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Emma (1996)

Most people didn't mind Gwyneth Paltrow's English accent in this charming, 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel (which also inspired Clueless). But even if it doesn't sound quite right to you, there are plenty of authentic and wonderful Brit thespians in this film by screenwriter-turned-director Douglas McGrath (co-author of Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway), including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply), Alan Cumming (Buddy), Phyllida Law (Much Ado About Nothing), Ewan McGregor (the Scots star of Trainspotting), and Sophie Thompson, outstanding and finally heartbreaking as the chattering Miss Bates. Paltrow plays Austen's benign busybody, Emma Woodhouse--so busy trying to arrange the lives of others that she is sidestepping her own. McGrath brings a kind of pretty and light touch to the production, his best move the wise delegation of creative authority to the actors themselves. --Tom Keogh

This delightfully fun and lighthearted comedy is based on the story that inspired the hit movie CLUELESS! Dazzling Gwyneth Paltrow (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS) shines as EMMA, a mischievous young beauty who sets up her single friends. Funny thing is ... she's not very good at it! So when Emma tries to find a man for Harriet (Toni Collette -- THE SIXTH SENSE, ABOUT A BOY), she makes a hilariously tangled mess of everyone's lives. You'll enjoy all the comic confusion ... until Emma herself falls in love, finally freeing everyone from her outrageously misguided attempts at matchmaking.

Equilibrium

A broad science fiction thriller in a classic vein, Equilibrium takes a respectable stab at a Fahrenheit 451-like cautionary fable. The story finds Earth's post-World War III humankind in a state of severe emotional repression: If no one feels anything, no one will be inspired by dark passions to attack their neighbors. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer's monochromatic, Metropolis-influenced cityscape provides an excellent backdrop to the heavy-handed mission of John Preston (Christian Bale), a top cop who busts "sense offenders" and crushes sentimental, sensual, and artistic relics from a bygone era. Predictably, Preston becomes intrigued by his victims and that which they die to cherish; he stops taking his mandatory, mood-flattening drug and is even aroused by a doomed prisoner (Emily Watson). Wimmer's wrongheaded martial arts/dueling guns motif is sheer silliness (a battle over a puppy doesn't help), but Equilibrium should be seen for Bale's moving performance as a man shocked back to human feeling. --Tom Keogh

Delivering awesome high-tech action in the power-packed style of THE MATRIX and MINORITY REPORT, EQUILIBRIUM stars Christian Bale (REIGN OF FIRE) and Taye Diggs (CHICAGO) in a thrilling look at a future where the only crime is being human! In an attempt to end wars and maintain peace, humankind has outlawed the things that trigger emotion -- literature, music, and art. To uphold the law, a special breed of police is assigned to eliminate all transgressors. But when the top enforcer (Bale) misses a dose of an emotion-blocking drug, he begins to realize that things are not as they seem! Also starring Sean Bean (THE LORD OF THE RINGS) and Emily Watson (RED DRAGON).

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

E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (Widescreen Edition)

Steven Spielberg's 1982 hit about a stranded alien and his loving relationship with a fatherless boy (Henry Thomas) struck a chord with audiences everywhere, and it furthered Spielberg's reputation as a director of equally strong commercial sensibilities and classical leanings. Henry Thomas gives a strong, emotional performance as E.T.'s young friend, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore make a solid impression as his siblings, and Dee Wallace is lively as the kids' mother. The special effects almost look a bit quaint now with all the computer advancements that have occurred since, but they also have more heart behind them than a lot of what we see today. --Tom Keogh

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition)

Joel Barish goes through a procedure to remove memories of his girlfriend Clementine from his mind, only to realize the value of what they had as each memory is erased.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 4-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD

Screenwriters rarely develop a distinctive voice that can be recognized from movie to movie, but the ornate imagination of Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) has made him a unique and much-needed cinematic presence. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a guy decides to have the memories of his ex-girlfriend erased after she's had him erased from her own memory--but midway through the procedure, he changes his mind and struggles to hang on to their experiences together. In other hands, the premise of memory-erasing would become a trashy science-fiction thriller; Kaufman, along with director Michel Gondry, spins this idea into a funny, sad, structurally complex, and simply enthralling love story that juggles morality, identity, and heartbreak with confident skill. The entire cast--Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, and more--give superb performances, carefully pitched so that cleverness never trumps feeling. A great movie. --Bret Fetzer

Ever After - A Cinderella Story

Take away the Fairy Godmother, and what have you got left from the Cinderella fable? The story of a girl for whom a bad stroke of luck is no match for her internal strength and purity of heart. Drew Barrymore plays Cinderella's alleged inspiration, Danielle, in this romantic drama that purports to tell the "facts" behind the Grimm brothers' story. One of three daughters of a man (Jeroen Krabbé) who dies and leaves her fate in the hands of a conniving stepmother (Anjelica Huston), Danielle is cast into the lowly role of a servant. Meanwhile, her sisters are evaluated as possible mates for a French prince (Dougray Scott), but he's far more intrigued with Danielle's intelligence and beauty--not to mention her way with a sword and fist. Directed by Andy Tennant (who directed Barrymore in TV's The Amy Fisher Story), Ever After has that rare ability to win the heart and mind of a viewer simply by being committed to its own innocence, particularly where Barrymore's luminous performance is concerned. A contemporary take on an old, virtually forgotten Hollywood convention--the costume adventure with middling artistic ambition but real audience appeal--Ever After is a surprisingly delightful film. --Tom Keogh

A "modern" young woman of the 16th century, Danielle (Barrymore) is as independent and wise as she is beautiful and kind. Against remarkable odds, she stands up to her scheming stepmother (Huston) and works miracles on the lives of everyone around her, including the crown prince of France (Dougray Scott)!Now you can relive this captivating, contemporary retelling of the classic fairytale.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

One of the greatest scandals in American corporate history is chronicled in the riveting documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Based on the bestselling book by Fortune magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, and directed by Alex Gibney (who also produced The Trials of Henry Kissinger), the film is an epic morality tale, drawing upon a wealth of insider interviews and archival material to show how Enron, once the nation's seventh largest corporate entity, essentially faked its bookkeeping to report profits that never existed. The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation. --Jeff Shannon

Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars leaving investors and employees with nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy and ethical code for years to come.DVD Features: Available Audio Tracks: English (Unknown Format) Commentary by: writer-director Alex Gibney (Unknown Format) Deleted scenes "The Making of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" featuring research footage and exclusive interviews with writer-director Alex Gibney and investigative journalist Bethany McLean Enron company skits Enron commercial Where are they now?: updates on the executives traders and whistleblowers A gallery of Enron cartoons The original Fortune magazine articles System Requirements:Running Time 110 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: R UPC: 876964000017 Manufacturer No: 10001

Entourage - The Complete First Season

Entourage is everything viewers have come to expect from an HBO series: smart, hilarious, and highly addictive, especially when taken in full-season, DVD form. As implied in the title, the show follows Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), a rising Hollywood star with bedroom eyes and an over-active libido, along with his three childhood companions-turned-hangers-on. Kevin Dillon plays Johnny Drama, Vincent's less-attractive, B-list actor of a brother (he is Matt Dillon's less-attractive, B-list actor of a brother in real life). Jerry Ferrara plays Turtle, the weasel, and Kevin Connolly appears as Eric, the Everyman hero who hopes to parlay his friendship with Vincent (plus two years of community college) into a career in talent management. Along the way Eric contends with the predictable self-doubt, romantic indecision, etc. The cast is rounded out by Jeremy Piven (Doug Hughley from Singles) as a foul-mouthed agent reminiscent of Jay Mohr's short-lived Peter Dragon character. Finally, it's produced by Marky Mark himself--and you've got to believe that guy knows something about the star-entourage relationship. If possible, watch with a friend so you'll have someone to quote lines back to later. --Leah Weathersby

Your best friend's star is rising in Hollywood and there's only one thing to do: join his entourage. Meet Eric Turtle and Johnny Drama: three guys from Queens dedicated to helping their film-star buddy Vincent Chase navigate the absurdities of modern-day Hollywood--where sex parties and super-agents rule the town.Running Time: 240 min.System Requirements:Running Time 240 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 026359243127 Manufacturer No: 92431

Entourage - Season Three, Part 1

The third season of HBO's inside-showbiz comedy kicks off with a familiar anxiety for Tinseltown's best: your film's opening-weekend box office. In the case of Vince (Adrian Grenier) and company, it's Aquaman, Vince's big break that took up most of last season and elevated the group to even bigger perks and tchotchkes. Luckily, the numbers are good (creator Doug Ellin reveals in the commentary that the episode was inspired by his friend who was with Tobey Maguire when he first heard Spider-Man's opening numbers) and Vince uses the leverage to chase his dream project, a biopic of Pablo Escobar called Medellin. But first he has to schmooze the film's eccentric producer who's strangely attached to his Shrek doll (Bruno Kirby, in his last role before his death in 2006) and juggle scheduling conflicts with the Aquaman sequel, which leads to an ego war with Warner studio chief Allen Grey (Paul Ben-Victor). Meanwhile, Turtle's (Jerry Ferrara) management of upstart rapper Saigon takes some sharp turns; Eric (Kevin Connolly) finds his relationship with Sloan (Emmanuelle Chiriqui) on shaky ground; and Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon) gets to audition for a television pilot directed by Ed Burns (playing himself). But the overarching storyline for season 3 involves Vince's agent Ari Gold (Emmy winner Jeremy Piven), who was canned last season by his agency. Taking his flamboyant, hilarious assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee) with him, Ari goes about setting up his own firm, but not before drawing fire from the mafia of other agents and threatening his relationship with star client Vince. The only weak storyline involves an old childhood pal (Domenick Lombardozzi), fresh out of prison, trying to nudge his way into Vince's gang. But otherwise the show's inside look at the baptism of the newly famous continues to tickle the funny bone.

As usual, Entourage sprinkles in cameos, including Crash director Paul Haggis hilariously playing himself as a wound-up neurotic ("If I let contracts run my life, I'd still be doing The Facts of Life rather than hanging with my boys," he says as he points to his Oscars). James Woods filches Aquaman premiere tickets for his friends, and Seth Green gets in a rumble with Eric in the episode "Vegas Baby Vegas." Extras are still scant: just three commentaries and a featurette on their Vegas-location episode. --Ellen A. Kim

With Vince's star expected to rise even higher in the Hollywood firmament as a result of his starring role in a potential blockbuster titled Aquaman the boys must find a way to keep stroking their golden goose while making sound decisions for a long-lasting career in a world of fleeting fame.Running Time: 320 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: TV-MA UPC: 026359394522 Manufacturer No: 93945

Elmo's World - Babies, Dogs & More

Sesame Street's cheerful redhead chuckles his way through this delightful 50-minute compilation of three favorite "Elmo's World" episodes. First come the babies: real babies, Muppet babies, and animal babies. With help from Mister Noodle, a cast of Muppets, and video vignettes featuring humans, Elmo discovers what babies can do and how to play with them. Next come the dogs. Once again, Elmo's on the move--this time to share important tips about respecting the family pet. The final episode examines life on the farm. Viewers will observe youngsters accomplishing daily farm chores as well as Muppet farmers and barn animals punning around. As Elmo bops around his house (simply drawn and "furnished" with color crayon sketches), he chats with Dorothy the pet goldfish, poses questions to Mister Noodle, and tunes in to his friendly television for helpful cartoons presented by "The Baby Channel," "The Dog Channel," and of course, "The Farm Channel." Educational and entertaining for the younger crowd, each segment explores its topic using a variety of creative, quick-paced methods, enhanced by an upbeat soundtrack. (Ages 3 to 6) --Liane Thomas