Oklahoma, 1873. Jed Cooper, mistaken for a rustler and killer, is lynched on the spot by crooked lawman Captain Wilson and a rampaging band of vigilantes. But as Wilson and his gang flee the scene, there's one very important detail they've overlooked: Cooper is still alive! Saved in the nick of time by a sheriff, Cooper takes on the job of deputy marshal in order to bring hard-handed justice to the Oklahoma territory... and to the nine men who "done him wrong."
Halloween is as pure and undiluted as its title. In the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, a teenage baby sitter tries to survive a Halloween night of relentless terror, during which a knife-wielding maniac goes after the town's hormonally charged youths. Director John Carpenter takes this simple situation and orchestrates a superbly mounted symphony of horrors. It's a movie much scarier for its dark spaces and ominous camera movements than for its explicit bloodletting (which is actually minimal).
Bill Murray does warmth in his most consistently effective post-Stripes comedy, a romantic fantasy about a wacky weatherman forced to relive one strange day over and over again, until he gets it right. Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to watch the famous groundhog encounter his shadow, Murray falls into a time warp that is never explained but pays off so richly that it doesn't need to be.
Gremlins is a whee of a film (if you don't mind the occasional gross-out) from producer Steven Spielberg, writer Chris Columbus, and director Joe Dante. Zach Galligan is the young man whose inventor father (Hoyt Axton) gives him an odd Christmas present: a tiny, furry creature that comes with a set of rules: don't get him wet, don't feed him after midnight, and keep him away from direct sunlight. But Galligan breaks the first rule and the damp little critter pops out a dozen little offspring.
A stirring example of courage and the indomitable human spirit, for many John Sturges's The Great Escape is both the definitive World War II drama and the nonpareil prison escape movie. Featuring an unequalled ensemble cast in a rivetingly authentic true-life scenario set to Elmer Bernstein's admirable music, this picture is both a template for subsequent action-adventure movies and one of the last glories of Golden Age Hollywood.
The beloved book about a young wizard named Harry became a huge hit as a big screen feature and now makes its debut as deluxe DVD. In the film Daniel Radcliffe portrays the young orphan who gets invited to attend the exclusive Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after years of living with his horrible aunt and uncle. At school he discovers his true heritage as the son of a witch and wizard, and faces a daunting force of evil. Get ready for fun, adventure, and action with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Some movie-loving wizards must have cast a magic spell on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, because it's another grand slam for the Harry Potter franchise. Demonstrating remarkable versatility after the arthouse success of Y Tu Mama Tambien, director Alfonso Cuaron proves a perfect choice to guide Harry, Hermione, and Ron into treacherous puberty as the now 13-year-old students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry face a new and daunting challenge: Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban prison, and for reasons yet unknown (unless, of course, you've read J.K.
A hilarious Sold Cinema send-up, this ultra-slick, urban action-comedy blows '70s blaxploitation movies right out of the 'hood! Featuring the very funny Wayans family (Keenen, Damon and Kim), Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas, Isaac Hayes, Jim Brown, Janet DuBois, David Alan Grier, Kadeem Hardison and Chris Rock, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka is a perfect "mixture of nostalgia, silliness and genuinely unpredictable humor." -The New York Times. Jack Spade, a goody-goody war hero with medals for shorthand, returns to the ghetto to discover that his brother, Junebug, has OG'd (Over-Golded) on jewelry.
After the release of Withnail & I, British writer-director Bruce Robinson continued his satirical assault on British culture with this fiendishly funny rant, the title of which can be taken figuratively and literally as an object lesson in the art of consumer manipulation. Nobody dupes consumers better than Dennis Bagley (Richard E. Grant); his genius in crafting seductive ad campaigns has earned him a country estate, countless awards, an admiring boss, a loving wife (Rachel Ward), and, well, a gigantic boil on his shoulder that's like a throbbing zit from hell.
Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn star in this hilarious romantic comedy about the consequences of "stretching" the truth. When architect Newton Davis' girlfriend Becky (Dana Delany) turns down his marriage proposal, his newly-built dream house suddenly becomes nothing more than an empty monument to her rejection. That is, until a chance encounter with Gwen (Hawn) turns his life upside-down. Intrigued by Newton's story, Gwen visits the house and decides to move in on her own.
