Vernon, Kate

Pretty in Pink (Special Collector's Edition)

The era of Molly Ringwald's profitable collaboration with writer-producer-director John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club) was at its peak with this 1986 film (directed by Howard Deutch but in every sense part of the developing Hughes empire). Ringwald plays a high school girl on the budget side of the tracks, living with her warm and loving father (Harry Dean Stanton) and usually accompanied by her insecure best friend (Jon Cryer). When a wealthy but well-meaning boy (Andrew McCarthy) asks her out, her perspective is overturned and Cryer's character is threatened. As was the case in the mid-'80s, Hughes (who wrote the script and produced the film) brought his special feel for the cross-currents of adolescent life to this story. In its very commercial way, it is an honest, entertaining piece about growing pains. The attractive supporting cast (many of whom are much better known now) does a terrific job, and Ringwald and Cryer have excellent chemistry. --Tom Keogh

Teen sensations Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles The Breakfast Club) and Andrew McCarthy (St. Elmo's Fire) drew raves for their starring performances in this hit love story by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club Ferris Bueller's Day Off).She's a high school girl from the wrong side of town. He's the wealthy heart-throb who asks her to the prom. But as fast as their romance builds it's threatened by the painful reality of peer pressure. A bittersweet story with an upbeat ending and a phenomenal rock score Pretty in Pink also stars Harry Dean Stanton Jon Cryer James Spader and Annie Potts.System Requirements:Running Time: 96 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 097360421644 Manufacturer No: 042164

Malcolm X

Just as Do the Right Thing was the capstone of Spike Lee's earlier career, Malcolm X marked the next milestone in the filmmaker's artistic maturity. It seemed everything Lee had done up to that point was to prepare him for this epic biography of America's fiery civil-rights leader, who is superbly played by Oscar-nominated Denzel Washington, from his early days as a zoot-suited hustler known as "Detroit Red" to his spiritual maturity after his pilgrimage to Mecca, as a Black Muslim by the name of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Do the Right Thing climaxed with the photographic images of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King engulfed by flames of rage; Malcolm X explores the genesis and evolution of that rage over Malcolm's lifetime, and how these two great figures--held up to the public as polar-opposites within the African American human rights movement (King for nonviolent civil disobedience, Malcolm for achieving equality "by any means necessary")--were each essential to the agenda of the other. Lee careens from the hedonistic ebullience of Malcolm's early days to the stark despair of prison, from his life-changing conversion to Islam to his emergence as a dynamic political leader--all with an epic sweep and vitality that illuminates personal details as well as political ideology. Angela Bassett is also terrific as Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz. --Jim Emerson

Inspiring story of Malcolm X, as he rises up from poverty, encounters the law, achieves spiritual enlightenment, and reaches out to others in the fight for human and civil rights.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 18-JAN-2000
Media Type: DVD

Pretty in Pink

The era of Molly Ringwald's profitable collaboration with writer-producer-director John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club) was at its peak with this 1986 film (directed by Howard Deutch but in every sense part of the developing Hughes empire). Ringwald plays a high school girl on the budget side of the tracks, living with her warm and loving father (Harry Dean Stanton) and usually accompanied by her insecure best friend (Jon Cryer). When a wealthy but well-meaning boy (Andrew McCarthy) asks her out, her perspective is overturned and Cryer's character is threatened. As was the case in the mid-'80s, Hughes (who wrote the script and produced the film) brought his special feel for the cross-currents of adolescent life to this story. In its very commercial way, it is an honest, entertaining piece about growing pains. The attractive supporting cast (many of whom are much better known now) does a terrific job, and Ringwald and Cryer have excellent chemistry. --Tom Keogh

Who's the Boss? - The Complete First Season

Who's the Boss? was a standard sitcom--turned on its head. Sure, there was a mom, a dad, two cute kids, a house in the suburbs... and a live studio audience. But Angela Bower (Judith Light) was a single advertising exec with a son (Danny Pintauro) and Tony Micelli (Tony Danza) was a widowed ex-ballplayer with a daughter (future Charmed star Alyssa Milano). The Connecticut mansion belonged to Angela (along with the big '80s hair and shoulder pads) and Tony wasn't her boyfriend, but rather her housekeeper. Then there was her mother, Mona (the incomparable Katherine Helmond). The sexed-up, slightly cracked grandmother is a primetime staple, but in the former Soap matriarch's hands, the character was a cut above (and usually got the best lines). As Angela complains to her in the pilot, "You've sent me a man for a housekeeper!" "Oh, don't be sexist," Mona replies. "A man can do meaningless, unproductive work just as well as a woman."

"Meaningless, unproductive work" is what Tony does for the Bowers--and does well--but he and Samantha (Milano) also become part of the family. Angela and Tony go on a number of dates with other people, but there's an obvious sexual tension between them. The show would continue to exploit that tension for eight seasons to great success (even inspiring a British version called The Upper Hand, with Honor Blackman as the "Mona" character). Helmond, meanwhile, would garner an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her efforts. Highlights include "Mona Gets Pinned," in which Mona takes up with a younger man, and "Angela's Ex, Part I," in which Angela reconciles with her estranged husband--who proceeds to fire Tony. Guest stars include Betty White (Mary Tyler Moore) in "Eye on Angela" and Danza's Taxi co-star Jeff Conoway in "First Kiss." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

The adage that father knows best is taken to task in this hilarious comedy series that launched network ratings into the stratosphere. Tony Micelli is a former professional baseball player who along with his pre-teen daugher moves into advertising executive Angela Bower's house to be both housekeeper and father figure to Angela's young son. But chemistry and camaraderie collide between Tony and Angela - accentuated by a barrage of unforgettable one-liners - hurled by Angela's eccentric mom. Tony Danza Judith Light Katherine Helmond Alyssa Milano and Danny Pintauro comprise one of the most formidable comedy ensembles of all time in this complete 22-episode WHO'S THE BOSS first season collection.System Requirements:Starring: Tony Danza Judith Light Katherine Helmond Alyssa Milano Danny Pintauro Running Time: 454 Min. Copyright Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2005Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 043396028692 Manufacturer No: 02869

School of Life

Ryan Reynolds lights up the screen as the charismatic and hip Mr. D, a teacher whose lessons extend far beyond the classroom. A heartwarming tale of learning to appreciate every moment we're given, School of Life, is a funny and touching story about life in school, but more importantly, the human spirit.

Malcolm X (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Just as Do the Right Thing was the capstone of Spike Lee's earlier career, Malcolm X marked the next milestone in the filmmaker's artistic maturity. It seemed everything Lee had done up to that point was to prepare him for this epic biography of America's fiery civil-rights leader, who is superbly played by Oscar-nominated Denzel Washington, from his early days as a zoot-suited hustler known as "Detroit Red" to his spiritual maturity after his pilgrimage to Mecca, as a Black Muslim by the name of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Do the Right Thing climaxed with the photographic images of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King engulfed by flames of rage; Malcolm X explores the genesis and evolution of that rage over Malcolm's lifetime, and how these two great figures--held up to the public as polar-opposites within the African American human rights movement (King for nonviolent civil disobedience, Malcolm for achieving equality "by any means necessary")--were each essential to the agenda of the other. Lee careens from the hedonistic ebullience of Malcolm's early days to the stark despair of prison, from his life-changing conversion to Islam to his emergence as a dynamic political leader--all with an epic sweep and vitality that illuminates personal details as well as political ideology. Angela Bassett is also terrific as Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz. --Jim Emerson

Adapted from the novel "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" written by Alex Haley this is an amazing biopic of one of the most influential African American leaders to date. It follows the life and times of Malcolm Little through his transformation to Malcolm X and his departure from the Nation of Islam. Spike Lee's epic film captures the internal struggles the spiritual political and structural changes that Malcolm Submitted himself to throughout his life to achieve his changing goals.Running Time: 202 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085393353124

Flood - A River's Rampage

Blackjack

The director and action-magician John Woo (Face Off) can always be counted on to create spectacular violent set pieces, with bodies and broken glass gracefully airborne in slow motion. But everything else in this feature-length TV pilot is grindingly conventional. Woo managed to rise above Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target, but there's not much he can do with Dolph Lundgren's Jack Devlin, a kick-boxing former U.S. Marshall turned bodyguard, assigned to guard the body of a drug-addicted supermodel (Kam Heskin, from TV's Sunset Beach). Between shootouts, the elements of the future series are wheeled creakingly into place: a spacious Ikea deluxe apartment with a built-in armory, a caustic eye-patched sidekick (Saul Rubinek), and even a precocious freckle-faced girl (Padraigin Murphy) who becomes Devlin's stepdaughter, when his best buddy is rubbed out. The gorgeous showdown scene between Devlin and the psycho-stalker bad guy (Phillip MacKenzie) takes place in a milk-bottling plant, with the white stuff splashing all over---but this is TV fare, so there's no red stuff mixed in. Action addicts are advised to stick with the world-class gunplay films of Woo's Hong Kong period, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled. --David Chute

Family Plan

A fresh romantic comedy with a delicious screwball twist, Family Plan is delightful family fun that proves there's nothing make-believe about love....

Alphabet City

Vincent Spano (The Tie that Binds, Alive) packs "personality and punch" (Los Angeles Times) and Jamie Gertz (Twister, The Lost Boys) is "precociously sexy" (Variety) in this nerve-rattling thriller "drenched with atmosphere [and] episodic action" (The Hollywood Reporter) that will have your heart pounding at every turn! At 19, Johnny (Spano) is already a charismatic but ruthless gangster, running the mob's drug trade in Alphabet City, New York's toughest neighborhood. But when his bosses order him to torch a buildingone which happens to be the home of both his mother and sister (Gertz)Johnny defies them. Now a marked man, he must find a way to protect his family and get out of Alphabet City before they take him out for good!