Racy

9 1/2 Weeks

A man. A Woman. And an attraction that became an obsession.Mickey Rourke (Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man) and Kim Basinger (Batman) take you on an erotic odyssey in this steamy story of a love affair that breaks every sexual taboo. Director Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) creates "the most sexualized relationship seen in years" (Vanity Fair) in a lushly photographed rendition of secret fantasies and desires that come vividly to life on screen.Set against the high-tech backdrop of Manhattan 9 1/2 Weeks is the length of the affair between Elizabeth a beautiful art dealer and John the man who becomes her lover and changes irrevocably the course of her life. After a tantalizing initial encounter John charts the course of their sensual journey together in a deadly serious game of sexual dominance unlocking the door to hidden dreams pain and ecstasy.With a scrip co-written by The Red Shoe Diaries' Zalman King his wife Patricia Knop and Sarah Kernochan and with a puling soundtrack featuring Grace Jones Eurhythmics Joe Cocker and Bryan Ferry 9 1/2 Weeks is a passionate and provocative look at love and obsession that is moving thrilling and sometimes shocking. The unrated version contains extra footage considered too erotic to release in United States theaters.Running Time: 118 min.System Requirements:Additional Footage Included Trivia Booklet Interactive Menus Theatrical Trailer Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Subtitles: English Spanish and French English: Dolby Digital Surround French: Dolby Digital SurroundFormat: DVD MOVIE

Frequently given short shrift as a blue movie (which it is) and as mindless (which it isn't), director Adrian Lyne's follow-up to Flashdance (insert own joke here) is a thoughtful, smutty film about a bad sexual relationship. It follows the two-month affair between Elizabeth, an art-gallery dealer, and John, a Wall Street exec. The relationship spirals downward into raunchier sex (filmed, by the way, quite nicely) but principally is about two adults doing adult things but not acting anything like real adults. Attempts at actual human connection, about the longing to be "good," are present here and make this an above-average erotic film. Rourke is just honing his scumbag, bad-boy persona; but it doesn't overwhelm. Lots and lots of Kim Basinger. --Keith Simanton

Kids

Larry Clark's controversial film about New York City adolescents walking the AIDS tightrope is also an unblinking look at the dehumanizing rituals of growing up. But it really doesn't add up to more than the sum of its various shocks--virgin busting, skinny-dipping, male callousness--overlayed with middle-class disapproval. Clark is hectoring us for cutting kids loose at a terrible time in modern American history, but so are a lot of other people, who also offer alternatives and ideas. The film does nothing to push us toward new thoughts, new solutions, new dreams. It is more like a window onto our worst fantasies about what our children are doing out there on the streets. --Tom Keogh

Powerful and passionate, colorful and compelling, Larry Clark's KIDS is 24 frenetic hours in the life of a group of contemporary teenagers who, like all teenagers, believe they are invincible. With breathtaking images from one of the world's most renowned photographers, KIDS is a deeply affecting, no-holds-barred landscape of words and images, depicting with raw honesty the experiences, attitudes and uncertainties of innocence lost. KIDS gets under the skin and lingers, long after it is viewed. The kids at the core of the story are just that: teenagers living the urban melee of modern-day America. But while these kids dwell in the big city, their story could, quite possibly, happen anywhere.

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

If you're looking for a deep, intelligently romantic movie with complex characters and a richly rewarding plot, don't bother with Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. On the other hand, if you're feeling sexy and in the mood for a lush, seductive, and visually stunning film set in 16th-century India, this one will please you like the best foreplay you've ever experienced. Or it will relax you like a full treatment at a pampering spa--either way, you're gonna feel pretty fantastic. Okay, okay... maybe we're getting a little carried away, but there's no denying that director Mira Nair (best known for her acclaimed film Salaam Bombay!) has crafted a sumptuous film for the eyes if not the head. Its melodramatic plot is involving enough to elevate the movie high above soft-core adult fare, so you won't feel guilty after watching it.

Kama Sutra is the story of a young woman named Maya (the stunning Indira Varma) who has always been lower on the social scale than her well-born friend Tara (Sarita Choudhury), and has always lived in Tara's shadow, wearing her used clothes and being made to feel inferior. When Tara is betrothed to the handsome King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews, from The English Patient), Tara sneaks into the king's tent on the eve of the wedding and seduces him. Later, after being trained to master the Kama Sutra's many "lessons of love," Maya will be the king's courtesan, and emotions will run high between the former best friends. But the plot is of secondary importance here (a fact that resulted in many mixed reviews), and so Kama Sutra works best as a colorful and irresistibly sexy story that is worth seeing just for the startling beauty of the film and its cast. --Jeff Shannon

The Big Easy

An atmospheric and sexy crime caper, this stars Dennis Quaid as a New Orleans police detective. He's a smooth talker who butts heads with the new assistant district attorney, Ellen Barkin. She's rigid and plays by the rules; he is mildly corrupt. They soon find themselves romantically entwined, and a bit chagrined.

Director Jim McBride (Great Balls of Fire) was in top form with this 1987 sizzler. You may not remember the particulars of the plot, which concerns supposed gang killings and police corruption, because it is the romance that has staying power. Blame this on Quaid and Barkin, who send off enough sparks to light up Bourbon Street. They are not only sexy together, but endearing, which makes you want to like them as much as they like each other. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Two Moon Junction

This camp spectacle stars Sherilyn Fenn (Boxing Helena) as an upper-crust Southern belle who abandons the posh life for sex on the road with a carny worker. Naturally, the older folk (Burl Ives, Louise Fletcher) take exception. Typically silly, soft-porn stuff from director Zalman King (Wild Orchid), this erotic joke of a movie is good for putting one's busy brain on hold for awhile. Colorful support from Kristy McNichol as a cowgirl, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and the late Hervé Villechaiz (Fantasy Island). --Tom Keogh

The Piano

Jane Campion's The Piano struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerized by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face, and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. The Piano won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin, and Campion's screenplay. --Jim Emerson

Last Tango in Paris

Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial 1973 film stars Marlon Brando as an expatriate American in Paris reeling from his wife's suicide and entering into a nihilistic sexual relationship with a young woman (Maria Schneider). The film is still shocking, not simply because of its (sometime unconventional) sexual sequences, but because Brando's protagonist needs his liaison with Schneider's character to remain anonymous, an experience not to be shared but indulged on either end. Bertolucci is also operating on subtext here: in a way, Brando's nonengaging engagement is a metaphor for a certain attitude toward directing movies. Jean-Pierre Léaud costars, but the film is more than anything a vehicle for a great performance by Brando. --Tom Keogh

Penetrate the moody sensual world of Last Tango in Paris and prepare yourself for "the most controversial film of its era" (Leonard Maltin). Nominated for two Academy Awards--Best Director (Bernardo Bertolucci) and Best Actor (Marlon Brando)--and exuding a sexual energy unlike any film before or after this is the scintillating classic that shocked a nation...and "altered the face of an art form" (Pauline Kael). He (Brando) is a 45-year old American living in Paris haunted by his wifes suicide. She (Maria Schneider) is a 20-year-old Parisian beauty engaged to a young filmmaker. Though nameless to each other these tortured souls come together to satisfy their sexual cravings in an apartment as bare as their dark tragic lives. Caught up in the frenzied beat of a carnal dance they cannot seem to stop these unlikely lovers take their passion to erotic heights--and depths--beyond anything they could have ever imagined. Starring: Marlon Brando Maria Schneider Maria Michi Gitt Magrini Catherine Allegret and Luce MarquandDirector: Bernardo BertolucciWritten by F. Arcalli and B. Bertolucci; DVD released on 11/03/1998; running time of 130 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1973 MGMSystem Requirements:Widescreen 1.66:1 aspect ratio English (with French sequences subtitled in English) Uncut uncensored versions Scene access Theatrical trailer Dolby Digital Mono Interactive Menus Included Trivia Booklet Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs Subtitles: French English Track Info: English Dolby Digital MonoFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NC-17 UPC: 027616657022 Manufacturer No: 906570

Henry & June

Anaïs Nin (Maria de Medeiros) is a young woman in 1930s Paris whose husband is slowly defecting from art to working in a bank, leaving her very bored. When the then-unpublished Brooklyn writer Henry Miller (Fred Ward) enters her life, she embarks on a journey of seduction and sexual exploration that eventually leads from the writer to his wife, June (Uma Thurman), who finances her husband's life in Paris so he may praise her beauty in his writing. Unhappy with her husband's writing and her lovers' affair, June enters a jealous rage, forcing Henry into suffering-artist mode and Nin back to her husband. Despite having one of the more erotic scenes of the 1990s, between Nin and June, the film does not live up to its subject, largely due to a mediocre screenplay and flawed direction. The strength of the original material and Medeiros's decidedly unflawed performance, however, make it worth viewing. --James McGrath

The Postman Always Rings Twice

In The Postman Always Rings Twice Jack Nicholson teamed up again with his Five Easy Pieces and King of Marvin Gardens director Bob Rafelson for this 1981 version of James M. Cain's hardboiled novel of lust and murder. This version takes a much grittier (and sexually explicit) approach to the material than the slick 1946 MGM version starring John Garfield and Lana Turner. Nicholson plays Frank Chambers, a drifter who happens upon a roadside diner run by Cora Papadakis (Jessica Lange) and her swarthy Greek husband, Nick (John Colicos). Sparks fly, and before you can say l'amour fou, Frank and Cora are making the beast with two backs on the kitchen table. One thing leads to another and they conspire to murder Nick. The movie is still a little too cold and distant to fully convey a hot-blooded passion that leads to murder, but it is a strangely haunting and disturbing film nevertheless. The screenplay is by David Mamet, the photography is by the great Sven Nykvist (Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer), and watch for Anjelica Huston in a supporting role. --Jim Emerson

Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange smolder and burn in a sexy violent remake of James M.Cain's classic about adulterous lovers who plot murder.Year: 1981Director: Bob RafelsonStarring: Jack Nicholson Jessica Lange John ColicosSystem Requirements:Starring: Jack Nicholson Jessica Lange; Director: Bob Rafelson; Special Features: Interactive Menus Production Notes Theatrical Trailer; Video Format: Standard 1.33:1 [4:3]; Subtitles: English Spanish French; Audio Tracks: English: Dolby Digital Stereo; # Discs: 1; Produced by Charles Mulvehill and Bob Rafe; written by David Mamet; running time of 121 minutes; Closed Captioned. Format: DVD MOVIE

Jason's Lyric

At the heart of this dynamic film is the love of a man for a woman, a mother for a son, and a brother for a brother. Rarely is one man's struggle for inner peace so poignantly displayed as in this engrossingly sexy and unflinchingly violent love story. Lyric is the young woman who rekindles the dreams of a man tormented by a father's alcoholic violence now perpetuated by an unstable brother. Allen Payne and Jada Pinkett make for one of the screen's most memorable duos in the title roles. Each brings emotional intensity paired with powerful sexuality to their roles. Director Doug McHenry speaks to the 1990s by deftly balancing the story's heightened drama with just enough hope to give it impact. --Rochelle O'Gorman

From one of the producers of New Jack City comes a "sizzling hot" (Glamour Magazine) Romeo and Juliet drama that blends an explosive soundtrack with an all-star cast, including Allen Payne (The Walking Dead), Jada Pinkett (The Nutty Professor), Bokeem Woodbine (The Rock), Forest Whitaker (The Crying Game) and Naughty By Nature's Anthony "Treach" Criss (Who's The Man?). Jason and Joshua are two brothers left fatherless by a family fight that spun out of control. Trying to make good and get off the slick ghetto streets of Houston, Jason (Payne) finds a source of inspiration in a beautiful and sexy girl named Lyric (Pinkett), whose dreams of fleeing the city together give him hope for a better life. But when Joshua (Woodbine) turns to a life of crime and drugs, Jason finds he's torn between his love for Lyric and his obligation to family. And as the time comes for Jason to leave, he finds that Joshua will stop at nothing to see that he stays even if the fight to keep him rivals the one that killed their father!