Afro Samurai is the story of a black samurai in a futuristic, yet feudal Japan who is on a mission to avenge the wrongful death of his father. Afro is a warrior who travels a solitary path encountering a myriad of enemies, friends and challenges beyond imagination.

After completing a correspondence course while in jail, a convict gets the opportunity to try a high-profile case.

Directed by
Adrian Carr

The plot involves a white nymphomaniac who must be "cured" of her disorder by an older black bluesman

On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean, an assassin, bent on killing a passenger who's a witness in protective custody, let loose a crate full of deadly snakes.

Drama
A white woman blames an African-American man for the death of her son, but a white reporter and an African- American detective think otherwise.

Special Agent Derrick Vann is a man out to get the man who killed his partner but a case of mistaken identity leads him to Andy Fidler, a salesman with too many questions and a knack of getting in Vanns way

Drama
2 hrs. 14 min. Inspired by true-life story of controversial high-school basketball coach Ken Carter, who received both high praise and staunch criticism when he made national news in 1999 for benching his entire undefeated basketball team for poor academic performance.

Drama
1 hr. 44 min. Romance blossoms in the late 1990s between a married American Washington Post journalist (Jackson) and an Afrikaner poet/radio journalist (Binoche) who meet while covering the proceedings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu). The TRC was established to encourage apologies for the human rights crimes committed under Apartheid by those who committed them, directly to their victims, as a way of obtaining amnesty. As the duo listens intently to the testimonies of both sides detailing the horrors of rape, torture and murder, the intense emotions the journalists are driven to feel draws them closer together into an affair.

Action/Adventure and Science Fiction/Fantasy
The third and final installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy - the sixth Star Wars movie overall. Anakin Skywalker's turn to the Dark Side of the Force, the continuing Clone Wars and the final fate of the Old Republic should be revealed.

Action/Adventure
Darius Stone, a new agent in the XXX program, is sent to Washington, DC to diffuse a power struggle amongst national leaders.

Action/Adventure, Comedy, Kids/Family, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Animation
1 hr. 45 min. 'The Incredibles' follows the adventures of a family of former superheroes rediscovering the true source of their powers - in one another. Once one of the world's top masked crimefighters, Bob Parr (AKA Mr. Incredible) fought evil and saved lives on a daily basis. But fifteen years later, he and his wife Helen (a famous former superhero in her own right) have been forced to take on civilian identities and retreat to the suburbs. Today they live as mere mortals and lead all-too-ordinary lives with their children... who go out of their way to appear "normal." As a clock-punching insurance man, the only thing Bob fights these days is boredom and a bulging waistline. Itching for action, the sidelined superhero gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a topsecret assignment. Now, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the family must come together and once again find the fantastic in their family life.

Action/Adventure and Thriller
2 hrs. 14 min. Continuing the story-line which unfolded in "Kill Bill Vol. I," this is a revenge tale of an expert assassin, called The Bride, who sets out on a quest to wreak vengeance upon her former employer, Bill, and other members of their assassin circle, for shooting her at her wedding--along with everyone else in attendance--and leaving her for dead. When this chapter in the story begins, The Bride will have already encountered some of her targets, as she continues battling her way up the chain of command, knowing it will ultimately lead her to her main goal: her chance to 'Kill Bill.'

Thriller and Crime/Gangster
1 hr. 47 min. A female police officer (Judd), whose father was a serial killer, and is now investigating a murder finds herself the center of her own investigation when her past lovers start dying at a furious pace.

Drama, Thriller and Crime/Gangster
1 hr. 35 min. Agent Hardy (Travolta) of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) is brought in by an old friend to investigate the disappearances of several Army Ranger cadets and their legendary drill instructor, West (Jackson), during an exercise at a basic training camp, Fort Clayton, in Panama.

Action/Adventure, Thriller and Crime/Gangster
1 hr. 50 min. Uma Thurman is going to KILL BILL, in Quentin Tarantino's latest film about a former assassin betrayed by her boss, Bill (David Carradine). Four years after surviving a bullet in the head, the bride (Thurman) emerges from a coma and swears revenge on her former master and his deadly squad of international assassins, played by Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Michael Madsen.

Action/Adventure, Thriller and Crime/Gangster
1 hr. 51 min. The tables are turned when the Los Angeles Police Department's S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) unit must protect a dangerous criminal. A grizzled veteran SWAT officer (Jackson) is given a second chance to cobble together a new SWAT team to protect the high-profile baddie.

Thriller
1 hr. 39 min. An arrogant lawyer and a down-and-out businessman become involved in a minor traffic accident in Manhattan. As a result, the two men accidentally swap briefcases, the contents of which cause a heated battle with legal as well as financial repercussions.

Action/Adventure and Crime/Gangster
1 hr. 32 min. Samuel L. Jackson stars in this action-packed comedy as Elmo McElroy, an American master chemist who heads to England to set up his last big deal, the introduction of a new designer drug to the European underworld. Elmo’s plan to set up a quick score goes comically awry when he gets stuck in Liverpool with an unlikely escort (Robert Carlyle) and becomes entangled in a bizarre web of double-dealing and double-crosses.

While pursuing a runaway teenager, Jack (Samuel L. Jackson), a cop, stumbles across a gang of crooks trying to pull off a heist. When they are alerted to his presence, Jack is taken hostage, and left in the custody of Erin (Milla Jovovich), the gang leader's girlfriend. While they are left alone, Jack and Erin form a bond, which creates complications for the rest of her crew. Based on a story by Dashiell Hammett.

Science Fiction/Fantasy
2 hrs. 22 min. Ten years after the events of THE PHANTOM MENACE, not only has the galaxy undergone significant change, but so have our familiar heroes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Padmי Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as they are thrown together again for the first time since the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo. Anakin has grown into the accomplished Jedi apprentice of Obi-Wan, who himself has transitioned from student to teacher. The two Jedi are assigned to protect Padmי whose life is threatened by a faction of political separatists. As relationships form and powerful forces collide, these heroes face choices that will impact not only their own fates, but the destiny of the Republic.

Action/Adventure and Thriller
2 hrs. 04 min. Vin Diesel stars as former extreme sports athlete Xander “XXX” Cage, notorious for his death defying public stunts. Betting he can succeed where other conventional spies have failed, Xander is recruited by NSA Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) to become a completely different kind of undercover agent. Enlisted for a dangerous covert mission, he must use all his extreme skills to combat a clever, organized, and ruthless enemy far beyond the scope of his experience.

Drama
Romulus Ledbetter (Samuel L. Jackson) is a schizophrenic homeless man who lives in a cave in a New York City park and believes that his nemesis is trying to control the world by projecting mind-control beams from the Chrysler Building. Romulus is also a Juilliard-trained pianist who retreated into a world of fantasy and paranoia when the stress of his professional and family lives became too much. When Romulus finds a young homeless man frozen to death outside his cave, the police write it off as an accident but Romulus investigates and discovers evidence of murder. While trying to reconcile with his policewoman daughter, Romulus sneakily investigates a trendy artist and his models for evidence of murder, blackmail, and more. Based on the novel by George Dawes Green, THE CAVEMAN'S VALENTINE is a unique trip into the disturbed but still highly intelligent mind of a character only Samuel L. Jackson could pull off. Director Kasi Lemmons, who previously directed Jackson in EVE'S BAYOU, takes us inside Romulus's mind using spectacular and jarring special effects, yet never letting the viewer forget the simple, human drama at the heart of the film. Offbeat and unique, THE CAVEMAN'S VALENTINE is a truly independent creation.

Drama
2 hrs. 03 min. When the U.S. Embassy in Yemen is surrounded by a large crowd of demonstrators, Col. Terry Childers, USMC, is ordered to lead a squadron of Marines to bolster security at the embassy. He has orders to evacuate the ambassador and his family if the situation turns violent. A few short hours after Childers launches his mission, the ambassador's safety is secured, but three of Childers' men are dead, along with more than the 80 Yemeni men, women and children killed by Marine gunfire. Childers now faces a court-martial for violating the rules of engagement by killing unarmed civilians. He denies the charge, contending the protesters were armed and had opened fire on the Embassy. But it appears that the government has made the colonel the fall guy for an ugly diplomatic crisis: the men who could have testified on his behalf have been killed in action, one of the witnesses seems to be lying, and the President's National Security Adviser destroys evidence that might help Childers' case. Childers refuses to go down quietly and turns to his longtime friend, Hays Hodges, to defend him.

Action/Adventure
1 hr. 38 min. Crooked cops on the take small-time drug lords sleazy informers and sadistic rich kids ready to kill -- for police detective John Shaft, it's just another night in the underbelly of New York City, another shift facing down cops and criminals who want him dead and a legal system that thrives on money, not justice. "Shaft" is a new approach to one of the great film icons of the 1970s. He's tough, he's smart, he's cool just what you'd expect from a man whose uncle and mentor is John Shaft. When spoiled college kid Walter Wade kills a young black student, John Shaft makes the arrest. Walter skips bail and flees the country, and after two years of waiting, Shaft hauls him back into custody as Walter secretly returns to the States. But when Walter's wealthy father posts bail once again, Walter is back out on the streets and looking to put Shaft in a body bag. So are two of Shaft's corrupt colleagues as well as a Dominican drug lord who wants revenge on Shaft for humiliating him in the neighborhood he rules. For backup, Shaft has only his two closest pals: Carmen, a colleague on the police force; and his streetwise confidant, Rasaan. Meanwhile, Shaft has got to track down the one murder witness who can put all of his enemies away for good even as the toughest killers in the city close in on him.

Drama
1 hr. 43 min. Unbreakable is a riveting story shared by two men. David Dunn, a man from a blue-collar neighborhood in Philadelphia emerges unharmed as the sole survivor of a devastating train accident. Enter Elijah Price, a mysterious stranger who offers a bizarre explanation as to why David escaped without a single scratch, an explanation that threatens to change David's family and life forever.

Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Thriller
1 hr. 40 min. Dr. Susan McAlester's experiments are on the verge of creating medical history. But to reach her goal, she has violated ethical codes, genetically re-engineering the DNA of mako sharks. One of nature's most lethal killing machines has become more useful to her research, but also more intelligent and powerful in the process. But McAlester has more to worry about than the deadly specimens at the center of her studies. Her questionable methods put a strain on the relationships with her fellow team members, chiefly shark expert Carter Blake. Compounding the tense atmosphere, Aquatica's financiers are skeptical and nervous and have threatened to shut down the off-shore facility on the eve of a round of Dr. McAlester's key tests. Russell Franklin, the leading backer, has been dispatched to Aquatica to deliver an ultimatum - the research must prove conclusive, or funding is revoked. Susan and her team successfully extract brain tissue from the largest of the mako sharks! . But a tragic accident during the procedure sets off a chain of events that results in irreparable damage to the research facility. With a tropical storm swirling around the now sinking Aquatica, the scientists and workers find themselves stalked by the new generation sharksfighting against the deadly man-made forces of nature they helped to create.

Art/Foreign and Drama
2 hrs. 11 min. Francois Girard's The Red Violin follows the imaginary history of a unique instrument as it passes over continents and through lives over the span of three centuries. The film was shot in five languages, in five countries, over a period of six months. Beginning in Canada in February 1997, the production moved on to Austria, Italy, England and China before returning to Montreal for post-production.

Drama and Science Fiction/Fantasy
2 hrs. 11 min. The first of three prequels to George Lucas’s celebrated STAR WARS films, EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE is set some 30 years before STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE in the era of the Republic. Naboo, a peaceful planet governed by the young, but wise Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), is being threatened by the corrupt Trade Federation, puppets of an evil Sith lord and his terrifying apprentice, Darth Maul (Ray Park). The seemingly benevolent Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is chief adviser to the queen, though there are suspicions surrounding him. Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, performing an amazing vocal interpretation of Alec Guinness, the older Obi-Wan) are called on to intervene in the trade disputes. Along the way, they acquire an apprentice of their own in the form of young prodigal Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), or as STAR WARS fans know him, the future Darth Vader. They also encounter Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best), a goofy, lizardlike creature who has been banished from his underwater world for his clumsiness. When the Trade Federation launches an attack on Naboo, the queen and her allies must battle hordes of robot troopers while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan face off against the sinister Darth Maul.

One of the most anticipated films of all time, THE PHANTOM MENACE sets the stage for the tumultuous events to come. Lucas fills the screen with detailed sci-fi creatures and locations, revealing the most creative and exquisite sets, costumes, character designs to hit the screen since the original trilogy.

Action/Adventure and Drama
Jackson plays Danny Roman, a cop who, anxious to clear himself of false accusations, takes a group of people hostage and requests the presence of a fellow officer from another precinct. Spacey plays Chris Sabian, a hostage specialist, the Negotiator, who comes in to try and defuse the situation and bring Roman in. He is not prepared for what he hears and the city isn't ready for what they do.

Science Fiction/Fantasy
When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn’t expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a secret government agency is investigating what may be an alien spaceship that has been discovered partially buried on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Norman finds that the plan he outlined is being put into effect and that the team he named in his report has been assembled. In addition to Norman, there is Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson), a mathematician; Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber), a physicist; and Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), a biochemist and Norman’s old flame. Led by the secretive Barnes (Peter Coyote), the foursome undergoes a crash course in diving and living under the sea in a naval habitat and begins investigating the mysterious vessel, discovering a huge glowing sphere made of an unidentifiable substance with a shimmering, almost liquidlike surface. As the investigation continues, a series of strange, horrific events leads the team of scientists to doubt each other’s sanity and motives. The film is based on the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton.

Drama
After being felled by a vicious stabbing attack precipitated by failing a student, a determined Brooklyn high school science teacher heads west for a fresh start. But his new assignment--substitute relief in a gang-ridden school for a teacher on "stress leave"--proves even more exhausting, as his new pupils' resistance to his teaching soon provokes a potentially deadly desperation. Penned by first-timer Scott Yagemann, a seven-year veteran of the LA school system. "187" is California police code for murder.

Drama
1 hr. 49 min. Eve is the youngest daughter of one of Louisiana's most sophisticated and prosperous families. Her father Louis, is the town's highly respected doctor, a man known for his ability to fix things--everything except his own family problems and philandering lifestlye. Her mother Roz is a stunning southern beauty with an affinity for the traditions of Creole heritage. But Eve is most like her Aunt Mozelle--impulsive, intuitive, a touch supernatural and possessing the need to know the truth about everything. Over one explosive summer, this young girl uncovers some of her family's most frightening hidden truths, and then tries to bind them together against the tide of tragedy that threatens to sweep through every facet of their lives. insight uncovers some frightening truths about her family, and must bring them together to avert tragedy.

Drama
1 hr. 41 min. Sydney (Philip Baker Hall), a mysterious professional gambler, befriends John (John C. Reilly), a young man in trouble, and teaches him the ways of making a living in the casinos of Reno. John gets involved with Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow), a pretty waitress who doubles as a prostitute, and Jimmy (Samuel L. Jackson), a two-faced criminal. When trouble erupts, suddenly Sydney has to rescue his young friend, but a secret from his past threatens to destroy everything he has tried to build up. Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly acclaimed debut feature (based on the films of Jonathan Demme and John Cassavetes) is a tight, intricate film noir character study with a more disciplined plot than his later, more expansive films. The film also features excellent work from his four actors, particularly Hall as the experienced, world-weary Sydney, and fascinating details about the lowlife world the characters inhabit. HARD EIGHT originated as a short film, CIGARETTES AND COFFEE, that Anderson developed at the Sundance Film Institute.

Thriller and Crime/Gangster
2 hrs. 40 min. Quentin Tarantino's first feature since "Pulp Fiction" adapts the Elmore Leonard novel "Rum Punch" while adding the flair and style of his earlier films. Stewardess Jackie Brown becomes a central figure in a plot involving an ATF agent, an arms smuggler, and a bail bondsman that ultimately comes down to who's playing who.

Comedy
The transparently unscrupulous world of boxing is thoroughly skewered in this satirical tale of an all-powerful black boxing promoter who's searching for the ultimate box-office draw: a white contender for the championship. Frighteningly--and hilariously--accurate.

Action/Adventure
Stricken with amnesia eight years earlier, a small-town schoolteacher and mother hires a private eye to help her uncover her past. When it's discovered she's a former CIA operative--and that her "accident" was actually an assassination attempt--she and the detective are thrown into an automatic weapons-fueled, life-and-death struggle with the bad guys.

Comedy
Framed by the conceit of a local filmmaker's documentary opus, an oddball assortment of colorful neighborhood characters mount a search for the missing brother of one of their friends. Their only problem: they don't really get along with each other.

Drama
In a small southern town in the 1960s, a black man awaits trial for murdering the two rednecks who viciously raped his 10-year-old daughter. A young, idealistic white lawyer takes up the father's defense, and the incendiary case becomes a firestorm of racism and controversy, ripping the town apart. Based on John Grisham's bestselling first novel.

Comedy
1 hr. 34 min. Tommy Basilio wanted to make something of his life. That was about ten years ago. Instead, he has spent the past decade as an auto mechanic, ricocheting from one bizarre misadventure to another in his dead-end hometown on Long Island, unable to repair his car or his life. His only solace is that every strangely hilarious twist and turn of his life leads him right back to one place: Trees Lounge. Trees Lounge is your basic local dive on the outside. On the inside, it's home to a wonderfully colorful array of characters that are, to Tommy, a comfortably dysfunctional family. Somewhere in the midst of navigating through this maze of eccentric but lovable people, Tommy un-blurs his vision and figures out that he's not going anywhere by staring at the bottom of a bottle of Wild Turkey. Now, if he could just fix his car...

Action/Adventure
Superhero cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) returns in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE. Freshly expelled from the NYPD, McClane encounters a number of threatening phone calls from a terrorist calling himself Simon (Jeremy Irons). Simon tests McClane’s wits, and allows him the chance to stop each bomb by solving a riddle. In addition to using his previously learned anti-terrorism tactics (DIE HARD, DIE HARD 2) , McClane enlists an angry store clerk, Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) to decipher Simon’s tricky enigmas.

DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE finds director John McTiernan returning to the creative helm of the series he began in 1987(Renny Harlin directed DIE HARD 2). For the third film in the detonative series, McTiernan creates a story line which floats from psycho terror to sonic action to interracial comedy relief. The acting is something to be marveled at as well. Bruce Willis miraculously evokes sympathy whilst playing the angry police man and Jeremy Irons’ performance as the villainous Simon is reminiscent of an Eastern European James Bond megalomaniac. Samuel L. Jackson’s is also worth mentioning as he gives an angry discourse in racism and then pops off one liners, both ice cold and slick.

Drama and Crime/Gangster
KISS OF DEATH opens with ex-convict Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso) attempting to distance himself from his shady past. His cousin, Ronny (Michael Rapaport), shows up at his door begging for help with one more heist, and Jimmy agrees to participate against his better judgment. Things go sour when a detective is shot, and Jimmy is left to take the fall. As Jimmy's hopes for a normal life with his wife (Helen Hunt) and daughter fade, he becomes a pawn of the police in their attempts to bring down a psychotic gangster named Little Junior (Nicolas Cage).

Caruso and a pumped-up, supremely menacing Cage highlight a spectacular cast that also features Samuel L. Jackson as the cop who becomes Jimmy's solitary ally and Stanley Tucci as a Machiavellian district attorney. Novelist Richard Price supplies the screenplay, and director Barber Schroeder (SINGLE WHITE FEMALE) ensures that KISS OF DEATH, based loosely on the 1947 film of the same name, unfolds with the grooved precision of a well-made watch while bristling at every turn with the volatile life of a vividly imagined criminal underworld.

Drama
Khaila Richards may be a crack addict but she's also the mother of a beautiful baby boy named Isaiah. One night, she finds herself desperate for a hit. So Khaila leaves the wailing infant swaddled in rags by a garbage dump. She returns the next morning in a panic, only to find that Isaiah's gone. Believing him dead, a devastated Khaila gets herself thrown into rehab where she struggles to change her life. Meanwhile, the previously crack-addicted infant is legally adopted by white social worker Margaret Lewin and her suburban family. Under the Lewins' care, Isaiah grows strong and healthy. But when a drug-free Khaila learns her baby's alive, she'll do everything in her power to get him back.

Drama
A gritty, dramatic retelling of one of the most violent prison rebellions in U.S. history, this made-for-cable film tells the story of the inmate takeover of Attica from the point of view of two prisoners and the facility's young warden.

Drama
A black cadet at West Point is court-martialed after supposedly faking his own race-related hazing incident. Based on John F. Marszalek true-life account of the controversial court case.

Drama
In this critically-acclaimed action drama a street-wise 12-year-old boy devises a dangerous plan to rid his neighborhood of its two competing drug dealers and save his sister. Using the type of thought he learned from playing chess with his father, the kid plays the thugs off one another, makes sacrifices when necessary, and wins the game. Winner of the Filmmaker's Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival.

Comedy
A worker at an eraser factory dreams about making the big-time with his rock band, "Hail Caesar."

Comedy
A troubled, trendy L.A. couple opens a boutique called "Hipocracy" to rekindle their relationship. When it fails, they turn to New Age spirituality in this very dark comedy from the writer of THE PLAYER.

Drama and Crime/Gangster
Writer-director Quentin Tarantino revisits the seedier side of Los Angeles--following 1992’s RESERVOIR DOGS--with this funny, violent, tongue-in-cheek tribute to the less "classic" side of filmmaking--the potboilers and capers, the Blaxploitation flicks and gangster movies. The film interweaves three tales, told in a circular, fractured manner, which only fully connect by the time the final credits roll. The first story focuses on Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), two hit men on duty for "the big boss," Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), whose gorgeous wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), takes a liking to Vincent. In the second, a down-and-out pugilist (Bruce Willis), who is ordered to take a fall, decides that there’s more money in doing the opposite. The final chapter follows a pair of lovers (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth) as they prepare to hold up a diner.

Tarantino wears his cinematic influences proudly, bringing them to life in the ironically hip, self-referential 1990s. The result is a work that changed the face of independent cinema forever, making it a legitimate player in the Hollywood mainstream. The all-star cast steps into their roles with obvious glee, and Tarantino once again uses his soundtrack to up the "cool" ante yet another notch, making for a motion picture event that has worked its way into our national vernacular.

Comedy
A Pulitzer Prize-winning black playwright is mistaken for a thief when he moves into his new home on an exclusive new England resort island. Enter a career criminal and incorrigible wiseguy who's got one chance to get out of jail: just save the corrupt police chief's job by breaking into the playwright's house, taking him hostage and then giving up.

Science Fiction/Fantasy
Steven Spielberg directed this blockbuster thriller based on the popular book by Michael Crichton. Millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) asks two dinosaur experts (Laura Dern and Sam Neill) to act as consultants on his entrepreneurial endeavor--an amusement park with DNA-cloned live dinosaurs as the main attraction. The paleontologists, along with a mathematician (Jeff Goldblum) and Hammond’s two grandchildren, takes a run-through tour of the park. But soon the joyride turns to terror when an impending hurricane, an unscrupulous engineer (Wayne Knight), and the rebelling dinosaurs begin to destroy the park. Spielberg considered the most popular star of the film to be a computer-generated Tyrannosaurus rex. The special effects in general are spectacular.

As Hollywood's preeminent director, Spielberg was used as a kind of financial savior for Universal Studios, which was hurting economically prior to the dinosaurian venture. Spielberg made a deal with Universal--his dream project, SCHINDLER’S LIST, would be green-lighted if he agreed to make JURASSIC PARK for the studio first. By the time SCHINDLER’S LIST premiered in December 1993, JURASSIC PARK, which had been released six months earlier, had broken E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL’s worldwide box-office record.

Comedy
In LOADED WEAPON 1, National Lampoon spoofs box office hits such as SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, BASIC INSTINCT, and, most obviously, the LETHAL WEAPON series. Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson head up a comic cast that also includes Jon Lovitz, William Shatner, Tim Curry, Denis Leary, and F. Murray Abraham. And watch for the Bruce Willis cameo.

Action/Adventure and Crime/Gangster
When inexperienced call girl Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) is paid to seduce comic-book-nerd and Elvis fanatic Clarence Worley (Christian Slater), she doesn’t expect to fall for him. But these two lost souls seem to be made for each other and quickly pledge their love, marrying at Detroit's city hall. Clarence discovers some newfound bravado and attempts to retrieve Alabama’s possessions from her pimp, Drexl (Gary Oldman), who isn’t exactly eager to let Alabama go. Fleeing Drexl's apartment, Clarence not only leaves a trail of bodies, but also inadvertently mistakes a suitcase of uncut cocaine for one with his wife’s clothing, and the chase is on. The unlikely newlyweds head for Los Angeles hoping to sell the cocaine and make enough money to leave the country. Unfortunately, they also have to contend with the mob, yuppie drug dealers and the police. Michael Rapaport is amusing as Clarence’s best friend who lives with Floyd, a stoner played by Brad Pitt. A sedate Dennis Hopper appears as Clarence’s father, who ultimately faces off with mob boss Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken). Director Tony Scott (CRIMSON TIDE, ENEMY OF THE STATE) does justice to the violence and quirkiness of Quentin Tarantino’s second feature film script.

Drama
Best friends Q (Omar Epps), Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Raheem (Khalil Kain), and Steel (Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins) live in a world where fun and danger exist side-by-side, and violence is powerfully seductive. These four Harlem friends take on the neighborhood-- and each other--to get the power and respect they call Juice.

Drama
Spike Lee's drama is a complex, multilayered, and volatile look at interracial romance in present-day New York City. Flipper Purify (Wesley Snipes), an up-and-coming African American architect, seems to have it all: a successful career, a nice apartment on a renovated street in Harlem, a beautiful, intelligent wife whom he adores, and a bright, loving daughter. The last thing he expects is to find himself in an affair with a blue-collar Italian American from Bensonhurst. But soon after Angie Tucci (Annabella Sciorra) comes to work in his office, the two end up staying late together and having intimate talks over takeout Chinese food. Inevitably a romance begins, leaving Flipper and Angie caught up in the fury and suspicion of the racial prejudice of their families and friends. As their lives unravel, so does their affair, and they wonder if their relationship ever had a chance from the beginning. As usual with Lee, he isn’t content to tackle simply one issue in his films--in JUNGLE FEVER, he addresses, for perhaps the first time, the drug epidemic in the African American community. In this subplot, Samuel L. Jackson plays Gator, Flipper’s crackhead brother, with an intensity that is almost too painful to watch.

Drama and Crime/Gangster
Tony Danza plays a cop-killing punk on the run from the police, who want him alive, and the mob, who want him dead. Based on a true story.

Suspense/Horror
A young theology student (Kadeem Hardison) comes to Manhattan to visit his pal. Upon his arrival, the scholar encounters a sexy seductress who wants to bed him in order to gain possession of his soul. Will the religious lad resist temptation -- and keep his soul and virtue intact? This Troma film is a witty all-African-American production with an early appearance by Samuel L. Jackson and cinematography by Ernest Dickerson.

Crime/Gangster
Based on Nicholas Pileggi's book WISEGUY, Martin Scorsese’s GOODFELLAS is a wry, violent, and exhilarating film about the life of Henry Hill, an aspiring criminal who ends up in the FBI’s witness protection program after testifying against his former partners. As a poor Irish-Italian growing up in 1950s New York City, Hill (Ray Liotta) rises through the ranks of his Brooklyn neighborhood's organized crime branch, and with money from the mob he begins living the good life, complete with a beautiful bride, Karen (Lorraine Brocco), a fancy home, and the best seats at the most exclusive restaurants. A botched robbery lands Henry in prison for a brief period of time, and when he gets released, his reckless infidelities and drug abuse damage his associations with his adopted family.

Scorsese’s film is a visual and sonic onslaught, featuring a brilliant pop-music soundtrack and stunning camera work--including the infamous Steadicam one-take that introduces the audience to the Copacabana’s patrons. He uses the songs to infuse a rhythm into every scene that is at once breathtaking and invigorating. As the psychopathic Tommy DeVito, Joe Pesci delivers an unforgettable performance that is alarming in its cold-blooded callousness, helping to cement GOODFELLAS’ place as a classic portrait of life in the mob.