Library

Languages: English

Subtitles: French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: This is one of those movies that works for all the wrong reasons--disgusting, lowbrow, base humor that we are all far too sophisticated to find amusing. So, just don't tell anyone you still think it's a riot to watch John Belushi as the brutish Bluto slurp Jell-O or terrorize his less-aggressive fellow students. This crude parody of college life in the '60s spawned many imitations, but none could match the fresh-faced talent or bad taste of this huge box office success. (Remember all those toga parties in the '80s?) The first of the National Lampoon movies, this was originally released as "National Lampoon's Animal House". Keep an eye out for a very young Kevin Bacon in his first credited screen appearance. "--Rochelle O'Gorman"

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0

Summary: Except for feature-length animation, the musical has gone the way of the dinosaur. The Walt Disney company took a stab at reviving the live-action musical in 1992 with "Newsies", a throwback picture with a curious subject. In 1899, the pint-sized newsboys delivering the New York papers go on strike against the unfair practices of news magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The production is heavy on kiddie humor, although Christian Bale (the child star of Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun") is charismatic as one of the older leaders of the revolt. The adult stars don't fare as well, with Robert Duvall doddering around as Pulitzer and Ann-Margret and Bill Pullman doing decorative duty. The film was not well received when first released, but hindsight reveals its charm (and allowed the young target audience to catch up with the picture on video). The first-time director is Kenny Ortega, the choreographer of "Dirty Dancing", who brings plenty of energy to the action. "--Robert Horton"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: Ron Howard's breakthrough film as a director launched Michael Keaton as a screen comic. In this film, he is teamed with a hangdog Henry Winkler as a pair of night attendants at a city morgue. Thinking entrepreneurially, Keaton (as the flakier half of the team) convinces a reluctant Winkler that they could kill two birds with one stone and use their quiet surroundings to start a call-girl business. The first girl in the stable of these unlikely pimps: Shelley Long, pre-"Cheers". Given the rather tasteless subject matter (ever really met a happy hooker?), it's surprisingly good fun, ignited by the chemistry between the nebbish Winkler and the jet-propelled Keaton, who seized this role and used it to shoot him to stardom--and into several years of stinkers. Meanwhile, the film was supposed to help Winkler segue from the Fonz on "Happy Days" to a career acting in movies, but whatever happened to him? "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: A slick, sometimes over the top action adventure set in New York City during the end of the disco era, "Nighthawks" stars Sylvester Stallone as a hotshot New York cop with a troubled personal life drawn into an international terrorist vendetta. Stallone and partner Billy Dee Williams are recruited into a covert operation to stop an infamous terrorist named Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer), whom they believe to be in New York. Soon a cat-and-mouse game ensues between the blue-collar cop and the refined terrorist through the streets, discotheques, and subways of the city. And then things get personal as Wulfgar targets Stallone's wife (Lindsay Wagner). A fairly routine but well-photographed action thriller with the usual fast-paced adrenaline rush sequences for which Stallone has become famous. "--Robert Lane"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0

Summary: For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of "Pee-wee's Big Adventure", "Beetlejuice", "Edward Scissorhands", and the first two "Batman" movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful " James and the Giant Peach"), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." "--Jim Emerson"