Production notes

Excalibur

This lush retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is a dark and engrossing tale. Director John Boorman (Deliverance) masterfully handles the tale of the mythical sword Excalibur, and its passing from the wizard Merlin to the future king of England. Arthur pulls the famed sword from a stone and is destined to be crowned king. As the king embarks on a passionate love affair with Guenevere, an illegitimate son, and Merlin's designs on power, threaten Arthur's reign. The film is visually stunning and unflinching in its scenes of combat and black magic.

What Lies Beneath

A good old-fashioned thriller that wears its Alfred Hitchcock pedigree proudly on its sleeve, What Lies Beneath stars Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as picture-perfect married couple Norman and Claire Spencer, who seem happy and content with a fabulous house, college-age daughter and still-active libidos. When said daughter heads off to college, Claire starts obsessing about her new neighbors, and becomes convinced that the moody husband killed the neurotic wife, and that the wife's ghost has a desperately important message for her.

U.S. Marshals

We are initiating a hard-target search for a fugitive in an ever-widening perimeter. We will navigate swamps, prowl Manhattan streets, search every house and doghouse. And since Marshal Sam Gerard leads the hunt, we will experience suspense, action and daring twists every step of the way. Returning to his Oscar-winning role from The Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones joins Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr. in delivering adrenaline-rush excitement.

Weekend At Bernie's

Weekend at Bernie's starts when two lowly clerks at an insurance agency uncover a $2 million fraud and report it to their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser). Unfortunately for them, Bernie is the one behind the fraud, and he invites them to his island beach house for the weekend, where he intends to have them killed by his mob contacts. Unfortunately for Bernie, the mob decides to rub him out instead--and thus begin the necrotic hijinks. The clerks, Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy), arrive and discover Bernie's body.

Tequila Sunrise

Robert Towne is one of Hollywood's most celebrated screenwriters, but because his directorial efforts have been few and far between, anticipation was high when this star-powered crime story was released in 1988. Critical reaction was decidedly mixed, but there's plenty to admire in this silky, visually seductive film about a drug dealer (Mel Gibson) whose best friend from high-school (Kurt Russell) is now working for the Los Angeles sheriff's drug detail.

Tin Cup

An unreachable shot to the green. A hopeless romance. Driving-range pro Roy McAvoy can't resist an impossible challenge. Each is what he calls a defining moment. You define it. Or it defines you. With lady-killer charm and a game that can make par with garden tools, Kevin Costner rejoins Bull Durham filmmaker Ron Shelton for another funny tale of the games people play. For Costner's Roy, golf is a head - and - heart game. On both counts, that's where shrink Molly Griswold (Rene Russo) comes in.

Tootsie

One of the touchstone movies of the 1980s, Tootsie stars Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who disguises himself as a dowdy, middle-aged woman to get a part on a hit soap opera. The scheme works, but while he/she keeps up the charade, Hoffman's character comes to see life through the eyes of the opposite sex. The script by Larry Gelbart (with Murray Schisgal) is a winner, and director Sydney Pollack brings taut proficiency to the comedy and sensitivity to the relationship nuances that emerge from Hoffman's drag act.

Total Recall

This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination.

Talk Radio

A Dallas talk radio host discovers that his skill for pushing people's buttons has won him a chance for national syndication. But instead of celebrating, he pushes his friends, co-workers and audience to the limit. Eric Bogosian turns his stage play into a movie which delivers the goods left and right. Fierce, insane, brusingly humorous and very well acted indeed. Bogosian goes out in a blaze of glory, lacing his peformance with everything he's got. A true Oliver Stone (The Doors, Alexander) tour de force in full bloom. Also starring Ellen Greene (Pump Up The Volume), John C.

That Old Feeling

The wedding from hell just sparked a match made in heaven! Comedy legend Carl Reiner directs the hottest couple of the year, Bette Midler & Dennis Farina in an irresistibly funny, incurably romantic motion picture that celebrates the "lighter" side of love. Happily divorced for 14 years, Lilly and Dan still have one thing in common, they hate each other with nuclear capacity. But after a knock-down, drag-out fight at their daughter's wedding, their pent-up hostility suddenly turns to unbridled passion!

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