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This moody thriller is about attractive youngish people in a college setting. Katie Burke (Katie Holmes) is an ambitious, hardworking college senior who is trying to complete her degree requirements while interviewing for a job. Two years earlier her boyfriend Embry (Charlie Hunnam) mysteriously disappeared, and Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) reopens the investigation of the disappearance. The busy Katie at first resents Wade taking up her time, but she eventually seemingly starts to fall for him. She is also perplexed when Embry unexpectedly reappears, and then there's the feeling that something is a little fishy about the girl known as Mousy Julie (Melanie Lynskey). Playing college students who are friends of Katie are Zooey Deschanel and Gabrielle Union.

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This biopic chronicles the strange life of Bob Crane, star of the old TV sitcom "Hogan's Heroes." The movie opens in 1964 with Crane (Greg Kinnear) living in the L.A. area with his wife and kids and working in radio. Soon Crane's agent (Ron Leibman) gets him the lead role in a new TV series, and "Hogan's Heroes" becomes a big hit that runs for several years. While doing the show, Crane meets video technician John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), and the two men start videotaping their sexual encounters with numerous women and later watching them. Eventually, Crane gets divorced and marries a co-star. After "Hogan's Heroes" ends, Crane works the dinner theater circuit, but he and Carpenter continue their videotaping of hundreds of sexual partners. In 1978 Crane was murdered in a motel room.

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"Empire" (2002)

This drama is about a South Bronx drug dealer who gets into big trouble when he moves to downtown Manhattan and becomes involved in big-time investing. Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) controls heroin distribution in a territory in his native South Bronx, where he has become very successful with his brand of the drug, which he calls Empire. Victor is in love with Carmen (Delilah Cotto), a college student, and it's through her classmate Trish (Denise Richards) that he meets investment banker Jack (Peter Sarsgaard). Jack convinces Victor to move closer to Wall Street and start putting his money into legal investments. But Victor soon learns that getting out of the heroin distribution business is not so easy, and the world he moves into proves far more treacherous than he expected.

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"The Grey Zone" (2001)

Set almost entirely at the Auschwitz death camp, this grim Holocaust drama is based loosely on historical events. The story centers around Sonderkommandos, squads of Jewish prisoners who help the Nazis carry out exterminations in exchange for better treatment and extra months of life. Some of the Sonderkommandos plot a daring uprising, during which they will blow up the crematoriums using gunpowder provided by munitions factory workers. This will at least temporarily slow the exterminations. But a major hitch arises when a teenager is found alive under a pile of corpses in the gas chamber where she was supposed to die. Among the actors in the film are David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, David Chandler, Allan Corduner, Harvey Keitel, Natasha Lyonne, and Mira Sorvino.

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"The Man From Elysian Fields" (2001)

The cast of this sophisticated, elegant film, which features sparkling dialogue, includes Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, Julianna Margulies, Olivia Williams, James Coburn, and Anjelica Huston. Byron Tiller (Garcia) is a struggling novelist who's trying to support a devoted wife Dena (Margulies) and child. Then he meets Luther Fox (Jagger), who runs an upscale escort service called Elysian Fields. Desperate for money, Byron accepts an assignment escorting Andrea Alcott (Williams) and meets her ailing old husband Tobias (Coburn). But Tobias is a famous novelist, and he enlists Byron's help in writing a new novel. Meanwhile, Luther falls in love with a longtime client, the wealthy Jennifer Adler (Huston). The movie has half a dozen major characters, and it explores the interrelationships among them.

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"Personal Velocity" (2001)

Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, wrote a collection of short stories that were published under the title "Personal Velocity." Later Ms. Miller wrote and directed this digital video movie, which contains three of the stories. In the first story, Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) is a working-class woman who once used sex to manipulate guys, then married an abusive husband. She flees and uses her sexuality again to get what she needs. In the second story, Greta (Parker Posey) is a married cookbook editor who's coasting. But when she works with a literary figure, she gets her ambition back. In the final story, Paula (Fairuza Balk) is a pregnant woman who's unenthusiastic about her boyfriend. But after a tragic accident, she picks up a troubled hitchhiker and gains greater self-knowledge.

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"Pokémon 4Ever" (2002)

This children's animated film is the fourth in a series about the Pokémon, short for Pocket Monsters. In Pokémon stories, school-age kids interact with the Pocket Monsters, which are small animated creatures that come in many different varieties. Recurring characters include the boy Ash, his friends Misty and Brock, and Ash's Pokémon called Pikachu. In "Pokémon 4Ever" Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu encounter a boy named Sam and a Pokémon called Celebi, who have time-traveled from 40-something years in the past. The main story is that Celebi, the Voice of the Forest, must be protected from a diabolical Pokémon hunter who has the capability of turning good Pokémon into evil ones. As always in a Pokémon movie, the little critters get into many ferocious battles.

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"Roger Dodger" (2002)

Most critics liked this character-driven indie comedy-drama. Roger Swanson (Campbell Scott) is a glib Manhattan advertising copywriter who was nicknamed "Roger Dodger" because of his ability to talk his way out of jams. A Lothario, the cynical Roger is always searching for women he can bed. But when the movie opens, Roger's lover (Isabella Rossellini) is in the process of dumping him. Then Roger's innocent 16-year-old nephew Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) shows up unexpectedly from Ohio, and the young man is eager to get some experience with women. Roger takes Nick on an after-dark adventure, during which they encounter two attractive young women (Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals). Over the course of their outing, things happen that cause both Nick and Roger to grow up a little.

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"Welcome to Collinwood" (2002)

Set in the Cleveland neighborhood of Collinwood, this heist comedy is an American remake of the Italian-language "Big Deal on Madonna Street" (1958). The complicated plot is set in motion when a petty thief named Cosimo (Luis Guzman) hears about a jewelry store with $300,000 in its safe, and he passes the story on to a down-on-his-luck boxer named Pero (Sam Rockwell). While Cosimo serves time behind bars, word of the $300,000 reaches other small-time crooks. Soon a motley, bumbling group of second-rate criminals, consisting of Pero, Toto (Michael Jeter), Riley (William H. Macy), Leon (Isaiah Washington), and Basil (Andrew Davoli), are proceeding with an elaborate plan to break into the jewelry store safe. Co-producer George Clooney makes a brief appearance in the movie.

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Additional Releases of Interest Coming to Video and DVD March 18, 2003

"Akira Kurosawa's Dreams" (1990)

Selected Special DVD Features:

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"NYPD Blue - Season One" (1993)

Selected Special DVD Features:

Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.

More New Video/DVD Releases for March, 2003

New Video/DVD Releases - March Week One

New Video/DVD Releases - March Week Two

New Video/DVD Releases - March Week Three

New Video/DVD Releases - March Week Four

More Video and DVD Releases Recommended New Releases on Video and DVD

Wondering what movies on video/DVD are worth watching? Here are a few recommendations.

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