, gives an intense portrayal (garnering an Academy Award nomination) of the woman who almost singlehandedly reversed the extinction of the mountain gorillas in Africa. |
| STORMY MONDAY |
| 012789 |
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| Writer-director Mike Figgis's remarkably understated first feature concerns a young man named Brendan (Sean Bean) who becomes involved in the seedy underworld politics of small Newcastle, England. Brendan takes a job at a local nightclub run by a man named Finney (Sting); he also meets Kate (Melanie Griffith), a cocktail waitress. Both Finney and Kate are struggling with an American business tycoon called Frank Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones), who is trying to develop Newcastle at the expense of local businesses. Brendan's only half-knowledgeable involvement, the role of coincidence in shaping the ensuing action, the woman with a past--all the elements of film noir are at play here, accompanied by darkly lit streets and the reds and blues of nightclub neon. Figgis indulges his taste for jazz as well; he scored the film, and a jazz band even figures in the story. Bean and Griffith are believably entwined, but the standout in the cast is Sting, whose soulful Englishness is perfectly counterpoised with Jones's brash American bravado. In fact, STORMY MONDAY's interest in English culture versus American culture is an appropriate beginning for a director whose career would continue on both sides of the Atlantic. |
| SALAAM BOMBAY! |
| 020389 |
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| Mira Nair's first feature was an acclaimed drama depicting the desperate lives of homeless children in one of India's poorest cities. Krishna is a 10-year-old country boy forced to live on his own in the streets of Bombay after his family tosses him out. While he hopes to earn 500 rupees for his mother and return home, the all-consuming job of staying alive quickly makes that dream an unreality. He develops the street-smarts needed to survive in the seedy world of prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves, and other homeless children, but the harrowing experience takes an extremely heavy emotional toll on him. Although Krishna keeps trying to raise the money to return home, it is, in the end, a hopeless task. |
| MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN |
| LATENITE 020389 |
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| Beautiful alien Celeste arrives on Earth to convince scientist Dr. Steve Mills to continue his experiments, which provide the only hope for her home planet. Much to her surprise, Steve falls for her and they end up married, while Steve's daughter tries to make her blissfully unaware father see that Celeste is indeed an extraterrestrial. |
| TEQUILA SUNRISE |
| LATENITE 020389 |
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| A glossy romantic thriller that explores the darker side of the fast-track '80s lifestyle. Nick Frescia gets the toughest assignment of his career when he's required to bring in his old high school buddy, a drug dealer named Dale McKussie who is trying to go straight. The conflict between the personal and professional deepens when both men fall for the same woman, a gorgeous restauranteur suspected of involvement in McKussie's drug operation. |
| RED SORGHUM |
| 021089 |
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| Two parts family melodrama, one part Chinese nationalist history. An unseen narrarator weaves the tale of his grandmother, a poor rural Chinese girl sold into marriage to a leprous winemaker. After her husband's death, the grandmother transforms the winery into a idyllic community of productive laborers, only to have her progress rent asunder by the invading Japanese. Winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin film festival. |
| THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST |
| 021789 |
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| While attending summer camp, the 12-year-old son of long-married Macon and Sarah is brutally murdered at a fast-food restaurant. A year after the crime, still finding it difficult to cope with their loss, the couple separate. Macon, who writes travel books for businessmen, continues to isolate himself from the world until a free-spirited dog trainer challenges him to start a new life. |
| THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION |
| 021789 |
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| A documentary focusing on the American Punk movement of the 1970s and '80s. This film features interviews with punk bands and often offers unintentionally funny commentary on the underground movement. Accompanied by music, this quirky piece offers a glance at the roots of American punk. |
| TALK RADIO |
| 022489 |
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| Based loosely on the life of the murdered talk-radio personality Alan Berg, TALK RADIO stars monologist Eric Bogosian as the abrasive, self-loathing talk-radio host Barry Champlain. He spends his nights at Dallas station KGAB engaged in vitriolic conversations with a motley assortment of racists, anti-semites, rednecks, and all-purpose lunatics. Just having learned that his show has a chance to be picked up for national syndication, Barry seems to have ratcheted up the abuse level to new heights, worrying his co-workers. Yet while Barry's career is taking off, studio boss Dan (Alec Baldwin) angers him by trying to alter the provocative content of his show. At the same time, Barry's having problems with his girlfriend and ex-wife, Ellen (Ellen Greene). And a neo-Nazi group is making increasingly menacing calls, forcing him to the edge of a possible nervous breakdown. A compelling take on the dynamics of hate radio and the wages of narcissism, Oliver Stone's film is exceptionally well shot and acted, directed with claustrophobic concentration. |
| DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS |
| LATENITE022489 |
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| Master comedy director Frank Oz (BOWFINGER, IN & OUT) sets two con men against each other in a struggle for a French seaside town, the perfect territory for duping gullible and wealthy vacationers. Smooth and complacent swindler Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine) is infuriated when clumsy but effective con man Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) encroaches on his hunting grounds. When Benson proves persistent, Jamieson makes him a bet over who will be the first to get $50,000 out of a visiting American heiress, with the loser leaving town. |
| MISSISSIPPI BURNING |
| 030389 |
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| In 1964, when three civil-rights workers, two white and one black, mysteriously disappear while driving through Mississippi, two FBI agents, Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Anderson (Gene Hackman), are sent in to investigate. While Ward is young and by the book, Anderson is a seasoned southerner comfortable with the Byzantine (and, to Ward, morally ambiguous) ways of his region. Together they sift through a variety of leads and come up empty-handed--until the town sheriff’s wife (Frances McDormand) steps forward and reveals some surprising information. In order to solve the case, the two contrasting agents must not only overcome the hostility of the local authorities and the black community but contend with their own differences as well. |
| THE THIN BLUE LINE |
| 030389 |
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| Through the use of reenactments of the crime, photo montages, film clips and interviews, this is a reconstruction and investigation of the 1976 murder of a Dallas policeman and the subsequent arrest and sentencing to death of a man who claims to be innocent. |
| JIMI HENDRIX AT MONTEREY |
| LATENITE 030389 |
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| Contains most of the Jimi Hendrix's experience's U.S. Concert debut - one song from the audio soundtrack is not included. |
| ATHENS, GA: INSIDE/OUT |
| LATENITE 030389 |
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| A documentary about the small Georgia college town that's been the spawning ground for new music giants R.E.M. and the B-52s. Contains interview and performance footage of those two groups, as well as of the Gone-But-Not-Forgotten Pylon and Up-And-Comers Dreams So Real, Love Tractor, Kilkenny Cats, Flat Duo Jets, Time Toy, the Squalls and Bar-B-Q Killers. |
| WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN |
| 031089 |
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| This colorful hit put director Pedro Almodóvar on the international map and cemented the reputation of its star, Carmen Maura. The film is a peppy little soap bubble as TV actress Pepa (Maura) wakes up to find a note from her lover, Ivan (Fernando Guillén), informing her he is leaving. Desperate to tell him some important information, Pepa almost kills herself with sleeping pills, burns her bed, and spends most of the movie trying to track him down. Her adventures put her in contact with Ivan's insane ex-wife (Julieta Serrano), his handsome son (Antonio Banderas), and the son's fiancée (Rossy de Palma). They all descend on her penthouse apartment in a deliriously comic extended scene, complicated by a pitcher full of narcotic gazpacho and her friend Candela (María Barranco), a ditzy beauty wanted by the police for associating with Shiite terrorists. Through it all, the indefatigable Pepa fights gallantly against her crushing heartbreak. As a testament to the resilient beauty of women, this free-spirited film rings true and is a treasure. Also appearing are Chus Lampreave, Kiti Manver, Yayo Calvo, and Guillermo Montesinos as the hilarious driver of the Mambo Taxi. |
| THE NAKED GUN |
| LATENITE 031089 |
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| A slapstick spoof of police thrillers and action films by the makers of "Airplane." Lieutenant Frank Drebin, comic cop and master car-crasher, must protect Queen Elizabeth II, when world terrorists target her for assassination during her visit to the United States. Despite this high-level assignment, Frank still has time to fall in love with a younger woman along the way. |
| WITHOUT A CLUE |
| LATENITE 031089 |
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| WITHOUT A CLUE presents an original twist on the famous Sherlock Holmes-Dr. John Watson stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This time, Dr. Watson's the one with a talent for solving mysteries, while Holmes is nothing but his fictional creation. After inventing the sleuth in a series of popular stories based on crimes he's solved, Dr. Watson decides to satisfy the public's desire to see Holmes by hiring actor Reginald Kincaid to masquerade as the brilliant detective. Soon however Dr. Watson grows to despise the bumbling Kincaid, so he ends their partnership and comes up with a new character modeled after himself. But the new creation just doesn't go over well with the public and the doctor must once again depend upon Kincaid -- just in time to solve a new mystery. Then Watson suddenly vanishes... leaving Holmes to solve the case on his own. |
| ANOTHER WOMAN |
| 031789 |
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| University professor Marion Post is experiencing a type of midlife crisis, so she rents an apartment in order to write a book. The apartment is next to a psychiatrist's office, and she inadvertently hears what transpires between the doctor and some of her patients. She becomes obsessed with the life and ongoing therapy of one woman in particular who believes that her marriage is ending. Through this patient, Marion begins to think about issues in her own life and the causes of her own unhappiness. Woody Allen's intense psychodrama, based somewhat on Ingmar Bergman's psychoanalytic masterpiece WILD STRAWBERRIES, features fabulous performances from Gena Rowlands and Gene Hackman, as well as terrific minor turns by Blythe Danner, John Houseman, and Martha Plympton. |
| HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II |
| LATENITE 031789 |
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| Beginning just hours after the original HELLRAISER ended, HELLBOUND finds young Kristy (Laurence) waking up in a mental institution because she insisted on describing her parents murderers as pain loving demons from hell to the authorities. Unfortunately, she has been placed in the car of Dr. Channard, who has devoted his life to solving the Lament Configuration, the key to the doorway of hell, and now, with Kristy, he believes he has found another key. Resuscitating the skinless corpse of her stepmother, Julia, Dr. Channard succeeds in opening a doorway to hell, one that Julia, Channard, Kristy, and her mute friend Tiffany all travel through. |
| THE FLY II |
| LATENITE 032489 |
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| In this sequel to David Cronenberg's 1986 "The Fly" (a remake of the 1958 sci-fi classic) the son of the original Fly is raised in a laboratory under the watchful eye of Bartok, an evil scientist who wants to exploit him. Born encased in an insect sac (which results in his mother's death), by the age of five the junior Fly is a fully grown adult and scientific genius. Before mutating into a horrible insect like his dad, he attempts to complete work on his father's teleportation machine, do away with Bartok, and have a love affair with a female research scientist. |
| TRUE BELIEVER |
| LATENITE 032489 |
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| James Woods stars as a William Kuntsler-style lawyer in this tale of injustice and renewed dignity. In the 1960s, idealistic advocate Eddie Dodd courted controversy by defending outspoken youths and free spirits. Alas, in the 20 years since, he has succumbed to cynicism. Nowadays, perpetually stoned, he protects coke dealers who pay for his services with paper bags full of cash. Then Eddie takes on an assistant, Roger Baron, who brings to his attention the case of a wrongly imprisoned Asian man. Suddenly Eddie's conscience is sparked, and he sets out to clear the man's name. As Eddie investigates the crime, he encounters on-the-take police officers, dirty D.A.s, and even neo-Nazis every step along the way. Eddie not only must help an unjustly accused man but salvage his own self-confidence--and stay alive--as well. TRUE BELIEVER, directed by Joseph Ruben, features terrific performances by James Woods and Robert Downey Jr. |
| THE ACCUSED |
| 040789 |
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| A film inspired by the notorious barroom rape that occurred in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1983. An evening at a local bar turns violent when three men push a woman onto a pool table and rape her -- as many of the bar's patrons cheer them on. When she learns that the rapists have plea-bargained their way into a lesser charge (meaning that the rape never officially occurred), the woman and her lawyer take a novel approach: they prosecute the "spectators" for encouraging the criminals. |
| LEVIATHAN |
| LATENITE 040789 |
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| Six miners are working at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. After searching the Leviathan, a sunken Soviet ship that contained mysterious experiments, one of the miners dies upon his return to the underwater camp and begins a metamorphosis into a gruesome creature. Soon another miner becomes similarly afflicted... |
| FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION |
| 041489 |
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| no synopsis available |
| SORCERESS |
| 041489 |
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| In 13th-century France a friar sent to rid the countryside of heretics comes across the path of a beautiful, well-respected healer whose practice of Pagan rituals flout the teachings of the Church. |
| TWINS |
| LATENITE 041489 |
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| Twin brothers, hardly identical, are separated at birth. One is raised on an island with the perfect environment, the other is left in New York to survive. When each discovers the other exists, they reunite and set off an a comic adventure in search of their mother. |
| AMERICAN NINJA 3: BLOOD HUNT |
| LATENITE 042189 |
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| Two martial arts champions travel to a Caribbean island to compete in a tournament. Instead, they find themselves at the mercy of the evil "Cobra," who unleashes a new germ warfare weapon. |
| THE 'BURBS |
| LATENITE 042189 |
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| Set in an average neighborhood that is anything but average, Tom Hanks portrays suburbanite Ray Peterson, who finally takes a much-needed week of vacation. However, Ray doesn't use the time to jet off to some exotic locale, there are no frolicsome adventures in his plans, all he wants is a week of mindless relaxation in his own comfortable suburban home. His wife Carol (Carrie Fisher) warns him that he's liable to go crazy from the boredom, but he refuses to listen. The nothingness finally does get to him, however, and he creates a little excitement for himself by spying on his neighbors - the Klopeks, a mysterious, oddball family that just moved in to a dilapidated home down the street. When the neighborhood grouch mysteriously disappears, Ray and a motley crew of other neighborhood crackpots begin to concoct wild theories about the strange, and perhaps murderous, goings on in the Klopek's creepy, old house. For one brief, shining moment their lives seem to have some meaning and purpose as Ray and his friends become consumed with the secrets of the bizarre family. Tom Hanks is hysterical as Ray, bring his own brand of boyish charm and zany slapstick comedy to the screen. |
| JACKNIFE |
| 042889 |
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| Joseph "Megs" Megessey lives a circumscribed life in a small Connecticut town, where he still agonizes over the death of his buddy in Vietnam. On the spur of the moment, he decided to visit Dave, another Vet who has not recovered from the war and help restore the man's life. But Meggs' attempts seem doomed to failure, especially when a romance between Megs and Dave's sister leads to a violent destructive outburst. |
| DEAD BANG |
| LATENITE 042889 |
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| Don Johnson stars as homicide detective Jerry Beck, a very different law-enforcement type than his career-making role in television's MIAMI VICE. Because of his dedication to his work, Jerry's personal life has disintegrated, and he's in the throes of a divorce. On Christmas Eve, an African American storekeeper is murdered, and, minutes later, an L.A. cop also goes down; Jerry is assigned to both cases. His research turns up the name Bobby Burns (Frank Military), a member of a white-supremacist organization who's currently on his way to a mass gathering of like-minded hate junkies in Oklahoma. The detective's investigation is joined by FBI agent Kressler (William Forsythe), a by-the-book type who does little but get in Jerry's way. Because of his sometimes unorthodox methods, Jerry is asked by his commander to be cleared for duty by the police psychiatrist or be taken off the case. When he can't stop laughing because he thinks the man looks like Woody Allen, it seems that Jerry's days on the case are numbered. DEAD BANG, loosely based on a true story, is a fun, tongue-in-cheek cop melodrama held together by Johnson's entertaining performance. |
| THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST |
| LATENITE 042889 |
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| While attending summer camp, the 12-year-old son of long-married Macon and Sarah is brutally murdered at a fast-food restaurant. A year after the crime, still finding it difficult to cope with their loss, the couple separate. Macon, who writes travel books for businessmen, continues to isolate himself from the world until a free-spirited dog trainer challenges him to start a new life. |
| PELLE THE CONQUEROR |
| 050589 |
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| PELLE THE CONQUEROR is based on the first of the four volumes of Martin Andersen Nexo’s epic novel. Talented Danish director Bille August focuses on Pelle when he and Lasse find work at Stone Farm. After being humiliated by the farm’s young trainee manager, Pelle is disappointed when Lasse does not stand up for him. Pelle admires Eric, an older immigrant who is not cowed by the farm manager and who dreams of going to America. He watches as an affair develops between Anna, an immigrant worker, and Nils, son of a local dignitary, and sees the affair’s tragic outcome. Pelle’s friend Rud fails his school exams, then runs away. Through Pelle, Mrs. Olsen, whose sailor husband is lost at sea, becomes interested in Lasse. Pelle observes the drinking of Mrs. Kongstrup, wife of the farm’s owner, and the philandering of her husband. He sees Mrs. Kongstrup’s niece, the lovely Sine, arrive and witnesses the disastrous consequences of her visit. At the center of these events is the striking young Pelle Hvenegaard. It is his face that August focuses on, his mind that is forming right onscreen, as Pelle observes and reacts and learns and, then, moves on alone. |
| WORKING GIRL |
| LATENITE 050589 |
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| A young secretary (Melanie Griffith in an Oscar-nominated performance) with dreams of moving up the corporate ladder thinks that her brains will help her achieve her goals. And when she finds a job with a seemingly helpful and sympathetic boss--who's also a woman (played by Sigourney Weaver)--it looks as if she's on her way. But it turns out the executive is slimy and duplicitous, stealing the secretary's clever ideas to further her own career. Now the furious secretary's determined to get revenge--and her plan may not only propel her to the top of the heap but get her a husband too (Harrison Ford). Mike Nichols directed this workplace comedy with a light, smart touch, getting terrific performances from his excellent cast |
| SKIN DEEP |
| LATENITE 050589 |
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| Blake Edwards's return to the male-in-meltdown territory he explored in 10 and THAT'S LIFE stars John Ritter as unemployed writer Zach, who is not only suffering from writer's block, but his drinking is out of control, as is his obsessive womanizing, and, not surprisingly, his wife wants to end their marriage. To add to his problems, his house has just burned down, and his agent is knocking at death's door. But since this is a Blake Edwards comedy, Zach has enough charm and relative affluence to continue his pursuits, which the director regards with a bemused deatchment. One of his girlfriends sets his piano on fire, and another gets him to wear a glow-in-the-dark condom, allowing him to engage in a condom duel with her jealous, similarly clad rock-star boyfriend. Eventually, Zach turns to fatherly bartender Barney (Vince Gardenia), who should have long ago cut off his bar tab, and psychiatrist Dr. Westford (choreographer Michael Kidd), and both tell him to stop destroying himself through drink. Ritter rings some surprisingly complex changes in the wildly farcical film, and, in the condom battle, participates in one of the funniest moments ever committed to celluloid while suggesting an interesting new subtext. |
| CRUSOE |
| 051289 |
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| In this version of Daniel DeFoe's 1719 novel, Robinson Crusoe is a vicious slave trader who is motivated only by greed. When he is washed ashore on an island after a storm, he finds himself at the mercy of the people he formerly persecuted. |
| THE THREE FUGITIVES |
| LATENITE 051289 |
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| Remake of a sentimental French comedy about an ex-burglar named Lucas who unwittingly stumbles into a bank robbery the very day he's released from prison. The incompetent bank robber who masterminded the crime takes Lucas hostage, then forces Lucas to help him and his little girl escape to Mexico. Once again, Lucas finds himself on the wrong side of the law, as he tries to elude the police who naturally assume he was in on the job. |
| BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE |
| LATENITE 051989 |
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| Two brain-dead California teenagers, with a combined vocabulary of approximately 75 words, travel back in time to corral various historical figures for a class presentation that just might keep the pair from failing history "most heinously." Napoleon, Socrates, Billy The Kid, Sigmund Freud and Mozart are among those who journey forward in time with the duo in order to give the youth of California eye-witness accounts of the "awesome" pageant that is world history. Most excellent. |
| BEACHES |
| LATENITE 051989 |
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| The story of a deep friendship, lasting from childhood to beyond death, between two very different women -- one a poor but ambitious Jewish girl from the Bronx who goes on to become a famous Broadway star, and the other an attractive WASP from a wealthy San Francisco family who starts out with all the advantages in life yet manages to find nothing but disappointment. |
| NEW YORK STORIES |
| 052689 |
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| NEW YORK STORIES is a feature-length film consisting of three shorts directed by Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Woody Allen. The stories are linked only by their New York City setting and show three very different facets of New York life. Scorsese's "Life Lessons" is the bittersweet tale of an aging Abstract Expressionist painter whose young live-in girlfriend and artistic protégée decides to leave him just as he's preparing for an important gallery opening. Tired of living in the shadow of her famous lover and disappointed in her own lack of artistic talent, the girl torments him with tantrums and brazen acts of infidelity as the painter furiously attempts to fill his canvases in time for his show. Coppola's "Life Without Zoe" is a candy-coated look at the life of a poor little rich girl who resides alone at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel under the care of a butler while her neglectful parents flit around the world. Zoe attends fanciful parties with other fabulously wealthy children and becomes involved in the search for a pair of missing diamond earrings that eventually reunites her with her parents. "Oedipus Wrecks" is Woody Allen's comic nightmare about a 50-year-old man still suffocated by his overbearing Jewish mother. When she disappears mysteriously one day, he thinks his troubles are over--until she reappears as a giant apparition looming in the sky above Manhattan. |
| THE NAVIGATOR |
| 060289 |
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| Vincent Ward's metaphoric tale of sibling relations, AIDS and modern problems in general follows the quest of a group of medieval British villagers. Desiring an explanation of a prophetic dream, the group of miners descends into the deep recesses of Cambrian hills. They emerge in modern day Wellington, New Zealand and set about on a search for that city's cathedral spire -- as seen in the dream. During their journey they encounter local dwellers and treat every commonplace modern occurrence as an obstacle of mythic proportions. |
| HIGH HOPES |
| 060289 |
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| Director Mike Leigh continues his infatuation with the clashes between families and social classes in late twentieth century London with this touching soap opera. HIGH HOPES weaves left-wing social commentary into a bittersweet comedy about a working-class couple, Cyril (Philip Davis) and Shirley (Ruth Sheen). The film opens with the pair taking in Wayne (Jason Watkins), a stranger who appears to have nowhere else to turn. Gradually, it introduces the rest of Cyril’s family--his widowed mother Mrs. Bender (Edna Dore), whining suburban sister Valerie (Heather Tobias), and her unfaithful husband Martin (Philip Jackson)--contrasting them with the Boothe-Braines (Lesley Manville and David Bamber), pretentious yuppies who live next door to Mrs. Bender thanks to gentrification. On Mrs. Bender’s birthday, a party at Valerie’s brings the family together again, sparking another seemingly endless series of arguments. A sometimes bleak satire, HIGH HOPES raises issues about remaining childless and growing old without a partner, containing a poignant blend of comedy and drama that has become a Leigh trademark. Using his typical improvisational approach in order to create more genuine characterizations, Leigh is able to draw deeply convincing performances from all of his actors--most notably, Davis, Sheen, and Dore. |
| ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN |
| 061689 |
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| In TIME BANDITS, director Terry Gilliam told a fantastical story filled with heroes and villains seen through the eyes of a small boy. In BRAZIL, Gilliam focused on a fantasy world created by a young man trapped in a totalitarian state. And now, with THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, Gilliam tells the legend of an old man who has lived a fairy-tale life. In the late 18th century, the Age of Reason has no room for fantasy. In a town besieged by murderous enemies, a traveling company is putting on a stage show about the apocryphal Baron Munchausen, who, with his motley crew of servants, supposedly circled the globe and the universe, following each bizarre adventure with one even more strange and ludicrous. But then a man appears at the theater claiming to be the real Baron, and to prove it, he goes off on one final journey to save the town, chased all along the way by the winged specter of death. |
| FLETCH LIVES |
| LATENITE 061689 |
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| Director Michael Ritchie and Chevy Chase team up once again for FLETCH LIVES, with Chase reprising the role of Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, newspaper journalist and master of disguise. When his recently deceased aunt bequeaths her decrepit manor to him, Fletch travels down south to rural Louisiana. Initially, things go well, especially when he hooks up with a flirtatious southern belle. But when he wakes up the morning after, he's shocked to find that she has been murdered. In order to catch the killers and clear himself, the intrepid, chameleon-like Fletch must infiltrate the congregation of Jimmy Lee Farnsworth (R. Lee Ermey), a greedy local preacher who wants to gain control of Fletch's land in order to build a Bible-themed amusement park. Written by Leon Capetanos, FLETCH LIVES crackles with the same blend of rapid-fire dialogue and visual jokes as the original, making it a solid sequel that works on its own terms. By thrusting the big city character into a shady small Southern community, Chase is given an entirely new field on which to play. It's this contrast--especially between himself and R. Lee Ermey--that provides the film with its loudest laughs. |
| HEATHERS |
| 062389 |
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| Veronica, a student at Westerburg High, belongs to the school's most powerful clique, the Heathers. Then she and her boyfriend, new kid in town and teen-rebel J. D., accidentally kill Heather No. 1. Veronica is horrified, but J.D. is pleased, and soon he's plotting to eliminate more of Westerburg's elite -- with Veronica's unwitting help. |
| OUTRAGEOUS ANIMATION |
| 062389 |
|
| no synopsis available. |
| DEAD CALM |
| LATENITE 062389 |
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| Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the skies are sunny, the sea calm--but on the horizon is another vessel, the Orpheus. As John and Rae approach the ship, they find a lone survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), who tells them that the other crew members have died of food poisoning. Leaving Rae behind with the sleeping Hughie, the suspicious John boards the Orpheus--only to be confronted with a horrifying situation. |
| SCANDAL |
| 063089 |
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| Inspired by England's Profumo scandal in which a member of Parliament was revealed to be deeply involved with a prostitute. Social climber Stephen Ward takes alluring young women under his wing, and then introduces them to his influential circle of friends. But when one of these ladies has an affair with both Ivanov, a high-ranking Russian officer, and John Profumo, a British government official, the ensuing sex scandal causes an uproar. Soon, Profumo has been forced to resign, Ward has been arrested, and England's Conservative administration has fallen. |
| MAJOR LEAGUE |
| LATENITE 063089 |
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| When the widow of the owner of the Cleveland Indians realizes that she is stuck with a small stadium in a cold climate, she decides that a move to a Southern, warmer climate is called for. Unfortunately the only way she can unload her stadium is due to low attendance, so she needs to plan for a losing and lackluster season. The team of misfits and losers that she has hired, though, decide that if they really pull through, they may not wind up in last place and not be the losers that the owner thinks that they are. This offbeat baseball comedy, starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen and Rene Russo, was a surprise 1989 hit. |
| MURMER OF THE HEART |
| 070789 |
|
| no synopsis available. |
| DANGEROUS LIAISONS |
| LATENITE 070789 |
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| DANGEROUS LIASONS is Stephen Frears' terse adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' famous epistolary tale about the sexual machinations of two jaded eighteenth century French aristocrats. In order to get revenge on a man who jilted her, the wicked Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) persuades a former lover, the rakish Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich), to deflower the man's virginal young fiancee (Uma Thurman). Valmont agrees, but presents the Marquise with his own challenge: if he succeeds in seducing a virtuous young wife known for her unshakable fidelity, Madame de Tourvel (Michele Pfieffer), the Marquise must grant Valmont a night in bed. The cold-blooded twosome proceed gleefully with their heartless scheme against the stunning backdrop of aristocratic France, displaying high stakes sexual gamesmanship and deceitful cunning. When the Valmont succeeds in seducing the virtuous Madame de Tourvel, the pair unexpectantly realize they have fallen in love, tragically defying the rules of the inhuman game, much to the horror of the cruel Marquise de Merteuil. Beautifully filmed with lavish period costumes, DANGEROUS LIASONS features critically acclaimed performances by its all-star cast. |
| CHOCOLAT |
| 071489 |
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| The disastrous effects of French colonialism are examined through the paradigm of a young girl’s coming of age in French West Africa in Claire Denis astonishing first film. As France, a woman traveling alone in Cameroon, slips into a dreamy and distant flashback, scenes of a makeshift existence come into focus. France’s father, a district governor, and her fragile mother are living a relatively peaceful if somewhat strained existence when a plane carrying a gaggle of French imperialists and their entourage makes an emergency landing near their house. An ex-priest, a white plantation owner and his African concubine, and a newlywed couple are forced to stay with the family. The convergence of this motley crew forces tensions and troubles that were bubbling barely below the surface to silently erupt. Sexual tensions, as well as social and class struggles, explode, with expansive vistas of Cameroon as an astonishing yet innocent backdrop. The heat, the landscape, and the underlying and eroticized tension converge as the noble and austere houseboy, Protee, becomes the focus of France’s memories and regrets. |
| RED SCORPION |
| LATENITE 071489 |
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| RED SCORPION is a Cold War thriller about a Soviet-trained assassin assigned to infiltrate an African uprising and kill its rebel leader. When a barroom brawl lands him in jail and into the confidences of another rebel leader, the men stage a prison breakout that results in a voyage across the harsh African desert and into the heart of the rebel camp. But when the planned assassination attempt fails, the Soviet agent suddenly finds himself betrayed by the very men who hired him. After another sojourn in the wilderness, he is unexpectedly drawn to the rebels' cause and leads an attack against his former comrades that is no-holds-barred warfare. |
| GETTING IT RIGHT |
| 072189 |
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| A shy 31-year-old hairdresser, who lives with his parents and is still a virgin, inexplicably finds himself the object of constant female attention when he attends a swinging London party. |
| PET SEMATARY |
| LATENITE 072189 |
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| Dr. Louis Creed, having just moved to Maine with his wife and two children, is heartbroken when he finds that his daughter's beloved cat has been hit by a truck and killed. Thankfully, a strange, elderly neighbor called Jud knows a secret that may spare the young girl's tears. He takes the dead cat to an ancient Indian burial ground that lies hidden in the surrounding hilltops; and when he buries the feline there, it comes back to life a few days later. But Louis can't be trusted with the secret, and, despite strong warnings that something horrible will happen, he uses the power of the burial ground to bring his son back from the dead -- after the child is killed the same way the family cat was. |
| FIELD OF DREAMS |
| 072889 |
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| Kevin Costner plays a former Sixties idealist who runs a farm in Iowa with his wife and young daughter. After hearing a mysterious, heavenly voice one day, Costner turns one of his cornfields into a baseball diamond. Of course, everyone thinks he's crazy, but in time "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and other ghostly outcasts, who had previously languished in a sort of baseball purgatory, show up to play the game they still love. Soon men from all over the country join them at this baseball shrine, some just to play with the greats, others to mend the broken relationships they had with their fathers -- But all are trying to get back in touch with simpler times through the purity of America's grandest game. |
| K-9 |
| LATENITE 072889 |
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| A narcotics cop (James Belushi) deemed too crazy to team with anybody is given a headstrong German Shepherd (Jerry Lee) as a partner. The pair, while trying to understand each other, also try to bust a big businessman who is an even bigger cocaine dealer. |
| LITTLE VERA |
| 080489 |
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| Adolescent angst is eating away at young Vera, who lives with her strict, conventional parents in one of Russia's polluted industrial towns. Since quitting school, Vera has run with a pretty fast crowd, and when she meets handsome Sergei at a thoroughly out-of-control dance, the two begin a passionate love affair. But it will take more than romance to blot out the family feuds, filthy surroundings and existential monotony plaguing her youth. |
| EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY |
| 080489 |
|
| After getting hurt one time too many, Julie, a lonely hairdresser, is ready to give up on romance. But when she runs into a wayward spaceship with a sexy alien captain and a lovesick crew, it doesn't look like romance is ready to give up on her. After one mighty zany weekend, Julie decides that maybe she should take a chance on love again. |
| SAY ANYTHING |
| LATENITE 080489 |
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| The quintessential 80s teen romance, this film has retained its poignancy into the next century with its ability to entertain and amuse while remaining intelligent and packed with real emotion that anyone can empathize with. John Cusack plays Lloyd Dobler, a high schooler on the cusp of graduation who devotes himself to the pursuit of Diane Court (Ione Skye), the aloof class valedictorian who happens to be beautiful-as Corey (Lily Taylor), Lloyd's best friend puts it, "she's a brain trapped in the body of a game show hostess." When Lloyd calls Diane to invite her to a graduation party, she doesn't know who he is, but she's charmed by his nervous chatter and surprises everyone by accepting. Lloyd at first even manages to charm Diane's overprotective father Jim Court (John Mahoney) as well, with whom Diane is very close, though Jim can't see why his daughter is wasting her time with Lloyd. |
| DISORGANIZED CRIME |
| LATENITE 080489 |
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| A fugitive has called together his ex-con buddies in order to pull off a spectacular bank heist. While waiting for him to arrive, the old gang scare up trouble in a small town. The ringleader tries everything to get to his men with the cops always one step behind. |
| THE DREAM TEAM |
| LATENITE 081189 |
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| A comedy about what happens when four mental patients -- an aggressive sociopath, a Jesus freak with a penchant for removing his clothes at inopportune moments, an obsessive-compulsive with a neatness fetish, and a young man who can communicate only in baseball-speak -- are set free in Manhattan. It all begins when their doctor takes them on a day-trip to see a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. When the doctor is abducted after witnessing a murder, these four crazies are on their own. Each takes advantage of his freedom to pursue his own off-the-wall concerns before banding together again to rescue the doctor. |
| DEAD POETS SOCIETY |
| 081189 |
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| An unconventional New England prep school teacher inspires his students with poetry and encourages them to embrace life. Academy Award Nominations: 4, including Best Picture, Best Actor--Robin Williams, Best (Original) Screenplay. Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay. |
| ROAD HOUSE |
| LATENITE 081889 |
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| Patrick Swayze stars in this modern-dress western as a tough guy who has poetic instincts and drives a Mercedes. Fresh from earning his doctorate in Eastern Philosophy from New York University, mettlesome loner Dalton (Swayze) finds work as a bouncer at an anarchic road house. Within weeks, Dalton has rid the bar of the ruffians ruining its business and has even struck up a romance with a sexy doctor (Kelly Lynch). Then Dalton bounces the wrong man, who turns out to be one of town crime boss Brad Wesley's henchmen. Wesley first tries to buy Dalton off, but fails. When Wesley learns of Dalton's new lover -- who used to be Wesley's significant other -- Wesley vows bloody vengeance. But Dalton, with his unique mixture of brute force and Zen oneness, isn't about to let his college money go to waste. |
| COLD FEET |
| 082589 |
|
| Three penny-ante crooks aim for the big time by smuggling emeralds from Mexico. The pricey gems are surgically implanted in a horse, but their clever plan goes awry since one of the modern-day bandits is an homicidal maniac. Somehow, the threesome have to keep it together until they can divide the booty. |
| 007: LICENSE TO KILL |
| LATENITE 082589 |
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| James Bond (Timothy Dalton) returns with a vengeance in LICENCE TO KILL. Having just witnessed his best friend's wedding, Bond is shocked when he learns that ruthless drug runner Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) has assaulted the couple on their honeymoon, killing the bride. Assisted by the twiggy Drug Enforcement Agent Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) and the gadget wizard Q (Patrick Llewelyn), Bond resigns from Her Majesty’s Secret Service and pursues justice on his own. Perhaps the darkest of the 007 films, LICENCE TO KILL, exhibits a previously unseen side of James Bond. Maniacal at times, ex-agent 007, detonates everything in his way on the road to avenging his friend's bride. |
| DO THE RIGHT THING |
| 090189 |
|
| Spike Lee's racial and political filmmaking bent is given the full treatment with this simmering exposé of racial tensions in a New York City neighborhood one scorching summer day. The film, written by Lee (and nominated for an Oscar), follows a group of racially diverse inhabitants from Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood as they spend their day trying to avoid the oppressive heat. These include African American pizza deliveryman Mookie (Lee), the racially sensitive Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), and the silent, boom-box-blasting Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn). Also thrown into the mix are Sal (an Oscar-nominated Danny Aiello), the Italian-American proprietor of Sal's Pizzeria, as well as his two sons, Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson), who hold completely opposing attitudes when it comes to race. After Buggin’ Out tries to organize a boycott of Sal's because of the lack of racial diversity on his shop's Wall of Fame, the tensions explode in an act of senseless violence. Lee's film is an electric work of political entertainment that confronts sensitive racial issues head-on. He deftly blends humor and drama as well as using specific music to further amplify his theme (Public Enemy’s song "Fight the Power" actually becomes the film’s main catalyst for action). Boldly closing the film with opposing quotes from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King on the nature of race relations, Lee leaves it up to the viewer to decide if Mookie's actions were the correct ones. Aiello and Esposito are standouts in an all-star cast that includes Lee himself, his sister Joie, "discovery" Rosie Perez, and the married team of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Always one to spark controversy, Lee's summer drama finds the filmmaker at the peak of his craft. |
| PATHFINDER |
| 090889 |
|
| When a gang of Tchude marauders slaughters the Lapp family, only 16-year-old Algin away on a hunting trip is spared. He escapes to a neighboring camp, but elders there know that the Tchudes cannot be far behind. Feeling he has created the dilemma, Algin stays behind to hold off the Tchudes and what follows is a tense game of cat and mouse |
| WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S |
| LATENITE 090889 |
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| Two enterprising young men uncover an elaborate embezzlement scheme at their company and are rewarded with a weekend at the boss' impressive beach house. But things get complicated when they arrive to find him murdered. They decide to have a good time anyway and include their boss in all the activities. |
| SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT |
| LATENITE 091589 |
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| SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT formally introduced the name Spike Lee to audiences all over the world. The film, an intelligent comedy shot in black-and-white with one sequence of color, places--for among the first time--a young, bright African-American woman in the cinematic spotlight. Nola Darling (Tracy Camila Johns) is an attractive young woman with a problem--three problems to be exact. She is simultaneously being wooed by three hopeful, but hopeless, male suitors: Jamie (Tommy Redmond Hicks), a sensitive type who wants to settle down with her; Greer (John Canada Terrell), a narcissistic model who sees her as his trophy; and Mars Blackmon (Lee himself), an aggressive and funny bike messenger who makes her laugh. Nola is attracted to the best in each of them, but is unable to make up her mind as to whom she likes best. She even entertains the notion that something may be wrong with her, thinking perhaps she's oversexed. When a visit to a therapist fails to clear her mind, Nola finally comes to the realization that she must take control of her life. Lee’s feature-length debut features a lush jazz score by his father, Bill Lee, and demonstrates a witty, distinctive style. The critical success of the film paved the way for a new generation of independent African-American filmmakers to begin to be recognized by Hollywood on their own terms. |
| HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS |
| 092289 |
|
| A preoccupied inventor accidentally shrinks his kids to 1/4" tall and tosses them out in the trash. They face incredible dangers as they try to get home through a backyard jungle. Includes the Roger Rabbit special "Tummy Trouble." |
| SECOND ANIMATION CELEBRATION |
| 100689 |
|
| no synopsis available. |
| INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE |
| LATENITE 100689 |
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| Steven Spielberg's third action-packed entry in the Indiana Jones trilogy evokes the cliffhanger Saturday matinee serials of yesteryear. It’s 1938 and Indy (Harrison Ford) receives word that his archaeologist dad, Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), has disappeared while on a quest for the Holy Grail. Indy embarks on a search for both his dad and the much-coveted artifact. THE LAST CRUSADE has a unique twist to the series’ traditional opening-sequence cliffhanger. Actor River Phoenix plays an adolescent Indy who, while on a field trip with his Boy Scout troop, finds adventure on a circus train. Spielberg wanted to make the film about a father-and-son relationship, and Connery was his first choice to play Indy’s dad. The selection was perfect, considering Spielberg and producer George Lucas first came up with the idea of the series as a rival to the James Bond movies in which Connery had starred. Before shooting THE LAST CRUSADE, Spielberg was planning on directing RAIN MAN with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise but gave up the project to fulfill his contractual obligation with Lucas to make a third Indiana Jones movie. |
| GHOSTBUSTERS II |
| LATENITE 100689 |
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| The band of ghost busters are back to save the universe. Having been put out of commission due to a judicial court order, the fearless four pull out all psychic stops to put an end to a demonic river of slime and rescue Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) and her child. In order to achieve this, they must convince New York that all the city's negative energy is feeding the evil spirits in the river, so the city's residents need to resist all negativity! |
| LA LECTRICE |
| 102089 |
|
| While a woman reads "La Lectrice," a novel about a woman who hires herself out as a professional reader, the story unfolds: as she forms a relationship with each of her four clients, the reader comes to understand their needs and fantasies. |
| DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES |
| 102089 |
|
| The second film in Terence Davies’s autobiographical series (TRILOGY, THE LONG DAY CLOSES) is an impressionistic view of a working-class family in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool, based on Davies’s own family. The first part, DISTANT VOICES, opens with grown siblings Eileen (Angela Walsh), Maisie (Lorraine Ashbourne) and Tony (Dean Williams), and their mother (Freda Dowie) arranged in mourning clothes before the photograph of their smiling father (Pete Postlethwaite). Soon after, the family poses in a similar tableau, but for a happier occasion – Eileen’s wedding. While relatives sing at her reception, Eileen hysterically grieves for her dad, and recalls happy times of her youth. Tony and Maisie’s memories, however, are more troubled. Davies intermingles and contrasts scenes like the family peacefully lighting candles in church with the brutal man beating his wife and terrorizing his young children. In STILL LIVES, set (and filmed) two years later, the siblings are settled in life, but not all happily. For Eileen, relief from her drab existence comes only when singing at the pub. With his skillfully composed frames and evocative use of music in place of dialogue, Davies creates a lovely, affecting photo album of a troubled family wrestling with the complexity of love |
| SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE |
| 102789 |
|
| 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. |
| PETER PAN |
| LATENITE 102789 |
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| A haunting tale of adventure and dreams, Peter Pan has thrilled audiences around the world since it premiered on a London stage 100 years ago. But J. M. Barrie's classic story of the boy who wouldn't grow up - and the girl whose family insists that she must - has never been fully realized onscreen. Until now. Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios are proud to present the first live-action feature film version of Peter Pan since the silent era. And for the first time, a boy - Jeremy Sumpter (Frailty) - stars in the title role, opposite Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Captain James Hook. In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers nightly with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars to the lush jungles of Neverland. Wendy and her brothers join Peter and the Lost Boys in an exhilarating life free of grown-up rules, while also facing the inevitable showdown with Hook and his bloodthirsty pirates. With unbounded imagination and the latest in visual effects, writer/director P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) and producers Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick (Gladiator, Stuart Little) bring all the wonder, danger and excitement of this timeless tale to life. The cast also includes Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, Rushmore) as Mrs. Darling, Academy Award® nominee Lynn Redgrave (Gods and Monsters) as Aunt Millicent, Richard Briers (Ever Decreasing Circles) as Smee and French sensation Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool) as Tinker Bell. Rachel Hurd-Wood makes her screen debut as Wendy. |
| TEH RACHEL PAPERS |
| LATENITE 102789 |
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| Based on Martin Amis' novel, this film tells the story of a steamy teen love affair. 19-years-old and very horny, Charles Highway has developed a new way to keep track of girls: his computer. If a babe's beautiful, he keeps her biography on disk. Take Rachel Noyce, for example. Since they met at a party, Charles has been keeping detailed notes on her. One important fact he's got on file is that Rachel already has a steady beau. But when Charles sends her a witty video requesting a date, Rachel takes the bait and they begin a lustful romance. |
| SHIRLEY VALENTINE |
| 110389 |
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| Overcome by the drudgery of everyday domestic life, housewife Shirley Valentine (Pauline Collins) wishes for a change of pace. When her best friend Jane (Alison Steadman) invites her on a free trip to Greece, she simply cannot refuse. After a few days of lounging on golden Mediterranean beaches, Shirley is back to her sprightly old self, and when she meets Costas Caldes (Tom Conti), the two engage in an unforgettable love affair which will change their lives forever. |
| UNCLE BUCK |
| LATENITE 110389 |
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| When Bob (Garrett M. Brown) and Cindy Russell (Elaine Bromka) have to leave town for a family emergency, they are left with no alternative but to call in Bob�s brother, Buck (John Candy), to baby-sit. A jobless, lifelong bachelor with a heart of gold, Buck hardly seems the ideal baby-sitter. Charged with caring for his smart-mouthed teenage niece, Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly), and her two outspoken younger siblings, Maisy (Gaby Hoffman) and Miles (Macaulay Culkin), Buck finds himself learning how to survive in suburbia and parent at the same time. At first Buck doesn�t even know how many times a day to feed the dog, much less the kids. He battles the washing machine and sends Miles to school with an utterly inedible bag lunch. But little by little Buck begins to take his responsibility seriously, putting the needs of his nieces and nephew before his own, earning their love and respect. With any luck, his newfound familial instincts will help him win back his estranged girlfriend, Chanice (Amy Madigan), who is tired of his refusal to commit to marriage. Directed by John Hughes (SIXTEEN CANDLES, THE BREAKFAST CLUB), this film was shot in various Illinois locations. |
| CASUALTIES OF WAR |
| LATENITE 110389 |
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|
A young soldier arrives in Vietnam and is assigned to a unit of men who have been in the jungle for many months. Their sergeant has only one more mission to complete before he can go home, and though he has been a successful soldier, he has lost his will to fight or to care for his troop. When soldiers on duty prevent the sergeant from going to a nearby town to visit a prostitute on the night before his last mission, the enraged sergeant tells his unit that he will seek revenge. He concocts a plan where his troop will accompany him to the village, kidnap a woman and force her to come with them on the mission in order to furnish the group sexually. The newest soldier in the troop does not want to go along with the plan, but the sergeant's charisma convinces the rest of the men. When they eventually reach the village, the young man again protests, which fuels the sergeant's rage, and prompts him to initiate a brutal gang rape and murder of a young village woman. The film then moves to events after the troop's return from Vietnam, where the young soldier has decided to have his unit court martialled. |
| THE ABYSS |
| LATENITE 111089 |
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| After a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks in a remote part of the ocean floor, a team of divers on a prototype underwater oil rig are pressed into service by the U.S. Navy in a rescue attempt. When a hurricane cuts off contact between the surface and the underwater depths, the crew begin to see evidence of a strange, possibly alien intelligence at work. While chief Bud Brigman (Ed Harris) bickers with his ex-wife and boss (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), the Navy commander begins to grow increasingly paranoid about the mysterious alien life and threatens to use a recovered nuclear weapon to destroy everything. James Cameron's undersea epic is a tale of sacrifice and hope in an amazing alien landscape that covers 2/3 of the Earth's surface. Featuring landmark visual effects but plagued by production difficulties, the cast and crew were stretched to the breaking point and THE ABYSS became one of the most expensive films ever made in its time, but the final result is a remarkable blend of action and human drama. Scenes cut from the theatrical version, including a number of special effects sequences involving huge tidal waves threatening the cities of the world, are restored in the Special Edition versions. |
| WHEN HARRY MET SALLY |
| LATENITE 111789 |
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| WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... tracks a star-crossed pair as they repeatedly drift apart and meet again over a span of 13 years and gradually fall madly, deeply, passionately into friendship, a friendship ever teetering on the edge of love. Harry meets Sally when they share a car ride to New York City upon graduation from the University of Chicago. A few minutes into the trip, the conversation between womanizing, neurotic Harry (Billy Crystal) and driven, equally neurotic Sally (Meg Ryan) becomes heatedly contentious. The question arises: Can a man and a woman be just friends? Harry contends this proposition is impossible, that sex will always come along to screw up the friendship. Sally is aghast and disagrees, proclaiming the idea a distinct possibility. The two part ways rather acrimoniously in New York but before long meet again and eventually decide to indeed be friends. As life�s mysterious coincidences pull Harry and Sally closer together, they share mystical, tender moments, confess secrets to each other, console each other, attend major holidays together, and do all the other things couples traditionally do. The question then reemerges: Can Harry and Sally remain mere friends, or will they--must they--fall in love? And can anyone forget Ryan's classic faking-it scene in Katz's Deli? |
| DRUGSTORE COWBOY |
| 120189 |
|
| Being a junkie is a full-time job for Bob. He leads his wife and another addicted couple on a reckless spree of drugstore robberies. When he has a brush with death, Bob realizes he must leave both his addiction and his wife if he wants to survive. |
| BATMAN |
| LATENITE 120189 |
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| Gotham City is a sunless, ominous haven for criminals, held in the corrupt grip of crime boss Carl Grissom (the ever-magnetic Jack Palance), and terrorized by a sadistic vandal and murderer known as The Joker. But it isn't long before a dark, mysterious caped crusader, who goes by the name of BATMAN, is on their trail and trying to thwart their evil doings. In this darkly entertaining retelling of the Marvel comic classic, ace photojournalist Vicki Vale (warmly and sympathetically played by Kim Basinger) is also on the trail--she wants to find out who Batman really is. Based on the popular comic book character created by Bob Kane for DC Comics; the story and tone have nothing in common with the popular TV series of the 1960s. Imaginative special effects and imposing, Gothic architectural sets dominate this visually graphic, stylish film. Keaton gives a brooding performance as the Caped Crusader and his interestingly understated alter-ego Bruce Wane. But is it Nicholson's Joker that steals the show, with his unnerving, brilliantly maniacal portrayal, especially in the context of his twisted relationship with Grissom's gal Alicia (a lanky, disquieting Jerry Hall). |
| THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS |
| LATENITE 120889 |
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| Two piano-playing brothers, one a cynic with serious artistic leanings, and the other a perpetually optimistic, but workmanlike player, audition a number of vocalists in order to spice up their stale lounge act. When they find a beautiful and talented young singer, their career starts to pick up again. But jealousies, both romantic and professional, begin to appear and threaten their newfound success. |
| QUEEN OF HEARTS |
| 121589 |
|
| When Rosa learns she is to marry the neighborhood butcher, she decides instead to elope with the boy next door. After four children and twenty years of marriage the family appears to be settled. But the butcher is still not happy and seeks revenge. |
| CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS |
| LATENITE 122289 |
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| CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS is Woody Allen's most mature, most profound film. Martin Landau plays Judah Rosenthal, a successful ophthalmologist having an affair with Dolores (Anjelica Huston), who is threatening to reveal their relationship unless Judah commits to her and leaves his wife. He admits his sin to Ben (Sam Waterston), a friend, a patient, and a learned rabbi who is losing his eyesight but not his faith. Judah turns to his brother Jack, who is connected to the mob and can make Dolores disappear. Allen plays Cliff Stern, a documentary filmmaker who accepts an assignment to film his pompous, successful brother-in-law, Lester (Alan Alda), a comedy star; both Cliff and Lester fall for Hallie Reed (Mia Farrow), a producer involved in the documentary. Allen the director brings all the characters together in a fabulous mix of comedy and drama, deceit and delight. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS is a marvel of complexity, with fascinating, well-written characters; deep, complicated relationships; and thought-provoking examinations of religion, infidelity, morality, murder, comedy, and tragedy. |
| ROMERO |
| 122289 |
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| ROMERO is based on the life of Father Oscar Romero, a Salvadoran priest who transformed himself from a humble clergyman into a powerful political leader. Romero passionately pursued the eradication of human rights violations in his country and became a hero to the Salvadoran people. In a powerful and moving performance, Raul Julia portrays the revolutionary priest as he struggles to fight for peace against the violent oppression of his people. Romero became a voice of thousands who were forced into silence by torture and grave injustices, inspiring the people of a poverty-stricken nation to fight for their basic rights under the penalty of imprisonment and murder. The film is an insightful and disturbing look at one man's spiritual journey to greatness amidst a homeland torn apart by civil upheaval and political oppression. |
| ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW |
| LATENITE 122989 - 123189 |
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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. |