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 Price: $7.98 Algiers
Actors: Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie, Hedy Lamarr, Joseph Calleia, Alan Hale 
Reviews for the Algiers  New Price: $17.41 Cop Land
Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Peter Berg Amazon.comAfter making a critically acclaimed debut with the low-budget independent drama Heavy, writer-director James Mangold took on this gritty crime drama, which was highly touted as Sylvester Stallone's long-awaited return to a serious dramatic role. With an illustrious cast of costars, including GoodFellas alumni Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Liotta, Stallone plays Freddy Heflin, the ineffectual sheriff of a New Jersey suburb that a group of corrupt New York cops have turned into their own off-duty criminal empire. Deaf in one ear and desperate to prove his worth, the sheriff takes on the cops with standoffish assistance from an Internal Affairs cop (De Niro), resulting in an explosive climactic showdown. The stellar cast can't be beat, and Stallone is quite good as the overweight cop whose pride is on the line. Mangold's script is wildly uneven, but the film still packs a white-knuckled punch. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Cop Land  New Price: $5.61 Angel Heart
Actors: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling, Stocker Fontelieu Amazon.comSet in Harlem and New Orleans in 1955, this supernatural thriller stirred a brief controversy when released in 1987 because some scenes featuring Lisa Bonet (then a popular cast member of The Cosby Show) were considered too sexually explicit to be rated R. The edited material was restored for the unrated video release, and the movie now makes a fitting double bill with Fallen, with its similar plot about a sullen detective (Mickey Rourke) who is hired to find a missing person by a shady client with pointy fingernails named Louis Cyphre (Lucifer, get it?), played with subtle menace by Robert De Niro. Rourke's investigation leads him into an underworld of voodoo and forbidden desires, and as the mystery unfolds director Alan Parker fills every scene with conspicuous style and atmospheric excess, compelling critic Pauline Kael to observe that, "Parker simply doesn't have the gift of making evil seductive, and he edits like a flasher." And yet, this movie does cast a spell of its own (Roger Ebert's review was considerably more charitable), and the performances of Rourke, De Niro, Bonet, and Charlotte Rampling are well suited to the ominous mood. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Angel Heart  New Price: $3.16 Basic Instinct
Actors: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Denis Arndt Amazon.comThe take-no-prisoners sex thriller from 1992 now stands as a milestone in the career of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, but in the hands of director Paul Verhoeven Basic Instinct is an undeniably stylish and provocative study of obsession. In the role that made her a star (and showed the audience a little more skin than she intended), Sharon Stone plays the cleverly manipulative novelist Catherine Tramell who snares San Francisco detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) with her insatiable sexual appetite during the investigation of her boyfriend's murder. Tramell is the prime suspect, but the plot twists and turns until Curran is trapped in a dangerous cycle of dead ends and unsolved murders, never sure if Tramell is committing the crimes or if it is some other, unknown suspect. With a plot that keeps viewers guessing, Basic Instinct is the work of a director who is clearly in his element. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Basic Instinct  New Price: $4.20 Rumble Fish
Actors: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Diana Scarwid Amazon.com essential videoThe second of Francis Ford Coppola's films based on the popular juvenile novels of S.E. Hinton (the first being The Outsiders), Rumble Fish split critics into opposite camps: those who admired the film for its heavily stylized indulgence, and those who hated it for the very same reason. Whatever the response, it's clearly the work of a maverick director who isn't afraid to push the limits of his innovative talent. Filmed almost entirely in black and white with an occasional dash of color for symbolic effect, this tale of alienated youth centers on gang leader Rusty James (Matt Dillon) and his band of punk pals. Rusty's got a girlfriend (Diane Lane), an older brother named Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), and a drunken father (Dennis Hopper) who've all given up trying to straighten him out. He's best at making trouble, and he pursues that skill with an enthusiastic flair that eventually catches up with him. But it's not the whacked-out story here that matters--it's the uninhibited verve of Coppola's visual approach, which includes everything from time-lapse clouds to the kind of smoky streets and alleyways that could only exist in the movies. The supporting cast includes a host of fresh faces who went on to thriving careers, including Nicolas Cage, Christopher Penn, Vincent Spano, Laurence Fishburne, and musician Tom Waits. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Rumble Fish  List Price: $39.95 Price: $35.99 You Save: $3.96 (10%) Mona Lisa - Criterion Collection
Actors: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine, Robbie Coltrane, Clarke Peters DescriptionWriter-director Neil Jordan's breakthrough film is a brilliant, noir-infused love story. Bob Hoskins (who snagged an Oscar nomination for his performance) plays George, a small-time loser employed as a chauffeur to an enigmatic, high-class call girl. His fascination with her leads him on a dangerous quest through the sordid underbelly of London, where love is a weakness to be exploited and betrayed. Criterion is proud to present Mona Lisa in a Director Approved special edition. Amazon.com essential videoYou'll have to listen hard to catch all the dialogue in this dark, romantic film by director Neil Jordan. The Cockney accents are thick enough to spread on a crumpet. But it's worth the effort to plunge into the London underworld with tough but lovable thug Bob Hoskins. Just out of prison, he's given a job by his old boss (Michael Caine) as chauffeur to a gorgeous but chilly call girl (Cathy Tyson). For all his criminal experience, this guy is surprisingly innocent; when he develops a crush on the woman he's driving, it leads inevitably to tragedy. Hoskins is heartbreakingly good as this poor, thick sod, while Caine projects an oily malevolence. Tyson is also fine as a woman who has secrets of her own. --Marshall Fine
Reviews for the Mona Lisa - Criterion Collection  List Price: $14.98 Price: $13.49 You Save: $1.49 (10%) Eastsidaz (Chk Sen)
Actors: Snoop Dogg, Darryl Brunson, Tray Deee, Goldie Loc, RBX
Reviews for the Eastsidaz (Chk Sen)  New Price: $50.00 Double Indemnity
Actors: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather DescriptionAn insurance claims manager gets a familiar feeling of foul play while investigating the death of a man whose wife just had him sign a double-indemnity policy through her insurance agent and lover. Amazon.com essential videoDirector Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard) and writer Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) adapted James M. Cain's hard-boiled novel into this wildly thrilling story of insurance man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), who schemes the perfect murder with the beautiful dame Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck): kill Dietrichson's husband and make off with the insurance money. But, of course, in these plots things never quite go as planned, and Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) is the wily insurance investigator who must sort things out. From the opening scene you know Neff is doomed, as the story is told in flashback; yet, to the film's credit, this doesn't diminish any of the tension of the movie. This early film noir flick is wonderfully campy by today's standards, and the dialogue is snappy ("I thought you were smarter than the rest, Walter. But I was wrong. You're not smarter, just a little taller"), filled with lots of "dame"s and "baby"s. Stanwyck is the ultimate femme fatale, and MacMurray, despite a career largely defined by roles as a softy (notably in the TV series My Three Sons and the movie The Shaggy Dog), is convincingly cast against type as the hapless, love-struck sap. --Jenny Brown
Reviews for the Double Indemnity  List Price: $19.98 Price: $17.99 You Save: $1.99 (10%) Smart Money
Actors: Edwin Argus, Maurice Black, James Cagney, Noel Francis, John George DescriptionEdward G. Robinson and James Cagney were teamed for the only time in their careers in Smart Money. Robinson has the larger part as a small- town barber who fancies himself a big-time gambler. He travels to the Big City in the company of his younger brother Cagney, who wants to make sure that Robinson isn't fleeced by the high-rollers. Unfortunately Robinson has a weakness for beautiful blondes, most of whom take him for all his money or betray him in some other manner. The cops aren't keen on Robinson's gambling activities, but they can pin nothing on him until he accidentally kills Cagney in a fight. The incident results in a jail term for manslaughter, and a more sober-sided outlook on life for the formerly flamboyant Robinson. Watch closely in the first reel of Smart Money for an unbilled appearance by Boris Karloff as a dope pusher.
Reviews for the Smart Money  List Price: $29.95 Price: $24.99 You Save: $4.96 (17%) Mikey & Nicky
Actors: Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Rose Arrick, Carol Grace DescriptionFrom Elaine May, director of The Heartbreak Kid, comes Mikey & Nicky, a compelling crime thriller with a powerhouse cast, including John Cassavetes (Rosemary’s Baby, The Killers), Peter Falk (TV’s Columbo) and Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Cookie’s Fortune). Nicky (Cassavetes) has embezzled a fortune from his Mafia bosses and is on the run. Nicky’s only friend, Mikey (Falk) tries to help him escape; or will he lead him into a trap? Shot in a gritty, improvisational style, Mikey & Nicky is one of the most original and riveting crime films of the 1970s. Amazon.comIt's not written or directed by John Cassavetes, but Elaine May's eclectic portrait of two petty, middle-aged goodfellas on the streets of Philadelphia is electrified by the same nervous energy and volatile personalities of Cassavetes's best work. Nicky (Cassavetes), a trembling wreck convinced there's a contract out on his life, calls his boyhood buddy, Mikey (Peter Falk), who comes to his aid in the middle of the night. Over the course of one long night stretching to dawn, they scramble through city streets, smoky bars, dark alleys, and a graveyard of ancient memories of camaraderie and duplicity. While they engage in mind games and accusations, a betrayal brews in the background. The tragedy of the drama is that they are likely the best friends either ever had, and the closest thing to family either of them has left. May takes her low-budget picture to the streets and lets friends and former collaborators Cassavetes and Falk hit their shaggy rhythm while she peels back their sneering bravado to find sad, scared, vulnerable men underneath. It was a down-and-dirty shoot for May, whose rush can be seen in momentary glimpses of her crew in a few shots and overhead lights sometimes dipping into the frame, but that same on-the-fly drive gives the film its edgy, restless energy. --Sean Axmaker
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