DVDpedia : Library : Title : E

Theatrical: 1990

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Drama

Duration: 105

Summary: "Edward Scissorhands" achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the delicate flavor of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a pastel-colored suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty complexion and those nasty nicks he's given himself with his razor-sharp fingers. Soon Edward's skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make him popular in the neighborhood--but the mood turns just as swiftly against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires, particularly for Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim Burton's movies (such as "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", "Beetlejuice", "Batman") are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy, but "Edward Scissorhands" is more tender and personal than the others. Edward's wild black hair is much like Burton's, suggesting that the character represents the director's own feelings of estrangement and co-option. Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures Edward's childlike vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes horror icons like the vampire in "Nosferatu" and the sleepwalker in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly, "Edward Scissorhands" lays that heart bare. "--Bret Fetzer"

Theatrical: 1995

Studio: Tokyo Shock

Genre: Horror

Duration: 80

Summary: Misa Kuroi is an adorable high-school girl who arrives at her new school when it is falling under an evil supernatural force. Trying to figure out who's behind the supernatural attack, Misa also has to deal with assumptions by her fellow classmates that believe she is the one behind it all. Misa and twelve other students are kept late after school hours one day to retake an exam. Then, after sunset, the entire school is deserted, and the students find themselves trapped inside and their teacher no where to be found. One by one, the thirteen students are picked up and disposed of in horrific and graphic fashion. It is up to Misa to try and gain the trust of her fellow students so that she can protect them and stop the evil before it's too late.

Theatrical: 1996

Studio: Tokyo Shock

Genre: Horror

Duration: 83

Summary: I really enjoyed the first in this series and the second part does not fail to excite and titillate. Also,Its very scary. Unlike the 3rd movie the cast is the same.....at least Misa is the same (She's the Good chief witch).
If you can find them get both at the same time and watch them one after the other. There was a little bit more money for the 2nd one and you can see it on the screen.

Theatrical: 1997

Studio: Tokyo Shock

Genre: Horror

Duration: 95

Summary: Misa Kuroi is a good witch, but wherever she goes, evil follows. When a dying girl appears out of nowhere shouting Misa's name, our heroine goes to work. Following the clues, Misa transfers to the prestigious Saint Salem School for Girls and joins the Drama Club. Soon all the girls depart for a mysterious Drama Camp, deep in the woods.

Theatrical:

Studio: Adv Films

Genre: Anime

Duration: 325

Summary: Critics have described Elfen Lied as "weird,"(Anime Planet), "surprisingly sadistic,"(Gamerz Edge), and "addictive" (Animesou). Now wonder, when you consider what makes this series hum! Lucy, a beautiful young mutant, is bred by the government to be the ultimate weapon. Armed with unfathomable powers, she escapes her handlers, but loses her memory in the process. Fortunately, our young waif is taken in by two well-meaning students. Now, with government killers on her trail, the disposition of a five year old, and a hair trigger for ultraviolence, Lucy and her young friends must unravel the dark secret of her legacy before it's too late.

Theatrical: 1994

Studio: New Line Home Video

Genre: Drama

Duration: 92

Summary: A sensuous but innocent college freshman is seduced by a most obsessive lover.

Theatrical: 1995

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 90

Summary: This story about a day in the life of an independent record store, truly a threatened species, screeches with the sound of teenagers falling apart emotionally every five minutes. The script, which feels like an old guy's idea of how kids talk and think, concerns the young employees of a Delaware music shop faced with imminent extinction. While the ship is sinking, the staff indulge in tantrums, depressions, and run-ins with low self-esteem. There's a lot of noise in this thing, but not a lot is really said. Rory Cochrane has the best part as a secretive guy who loses the store's proceeds one night while gambling, Anthony LaPaglia is the adult boss and unofficial dad to the others, Renée Zellweger plays a promiscuous girl, and Liv Tyler is OK as a lovestruck sweet thing trying to get up the nerve to express her feelings to a fellow employee. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1996

Studio: Walt Disney Video

Genre: Drama

Duration: 160

Summary: Winner of nine Academy Awards and almost every critic's heart, "The English Patient" (based on Michael Ondaatje's prizewinning novel of love and loss during World War II) is one of the most acclaimed films of modern times. Hana, a nurse, (Juliette Binoche) tends to an archaeologist (Ralph Fiennes) who has been burnt to a crisp in a plane crash. As their relationship intensifies, he flashes back to his overwhelming passion for a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas). Meanwhile, Hana begins a new romance with a man who defuses bombs (Naveen Andrews) and Willem Dafoe almost steals the show as the thumbless thief Caravaggio. The intricately layered flashback narrative, sounding the depths of the lovers' hearts, improves with repeated viewings--especially with the sharp picture and digital sound of the digital video disc.

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: Dimension

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 107

Summary: A broad science fiction thriller in a classic vein, "Equilibrium" takes a respectable stab at a "Fahrenheit 451"-like cautionary fable. The story finds Earth's post-World War III humankind in a state of severe emotional repression: If no one feels anything, no one will be inspired by dark passions to attack their neighbors. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer's monochromatic, "Metropolis"-influenced cityscape provides an excellent backdrop to the heavy-handed mission of John Preston (Christian Bale), a top cop who busts "sense offenders" and crushes sentimental, sensual, and artistic relics from a bygone era. Predictably, Preston becomes intrigued by his victims and that which they die to cherish; he stops taking his mandatory, mood-flattening drug and is even aroused by a doomed prisoner (Emily Watson). Wimmer's wrongheaded martial arts/dueling guns motif is sheer silliness (a battle over a puppy doesn't help), but "Equilibrium" should be seen for Bale's moving performance as a man shocked back to human feeling. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 225

Summary: To know the origin of "Snoochie-Boochies," you "must" spend "An Evening with Kevin Smith". The Jersey-bred "auteur" of low-budget comedy proves equally adept as an uncensored raconteur, regaling five college audiences--his most devoted demographic--in this two-disc compilation of lively Q&A. Sporting his trademark slacker garb, Smith occasionally bites the loyal, sometimes moronic hands that feed him (as a result, audience participation is drop-dead hilarious), but he's arguably the most publicly and personally honest filmmaker to survive the insanity of Hollywood. His best stories lift the veil of show-biz decorum, describing absurd meetings with studio executives over his ill-fated screenplay "Superman Lives"; razzing the artsy pretensions of director Tim Burton; or exposing Prince (who hired him to direct a never-completed documentary) as a self-absorbed Jesus freak. These attacks aren't baseless; Smith's too smartly good-natured to provoke without purpose, and with an onstage visit by Jason Mewes ("Jay" to Smith's "Silent Bob"), this ribald, sharply assembled "Evening" compares favorably to Richard Pryor with its outrageous blend of comedy and candor. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 239

Summary: While watching "An Evening with Kevin Smith 2" (let's skip over that stupid subtitle, shall we?), you may ask yourself, "Why should I give a **** about anything Kevin Smith has to say?"--and then you'll be laughing in agreement with a lot of what he says. For better or worse, the potty-mouthed creator of "Clerks" and "Dogma" is an expert at combining his own "View Askew" perspective with stand-up comedy and ribald Q&A with (mostly) appreciative audiences. The novelty here is that Smith (now looking richer and more custom-tailored than he did on the cover of "An Evening with Kevin Smith ") is equally at home with fans in Toronto and London, where his cross-cultural observations inform much of their humorous interaction. Whether he's discussing the "X-Men" movies as homosexual allegory, recalling how his wife caught him masturbating to pictures of her that he shot for Playboy, or making prescient observations about Mel Gibson's career meltdown (just a few of the many topics covered here), Smith remains admirably frank about his fan-base, his limited skills as a filmmaker, and his counter-cultural status as a chubby fan-boy who made good in Hollywood. Even when he tests your tolerance with opinions best kept to himself, Smith is a focused observer of his own milieu, willing to expose his insecurities while refusing to suffer fools in his audience (and there are more than a few).

As with his previous stand-up DVD, Smith welcomes frequent (and now drug-free) costar Jason Mewes onstage for some extreme (and extremely funny) sex-talk, including demonstrations of Mewes' "half-half-whole" technique (don't ask), and later (as a disc 2 bonus feature) approaching young London women with a the kind of pick-up lines (like "Let me get up in them guts") that only a guy like Mewes could get away with. Dropping F-bombs like there's no tomorrow, Smith is crude but intelligent (nobody makes it on luck alone), and this two-disc set will satisfy established fans and would-be converts alike. Likewise, Smith-haters will find nothing to change their minds, since Smith occasionally comes across as smug and self-satisfied, even when he's really not. What matters here is the humor of a self-effacing guy who's never quite sure if he deserves his own success. That puts Smith on even terms with his fans, and it's that dynamic, more than anything else, that makes these concerts a whole lot of fun. --"Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1983

Studio: Anchor Bay

Genre: Horror

Duration: 85

Summary: In the fall of 1979, Sam Raimi and his merry band headed into the woods of rural Tennessee to make a movie. They emerged with a roller coaster of a film packed with shocks, gore, and wild humor, a film that remains a benchmark for the genre. Ash (cult favorite Bruce Campbell) and four friends arrive at a backwoods cabin for a vacation, where they find a tape recorder containing incantations from an ancient book of the dead. When they play the tape, evil forces are unleashed, and one by one the friends are possessed. Wouldn't you know it, the only way to kill a "deadite" is by total bodily dismemberment, and soon the blood starts to fly. Raimi injects tremendous energy into this simple plot, using the claustrophobic set, disorienting camera angles, and even the graininess of the film stock itself to create an atmosphere of dread, punctuated by a relentless series of jump-out-of-your-seat shocks. "The Evil Dead" lacks the more highly developed sense of the absurd that distinguish later entries in the series--"Evil Dead 2" and "Army of Darkness"--but it is still much more than a gore movie. It marks the appearance of one of the most original and visually exciting directors of his generation, and it stands as a monument to the triumph of imagination over budget. "--Simon Leake"

Theatrical: 1987

Studio: Anchor Bay

Genre: Horror

Duration: 85

Summary: Writer-director Sam Raimi's extremely stylized, blood-soaked follow-up to his creepy "Evil Dead" isn't really a sequel; rather, it's a remake on a better budget. It also isn't really a horror film (though there are plenty of decapitations, zombies, supernatural demons, and gore) as much as it is a hilarious, sophisticated slapstick send-up of the terror genre. Raimi takes every horror convention that exists and exaggerates it with mind-blowing special effects, crossed with mocking Three Stooges humor. The plot alone is a genre cliché right out of any number of horror films. Several teens (including our hero, Ash, played by Bruce Campbell in a manic tour-de-force of physical comedy) visit a broken-down cottage in the woods--miles from civilization--find a copy of the Book of the Dead, and unleash supernatural powers that gut every character in sight. All, that is, except Ash, who takes this very personally and spends much of the of the film getting his head smashed while battling the unseen forces. Raimi uses this bare-bones story as a stage to showcase dazzling special effects and eye-popping visuals, including some of the most spectacular point-of-view Steadicam work ever (done by Peter Deming). Although it went unnoticed in the theaters, the film has since become an influential cult-video favorite, paving the way for over-the-top comic gross-out films like Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive". "--Dave McCoy"

Theatrical: 1997

Studio: Miramax

Genre: Musical

Duration: 134

Summary: After more than a decade of false starts and several potential directors, the popular Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical finally made it to the big screen with Alan Parker ("The Commitments") at the helm and Madonna in the coveted title role of Argentina's first lady, Eva Perón. A triumph of production design, costuming, cinematography, and epic-scale pageantry, the film follows the rise of Eva Perón to the level of supreme social and political celebrity in the 1940s. Like Madonna, Perón was a material girl (she was only 33 when she died); she was instrumental in the political success of her husband, Juan Perón (Jonathan Pryce). But Eva was also a supremely tragic figure whose life was essentially hollow at its core despite the lavish benefits of her nearly goddess-like status. The film has a similar quality--it's visually astonishing but emotionally distant, and benefits greatly from the singing commentary of Ché (Antonia Banderas), who serves as a passionate chorus to guide the viewer through the elaborate parade of history. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1981

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 140

Summary: This lush retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is a dark and engrossing tale. Director John Boorman ("Deliverance") masterfully handles the tale of the mythical sword Excalibur, and its passing from the wizard Merlin to the future king of England. Arthur pulls the famed sword from a stone and is destined to be crowned king. As the king embarks on a passionate love affair with Guenevere, an illegitimate son, and Merlin's designs on power, threaten Arthur's reign. The film is visually stunning and unflinching in its scenes of combat and black magic. Featuring an impressive supporting cast, including early work from the likes of Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne, "Excalibur" is an adaptation of the legend both faithful and bold. "--Robert Lane"

Theatrical:

Studio: Adv Films

Genre: Anime

Duration: 650

Summary: One of anime's all-time greatest comedies is back in an all-new, affordable package! The secret organization ACROSS wants to conquer the world, one city at a tyime! And the unbelievably hyper and certifyably insane senior agent Excel will stop at noth

Theatrical: 1999

Studio: Dimension

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Duration: 97

Summary: Director David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ" is a stew of corporate espionage, virtual reality gaming, and thriller elements, marinated in Cronenberg's favorite Crock-Pot juices of technology, physiology, and sexual metaphor. Jennifer Jason Leigh is game designer Allegra Geller, responsible for the new state-of-the-art eXistenZ game system; along with PR newbie Ted Pikul (Jude Law), they take the beta version of the game for a test drive and are immersed in a dangerous alternate reality. The game isn't quite like PlayStation, though; it's a latexy pod made from the guts of mutant amphibians and plugs via an umbilical cord directly into the user's spinal column (through a BioPort). It powers up through the player's own nervous system and taps into the subconscious; with several players it networks their brains together. Geller and Pikul's adventures in the game reality uncover more espionage and an antigaming, proreality insurrection. The game world makes it increasingly difficult to discern between reality and the game, either through the game's perspective or the human's. More accessible than "Crash", "eXistenZ" is a complicated sci-fi opus, often confusing, and with an ending that leaves itself wide open for a sequel. Fans of Cronenberg's work will recognize his recurring themes and will eat this up. Others will find its shallow characterizations and near-incomprehensible plot twists a little tedious. "--Jerry Renshaw"