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Meg Ryan stars in this fictionalized account of real-life boxing manager Jackie Kallen, the first female to ever make a name for herself in the sport. As the film begins she's just an assistant to the owner of a sleazy sporting arena, but her antagonism toward a mafia-affiliated boxing bigwig (Tony Shalhoub) and her hunch about the innate boxing talent of a young street thug named Luther (Omar Epps) lead her to take up managing. She recruits a retired trainer (Charles S. Dutton, who also directed) to mold Luther into a champ, and starts pushing and climbing through the sport's rampant sexism. The script by Cheryl Edwards is packed with platitudes and great throwaway lines, and to its credit the film doesn't shy away from showing Kallen's less flattering angles. Ryan looks and sounds great, sporting a fun Midwestern accent and a series of sexy outfits as she sashays through the cigar smoke and testosterone, tough-talking her way to victory in argument after argument. Though set in the present, AGAINST THE ROPES has a grungy 1970s feel to it, recalling ROCKY, THE CHAMP, THE MAIN EVENT and other films of the era. The real-life Kallen served as an associate producer.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseFull Frame - 1.33Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Surround - English Dolby Surround - FrenchAdditional Release Material: Featurettes - 1. A RINGSIDE SEAT










2. QUEEN OF THE RING: JACKIE KALLEN THEN AND NOW Theatrical TrailerInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
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Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham, THE HOURS employs Virginia Woolf's classic novel and central character, MRS. DALLOWAY, as its foundation and inspiration. Spanning three different eras, during one day, the film focuses on the parallel lives of three women joined in their depression, alienation, and search for love. Nicole Kidman, wearing a prosthetic nose, is virtually unrecognizable as the tortured writer Virginia Woolf whose ongoing battle with mental illness eventually led to her tragic suicide in 1941. The film begins with the moment of her suicide and flashes back on her life and work as she crafted her most memorable character, Clarissa Dalloway, in 1923. In 1950's California suburbia another woman, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), struggles with alienation and depression. Trapped by her clinging young son and an adoring husband whom she does not love, the desperate woman tries to prepare for her husband's birthday but cannot stop reading MRS. DALLOWAY. Finally, in modern day Manhattan, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep), a lesbian who lives with her lover (Allison Janney) and her daughter (Claire Danes), struggles to prepare a party for her ex-husband (Ed Harris) who is dying of AIDS. Director Stephen Daltry uses beautiful overlapping editing to sew the women's interwoven stories seamlessly together. At the core of this profoundly moving film is the trio of award-winning actresses who grace the screen with their bold and awe-inspiring performances. Fullscreen
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
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In this steamy, spicy mystery a prosecutor is sent to New Orleans to investigate police corruption. All the evidence points to a Cajun detective she falls in love with immediately, and though the trial forces him temporarily off the squad it doesn't stop him from investigating the case or from seeing her.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CasePan& Scan - 1.33Single Side - Single LayerAdditional Release Material: Trailers - 1.Original Theatrical TrailerInteractive Features: Interactive Menus Scene AccessText/Photo Galleries: Cast& Crew Biographies
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

A tense, somewhat prescient drama in which Frank Sinatra plays a psychopathic triggerman hired to kill the United States President. On the way he and his two partners take over a widow's house, which is perfectly situated for an ambush. After Kennedy's assassination, the film was shelved and Sinatra tried to have the prints destroyed.DVD Special Features:Jewel Case, Region One Encoding
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
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In Karel Reisz's SWEET DREAMS, Jessica Lange stars as Patsy Cline, the ill-fated country singer whose trembling, emotion packed renditions of Crazy, Sweet Dreams, and I Fall to Pieces, made her one the most enduring voices in all of American popular music. Starting out by performing more standard country songs in little dives and honky-tonks in Virginia, Patsy rose to national prominence after her manager Ted Healy matched her voice to her now famous bittersweet love songs. Unfortunately, her own love life often mirrored the sadness in her songs. We see her choose to stand by her man, as Loretta Lynn sang in COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER. That film, similar to SWEET DREAMS in that it's another country singer's bio that shows us the professional success and personal heartache of women during the 1950s. Save for the music, this could be any woman's story of a love-hate marriage. Patsy's abusive husband, the all too perfectly named Charlie Dick (Is it any wonder she choose to continue to use her first husband's name?) is played with a nice blend of love, jealously, and malice by Ed Harris. As Patsy's mother, Ann Wedgeworth gives a superb portrait of a sweet but steel-cored Southern woman on whom Patsy is as emotionally dependent as she is on her husband. Their scenes together, full of tangy Southern aphorisms, have a wonderful bite and sparkle.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseAudio: Dolby Surround - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Trailers - 1.Original Theatrical TrailerInteractive Features: Interactive Menus Scene AccessText/Photo Galleries: Biographies - 1.Cast& Crew
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.