Gandhi is a great subject, but is Gandhi a great film? Undoubtedly it is, not least because it is one of the last old-school epics ever made, a glorious visual treat featuring tens of thousands of extras (real people, not digital effects) and sumptuous Panavision cinematography. But a true epic is about more than just widescreen photography, it concerns itself with noble subjects too, and the life story of Mahatma Gandhi is one of the noblest of all. Both the man and the film have profound things to say about the meaning of freedom and racial harmony, as well as how to achieve them. Ben Kingsley, in his first major screen role, bears the heavy responsibility of the central performance and carries it off magnificently; without his magnetic and utterly convincing portrayal the film would founder in the very first scene. Sir Richard Attenborough surrounds his main character with a cast of distinguished thespians (Trevor Howard, John Mills, John Gielgud and Martin Sheen, to name but four), none of whom do anything but provide the most sympathetic support. John Briley's literate screenplay achieves the almost impossible task of distilling the bewildering complexities of Anglo-Indian politics. Attenborough's treatment is openly reverential, but, given the saint-like character of his subject, it's hard to see how it could have been anything else. He doesn't flinch from the implication that the Mahatma was naïve to expect a unified India, for example, but instead lets Gandhi's actions speak for themselves. The outstanding achievement of this labour of love is that it tells the story of an avowed pacifist who never raised a hand in anger, of a man who never held high office, of a man who shied away from publicity, and turns it into three hours of utterly mesmerising cinema.On the DVD: The anamorphic (16:9) picture of the original 2.35:1 image has a certain softness to it that may reflect the age of the print, but somehow seems entirely in keeping with the subject . Sound is Dolby 5.1. The extras are fairly brief, but worthwhile: original newsreel footage of Gandhi includes an astonishingly patronising British news account of his visit to England; in a recent interview, Ben Kinglsey chats enthusiastically about the film and the difficulties he experienced bringing the character to life. The dull "making-of" feature is simply a montage of stills. --Mark Walker
When Ridley Scott's cut of Blade Runner was finally released in 1993, one had to wonder why the studio hadn't done it right the first time--11 years earlier. This version is so much better, mostly because of what's been eliminated (the ludicrous and redundant voice-over narration and the phoney happy ending) rather than what's been added (a bit more character development and a brief unicorn dream). Star Harrison Ford originally recorded the narration under duress at the insistence of Warner Bros. executives who thought the story needed further "explanation"; he later confessed that he thought if he did it badly they wouldn't use it. (Moral: Never overestimate the taste of movie executives.) The movie's spectacular futuristic vision of Los Angeles--a perpetually dark and rainy metropolis that's the nightmare antithesis of "Sunny Southern California"--is still its most seductive feature, another worldly atmosphere in which you can immerse yourself. The movie's shadowy visual style, along with its classic private-detective/murder-mystery plot line (with Ford on the trail of a murderous android, or "replicant"), makes Blade Runner one of the few science fiction pictures to legitimately claim a place in the film noir tradition. And, as in the best noir, the sleuth discovers a whole lot more (about himself and the people he encounters) than he anticipates. The cast also includes Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah Rutger Hauer and M. Emmet Walsh. --Jim Emerson
This is Blade Runner: The Final Cut Ridley Scott's definitive new version of his science-fiction masterpiece. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) prowls the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st-century Los Angeles. He's a ""blade runner"" stalking geneticaly made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human.
When attorney Frank Calvin (Newman) is given an open-and-shut medical malpractice case that no one thinks he can win he courageously decides to refuse a settlement from the hospital. Instead he takes the case and the entire legal system to court... Sidney Lumet's riveting courtroom drama earned five Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Paul Newman's towering performance as a down-and-out alcoholic who stumbles onto one last chance to redeem himself.
""47 875 survivors in search of a home called Earth."" ""The cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan."" The Sci-fi Channel's hottest TV series returns as Battlestar Galactica 2.0 blasts onto DVD. As the epic second season begins the fight to save humanity rages on - even as civil war looms within the fleet between the followers of President Roslin and Commander Adama. Relive all the intensity and exciteme
The complete set of all five series of the TV smash hit Battlestar Galactica. Following a devastating attack on their homeworlds the only surviving humans of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol cross the galaxy in a space convoy headed by the Battleship Galactica. In hot pursuit are the ruthless Cylons powerful robots who turned on their human creators and brought about the near annihilation of mankind. The voyagers' last hope is to find the fabled 13th colony: Earth. But with their nemeses in hot pursuit and the revelation that the artificial machines now have the ability to take human form it's going to be very far from an easy quest.
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (25 Discs)
Richard Attenborough's award-winning epic recounts the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi. In South Africa a young Indian lawyer is booted off a train for refusing to ride second-class. Upon his return to his native India and fed up with the unjust political system he joins the Indian Congress Party which encourages social change through passive resistance. When his ""subversive"" activities land him in jail masses of low-skilled workers strike to support his non-violent yet revolutionary position. Back in India Gandhi renounces the Western way of life and struggles to organize Indian labor against British colonialism. A strike costs many British soldiers their lives so the crown responds by slaughtering 1 500 Indians. Enraged the ascetic spiritual leader continues to preach pacifism until he has lead India out from under the tyranny of British imperialism.
All 111 episodes of the American crime television drama, starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as Detectives Sonny Crocket and Rico Tubbs of the Miami Metro-Dade police 'Vice' department. Episodes are: 'Brother's Keeper (1&2)', 'Heart of Darkness', 'Cool Runnin', 'Calderone's Return (1)', 'Calderone's Return (2)', 'One-Eyed Jack', 'No Exit', 'The Great McCarthy', 'Glades', 'Give a Little, Take a Little', 'Little Prince', 'The Milk Run', 'Golden Triangle (1)', 'Golden Triangle (2)', 'Smuggler's Blues', 'Rites of Passage', 'The Maze', 'Made for Each Other', 'The Home Invaders', 'Nobody Lives Forever', 'Evan', 'Lombard', 'The Prodigal Son (Part 1)'; 'The Prodigal Son (Part 2)'; 'Whatever Works'; 'Out Where the Buses Don't Run'; 'The Dutch Oven'; Buddies'; 'Junk Love'; 'Tale of the Goat'; 'Bushido'; 'Bought and Paid For'; 'Back in the World'; 'Phil the Shill'; 'Definitely Miami'; 'Yankee Dollar'; 'One Way Ticket'; 'Little Miss Dangerous'; 'Florence Italy'; 'French Twist'; 'The Fix'; 'Payback'; 'Free Verse'; 'Trust Fund Pirates'; 'Son and Lovers', 'When Irish Eyes Are Crying', 'Stone's War', 'Kill Shot', 'Walk-Alone', 'The Good Collar', 'Shadow in the Dark', 'El Viejo', 'Better Living Through Chemistry', 'Baby Blues', 'Streetwise', 'Forgive Us Our Debts', 'Down for the Count (Part 1)', 'Down for the Count (Part 2)', 'Cuba Libre', 'Savage', 'Theresa', 'The Afternoon Plane', 'Lend Me an Ear', 'Red Tape', 'By Hooker by Crook', 'Knock, Knock, Who's There?', 'Viking Bikers from Hell', 'Everybody's in Showbiz...', 'Heroes of the Revolution', ''Contempt of Court', 'Amen... Send Money', 'Death and the Lady', 'The Big Thaw', 'Child's Play', 'God's Work', 'Missing Hours', 'Like a Hurricane', 'Rising Sun of Death', 'Love at First Sight', 'A Rock and a Hard Place', 'The Cows of October', 'Vote of Confidence', 'Baseballs of Death', 'Indian Wars', 'Honor Among Thieves', 'Hell Hath No Fury...', 'Badge of Dishonor', 'Blood and Roses', 'A Bullet for Crockett', 'Deliver Us from Evil (1)', 'Mirror Image (2)', 'Hostile Takeover', 'Redemption In Blood', 'Heart Of Night', 'Bad Timing', 'Borrasca', 'Line Of Fire', 'Asian Cut' 'Hard Knocks', 'Fruit Of The Poison Tree', 'To Have and To Hold', 'Miami Squeeze', 'Jack Of All Trades', 'The Cell Within', 'The Lost Madonna', 'Over The Line', 'Victims Of Circumstance', 'Freefall', 'World Of Trouble', 'Miracle Man', 'Leap Of Faith' and 'Too Much,Too Late'.
A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family.
Two heroes are manipulated by the villain into participating in an illegal martial arts competition funded by bloodthirsty high rollers. The contests often end in death for the loser and the two heroes must face each other after the preliminary rounds are over. It'll tear your heart out!
Despite voluminous protest and nitpicking criticism from loyal fans of the original TV series (1978-80), the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica turned out surprisingly well for viewers with a tolerance for change. Originally broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel in December 2003 and conceived by Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus Ronald D Moore as the pilot episode for a "reimagined" TV series, this four-hour mini series reprises the basic premise of the original show while giving a major overhaul to several characters and plot elements. Gone are the flowing robes, disco-era hairstyles, and mock-Egyptian fighter helmets, and thankfully there's not a fluffy "Daggit" in sight... at least, not yet. Also missing are the "chrome toaster" Cylons, replaced by new, more formidable varieties of the invading Cylon enemy, including "Number Six" in hot red skirts and ample cleavage, who tricks the human genius Baltar! into a scenario that nearly annihilates the human inhabitants of 12 colonial worlds. Thus begins the epic battle and eventual retreat of a "ragtag fleet" of humans, searching for the mythical planet Earth under the military command of Adama (Edward James Olmos) and the political leadership of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), a former secretary of education, 43rd in line of succession and rising to the occasion of her unexpected Presidency. As directed by Michael Rymer (Queen of the Damned), Moore's ambitious teleplay also includes newfangled CGI space battles (featuring "handheld" camera moves and subdued sound effects for "enhanced realism"), a dysfunctional Col. Tigh (Michael Hogan) who's provoked into action by the insubordinate Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), and a father-son reunion steeped in familial tragedy. To fans of the original BG series, many of these changes are blasphemous, but for the most part they work--including an ominous cliffhanger ending. The remade Galactica is brimming with smart, well-drawn characters ripe with dramati! c potential, and it readily qualifies as serious-minded science fiction, even as it gives BG loyalists ample fuel for lively debate. --Jeff Shannon
A two-hour Battlestar Galactica special that tells the story of the Battlestar Pegasus several months prior to it finding the Galactica.
An adaptation of Jane Austen's first novella Lady Susan', Love & Friendship follows the beautiful Lady Susan as she attempts to find a husband for herself and her long-suffering daughter Frederica.
This is Blade Runner: The Final Cut Ridley Scott's definitive new version of his science-fiction masterpiece. This multi-disc Special Edition release will also contain three alternate versions of Blade Runner: the Original U.S. Theatrical Cut (never before available in the UK); the Expanded International Theatrical Cut; and the 1992 Director's Cut. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) prowls the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st-century Los Angeles. He's a ""blade runner"" stalking geneticaly made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human.
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a longburied secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
The Cylons began as humanity's robot servants. They rebelled and evolved and now they look like us. Their plan is simple: destroy the race that enslaved them. But when their devastating attack leaves human survivors, the Cylons have to improvise. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan tells the story of two powerful Cylon leaders, working separately, and their determination to finish the task. Special Features: Deleted Scenes Audio Commentary Featurettes
An all-star dramatization of the Japanese attack on the island of Midway in 1942, which saw US forces finally wresting control of the waves and staving off the threat of its West Coast being invaded. Henry Fonda heads the cast as Pacific Fleet Commander Chester W. Nimitz.
First time on Blu-Ray in the UK. The film spin-off from the much-loved TV comedy series starring Arthur Lowe as the commander of an incompetent Home Guard platoon in wartime Britain. With the trusted comedy genius from the TV series shining through, Mainwaring and company save the day when a crew of a German aircraft take the vicar and villagers hostage in the church.
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