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Mike Deerfield returns to the U.S. after his tour of duty in Iraq and abruptly goes missing. His father Hank, a spit-and-polish ex-MP from the Vietnam era, goes looking for him. What he finds goes to the heart of American combat experiences in the Iraqi conflict. Academy Award®-winning* Crash filmmaker Paul Haggis teams with Oscar®- winning* actors Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon in a probing, powerful, fact-based look at fathers and sons…and at a nation and the young soldiers it sends into battle. Jones plays Hank, whose quest lays bare a tangled web of cover-up, murder, mystery and profound revelation about the personal costs of war.

In career Army officer Hank Deerfield's worldview, the American military exists to bring order to the world, and honor and dignity to every one of its soldiers. As played by Tommy Lee Jones, in a layered performance that will haunt the viewer long after the film is over, Deerfield wears the Army life like he does his standard-issue white T-shirts--unconsciously making a cheap motel bed with crisp inspection-ready corners. Yet if war is hell, the purgatory for the relatives of damaged soldiers can cause far more anguish, and Paul Haggis' quietly devastating In the Valley of Elah tells this story through Deerfield, who is desperately trying to piece together the fate of his adored son Mike, a soldier in Iraq.

Mike's company has returned from duty, but he is missing; Hank flies from Tennessee to Fort Rudd in the Southwest, to conduct his own investigation into the disappearance. There he meets a smart but put-upon police officer (Charlize Theron, glammed-down but still showing a bit too much sexy collarbone for a cop) who also smells something off in the Army's official story of the disappearance. The two form an unlikely team, but as a friend tells Deerfield early on, "You gotta trust somebody sometime, Hank," and Mike's vanishing is Hank's tipping point.

As Hank pieces together the horrifying story of Mike's fate, the incremental pain becomes etched in Jones' ragged features, and the camera captures all of it--far more powerfully than could a million words of reportage from the front lines. Theron's performance is also strong, and Susan Sarandon is moving if underutilized as Hank's grief-stricken wife, robbed of the simple nuclear family life she so wanted. "They shouldn't send heroes to places like Iraq," says one of Mike's buddies late in the film, and it's the viewers' collective sorrow--and the film's great achievement--to feel that at the deepest human level. --A.T. Hurley

The national bestseller now in paperback: the revealing personal memoir from Tom Perkins—renowned venture capitalist, Silicon Valley and biotechnology pioneer, and one of America’s most successful businessmen.

Known for his idiosyncratic ideas and golden touch, Tom Perkins has always been one of the business world’s most intriguing figures. In this insightful memoir, Perkins recalls many fascinating episodes of his life, both personal and professional, including his involvement in the creation of American industries no one could have dreamed of not long ago.

Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and 'pills' - the beloved "dolls." A prim New Englander (Barbara Parkins) unexpectedly skyrockets from her job as secretary in a talent agency to a glamorous TV model. A determined singer (Patty Duke) finds that Hollywood success can also spell self-destruction. And a beautiful sex symbol (Sharon Tate) is torn between the money commands and the shame of feeling exploited. Based on Jacqueline Susann's phenomenal best-seller about the underside of Hollywood, this fascinating melodrama was once seen as a shocking behind-the-scenes look at how show business creates instant stars, destroys romances and changes personalities forever.

They don't make 'em like this anymore. Well, John Waters might, if he ever had a big enough budget. A steamy "inside look" at the alternately sleazy and glamorous world of catfighting, backbiting show-biz starlets, this Hollywood hit from the bestselling novel by Jacqueline Susann is a high-gloss camp artifact--a time capsule (or some kind of capsule, anyway)--from the screwy '60s, when a broad was a broad, a bitch was a bitch (whether "her" name was Neely O'Hara or Ted Casablanca), and a "doll" was a prescription drug. These dames of whine and poses obsessed over their bust lines, booze, and barbiturates. The once-shocking and scandalous language and behavior of these Broadway babes has been eclipsed by Dallas, Dynasty, and Melrose Place, but time has only enhanced the stature of Valley of the Dolls as a classic--and it still puts Showgirls to shame. With Patty Duke, Susan Hayward, Sharon Tate, Lee Grant, Barbara Parkins, and Martin Milner (and juicy, scene-chewing dialogue such as the infamous: "They drummed you out of Hollywood, so you come crawling back to Broadway. But Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope--now get out of my way, I've got a man waiting for me!"), Valley of the Dolls is the Mount Rushmore of backstage movie melodramas. --Jim Emerson

Martha Coolidge's 1983 directorial debut--based loosely on the Frank (and Moon) Zappa (who weren't involved with the film) novelty hit of the previous year--carried a budget so low that it didn't even generate a soundtrack album when it was released. Loosely based on the same themes as Romeo and Juliet, (with a young Nicolas Cage as a Hollywood homeboy Montague) Valley Girl's producers were also savvy enough to tap into LA radio outlet KROQ's pioneering "Rock of the 80s" format. Rhino's unofficial soundtrack release captures much of the spunky essence of KROQ's playlist--three tracks by LA's great Plimsouls (including their biggest hit "A Million Miles Away"), some novelty hits (Josie Cotton's "Johnny Are You Queer, "Jukebox" by the flirts, Felony's "The Fanatic")--and fondly recalls an era when rock's fun quotient hadn't yet been tattooed and pierced into oblivion. --Jerry McCulley

Julie's cool, Randy's hot. She's from the Valley, he's like'so not! Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman star in this "sweet, fast, unpretentious [and] funny" (Los Angeles Times) romance that mixes preppies, punkers and a "hit-filled soundtrack" (The New York Times)including The Plimsouls and Modern Englishinto an iconic cult film that's "entertaining" (New York)'to the max! Julie is, like, so over her preppy boyfriend, she dumps him on the escalator at the Galleria. And when she meets punker Randy, her eyes practically bug out because she thinks he's sexy even though he makes her friends gag! But even if Randy's ready to stop the world and melt with her, can Julie risk her losing her friends and her super-popularity at school just to be with him?

Valley Girl is, like--Omigod!--one of the most "tubular" teen comedies of the early 1980s. This movie launched Nicolas Cage's career, and it's easy to see why: Following his tiny role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cage is perfectly cast as a Hollywood punk who instantly falls for Julie (the irresistible Deborah Foreman), a San Fernando "Valley Girl"--a brighter variant of the stereotype immortalized in Moon Unit Zappa's 1982 novelty song--who must choose between wild-boy Nic and her preening jock boyfriend (Mark Bowen). Fortunately, Julie knows what's right for her (even if her "Val" friends don't), and in refreshing defiance of teen-flick tradition, her post-hippie parents (Frederic Forrest, Colleen Camp) are supportively cool. With sincere humor, a lively soundtrack of '80s hits, and a time-capsule cruise of Hollywood landmarks, Valley Girl is both timeless and nostalgic, owing much of its lasting appeal to Martha Coolidge's sensitive direction. Fer sure, y'know, it definitely won't gag you with a spoon. --Jeff Shannon

The battleground has been chosen for the final showdown between those selected by the gods and the minions of the vampire Lilith. But there is one vampire who dares stand against her. And his love for the scholarly queen of Geall will complete the circle of six-and change the face of eternity.

Its three protagonists--Anne Welles, the uptight-but-full-of-a-strange-yearning New England beauty; Neely O'Hara, the Judy Garland á clef; and Jennifer North, who is sort of the Marilyn Monroe á clef and also sort of the Brigitte Bardot á clef but mainly sort of the least realized character in the book--all spend most of the novel with what they want excruciatingly just out of reach, and all are ultimately not only defeated but self-defeating ... I should say, first of all, that I have absolutely no criticisms to make of this book. It is perfect, and I'm not just saying that because I practically memorized it at the age of 13 and it was one of my primary illicit sources of sexual information in the gap between information and experience, and I therefore view it with fond nostalgia.... However melodramatic its plot may be, Valley of the Dolls is simply old-fashioned riveting.

Sex and drugs and shlock and more--Jacqueline Susann's addictively entertaining trash classic about three showbiz girls clawing their way to the top and hitting bottom in New York City has it all. Though it's inspired by Susann's experience as a mid-century Broadway starlet who came heartbreakingly close to making it, but did not, and despite its reputation as THE roman á clef of the go-go 1960s, the novel turned out to be weirdly predictive of 1990s post-punk, post-feminist, post "riot grrrl" culture. Jackie Susann may not be a writer for the ages, but--alas!--she's still a writer for our times.

Hudson Valley focuses on living throughout the Hudson Valley region of New York State, from Westchester to the state capitol in Albany. Subjects covered include cultural events in the region, listings and reviews of area restaurants, day trips to points of interest and articles on the history and people of the region.