Having been stymied in the midst of trying to make Matewan, John Sayles wrote what he thought could be a cheap, quick little movie and it turned out to be this near classic, which blends fish-out-of-water comedy with trenchant and serious science fiction. Joe Morton plays an extraterrestrial whose spaceship crashes in New York Harbor. When he swims ashore, he finds that most of Harlem is filled with earthlings who look just like him. He can't speak, but he quickly learns to communicate; he also finds ways to understand these strange, quarrelsome creatures, who seem to talk forever without really saying much. Sayles is at his economic best, drawing a touchingly complex performance from the silent Morton and good acting from a strong supporting cast of mostly unknowns. -Marshall Fine.

After malicious gangsters capture Bruce Lee's ex-girlfriend, a young martial artist attempts to rescue her - and the late master's book containing lethal techniques for killing with one's fingers. Plenty of Kung-fu action and mayhem including a particularly gruesome scene involving the torture of a girl with a deadly snake! Bonus Features: Anamorphic Widescreen Enhanced for 16x9 monitor| Bonus Martial Arts Trailers| Scene Selection. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 80 minutes; Color; 1. 85:1Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1980; SRP - $9. 99.

This film centers on a famous sword a master swordsman and a young fighter obsessed with a personal quest. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SPORTS/GAMES/MIXED MARTIAL ARTS Rating: NR UPC: 669657486522 Manufacturer No: CRM-DV4865.

A rather mean-spirited vehicle for the normally empathetic Chow Yun-fat, with a brass-knuckle plot that recalls the Crook's Revenge story line of Payback and its source movie, Point Blank. Chow is Joe (just plain Joe), a tattooed, crew-cut professional thief who chews Clint Eastwood's old stogies, packs a sawed-off shotgun, and roars around on a chopped Harley. Betrayed and left for dead by turncoat pal Anthony Wong (the head gunrunner in John Woo's Hard Boiled), he returns several months later, in a really bad mood, to retrieve his share of the swag. The rabbit-punch aesthetic of director Ringo Lam is certainly compelling, and there are genuine innovations in the depiction of violence-like a shooting filmed from the bullet's point of view. The Asian-American actress Ann Bridgewater swivels her way through a couple of hot dance numbers as Joe's stripper girlfriend. -David Chute Make contact with this action-packed thriller! When Chow Yun-Fat tries to get his friend out of a gambling debt, he joins forces in a weapons heist. The job goes bad and he's betrayed by the leader, so he plots the ultimate revenge. But can he follow through with his plan?.

Escaflowne is a sprawling adventure saga that infuses sword-and-sorcery and mecha elements into the popular "magical girl" anime genre. The girl is Hitomi Kanzaki (voice by Kelly Sheridan), a withdrawn teenager who wishes she could just leave everything behind and vanish. When she's magically transported to the alternate world of Gaia, she gets her wish-in spades. The dashing Van (Kirby Morrow) of the White Dragon Clan is pitted against his twisted brother Folken (Paul Dobson), the leader of the Black Dragon Clan, in a succession war that threatens the very existence of Gaia. Hitomi is hailed as the long-awaited "Wing Goddess," and her power over the invincible dragon-mecha suit Escaflowne confirms her status. Although the tangled story line has been pared down, the feature remains a reworking of the 26-part TV series The Vision of Escaflowne, which aired briefly on Fox Kids and is available on DVD. Fans of the television series will find that many of the familiar characters have been redesigned and reduced to minor roles, among them Allen, Princess Millerna, Dryden, Merle, Naria, and Eriya. Some of the story's more outré elements have been dropped, but there are still more prophecies, conflicts, and relationships than the filmmakers can resolve satisfactorily in 96 minutes, despite a pat happy ending. Escaflowne boasts some impressive action sequences, which Kazuki Akane directs with panache. The film opens with a spectacular sword fight, as Van single-handedly dispatches the guards on an enemy airship to capture Escaflowne. [+]

Tohru Fujisawa's outrageous character Eikichi Onizuka has enjoyed a surprisingly long career: the 25-volume manga Great Teacher Onizuka has been adapted into a 43-episode anime series and, in live action, a TV drama, a TV special, and the feature GTO. In the popular anime series, Onizuka is a buff, foul-mouthed, chain-smoking lecher who ogles his students' breasts. Actor Takashi Sorimachi, who played Onizuka in the TV series as well as the feature, is slimmer, older, and a little less hormonal. In both the live action and the animation, Onizuka demonstrates his affection for his students by administering a slapstick brand of tough love. Onizuka makes it his mission to bring together picked-on nerd Raku (Hideyuki Kasahara) and ostracized rich girl Ayano Katsuragi (Rena Tanaka) in GTO. He defies her big-shot father, outsmarts the local cops, upsets the other teachers, and wins his students' hearts. He also dodges an ambitious journalist who's convinced he's a notorious thief. Director Masayuki Suzuki keeps the story moving and plays the car chases, crashes, pratfalls, and bicycle wrecks like an old Smokey and the Bandit movie. It's hardly great cinema, but it's a harmless diversion for fans who've exhausted the animated version. (Not rated, suitable for ages 14 and older: risqué humor, mild violence, alcohol and tobacco use) -Charles Solomon Great Teacher Onizuka has taken the anime and manga market by storm, and now he's taking on his first live action move. [+]

Toriyasu is a lazy, ordinary 10-year-old boy, who wearily endures the outbursts of his boisterous younger sister, Meeko. When his dog Papadoll turns up missing, Meeko is sure the pet has been abducted by aliens. Her suspicions prove correct, as the children find themselves being not kidnapped but "escorted" by three talking cats to Banipal Witt, a feline world that exists in another dimension. Papadoll was brought there by the nasty Princess Buburina: exposure to its magical sun has turned the hapless pooch into a bizarre, destructive monster. (Banipal Witt's sun also turns Toriyasu and Meeko into kittens. ) Saving the cat kingdom, Papadoll, and themselves pits the children and their allies against Buburina and her henchcats in a wild air battle. Anime fans will be surprised to learn that this gentle, brightly colored fantasy was written and directed by Takashi Nakamura, the animation director of Akira, with a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka (Lain). Art director Shinji Kumara makes Banipal Witt a dazzling fantasyland of brilliant colors, balloons, and cat-shaped buildings that combines elements of Yellow Submarine, Ub Iwerks's Pincushion Man, and an amusement park. Although the animation is limited, few big-budget American features can match Catnapped! for sheer visual imagination. (Ages 5 and older) -Charles Solomon.

Originally broadcast on PBS, the superlative Kurosawa is likely to remain the definitive documentary on the life and work of Japanese film master Akira Kurosawa. The film follows the conventional documentary approach of a chronology of Kurosawa's career, with requisite film clips and interviews with many of Kurosawa's surviving collaborators and family members. Western admirers like James Coburn, Clint Eastwood, and Japanese film scholar Donald Richie are also interviewed, and director Adam Low provides a more contemplative appreciation of Kurosawa's life and work. Enhanced by Sam Shepard's straightforward narration and Paul Scofeld's evocative readings from Kurosawa's elusive autobiography, the film functions as both honorable tribute and touching retrospective, especially when the surviving crewmembers of Rashomon are assembled for a 50-year reunion filled with anecdotes and insiders' perspective. All in all, this is must-see viewing for any lover of film. -Jeff Shannon From Ran to Madadayo, Akira Kurosawa set new boundaries for world cinema, producing a string of masterpieces unrivaled in motion picture history. In the first major documentary to be made since his death in 1998, Kurosawa's family and colleagues are joined by critics from Japan and America to produce a comprehensive assessment of his achievement. Featuring clips from Kurosawa's greatest films: Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, Kagemusha, Ran, Dreams, and Madadayo. Includes exclusive interviews with James Coburn and Clint Eastwood along with production manager Teruyo Nogami, actresses Machiko Kyo and Isuzu Yamada, actor Tatsuya Nakadai, director Kon Ichikawa, and more. 115 minutes.

Based on the manga by Saki Okuse, Twilight of the Dark Master is a brief-less than 45 minutes-feature that is long on static imagery but rather short on storytelling. Although the opening narration tells of the Great Mother creating demons and guardians, humans are transformed into demons through drugs and bioengineering onscreen. As he's celebrating his engagement, Eiji, a pharmaceutical researcher, metamorphoses into a monster resembling Ray Harryhausen's Cyclops in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Eiji goes on a rampage until he's captured by the eerie brother-sister team of Chen and Huang Long, who take him to a sex club and feed him prostitutes. Eiji is part of an experiment conducted by Mr. Takamiya, the master demon. Opposing the forces of evil is Guardian and "fire manipulator" Tsunami Shijyo. Tsunami and Takamiya meet in a duel that ends before it really begins. Director Akiyuki Shimbo favors still images with the action occurring on the soundtrack, producing a striking but static feature that resembles a manga shot panel by panel, rather than a conventional animated film. Not rated ("for mature audiences"); suitable for ages 18 and up for nudity, violence, violence against women, suggestions of rape, and incest. [+]

EXTRA FEATURES: Costume design • How to fight on stage • Illustrated synopsis • The cast and their characters • Choreographing Carmen • The Gardens of Glyndebourne • Booklet with new short story by novelist Jeanette Winterson An exhilarating new Carmen from Glyndebourne. Director David McVicar describes Carmen as "the first ever musical", and in his new production, with Anne Sofie von Otter in the title role, Carmen is restored to the original Opera Comique as Bizet wrote it, stripping away subsequent re-workings which turned it into a grand opera. Philippe Jordan makes his Glyndebourne debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Glyndebourne Chorus and a cast that includes Marcus Haddock, Laurent Naouri and Lisa Milne.

Platform:  DVD MOVIE Publisher:  MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT Packaging:  DVD STYLE BOX The Ninja action is non-stop in this thrill packed compilation featuring films like Ninja Death I II and III Ninja Champion and Ninja: The Protector. Plus a line-up of martial arts masters including Bruce Baron Richard Harrison Lee Van Cleef Mike Abbott and Michael Chan. Specifications:Format: 2 DVD's NTSCLanguage: EnglishRun Time: 13 hours 48 minutesIncluded1. City Ninja During World War II a valuable pendant is taken into hiding to protect it from those who would use it for evil. Years later men are still trying to retrieve the pendant now separated into two parts for safekeeping and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. A young tournament fighter who is traveling to a big event unwittingly becomes involved in the recovery of the mysterious pendant. 2. Master The: Max Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten) meets John Peter McAllister (Lee Van Cleef) a Korean War veteran who remained in Japan after the war eventually joining and training in a ninja sect. McAllister is searching for his daughter whom he hadn't known existed and the two set out together with Keller helping in the search in exchange for McAllister training him in the ways of the ninja. Following McAllister from Japan is his former student who has been assigned the task of killing his former teacher for leaving the ninja sect. [+]

The secret warriors of feudal Japan were the Ninja. Sent on impossible missions, the Ninja were trained to work in shadows, gather information and defeat the enemy to build a world of peace. Red Shadow, Blue Shadow and Aska are neophyte ninjas under the tutelage of White Shadow. Their life is a series of perilous missions that entail intrigue, deception and intimidation.

MOHRA - Pawns is a contemporary tale of people who use others to achieve their goals, not realizing that they too could become pawns in the hands of fate and destiny. Vishal Agnihotri (Sunil Shetty) is sentenced to life imprisonment for killing four college students responsible for the death of his wife Priya (Poonam Jhawer). Roma Singh (Raveena Tandon) is a journalist who meets Vishal in jail where he comes to her rescue. Roma learns of Vishal's predicament and decides to help him by taking his case to Mr. Jindal (Naseeruddin Shah), a blind media tycoon. Mr. Jindal through his connections and media forces a Special Jury to review Vishal's case which later pardons Vishal. Inspector Amar Saxena (Akshay Kumar), Roma's boyfriend, is not happy with Roma's involvement in setting Vishal, a convicted criminal, free. Vishal is indebted to Mr. Jindal and undertakes a risky mission which means taking law into his own hands. [+]

The most kaleidoscopic crime thriller you'll ever see. Nowhere to Hide is about a team of cops tracking down a murderous drug lord-but the plot is the only ordinary thing about the movie. Nowhere to Hide uses just about every visual trick imaginable: slow motion, rapid-fire editing, different film textures (from gritty black and white to luminous color), freeze-frames, as well as techniques that have only become possible with computers and that are impossible to describe. But the movie has more than visual razzle-dazzle: scenes go off in bizarre directions, the tone shifts radically from hyperviolence to total sentimentality (in one scene, the loose-cannon detective is brutally beating a handcuffed prisoner; moments later, he's as happy as a little boy when his sister gives him a pair of gloves), the characters are outrageously melodramatic. The soundtrack shares this amazing cinematic schizophrenia, featuring light pop songs, shrieking heavy metal, moody Spanish guitar, and soaring classical. The overall effect is dizzying, disorienting, but at the same time giddy and exciting. The closest American equivalent is Charlie's Angels; these are movies that have moved beyond story logic and character development into sheer sensory enjoyment; movies that push action-movie techniques to the point of becoming almost avant-garde, some insane hybrid of John Woo and Jean-Luc Godard. Not to be missed. -Bret Fetzer.

No Description Available. Genre: Feature Film-ComedyRating: PG13Release Date: 16-AUG-2005Media Type: 3\"" Mini DVD for PH.