Edel, Uli

The Mists of Avalon

This adaptation of Marion Zimmer Bradley's sprawling and perennially popular book, whose retelling of the Arthurian legends focused on the role of powerful females, compresses a wealth of mysticism, family intrigue, and bloody swordplay into three hours. While the plot can meander slowly and can sometimes seem, well, mystifying, the work of three notable actresses holds the production together, and the numerous complications do eventually get resolved. As Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, Anjelica Huston endeavors to perpetuate the old religion as pagan Britain comes into contact with Christianity. The scheming Morgause, played to evil perfection by Joan Allen, conspires to her own ends. And Avalon priestess Morgaine, played by Julianna Margulies, travels the heroine's journey, overcoming tragedies, injustice, and all manner of obstacles in her duty to both "the goddess" and her younger brother, King Arthur. Although the action lags at times, the production is quite lavish for a made-for-television feature and the film is ultimately entertaining. --Robert J. McNamara

The King is dead, long live the King, but who will it be? The answer is found on the battlefields and in the mystical and powerful manipulations of fate emanating from the women of the legendary isle of Avalon in this intrigue-filled retelling of the King Arthur/Camelot legend. Starring Julianna Margulies, Anjelica Huston, Joan Allen, Caroline Goodall, Edward Atterton, and Samantha Mathis.

Purgatory

Between somewhere and nowhere in the untamed West is the small town of Refuge. There neither the sheriff nor his deputy carry a sidearm. There's no jail either because shooting carousing and bad blood are not in the town's character. What peaceful folks live there? Wild Bill Hickok. Doc Holliday. Jesse James. Billy the Kid. All long dead. All mysteriously given a chance to undo their violent pasts in Purgatory. All put to a stern test when Blackjack and his ornery gang ride into town.Running Time: 95 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. UPC: 053939676921

Purgatory is a down-and-dirty Western with a twist The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling would have loved. A band of 19th-century desperadoes, led by the monstrous Blackjack Britton (Eric Roberts), takes a wrong turn while fleeing a posse and rides into an otherworldly, off-the-map town called Refuge. Sedate, almost repressed, and guarded by an unarmed sheriff (Sam Shepard), Refuge is a weird haven of hospitality with no jail, a literate shopkeeper (J.D. Souther), an erudite dandy of a doctor (Randy Quaid), a restless deputy (Donnie Wahlberg), and a beautiful young woman (Amelia Heinle) with no apparent family. In short order, Blackjack figures Refuge is his for the plundering. But the youngest of his gang, the innocent Sonny (Brad Rowe), slowly realizes the town's residents are, in fact, dead legends of the American West--Wild Bill Hickok (Shepard), Doc Holliday (Quaid), Jesse James (Souther), among others--spending a violence-free interim before being taken to Heaven (or Hell if they fail). A purely fun if slightly hokey piece of fanciful adventure, Purgatory's colorful cast plays the whole thing straight and gives this made-for-cable film (directed by Uli Edel of Last Exit to Brooklyn) some exciting, six-gun grit and emotional authenticity. --Tom Keogh

Body of Evidence (Unrated)

Madonna isn't merely the prime suspect in the scandalous murder of a millionaire with kinky appetites; she's the murder weapon itself in this erotic thriller in the Basic Instinct mode. The art gallery owner by day and icy-blond dominatrix by night is accused of, shall we say, "loving" her victim to death, and Willem Dafoe is the happily married lawyer she lures into the dark thrills of pleasure and pain. The actual mystery is perfunctory at best and the absurd courtroom theatrics a mere formality in a film far more fascinated with sweaty sex, hot wax, and broken glass. Madonna isn't shy about her body and seems to enjoy the games her character plays, but she's no Sharon Stone; there's no danger smoldering behind her seduction. Like her notorious book Sex, this is a handsomely shot work of pure exhibitionism. --Sean Axmaker

Grammy® and Golden Globe® winner Madonna stars with Oscar® nominees* Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer and Julianne Moore in this "bold, shocking and titillating" ("Entertainment Tonight Radio") erotic thriller. Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) is a powerful woman. Intelligent, successful and breathtakingly beautiful, she can bring almost any man to his knees. And that's exactly where she wants them. But when a night of sexual abandon ends in the death of a prominent businessman, Rebecca finds herself on trial for murder. Now it's up to her attorney (Dafoe) to proveher innocence...but when he becomes entangled in her web of erotic game-playing, his body of evidence begins to contain as many curves as his client. *Dafoe: Supporting Actor, Shadow of the Vampire (2000); Platoon (1986); Archer: Supporting Actress, Fatal Attraction (1987); Moore: Actress, The End of the Affair (1999); Supporting Actress, Boogie Nights (1997); Supporting Actress, The Hours (2002); Actress, Far From Heaven (2002)

Julius Caesar

Fierce general. Skilled orator. Savvy politician. This is Julius Caesar, one of the world's greatest leaders and ruler of the Roman Empire. His ascent to power is filled with sacrifice, murder and betrayal. With the beautiful Cleopatra on one arm and a sword in the other, Caesar seized control of a vast territory, winning legions of followers, making enemies and creating history, before falling at the hands of Brutus, his most trusted ally. This is an ageless story in an epic presentation unlike anything ever seen before. Julius Caesar: a remarkable man who became an unforgettable legend. COLOR / APPROX, 187 MINUTES. DVD FEATURES: • 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen • 2.0 Dolby Stereo • The Making of Julius Caesar featurette

The Little Vampire

The Little Vampire is excellently acted and great to look at. Stuart Little's Jonathan Lipnicki carries, on his pint-sized shoulders, his every scene as 8-year-old Tony, befriender of vampires, and the Scottish setting lends itself nicely to spookiness. But where this video earns most points is in the plot department. A continent away from his native California, Tony's having a tough time making new friends when a band of vagabond vampires enters his life through his bedroom window. The encounter seems pure coincidence at first, but then the scary truth surfaces: Tony, though he's not a vampire himself, has "sympathy for our kind," as the dad of the bat-linked brood puts it. Visions of vampire happenings from generations past invade the third-grader's consciousness, and they hold the key to the clan's current gypsy-like predicament. Through his clairvoyance and, by extension, the discovery of a long-lost amulet, the mostly benevolent bloodsuckers are able to reclaim their rightful status as proper cave dwellers in their homeland. Clueless-parent predicaments abound and are cleverer than most--Tony's mom and dad smirk at their son's vampire-obsessed imagination until the cape-draped heads of the clan drop by for a visit--and the gang's adventures eluding a bumbling vampire hunter are genuinely chuckleworthy. At-home Twizzler munchers ages 8 and older won't soon tire of this charmer of a Transylvanian transplant. --Tammy La Gorce

Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire, Stuart Little) stars as 9-year-old Tony who befriends a young vampire named Rudolph who asks Tony to help him find an ancient amulet that will grant Rudolph and his family their ultimate wish ... to be human again.

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features:Original theatrical website; Ability to jump from the script to the scene in the movie
Full Screen Version:Widescreen and fullscreen versions of the film
Interactive Menus
Other:Three interactive kid-friendly games; Hilarious vampire and monster jokes; Easy-to-make recipes for spooky snacks; 5.1 Surround Sound and 2.0 Stereo Sound
Scene Access
Screen Saver:Cool flying vampire cow screensaver

Dark Kingdom - The Dragon King

In a dark age long passed young Siegfried witnesses the horrible murder of his father King Siegmund of the Netherlands. Vowing to take back one day what is rightfully his Siegfried is granted refuge at an allied royal court. Under the watchful eye of his spell-casting mother Hjordis Siegfried rigorously trains for his big day of revenge becoming a powerful warrior. Acquiring a magical sword forged from a fallen star he sets out to rid the land from the brutal reign of the dragon Fafnir and to gain control over the gold Fafnir stole from the mythical Nibelungs. Victorious Siegfried baths in the dragon's blood making him invincible. His merriment is quickly tarnished however when the Nibelungs appear wanting their gold back. Frustrated that they will not even negotiate their fair share Siegfried leaves the a portion but takes for himself The Ring- the beautiful core piece of the Nibelung treasure. He unwisely chooses to ignore the Nibelung curse: he who possesses the Ring will never be able to hold onto true love.System Requirements:Running Time 132 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396100299 Manufacturer No: 10029

Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King is a visually impressive historical adventure based on the same Germanic and Norse legends that inspired Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle operas and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Produced for German television (and shot in South Africa), the film stars Benno Furmann as Siegfried, a prince whose family is slaughtered by a pair of evil kings; raised by a blacksmith (Max Von Sydow, still commanding as ever), he meets and falls for Valkyrie queen Brunhild (Kristanna Loken from Terminator 3) and slays the dragon Fafnir for King Gunther (Samuel West), which in turn, involves him in treachery, war, and separation from his beloved Brunhild. Well directed by Uli Edel (Last Exit to Brooklyn>, The Mists of Avalon), Dark Kingdom occasionally suffers from exceedingly purple dialogue, but the performances, action, and special effects combine to make for a rousing fantasy-drama. Originally broadcast at three hours in length, the DVD presentation here is the U.S. cut, which comes in at just over two hours; a battery of five making-of featurettes are included in the disc's supplemental features. --Paul Gaita

Christiane F.

Confessions of Sorority Girls

With a cast that includes Alyssa Milano and Jamie Luner, and a title like Confessions of Sorority Girls, this promises to be a very sexy movie, except for the fact that it was made for television instead of the steamier straight-to-video market. Milano stars as Rita, the virginal president of the Alpha Beta Pi sorority. She's dating Mort (Brian Bloom), the proprietor of the Tiki bar down on the beach that caters to the collegians. Into her happy community comes Sabrina (Luner), the bad-seed younger sister of one of the sorority's most popular former presidents. The movie is set not long after the 1958 murder of mobster Johnny Stompanato by Lana Turner's 14-year-old daughter (Sabrina is seen reading about the case in class), and the filmmakers chose to use the same restraint as the filmmakers of the period, which is constraining and out of place in this day and age. But Sabrina does have two very sexy seduction scenes: one is a sting she sets up so she can blackmail the French professor into giving her good grades, and the other is when she throws herself at Mort in order to anger Rita. Both scenes stop too soon, in terms of exploitation, but their dark power remains. Based on Roger Corman's far-superior Sorority Girl (1957), which focused exclusively on the bad girl, this remake would have been better if they updated the story rather than kept it set in the late '50s. Then again, it still contains a few cheap thrills. --Andy Spletzer

A snobby, spoiled rich girl arrives at her new college with studying being the last thing on her mind. Living in the wake of her older sister's flawless legacy at the school, she embarks upon a mission to spread malicious rumors and split up other's girls' relationships. Not surprisingly, her behavior starts to alienate her from her fellow classmates.

King of Texas

It's Shakespeare with six-guns as King of Texas goes boldly where no TV Western had gone before. Transplanting King Lear to a Texas cattle ranch was a risky proposition, but as star and co-executive producer (with his wife and fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus, Wendy Neuss), Patrick Stewart brings his formidable Shakespearean training to bear on a condensed but satisfying interpretation. Whereas Akira Kurosawa's Ran required a gender-switching overhaul of Shakespeare's tragedy, this handsomely mounted TNT Original retains the feuding sisterhood of Lear's undoing. As aging cattle baron John Lear, Stewart sets his downfall in motion, dividing his land and loyalties among daughters played with stalwart fortitude by Marcia Gay Harden, Lauren Holly, and Julie Cox. Familial machinations multiply with a stellar supporting cast (Roy Scheider is the Earl of Gloucester here), and for all of Stewart's impressive fury, it's comedy veteran David Alan Grier (interpreting Shakespeare's "Fool") who quietly steals the show. --Jeff Shannon

An aging cattle baron's plan to divide his vast spread among his three daughters ignites a sibling blood feud in this volatile Wild West retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear."

Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny [Region 2]