Kaplan, Jonathan

Heart Like a Wheel

Bonnie Bedelia in the triumphant performance that earned her a Golden Globe® nomination as Best Actress stars as Shirley Cha Cha Muldowney the young wife and mother who defied the sport of drag racing to become the only female top fuel champion in NHRA® history. But before she could reach the record books Shirley had to survive an abusive first marriage her volatile love affair with fellow racer Connie Kalitta (Beau Bridges of THE KILLING TIME and NORMA RAE) a horrific accident and a sexist world that tried to stand in the way of one remarkable woman who dared to put her heart on the line.Anthony Edwards of ER co-stars in this Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition of the film Newsweek called one of the best American movies of the year now packed with all-new Bonus Materials featuring racing legends Shirley Muldowney Don Garlits Connie Kalitta and much more!System Requirements:Running Time: 113 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 013131296594 Manufacturer No: DV12965

In the 1950s, Shirley Muldowney (Bonnie Bedelia, Presumed Innocent) was a young mother with a jones for motor sports. Waitressing, however, was how she earned her keep. By the 1960s, Muldowney had ditched the day job for full-time racing. Then in 1977, she won the National Hot Rod Association world championship--and not for the first time. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused), Heart Like a Wheel traces the trailblazer's path from Schenectady housewife to "The First Lady of Racing." Along the way, her marriage to mechanic Jack Muldowney (Leo Rossi) hits the skids, but she finds new love with (married) driver Connie "The Bounty Hunter" Kalitta (Beau Bridges in a performance as boisterous as it is sweet). He helps her to become the first woman licensed by the NHRA to drive a Top Fuel dragster, but son John (Anthony Edwards) proves to be more trustworthy. Extras for this special edition include commentary from Kaplan and the featurette Shirley Muldowney: Behind the Wheel, which combines film clips, archival footage, and interviews with technical advisor Tommy Ivo, drivers Kalitta and "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, and "Cha Cha" herself. Feisty as ever, Muldowney admits that she wanted Jamie Lee Curtis for the role and that Bedelia, who garnered a Golden Globe nomination, could be "difficult." Kaplan, meanwhile, who would go on to direct Edwards on E.R., claims he's a real-life racing fan. As he puts it, the Top Gun actor really does have "the need for speed." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Brokedown Palace

Alice (Claire Danes) and Darlene (Kate Beckinsale) are best friends on their post-high-school whirlwind vacation. Telling their parents they're off for Hawaii, they head instead to Thailand, where they stay at a $6-a-night dive and sneak drinks at a posh hotel. They both fall sway to the charms of a handsome Australian (Daniel Lapaine), who invites them to Hong Kong. Off they go, although unbeknownst to them (or is it? this question is never fully answered), one of them has heroin in her backpack. Sentenced to 33 years in a Thai jail, they find their friendship begins to deteriorate as their trust in each other fades. They enlist the help of Yankee Hank (Bill Pullman), a greedy but knowledgeable American lawyer living in Asia.

The main flaws of this film are the capital-L lessons: friendship is powerful, don't trust strangers, nice girls shouldn't drink and sleep around. The film's bleakest moments, in the jail, aren't all that bad, and in this respect Brokedown Palace has nothing on the intensity of films such as Midnight Express or even Return to Paradise. Yet Danes and Beckinsale prove they are strong actresses, and their characters' friendship is suitably complex and believable. --Jenny Brown

In this riveting thriller, Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale star as two best friends whose dream vacation becomes a nightmare. Alice (Danes) is impulsive and reckless; Darlene (Beckinsale) is more reserved. But when each falls for the same mysterious man, both girls throw caution to the wind, and in one instant, their lives are changed forever. Now in a foreign land, they must prove their innocence before it's too late. Bill Pullman co-stars in this "compelling" (People Magazine) tale of self-discovery and the ultimate sacrifice for a friend!

The Accused

Jodie Foster won her first Oscar for her role in this drama, based on an actual incident. She plays a girl out for a night of fun at a poolroom. Before she knows what's happening, the men she's been flirting with have pinned her down for a gang rape. The story centers on the efforts of a district attorney (Kelly McGillis) to press her case, in spite of a wall of silence by the participants--and then to take the unusual step of going after the witnesses as accomplices. Foster is outstanding as a tough, blue-collar woman who persists in what seems like an unwinnable case, despite the prospect of character assassination for standing up for herself. --Marshall Fine

A young woman is gang raped in a bar. She battles the legal system twice as she and her attorney go after both her attackers and the bystanders who cheered them on.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 28-MAR-2006
Media Type: DVD

Bad Girls (Extended Cut)

Viewers of this Hollywood-processed movie should prepare to suspend disbelief: the four prostitutes turned outlaws will have flimsy excuses for being adept in gun slinging, stunt riding, and world knowledge. But this Western trips over a poor script of laughable plot points (secret plans are left out for wandering eyes, loot is taken without resistance) and a story that sticks forever in second gear. Never better or worse than Young Guns, with these intelligent actresses only part of the scenery. Drew Barrymore comes off the best, along with James LeGros as a meek rancher. --Doug Thomas

Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell, Drew Barrymore and Mary Stuart Masterson star in the wild Western story of four fallen women on the run. Branded as outlaws, pursued by a posse and tracked by Pinkerton detectives, the four must ride together to stay alive. But when they're double crossed by a gang of ruthless desperados, the women decide it's time to stop running, and start fighting! BAD GIRLS is a rough-riding, straight-shooting, fun-filled adventure that writes a whole new chapter in the lore of the Western hero!

Project X

Matthew Broderick, in one of his first grownup roles after years of playing teen heroes, stars as an air force foul-up, a pilot who, as punishment, is assigned to care for the chimps in military medical experiments. He's indignant at first but gradually warms up to his simian charges (who wouldn't?). The more time he spends with them, the more he realizes just what thinking, feeling creatures they are--which sticks him squarely in the center of a moral dilemma when he realizes that the outcome of the experiments involves putting all the chimps to sleep. Director Jonathan Kaplan, no stranger to ethically complex melodrama, gives what might otherwise be a predictable tale a jolt of both adrenaline and real emotion--and it doesn't hurt that most of his actors are lovable scene-stealers. --Marshall Fine

Executive Decision/Unlawful Entry

Commando action...at 30000 feet. Kurt Russell leads a star-packed ensemble of Executive Decision (Side A) when elite operatives slip aboard a hijacked 747 in mid-air. The mission: Find and defuse a nerve-toxin bomb destined for the U.S. then rescue the passengers. Halle Berry Steven Seagal and more join Russell for high excitement directed by Stuart Baird (U.S. Marshals). Russell is firmly on the ground yet surrounded by danger when he plays suburbanite Michael Carr in Unlawful Entry (Side B) a thriller that taps into fears about criminals hiding behind badges. Ray Liotta plays a cop who insinuates himself into the lives of Carr and his attractive wife (Madeleine Stowe) and director Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused) ramps up the tension as protector turns predator imperiling those he's sworn to defend. Powerful suspense!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 012569815421 Manufacturer No: 81542

Immediate Family

Few subjects for film are as fat with moral and emotional complexity as human infertility, and the 1989 Immediate Family is an interesting, serio-comic example. Glenn Close and James Woods star as the Spectors, an aging, professional couple who can't conceive on their own. After meeting an unmarried and pregnant 17-year-old girl named Lucy (Mary Stuart Masterson), the Spectors decide to care for her until she hands over her baby to them for adoption. Everything goes according to plan until Lucy and her boyfriend (Kevin Dillon) make the bold decision that they don't want to part with their child, leaving the Spectors twisting in the wind until collective love and wisdom find a way out of this predicament. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused), Immediate Family has an honest appeal and attractive performances, but is also noteworthy for its counterintuitive casting of a fiery Woods as a bland, conventional lead. --Tom Keogh

Academy Award® nominees Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction Best Actress in a Leading Role - 1988) and James Woods (Salvador Best Actor in a Leading Role - 1986) are Michael and Linda Spector a mature successful couple who have everything it takes to be parents ... except a baby. Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes) and Kevin Dillon (True Crime Midnight Clear) are Lucy and Sam a teenage couple who have a baby on the way ... but aren't ready to be parents. Director Jonathan Kaplan (Heart Like a Wheel) and screenwriter Barbara Benedek (The Big Chill) mix laughter and tears in this funny uplifting look at two very different couples who unexpectedly find a common bond and ultimately bring out the best in each other. Dazzling funny performances bring a touching humanity to this slice-of-life comedy with a big heart.System Requirements:Running Time: 99 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396100473 Manufacturer No: 10047

In Cold Blood

Truck Turner

Academy Award® winner* Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto (Alien) star in this powerful pull-out-the-stops crime thriller from director Jonathan Kaplan (Unlawful Entry). It s a gritty action-packed tale of the streets pulsating with ultra-smooth soul high-octane energy and nonstop suspense. Truck Turner (Hayes) is a football star-turned-bounty hunter who s tracking a sadistic pimp on the mean streets of Los Angeles. Armed with his brute strength and ace cool partner (Alan Weeks) Truck closes in on his mark. But a tragic accident soon changes all the rules and suddenly the hunter finds himself being hunted by the city s deadliest hired killers! Truck strikes back in a series of wild car chases shootouts and bone-crunching fistfights knowing that the battles can lead to only one place: an intense struggle to the death against Harvard Blue (Kotto) the brutal leader of L.A. s organized crime syndicate. *1971: Original Song ShaftSystem Requirements:Running Time: 91 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 027616857910 Manufacturer No: 1001471

After he sang the praises of a certain black private dick named Shaft (but before he started slinging hash in the little town of South Park), mega-baritone crooner Isaac Hayes got a chance to personally bust some heads in this little known but ultra-cool blaxploitation classic. Hayes (who would later spoof his rock-solid performance in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka) is the titular ex-linebacker and bounty hunter who's determined to clean up the savage streets--with extreme prejudice. A sadly neglected, primo slice of '70s guilty pleasure that boasts a dream supporting cast including Scatman Crothers, Yaphet Kotto as an evil crime boss named Harvard Blue, and Trek's Nichelle Nichols as a very un-Uhura-like, foul-mouthed lady of the evening. Fans who can't get enough of Isaac should also check out his riotous turn as the villain in Escape from New York. --Andrew Wright

Love Field

On November 22, 1963, America lost a president and a generation lost its innocence. Michelle Pfeiffer (What Lies Beneath) is superb (The Hollywood Reporter) in this 'thoroughly captivating (Rex Reed) film about an interracial friendship set against the back drop of a nation both divided by prejudice and united by sorrow. Dallas housewife Lurene Hallett (Pfeiffer) feels such a strong personal connection to her idol, Jackie Kennedy, that when JFK is assassinated, she defies her husband and takes an eastbound bus, determined to be there for Jackie at the funeral. On board she meets a mysterious black man traveling with a sad, silent little girl. But when Lurene realizes thathe's given her a false name, she fears she's uncovered a kidnapping plot! As a result of her well-intentioned meddling, the trio end up on the run from the police and, ultimately, on the road to a deep friendship that defies racial boundaries and changes each of them forever.