November 2005 DVD & Blu-rays

In "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith"—the final installment of the "Star Wars" saga—the Clone Wars rage as the rift widens between Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and the Jedi Council. Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), the young Jedi Knight with an allegiance to Chancellor Palpatine, struggles to keep his marriage to Padme' Amidala (Natalie Portman) a secret amid the turmoil. Seduced by promises of power and temptations of the dark side, he pledges himself to the evil Darth Sidious and becomes Darth Vader. Together, Sidious and Vader set in motion a plot of revenge against the Jedi, leading to a climatic lightsaber battle between Vader and his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), that will decide the fate of the galaxy.

The countdown is on—in 7 days' time Britain converts to the Euro. It's the biggest opportunity the criminal world has ever had. Billions of sterling head for the incinerator. When a railway heist goes wrong and an enormous bag of money falls from the sky into the hands of Damian and Anthony, there's only one thing to do—spend it like there's no tomorrow.... But how can a 7 and 9 year-old hope to spend a quarter of a million quid a week? Anthony's black market operations bring hyper-inflation to the school playground and Damian wants to help the poor, but they're in short supply. Oh, and the train robbers want their money back. Will they manage to spend the money before it's worthless. Will the school authorities discover what's going on? Or will the robbers get there first?

James Cameron, director, deep ocean adventurer and space exploration visionary, combines his talent and his passions in the digital 3D film "Aliens of the Deep". Cameron takes audiences to the depths of the ocean to encounter some of the strangest life forms on Earth, while inviting us to imagine what future explorers may someday find on other planets

On a summer night in New York City, five lives intertwine and unravel. Isabel, a beautiful twenty-five year old photographer, wavers on her commitment to her upcoming wedding. Her mother Diana, a legendary actress, discovers her husband is cheating. Jonathan, Isabel's fiance, tries to protect a secret that will endanger his marriage. Peter, a young writer, faces his lover's past while researching a story for "Vanity Fair" and Alec, an actor, wonders if his affections will ever be returned. Set in the nightspots, theaters, rooftops, and streets of Manhattan over one night, Heights is a contemporary story of young people in New York City that sparkles with the wit that is a trademark of Merchant Ivory films. At the center of the story is Isabel, a young woman trying to decide between her life in the city and the prospect of a quiet existence as a suburban wife. In a script full of unique New York City settings and characters the story takes us from downtown bars, to upscale roof gardens, to gay bars in Chelsea, to the geriatric participants at a Jewish wedding. Isabel, much like a modern day Jane Austen heroine, a woman on the verge of adulthood must decide in the course of a single night what kind of life she is going to lead. In a small Prague apartment, Franta (Jiri Machacek) and Mila (Natasa Burger) dream of having a child, but Franta—on probation because of his soccer hooliganism past—is not allowed to adopt, and Mila is unable to conceive. After cashing in on her savings, Mila decides to buy a baby from a pawnshop that fronts a den of thieves and pickpockets. Meanwhile, an unusual family reunion is taking place: Academy professor Otto (Jan Triska) collapses while teaching, prompting his estranged son Martin (Petr Forman, son of director Milos) to return to Prague from Australia to see his father and his mother, Vera (Emilia Vasaryova), long separated from Otto whom she still pines for. Otto is now living with the beautiful and much younger Hana (Ingrid Timkova), who works in a refugee aid center helping immigrants to adjust to their new lives.

In "The Perfect Man", teenager Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) is tired of moving every time her single mom Jean (Heather Locklear) has another personal meltdown involving yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man...an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her shaky self-esteem. When the virtual relationship takes off, Holly finds herself having to produce the suitor, borrowing her friend's charming and handsome Uncle Ben (Chris Noth) as the face behind the e-mails, notes and gifts. Holly must resort to increasingly desperate measures to keep the ruse alive and protect her mom's newfound happiness. . . almost missing the real perfect man when he does come along.

Set in Toronto, a romantic tale which revolves around Rahul Seth, a Westernized, young dot.com millionaire, and his unconventional relationship with the beautiful and wild Sue Singh. Rahul is devastated after the untimely death of his beautiful, pop artist, blonde girlfriend Kimberly. To make matters worse, he is under extreme pressure from his family to get engaged to a good Hindu girl before his sister's upcoming wedding. Lest one forgets, according to the popular Hindu adage, 'the best cure for a broken heart is marriage'. Desperate, he hires the services of the gorgeous Sue, a local escort girl, to pretend to be his fiancée during the ten days of celebration, leading up to his sister's marriage ceremony. While Rahul is the scion of a typically successful NRI family, Sue is the daughter of a humble car mechanic and--professionally speaking--is one of the highest paid escorts in Toronto. They enter into the relationship as opposites. However, during this fateful period of much song, dance and merriment, Rahul and Sue's relationship slowly transcends that of employer and employee. With her passion for life, Sue manages to break through Rahul's hardened exterior to reveal a sensitive man who is not as emotionally dead as he would like to believe. In turn, Rahul's strong personality and advice enables Sue to see her parents in a more positive light.

A Miami reporter travels to a small Ecuadorian village to cover a series of brutal murders and get the biggest story of his career, tracking a possible serial killer dubbed the Monster of Babahoyo.

Sequel to "House of 1000 Corpses" is set some months later with the Texas State Police making a full-scale attack against the murderous Firefly family residence for the 1,000+ murders and disappearances of the past several years. But three of the family members escape, including Otis, Baby Firefly and Baby's father Captain Spaulding. The evil trio go on a road trip, leaving dozens of mangled bodies in their wake. Evading a massive Texas Rangers dragnet as well as a group of equally murderous bounty hunters led by Ken Dwyer (the brother of a policeman Mamma Firefly killed in 'House of...') who's obsessed with finding the deadly killers, the surviving Firefly clan gather at a run-down amusement park owned by Captain Spaulding's half-brother, Charlie Altamont, whom offers them shelter and a new base of operations for their killing spree as Sheriff Dwyer, the Texas Rangers, the FBI and others slowly close in.

Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", about eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka, and Charlie, a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonka's extraordinary factory. Long isolated from his own family, Wonka launches a worldwide contest to select an heir to his candy empire. Five lucky children, including Charlie, draw golden tickets from Wonka chocolate bars and win a guided tour of the legendary candy-making facility that no outsider has seen in 15 years. Dazzled by one amazing sight after another, Charlie is drawn into Wonka's fantastic world in this astonishing and enduring story.

After faithfully and happily celebrating Christmas their entire lives, and with their daughter Blair in Peru to serve a stint in the Peace Corps, Luther and Nora Krank are facing the prospect of a very lonely holiday. One blustery Chicago night, Luther glances longingly at an alluring poster in a travel agency window and pictures himself and Nora basking in the glow of the sun on a Caribbean cruise. Though Nora is at first reluctant about going away for the holidays, she soon warms up to the idea. But when their neighbors find out, they are aghast, especially local busybody Vic Frohmeyer. To make matters worse, Luther refuses to put his illuminated Frosty the Snowman on his rooftop. Hemlock Street is famous for it and has won numerous contests sponsored by the local newspaper. The battle of wits between the Kranks and their neighbors quickly escalates, threatening the harmony of the community and, yes, the spirit of Christmas itself. Then, without warning, Luther and Nora get a call from Blair. She is coming home for Christmas afterall and now the Kranks have less than twenty-four hours to get themselves and all the families on Hemlock Street back in the proper Christmas spirit.

Margaret Cho performs her stand-up comedy, recorded live in May of 2005 at the Warner Theater in Washington D.C. during her "State of Emergency" tour.

Suffocating in a failed marriage with Anthony, She, an Irish-American scientist, sparks an affair with He, a Lebanese surgeon exiled in London where he now works as a cook. As their passion ignites, each will find themselves on their own personal journey as they try to come to terms with their lives and losses. The bittersweet affair will bring them on a global ride from London to New York, Beirut and Havana and force them to reevaluate their faiths, beliefs, and ultimately, each other.

Elliot Kelman (Joe Pantoliano) is a failed publishing executive who can't get back into the business. He supports himself selling suits at the local mall and relies on hand-outs from his mother, ex-wife, and son. He also self-publishes a weekly newsletter on the perils of self-delusion. Afraid his writings will be rejected, he hires a high school kid to post them on supermarket bulletin boards and stuff them under windshields in his New Jersey hometown. After he meets the sexy Carole (Jennifer Tilly) and his newsletter begins to find an audience, things start looking up for Elliott. However, the return home of his oldest friend Richard (Boyd Gaines), a prominent movie producer, and the only one of his friend's to have found success, brings Elliot's feelings of inadequacy and squandered potential back to the surface. With Richard in town, the competitive tensions rise, and once Carole takes an interest in his friend, Elliot must confront his envy of Richard's success and his disenchantment with his own failure.

Jeanette, a French woman, and Martin, a gay black artist, lead what initially seem to be idyllic lives, far away from the complexities of modern life. There is obviously great love and affection between the two, who essentially live as husband and wife. Jeannette is the life of the party, drowning her sorrows and regrets in alcohol and daily confrontations. Martin, the most frequent casualty of her outbursts, is by contrast quiet and introspective, spending his time painting in his private studio and cleaning up after his partner's destructive habits. Two people mired in loneliness driven together by the same perceived predators, men and an abiding fear of simply living, they play out their nightly saga of despair with gaiety and quiet fortitude. When Jeannette's estranged daughter, Sierra, returns with Andrew, her new husband, to collect an inheritance she has been promised, their fragile existence is uprooted. Sierra's relationship with her mother is strained, at best, and her plans are to get the money and quickly be on her way. Things will not, however, be that simple. After Jeanette decides to throw the couple an impromptu wedding reception, a long awaited thaw begins--and lies, motives, flaws, and deceptions melt away to reveal that nothing, and no one, is as it seems. As the reception nears, Andrew and Martin become entangled and many painful truths are exposed.

Jan, Peter and Jule are living out their rebellious youth. They are united by their passion to change the state of the world. Jan and Peter become "The Edukators," mysterious perpetrators who non-violently warn the local rich their "days of plenty are numbered." Complications follow when vulnerable Jule ends up falling for both young men. Reckless choices result in danger. An operation gone wrong and what was never intended to be a kidnapping brings the three young idealists face-to-face with the values of the generation in power.

Four zoo animals are shipped back to their homeland by an animal rights group that feels they belong in the wild. When the ship capsizes, the animals find themselves stranded in Madagascar. Having had humans care for them their entire life, they know nothing about survival and must work together with the locals to help them fit in.

Mamie is being blackmailed. This filmmaker named Nick claims to know Mamie's son—the one she gave up for adoption—but Nick won't introduce her to him unless he can film the reunion. Enter Javier, Mamie's massage therapist boyfriend, who convinces Nick to film him instead. Now they're all making a movie about massage. And ‘happy endings'…

Charley has a longtime boyfriend named Gil. Their best friends, Pam and Diane, once tried using Gil as a sperm donor. They said his sperm didn't take, but Charley thinks those selfish, control-freak lesbians are lying. Pam and Diane's two-year-old son looks exactly like Gil. And it's time to set the record straight…

Jude is pissed. Not at anyone in particular. Just in general. When her cousin kicks her out of the house, Jude shacks up with Otis, who's still trying to convince his father, Frank, that he's straight. Frank's a widower. And he's rich. So Jude decides to sleep with him, too. Really. The last thing she expected was to fall in love…

U.S. Navy pilots Ben Gannon, Kara Wade and Henry Purcell are part of a close-knit elite division of test pilots flying highly classified stealth fighter jets, referred to only as Talons. They're the best of the best and they know it. Then their commanding officer Cpt. George Cummings introduces the team to their new wingman—their first real mission alongside EDI. To their amazement, EDI proves to be a cracker-jack wingman and they successfully eliminate their target. But on the return trip to their base aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, EDI is struck by lightning. The drone's brain expands in ways its creators could never have predicted. Despite Ben and Henry's reservations, Cummings declares EDI ready to rejoin the team in the air. On their next mission against a nuclear-armed warlord in a remote Chinese province, EDI's seriously compromised circuitry problems only get worse. Ben decides that the risks of the attack far outweigh the benefits to himself, Henry and Kara, (for whom he has developed a romantic attraction). When he aborts the mission, EDI goes against orders and executes the hit anyway. The danger escalates when EDI decides to execute a top-secret mission that, if successful, could spiral into worldwide nuclear Armageddon. And only Ben can prevent it.

Set largely in the dark atmospheric backwoods just outside of New Orleans, "The Skeleton Key" stars Kate Hudson as Caroline, a live-in nurse hired to care for an elderly woman's (Gena Rowlands) ailing husband (John Hurt) in their home, a foreboding a decrepit Gothic mansion in the Louisiana delta. Intrigued by the enigmatic couple, their mysterious and secretive ways and their rambling house, Caroline begins to explore the old mansion. Armed with a skeleton key that unlocks every door, she discovers a hidden attic room that holds a deadly and terrifying secret.

In this follow-up to his critical smash "Read My Lips", French filmmaker Jacques Audiard has adapted and updated James Toback's 1978 cult classic, "Fingers", to come up with a moody, memorable study of a young man torn between a life of crime and classical music.

This is a sex comedy about memory loss, as office worker Graham (Eduardo Noriega) has recently suffered a complete memory loss from a martial arts-related accident, which means that every time he has sex with Irene, one of the secretaries, he forgets about it an hour later, so every time is the first time...

A deaf-mute man, Ryu, works in a smelting factory and inhabits his own silent world, oblivious to the din both at work and in his downscale apartment building. He idolizes his sister, who urgently needs a kidney transplant, and when he's laid off and then tricked out of his savings by organ traffickers, his wacko girlfriend, Yeong-mi, suggests kidnapping his former boss's daughter to pay for his sister's operation. Yeong-mi sees it as social revenge. Ryu, initially scared of the consequences, finally agrees after seeing another laid-off worker attempt hara-kiri outside the boss's home. After kidnapping the boss's daughter, their whole plan starts to quickly unravel with horrible consequences.

This is the true story of two members of England's Army Dental Corps, Sgt. Peter King (Kenneth Cranham), a World War I veteran looking to keep on fighting, and Private Leslie Cuthbertson (Leo Bill), a wet-behind-the-ears trainee, whose dedication to helping the war effort during World War II inspired them to leave their posts and attempt to join the war effort in France. Sneaking into occupied territory in 1942, the two dentists found a German radar station, a part of which they successfully destroyed, but their efforts caused them to be chased by the enemy through dangerous territory. The most dangerous opposition to their patriotism manifested itself, however, when they made their way back to English territory, where they were now branded as deserters and liars...

New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden and his feisty wife Alice, struggle to make ends meet. Despite Ralph's many get-rich-quick schemes/motivational speaker tape series, they've managed to save some money and, along with their best friends Ed and Trixie Norton, they seem to have almost enough money for a down payment on a Brooklyn duplex. However, when Ralph decides to try to impress Alice by making up what he's lost and augmenting their savings with another of his crazy schemes, he winds up losing all their money and his marriage to boot—and it takes all his determination and love for Alice to get things on track again.

A young boy lies awake in his room one snowy Christmas Eve, excited and alert. Breathing silently. Hardly moving. Waiting. He's listening for a sound he's afraid that he might never hear—the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh. The time is five minutes to midnight. Suddenly, the boy is startled by a thunderous roar. Clearing the mist from his window he sees the most amazing sight—a gleaming black train rumbles to a stop right in front of his house, the steam from its powerful engine hissing through the night sky and the softly falling snowflakes. The boy rushes outside, clad only in his pajamas and slippers, and is met by the train's conductor who seems to be waiting just for him. Well, are you coming? the conductor inquires. Where? the boy asks. Why, to the North Pole—of course. This is the Polar Express! What unfolds is an an adventure which follows a doubting young boy, who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole; during this ride, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery which shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe.

A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells's seminal classic, the sci-fi adventure thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it.

"Havoc" is Academy Award-winning writer Stephen Gaghan's ("Traffic") searing vision of teen culture as it clashes with the real world of urban Latino gangsters. Compelling and comic, contemporary and tragic, Gaghan's music-driven tale follows two beautiful girls on their journey from the safety of their suburban homes into the dangerous underworld of East L.A., where they learn that even innocent actions have consequences.

Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where--after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song--they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate. The females remain long enough only to lay a single egg. Once this is accomplished, exhausted by weeks without nourishment, they begin their return journey across the ice-field to the fish-filled seas. The male emperors are left behind to guard and hatch the precious eggs, which they cradle at all times on top of their feet. After two long months during which the males eat nothing, the eggs begin to hatch. Once they have emerged into their ghostly white new world, the chicks can not survive for long on their fathers' limited food reserves. If their mothers are late returning from the ocean with food, the newly-hatched young will die. Once the families are reunited, the roles reverse, the mothers remaining with their new young while their mates head, exhausted and starved, for the sea, and food. While the adults fish, the chicks face the ever-present threat of attack by prowling giant petrels. As the weather grows warmer and the ice floes finally begin to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

Rob Schneider is seduced back to his unlikely pleasure-for-pay profession, when his former pimp T.J. Hicks (Eddie Griffin) is implicated in the murders of Europe's Greatest Gigolos. Deuce must go back to work in order to clear his good friend's name. Along the way, Deuce must compete against the powerful European Union of Prosti-dudes and court another bevy of abnormal female clients including the beautiful Eva, who suffers from acute obsessive-compulsive disorder.

A film about quadriplegics who play full-contact rugby in Mad Max-style wheelchairs - overcoming unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is full of teen angst about friends, grades, and girls... in other words, Will is just another suburban teen about to start high school. If that isn't enough to deal with, Will has the added pressure of being the third generation of the Stronghold family to attend the esteemed and celebrated Sky High. This elite school is entrusted with the responsibility of molding today's power-gifted students into tomorrow's superheroes. The only problem... Will is starting his freshman year without any super powers of his own. Labeled a sidekick, Will is bullied by the jock with the power to stretch, humiliated by a kid with super speed, stalked by the outcast who shoots fire from his hands, and teased the cheerleader who can replicate herself into an entire cheer squad. Worst of all, he must hide all of his troubles or face the disappointment of his parents, the crime-fighting duo—The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston)—the most revered and beloved superheroes in the business today.

John and Jane Smith are an ordinary suburban couple with an ordinary, lifeless suburban marriage. But each is hiding something the other would kill to know: Mr. and Mrs. Smith are actually highly paid, incredibly efficient assassins--and they work for competing organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Smith both discover a new source of excitement in their marriage, when they're hired to assassinate each other--and that's when the real fun starts. The result is a total action spectacle, as Mr. and Mrs. Smith put their formidable skills to work and their marriage to the ultimate test.