The Great Escape (Dir. John Sturges 1963): One of the most ingenious and suspenseful adventure films of all time The Great Escape is a masterful collaboration between director John Sturges screenwriters James Clavell (Shogun) and W.R. Burnett and composer Elmer Bernstein. Based on a true story this film also stars Steve McQueen James Garner Charles Bronson and James Coburn. The Thomas Crown Affair (Dir. Norman Jewson 1968): Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) is a lone wolf in chic clothing. He's a Boston tycoon who masterminds a daring bank job even though he doesn't need the money. What he needs is the thrill of the heist the adrenaline rush of not getting caught. Catching crooks is where insurance investigator Vicky Anderson (Faye Dunaway) comes in. She always gets her man. But this time she may be too much in love to give him up. McQueen and Dunaway are lovers and adversaries in a stylish cat-and-mouse thriller written by Alan R. Trustman and directed by Norman Jewison. Jewsion makes exciting use of split screen images as the action leaps from the boardroom to the boudoir the polo field to a glider cockpit. The Oscar winning Best Song (1968) ""The Windmills of Your Mind"" sets the perfect tone for the swirl of romance and intrigue... The Magnificent Seven (Dir. John Sturges 1960): Yul Brynner stars as one of seven master gunmen who aid the helpless farmers of an isolated village pitted against an army of marauding bandits in this rousing action tale based on Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai. Released in 1960 John Sturges' masterpiece garnered an Oscar nomination for Elmer Bernstein (for Best Score) and launched the film careers of Steve McQueen Charles Bronson Robert Vaughn and James Coburn. Sand Pebbles (Dir. Robert Wise 1966): It's the story of China a slumbering giant that rouses itself to the cries of its people - and of the Americans who are caught in its bloody awakening. It's the story of Frenchy (Richard Attenborough) a crewman on the USS San Pablo who kidnaps his Chinese bride from the auction block. Most of all it's the story of Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) a sailor who had given up trying to make peace with anything: including himself.
In the 1880s Englishwoman Martha Price (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) come to America to sell their prize Hereford bull at an auction. When he is purchased by Bowen a wild Scotsman (Brian Keith) the women hire a footloose cowhand named Burnett (James Stewart) to help them transport the animal to its new owner. So begins an adventure that tests the mettle of all involved as they battle killers cattle stampedes and each other. But when they reach Bowen's ran
Fifteen years before Stranger Things combined science fiction, Spielbergian touches and 80s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the template and the high-water mark with his debut feature, Donnie Darko. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium. Donnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend, a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days, 06 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowly avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank's maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum. Described by its director as The Catcher in the Rye as told by Philip K. Dick, Donnie Darko combines an eye-catching, eclectic cast pre-stardom Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, heartthrob Patrick Swayze, former child star Drew Barrymore, Oscar nominees Mary McDonnell and Katharine Ross, and television favourite Noah Wyle and an evocative soundtrack of 80s classics by Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears and Duran Duran. This 4K restoration by Arrow Films allows a modern classic to receive the home video treatment it deserves.
Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy) is the toast of the Manhattan social scene. But when her inheritance is stolen, Molly is forced to do something she's never done before - get a job as a nanny!
Winona Ryder Ethan Hawke and Ben Stiller (directing his first feature film) star in this wildly romantic comedy that looks at life love and the pursuit of gainful employment through the eyes of a generation sandwiched somewhere between The Brady Bunch and Melrose Place! As her college valedictorian Lelaina Pierce (Ryder) should be destined for greatness. In reality she is a lowly production assistant for an obnoxious TV morning show (John Mahoney). In her free time Lelaina is maki
Relive the high life of the Carringtons of Denver a wealthy family whose fortunes are endangered when hostilities in the Middle East threaten Blake Carrington's oil empire. But it is the dramatic interactions at home among the Carringtons and the Blaisdels that provide the explosive fuel for this riveting drama. From the opening episodes surrounding Black and Krystle's opulent wedding to the countless illicit affairs dirty business deals and hair-pulling catfights this is the show that had viewers tuning in every week to catch all the outrageous story twists and flamboyant fashion statements.
Something unnamed and evil threatens the sleepy town of Wheelsy in this comedy horror.
Disney's The Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau, journeys to the African savanna where a future king is born. Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub's arrival. Scar, Mufasa's brotherand former heir to the thronehas plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba's exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his. The all-star cast includes Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and Billy Eichner as Timon. Click Images to Enlarge
Long-awaited, long-overdue: The Professionals as you have never seen them before. Bodie and Doyle need little by way of introduction, but if the series had at all escaped you since its debut in 1977 their boss George Cowley, head of CI5, couldn't put it more succinctly than his opening gambit: anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I've got special men experts from the army, the police, from every service. These are The Professionals . Featuring the perfect ensemble cast of Martin Shaw, Gordon Jackson (completely against type here) and the much-missed Lewis Collins, the series ran for 57 action-packed episodes and made an immediate impact on British and then international audiences which has sustained 40 years. But the series has never looked this good. Painstakingly restored from the camera-original negatives, the series could have been made yesterday. No matter how many times you have seen The Professionals, this is a new experience, like seeing it for the first time. Features: Brand-new, High Definition restorations of all 13 episodes in series three from the camera-original negatives Brand-new 5.1 tracks from original sound elements Remastered original as-broadcast mono tracks Remastered music-only tracks featuring Laurie Johnson's original scores HD photo galleries featuring hundreds of rare and previously unseen images All episodes are presented in their original production order PDF material featuring scripts and memorabilia English HOH subtitles
Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson (David Soul) are plainclothes cops patrolling the streets of an unnamed American city (portrayed by Los Angeles) in a 1973 red Grand Torino. Dark-haired Starsky, who has an unflagging appetite and a quick quip for any situation, and tall, blond, Hutch, who is more soulful and serious, are not just partners on the job, they are also close friends. But their unorthodox methods are endlessly frustrating for their boss, Captain Dobey (Bernie Hamilton). The duo has a powerful ally on the street, however, in Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas), a shady character who proves Starsky and Hutch with plenty of inside information.
When students Alex (David Ladd - A Day of Flanders) and Patricia (Sharon Gurney - Jason King) discover a dying man in their local underground station they spark off an investigation that reveals a sinister and macabre plot that even sends shivers down the spines of hardened police officers Calhoun (Donald Pleasence - Halloween You Only Live Twice) and Rogers (Norman Rossington - Saturday Night & Sunday Morning A Hard Day's Night). Prominent people it seems have be
Abel Ferrara's taste for the sensational is on display in the flawed but interesting Dangerous Games, even though its subject matter is a long way from the genre material in which he has mostly specialised. The film is a psychological drama in which the Method manipulations of director Eddie (Harvey Keitel) prey on the weaknesses of coke-head actor Burns (James Russo) and insecure soap star Sarah (Madonna) to a point where reality breaks down for all three of them--and, in the film's last moments, the audience too; we are left traumatically hanging by a profound ambiguity in what we have just seen. Ferrara moves backwards and forwards between naturalistic and staged shots: we see scenes in hand-held verité and as rushes on a video. The over-wrought drama of consumerism, decadence and possible redemption that is being shot in the film is clearly intended to be directly relevant to their lives and is only marginally more melodramatic; at one point, Eddie's wife arrives unexpectedly at his hotel room moments after Sarah has left his bed. Keitel gives his usual authoritative performance as a weak man breaking under the weight of his pretensions; as Sarah, Madonna gives one of her less bad performances, attractively underplaying amid a storm of hamminess. On the DVD: the DVD only gives us subtitles and the trailer as extras. --Roz Kaveney
The fifth season of Joss Whedon's hit series started out in excellent form as slayer extraordinaire Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) did battle with the most famous of vampires (that Dracula guy) and then went on to spar with another nemesis, little sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg). Wait--Buffy has a teenage sister? Where has she been the past four years? And why is everyone acting like she's always been around? Turns out that young Dawn is actually "The Key," a form of pure energy that, true to its name, helps open the gates between different dimensions. To protect said key from falling into the wrong hands, a group of monks gave it human form and sent it to the fiercely protective Buffy for safekeeping, creating new memories of Dawn for everyone as if she'd existed... well, always. Why all the super secrecy? There's this very, very, very bad girl named Glory (Clare Kramer) who wants the key very badly, and will do anything to get it. Oh, and by the way, Glory isn't just a run-of-the-mill demon... she's way worse. Some fans will tell you that Buffy "jumped the shark" with the introduction of Dawn, when in actuality this season was the pinnacle of the show's achievement, as there was superb comedy to be had ("Buffy Vs. Dracula," the double-Xander episode "The Replacement," the introduction of the "Buffybot" in "Intervention") as well as some of television's best drama. The Whedon-scripted and -directed "The Body" remains one of Buffy's best episodes, when the young woman who faces down supernatural death on a daily basis finds herself powerless in the wake of her mother's sudden passing. The first third or so of the season was a bit choppy, but once the evil Glory came into her own, Buffy was a television force to be reckoned with. Kramer was the show's best villain (after the evil Angel, natch), and the supporting cast was never better. But as always, it was the superb Gellar who was the powerful centre of the show, sparking opposite lovelorn vampire Spike (James Marsters) and wrestling with moral dilemmas rarely seen on television. With this season, Buffy Summers became, like Tony Soprano, one of television's true greats. --Mark Englehart
From its charming and angst-ridden first season to the darker, apocalyptic final one, Buffy the Vampire Slayer succeeds on many levels, and in a fresher and more authentic way than the shows that came before or after it. How lucky, then, that with the release of its boxed set of seasons 1-7, you can have the estimable pleasure of watching a near-decade of Buffy in any order you choose. (And we have some ideas about how that should be done.) First: rest assured that there's no shame in coming to Buffy late, even if you initially turned your nose up at the winsome Sarah Michelle Gellar kicking the hell out of vampires (in Buffy-lingo, vamps), demons, and other evil-doers. Perhaps you did so because, well, it looked sort of science-fiction-like with all that monster latex. Start with season 3 and see that Buffy offers something for everyone, and the sooner you succumb to it, the quicker you'll appreciate how textured and riveting a drama it is. Why season 3? Because it offers you a winning cast of characters who have fallen from innocence: their hearts have been broken, their egos trampled in typically vicious high-school style, and as a result, they've begun to realise how fallible they are. As much as they try, there are always more monsters, or a bigger evil. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the core crew remains something of a unit--there's the smart girl, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) who dreams of saving the day by downloading the plans to City Hall's sewer tunnels and mapping a route to safety. There are the ne'r do wells--the vampire Spike (James Marsters), who both clashes with and aspires to love Buffy; the tortured and torturing Angel (David Boreanz); the pretty, popular girl with an empty heart (Charisma Carpenter); and the teenage everyman, Xander (Nicholas Brendon). Then there's Buffy herself, who in the course of seven seasons morphs from a sarcastic teenager in a minidress to a heroine whose tragic flaw is an abiding desire to be a "normal" girl. On a lesser note, with the boxed set you can watch the fashion transformation of Buffy from mall rat to Prada-wearing, kickboxing diva with enviable highlights. (There was the unfortunate bob of season 2, but it's a forgivable lapse.) At least the storyline merits the transformations: every time Buffy has to end a relationship she cuts her hair, shedding both the pain and her vulnerability. In addition to the well-wrought teenage emotional landscape, Buffy deftly takes on more universal themes--power, politics, death, morality--as the series matures in seasons 4-6. And apart from a few missteps that haven't aged particularly well ("I Robot" in season 1 comes to mind), most episodes feel as harrowing and as richly drawn as they did at first viewing. That's about as much as you can ask for any form of entertainment: that it offer an escape from the viewer's workaday world and entry into one in which the heroine (ideally one with leather pants) overcomes demons far more troubling than one's own. --Megan Halverson
Picking Up The Pieces: Tex (Woody Allen) a kosher butcher from New York under the witness protection program in Arizona has a problem. He has just killed his wife Candy (Sharon Stone) in a jealous rage after discovering she's having an affair with the local sheriff (Keifer Sutherland). He's cut her body into pieces and has taken them to the Mexican border but he's lost one of her hands! A blind old village woman stumbles upon the hand hits her head and miraculously regains her eyesight. Soon thousands are flocking to the local church to see the hand of the 'Madonna' and miracles are granted to all who ask. But the village priest (David Schwimmer) who is in love with the town hooker (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) senses that the hand's origin is not quite 'virginal'. Tex the Sherrif and the Priest all want something done with the hand and the unpredictable outcome proves to be both magical and hilarious. Miss Firecracker: Comedy about Carnelle (Hunter) a sexually-loose hellraiser who enters the Miss Firecracker contest in the very old-fashioned town where she was raised Yazoo City Mississippi. Carnelle's not the usual kind of contestant -- but her cousin is a famous winner -- and Carnelle's determined to equal her no matter what the obstacles.
Glenn Savan's depressing and self-loathing novel about a 27-year-old upper-class Jewish widower mired in self-pity after his beloved wife dies, and who finds love and sexual rebirth with a trailer-trash older woman, was brought to the big screen by the competent director Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman, Message in a Bottle). But the savage irony in Savan's book has been face-lifted by screenwriters Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs) and Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People) into something else entirely: what passes for low-rent "slumming" in Hollywood means hiring sexy Susan Sarandon to play Nora Baker, the poor, uneducated 43-year-old waitress in a White Palace burger joint who strikes up an unlikely relationship with sad Max Baron (James Spader). Widower Max attends a bachelor party for best pal Neil (Jason Alexander) and discovers that the local White Palace has stiffed the boys a whopping six burgers. Max barges into the joint, bent on getting his money back, and meets a testy Nora, who is bemused at the young man's insolence. While driving home, Max stops abruptly at a bar for a drink. Inside, Nora is nursing a vodka and takes a shine to the tuxedo-clad, handsome, and morose younger man. He gives her a lift, she seduces him, and the rest of the movie examines how two such opposites in manners and morals can find happiness. The only common bond they have is great sex and a private tragedy. White Palace nudges at the dark journey and the smashing of illusion that was at the heart of the novel, but there is still a fairy-tale element to the film that negates the earthy essence that distinguished the book. In Mandoki's vision, White Palace is about overcoming class, family, and outside opinion to find true love. In Savan's book, Max wastes into decline while Nora ultimately thrives in the quest for truth, redemption, and self-forgiveness. She becomes his salvation only after he stops hating himself. But mainstream Hollywood shuns making "protagonists" so mad, bad, or sad, and as such, too much glitter is tossed on Spader, while Sarandon, as usual, is the only one who seems to embody and understand her character's angst. She deserved her Oscar for Nora, not the nun in Dead Man Walking. --Paula Nechak
Stephen Graham stars as Joseph, a moral yet troubled man who's lost everything he ever held dear. Joseph finds himself compelled to travel to Ireland to confront the demons that continue to haunt him from a childhood spent in the care system, a journey that will have savage and brutal consequences. His path soon crosses with that of Dinah, played by Niamh Algar. She's fiery and more than able to stand up for herself, but like Joseph she's also deeply guarded, holding close a secret she's hiding from all those around her. Joseph and Dinah's lives spiral intensely in and out of control as they both try to ground themselves, torn between morality and self-indulgence, defined by drug-induced self destruction, traumatised by their own harrowing histories, and yet enlightened by their dual faith in companionship. Survival instincts kick in as they pave their way to an unnerving and tormented future. Neither of them thought their lives would ever tangle into a delicate love story.
Season six of Buffy's exciting vampire vanquishing adventures. Episodes Comprise: 1. Bargaining - Part 1 2. Bargaining - Part 2 3. After Life 4. Flooded 5. Life Serial 6. All The Way 7. Once More With Feeling 8. Tabula Rasa 9. Smashed 10. Wrecked 11. Gone 12. Doublemeat Palace 13. Dead Things 14. Older And Far Away 15. As You Were 16. Hell's Bells 17. Normal Again 18. Entropy 19. Seeing Red 20. Villains 21. Two To Go 22. Grave
Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modeled after on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the glitzy call girl who becomes Rothstein's wife. The film is not as fast paced or gripping as Scorsese's earlier gangster pictures (Mean Streets and GoodFellas), but it's still absorbing. And, hey--it's Scorsese! --Jim Emerson
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