The Whole Wide World

In Texas in the 1930s, young school teacher Novalyne Price meets a handsome, eccentric and interesting young man named Robert Howard. He’s a successful writer of the pulp stories of ‘Conan the Barbarian’; she’s an aspiring author. A friendship develops into a sort of courtship. Based on a memoir by Novalyne Price. Stars Academy Award® nominee Vincent D’Onofrio and Renée Zellweger (Chicago).Director Dan Ireland shows a talent for authenticity with this heartbreaking love story based on Novalyne Price’s 1988 account of her prickly romance with 1930s pulp-fiction writer Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. She was a schoolteacher in a small Texas town; he was the odd-ball writer who lived at home and created comic-book characters that were sexier and more violent than was considered decent by the locals. Renée Zellweger’s performance is a gem of sweet unconventionality matched by Vincent D’Onofrio’s powerful show of eccentricity and increasing mental illness. Though smart and feisty, this leaves us wishing the filmmakers had dug deeper into Howard’s unusual relationship with his manipulative mother. –Rochelle O’Gorman

Rating: (out of 114 reviews)

List Price: $ 14.94
Price: $ 4.92

Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre, 2006)

After a wretched childhood, orphaned Jane Eyre yearns for new experiences. She accepts a governess position at Thornfield Hall, where she tutors a lively French girl named Adele. She soon finds herself falling in love with the brooding master of the house – the passionate Mr. Rochester. Jane gradually wins his heart, but they must overcome the dark secrets of the past before they can find happiness. When Jane saves Rochester from an eerie fire, she begins to suspect that there are many mysteries behind the walls of Thornfield Hall. Her fears are confirmed when Rochester’s secret past is revealed, destroying her chance for happiness, and forcing Jane to flee Thornfield. Penniless and hungry, she finds shelter and friendship in the shape of a kind clergyman and his family. But she is soon shocked to uncover the deeply hidden truth of her own past. This lavish and sensual new version of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel is modern and moody, timeless and romantic. Starring Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester, Ruth Wilson as Jane, and Francesca Annis as Lady Ingram. You may think the world doesn’t need another adaptation of Jane Eyre–but you’re wrong. This new and wonderfully lush Masterpiece Theatre

Rating: (out of 378 reviews)

List Price: $ 29.95
Price: $ 15.95

Cocktail

Tom Cruise is electrifying as Brian Flanagan, a young, confident, and ambitious bartender who, with the help of a seasoned pro (Bryan Brown — GORILLAS IN THE MIST, F/X 2), becomes the toast of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. But when he moves to Jamaica and meets an independent artist (Elisabeth Shue — ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, HOLLOW MAN), their vivid romance brings a new perspective to the self-centered bartender’s life. Sizzling with high-powered performances and a #1 hit soundtrack, the box office blockbuster COCKTAIL has it all!This 1988 effort at creating a milestone coming-of-age story with the impact of The Graduate is commendable, but the results are mostly shaky and garish. Tom Cruise plays an ambitious young man who arrives in New York City and becomes known as a flashy bartender in a hot club. After falling for Elisabeth Shue’s girl-next-door character, however, his desire for success causes him to travel down a more selfish path with an older woman. The film, directed by Roger Donaldson (Bounty), is built on entirely on appearances (Cruise’s star charisma) and flash (the way Cruise and his character’s bartending mentor, played by Bryan Brown, toss bottles of booze around). The more interesting and underlying themes,

Rating: (out of 76 reviews)

Leave Her to Heaven

Leave Her To Heaven is a stylish psychological thriller starring Gene Tierney as Ellen, the stunningly beautiful wife of handsome writer Richard Harland, played by Cornel Wilde. Ellen panics as her perfect marriage unravels and Harland’s work and invalid brother demand more and more of his attention. Her husband becomes unnerved by her compulsive and jealous behavior. And when the people close to him are murdered, one by one, it is obvious that this dream marriage has become a full-fledged nightmare. Based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. This film won the Oscar(r) for Best Cinematography (Color) and received three other Academy Award(r) nominations: Best Actress for Gene Tierney, Best Sound Recording, and Best Art Direction (Color)/Interior Decoration.Leave Her to Heaven is one of the most unblinkingly perverse movies ever offered up as a prestige picture by a major studio in the golden age of Hollywood. Gene Tierney, whose lambent eyes, porcelain features, and sweep of healthy-American-girl hair customarily made her a 20th Century Fox icon of purity, scored an Oscar nomination playing a demonically obsessive daughter

Rating: (out of 90 reviews)

List Price: $ 14.98
Price: $ 7.93

Sid & Nancy

Gary Oldman (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Lost In Space) and Chloe Webb (The Newton Boys) execute performances that are nothing short of phenomenal (Los AngelesTimes) as Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his unforgettable junkie girlfriendtwo socialmisfits who literally love each other to death. In this riveting biography of burnt-out icons (The Washington Post), award-winning* writer/director Alex Cox (Repo Man) creates a great film (’siskel & Ebert ) about the destructive lives of two 1970’s punk legends. Their love affair is one of pure devotion. Sid falls hard for groupie Nancy Spungen, who seduces him with her affectionand addiction to heroin. Their inseparable bondto each other and their drugseventually corrodes the band, sending Sid and Nancy down a dark road of despair. Out of money, hope and options,the despondent two hit rock bottom while living in squalor at New York’s infamous Chelsea Hotel. But their journey takes yet another tragic turn as they face their final curtainand attempt to fulfill their destiny of going out in a blaze of glory! *1986: Critics Award, Sao Paulo International Film FestivalAfter the cultish success of Repo Man, maverick director Alex

Rating: (out of 132 reviews)

List Price: $ 14.98
Price: $ 16.95