|
|
|
A Christmas Story (1983)
|
|
|
The April Fools
|
|
|
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything
: :This clunky road movie about three drag queens (Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguziamo) who get stranded in a sleepy Nebraska town on their way to a beauty contest, is too uplifting for its own good. Released during drag's mid-'90s heyday when RuPaul and the Wigstock documentary were all the rage, To Wong Foo aimed straight for the mainstream with its inoffensive camp and 'can't we all get along' moralism. While gay-activist groups howled about straights getting the lead roles in To Wong Foo, in the end the filmmakers really couldn't have ...
|
|
|
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (The Collector's Edition)
:Description:The Collector's Edition (CE) represents Steven Spielberg's third version of Close Encounters. Created in 1998, this sequence contains most of the judicial edits made for the Special Edition (SE) in 1980, speeding up Roy Neary's first contact with the UFOs and adding a scene of a discovery in the Mongolian desert. The Collector's Edition also reinstates the comical madness of Neary tearing up his own front yard, replaced in the SE by a scene where he breaks down in the shower; both scenes are restored in the CE. The SE's revised ending, featuring ...
|
|
|
Entertaining Angels: Dorothy Day Story
:Description:Biography of the life of Dorothy Day (Kelly). The title refers to the religious practice of treating all people, no matter how poor or humble, as if they were visiting angels. Day was a famous activist and philanthropist of the 20's and 30's. The film traces her growth - mostly spiritual and religious - as she left journalism to become a suffragette in Greenwich Village. Eventually, Day converted to Roman Catholicism and dedicated the rest of her life to helping the poor.
|
|
|
The Shadow Box
:Description:Biography of the life of Dorothy Day (Kelly). The title refers to the religious practice of treating all people, no matter how poor or humble, as if they were visiting angels. Day was a famous activist and philanthropist of the 20's and 30's. The film traces her growth - mostly spiritual and religious - as she left journalism to become a suffragette in Greenwich Village. Eventually, Day converted to Roman Catholicism and dedicated the rest of her life to helping the poor.
|
|
|
Harry & The Hendersons
: :This cute movie by William Dear stars John Lithgow as a family man who befriends a Sasquatch (a.k.a. Bigfoot) and brings the friendly monster's oversized, hairy self into his Seattle home. Mayhem and comedy ensue, but things take a heavier turn when a hunter (David Suchet) gets on the creature's trail. Everything hinges on the relationship between Lithgow's character and Harry (the Sasquatch), and that relationship is really quite effective and touching. Don Ameche is a hoot as an old guy who has dreamed of meeting Bigfoot all his life and finally gets ...
|
|
|
Bound for Glory
: :Hal Ashby (The Last Detail, Being There) directed this lyrical and affecting 1976 biography of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. David Carradine gives a powerful performance as the traveling Depression-era vagabond whose music affected generations. Guthrie is portrayed as an earnest soul whose passion and empathy for the working class spurs him to inspirational heights. Ronny Cox (Deliverance, Beverly Hills Cop) plays a union organizer who sees the value in Guthrie's words and music and persuades him to put his music to good use for the people struggling to earn a living wage. ...
|
|
|
Absence of Malice
: essential video:The ethics of the press are roundly slapped around in an entertaining if not always believable drama from director Sydney Pollack. Sally Field is the Miami reporter who is set up to leak information on a dead-end murder investigation. A sneaky government official (a marvelous, rubber-band-spinning Bob Balaban) provides the information that implies liquor distributor Paul Newman is under investigation. When the story runs, it uncorks a legal quagmire that puts the spotlight on presumably innocent lives. As the lawyers explain, the paper's story is accurate, even though it may be ...
|
|
|
Albino Alligator
: :Actor Kevin Spacey made his directorial debut in this uneven crime thriller that has the claustrophobic feel of a play. Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise, and William Fichtner play a trio of robbers who have just pulled a job gone wrong. On the run from the cops, they hide out in a basement bar, where they try to figure out their next move. There's a certain amount of urgency, however, because Sinise, the brains of the outfit, is badly wounded--which means that Fichtner, the group psycho, is allowed to run wild, terrorizing the barflies ...
|
|