| Coming Soon to Video and DVD | |
| Part 3: A Sneak Peek at Next Week's Releases on Video/DVD |
There are some interesting video/DVD releases slated for next week, including "8 Mile," "Abandon," "Auto Focus," "Empire," and "The Grey Zone." Let's take a look at these movies on DVD and video, along with some interesting additional releases.
March 18 - Video and DVD Releases
"8
Mile" (2002)
Tagline:
"Find your voice."
Length:
110 minutes
MPAA Rating:
R for strong language, sexuality, some violence and drug use
Eminem stars in this drama directed by Curtis Hanson. Young Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem) is a low-paid blue-collar worker in Detroit who has just broken up with his girlfriend and moved in with his trashy mom (Kim Basinger). Jimmy would like to be a hip-hop artist, but he's reluctant to pursue his passion, partly because he's white and nearly all rappers are black. But a black friend called Future (Mekhi Pfifer) encourages and helps Jimmy, who eventually meets with some acceptance as a hip-hop performer going by the name "Rabbit." Along the way, Rabbit forms something of a relationship with an attractive young woman (Brittany Murphy). As Rabbit copes with living at home, the dreariness of his day job, and the uphill struggle of becoming a hip-hop artist, he begins to find himself.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Abandon"
(2002)
Tagline:
"Watch who you leave behind."
Length:
99 minutes
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for drug and alcohol content, sexuality, some violence and language
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.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Auto
Focus" (2002)
Tagline: "A
day without sex is a day wasted."
Length:
107 minutes
MPAA Rating:
R for strong sexuality, nudity, language, some drug use and violence
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.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Empire"
(2002)
Tagline:
"Two worlds collide."
Length:
90 minutes
MPAA Rating:
R for strong violence, pervasive language, drug content and some sexuality.
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.
Selected
Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"The
Grey Zone" (2001)
Tagline:
"The story you haven't seen."
Length:
108 minutes
MPAA Rating:
R for strong holocaust violence, nudity and language
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.
Selected
Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
Next Page - Additional Video/DVD Releases Coming Next Week
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