Vidal, Gore

Why We Fight

Fans of Oliver Stone's J.F.K. will recognize the opening moments of writer-director Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, in which outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warns of the pernicious and growing influence of what he called the "military-industrial complex." But Stone's movie, which uses the same footage, was a work of fiction. While those who disagree with the decidedly leftist point of view in this documentary will probably consider it the product of paranoid liberal fantasy as well, there's enough credible material, much of it supplied by the targets of Jarecki's criticisms, to make Eisenhower look like a prophet and everyone else uneasy about the dark confluence of politics, money, and war that controls the country's fortunes. The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely believe that America's various military engagements (in Iraq, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we fight is that war is good business. This is hardly a bulletin; anyone who is surprised by allegations that politicians pander to defense contractors, or that Vice President Dick Cheney helped secure huge deals for Halliburton, the company he formerly headed, simply hasn't been paying attention (Politicians lie? How shocking!). In fact, the principal drawback to Jarecki's film is simply that there's nothing particularly revelatory or compelling about it. Only when he takes a personal approach does he go beyond the obvious; the story of a retired New York policeman and former Vietnam veteran whose son died in the World Trade Center, who wanted revenge, but who became seriously disillusioned when Bush admitted that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, adds some much needed human interest. Still, Why We Fight, which includes a director's audio commentary track and a few other bonus features, serves as a grim reminder that the world's most powerful nation has strayed far from the principles of our founding fathers, a development that does not bode well for America's future. --Sam Graham

Grand Jury Prize winner at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival WHY WE FIGHT offers a revealing look at how America has readied itself for battle and what compels us to so frequently wage war around the world. Produced in the midst of the second Iraq War documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's WHY WE FIGHT is an unflinching examination of the forces fueling the American military machine for over half a century and their global consequences. The film opens with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell speech in which he warned Americans of the growing power of the "military industrial complex." Expanding upon Eisenhower's warning Jarecki relies on interviews with American soldiers government officials military insiders defense industry personnel congressman scholars ordinary Iraqis and many others to provide personal political and economic analysis of the last 50 years of U.S. military expansion wars and interventions. What emerges is an eye-opening and often chilling portrait of how political corporate and military interests have become progressively entangled through the business of war.System Requirements:Running Time 99 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: TBD UPC: 043396138940 Manufacturer No: 13894

Gattaca (Special Edition)

Ethan Hawke Uma Thurman Alan Arkin and Jude Law star in this engrossing sci-fi thriller about an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. Hawke stars as Vincent an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. However a week before his mission a murder marks Vincent as a suspect. With a relentless investigator in pursuit and the colleague he has fallen in love with beginning to suspect his deception Vincent's dreams steadily unravel.System Requirements:Running Time: 106 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396238886 Manufacturer No: 23888

With Honors

Joe Pesci gives his most likable performance to date, elevating this predictable comedy-drama. A stuck-up Harvard senior (Brendan Fraser) believes his life is ruined when an educated bum (Pesci) finds his thesis. The bum wants to trade each page for a favor during a harsh New England winter. Of course, the student learns more from his new friend than from the halls of Harvard. Some silly, melodramatic parts including an unbelievable classroom lecture make this comedy tiring at times. But the cast and dialogue ring truer than the tired plot. A solid first feature from Alek Keshishian (Truth or Dare), who graduated with honors from Harvard. --Doug Thomas

Armed with a copy of a harvard student's thesis, a homeless man makes the desperate student an offer: in exchange for food and a place to stay during the harsh winter, he will return the thesis one page at a time.

Suddenly, Last Summer

This black-and-white film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Southern gothic play is perhaps more famous for the rumored off-screen shenanigans of its stars than for its over-the-top repressed sexuality (only Williams could pull off that paradox, and pull it off he does). Supposedly, stars Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor battled for screen time; Hepburn warred very publicly with director Joseph Mankiewicz; and a postaccident Montgomery Clift relied heavily on painkillers and support from friend Taylor during the grueling shoot. Even this, however, cannot top the events of the film itself, revolving around the unseen playboy Sebastian and his mysterious death, which has something to do with young boys, a decadent European vacation, and Taylor in a provocative wet, white bathing suit. To give away the plot would spoil the fun, but suffice it to say that what Taylor saw was so horrible it drove her nuts, and Sebastian's mother (Hepburn) wants her to have a lobotomy in order to keep it from coming out; Clift is brought in to do the procedure. It's all a hoot and a holler, but as played by the two leading ladies (both of whom nabbed Oscar nominations), it's also compelling, chilling, and utterly gothic. Taylor gives a fierce performance, as the climaxing monologue that reveals Sebastian's "secret" rests entirely on her shoulders, and Hepburn plays brilliantly against type as Sebastian's manipulating, overbearing mother. Only Clift, saddled with a dreary character in charge of plot exposition, fails to deliver. Adapted by Gore Vidal. --Mark Englehart

A young woman is driven insane after witnessing her cousin's murder by cannibals. The neurosurgeon who tries to help her must also confront her aunt about her involvment in the death.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 15-AUG-2000
Media Type: DVD

Ben-Hur (Four-Disc Collector's Edition)

Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards® in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before and is unlikely ever to be seen again. But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject matter, and here the subject--Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd)--is rich, detailed, and sensitively handled. Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favor of spectacle, and is aided immeasurably by Miklos Rozsa's majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture. At four hours it's a long haul (especially given some of the portentous dialogue), but all in all, Ben-Hur is a great movie, best seen on the biggest screen possible. --Mark Walker

The numbers speak volumes: 100,000 costumes, 8,000 extras, 300 sets and a staggering budget in its day the largest in movie history. Ben-Hur's creators made it the best, the greatest Biblical-era epic ever. Charlton Heston brings a muscular physical and moral presence to the role of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman in Palestine whose heroic odyssey includes enslavement by the Romans, a bold escape from an embattled slave galley, vengeance against his tormentors during a furious arena chariot race and fateful encounters with Jesus Christ. Heston's charismatic performance brought him the Best Actor Oscar; the winner as 1959's Best Picture with the legendary William Wyler earning his third Best Director trophy, the film won a total 11 Academy Awards -- a tally unequaled until 1997's Titanic set sail.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Scene Specific Comments from Charlton Heston
Documentaries:New Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema - Current filmmakers such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas reflect on the importance and influence of the film 1994 Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic Hosted by Christopher Plummer Directed by William Wyler - 1986 Emmy Award-nominated documentary featuring the last interview with Wyler before his death
Featurette:Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures - New audiovisual recreation of the film via stills, storyboards, sketches, music and dialogue
Other:The 1925 Feature-length Silent Version of Ben-Hur with a stereophonic orchestral score by composer Carl Davis. Vintage Newsreels Gallery Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards Ceremony Theatrical Trailer Gallery
Outtakes:Screen Tests: Leslie Nielsen and Cesare Danova Leslie Nielsen and Yale Wexler George Baker and William Russel Haya Harareet Hair and Make-up Tests

Terrorstorm: 2nd Edition

"TERRORSTORM sets a new standard in documentary filmmaking. Alex Jones knocks it out of the park yet again." - Dylan Avery, Director, Loose Change

"Alex Jones is a true patriot, a genuine hero." - Actor/Director Charlie Sheen

In this UPDATED AND EXPANDED edition of TERRORSTORM, Alex Jones-often credited as the father of the 9/11 Truth Movement-provides a riveting case of how throughout history, criminal elements inside governments have carried out terror attacks against their own populations as a pretext to enslave them. TERRORSTORM reveals that in the last hundred years, Western leaders have repeatedly murdered their own citizens while posing as their saviors.

Containing brand new footage, evidence, and interviews (with people such as Gore Vidal and Jesse Ventura), Jones explores the mindset of the average brainwashed Westerner and delves deeply into the systems of control, which have been scientifically crafted to imprison the public's minds and keep their eyes closed to the realities of the world around them.

In addition to blowing the lid off the conspiracy of 9/11 and the attacks of 7/7 in London, TERRORSTORM also reveals other terrorist events that were self-inflicted wounds, such as the Reichstag fire, the Gulf of Tonkin, and the US-backed Iranian coup of 1953.

This UPDATED AND EXPANDED edition contains new footage of the 5th Anniversary 9/11 Truth rally at Ground Zero in New York City; recently surfaced BBC and CNN press coverage regarding the destruction of WTC Bldg. 7-twenty minutes before it fell; details about the "shoot down" law which was never invoked on 9/11; the Norman Mineta testimony; crucial testimony from members of the CIA and 9/11 family members; and much more.

Alex is known for not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. He combines his media presence with actual physical activism, a practice that once led to him being arrested on the personal order of George W. Bush!

Alex Jones has gained international attention for standing up for what he believes in. From Italy's La Prensa to the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, Jones has brought the information war to the mainstream print media worldwide, speaking out against tyranny in defense of the Constitution.

Jones has produced fifteen documentary films to date exposing the police state, the New World Order and government sponsored terrorism.

Alex Jones is considered by many to be the grandfather of what has come to be known as the 9/11 Truth Movement. Jones predicted the 9/11 attack in a July 2001 television taping when he warned that the Globalists were going to attack New York and blame it on their asset Osama bin Laden.

Since 9/11 Jones has broken many of the stories, which later became the foundation of the evidence that the government was involved. After helping BBC journalist Greg Palast break major stories Palast publicly thanked Alex for being the only radio host to pay attention to W199I, a leaked document concerning FBI protection of groups linked to Al-Qaeda.

Last year, he had Charlie Sheen as a guest on his talk show. The interview received mainstream media coverage and commentary by CNN Showbiz Tonight, Fox News' Hannity & Colmes and Jimmy Kimmel Love (ABC), when Sheen alleged US government had prior knowledge of the attacks on 9/11.

The terrorists are not who you think they are.

Gattaca

Confidently conceived and brilliantly executed, Gattaca had a somewhat low profile release in 1997, but audiences and critics hailed the film's originality. It's since been recognized as one of the most intelligent science fiction films of the 1990s. Writer-director Andrew Niccol, the talented New Zealander who also wrote the acclaimed Jim Carrey vehicle The Truman Show, depicts a near-future society in which one's personal and professional destiny is determined by one's genes. In this society, "Valids" (genetically engineered) qualify for positions at prestigious corporations, such as Gattaca, which grooms its most qualified employees for space exploration. "In-Valids" (naturally born), such as the film's protagonist, Vincent (Ethan Hawke), are deemed genetically flawed and subsequently fated to low-level occupations in a genetically caste society. With the help of a disabled "Valid" (Jude Law), Vincent subverts his society's social and biological barriers to pursue his dream of space travel; any random mistake--and an ongoing murder investigation at Gattaca--could reveal his plot. Part thriller, part futuristic drama and cautionary tale, Gattaca establishes its social structure so convincingly that the entire scenario is chillingly believable. With Uma Thurman as the woman who loves Vincent and identifies with his struggle, Gattaca is both stylish and smart, while Jude Law's performance lends the film a note of tragic and heartfelt humanity. --Jeff Shannon

Gattaca (Superbit Collection)

Confidently conceived and brilliantly executed, Gattaca had a somewhat low profile release in 1997, but audiences and critics hailed the film's originality. It's since been recognized as one of the most intelligent science fiction films of the 1990s. Writer-director Andrew Niccol, the talented New Zealander who also wrote the acclaimed Jim Carrey vehicle The Truman Show, depicts a near-future society in which one's personal and professional destiny is determined by one's genes. In this society, "Valids" (genetically engineered) qualify for positions at prestigious corporations, such as Gattaca, which grooms its most qualified employees for space exploration. "In-Valids" (naturally born), such as the film's protagonist, Vincent (Ethan Hawke), are deemed genetically flawed and subsequently fated to low-level occupations in a genetically caste society. With the help of a disabled "Valid" (Jude Law), Vincent subverts his society's social and biological barriers to pursue his dream of space travel; any random mistake--and an ongoing murder investigation at Gattaca--could reveal his plot. Part thriller, part futuristic drama and cautionary tale, Gattaca establishes its social structure so convincingly that the entire scenario is chillingly believable. With Uma Thurman as the woman who loves Vincent and identifies with his struggle, Gattaca is both stylish and smart, while Jude Law's performance lends the film a note of tragic and heartfelt humanity. --Jeff Shannon

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.

The Celluloid Closet (Special Edition)

Author Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) wrote Lily Tomlin's narration for this superb documentary, based on a book by the late Vito Russo, about Hollywood's treatment of homosexual characters in the 20th century. Never pointing a finger at anyone in the film community, The Celluloid Closet presents clips from more than 100 mainstream features (including The Children's Hour, Advise and Consent, The Boys in the Band, and The Hunger) that speak loudly in their respective images of gays and lesbians. The film makes a persuasive case for patterns of sexual mythology in Hollywood, such as presenting homosexuals repeatedly as tragic, helpless figures redeemed only through death or as back-street monsters cavorting in the shadows. Things change, of course, and clips from more recent films by gay and lesbian filmmakers suggest a more vital, diverse, autobiographical approach. There are lots of great interviews with screenwriters (Gore Vidal), filmmakers (John Schlesinger), actors (Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg), and others to enunciate the major themes. --Tom Keogh

What "That's Entertainment" did for movie musicals THE CELLULOID CLOSET does for Hollywood homosexuality as this exuberant eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Lily Tomlin narrates as Oscar®-winning moviemaker Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt) and Jeffrey Friedman assemble fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s. Tom Hanks Susan Sarandon Whoopi Goldberg Tony Curtis Harvey Fierstein and Gore Vidal are just a few of the many actors writers and commentators who provide funny and insightful anecdotes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 043396821071 Manufacturer No: 82107

Bob Roberts

Written and directed by actor Tim Robbins (who also plays the title role), this 1992 mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate is smart, funny, and scarily prescient in its foreshadowing of the Republican revolution of 1994. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the filmmakers follow his campaign, Robbins gives needle-sharp insight into the way candidates manipulate the media. While the film follows Roberts's campaign, it also covers a fringe journalist (Giancarlo Esposito), who may have dug up the kind of dirt to push Roberts's campaign off the rails. Robbins captures the chilly insincerity of this right-wing populist and fills his cast with terrific supporting players, including Alan Rickman as the campaign's shadowy financier and Susan Sarandon and Peter Gallagher as a pair of airhead TV news anchors. --Marshall Fine

Tim Robbins stars as BOB ROBERTS, a radical folksinger turned senatorial candidate, in this satirical comedy that blends his campaign trail with singing, music videos and scandal. BOB ROBERTS is a hilarious film that will change the way you look at American politics!