Young Love

Little Women (Collector's Edition)

The flaws are easily forgiven in this beautiful version of Louisa May Alcott's novel. A stirring look at life in New England during the Civil War, Little Women is a triumph for all involved. We follow one family as they split into the world, ending up with the most independent, the outspoken Jo (Winona Ryder). This time around, the dramatics and conclusions fall into place a little too well, instead of finding life's little accidents along the way. Everyone now looks a bit too cute and oh, so nice. As the matron, Marmee, Susan Sarandon kicks the film into a modern tone, creating a movie alive with a great feminine sprit. Kirsten Dunst (Interview with the Vampire) has another showy role. The young ensemble cast cannot be faulted, with Ryder beginning the movie in a role akin to light comedy and crescendoing to a triumphant end worthy of an Oscar. --Doug Thomas

Winona Ryder (in an Oscar-nominated role) and Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (1995 Best Actress Dead Man Walking) star in this "affectionate superbly acted" (Los Angeles Times) family favorite.With her husband off at war Marmee (Sarandon) is left alone to raise their four daughters her "little women." There is the spirited Jo (Winona Ryder) conservative Meg (Trini Alvarado - Paulie) fragile Beth (Claire Danes - William Shakespeare s Romeo & Juliet) and romantic Amy (played at different ages by Kirsten Dunst [Wag The Dog] and Samantha Mathis [Broken Arrow]).As the years pass the sisters share some of the most cherished and painful memories of self-discovery as Marmee and Aunt March (Mary Wickes - The Man Who Came To Dinner) guide them through issues of independence romance and virtue.Gabriel Byrne (End Of Days) Eric Stoltz (TV s Chicago Hope) and Christian Bale (The Portrait Of A Lady) co-star in this "handcrafted valentine" (Newsweek) of a film.System Requirements:Starring: Winona Ryder John Neville Mary Wickes Claire Danes Susan Sarandon Kirsten Dunst Gabriel Byrne Trini Alvarado Samantha Mathis Christian Bale and Eric Stoltz. Directed By: Gillian Armstrong. Running Time: 118 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 043396050440 Manufacturer No: 05044

Say Anything

A freespirited teenager falls in love with the nicest, smartest girl in school.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 13-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Seven years after he earned his first screen credit as the writer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, former Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe made his directorial debut with this acclaimed romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Ione Skye as unlikely lovers on the cusp of adulthood. The casting is perfect, and Crowe's rookie direction is appropriately unobtrusive, no doubt influenced by his actor-loving, Oscar®-winning mentor, James L. Brooks. But the real strength of Crowe's work is his exceptional writing, his timely grasp of contemporary rhythms and language (he's frequently called "the voice of a generation"), and the rich humor and depth of his fully developed characters. In Say Anything... Cusack and Skye play recent high school graduates enjoying one final summer before leaping into a lifetime of adult responsibilities. Lloyd (Cusack) is an aspiring kickboxer with no definite plans; Diane (Skye) is a valedictorian with intentions to further her education in Europe. Together they find unlikely bliss, but there's also turbulence when Diane's father (John Mahoney)--who only wants what's best for his daughter--is charged with fraud and tax evasion. Favoring strong performances over obtrusive visual style, Crowe focuses on his unique characters and the ambitions and fears that define them; the movie's a treasure trove of quiet, often humorous revelations of personality. Lili Taylor and Eric Stoltz score high marks for memorable supporting roles, and Cusack's own sister Joan is perfect in scenes with her onscreen and offscreen brother. A rare romantic comedy that's as funny as it is dramatically honest, Say Anything... marked the arrival of a gifted writer-director who followed up with the underrated Singles before scoring his first box-office smash with Jerry Maguire. --Jeff Shannon

Dirty Dancing (Ultimate Edition)

As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach), can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake.

Dirty Dancing spawned two successful soundtracks, a short-lived TV series, and a stage musical. It may be predictable, but Grey and Swayze have chemistry, charisma, and all the right moves. It's a sometimes silly movie with occasionally mind-boggling dialogue--"No one puts Baby in a corner!"--that nonetheless carries an underlying message about tolerance and is filled with the kind of exuberant spirit that's hard for even the most cynical to resist. Not that they'd ever admit it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

An innocent young girl is introduced to the sensuality of dance when she meets the dance instructor at her resort hotel.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 9-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

The Lover

Lovely to look at, this story reveals little more than the characters' nude bodies. Like couples whose only attraction is physical, this has little to offer once it leaves the bedroom. We never learn the interests or inner workings of the lovers in question. They become nothing more than attractive bodies, which makes this little more than a shallow exercise in sexuality. The story is based on the controversial, and supposedly autobiographical, bestseller by experimental French novelist Marguerite Duras. It tells the story of a young French schoolgirl who becomes sexually involved with a sophisticated, older Asian man. Set in Indochina in the late 1920s, this is stunningly photographed and artfully directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. That said, the lack of a more satisfying plot means this is merely tastefully produced soft porn. --Rochelle O'Gorman

From the novel of the same namewhich has sold over one million copies in 43 languagesthis "sophisticated adaptation of Marguerite Duras' best-selling memoirs" (Variety) smolders on the screen. "Masterfully acted and beautifully photographed" (Critics' Choice), The Lover brilliantly captures the essence of sexual awakening and forbidden desire like no other film has donebeforeor since. Jane March is mesmerizing in the role of a poor French teenager who engages in an illicit affair with a wealthy Chinese heir (Tony Leung) in 1920s Saigon. For the first time in her young life she has control, and she wields it deftly over her besotted lover throughout a series of clandestine meetings and torrid encounters. But though the lovers are able to transcend their differences in age, race and class'theirs is a future that French colonial Vietnamese society will never allow.

The Karate Kid (Special Edition)

John G. Avildsen not only directed Rocky, he tried remaking it over the years in a dozen different ways. One of them was this popular 1984 drama about a new kid (Ralph Macchio) in town targeted by karate-wielding bullies until he gets a new mentor: the handyman (Pat Morita) from his apartment building, who teaches him self-confidence and fighting skills. The screen partnership of Macchio's motor-mouth character and Morita's reserved father figure works well, and the script allows for the younger man to develop sympathy for the painful memories of his teacher. But the film's real engine, as with Rocky, is the fighting, and there's plenty of that. Elisabeth Shue is on board as the girl the klutzy Macchio dreams of winning. --Tom Keogh

A fatherless teenage boy arrives in California from the east and finds a hard time with a gang of karate fighters until he takes up karate himself and fights his way into their respect.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: PG
Release Date: 7-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

A Walk to Remember

With refreshing intelligence, A Walk to Remember offers welcome relief from the recent onslaught of teen-movie crudeness. Adapted from the novel by Nicholas Sparks and transplanted from 1958 to the present day, this admirable teen romance recognizes that two 18-year-olds--Landon (Shane West) and Jamie (pop singer Mandy Moore)--can be smart, mature, and sensible about the very real love they share. He's a popular kid in the cool crowd. She's got a goody-goody reputation as the dowdy daughter of a local minister (Peter Coyote); her values and priorities aren't rooted in peer pressure, and Landon feels blessed by her self-assured nobility. Their mutual affection inevitably heads into Love Story territory, but the movie is honest enough to survive its own schmaltz, and its attractive cast (including Daryl Hannah as Landon's mom) embraces a tone of sincerity and mutual respect. Finally... a teen movie with teens you can admire. --Jeff Shannon

Love brings together what peer pressure and lifestyles seek to keep apart in this coming-of-age story based on the bestselling book. Teen idol Shane West and multiplatinum recording star Mandy Moore star as two high schoolers -- she a straitlaced preacher's daughter and he an unmotivated delinquent. When events thrust him into her world, he begins an unexpected journey he'll never forget.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:2 Feature-length commentaries: - #1 by Shane West, Mandy Moore and director Adam Shankman - #2 by author Nicholas Sparks and screenwriter Karen Janszen
Filmographies:Cast film highlights
Interactive Menus
Music Video:Mandy Moore, "Cry"
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Ordinary People

Robert Redford made his Oscar-winning directorial debut with this highly acclaimed, poignantly observant drama (based on the novel by Judith Guest) about a well-to-do family's painful adjustment to tragedy. Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland play a seemingly happy couple who lose the older of their two sons to a boating accident; Timothy Hutton plays the surviving teenage son, who blames himself for his brother's death and has attempted suicide to end his pain. They live in a meticulously kept home in an affluent Chicago suburb, never allowing themselves to speak openly of the grief that threatens to tear them apart. Only when the son begins to see a psychiatrist (Judd Hirsch) does the veneer of denial begin to crack, and Ordinary People thenceforth directly examines the broken family ties and the complexity of repressed emotions that have festered under the pretense of coping. Superior performances and an Oscar-winning script by Alvin Sargent make this one of the most uncompromising dramas ever made about the psychology of dysfunctional families. There are moments--particularly related to Mary Tyler Moore's anguished performance as a woman incapable of expressing her deepest emotions--when this film is both intensely involving and heartbreakingly real. No matter how happy and healthy your upbringing was, there's something in this excellent film that everyone can relate to. --Jeff Shannon

Valley Girl

Valley Girl is, like--Omigod!--one of the most "tubular" teen comedies of the early 1980s. This movie launched Nicolas Cage's career, and it's easy to see why: Following his tiny role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cage is perfectly cast as a Hollywood punk who instantly falls for Julie (the irresistible Deborah Foreman), a San Fernando "Valley Girl"--a brighter variant of the stereotype immortalized in Moon Unit Zappa's 1982 novelty song--who must choose between wild-boy Nic and her preening jock boyfriend (Mark Bowen). Fortunately, Julie knows what's right for her (even if her "Val" friends don't), and in refreshing defiance of teen-flick tradition, her post-hippie parents (Frederic Forrest, Colleen Camp) are supportively cool. With sincere humor, a lively soundtrack of '80s hits, and a time-capsule cruise of Hollywood landmarks, Valley Girl is both timeless and nostalgic, owing much of its lasting appeal to Martha Coolidge's sensitive direction. Fer sure, y'know, it definitely won't gag you with a spoon. --Jeff Shannon

Julie is like so over her preppy boyfriend she dumps him on the escalator at the Galleria. And when she meets punker Randy her eyes practically bug out because she thinks he is sexy even though he makes her friends gag! But even if Randy's ready to stop the world and melt with her can Julie risk losing her friends and her super popularity at school just to be with him? I'm so sure!System Requirements:Starring: Nicolas Cage Deborah Foreman Colleen Camp Elizabeth Daily Cameron Dye Frederic Forrest Michelle Meyrink Lee Purcell Richard Sanders Directed By: Martha Coolidge Running Time: 99 Min. Color Copyright 2003 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616888488 Manufacturer No: 1004818

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

In a quiet Michigan community in the mid-1970s, neighborhood boys try to piece together the lives of the five Lisbon sisters, kept isolated by their over-protective parents.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 9-AUG-2005
Media Type: DVD

The Blue Lagoon (Special Edition)

The cinematography by Néstor Almendros garnered him an Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, the performance by then child star Brooke Shields garnered her a nomination, too--for a Razzie Award. She won, he didn't.

This 1980 remake of a much classier, 1949 British version features Shields and Christopher Atkins as children shipwrecked on a lush tropical island. They grow to maturity and fall in love, with the script paying special attention to their burgeoning sexuality. Should you desire more trite dialogue, there is an even less satisfying sequel, 1991's Return to the Blue Lagoon. --Rochelle O'Gorman

The lush beauty and splendor of a South Pacific paradise is vividly captures in this version of Henry DeVere Stacpoole's 1903 novel. Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon however the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline (Brooke Shields) and Richard (Christopher Atkins) make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. They learn to cope with the bewildering variety of physical and emotional changes that come with adolescence. And as they begin to mature their childhood affections lead to a sensitive and more profound love and the birth of a child. But will they ever see civilization again?System Requirements:Starring: Brooke Shields Christopher Atkins Leo McKern and William Daniels. Directed By: Randal Kleiser. Running Time: 105 Min. Color. This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396013797