In honor of the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, Amazon has put a collection of past winners on sale in the Instant Video Store. The collection includes the following films:
Note: all movie descriptions are from IMDB.com.
My Left Foot (R, 4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $4.98 to own)
n this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life.
Later, through the help of his strong-willed mother, a dedicated teacher, and his own courage and determination, Christy not only learns to grapple with life’s simple physical tasks and complex psychological pains, but he also develops into a brilliant painter, poet and author. – Written by David Mullich
Chicago (PG-13, 4/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99 to rent, $4.98 to own)
Velma Kelly is the sexy vaudeville star who murders her husband and sister after finding them in bed together. Roxie is the wannabe vaudeville star who kills her lover after finding out he was never going to make her famous.
Enter Billy Flynn, the greasy lawyer whose goal is not only to have his clients acquitted, but to make them legal legends. Billy, who apparently likes Roxie’s angle (He tried to kill me) better than Velma’s (I blacked out and can’t remember a thing). With help from Matron Mama Morton both women vie for the spot as Illinois’s most famed murderess, but there’s only room for one legend… “That’s Chicago”. – Written by tigerchick5655
Monster’s Ball (R, 3.5/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99 to rent, $4.98 to own)
Set in the Southern United States, ‘Monster’s Ball’ is a tale of a racist white man, Hank, who falls in love with a black woman named Leticia.
Ironically Hank is a prison guard working on Death Row who executed Leticia’s husband. Hank and Leticia’s interracial affair leads to confusion and new ideas for the two unlikely lovers. – Written by Anna
Sling Blade (R, 4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $2.99 to rent, $4.98 to own)
A partially handicapped man named Karl is released from a mental hospital, about 20 years after murdering his mother and another person. Karl is often questioned if he will ever kill again, and he shrugs in response saying there is no reason to. Now out of the mental institution, Karl settles in his old, small hometown, occupying himself by fixing motors.
After meeting a young boy named Frank, who befriends him, Karl is invited to stay at Frank’s house with his mother Linda, who views Karl as a strange but kind and generous man. However, Linda’s abusive boyfriend, Doyle, sees things differently in the way rules ought to be run- normally insulting Linda’s homosexual friend Vaughan as well as Karl’s disabilities, and having wild parties with his friends. As Karl’s relationship with Frank grows, he is watchful of Doyle’s cruel actions. – Written by commanderblue
Braveheart (R, 4.5/5 stars, closed captions option included, currently priced at $2.99 to rent, $5.99 to own)
William Wallace is a Scottish rebel who leads an uprising against the cruel English ruler Edward the Longshanks, who wishes to inherit the crown of Scotland for himself.
When he was a young boy, William Wallace’s father and brother, along with many others, lost their lives trying to free Scotland. Once he loses another of his loved ones, William Wallace begins his long quest to make Scotland free once and for all, along with the assistance of Robert the Bruce. – Written by David Landers
Apollo 13 (PG, 4.5/5 stars, closed captions option included, currently priced at $2.99 to rent, $6.99 to own)
It had been less than a year since man first walked on the Moon, but as far as the American public was concerned, Apollo 13 was just another “routine” space flight–until these words pierced the immense void of space: “Houston, we have a problem.”
Stranded 205,000 miles from Earth in a crippled spacecraft, astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert fight a desperate battle to survive. Meanwhile, at Mission Control, astronaut Ken Mattingly, flight director Gene Kranz and a heroic ground crew race against time–and the odds–to bring them home. – Written by Robert Lynch