Husbands and Wives Woody Allen  
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In 1992, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow—heretofore the Lunt and Fontanne of Hollywood on the Hudson—went public with a media-saturated battle over Allen's affair with Farrow's adopted daughter. Only a few months later, Allen released this film, starring himself and Farrow acting out a virtually identical plot line: an unhappy marriage begins to crumble when the husband strays with a much younger woman (in this case, one of his students, played by Juliette Lewis). It turned out to be one of Allen's most lacerating comedies, a story about the fragility of relationships and the foolishness of older men seeking to recapture their youth with younger women. It features strong performances by Judy Davis, Liam Neeson, and director Sydney Pollack, as a friend of Allen's who chucks his longtime wife for an aerobics instructor, thus planting seeds of marital dissolution in all of his friends' heads. Husbands and Wives provided an uncanny peek into Allen's image of himself and his personal life, despite all of his protestations to the contrary. —Marshall Fine

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The Purple Rose of Cairo Woody Allen  
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One of the high points of Woody Allen's career. Cecilia (Mia Farrow), a depression-era waitress married to a brutish husband (Danny Aiello), finds her only escape at the movies, her current favorite being a light comedy about an explorer among socialites, called The Purple Rose of Cairo. She sees it so many times that the main character, Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), falls in love with her and steps off the screen to woo her. When news of this gets back to the movie studio, the producers send the actor who played Baxter (also Daniels) to convince Baxter to get back on the screen. The script is one of Allen's funniest, but underlying the whole story is a current of sadness that gives the movie's ending a surprising impact. Allen himself considers The Purple Rose of Cairo to be his personal favorite of his own films. A gem. —Bret Fetzer

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Hour of the Wolf Ingmar Bergman  
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The delicate, dangerous line between genius and insanity is brilliantly plumbed in this haunting film from Ingmar Bergman that's "a dazzling flow of surrealism, expressionism and full-blooded Gothic horror" (The Observer). Haunted by demons past and present, artist Johan Borg (Max von Sydow) fights a losing battle to retain his sanity and maintain his artistic prowess. His wife Alma (Liv Ullmann), desperate to help him, finds herself starting to share his hallucinations. But as Johan's mind continues to unravel, Alma is forced to choose between her love and her life.

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Duck Soup Leo McCarey  
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The Marx Brothers are at their hilarious best in this insanely satirical comedic romp. Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo set international relations on its ear—and the audience in stitches—with their rapid-fire wit and hijinks. Not to be missed, "Duck Soup" is one of the Marx Brothers' most popular films.

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Sleeper Woody Allen  
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Miles Monroe has been cryogenically frozen for 100 years. When he's illegally awakened, he discovers he's a wanted criminal in world that has drastically changed from the one he left behind.

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Bananas Woody Allen  
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Woody Allen's second film as a director, co-writer and star takes parody to the extreme with a brilliant send-up of everything from relationships to dictatorships. An early example of what Allen called his "slapdash" approach to comedy, Bananas' broad, fast humor and rapid-fire witticisms form a dazzling kaleidoscope of "inspired ingenuity and comic artistry" (Look). When bumbling product-tester, Fielding Mellish (Allen) is jilted by his girlfriend, Nancy (Louise Lasser),he heads to the tiny republic of San Marcos for a vacation only to become kidnapped by rebels! Oncethe band of rebels seizes power, their leader goes crazy, and they replace him with Mellish, thinking he can save the country. But when Mellish is nabbed by the FBI, he is put on trial for subversionand in a side-splitting courtroom showdownincluding the most hilarious self-cross examination everWoody Allen proves beyond a doubt that he is not only our most gifted satirist he's a master comic artist.

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Smiles Of A Summer Night - Criterion Collection Ingmar Bergman  
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Distinguished lawyer Frederik Egerman lives with Anne, his picturesque, young wife, his son Henrik, a forlorn student of the cloth, and Petra, the flirtatious yet sensible maid. One summer evening Frederik takes Anne to see a play starring his former lover Desirée, the veteran actress with an equally seasoned reputation. With her glamorous stage entrance and one inviting smile, she sparks the lives of the parties involved into a game of love and loyalty that barely masks each player's percolating insecurities. Through witty dialogue, theatrical direction, and an ensemble cast, director Ingmar Bergman delivers a raw exhibition of human desire.

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Persona Ingmar Bergman  
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With some of the most iconic imagery ever committed to film this exceptionally beautiful specimen of movie-making (The New Yorker) is recognized as a modern masterpiece and a landmark in late twentieth-century art (Time Out London). Actress Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann) has stopped speaking and withdrawn completely. Under doctor s orders she s taken to a remote seaside cottage by a nurse Alma (Bibi Andersson). Alma chats to fill the silence and gradually begins to lay bare her entire identity until she discovers it is being coolly sucked away from her. As the women battle for control and sanity the question becomes not which of them is patient and which is caregiver but are they two separate women at all?Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: NR UPC: 027616902221 Manufacturer No: 1005993

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Scoop Woody Allen  
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Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman star in this hilariously twisted tale of murder and mystery! When an inquisitive college journalist (Johansson) stumbles upon new clues to a string of murders her investigation leads directly to a handsome businessman (Jackman) who draws her in with his mysterious charm. Could a whirlwind romance with the subject of her search also become the most dangerous scoop of a lifetime? Experience the laughs in this witty new comedy that will have you guessing until the very end! System Requirements:Run Time: 96 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 025193121325 Manufacturer No: 62031213

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Manhattan [1979] Woody Allen  
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Manhattan, Woody Allen's follow-up to Oscar-winning Annie Hall, is a film of many distinctions: its glorious all-Gershwin score, its breathtakingly elegant black-and-white, widescreen cinematography by Gordon Willis (best-known for shooting the Godfather movies); its deeply shaded performances; its witty screenplay that marked a new level in Allen's artistic maturity; and its catalogue of Things that Make Life Worth Living. Allen's "Rhapsody in Gray" concerns, as his own character puts it, "people in Manhattan who are constantly creating these real, unnecessary, neurotic problems for themselves, because it keeps them from dealing with more insoluble, terrifying problems about the universe". It's a romantic comedy about infidelity and betrayal, the rules of love and friendship, young girls (a radiant and sweet Mariel Hemingway) and older men (Allen), innocence, and sophistication. (a favourite phrase is used to describe a piece of sculpture at the Guggenheim: "It has a marvellous kind of negative capability".) The film's themes can be summed up in two key lines: "I can't believe you met somebody you like better than me", and "It's very important to have some kind of personal integrity". OK, so they may not sound like such sparkling snatches of brilliant dialogue, but Manhattan puts those ideas across with such emotion that you feel an ache in your heart. —Jim Emerson

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September Woody Allen  
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Woody Allen delivers a haunting, "superbly constructed" (The Hollywood Reporter) film that examines the intricate world of human emotions and the delicate threads that hold them together. Beautifully acted by an all-star cast, including Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston, Dianne Wiest, Denholm Elliott, Elaine Stritch and Jack Warden, September illustrates "some of Allen's most powerfully ironic dialogue in years" (Screen International). After a devastating nervous breakdown, emotionally fragile Lane (Farrow) has returned to her childhood home in Vermont to recuperate. Buoyed by a summer romance with neighboring writer Peter (Waterston), Lane is soon determined to leave Vermont and start a new life. But when Peter's affections mysteriously cool, and Lane's overbearing mother arrives with a shocking announcement, Lane finds herself suddenly tangled in a destructive web of passion, deception and manipulation. Now her only way out of her emotional tailspin is to confront the fear she's never escaped a terrifying secret that has haunted her entire life.

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Across the Universe Julie Taymor  
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Across the Universe from director Julie Taymor is a revolutionary rock musical that re-imagines America in the turbulent late-1960s a time when battle lines were being drawn at home and abroad. When young dockworker Jude (Jim Sturgess) leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in America he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) a rich but sheltered American girl who joins the growing anti-war movement in New York s Greenwich Village. As the body count in Vietnam rises political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad. With a cameo by Bono Across the Universe is the kind of movie you watch again like listening to a favorite album. (Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN-TIMES)System Requirements:Run Time: 133 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396194625 Manufacturer No: 19462

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask Louise Lasser, Wilder, Gene  
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Woody Allen pushes the frontiers of comedy by consolidating his madcap sensibility and wickedly funny irreverence with his developing penchant for visually arresting humor. Giving complete indulgenceto the zany eccentricity of his medium, Allen reveals himself as a filmmaker of "wit, sophistication, and comic insight" (Cue). Allen rises to the occasion with several hysterical vignettes that probe sexuality's stickiest issues! Aphrodisiacs prove effective for a court jester (Allen) who finds the key to the Queen's (Lynn Redgrave) heartbut learns that the key to her chastitybelt might be more useful. Unnatural acts get wild and wooly when a good doctor (Gene Wilder) fallsfor a fickle sheep. Jack Barry gives fetishism 20 questions on a wacky TV show called "What's My Perversion?" Sex-research goes under the microscope when a mad scientist (John Carradine) unleashes a monstrous, marauding breast. And the absurdity comes to a frenzied climax with Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds and Allen as sperm having second thoughts about ejaculation!

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