Innocence Lost

Stand By Me (Special Edition)

A sleeper hit when released in 1986, Stand by Me is based on Stephen King's novella "The Body" (from the book Different Seasons); but it's more about the joys and pains of boyhood friendship than a morbid fascination with corpses. It's about four boys ages 12 and 13 (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell) who take an overnight hike through the woods near their Oregon town to find the body of a boy who's been missing for days. Their journey includes a variety of scary adventures (including a ferocious junkyard dog, a swamp full of leeches, and a treacherous leap from a train trestle), but it's also a time for personal revelations, quiet interludes, and the raucous comradeship of best friends. Set in the 1950s, the movie indulges an overabundance of anachronistic profanity and a kind of idealistic, golden-toned nostalgia (it's told in flashback as a story written by Wheaton's character as an adult, played by Richard Dreyfuss). But it's delightfully entertaining from start to finish, thanks to the rapport among its young cast members and the timeless, universal themes of friendship, family, and the building of character and self-esteem. Kiefer Sutherland makes a memorable teenage villain, and look closely for John Cusack in a flashback scene as Wheaton's now-deceased and dearly missed brother. A genuine crowd-pleaser, this heartfelt movie led director Rob Reiner to even greater success with his next film, The Princess Bride. --Jeff Shannon

Empire of the Sun

Roundly dismissed as one of Steven Spielberg's least successful efforts, this very underrated film poignantly follows the World War II adventures of young Jim (a brilliant Christian Bale), caught in the throes of the fall of China. What if you once had everything and lost it all in an afternoon? What if you were only 12? Bale's transformation, from pampered British ruling-class child to an imprisoned, desperate, nearly feral boy, is nothing short of stunning. Also stunning are exceptional sets, cinematography, and music (the last courtesy of John Williams) that enhance author J.G. Ballard's and screenwriter Tom Stoppard's depiction of another, less familiar casualty of war.

In a time when competitors were releasing "comedic," derivative coming-of-age films, Empire of the Sun stands out as an epic in the classic David Lean sense--despite confusion or perceived competition with the equally excellent The Last Emperor (also released in 1987, and also a coming-of-age in a similar setting). It is also a remarkable testament to, yes, the human spirit. And despite its disappointing box-office returns, Empire of the Sun helped to further establish Spielberg as more than a commercial director and set the standard, tone, and look for future efforts Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. --N.F. Mendoza

Scent of a Woman

Hoo-hah! After seven Oscar nominations for his outstanding work in films such as The Godfather, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon, it's ironic that Al Pacino finally won the Oscar for his grandstanding lead performance in this 1992 crowd pleaser. As the blind, blunt, and ultimately benevolent retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, Pacino is both hammy and compelling, simultaneously subtle and grandly over-the-top when defending his new assistant and prep school student Charlie (Chris O'Donnell) at a disciplinary hearing. While the subplot involving Charlie's prep-school crisis plays like a sequel to Dead Poets Society, Pacino's adventurous escapades in New York City provide comic relief, rich character development, and a memorable supporting role for Gabrielle Anwar as the young woman who accepts the colonel's invitation to dance the tango. Scent of a Woman is a remake of the 1972 Italian film Profumo di donna. In addition to Pacino's award, the picture garnered Oscar nominations for director Martin Brest and for screenwriter Bo Goldman. --Jeff Shannon

Speak

Speak is an unexpected gem. Adapted from the popular novel by Laurie Halse Anderson and first broadcast in 2004, the film features an excellent lead performance by Kristen Stewart (Panic Room) as Melinda Sordino, a deeply troubled teen facing her first year of high school and all its attendant perils, including student cliques (here called "clans," such as "the Marthas--very Connecticut, very prep"), hostile teachers (with the exception of Steve Zahn's art instructor), and so forth. Melinda appears to be just another misfit, alienated, shunned, and sullen ("the most depressed person I've ever known," as one classmate puts it), burdened with clueless, hopelessly self-absorbed parents (Elizabeth Perkins, D.D. Sweeney) and her own introverted nature. But there's much more to it than that, and director Jessica Sharzer, who co-wrote the screenplay, deftly balances flashbacks of the traumatic event that turned Melinda into a virtual mute with her pained attempts to deal with its aftermath; the two stories, past and present, unfold together, keeping us involved all the way to the film's unsettling but cathartic conclusion. Powerful, moving, and well-acted (the adult roles occasionally veer toward stereotype, but the kids' performances are consistently good), Speak is a compelling and admirable piece of work. --Sam Graham

Based on the award winning novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, "Speak" unfolds a story about Melinda (Kristen Stewart), a smart and spirited high school freshman who retreats into self-imposed silence after she is raped one night at a party. Feeling isolated from her classmates and from her preoccupied mother Joyce Sardnino (Elizabeth Perkins), Melinda retreats further in an attempt to escape the torments of high school. It is only through her work in art class with the help of her compassionate art teacher Mr. Freeman (Steve Zahn) that she begins to reach out to others and eventually finds her own voice and inner strength. A feature debut of director/co-writer Jessica Sharzer, "Speak" resonates with stubborn honesty and sardonic humor as we follow Melinda on her journey from traumatized isolation to a brave and final triumphant disclosure.

Lord of the Flies

Harry Hook's adaptation is not as faithful to the William Golding novel as you'd wish (they excised the Lord of the Flies dialogue with Simon!) and because of it, the movie is less allegorical and less resonant. A group of young men from a military academy are stranded on an island. The group quickly becomes fractious with a passive section led by Ralph, trying to get rescued, and a hunter faction, led by Jack, trying to procure meat and "have fun." Peter Brook's 1963 filming seemed to get closer to the Darwinist sense of this cultural disintegration. Here, the hunter faction seems more like Peter Pan's Lost Boys than the bloodthirsty murderers they are. The performances, particularly young Getty, don't quite carry the weight of the situation. It's still, however, sobering to slowly watch the school uniforms traded for war paint, and the little boys turn into little savages. --Keith Simanton

With 'sharply expressive performances (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone) by its young cast, this stunning adventure explores the deep dark corners of the human soul, as a group of adolescent castaways are thrust into an intense world where law and accountability are governed by the rules of survival. After a harrowing plane crash into the sea, a group of American military cadets finds itselfmarooned on a deserted island. Realizing the minimal chances of being rescued, the boys band together out of fear and desperation. But as the island paradise becomes their own, competition and power struggles split them into two packs. Ralph (Bathazar Getty) leads one group and preaches civilized ingenuity and togetherness, but Jack (Chris Furrh) wants nothing of it and builds a faction of barbaric hunters who ultimately go to war with Ralph. This powerful shift in conscience transforms ordinary kids into primal killers, setting off a devastating battle of good versus evil and presenting a haunting metaphor for the savage in us all.

The Virgin Suicides

Previously criticized for her marginal acting skills, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides and silenced her detractors. No amount of coaching from her director father (Francis Coppola) or husband (Spike Jonze) could have guaranteed a film this assured, and in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides's novel, Coppola demonstrates the sensitivity and emotional depth that this material demands. Surely the pain of youth and public criticism found its way into her directorial voice; in the story of four sisters who self-destruct under the steady erosion of their youthful ideals, one can clearly sense Coppola's intimate connection to the inner lives of her characters.

Played in a delicate minor key, the film is heartbreaking, mysterious, and soulfully funny, set in a Michigan suburb of the mid-1970s but timeless and universal to anyone who's been a teenager. The four surviving Lisbon sisters lost a sibling to suicide, and as its title suggests, the film will chart their mutual course to oblivion under the vigilance of repressive parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods, perfectly cast). But The Virgin Suicides is more concerned with life in that precious interlude of adolescence, when the Lisbon girls are worshipped by the neighborhood boys, their notion of perfection epitomized by Lux (Kirsten Dunst) and her storybook love for high-school stud Trip (Josh Hartnett). Unfolding at the cusp of innocence and sexual awakening, and recalled as a memory, The Virgin Suicides is, ultimately, about the preservation of the Lisbon sisters by their own deaths--suspended in time, polished to perfection, and forever untainted by adulthood. --Jeff Shannon

Dangerous Liaisons

Three Academy Awards(R) went to this sly seductive tale about the fatal attraction linking 18th century French aristocrats Glen Close John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. From the international stage hit.Running Time: 120 min.System Requirements:Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer Glenn Close John Malkovich Swoosie Kertz Uma Thurman Director: Stephen Frears Produced by Norma Heyman Hank Moonjean; written by Choderlos De Laclos Christoph; running time of 120 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1988 Warner Bros. Interactive Menus Production Notes Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Standard 1.33:1 (4.3) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs Subtitles: English Spanish and French Track Info: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French: Dolby Digital 5.1 SurroundFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 085391187226

A sumptuously mounted and photographed celebration of artful wickedness, betrayal, and sexual intrigue among depraved 18th-century French aristocrats, Dangerous Liaisons (based on Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses) is seductively decadent fun. The villainous heroes are the Marquise De Merteuil (Glenn Close) and the Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich), who have cultivated their mutual cynicism into a highly developed and exquisitely mannered form of (in-)human expression. Former lovers, they now fancy themselves rather like demigods whose mutual desires have evolved beyond the crudeness of sex or emotion. They ritualistically act out their twisted affections by engaging in elaborate conspiracies to destroy the lives of their less calculating acquaintances, daring each other to ever-more-dastardly acts of manipulation and betrayal. Why? Just because they can; it's their perverted way of getting get their kicks in a dead-end, pre-Revolutionary culture. Among their voluptuous and virtuous prey are fair-haired angels played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman, who have never looked more ripe for ravishing. When the Vicomte finds himself beset by bewilderingly genuine emotions for one of his victims, the Marquise considers it the ultimate betrayal and plots her heartless revenge. Dangerous Liaisons is a high-mannered revel for the actors, who also include Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, and Keanu Reeves. --Jim Emerson

Giant (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Keepcase)

Giant is a movie of huge scale and grandeur in which three generations of land-rich Texans love swagger connive and clash in a saga of family strife racial bigotry and conflict between cattle barons and newly rich oil tycoons. It's also one of the most beloved works of director George Stevens who won an Academy AwardO* for this film one of 10 Oscar nominations** the film earned.Running Time: 201 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569706903

They call it Giant because everything in this picture is big, from the generous running time (more than 200 minutes) to the sprawling ranch location (a horizon-to-horizon plain with a lonely, modest mansion dropped in the middle) to the high-powered stars. Stocky Rock Hudson stars as the confident, stubborn young ranch baron Bick Benedict, who woos and wins the hand of Southern belle Elizabeth Taylor, a seemingly demure young beauty who proves to be Hudson's match after she settles into the family homestead. For many the film is chiefly remembered for James Dean's final performance, as poor former ranch hand Jett Rink, who strikes oil and transforms himself into a flamboyant millionaire playboy. Director George Stevens won his second Oscar for this ambitious, grandly realized (if sometimes slow moving) epic of the changing socioeconomic (and physical) landscape of modern Texas, based on Edna Ferber's bestselling novel. The talented supporting cast includes Mercedes McCambridge as Bick's frustrated sister, put out by the new "woman of the house"; Chill Wills as the Benedicts' garrulous rancher neighbor; Carroll Baker and Dennis Hopper as the Benedicts' rebellious children; and Earl Holliman and Sal Mineo as dedicated ranch hands. --Sean Axmaker

Pretty Baby

A semi-scandal upon its release in 1978, this Louis Malle film is set in a turn-of-the-century, New Orleans bordello and focuses on a girl named Violet (then-child actress Brooke Shields) whose imminent twelfth birthday signals her "readiness" to become a career prostitute. Typical of Malle, the outwardly forbidden nature of the story and relationships within are morally obscured by the immediate experiences and unqualified urges of the characters. The little heroine brings a distinctly youthful and innocent view to the milieu, and the introduction of a photographer (Keith Carradine)--who eventually marries Violet--in the brothel carries the suggestion that there is art and beauty to be explored there. Susan Sarandon is beguiling as Violet's mother, who seems to unfold in the cameraman's presence. The film moves a little stiffly, a little slowly, possibly from a heavy emphasis on period art direction and Sven Nykvist's moody if gorgeous photography. --Tom Keogh

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

A tiny Buddhist monastery floats on a raft amidst a breathtaking landscape tended to by a solitaryMonk. Into this serene setting comes a young child who will become the Old Monk's protege... and so begins a lifelong journey of hope despair passion and redemption in a film hailed as "A triumphof sheer cinematic craft" (Rene Rodriguez Miami Herald). From the brash actions of youth through the dawn of adolescence and the fullness of adulthood one man's life lessons are learned as seasons pass his emotional inner life changing as the landscape around him. Award-winning Korean writer/director/editor Kim Ki-duk has crafted a lushly exotic yet universal story about the human spirit and its evolution from Innocence to Love Evil to Enlightenment and ultimately to Rebirth that Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News calls "A beautifully composed canvas the sort of film one falls into resurfacing at the end with great reluctance."SPECIAL FEATURES: Previews Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Korean) English French SubtitlesSystem Requirements:Running Time 103 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: R UPC: 043396041271 Manufacturer No: 04127

Working miracles with only a single set and a handful of characters, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk creates a wise little gem of a movie. As the title suggests, the action takes place in five distinct episodes, but sometimes many years separate the seasons. The setting is a floating monastery in a pristine mountain lake, where an elderly monk teaches a boy the lessons of life--although when the boy grows to manhood, he inevitably must learn a few hard lessons for himself. By the time the story reaches its final sections, you realize you have witnessed the arc of existence--not one person's life, but everyone's. It's as enchanting as a Buddhist fable, but it's not precious; Kim (maker of the notorious The Isle) consistently surprises you with a sex scene or an explosion of black comedy; he also vividly acts in the Winter segment, when the lake around the monastery eerily freezes. --Robert Horton