Sirens is an affectionate, semi-fictional comedy of manners set in 1930s Australia. In an audacious stroke of casting Hugh Grant plays a stereotypically awkward and diffident Englishman, in this case a Church of England priest. The priest is despatched into the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in an effort to press the Good Word upon Norman Lindsay, an artist whose lurid works are scandalising the upright citizenry. Lindsay--capably played here by Sam Neill--really existed and though he fancied himself as a dashing Bohemian artist, his paintings were dreadful. Sirens sees Grant's rigidly decent young priest and his equally prim wife (Tara Fitzgerald) gradually tempted further and further into the rustic bacchanalia that Lindsay has founded up in the bush. This sensual world is represented by Lindsay's young muses, played by supermodel Elle MacPherson, a pre-Ally McBeal Portia De Rossi and Kate Fischer. The three are more or less unclothed for most of the film, and spend what seems an unnecessary amount of time washing each other in rock-pools. This may or may not reflect awareness on the part of the producers that the film's predictable plot and overwrought dialogue weren't going to fill a lot of seats without some help. On the DVD: Sirens is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, but there are no extra features.--Andrew Mueller
Horror royalty and Hammer alumni Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee reunite for this tale of mad monks, primitive humanoids and bloodthirsty zombies set aboard a train bound for Moscow all aboard the Horror Express! Renowned anthropologist Saxton (Lee) boards the Trans-Siberian Express with a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid which, he believes, may prove to be the missing link in human evolution. But all hell breaks loose when the creature thaws out, turning out to be not quite as dead as once thought! Directed by Spanish filmmaker Eugenio Martin, Horror Express remains one for the most thrilling (and, quite literally!) chilling horror efforts of the early 1970s. Features: Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation Original Uncompressed mono audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Brand new audio commentary with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman Introduction to the film by film journalist and Horror Express super-fan Chris Alexander Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express an interview with director Eugenio Martin Notes from the Blacklist Horror Express producer Bernard Gordon on working in Hollywood during the McCarthy Era Telly and Me an interview with composer John Cacavas Original Theatrical Trailer Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully-illustrated collector s booklet with new writing by Adam Scovell
ALL 8 FILMS ON 4K ULTRA HD, & BLU-RAY ⢠PLUS BONUS DISC Buckle up for nonstop action and mind-blowing speed in the high-octane Fast & Furious 8-Movie Collection. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and an all-star cast put pedal to the metal in pursuit of justice and survival as they race from L.A. to Tokyo, Rio to London, and Cuba to New York City. Packed with full-throttle action and jaw-dropping stunts, these eight turbo-charged thrill rides place you behind the wheel of the most explosive film franchise in history! HOURS OF BONUS FEATURES Deleted Scenes Outtakes Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes Feature Commentaries And Much More!
A subterranean rumbling resonates in the heart of a forest. Hidden by foliage a metal grate reveals underground passageways which lead to the cellars of five houses scattered throughout a great park. The park is cut off from the outside world by a huge wall with no door. In one of these houses a group of girls aged between seven and twelve gathers around a coffin. The coffin lid opens revealing a six-year-old girl. Her name is Iris. Bianca the eldest of the group introduces I
Lon Chaney, the man of a thousand faces, was best known for playing Quasimodo and the Phantom of the Opera. But the former role in The Hunchback of Notre Dame was clearly the most ambitious of his illustrious career, full of such longing and anguish. It's as though his entire being was consumed by this ugly outcast with a heart as big and beautiful as Notre Dame itself. And the makeup is still astonishing. The rest of this unrequited love story is pretty effective as well, with the re-creation of medieval Paris a standout for its lavishness. Like all great silent films, it delivers a poetry of life that is abstract and tangible at the same time. --Bill Desowitz
Odd teaming of man-of-integrity A-list studio director Sidney Lumet (Twelve Angry Men, Serpico, The Verdict) with muckraking, lively independent screenwriter Larry Cohen (It's Alive, God Told Me To, Q: The Winged Serpent), the court-room drama Guilty As Sin relies rather heavily on the plot of Jagged Edge. Jack Warden reprises Robert Loggia's grumpy but decent private-eye role exactly, while ice-maiden lawyer Rebecca De Mornay is ensnared in a web of duplicity and violence by her client (Don Johnson), accused of murdering his wife. It hasn't got the gravitas of Lumet's best or the maniacal energy of top-rate Cohen film, but as a no-brain thriller it offers a couple of edgy, interesting star performances, with Johnson in particular cutting loose from his image with a display of razor-edged smiling charm as the killer gigolo. --Kim Newman
Fog & Crimes S3
For the first time ever, this comprehensive collection of the works of the acclaimed, maverick filmmaker Ruben Ãstlund boasts his complete feature filmography to date. Along with his two Palme d'Or-winning films The Square and Triangle of Sadness, the collection also includes three of his earlier short films, six bespoke invitation cards and an exclusive, specially-created card game endorsed by the filmmaker himself. 6 films 3 short films exclusive card game: Ãstlund's Ordinary Disasters 6 collectable luxury invitation cards. Product Features Hard cover box set in a canvas slipcase 6 Feature Films: The Guitar Mongoloid, Involuntary, Play, Force Majeure, The Square, Triangle of Sadness 3 Short Films: Family Again, Autobiographical No. 6882, Incident by a Bank New masterclass and interviews with Ruben Ãstlund. Interviews, making of videos, featurettes, casting tapes and theatrical trailers.
Before Robert Rodriguez' El Mariachi, Mexicans in North American action films were typically maids, drug dealers or prison inmates. Even if the Cisco Kid was a friend of yours, you handled a dust cloth or a Mac-10 if you lasted in Hollywood longer than a New York minuto. But when El Mariachi crossed the border in 1992, things changed. Granted, it still involved a drug lord in a shoot-em-up but this time the good guy was a Mexican. Austin-based Rodriguez made El Mariachi for a fistful of pesos and a little help from his friends. He wrote, directed, coproduced, edited and operated the camera. Plus, he assembled a cast that had never acted before to work por nada. Desperado continues the outrageous action adventure. Working with a much bigger budget, Rodriguez returns the nameless mariachi to non-stop action. Again thrust into a world he never made, the hero takes his guitar-case arsenal deep into the criminal labyrinth of Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), el gran chingon of the Mexican drug lords. With an amigo (Steve Buscemi) and a beautiful bookstore owner (Salma Hayek), el mariachi confronts an outrageous cast along the way, including a bartender (Cheech Marin), a drug-deal, pick-up guy (Quentin Tarantino) and the original mariachi (coproducer Carlos Gallardo) as a new-found compa'. Antonio Banderas has the lead this time, and if he's not quite up to the challenge, it's probably because he's Spanish, not Mexican, a distinction not lost by anyone raised on what the popular media now calls "ethnic food." That said, Desperado is not to be missed. Using intelligence, romance and humour--as well as plenty of explosive, surreal violence--Rodriguez again showcases the timeless struggle between the forces of darkness and light. And, in the process, he's recasting the mould for the contemporary action hero--kids now argue about who gets to play the Mexican. --Stephan Magcosta, Amazon.com
A witch hunt has begun. The hunters are politicians sitting before clicking cameras in HAUC hearing rooms. Hollywood is on trail. An David Merrill is asked to 'name names'. This powerful directorial and screenwriting debut of veteran producer Irwin Winkler vividly recreates the creative community's infamous Blacklist era. De Niro plays Merrill an A-list director who can revive his stalled career by testifying against friends who are suspected communists. Annette Bening is Merrill's e
New town. Still lost! In this hilarious 'Friends' spin-off the lovably dim Joey Tribbiani (Matt Le Blanc) moves to Los Angeles to pursue his disastrous acting career... Episodes comprise: 1. Pilot 2. Joey and the Student (aka Episode One ) 3. Joey and the Party 4. Joey and the Book Club 5. Joey and the Perfect Storm 6. Joey and the Nemesis 7. Joey and the Husband 8. Joey and the Dream Girl (Part 1) 9. Joey and the Dream Girl (Part 2) 10. Joey and the Big A
Robert Dapes (Connery) is a cynical mercenary who comes to Cuba at the request of one of Batista's most corrupt functionaries General Bello (Martin Balsam). Once there he finds himself unable to ignore the brutality and depravity of the Batista regime - or Alexandra Pulido (Adams) an older lover who is now married to a wealthy Cuban landowner. Surrounded by volatile guerrilla fighters and the human vultures present at all coups he must come to terms with himself and his shifting v
Two of the worlds finest actors Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep are brought together again in this touching romance about two people who are quite simply falling in love. Set against the backdrop of Manhattan New York City Frank and Molly are two commuters who literally bump into each other in a busy book store during the Christmas rush. Their parcels are sent scattering over the floor. Giggling they collect themselves and their shopping bags and reluctantly head their sep
What Have I Done To Deserve This? is a perfect example of director Pedro Almodóvar's earlier work, containing all the elements which earned his films a cult international following. Starring the incomparable Carmen Marua as Gloria, a prescription drug addicted mother battling to make sense of her life and family as the world around her goes crazy. Intelligent, offensive, risqué, hilarious, eccentric, ironic, compelling, sad and sext, this early film shows Almodóvar's genius at it's more raw and untamed, his explosive energy shining through right to the last frame. Extras: Around What Have I Done To Deserve This? Introduction by José Arroyo Trailer
Having developed his skill as a master of contemporary crime drama, writer-director Michael Mann displayed every aspect of that mastery in Heat, an intelligent, character-driven thriller from 1995, which also marked the first onscreen pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two great actors had played father and son in the separate time periods of The Godfather, Part II, but this was the first film in which the pair appeared together, and although their only scene together is brief, it's the riveting fulcrum of this high-tech cops-and-robbers scenario. De Niro plays a master thief with highly skilled partners (Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore) whose latest heist draws the attention of Pacino, playing a seasoned Los Angeles detective whose investigation reveals that cop and criminal lead similar lives. Both are so devoted to their professions that their personal lives are a disaster. Pacino's with a wife (Diane Venora) who cheats to avoid the reality of their desolate marriage; De Niro pays the price for a life with no outside connections; and Kilmer's wife (Ashley Judd) has all but given up hope that her husband will quit his criminal career. These are men obsessed, and as De Niro and Pacino know, they'll both do whatever's necessary to bring the other down. Mann's brilliant screenplay explores these personal obsessions and sacrifices with absorbing insight, and the tension mounts with some of the most riveting action sequences ever filmed--most notably a daylight siege that turns downtown Los Angeles into a virtual war zone of automatic gunfire. At nearly three hours, Heat qualifies as a kind of intimate epic, certain to leave some viewers impatiently waiting for more action, but it's all part of Mann's compelling strategy. Heat is a true rarity: a crime thriller with equal measures of intense excitement and dramatic depth, giving De Niro and Pacino a prime showcase for their finely matched talents. --Jeff Shannon
One Minute Past Midnight: The year is 2058. Robert and Steve celebrate every New Year in the same 24-hour convenience store where they work the nightshift. No matter how much things change they always seem to stay the same even when Steve wins the lottery. But when Robert discovers that the girl of his dreams works on the dayshift he suddenly finds himself with a big decision to make. One Minute Past Midnight is a sweet dark and surreal comedy about love dreams and the fear of change. Fare Bene Mikles: The film explores the relationship between siblings Sergio and Maria from their troubled childhood to the hardships of adult life. Throughout the years their invented game called 'Mikles' provides their very own survival technique. Trafic: It is rush hour in Bucharest and young businessman Tudor is soon to be late for a meeting. Every passing minute seems endless as he sits wedged behind the wheel of his car. When he finally abandons his vehicle to confront a family drama he finds a new perspective on the everyday life he leads. Trafic is a disturbing and dazzling introspective into the sometimes meaningless rituals of contemporary urban life. Canciones De Invierno: It is November on the outskirts of an anonymous European city. Five different people are killing time in a variety of peculiar ways. But the pretence that their lives are under control is unravelling; all of them are trapped in the wreckage of recent love affairs. Wracked by insomnia self-abandonment midnight confessions and desperate behaviour their lives soon take unexpected turns as they try to win back the objects of their affection. Mekong Interior: When a couple travel to Cambodia the man is curious to search out his heritage but finds little to connect with and soon feels alienated in the environment. When the woman begins to experience a fascinating and exotic new world which draws her further and further in a profound tension develops that soon reaches breaking point. Breaking Out: Once a bubbly and extroverted singer Jessie now spends her day in anguished solitude desperately seeking to avoid her friends family and - most of all - her own paranoia. Fuelled by insecurity and a morbid fear of confrontation her fervid imagination finally leads her to make an unexpected reconnection with life.
Japanese anime gets an American makeover in the original Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Legend Of Aang (aka Avatar: The Last Airbender). On a futuristic Earth torn between the warring elements of Air Earth Water and Fire only one special being known as the Avatar can bring peace to the conflicted planet. The trouble is the Avatar is an immature 12-year-old boy called Aang who would rather wander the world having fun-filled adventures than settle down and face his heroic destiny. Avatar ably blends kids-oriented comedy with martial-arts action-adventure worthy of its Japanese counterparts. This collection presents the third series in its entirety.
A collection of films from acclaimed Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar comprising: Dark Habits (1983): Nothing is quite what it seems in this early Almodovar comedy in which the unconventional nuns of a dilapidated Madrid convent write soft porn get high and still find time to design fabulous evening wear! Pepi Luci Bom (1980): Pepi (Carmen Maura) is an unemployed heiress whose illegal plants indiscreetly placed on the balcony lead to an unwelcome visit from a police
Catherine Breillat's A Ma Soeur! is a touchingly honest but also highly disturbing account of two French middle-class teenage sisters' family holiday. As sexually explicit as Breillat's earlier picture, Romance, this film focuses on the travails of flabby 12-year-old Anais Pingot (Anais Reboux), who is the bane and the opposite of her glamorous elder sister Elena (Roxane Mesquida). Constantly having to live in the shadow of Elena and being nagged by her workaholic father (Romain Goupil), lonely Anais resorts to eating and her imagination for pleasure. Her 15-year-old sister, in contrast, is desperate to find romantic love. Their differences are harshly exposed when Elena starts a frantic affair with Italian law student Fernando (Libero De Rienzo). To minimise the risk of being discovered by their parents, Anais accompanies Fernando and Elena throughout their clumsy encounters. She's even present during the pair's sexual experimentation. Anais Reboux's depiction of an introverted young woman is both shocking and true to life, particularly the scene when she swims around a swimming pool kissing and conversing with the pool's diving board and steps as if they were imaginary lovers. The film actually thrives on very little, a simple plot, a 25-minute bedroom scene, and the monotony of the fatal motorway trip home. Like violence itself, the violent ending is a particularly pointless and baffling finale for an otherwise thought-provoking film. On the DVD: A Ma Soeur! on DVD can be viewed with or without English subtitles. The bonus material includes biographies of the leading actors and the director, a theatrical trailer and promotional images from the film. Tom Dawson's excellent notes booklet provide an informed insight into the production of the movie. The anamorphic picture is good, as is the Dolby Stereo soundtrack. --John Galilee
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