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Picnic at Hanging Rock
:Description:This sensuous mystery made Peter Weir's (The Truman Show, Witness, Dead Poets Society) reputation and brought Australian film into the worldwide spotlight. Set in turn-of-the-century Australia, Picnic at Hanging Rock dramatize essential video:Situated somewhere between supernatural horror and lush Victorian melodrama, director Peter Weir's lyrical, enigmatic masterpiece is an imaginative tease. The setting is a proper turn-of-the century Australian boarding school for girls, a suffocating institution built on strict moral codes, repressed sexuality, and a subtle but enforced class structure. As the film opens, girls draped in immaculate white dress ...
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And Justice for All
: essential video:Al Pacino plays a Maryland lawyer who takes on a judicial system rife with dealmaking in this awkward blend of satire and sentimentality. Topical director Norman Jewison can't seem to help Pacino get comfortable with the mismatched material, which pushes the film into outrageousness at some turns and mawkishness at others. The script by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin is more an accumulation of random ideas and moments than a congruent story. However, it's interesting to see the large cast of good actors, most of whom hadn't become well ...
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Table for Five
: :The initial concept of this remarkably poignant film may not be sexy, but it's well-executed and genuinely touching and easily brings its audience into the moving story. J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight), a divorced, absentee father, takes his three children, Tilde (a beautiful, heartbreaking Roxana Zal), Truman-Paul (Robby Kiger), and Trung (Son Hoang Bui), on a European cruise, during which a tragedy occurs at home. The emotionally charged setup of a father trying to reconnect with his children may be familiar to many people. Versatile writer David Seltzer (Lucas) melds realistic dialogue, ...
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Port Of Call (1948-SWEDEN)
:Description:Directed by INGMAR BERGMAN. This very early effort from the hand of the legendary Ingmar Bergman is at once a highly atmospheric, erotically charged and deeply human drama in which the director bares the souls of his two main characters. The first is Gosta, a lonely seaman who has just arrived in a port city and who has signed off his ship. Gosta bunks with an old shipmate and takes a job as a longshoreman. One night on a crowded dance floor, he meets a sensitive and troubled young woman named ...
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Varietease
:Description:Directed by INGMAR BERGMAN. This very early effort from the hand of the legendary Ingmar Bergman is at once a highly atmospheric, erotically charged and deeply human drama in which the director bares the souls of his two main characters. The first is Gosta, a lonely seaman who has just arrived in a port city and who has signed off his ship. Gosta bunks with an old shipmate and takes a job as a longshoreman. One night on a crowded dance floor, he meets a sensitive and troubled young woman named ...
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Jeffrey
: essential video:Surprisingly lighthearted and witty, Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey (based on his off-Broadway play) was one of the first films to tackle the AIDS crisis without patting itself on the back or offering everything up in a sobering movie-of-the-week scenario. The titular Jeffrey (Steven Weber) is a happy-go-lucky gay man who suddenly comes face to face with the fact that AIDS has turned sex into something 'radioactive.' Paranoid in the extreme, he vows to become celibate--at just about the same time that hunky Steve (The Pretender's Michael T. Weiss) saunters into his ...
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Jeffrey
: essential video:Surprisingly lighthearted and witty, Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey (based on his off-Broadway play) was one of the first films to tackle the AIDS crisis without patting itself on the back or offering everything up in a sobering movie-of-the-week scenario. The titular Jeffrey (Steven Weber) is a happy-go-lucky gay man who suddenly comes face to face with the fact that AIDS has turned sex into something 'radioactive.' Paranoid in the extreme, he vows to become celibate--at just about the same time that hunky Steve (The Pretender's Michael T. Weiss) saunters into his ...
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Dead End City
: essential video:Surprisingly lighthearted and witty, Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey (based on his off-Broadway play) was one of the first films to tackle the AIDS crisis without patting itself on the back or offering everything up in a sobering movie-of-the-week scenario. The titular Jeffrey (Steven Weber) is a happy-go-lucky gay man who suddenly comes face to face with the fact that AIDS has turned sex into something 'radioactive.' Paranoid in the extreme, he vows to become celibate--at just about the same time that hunky Steve (The Pretender's Michael T. Weiss) saunters into his ...
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Intimate Portrait: Christine Lahti
: :The third of six children, actress Christine Lahti grew up seeking attention. And now she has it in spades: first a famously delayed Oscar speech due to a bathroom visit, then a high-profile role on TV's Chicago Hope, and now her own Intimate Portrait from the folks at Lifetime. This 44- minute biography, narrated by friend and actress Mary Kay Place, traces Lahti's Midwestern roots, New York theater career, and respected movie roles. A substantial portion of this portrait focuses on her early struggles to start a career with a less-than-glamorous ...
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Strange Frequency (2000)
: :The third of six children, actress Christine Lahti grew up seeking attention. And now she has it in spades: first a famously delayed Oscar speech due to a bathroom visit, then a high-profile role on TV's Chicago Hope, and now her own Intimate Portrait from the folks at Lifetime. This 44- minute biography, narrated by friend and actress Mary Kay Place, traces Lahti's Midwestern roots, New York theater career, and respected movie roles. A substantial portion of this portrait focuses on her early struggles to start a career with a less-than-glamorous ...
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