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American Beauty (The Awards Edition)
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Starring: Spacey, Kevin Bening, Annette Birch, Thora Anderson, Dennis Anderson, Nancy Gallagher, Peter Kimbrough, Matthew Bakula, Scott Bakula, Scott Robards, Sam
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Director: Mendes, Sam	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 2 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 8.5/10 (IMDB)	Color DTS Surround Sound

Amazon.com essential video From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beauty moves with a mesmerizing confidence and acuity epitomized by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism--like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave. It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy, and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbor (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence. Credit another big-screen newcomer, English theatrical director Sam Mendes, with expertly juggling these potentially disjunctive elements into a superb ensemble piece that achieves a stylized pace without lapsing into transparent self-indulgence. Mendes has shrewdly insured his success with a solid crew of stage veterans, yet he's also made an inspired discovery in Bentley, whose Ricky Fitts becomes a fulcrum for both plot and theme. Cinematographer Conrad Hall's sumptuous visual design further elevates the film, infusing the beige interiors of the Burnhams' lives with vivid bursts of deep crimson, the color of roses--and of blood. --Sam Sutherland DVD features Given American Beauty's critical and box office reception, it's not surprising that cast and crew commentaries supplied in the DVD Awards Edition carry a self-congratulatory vigor, not just in the studio's featurette on the making of the film, but in the disc's special narrative content. On DVD American Beauty balances these supplemental components against the disc-space requirements for DTS digital audio as well as Dolby digital tracks. Even with that constraint, however, the disc inserts over... read more

Apollo 13
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Starring: Hanks, Tom Paxton, Bill Bacon, Kevin Paxton, Bill Sinise, Gary Harris, Ed Quinlan, Kathleen Quinlan, Kathy Quinlan, Kathy Ellis, Chris
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Director: Howard, Ron	Rating: PG	Running Time: 140 minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.5/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video NASA's worst nightmare turned into one of the space agency's most heroic moments in 1970, when the Apollo 13 crew was forced to hobble home in a disabled capsule after an explosion seriously damaged the moon-bound spacecraft. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton play (respectively) astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise in director Ron Howard's intense, painstakingly authentic docudrama. The Apollo 13 crew and Houston-based mission controllers race against time and heavy odds to return the damaged spacecraft safely to Earth from a distance of 205,500 miles. Using state-of-the-art special effects and ingenious filmmaking techniques, Howard and his stellar cast and crew build nail-biting tension while maintaining close fidelity to the facts. The result is a fitting tribute to the Apollo 13 mission and one of the biggest box-office hits of 1995. --Jeff Shannon

Boogie Nights - New Line Platinum Series
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Starring: Reynolds, Burt Moore, Julianne Moore, Julianne Hoffman, Philip Seymour Holloman, Laurel Quint, Jonathan Wallace, Jack Gleason, Joanna Gleason, Joanna Doe, John
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Director: Anderson, Paul Thomas	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 35 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.6/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com essential video Even if the notorious 1970s porn-filmmaking milieu doesn't exactly turn you on, don't let it turn you off to this movie's extraordinary virtues, either. Boogie Nights is one of the key movies of the 1990s, and among the most ambitious and exuberantly alive American movies in years. It's also the breakthrough for an amazing new director, whose dazzling kaleidoscopic style here recalls the Robert Altman of Nashville and the Martin Scorsese of GoodFellas. Although loosely based on the sleazy life and times of real-life porn legend John Holmes, at heart it's a classic Hollywood rise-and-fall fable: a naive, good-looking young busboy is discovered in a San Fernando Valley disco by a famous motion picture producer, becomes a hotshot movie star, lives the high life, and then loses everything when he gets too big for his britches, succumbs to insobriety, and is left behind by new times and new technology. Of course, it ain't exactly A Star Is Born or Singin' in the Rain. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (in only his second feature!) puts his own affectionately sardonic twist on the old showbiz biopic formula: the ambitious upstart changes his name and achieves stardom in porno films as "Dirk Diggler." Instead of drinking to excess, he snorts cocaine (the classic drug of '70s hedonism); and it's the coming of home video (rather than talkies) that helps to dash his big-screen dreams. As for the britches ... well, the controversial "money shot" explains everything. And the cast is one of the great ensembles of the '90s, including Oscar nominees Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore, Mark Wahlberg (who really can act--from the waist up, too!), Heather Graham (as Rollergirl), William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, and Ricky Jay. --Jim Emerson --This text refers to the DVD edition. Description From Hollywood's hottest new director comes the outrageous epic that throws the covers back on California's adult entertainment industry in the swinging seventies. It's a touching and often humorous portrait of a most unusual family of filmakers, brought

Bounce
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Starring: Affleck, Ben Paltrow, Gwyneth Morton, Joe Paymer, David Goldwyn, Tony Paltrow, Gwyneth Henstridge, Natasha Affleck, Ben Affleck, Ben Aaron, Caroline
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Director: Roos, Don	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 5.9/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com Bounce has all the deft charm and breezy good looks you'd expect from a romance starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, but under the surface beats the poisoned heart of an independent film just going through the motions. Affleck plays Buddy Amaral, a successful ad exec with an empty life. In a Chicago airport, he meets Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn), a failed playwright going home to his family and a corrupt job as a TV writer. Buddy, angling for a one-night stand with a fellow passenger, gives Greg his ticket, but feels bad when he discovers the plane crashed and the guy died. He feels so bad, in fact, that when he gets out of rehab a year or so later, he decides to give the guy's widow, real estate agent Abby (Paltrow), commission on the sale of a building for his business, a sale she's not qualified to make. They start dating. She quickly forgets her initial impression of him as a creepy stalker. Near the end of the movie, she finds out her first impression was correct and she dumps him. It's the right decision but one that the movie won't allow her to make. Instead her best friend and her kids convince her to stay with the guy. Eeeesh. Affleck is good at playing privileged and shallow, Paltrow does what she can with the prepackaged grief of a widow, Joe Morton has very little to do as Buddy's business partner (but he does it well), and Johnny Galecki shines in a very small part as Buddy's assistant. Good performances in a rather creepy film by the guy who made The Opposite of Sex. --Andy Spletzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition. Description Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck), a cocky, self-absorbed ad executive who--in desiring a tryst with the gorgeous Mimi (Natasha Henstridge), a woman he meets at the airport--gives up his plane ticket back to Los Angeles to writer Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn). The plane crashes, and Buddy begins a downward spiral of alcoholism and self-loathing until he undergoes rehab. Once out, he decides to pay a visit to the dead man's widow. Abby Janello (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a struggling real estate agent with two young sons. She slowly befriends Buddy and falls in love with him while Buddy struggles with the guilty secret of his connection to her husband's untimely death which could destroy their relationship.

Bridges of Madison County, The
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Starring: Eastwood, Clint Streep, Meryl Corley, Annie Slezak, Victor Haynie, Jim Schmitt, Sarah Kathryn Kroon, Christopher Lyons, Phyllis Lyons, Phyllis Lage, Richard
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Director: Eastwood, Clint	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 2 Hours 15 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.8/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video Some called it a snooze-fest, while others tearfully clutched their Kleenex. In any case, Clint Eastwood was an unusual and (as it turned out) perceptive choice to direct and costar in this lush adaptation of Robert James Waller's phenomenally bestselling novel. Meryl Streep costars as Francesca, the lonely Iowa farmer's wife who is instantly attracted to Robert (Eastwood), the photographer from National Geographic who is in the area to photograph the bridges along Iowa's rural roadways. The two fall in love while Francesca's husband and children are away at a county fair, but the story's passion and lasting appeal derive from their decision to part forever after just a few brief days of intimate connection. Superbly acted with an emphasis on quiet, graceful moments of tender revelation, the film builds to a crescendo of powerful and conflicting emotions. Like David Lean's Brief Encounter (to which it bears marked similarities), The Bridges of Madison County is destined to become one of the classic movie love stories. --Jeff Shannon

Bronx Tale, A
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Starring: Niro, Robert De Palminteri, Chazz Palminteri, Chazz Capra, Francis Brancato, Lillo Pesci, Joe Caserta, Clem Jr., Alfred Sauchelli Jr., Alfred Sauchelli Pesci, Joe
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Director: Niro, Robert De	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 2 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.5/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com Chazz Palminteri wrote the script for this excellent story of an Italian American boy (Lillo Brancato) who grows up in the 1960s caught between the strong influences of his blue-collar, straight- arrow father (Robert De Niro) and a Mafia chieftain (Palminteri) who is his all-purpose mentor. De Niro makes his directorial debut with this production and, except for a little stiffness, does very well by the characters and their world. The story does not go precisely where one might expect it to go: Palminteri knows better than to force the central figure to choose between the two most important men in his life, and he doesn't fill time with stock drama about crime or family conflict. Joe Pesci makes an extremely effective and uncredited appearance at the end as a man who doesn't have to do more than speak softly to communicate how dangerous he is. The DVD release contains the theatrical trailer and optional French and Spanish soundtracks. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Far and Away
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Starring: Cruise, Tom Kidman, Nicole Gibson, Thomas Meaney, Colm Babcock, Barbara Prosky, Robert Pollock, Eileen Meaney, Colm Meaney, Colm Johnson, Michelle
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Director: Howard, Ron	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 2 Hours 20 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.2/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video Filmed in the widescreen splendor of "Panavision Super 70" and blessed with the finest production values that Hollywood clout can buy, this tale of spunky Irish immigrants forgot one crucial ingredient: a decent screenplay. The film is entertaining enough, and director Ron Howard brings his technical proficiency to the simple plot, culminating in a dynamic, breathtaking depiction of the Oklahoma land rush of 1893. But the movie is really just a vacuous vehicle for married stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as (respectively) the poor tenant farmer and rich landlord's daughter who flee Ireland to be American pioneers. The scenery and the stars are never less than stunning, but Howard falls short of the mark in his attempt to match the epic sweep of films by David Lean. On the other hand, this movie is certainly never boring even if it rarely makes sense, and Lean's own Irish epic, Ryan's Daughter, is a snoozer by comparison. --Jeff Shannon

Forever Young
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Starring: Gibson, Mel Curtis, Jamie Lee Wood, Elijah Glasser, Isabel Wendt, George Morton, Joe Surovy, Nicolas Grant, David Grant, David Gorman, Robert Hy
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Director: Miner, Steve	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.0/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video A surprise sleeper hit when released in 1992, this romantic fantasy works as a comedic adventure and a gentle tearjerker thanks to Mel Gibson's appealing performance. He plays Daniel, a daring test pilot who is deeply distraught by the apparent death of his girlfriend, Helen, in 1939. Feeling little reason to live, he volunteers for a pioneering cryogenics experiment and is thawed out 50 years later by two young boys. They bring the confused pilot home to Nat's single mom, Claire (Jamie Lee Curtis). There's a hint of romance, but Daniel desperately needs to know if Helen really died in 1939, and he discovers that love has a way of surviving a half-century leap in time. The premise is hokey and certain plot details are conveniently ignored, but Gibson, Curtis, and Elijah Wood (as Nat) hold it together with irresistible charm and just the right balance of fantasy and drama. --Jeff Shannon

Legends of the Fall - Special Edition
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Starring: Pitt, Brad Hopkins, Anthony Quinn, Aidan Cardinal, Tantoo Hopkins, Anthony Pitt, Brad Thomas, Henry Lombard, Karina Lombard, Karina Cardinal, Tantoo
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Director: Zwick, Edward	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 15 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.6/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedly flattering star vehicle for Brad Pitt as Tristan--the rebellious middle son of a fiercely independent Montana rancher and military veteran (Anthony Hopkins)--who is routinely at odds with his more responsible older brother, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and younger brother, Samuel (Henry Thomas). From the battlefields of World War I to his adventures as an oceangoing sailor, Tristan's life is full of personal torment, especially when he returns to Montana and finds himself competing with Alfred over Samuel's beautiful widow (Julia Ormond), whose passion for Tristan disrupts the already turbulent Ludlow clan. Under the wide-open canopy of Big Sky country, this operatic tale unfolds with all the bloodlust, tragedy, and scenery-chewing performances you'd expect to find in a hokey bestselling novel (in fact, it's based on the acclaimed novella by Jim Harrison), but it's a potent mix that's highly entertaining. Not surprisingly, John Toll won an Academy Award for his breathtaking outdoor cinematography. --Jeff Shannon Additional Features For anyone who loves this sweeping melodrama, the extras in this special edition make it a must-have--even if you bought the disc in its initial release. Director Ed Zwick and Brad Pitt (on one track) inject a lot of humor into their stories on dealing with the film's production. The other commentary track has cinematographer John Toll (who won an Oscar) and art director Lilly Kilvert illuminating how the two technicians worked together to create the film's luscious look. They don't talk about... read more

Life as a House - New Line Platinum Series
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Starring: Kline, Kevin Christensen, Hayden Christensen, Hayden Sheridan, Jamey Malone, Jena Christensen, Hayden Steenburgen, Mary Somerhalder, Ian Somerhalder, Ian Bakula, Scott
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Director: Winkler, Irwin	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 4 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.5/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com A respectable tearjerker, Life as a House is a welcome throwback to angst-ridden family dramas like Ordinary People and Terms of Endearment. It falls short of those modern classics, but you'll probably still need Kleenex if you appreciate Kevin Kline's underrated dramatic skills. As the title suggests, Kline's project is a broad metaphor for repairing damaged lives from the foundation up. Playing an architect with terminal cancer, he gives an Oscar^®-caliber performance, reaching out to his estranged, nihilistic son (future Star Wars star Hayden Christensen) and ex-wife (Kristin Scott-Thomas) as he wrecks and rebuilds the Malibu cliff-top home that contained his most painful memories. Director Irwin Winkler's flair with actors helps to minimize lapses in a script (by As Good As It Gets scribe Mark Andrus) that occasionally borders on maudlin. Overall, this is a fine reminder that Hollywood hasn't lost its soul to action and special effects. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

Message in a Bottle
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Starring: Costner, Kevin Penn, Robin Wright Newman, Paul Newman, Paul Savage, John Douglas, Illeana Coltrane, Robbie James, Jesse James, Jesse Aldredge, Tom
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Director: Mandoki, Luis	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 2 Hours 11 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 5.5/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com If, as they say, you're in a certain mood, Message in a Bottle can be just the ticket. Based on Nicholas Sparks's bestselling novel, this handsome but overly calculated romance tale stars Robin Wright Penn as Theresa, a Chicago Tribune researcher who finds a note encased in a green bottle that has floated onto a Cape Cod shore. The message within is a heartfelt, yearning declaration of love to a woman named Catherine, but the author is unknown until Theresa (rather improbably) tracks him down in North Carolina. He's Garret Blake (Kevin Costner), a taciturn builder of sailboats and a grieving widower whose late wife, poetically speaking, was the intended recipient of the seafaring note Theresa found. Theresa, a divorc�e with a son, decides to meet Garret, only to find him as bottled-up as his message. Nevertheless, a romance blooms on the strength of quality time in a sailboat and lots of cuddling, though the script tosses in bits of conflict to keep their relationship spicy. Directed by Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman), this love story is entirely by the numbers, with Costner inhabiting (rather than performing) a stock fantasy of a man perfect in every way save his broken heart. Penn brings more vibrancy to her equally predictable part, but fortunately for all, Paul Newman, John Savage, Robbie Coltrane, and Illeana Douglas are on hand in nicely textured character parts. Sometimes predictability is exactly what one wants when settling in for an evening of home video, and this movie fits the bill nicely. The appealing cinematography is by ace cameraman Caleb Deschanel. --Tom Keogh

October Sky
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Starring: Gyllenhaal, Jake Cooper, Chris Dern, Laura Owen, Chris Scott, William Lee Ellis, Chris Canerday, Natalie Miles, Scott Miles, Scott Ellis, Chris
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Director: Johnston, Joe	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com Based on the memoir Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam Jr., October Sky emerged as one of the most delightful sleepers of 1999--a small miracle of good ol' fashioned movie-making in the cynical, often numbingly trendy Hollywood of the late 20th century. Hickam's true story begins in 1957 with Russia's historic launch of the Sputnik satellite, and while Homer (played with smart idealism by Jake Gyllenhaal) sees Sputnik as his cue to pursue a fascination with rocketry, his father (Chris Cooper) epitomizes the admirable yet sternly stubborn working-man's ethic of the West Virginia coal miner, casting fear and disdain on Homer's pursuit of science while urging his "errant" son to carry on the family business--a spirit-killing profession that Homer has no intention of joining. As directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer), this wonderful movie is occasionally guilty of overstating its case and sacrificing subtlety for predictable melodrama. But more often the film's tone is just right, and the spirit of adventure and invention is infectiously conveyed through Gyllenhaal and his well-cast fellow rocketeers, whose many failures gradually lead to triumph on their makeshift backwoods launching pad. Capturing time and place with impeccable detail and superbly developed characters (including Laura Dern as an inspiring schoolteacher), October Sky is a family film for the ages, encouraging the highest potential of the human spirit while giving viewers a clear view of a bygone era when "the final frontier" beckoned to the explorer in all of us. --Jeff Shannon

Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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Starring: Niro, Robert De Woods, James Connelly, Jennifer McGovern, Elizabeth Pesci, Joe Pesci, Joe Young, Burt Aiello, Danny Aiello, Danny Hayden, James
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Director: Leone, Sergio	Rating: R	Running Time: 229 minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 8.2/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video This movie has a checkered history, having been chopped from its original 227-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its U.S. release. This longer edition benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an aging Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no Godfather. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival. --Marshall Fine --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition. DVD features At 229 minutes, this is the longest cut seen on video, and the version seen at Cannes and in the rest of Europe. It's only two minutes longer than the version available for a long time on VHS, adding (mostly) more gruesome shots of violence in four different scenes. The sound and image have been remastered, making for a pristine presentation. Time film critic Richard Schickel does a commendable job in his feature-length commentary. Although he doesn't know all the insider stuff, he has ample... read more Description Robert De Niro and James Woods star in Sergio Leone's award winning epic about a ruthless criminal empire. The original director's version of a timeless movie masterpiece.

Shadowlands
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Starring: Hopkins, Anthony Winger, Debra Hardwicke, Edward Winger, Debra Maude-Roxby, Roddy Hardwicke, Edward Hawkins, Andrew Howell, Peter Howell, Peter Hardwicke, Edward
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Director: Attenborough, Richard	Rating: PG	Running Time: 2 Hours 13 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.4/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video This emotionally moving romantic drama was adapted by William Nicholson from his own acclaimed play, based upon the real-life romance (during the 1950s) between the British writer C.S. Lewis and a divorced American poet named Joy Gresham. Best known for writing The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) is living comfortably as a respected Oxford don, his academic lifestyle a kind of shell protecting him from the emotional risk of love. Joy Gresham (Debra Winger) arrives at Oxford as an avid admirer of Lewis's writing, and the safety of his collegiate routine is quickly disrupted when Lewis realizes that he's fallen deeply and unexpectedly in love. Their courtship is uniquely engaging; he's shy and uncertain, she's outspoken and bold. But when Joy is diagnosed with cancer, Lewis's Christian faith is put to the test--he cannot fathom why their happiness together would be so drastically challenged. Together, they find a way to accept and honor the time they have shared together, and under the sensitive direction of Richard Attenborough, Shadowlands arrives at a conclusion that is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Hopkins and Winger are equally superb in this absorbing story of personal and spiritual transformation--a story previously filmed for British television in 1985, with Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom. --Jeff Shannon

Shawshank Redemption, The
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Starring: Robbins, Tim Freeman, Morgan Gunton, Bob Freeman, Morgan Gunton, Bob Rolston, Mark Bellows, Gil Whitmore, James Whitmore, James Brandenburg, Larry
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Director: Darabont, Frank	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 22 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 9.0/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who's sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we realize there's reason to believe the banker's crime was justifiable. We also realize that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film that signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker--a film that many movie lovers count among their all-time favorites. --Jeff Shannon Description A prominent banker unjustly convicted of murder spends many years in the Shawshank prison. He is befriended by a convict who knows the ropes and helps him to cope with the frightning realities of prison life.

Titanic
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Starring: DiCaprio, Leonardo Winslet, Kate Zane, Billy Owens, Alexandria Waddell, Alison Waddell, Amber Gaipa, Amy Falk, Anders Falk, Anders Fox, Bernard
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Director: Cameron, James	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 3 Hours 14 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.9/10 (IMDB)	Color Mono

From Barnes & Noble A near-disaster itself during its troubled production period, director James Cameron's hugely ambitious pet project ultimately broke box-office records around the world and earned a passel of awards -- Academy and otherwise -- by year's end. By inserting a love story between a society bride-to-be (Kate Winslet) and a working-class adventurer (Leonardo DiCaprio) into the most famous sea disaster in history -- and a modern story line about salvaging a lost diamond from the bottom of the sea -- Cameron gives viewers an unabashedly old-fashioned melodrama. But Cameron and his seasoned cast handle it with the utmost sincerity and commitment. While the film made Winslet a star and DiCaprio a superstar, both actors ultimately had to take a bit of a backseat to the superbly re-created title vessel and the harrowing reenactment of its final moments. Still, the heart of the film's drama is a timeless and unexpectedly resonant love story -- one so universal and moving that it crossed all cultural boundaries to woo audiences around the globe. Amy Robinson From All Movie Guide This spectacular epic re-creates the ill-fated maiden voyage of the White Star Line's $7.5 million R.M.S Titanic and the tragic sea disaster of April 15, 1912. Running over three hours and made with the combined contributions of two major studios (20th Century-Fox, Paramount) at a cost of more than $200 million, Titanic ranked as the most expensive film in Hollywood history at the time of its release, and became the most successful. Writer-director James Cameron employed state-of-the-art digital special effects for this production, realized on a monumental scale and spanning eight decades. Inspired by the 1985 discovery of the Titanic in the North Atlantic, the contemporary storyline involves American treasure-seeker Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) retrieving artifacts from the submerged ship. Lovett looks for diamonds but finds a drawing of a young woman, nude except for a necklace. When 102-year-old Rose (Gloria Stuart) reveals she's the person in the portrait, she is summoned to the wreckage site to tell her story of the 56-carat diamond necklace and her experiences of 84 years earlier. The scene then shifts to 1912 Southampton where passengers boarding the Titanic include penniless Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), returning to Philadelphia with her wealthy fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). After the April 10th launch, Rose develops a passionate interest in Jack, and Cal's reaction is vengeful. At midpoint in the film, the Titanic slides against the iceberg and water rushes into the front compartments. Even engulfed, Cal continues to pursue Jack and Rose as the massive liner begins its descent. Cameron launched the project after seeing Robert Ballard's 1987 National Geographic documentary on the wreckage. Blueprints of the real Titanic were followed during construction at Fox's custom-built Rosarito, Mexico studio, where a hydraulics system moved an immense model in a 17-million-gallon water tank. During three weeks aboard the Russian ship Academik Keldysh, underwater sequences were filmed with a 35mm camera in a titanium case mounted on the Russian submersible Mir 1. When the submersible neared the wreck, a video camera inside a remote-operated vehicle was sent into the Titanic's 400-foot bow, bringing back footage of staterooms, furniture and chandeliers. On November 1, 1997, the film had its world premiere at the 10th Tokyo International Film Festival. Bhob Stewart

Traffic
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Starring: Douglas, Michael Cheadle, Don Toro, Benicio Del Quaid, Dennis Finney, Albert Irving, Amy Bratt, Benjamin Guzman, Luis Guzman, Luis Cheadle, Don
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Director: Soderbergh, Steven	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 27 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 7.8/10 (IMDB)	Color Mono

From Barnes & Noble Drug users, dealers, and smugglers mix it up with the law in Steven Soderbergh's highly acclaimed, multi-award-winning Traffic. Based on a British TV miniseries, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Michael Douglas as the newly appointed federal drug czar whose 16-year-old daughter (Erika Christensen) just happens to be snorting, smoking, and mainlining her way through a potpourri of illegal substances. Catherine Zeta-Jones portrays the wife of a drug lord (Steven Bauer) whose world crumbles around her when he's arrested. Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro is riveting in his supporting role as a Mexican policeman who is enlisted to help bring down a Tijuana drug cartel. Also outstanding are Don Cheadle, as a DEA agent, and Dennis Quaid, as Bauer's high-priced lawyer. Traffic moves briskly back and forth between its various stories and locales, both north and south of the Mexican border, with characters and situations that are not so much original as archetypal. There's just enough philosophizing to be provocative and just enough action to get your pulse racing. Even though the film struggles to achieve a comprehensive overview, the result is never less than entertaining and absorbing. Certainly, Traffic is an impressive feat for Soderbergh, who not only directed the film but did all the gritty, handheld cinematography as well, giving each story line a distinctive palette: icy blue for the sequences involving Douglas and his wayward daughter; a sun-blasted brownish hue for the Mexico scenes. He was amply rewarded for his efforts, winning the Best Director Oscar. Traffic is Hollywood filmmaking with a distinctively personal stamp, a film that flirts easily with a host of clich�s without succumbing to them. Gregory Baird From All Movie Guide Described by director Steven Soderbergh as "Nashville meets The French Connection, this multi-character drama explores the effects of international drug trafficking on all fronts: from their source, to the U.S. border, to the federal government, to the private lives of users. Based upon a miniseries originally aired on Britain's Channel 4, Traffic divides its time among three main storylines and almost a dozen locales. The first and primary plot thread, set in Ohio and Washington, D.C., concerns freshly-appointed drug czar Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas), whose enthusiasm for his new prestige position is quickly offset when he realizes his 16-year-old daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen) is graduating from recreational drug use to habitual abuse -- a secret that his wife, Barbara (Amy Irving), has kept from him. South of the border, Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) attempts to wage his own war on drugs, heading off a cocaine shipment in the middle of the desert with his less-than-virtuous partner Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas). Surrounded by corruption, Javier approaches the drug war with an attitude of patience and compromise, which opens him up to investigation from General Arturo Salazar (Tomas Milian), the country's dubious drug-enforcement liaison to the U.S. Meanwhile, San Diego drug kingpin Carlos Alaya (Steven Bauer) is caught in a sting operation spearheaded by DEA agents Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman), leaving behind his very pregnant and very oblivious wife, Helena (Catharine Zeta-Jones). At the behest of Carlos' lawyer and shady confidante, Arnie Metzger (Dennis Quaid), Helena decides to carry on the family business -- with tragic consequences. Adapted by Rules of Engagement scribe Stephen Gaghan, Traffic marked Soderbergh's second major release in 2000 after the critical and box-office success of Erin Brockovich, as well as his second feature as cinematographer (credited under the pseudonym Peter Andrews). A favorite with various guild and critics' awards, Traffic won four Academy Awards in 2001, including statues for Best Supporting Actor (Del Toro) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Gaghan), and surprise wins for Stev

Walk in the Clouds, A
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Starring: Reeves, Keanu S�nchez-Gij�n, Aitana Quinn, Anthony Sanchez-Gijon, Aitana Messing, Debra Elizondo, Evangelina Rodr�guez, Freddy Messing, Debra Messing, Debra Huerta, Roberto
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Director: Arau, Alfonso	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.2/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com Keanu Reeves is completely wooden in this romantic misfire by Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate). Reeves plays a World War II vet who hits the road as a traveling salesman and agrees to help a desperate, pregnant woman (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon)--who is afraid to let her father (Giancarlo Giannini) see her condition--by pretending to be her husband. Most of the story takes place in the old man's vineyard, and Arau makes a life of swollen fruit, grape-stomping, sunlight, and tan flesh that looks amazingly erotic. But there are plenty of sillier distractions, such as the sight of farm hands chasing insects with flapping gossamer wings attached to their arms. Reeves is terribly self-conscious, while stalwart Anthony Quinn is memorable as the damsel's benevolent grandfather. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Way We Were (Special Edition), The
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Starring: Streisand, Barbra Redford, Robert Dillman, Bradford Redford, Charles Robert Jr. Dillman, Bradford Hamilton, Murray Chiles, Lois O'Neal, Patrick O'Neal, Patrick Jenson, Roy
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Director: Pollack, Sydney	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 58 Minutes
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Category: Drama	User Rating: 6.7/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand star as sociopolitical opposites--he's a WASP novelist, she's an activist--who nevertheless strike up a romance in the 1930s, and have a rocky relationship through the next two decades that reflects much of America's history. An essential part of the movie--the Hollywood blacklist and the McCarthy witch- hunt years--comes across as a botch, due to some excessive cutting before the film was released. But except for that hole in the heart of the story, director Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa) has crafted a strong and moving drama about two interesting characters. Redford (always good with Pollack) is at the height of his powers, and Streisand is persuasive. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition. DVD features The Way We Were: A Look Back is a terrific retrospective documentary, running just over an hour. Although Robert Redford's absence (due to scheduling conflicts) is conspicuous, fans of The Way We Were will celebrate the rare appearance of Barbra Streisand in a lengthy interview. The notoriously reticent star appears relaxed, cordial, and eager to share stories about the film she considers "a highlight of my career," and her comments about the film are eloquent, heartfelt, and astute. Most... read more