Winner of four Academy Awards, including best picture, director, supporting actor and best editing, Clint Eastwood's 1992 masterpiece stands as one of the greatest and most thematically compelling Westerns ever made. "The movie summarised everything I feel about the Western," said Eastwood at the time of the film's release. "The moral is the concern with gunplay." To illustrate that theme, Eastwood stars as a retired, once-ruthless killer-turned-gentle-widower and hog farmer. He accepts one last bounty-hunter mission--to find the men who brutalised a prostitute--to help support his two motherless children. Joined by his former partner (Morgan Freeman) and a cocky greenhorn (Jaimz Woolvett), he takes on a corrupt sheriff (Oscar winner Gene Hackman) in a showdown that makes the viewer feel the full impact of violence and its corruption of the soul. Dedicated to Eastwood's mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel and featuring a colourful role for Richard Harris, Unforgiven is arguably Eastwood's crowning directorial achievement. --Jeff Shannon
This likeable, feminist screwball comedy about several incidents of mistaken identity is remembered more as the film that made Madonna a movie star. She's flip, hip and energetic as Susan, the wild tramp with whom bored, suburban New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) becomes obsessed after reading of her sexual conquests in the personal ads. Of course, since Madonna essentially played herself, the role's hardly a stretch. Director Susan Seidelmen presents a series of zany incidents too complicated to recount, but the result is that Roberta swaps lifestyles with her fixation to explore New Wave culture on New York's Lower East Side. It's territory Seidelmen knew well as her more offbeat, indie debut, Smithereens, revelled in the same setting. But where Smithereens took a more edgy approach to its characters, Susan is a fairy tale romantic comedy, and eventually becomes as conventional as the suburban characters it mocks by settling conflicts with predictable Hollywood formulae. Still, there's much to be enjoyed. The film's at its funniest when juxtaposing New York hip and New Jersey suburbia, like when Arquette's straight, suit-and-tie husband dances with Madonna in a punk club. The performances, too, are engaging, especially Arquette and Aidan Quinn, playing a romantic film projectionist who becomes her grubby Prince Charming. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com --This text refers to the VHS edition of this video
The Crow set the standard for dark and violent comic-book movies (like Spawn or director Alex Proyas's superior follow-up, Dark City), but it will forever be remembered as the film during which star Brandon Lee (son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee) was accidentally killed on the set by a loaded gun. The filmmakers were able to digitally sample what they'd captured of Lee's performance and piece together enough footage to make the film releasable. Indeed, it is probably more fascinating for that post-production story than for the tale on the screen. The Crow is appropriately cloaked in ominous expressionistic shadows, oozing urban dread and occult menace from every dank, concrete crack, but it really adds up to a simple and perfunctory tale of ritual revenge. Guided by a portentous crow (standing in for Poe's raven), Lee plays a deceased rock musician who returns from the grave to systematically torture and kill the outlandishly violent gang of hoodlums who murdered him and his fiancée the year before. The film is worth watching for its compelling visuals and genuinely nightmarish, otherworldly ambience. --Jim Emerson
The Crow set the standard for dark and violent comic-book movies (like Spawn or director Alex Proyas's superior follow-up, Dark City), but it will forever be remembered as the film during which star Brandon Lee (son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee) was accidentally killed on the set by a loaded gun. The filmmakers were able to digitally sample what they'd captured of Lee's performance and piece together enough footage to make the film releasable. Indeed, it is probably more fascinating for that post-production story than for the tale on the screen. The Crow is appropriately cloaked in ominous expressionistic shadows, oozing urban dread and occult menace from every dank, concrete crack, but it really adds up to a simple and perfunctory tale of ritual revenge. Guided by a portentous crow (standing in for Poe's raven), Lee plays a deceased rock musician who returns from the grave to systematically torture and kill the outlandishly violent gang of hoodlums who murdered him and his fiancée the year before. The film is worth watching for its compelling visuals and genuinely nightmarish, otherworldly ambience. --Jim Emerson
Nowhere To Run (1993): Action superstar Jean Claude Van Damme has nowhere to run and nothing to lose! An escaped prisoner hiding from the authorities Sam Gillen (Van Damme) always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom he aids a beautiful young widow Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) and her children against a ruthless developer who's trying to drive them off their land. Hunted by both the police and the developer's hired killers Sam pulls no punches in his furious fight for survival - he'll do anything to protect the family who are protecting him. The result is more hard-hitting high kicking Van Damme action than you've ever seen! Hard Target (1993): The thrill of the hunt. It's the ultimate drug and the more intense the rush the higher the price. International superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme teams up with world-famous action director John Woo for this electrifying thriller that WGN Radio hails as 'Easily one of the year's best films!' Van Damme is the target of an evil mercenary (Lance Henriksen) who recruits homeless combat veterans for the 'amusement' of his clients - bored tycoons who will pay a half a million dollars to stalk and kill the most challenging prey of them all: Man. Laced with dark humour and slam-packed with electrifying action Hard Target is a must see for action fans. Knock Off (1998): Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in an explosive thriller set in Hong Kong's shady manufacturing scene during the 1997 handover to China. When a shipment of jeans to the US proves counterfeit Marcus Ray the ""King of the Knock-Offs"" (Van Damme) finds himself at the centre of a Russian Mafia plot to hold the United States' security for ransom. Thousands of tiny micro-bombs disguised within other manufactured goods are schedules for departure from Hong Kong to America. When Ray's company's jeans are found to be the housing for the explosives he's the one man the CIA can count on to prevent certain disaster! In a territory where loyalty can change hands overnight Marcus Ray's survival will depend on him knowing the fakes from the real thing!
Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student's disappearance.
Poor Rosanna Arquette ended up in this Van Damme potboiler about an escaped convict who moves onto the farm of a widow (Arquette) and her two kids. Stuff happens: a cop who likes her gets jealous and beats up the Muscles from Brussels (but only after handcuffing him), there's a fire in the barn, bad guys are trying to drive her away, etc. The story was first developed by screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) and the late director Richard Marquand (Eye of the Needle). Eszterhas wrote the script, but who knows what direction this story was originally going? Van Damme's best film is still Timecop, and this is a long way from the quality of that.
Set in Wyoming in 1881 during the sunset years of the Wild West, 1992's Unforgiven was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood, and is generally considered to be the towering achievement of his twilight years. Eastwood plays William Munny, once a vicious, whisky-swilling bounty hunter, brought to heel by his marriage to a good woman. When she dies, he must raise two children and run a hog farm alone, something which we see him make a comically poor fist of doing. Then, in a twist of fate, a young outlaw called the Schofield Kid trots up to his farm and invites him to collect on a $1,000 reward raised by a group of prostitutes. However, Clint must not only face up to his own somewhat rusty skills as a gunslinger, but also to genial-but-psychopathic lawman Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman in superb form). Unforgiven ultimately conforms to the expectations of the genre, while subverting quite a few of them on the way. There's brooding on the consequences of violence ("It's a hell of a thing to kill a man"), as Munny's ineptitude with a rifle is matched by his feelings of penitence for his younger wrongdoings. Finally, however, Eastwood casts aside age and inhibition in a chillingly ruthless shootout, his powers miraculously (improbably?) restored, in what could also be seen as an assertion on the part of the ageing Eastwood of his own potency as a major player in Hollywood. On the DVD: Unforgiven is presented in this Special Edition release in a 2.35:1 widescreen transfer that gives due emphasis to what critic David Thomson described as the "drained, wintry" feel of the movie. There are numerous bonus features in addition to the original trailer. Eastwood official biographer Richard Schickel offers a particularly copious and detailed audio commentary which touches on all aspects of the film. The 64-minute 1997 documentary Clint on Clint offers a detailed if inevitably worshipful account of Eastwood's career. Finally, there's a 47-minute 1959 episode of Maverick, the old James Garner TV series, guest-starring a 29-year-old Clint, several years away from his big Hollywood break. --David Stubbs
A wry and comic look at the shifting of power in sexual relationships Francois Ozon's film is adapted from a play written but never staged by the celebrated German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. When the smooth-talking Leopold (Bernard Giraudeau) a successful businessman of 50 seduces 20-year-old Franz the youngster falls under his spell and moves in with him. But Leopold soon reveals his true colours and Franz contemplates returning to her girlfriend (Ludivine Sagnier) -
When Frank DaVinci's (Joey Travolta) wedding day turns into a massacre he finds himself in the middle of a war between rogue CIA agents and the underworld. The mysterious Collette (Anna Nicole Smith) has the key to unlock dangerous secrets but is she a trustworthy friend or a deadly enemy?
Angela is the haunting story of the secret spritual lives of a ten year old girl and her six year old sister Ellie. Angela leads Ellie through various regimens of 'purification' in an attempt to rid themselves of their evil which she believes is the cause of their mothers mental illness. Their family moves home in an attempt to cope with their mother's manic depression....
A woman called Meg Harris finds herself cast into the spotlight when she is the victim of a female rape. Meg is threatened by her husband when she decides to go to court. Meanwhile the accused two regulars from a local bar are protected when the bar owner Jack chooses to lie under oath. This taut thriller was nominated for best feature at the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
Titles Comprise: No Retreat No Surrender: Bruce Lee fan Jason Stillwell is not the best student in his martial arts class. Beaten numerous times he is horrified when the local crime syndicate runs his teacher out of town. Training hard using pearls of wisdom from the ghost of Lee Stillwell sets his newly acquired skills upon the syndicate and its' champion the deadly Ivan (Van Damme)... Street Fighter: Shadaloo South-East Asia 1995. As civil war enters its seventh month warlord General M Bison virtually brings about global warfare when he takes 63 Allied Nations' relief workers hostage and threatens to execute them unless a ransom of billion dollars is paid. It is the mission of Colonel William F. Guile to rescue the hostages but he has to locate them first! As part of an audacious plan to track down the General and his futuristic fortress Guile and British Intelligence Officer Cammy recruit to their forces two renegade heroes. Nowhere To Run: An escaped prisoner hiding from the authorities Sam Gillen (Van Damme) always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom he aids a beautiful young widow Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) and her children against a ruthless developer who's trying to drive them off their land. Hard Target: Van Damme is the target of an evil mercenary (Lance Henriksen) who recruits homeless combat veterans for the 'amusement' of his clients - bored tycoons who will pay a half a million dollars to stalk and kill the most challenging prey of them all: Man. Double Team: Though he's the nation's top counter-terrorist Jack Quinn (Van Damme) wants to get out of the spy game. But on his final mission he misses his target and wakes up in a place they call the Colony a think tank for spies who are too dangerous to roam the world but too valuable to be killed. Desert Heat: Desperate to flee the inner demons raging inside him mysterious loner Eddie Lomax (Van-Damme) rides to the last outpost of an abandoned desert highway prepared to end it all. But when a savage gang steals his prized cycle and leaves him for dead Eddie's life is saved by a soulmate from his past. Burning with a new reason to live Eddie sets off on a one-man search-and-destroy mission against his attackers. Universal Soldier - The Return: Continuing the story of Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) the unstoppable hero who was the last man standing at the end of the original film. Years later Luc - now devoting his life to fatherhood - is serving as a technical expert on a special Government project to revive and improve the Universal Soldier Training Programme. Knock Off: When a shipment of jeans to the US proves counterfeit Marcus Ray the King of the Knock-Offs (Van Damme) finds himself at the centre of a Russian Mafia plot to hold the United States' security for ransom. Thousands of tiny micro-bombs disguised within other manufactured goods are schedules for departure from Hong Kong to America. Sudden Death: Van Damme portrays a father whose daughter is suddenly taken during a championship hockey game. With the captors demanding a billion dollars by game's end Van Damme frantically sets a plan in motion to rescue his daughter and abort an impending explosion before the final buzzer... The Quest: Jean-Claude Van Damme directs and stars in this exciting action packed film which centres around Chris Dubois (Van-Damme) and the Ghan-Gheng a legendary 'special invite only' tournament that brings together the greatest fighters of the world in a winner takes all test of skill and courage.
Nowhere To Run: Action superstar Jean Claude Van Damme has nowhere to run and nothing to lose. An escaped prisoner hiding from the authorities Sam Gillen (Van Damme) always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom he aids a beautiful young widow Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) and her children against a ruthless developer who's trying to drive them off their land. Hunted by both the police and the developer's hired killers Sam pulls no punches in his furious fight for survival - he'll do anything to protect the family who are protecting him. The result is more hard-hitting high kicking Van Damme action than you've ever seen! Double Team: Though he's the nation's top counter-terrorist Jack Quinn (Jean-Claude Van Damme) wants to get out of the spy game. But on his final mission he misses his target and wakes up in a place they call the Colony a think tank for spies who are too dangerous to roam the world but too valuable to be killed. With his target the dangerous enigmatic terrorist Stavros (Mickey Rourke) still on the loose and out to get his family. Quinn's only hope is the flamboyant but deadly gun dealer Yaz (Dennis Rodman). Maximum Risk: Action mega star Jean-Claude Van Damme is back with a vengeance in this exhilarating thrill-packed adventure also starring sexy Natasha Henstridge. Alain Moreau's (Van Damme) investigation into the death of his identical twin brother leads him from the south of France to the mean streets of New York City... and into the arms of his brother's beautiful girlfriend. Pursued by ruthless Russian mobsters and renegade FBI agents the duo race against time to solve his brother's murder and expose an international conspiracy. There's only one problem: all traces of his brother's life are rapidly disappearing and the one person who knew him best may not be telling all she knows.
When radio reporter Martin (Reeves) falls for his sexy aunt Julia (Hershey) the station's zany soap opera writer Pedro (Falk) decides to play Cupid and broadcast the details! Courtship soon turns to chaos with Martin's love life in shambles Julia in disgrace and irate listeners rioting in the streets. Everyone will have to tune in tomorrow to discover how it all turns out!
Knock Off: When a shipment of jeans to the US proves counterfeit the ""King of the Knock-Offs"" Marcus Ray (Van Damme) finds himself at the centre of a Russian Mafia plot to hold the United States' security for ransom... Nowhere To Run: An escaped prisoner hiding from the authorities Sam Gillen (Van Damme) always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom he aids a beautiful young widow Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) and her child
Poor Rosanna Arquette ended up in this Van Damme potboiler about an escaped convict who moves onto the farm of a widow (Arquette) and her two kids. Stuff happens: a cop who likes her gets jealous and beats up the Muscles from Brussels (but only after handcuffing him), there's a fire in the barn, bad guys are trying to drive her away, etc. The story was first developed by screenwriter Joe Eszter has (Basic Instinct) and the late director Richard Marquand (Eye of the Needle). Eszter wrote the script but who knows what direction this story was originally going? Van Damme's best film is still Timecop and this is a long way from the quality of that. --Tom Keogh
A doctor tries to save his dying son by performing a heart transplant only he uses the heart of an ape... with disastrous results. This Mexican schlock horror film manages to combine female wrestling extreme and ludicrous violence with blue pyjamas torn blue dresses and naked shower romps invloving some highly original simian seduction techniques! 'Night Of The Bloody Apes' was banned as an official Video Nasty in the 1980s for its extreme gore sex and violence.
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi wrote his masterpiece STABAT MATER very late in his career. And although Pergolesi died of consumption only a year later the piece has survived for several centuries. This performance of the piece features Angharad Gruffyld Jones and their incredible voices.
Hard Target (1993): The thrill of the hunt. It's the ultimate drug and the more intense the rush the higher the price. International superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme teams up with world-famous action director John Woo for this electrifying thriller that WGN Radio hails as 'Easily one of the year's best films!' Van Damme is the target of an evil mercenary (Lance Henriksen) who recruits homeless combat veterans for the 'amusement' of his clients - bored tycoons who will pay a half a million dollars to stalk and kill the most challenging prey of them all: Man. Laced with dark humour and slam-packed with electrifying action Hard Target is a must see for action fans. Nowhere To Run (1993): Action superstar Jean Claude Van Damme has nowhere to run and nothing to lose! An escaped prisoner hiding from the authorities Sam Gillen (Van Damme) always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom he aids a beautiful young widow Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) and her children against a ruthless developer who's trying to drive them off their land. Hunted by both the police and the developer's hired killers Sam pulls no punches in his furious fight for survival - he'll do anything to protect the family who are protecting him. The result is more hard-hitting high kicking Van Damme action than you've ever seen! Knock Off (1998): Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in an explosive thriller set in Hong Kong's shady manufacturing scene during the 1997 handover to China. When a shipment of jeans to the US proves counterfeit Marcus Ray the ""King of the Knock-Offs"" (Van Damme) finds himself at the centre of a Russian Mafia plot to hold the United States' security for ransom. Thousands of tiny micro-bombs disguised within other manufactured goods are schedules for departure from Hong Kong to America. When Ray's company's jeans are found to be the housing for the explosives he's the one man the CIA can count on to prevent certain disaster! In a territory where loyalty can change hands overnight Marcus Ray's survival will depend on him knowing the fakes from the real thing!
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