It's better than the 1994 remake starring Kim Basinger and husband Alec Baldwin, but this 1972 thriller relies too heavily on the low-key star power of Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, and the stylish violence of director Sam Peckinpah, reduced here to a mechanical echo of his former glory. McQueen plays a bank robber whose wife (MacGraw) makes a deal with a Texas politician to have her husband released from prison in return for a percentage from their next big heist. But when the plan goes sour, the couple must flee to Mexico as fast as they can, with a variety of gun-wielding thugs on their trail. MacGraw was duly skewered at the time for her dubious acting ability, but the film still has a raw, unglamorous quality that lends a timeless spin to the familiar crooks-on-the-lam scenario. As always, Peckinpah rises to the occasion with some audacious scenes of action and suspense, including a memorable chase on a train that still grabs the viewer's attention. Getaway is not a great film, but a must for McQueen and Peckinpah fans. --Jeff Shannon
Like Father Like Daughter! Lisa Dolittle sends her daughter to 'Durango' a Dude Ranch to find herself. While there she must use her talent to talk to the animals in order to save Durango from being taken over by an unscrupulous neighbouring ranch...
Clockwise is a light-hearted farce that works because John Cleese is so effective as the tightly wound, punctilious headmaster whose well-organised life unravels in a series of disasters on his journey to a conference. Cleese is a master of fussy, fastidious characters in exasperating situations, bottling up his frustration under good manners and sardonic comments until he finally blows, but hes also startlingly vulnerable as he systematically loses all sense of himself. Dressed in monks robes and stranded on a lonely country road, he looks down at his naked wrist and sighs, "Ive even lost the time". Michael Fryan (the playwright of Noises Off) doesnt really have much of a story behind the situations, but he provides plenty of complications, and Cleese holds the film together with his brittle manner, single-minded drive, and hilarious headmasters condescending haughtiness. While it will seem slight to many, Cleese fans will love it.--Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com
Released just a few years before a similar British film ZULU this 1962 English gladiator film depicts the tiny army of Sparta and their efforts to stave off an attack by Persian forces which greatly outnumbered the Spartans. Led by King Leonidis (Richard Egan) the Spartans army consisted primarily of a security force who guarded the palace. This rousing gladiator epic boasts an incredible cast including Diane Baker Ralph Richardson and Kieron Moore.
This box set contains both versions of The Italian Job--the original 60s classic starring Michael Caine and the 2003 remake, featuring Mark Wahlberg.
As cop and criminal two ruthless professionals have the same outlook and code. L.A. Takedown directed by Michael Mann is a complex and gripping thriller about Vincent Hanna an obsessive cop tailing a callous and clinical armed robber Patrick McLaren. They first meet across a crowded cafe and after a heist goes wrong Hanna and McLaren confront each other in a full scale battle on the streets of Los Angeles.
The flaws are easily forgiven in this beautiful version of Louisa May Alcott's novel. A stirring look at life in New England during the Civil War, Little Women is a triumph for all involved. We follow one family as they split into the world, ending up with the most independent, the outspoken Jo (Winona Ryder). This time around, the dramatics and conclusions fall into place a little too well, instead of finding life's little accidents along the way. Everyone now looks a bit too cute and oh, so nice. As the matron, Marmee, Susan Sarandon kicks the film into a modern tone, creating a movie alive with a great feminine sprit. Kirsten Dunst (Interview with the Vampire) has another showy role. The young ensemble cast cannot be faulted, with Ryder beginning the movie in a role akin to light comedy and crescendos to a triumphant end worthy of an Oscar. --Doug Thomas
Rush Hour: Two cops from very different worlds must learn to trust each other before they can win a high-stakes battle against a ruthless enemy who threatens to demolish the fragile peace between their countries. The fastest hands in the east meets the loudest mouth in the west! Rush Hour 2: Chopsocky action star Jackie Chan reteams with motormouth Chris Tucker in this 'Rush Hour' sequel as the mismatched cop duo investigate several bombings in Hong Kong attributed
David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut House of Games is mesmerising study of control and seduction between two kinds of detached observers: a gambler who is also a con artist and a psychotherapist who is also an emerging pop-psych guru in the book market. The latter (played by Lindsay Crouse) meets the former (Joe Mantegna) when one of her clients is driven to despair from his debts to the card shark. Mantegna's character agrees to drop the IOUs in exchange for Crouse's attention at the seedy House of Games in Seattle, a mecca for conmen to talk shop and hustle unsuspecting customers. The shrink gets so caught up in the arcane rules and world view of her guide over subsequent days that she observes--with no false rapture--various stings in progress inside and outside the club. Mamet's story finally becomes a fascinating study of two people protecting and extending their respective cosmologies the way rival predators fight for the same piece of turf. The psychological challenge is compelling; so is the stylised dialogue, with its pattern of pauses and hiccups and humming meter. Mostly shooting at night, Mamet also gave Seattle a different look from previous filmmakers, turning its familiar puddles into concentrations of liquid neon and poisonous noir. --Tom Keogh
A freewheeling portrait of Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster's fabled road trip across America in the legendary Magic Bus. In 1964, Ken Kesey set off on a LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World's Fair. He was joined by The Merry Band of Pranksters, a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac's On the Road, and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus. Kesey and the Pranksters intended to make a documentary about their trip, shooting footage on 16MM, but the film was never finished and the footage has remained virtually unseen...until now.
John Mayer Where The Light Is captures the multi-Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter in the element where fans love him the most: live on stage. The special concert includes three sets: an acoustic performance a rare set with John Mayer Trio (John Mayer Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino) as well as a set featuring Mayer''s full-band all recorded during the night of December 8 2007 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. This will be the first new release since Continuum (9/06) and incorporates each of the elements that the five-time Grammy-winner is known for - acoustic songwriter electric guitar slinger bluesman and vocalist. The 22-song DVD features a one of a kind song list made up of the three distinct performances. Highlights include many of Mayer''s biggest hits (''Waiting On The World To Change '' ''Daughters '' and ''Why Georgia'') new interpretations of cover songs (''Free Fallin'' '' ''Bold As Love '' and ''I Don''t Need No Doctor'') and a previously unreleased Mayer gem (''In Your Atmosphere''). Acoustic Set: 1. Neon 2. Stop This Train 3. LA Song 4. Daughters 5. Free Fallin'' Trio Set: 6. Everyday I Have The Blues 7. Wait Til Tomorrow 8. Who Did You Think I Was? 9. Come When I Call 10. Good Love Is On The Way 11. Out Of My Mind 12. Vultures 13. Bold As Love Band Set: 14. Waiting On The World To Change 15. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room 16. Why Georgia 17. Heart Of Life 18. I Don''t Need No Doctor 19. Gravity 20. I Don''t Trust Myself (With Loving You) 21. Belief 22. I''m Gonna Find Another You
NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio.
When world-renowned singer Dino (Martin in a hilarious self-parody) passes through Climax Nevada he doesn't count on meeting two would-be songwriters with a plan to trap him there and serenade him with their songs. But then again they weren't counting on Dino's insatiable appetite...for wine and women! And when one of the men learns that his own wife was once president of Dino's fan club he hires a replacement wife (Kim Novak) to help lure the carousing star into a song-buying moo
One of Woody Allen's best-loved films, this won three richly deserved Oscars* (for Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest and the screenplay), and is a joy from start to perfectly judged finish. Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful actress. She's also the emotional backbone of the family, and her sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) depend on this stability while also resenting it because they can't help but compare Hannah's seemingly perfect life with theirs. But with her husband Elliot (Michael Caine) becoming increasingly interested in Lee, it's clear that Hannah might have problems of her own. An unusually strong supporting cast includes Allen himself as Hannah's existentially conflicted ex-husband and Max von Sydow as a perfectionist artist, but it's Caine who practically steals the film as a middle-aged man behaving like a lovesick teenager. It also has some of Allen's greatest one-liners, with a philosophical discussion about the nature of good and evil getting shot down with How should I know why there were Nazis? I don't even know how the can opener works.
Director Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, the follow-up to his most popular hit Poltergeist, is a film that must be seen to be believed. That's not really a compliment, though, since Lifeforce isn't much of a movie when all the sound and fury is over. But you've got to admit there's something crazily admirable about a picture that starts out as a science fiction mission to Halley's comet, turns into an alien-invasion thriller featuring a beautiful naked woman (Mathilda May) who's a vampire from space and escalates into an end-of-the-world disaster flick. Armed with a big budget and a special effects crew led by Star Wars pioneer John Dykstra, Hooper and Alien cowriter Dan O'Bannon have whipped up a concoction that's got everything anyone could ask of a horror movie--from zombies running amok in London to rotting corpses and energy bolts that signal the apocalypse to come. Keeping it all together is Steve Railsback as the Halley-mission survivor who holds the key to mankind's salvation--but what fun is saving the world when you could be seduced by a sexy naked space vampire? Check out Lifeforce to see how it all turns out. --Jeff Shannon
Four children are orphaned and forced into hiding with an old forester who lives deep in the woods. They have to fight and help save Charles Stuart King of England from his enemies. Contains all six episodes from the TV series.
After some years making a name for himself as a serious actor and television presenter, Lenny Henry in Pieces sees the comedian return to the world of the TV sketch show. Having always struggled to find a suitable format for his comedy (remember Delbert Wilkins?), Henry has this time settled on a fairly frantic style, with mixed results. The best bits, as has often been the case with his material, come when he draws on the rich vein of West Indian humour, particularly the more mature characters. When he heads more for the middle of the road, however, Henry starts to falter. The movie pastiches are largely uninspired, ironically coming across as little more than cast offs from French and Saunders, and the show is lacking in the energy that so infuses Henry's stand up routines. There certainly are some good characters (Weekend Dad and the homo-erotic trawlermen Pete and Steve especially) but after a while the lack of variety in even these creations becomes frustrating. Such repetition works in the superior ensemble piece of The Fast Show, but this falls flat over the course of the eight episodes. Looks like Lenny Henry might need to go back to the drawing board. On the DVD: Lenny Henry in Pieces has a running time of nearly four hours, so the lack of extras may be understandable but is no less disappointing. The interactive menu is handy for skipping through some of the less engaging moments but is not detailed enough to help pinpoint specific scenes. The audio and picture quality is good enough television quality. Additional material is limited to 14 minutes of cringingly unfunny out-takes, further proof (if it were needed) that watching someone forget their lines over and over again does not necessarily mean great comedy. --Phil Udell
With the makings of a classic, Disney's Tuck Everlasting is loosely but respectfully adapted from Natalie Babbitt's beloved children's book. This appealing fable focuses on the timeless Tuck family, blessed--and cursed--with immortality after drinking from a magical spring. Hiding their secret over passing decades, they are discovered in 1914 by Winnie (Alexis Bledel)--the only daughter of stern, upper-crust socialites--who encounters the life-affirming Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson) and grows enchanted with his family (Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, Scott Bairstow) while her parents fear she's been kidnapped. The film's teenage romance is invented (Winnie is younger in Babbitt's book), but it's charmingly appropriate, and Ben Kingsley is perfect as a menacing man of mystery. Scoring a solid follow-up to his equally enjoyable My Dog Skip, director Jay Russell turns Tuck Everlasting into a magical plea for living life to its fullest. --Jeff Shannon
Three sisters set off from Switzerland with their divorced mother to go to New York in order to stop their father marrying a calculating socialite...
Steven Seagal needed a new approach to his standard head-busting heroics, so he teamed up with Keenen Ivory Wayans for this routine 1996 action flick. This time stone-faced Steve plays Los Angeles homicide detective Jack Cole, newly transplanted from New York and teamed up with Jim Campbell (Wayans). They're assigned to track down "The Family Man," a serial killer who earned his nickname by crucifying entire families and leaving religious graffiti as his calling card. The case heats up when the latest victim turns out to be Cole's ex-wife, and Cole is considered a primary suspect. That makes Seagal get really mad--you don't want to get Seagal too upset, y'know--but he still has time to quote Buddhist wisdom and crack wise with Wayans, who plays it relatively straight as the practical half of this partnership. Glimmer Man is typical Seagal stuff all the way, with obligatory fight scenes every 10 minutes or so, but Seagal fans will enjoy it and Brian Cox makes a suitably hissable villain. --Jeff Shannon
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