Marriage

Pride and Prejudice - The Special Edition (A&E, 1996)

The timeless themes of love and marriage in Jane Austen's superb romantic comedy Pride and Prejudice have captured readers for generations - the novel has sold more than 20 million copies and has never been out of print. Now A&E and the BBC have brought this beloved classic to life in a compelling production directed by Upstairs Downstairs' Simon Langton. This stunning production captures the celebrated beauty of the English countryside and its glorious stately manors. It features lavish costumes and an exquisite soundtrack from noted composer Carl Davis.Pride and Prejudice is the story of the lively and rebellious Elizabeth Bennet one of five unmarried daughters living in the countryside of 19th Century England. IN a world where obtaining an advantageous marriage is a woman's sole occupation Elizabeth's independent manner threatens her family's future. Will her romantic sparring with the mysterious and arrogant Darcy end in misfortune - or will love's true nature prevail?System Requirements:Starring: Jennifer Ehle Colin Firth David Bamber Crispin Bonham-Carter Anthony Calf Anna Chancellor Susannah Harker Julia Sawalha Alison Steadman Benjamin Whitrow. Directed By: Simon Langton. Running Time: 310 Minutes Color. This Film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2001 A&E Television Networks. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 733961702545 Manufacturer No: AAE-70254

Jane Austen's classic novel of 1813, Pride and Prejudice, still wins the hearts of countless schoolgirls with its romantic story of Elizabeth Bennet and her Mr. Darcy. Now, the 1996 BBC miniseries is winning over adults, with its faithful adaptation, gorgeous scenery, and superb acting.

The essence of the story is the antagonism between Mr. Darcy, a wealthy single man who believes Elizabeth to be beneath him, and Elizabeth, who upon being insulted at a dance by the aloof Darcy refuses to associate with him in any manner. Austen evokes incredible tension with the wit and flirtation of the two characters, and director Simon Langton (who also directed Upstairs Downstairs) successfully translates the repartee and conflict in this six-hour miniseries. Dialogue, for the most part, is painstakingly replicated, except when fleshing out and smoothing for modern sensibilities was necessary. Darcy, for instance, is drawn out, giving his personality significantly more depth. The acting sweeps you away to Regency England: Jennifer Ehle (of Wilde) is convincing as the obstinate Elizabeth, who, despite her mother's attempts to marry her off, spurs the attentions of Darcy. And Colin Firth (of The English Patient) will have women everywhere longing for a Mr. Darcy of their own.

For those who have been on an Austen binge--enjoying such excellent adaptations as Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion--this miniseries will round out the ultimate Austen video library. For those new to these romantic period pieces, this version of Pride and Prejudice will have you hooked and longing for more. One caveat, however: plan to watch it in an entire day, because very few have the self-control to not watch all six hours in a single sitting. --Jenny Brown

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From the Terrace

From the Terrace is one of Paul Newman's lesser-known films, but it's a worthy showcase for the actor's developing screen persona. Like Butterfield 8, this is a slick, prestigious adaptation of a John O'Hara novel, about loose morals and forbidden love among the wealthy elite. Director Mark Robson lacks the mastery of melodrama that Douglas Sirk would've brought to this material, but he's still on target with O'Hara's tale of a prodigal son (Newman) who rejects his late father's steel mill in favor of big-business conquest, only to find his trophy wife (superbly played by Newman's off-screen wife, Joanne Woodward) straying into the arms of her former fiancé, while he falls in love with a socialite (Ina Balin) with whom he's much more compatible. A well-tuned drama of marital discord and unchecked ambition, From the Terrace was sharply adapted by Ernest Lehman between the triumphs of North by Northwest and West Side Story, and Newman's brooding performance gave him a solid boost to his iconic role in the 1961 classic The Hustler. --Jeff Shannon

Paul Newman portrays a young man whose struggle for success threatens his personal happiness, in this well-scripted screen version of John O'Hara's best-selling novel. Having never known his father's love or respect, Alfred Eaton (Newman) sets out to prove himself in the business world. Marrying the "right" woman (Joanne Woodward), he works unceasingly, but is ultimately confronted with crises and choices that force him to rethink his priorities. Co-starring Myrna Loy as Alfred's alcoholic mother, Leon Ames as his embittered father, and Ina Balin as the woman who might bring him genuine happiness, From The Terrace is an absorbing tale of ambition, power and love fueled by sharp dialogue, complex characterizations and keen insight into the human heart.

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

Masters in depicting the superficial machinations of England's repressed upper classes, director James Ivory and his partners, screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and producer Ismail Merchant, take on the American middle class in Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. Paul Newman and wife Joanne Woodward play the eponymous main characters: a patriarch and wife of a well-to-do family, whose members are struggling to define themselves under their father's undefiable command and the changing times.

With one daughter who wants to become an actress in New York, another who chooses the "wrong" kind of man to marry, and a son who quits school to join the Air Force during World War II, Mr. Bridge finds that his control over his family is slipping. Spanning the 1930s and '40s, the film presents nuances in how both the dramatic and the smaller moments are woven together. Weddings and arguments are no more important to capturing the essence of the Bridge family then are their moments of daily reverie.

A quiet film that succeeds in establishing its characters' intimacy, with themselves and each other, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge owes much of that success to Woodward. While Newman doesn't always seem comfortable as the stern ruler of the Bridge household, Woodward steals the film as the long-suffering woman whose identity is precariously built on her ascribed roles as mother and wife, taken for granted and often overlooked by the family she truly loves. --Natasha Senjanovic

Screen favorites Paul Newman (ROAD TO PERDITION) and Joanne Woodward (PHILADELPHIA) star as a well-off couple who raise their children in the comfort of country club society only to find their control over the family's fate slipping away. Daughter Ruth (Kyra Sedgwick -- BEHIND THE RED DOOR), leaves for the artistic bohemia of New York, more conventional Carolyn marries the "wrong sort" of man, and brother Douglas (Robert Sean Leonard -- DRIVEN) joins the army. In an empty house, the Bridges' marriage shifts. Mr. Bridge grows more rigid. But Mrs. Bridge becomes more vulnerable and searching as she begins to wonder if her husband really loves her. Directed by James Ivory (A ROOM WITH A VIEW, HOWARDS END), MR. & MRS. BRIDGE offers a wryly emotional portrait of a marriage as it rides the tumultuous changes of 1930s and '40s America.

Steel Magnolias (Special Edition)

Based on Robert Harling's play, this comedy-drama directed by Herbert Ross (The Turning Point) follows several years in the lives of women who regularly see one another at a beauty shop in their small Louisiana town. The story deepens as Julia Roberts, playing a serious diabetic and the daughter of Sally Field, goes downhill in her health. But as an ensemble piece, this is one of those enjoyably lumpy tearjerkers with many years' worth of stored truths suddenly being shared between the characters, lots of grievances aired, that sort of thing. Daryl Hannah and Shirley MacLaine assume the most eccentric roles, Dolly Parton the most fun, and Olympia Dukakis the most dignified, while Sally Field essentially provides the moral and emotional center of the movie. --Tom Keogh

Six divas of the silver screen -- Sally Field Dolly Parton Shirley MacLaine Daryl Hannah Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts -- come together as bosom buddies in this hilarious and heartwarming story of life love and loss in a small Louisiana Parish. At the center of the group is Shelby Eatenton (Julia Roberts) newly married and joyfully pregnant despite the fact that her diabetes could make childbirth life-threatening. Terrified and angry at the possibility of losing her only daughter M Lynn Eatenton (Sally Field) looks to her four closest friends for strength and laughter as she battles her deepest fears of death in order to join Shelby in celebrating the miracle of new life.System Requirements:Starring: Olympia Dukakis Sally Field Daryl Hannah Shirley MacLaine Dolly Parton Julia Roberts Dylan McDermott Kevin J. O Connor Sam Shepard and Tom Skerritt. Directed By: Herbert Ross Running Time: 119 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 043396702479 Manufacturer No: 70247

A Beautiful Mind (Widescreen Awards Edition)

The story of John Forbes Nash Jr., a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who overcomes his disease and wins a Nobel Prize.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 17-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

A Beautiful Mind manages to twist enough pathos out of John Nash's incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nobel prize-winning mathematician from his days at Princeton, where he developed a groundbreaking economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship, and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions. Of course, it is the delusions that fascinate director Ron Howard and, predictably, go astray. Nash's other world, populated as it is by a maniacal Department of Defense agent (Ed Harris), an imagined college roommate who seems straight out of Dead Poets Society, and an orphaned girl, is so fluid and scriptlike as to make the viewer wonder if schizophrenia is really as slick as depicted. Crowe's physical intensity drags us along as he works admirably to carry the film on his considerable shoulders. No doubt the story of Nash's amazing will to recover his life without the aid of medication is a worthy one, his eventual triumph heartening. Unfortunately, Howard's flashy style is unable to convey much of it. --Fionn Meade

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Tina Turner, that dynamic diva of pop/soul/R&B from the '60s to the '90s, sings like a woman whose life story is every bit as rough and tough as her voice. And What's Love Got to Do With It, based on her autobiographical account (in I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder) of her years under the iron fist of her abusive husband and musical partner/Svengali Ike, is further proof of what we've always known about Tina: She's what you call a survivor. The movie is sort of the Disney version of Tina Turner's story--a glossy but thoroughly enjoyable, old-fashioned showbiz biopic with laughs, tears, great music, and outrageous (but faithful) period decor, costumes, makeup, and hairstyles. Our Heroine triumphs not only over the rigorous demands of her career in the music business, but finally manages to bust out of her troubled, violent marriage as well and become her own person. This is a movie that'll have you shouting at the top of your lungs: "You go, girl!" --Jim Emerson

Experience for yourself the powerful true-life story of Tina Turner -- rock 'n' roll's remarkable and talented superstar. Laurence Fishburne (THE MATRIX) and Angela Bassett (HOW STELLA GOT HER GROVE BACK) deliver winning performances as Ike and Tina Turner -- whose turbulent relationship eventually forces Tina to leave and face the fear, pay the price, and find the courage to believe in herself. Don't miss WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT -- the amazing and uplifting story of one of the world's most exciting, high-energy entertainers!

Irreversible

Irreversible begins with the closing credits running backwards before the film begins (or ends) with Marcus (Vincent Cassell) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel) being escorted out of a gay S&M club by the cops, Marcus with his arm broken and Pierre in handcuffs. The "story" proceeds to unwind in a series of single-take scenes that unfold Memento-style, with each scene giving more context to what we have seen previously. Each scenario depicts actions, dialogue, incident, behavior, and circumstances that the lead characters might have wished didn't happen, ranging from extreme violence through awkward social situations to mild embarrassment. The central character (and possible dreamer of this whole what-if story) emerges as Alex (Monica Bellucci), who suffers the worst in a very hard-to-watch rape sequence in an underpass. Semi-improvised, the scenes all have attack and power as themes, with later/earlier conversational sequences that suggest life isn't all sexual assaults in the dark, showing equal cinematic imagination with the horrors. Arguably, this is not a film most would subject themselves to twice, but it is something that stays in the mind for days after viewing, sparking far more ideas and emotions than most wallow-in-nastiness pictures. --Kim Newman

Alex and Marcus are a couple whose story is told over the course of a fateful evening in a series of long takes. An emotional odyssey that unspools in reverse from gut-wrenching violence to sweetly observed moments of sublime tenderness.System Requirements:Starring Albert Dupontel Monica Bellucci Vincent Cassel Directed by Noe Running time: 97 minutes Copyright Lion's Gate 2003Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 658149815926 Manufacturer No: ST8159D

The Other Sister

Filming a love story centered on two mentally challenged people is a touching idea, one that's been attempted in films such as Benny and Joon and even, to a certain extent, As Good As It Gets. The Other Sister is another addition to the genre, a well- acted comedy-drama centering on the romance of Carla (Juliette Lewis) and Daniel (Giovani Ribisi) and throwing in some general family angst as a secondary story line. The acting is tremendous--Lewis and Ribisi both give convincing performances without condescending to their characters. Diane Keaton plays yet another charming scatterbrain, this time as Elizabeth Tate, the uptight, rich mother who wants a picture-perfect life. But good acting isn't enough here. These fine actors drown in a sea of mediocre writing, and we're left with a film with no real conflict or tension. Will Carla and Daniel make it work? Well, of course. Will mother Elizabeth loosen up about her "gay workaholic" daughter and let Carla live her own life? Do you really need to ask? There are a few cringe-worthy moments that have a sense of truthfulness, such as when Daniel stands up at Carla's sister's wedding to announce his feelings. But otherwise, these characters live in a pampered, fairy-tale world where the worst thing that happens to them is that the meanies at school put chewing gum in Daniel's bike helmet. Ultimately, this is a sweet, albeit occasionally saccharine, tale that will move those who are looking for cheerful fare. --Jenny Brown

This funny and uplifting romantic comedy features outstanding performances from Juliette Lewis (ENOUGH), Diane Keaton (HANGING UP, THE FIRST WIVES CLUB), and Tom Skerritt (CONTACT) in a great star-packed cast! Even though Carla (Lewis) has grown into a very capable young woman, her nervous mother (Keaton) still has a major meltdown when Carla announces she's in love for the first time! So as Carla and her new boyfriend (Giovanni Ribisi, GONE IN 60 SECONDS, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) set out to experience all of life's great adventures, they're also out to prove that Carla has earned her independence! The latest big-screen favorite from Garry Marshall, the acclaimed director of PRETTY WOMAN and RUNAWAY BRIDE -- you're sure to cheer this feel-good treat!

To Live

One of the best films of 1994, To Live is a bold, energetic masterpiece from Zhang Yimou, the foremost director from China's influential "fifth generation" of filmmakers. Continuing his brilliant collaboration with China's best-known actress Gong Li (their previous films include Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern), Zhang weaves an ambitious tapestry of personal and political events, following the struggles of an impoverished husband and wife (Ge You, Gong Li) from their heyday in the 1940s to the hardships that accompanied the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. They raise two children amidst a Communist regime, surviving numerous setbacks and yet managing, somehow, to live. Both intimate and epic, Zhang's film encompasses the simplest and most profound realities of Chinese life during this controversial period, and for their honesty, Zhang and Gong Li faced a two-year ban on future collaborations. To Live is a testament to their art, transcending politics to celebrate the tenacity of ordinary people in the wake of turbulent history. --Jeff Shannon

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