Irma La Douce reunited The Apartment team of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine with director Billy Wilder in an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name which had been a hit in Paris, London and New York. The screen transfer by Wilder and his colleague--writer IAL Diamond--however, omits the show's songs, relegating them to a background score refashioned by Andre Previn with some additional themes of his own. Background here is a complimentary term, for whatever qualms one might entertain as to this move, the two sets of themes are skilfully woven together by Previn and emerge as a witty and lyrical aural delight in their own right which is given due prominence on the soundtrack. Wilder is no rush to tell prostitute Irma's story: her affair with Lemmon being the pivot of the tale as he takes on the disguise of an English Lord. Lemmon and MacLaine beautifully play their mutual attraction under Wilder's deft direction with the slapstick never allowed to get out of hand. Many will recognise Wilder's touch in his handling of the scene where Lemmon as a policeman is carted off in a van full of voracious prostitutes from the bunks-in-the-train sequence in Some Like It Hot. The handsome production, designed by Alexander Tranner--with the occasional view of the Seine thrown in for good measure--and the Panavision photography by Joseph La Shelle are further assets. On the DVD: The DVD contains a longer than usual theatrical trailer, half shot as a cartoon with characters closely resembling those Pink Panther figures who emerged at the same time from the Mirisch Brothers, a pair prominent in sustaining the unique success of United Artists, whose name was deleted, in favour of the MGM logo, in the early 1960s. It's too bad that the music on this DVD transfer sometimes strikes a coarse note particularly over the extended opening credits. --Adrian Edwards
New York psychologist Dr Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) is stunned when an old friend and colleague is brutally stabbed to death. Capa believes the vicious murderer to be one of the members of a therapy group. While all around him falls apart he finds Rose (Jane March) and they embark on a reckless and passionate affair of erotic sexual discovery. But is there more to Rose than meets the eye? He will only know if he survives long enough to find out...
8 MM (1998): Nicholas Cage is Tom Welles a surveillance specialist with a modest home-based business. Respected but still waiting for the big break that will improve his professional status Welles spends most of his time on routine cases. Nothing too dangerous nor too threatening - until a case involving a small innocuous-looking plastic reel of film turns Welles' life upside down sending him down a sordid and terrifying path into society's deepest corners. Drifting away
The fourth series of Babylon 5 begins on a high point with Centauri Prime in the grip of the insane Emperor Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer) and a run of six shows leading to the climax of the war against the Shadows in "Into the Fire". If this colossal narrative is resolved a little too easily and the ultimate aim of the Shadows turns out to be a tad disappointing, it's still one of the most powerful slices of space opera ever to grace the small screen. In the aftermath the sheer scale drops back a little but the pace never slows as the rest of the year plays out in one relentless cycle of conspiracy, betrayal and conflict, Babylon 5 siding with the rebel Mars colony against the totalitarian Earth regime. Meanwhile, Delenn finds herself increasingly in conflict with her own people and, paralleling her relationship with Sheridan, Garibaldi becomes involved with his ex-fiancée Lise Hampton (Denise Gentile); in addition, an intense platonic love grows between Ivanova and Marcus Cole. On an unstoppable wave fuelled by roller-coaster plot twists and spectacular action shows from "No Surrender, No Retreat"--when Sheridan avows to overthrow EarthGov--to "Rising Star"--when the aim is realised--this series of Babylon 5 achieved a consistent excellence rare in television. Yet within that run "Intersections in Real Time" stands out as a bold experiment; essentially a two-hand drama taking place entirely within one dimly lit room. Then in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", a descendant of humanity one million years hence reviews excerpts from the history of Babylon 5. In one sequence set in 2762 a Brother is devoted to the preservation of history some time after the "Big Burn". In a homage to Walter M Miller's SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, Sheridan and Delenn have themselves become the stuff of legend. --Gary S DalkinOn the DVD: All 22 episodes of Season 4 of Babylon 5 are presented on six DVDs. Anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TV, the picture is significantly stronger than on the original TV broadcasts, if not up to blockbuster movie standards. The remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is punchy and richly impressive, if again not quite state-of-the-art. As with previous seasons the main extras are three commentaries. The first, by actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Patricia Tallman, finds these leading cast members having a great time joshing around on Falling Towards Apotheosis and failing to say anything very interesting. Series creator and writer J Michael Straczynski and director Michael Vejar discuss The Face of the Enemy, the conversation tending towards a technical scene-by-scene analysis, while by far the most interesting commentary is J Michael Straczynski alone on The Deconstruction of Falling Stars. JMS covers many aspects of the show, going into depth explaining both his ideas behind the series and the practicalities of realising his vision. Celestial Sounds is an interesting but too-short five-minute look at the scoring process with composer Christopher Franke, complemented by a powerful six-minute musical suite. The package also includes a six-minute introduction, a three-minute gag reel and video data files of characters, organisations and places. An Easter egg offers a comparison between untextured and completed CGI models of Babylon 5 itself. There is an optional French soundtrack, plus English, English for Hearing Impaired, French and Netherlands subtitles. --Gary S Dalkin
Now available totally uncut for the first time since 1986 ""Fist Of Fury: Special Collector's Edition"" is the version UK fans have been eagerly awaiting over the last 14 years. Now at last Hong Kong Legends can deliver!! Completely re-instated are the incredible nunchaku battle sequences so synonymous with the images of Bruce Lee. In what many enthusiasts consider to be 'the ultimate martial arts movie' Bruce plays the fictional character of Chen Jun a student of legendary re
In the Bermuda Triangle nothing stays lost forever... From director Brian Singer (X-Men Usual Suspects) and producer Dean Devlin (Stargate Independence Day) comes a stunning new original mini-series courtesy of the Sci-fi Channel. Billionaire Eric Benireall (Sam Neill) is losing his cargo ships and their crews at a frightening pace - and he wants answers. His bemused hand-picked team of a subject-specific experts include: sceptical tabloid journalist Howard
In the gap between seasons four and five of Babylon 5, fans suffering withdrawal symptoms were sated by this first TV movie. As a prequel to the series' timeline, creator J. Michael Straczynski had an awful lot of continuity to consider. Amazingly, there's only one inconsistency throughout (a matter of who met whom and when), making this an essential part of the overall storyline. The tale is told cleverly from the future as the remembrances of Londo (Peter Jurasik), who is now Emperor of a dying Centauri homeworld. He looks back at the beginnings of the Earth-Minbari war and links together many clues strewn throughout the shows' early years. We see exactly how Delenn contributed to the first blows, the death of dignitary Dukhat, and most importantly what really happened to Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) at the Battle of the Line. The FX showcased by the battle are genuinely spectacular, but overshadowed by the make-up department which had the thankless task of making everyone look younger. Their best success is on an uncredited Claudia Christian who appears as an 18-year-old Susan Ivanova dealing with the death of her brother. Being a prequel there's little in the way of a surprise finale, but there's plenty of intrigue along the way. --Paul Tonks
More than any other filmmaker of his generation, Kenneth Anger is recognized by the public as a maker of underground, experimental cinema. To main-line film critics he is the first-remembered such filmmaker, one who combines cinematic talent and an aura of scandal. This collection of films known as the Magick Lantern Cycle includes:1. Fireworks (1947)2. Puce Moment (1949)3. Rabbit's Moon (1950/1971, the rarely seen 16mins version)4. Eaux d'Artifice (1953)5. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)6. Scorpio Rising (1964)7. Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965)8. Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)9. Rabbit's Moon (1979 version)10. Lucifer Rising (1981)11. Anger Me (2006) - Elio Gelminis documentary on Kenneth Anger
Kirsten Dunst stars as a wealthy, troubled seventeen year old with a fondness for drinks and drugs. Will her new boyfriend - a poor latino kid with great dreams - help her recover or send her further out of control?
The Stunning new BBC series to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice 11th November 1918. Through cinematic recreations, interviews with top historians and state-of-the-art CGI, 100 Days To Victory is a gripping account of the last 100 Days of the First World War, telling the story of how the Allied generals worked together in new ways to win the war. Five of historys most visionary leaders Marshal Ferdinand Foch (France), Field Marshal Douglas Haig (Britain), General John J. Pershing (United States), General Arthur Currie (Canada) and General John Monash (Australia) came together to defeat the enemy with unprecedented teamwork and innovation. Exciting and dramatic, this docudrama brings the men and women behind WWIs finest multinational feat of arms vividly to life. Includes subtitles for the Hard Of Hearing
Relive the sharp and sassy repartee as Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) the steely but gorgeous ex-model and David Addison (Bruce Willis the wisecracking hustler bring their madcap capers to DVD for the first time.
A bold girl discovers a bizarre, threatening, and mysterious new world beyond her front door after she escapes her father's protective and paranoid control.
Ever thought of taking your girlfriend away for the weekend? Maybe to some secluded spot in the country so you can spend some quality time together but then ended up hacking her to pieces with a chainsaw after she's become possessed by a grotesque flesh-eating demon resurrected by spells from The Book of the Dead? Ash Williams has. Trapped in a dark world of flying eyeballs and deadly severed limbs axe wielding Ash Williams will be pushed to the edge of his sanity as he fights to survive against the unspeakable supernatural forces intent on having him dead by dawn. After the shocking and notorious cult classic The Evil Dead impaled its way into the minds of a whole generation by becoming one of the original video nasties visionary maverick director Sam Raimi (Spider Man 1-3) decided to elaborate on its twisted scenario by creating one of the most visually deranged and psychotically demented horror movies to ever splatter its way across cinema screens since the invention of celluloid. Featuring b-movie legend Bruce Campbell in his most iconic role as the fantastically unhinged Ash Evil Dead 2 is a gore-fuelled splatstick masterpiece that gleefully stomps on the entrails of good taste whilst puking in the face of Hollywood with no apologies.
Blind Date: It's embarrassment laughs and disaster when workaholic Walter Davis is set up on a blind date for an important business function. Surprisingly the evening starts off well. His date Nadia is gorgeous and very popular but all hell breaks loose when she has one drink too many and reduces the evening (and Walter's career) to a shambles. Bad turns to worse when Nadia's psychotically jealous ex-boyfriend catches them together and Walter finds himself dragged on a hilarious adventure that could cost him his money his sanity and even his life! The Love Letter: In a sleepy New England town a letter has arrived that is sure to wake things up. It's a love letter - ardent sensual... and unsigned. As the letter falls into different hands residents of the small town start to eye one another with renewed interest - wondering who it's for and who it's from. Determined to find the letter's author Helen MacFarquhar (Kate Capshaw) begins a quest that will open her life to a new chapter involving two decidedly different men: George (Tom Selleck) an old friend from her past and Johnny (Tom Everett Scott) a young man very much in her present. Unexpectedly one mysterious love note has the power to unlock some startling secrets leaving a trail of wonderful surprises as it turns the entire town upside down. Fools Rush In: Sparks fly and cultures collide in this romantic comedy about a casual night of passion that turns into the love of a lifetime! Matthew Perry stars as Alex Whitman a New Yorker sent to Las Vegas to oversee a construction project. There he meets Isabel Fuentes (Salma Hayek) and some serious chemistry brings them together for one night. But Alex doesn't see Isabel again until three months later when he learns that she is pregnant. On a whim and a prayer he proposes. However there's more to marriage than a Vegas chapel and an Elvis impersonator as Alex and Isabel soon learn...
Gene Tierney Bruce Cabot and George Sanders star in this classic war film set in a small African outpost during the Second World War. As the British fight to control East Africa word reaches them that a vicious local tribe are being smuggled guns from a unknown source. When the soldiers encounter the exotic and beautiful Zia the leader of a travelling trader caravan she is assumed to be the supplier of the illicit firearms. But in this thrilling drama the African desert hides many secrets beneath its ancient sands.
Snake Plissken is back in the high-octane West Coast sequel to Escape from New York that returns Kurt Russell to the iconic role and filmmakers John Carpenter and Debra Hill for post-apocalyptic action. After a 9.6 quake levels most of Los Angeles, Snake is called to wade through the ruins to retrieve a doomsday device. Now, more explosive than ever on 4K Ultra HD, this outrageous thriller finds Snake surfing Wilshire Blvd., shooting hoops at the Coliseum, dive-bombing the Happy Kingdom theme park, and mixing it up with a wild assortment of friends, fiends and foes from a supporting cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson and Bruce Campbell. This Limited Edition version includes 2 stickers, 5 art cards and a double-sided poster.
Two LAPD homicide detectives investigate the slaying of a rap group that might have been set up by the president of their record label.
When Shadow Moon is released from prison, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday and a storm begins to brew. Little does Shadow know, this storm will change the course of his entire life. Left adrift by the recent, tragic death of his wife, and suddenly hired as Mr. Wednesday's bodyguard, Shadow finds himself in the centre of a world that he struggles to understand. It's a hidden world where magic is real, where the Old Gods fear both irrelevance and the growing power of the New Gods, like Technology and Media. Mr. Wednesday seeks to build a coalition of Old Gods to defend their existence in this new America, and reclaim some of the influence that they've lost. As Shadow travels across the country with Mr. Wednesday, he struggles to accept this new reality, and his place in it.
Paz Vega, Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni star in this comedy/drama from Oscar-winning director James L. Brooks.
The fourth series of investigations featuring hard-bitten policeman Frost... Episode titles: Paying the Price Unknown Soldiers The Things We Do for Love Fun Times For Swingers Deep Waters.
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