This week's top releases include Mike Nichols' award-winning miniseries "Angels In America," a masterful adaptation of Tony Kushner's epic Broadway play. Also, the restoration of George Lucas's first film "THX 1138" and Richard Linklater's influential indie "Slacker."
1. Angels in America
Mike Nichols transformed Tony Kushner's epic Broadway play "Angel in America" into a landmark television event, faithfully depicting life at the dawn of the AIDS crisis and the height of the "greed is good" corporate philosophy of Reagan's America. The critically acclaimed HBO production won five Golden Globe Awards, including Best Miniseries and Best Performance awards for stars Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, and Mary Louise Parker.
2. THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut (2-disc Special Edition)
Six years before "Star Wars," George Lucas turned a student short into his first feature "THX 1138." A young, bald and handsome Robert Duvall tries to escape from an oppressive futuristic society. Special feautures include commentary by George Lucas and his co-writer and sound designer Walter Murch, plus an optional "master sessions" viewing mode.
3. Slacker
Take a meandering walk through the streets of Austin in Richard Linklater's 1991 film. A precursor to the animated "Waking Life" and the philospizing lovers Celine and Jessie, this early work heralds a milestone of innovative independent filmmaking in the U.S. The Criterion release includes three separate commentary tracks and the home video debut of Linklater's 1988 debut feature "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books."4. AKA
Matthew Leitch plays a British working class teenager who escapes his dreary suburb and abusive dad and creates a new identity to infiltrate the upper crust in Duncan Roy's drama of identity theft and false fronts in 1980s London and Paris.
5. Young Adam
Ewan McGregor sheathes his light saber and makes love to Tilda Swinton in this sooty, brooding adaptation of a novel by Alexander Trocchi.6. Baadasssss!
Mario Van Peebles tells the true story of his father, Melvin Van Peebles, who made the revolutionary African-American indie classic "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," and makes the best film of his career in the process. Special feautures include the documentary "The Birth of Black Cinema," plus interviews with the cast and crew at the Premiere.7. Hardcore
Paul Schrader's second directorial effort is a powerful, unflinching glimpse into the dark side of the pornography industry. Academy Award winner George C. Scott and Peter Boyle co-star.