It's harvest season, which means it's time for the annual test where students wade into the expansive and extremely dangerous jungle to compete for food. Classmates become rivals, and a gargantuan battle of brawn and wits erupts!
Day of the Dead, chapter three of George Romero's mighty zombie trilogy, has big footsteps to follow. Night of the Living Dead was a classic that revitalised a certain corner of the cinema, and Dawn of the Dead was nothing short of epic. Day of the Dead, however, has always been regarded as a comedown compared to those twin peaks--and perhaps it is. But on its own terms, this is an awfully effective horror movie, made with Romero's customary social satire and cinematic vigour--when a "retrained" zombie responds to the "Ode to Joy", the film is in genuinely haunting territory. The story is set inside a sunken military complex, where Army and medical staff, supposedly working on a solution to the zombie problem, are going crazy (strongly foreshadowing the final act of 28 Days Later). Tom Savini's make-up effects could make even hardcore gore fans tear off their own heads in amazement. --Robert Horton
All marriages are a mystery to outsiders they say and Franois Ozon's new film succeeds in shining a light on one such mystery while somehow keeping its essential core of unknowability intact. 5x2 shows five scenes from a modern marriage in reverse order like Pinter's Betrayal. We see its disintegration from the final calamity to its genesis and gain a stunning insight into an ordinary middle-class relationship: that of Marion (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stphane F
The significance of Ed Wood, both man and movie, on the career of Tim Burton cannot be emphasised enough. Here Burton regurgitates and pays homage to the influences of his youth, just as he would continue to do with Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow. Everything is just right, from the decision to shoot in black and white, the performances of Johnny Depp (as Ed) and Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi), the re-creation of 1950s Hollywood and the evocative score by Howard (Lord of the Rings) Shore. The plot struck a poignant familiar chord with Burton, who saw the relationship between the Ed and Lugosi mirroring his own with Vincent Price. Most importantly Burton responded to the story of the struggling, misunderstood artist. For all Burton's big-budget blockbusters (Batman, Planet of the Apes), he still somehow retains the mantle of the kooky niche director. And in the mid-90s, this film actually represented the last vestiges of his independent film production. Fans can only hope he'll soon return to those roots soon. On the DVD: Ed Wood on disc has a good group commentary in which Burton is interviewed rather than expected to hold forth on his own, making his insights alongside the screenwriters, Landau, and various production heads very worthwhile. Also worthy are the featurettes on Landau's Oscar-winning make-up, the FX and the Theremin instrument employed in the score. Best of all is an extremely exotic Music Video based on that score. This doesn't seem to be a new transfer of the film, but in black and white you're less likely to notice. --Paul Tonks
Iruma's been enjoying life with Asmodeus, Clara, and the rest of his demon classmates. But just when he thought he was fitting in, his magic ring starts to talk, and he suddenly turns evil? Iruma's chaotic life at demon school continues!
The American President is behind in the polls and is looking to increase his popularity. His advisors launch an 'anti-Canadian' campaign which inadvertantly results in bumbling U.S. sheriff Boomer (John Candy) and his hair-trigger deputy Honey (Rhea Perlman) leading their troopers to invade Canada!
Based on the French novel and Bizet's most popular opera which it inspired Carlos Saura's exhilarating flamenco 'Carmen' became an instant classic on its release and was rewarded with many international accolades including Academy Award nominations and prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. The film explores the legend by staging a modern ensemble of musicians and dancers busy rehearsing a flamenco interpretation of the Carmen story. The producer and star dancer is Antonio (Antonio Gad
Following a case of mistaken identity dancer Jerry (Astaire) follows Dale (Rogers) the girl of his dreams to Europe and tries to win her heart through song and dance routines... This most lavish of musicals from Hollywood's golden era features lyrics and music by Irving Berlin.
Although it eventually runs out of smart ideas and resorts to a typically explosive finale, this above-average thriller rises above its formulaic limitations on the strength of powerful performances by Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Both play Chicago police negotiators with hotshot reputations, but when Jackson's character finds himself falsely accused of embezzling funds from a police pension fund, he's so thoroughly framed that he must take extreme measures to prove his innocence. He takes hostages in police headquarters to buy time and plan his strategy, demanding that Spacey be brought in to mediate with him as an army of cops threatens to attack, and a media circus ensues. Both negotiators know how to get into the other man's thoughts, and this intellectual showdown allows both Spacey and Jackson to ignite the screen with a burst of volatile intensity. Director F Gary Gray is disadvantaged by an otherwise predictable screenplay, but he has a knack for building suspense and is generous to a fine supporting cast, including Paul Giamatti as one of Jackson's high-strung hostages, and the late JT Walsh in what would sadly be his final big-screen role. The Negotiator should have trusted its compelling characters a little more, probing their psyches more intensely to give the suspense a deeper dramatic foundation, but it's good enough to give two great actors a chance to strut their stuff. --Jeff Shannon
A two-part US TV miniseries here edited into a 122-minute feature, Asteroid was originally rushed onto (television) screens in 1996, well before the one-two big screen punch of Deep Impact and Armageddon. Single mum-cum-astronomy boffin Dr Lily McKee (Annabella Sciorra) works out that a comet is about to divert a meteor shower towards Earth ("at its present rate, Helios would hit with the force of a thousand Hiroshimas and the heat of the Sun") and spends the first half of the film alerting the authorities to the danger, and the second half helping rugged rescue guy Jack Wallach (Michael Biehn) haul survivors out from under the rubble caused when a bunch of minor asteroids collide with the planet (well, America); all while as the usual shenanigans go on to cope with the big, preventable chunk. The script explains everything in children's science lecture terms ("Mom, are we going to die like the dinosaurs?" "I don't think so, honey, we're much smarter than the dinosaurs") and is written in pure comforting cliché-speak ("I'm sure she's serious, but is she for real?"). With its hymn to the quick-thinking authorities and intently cooperating heroes, this may be the most pro-Establishment disaster film ever made: only a few panicky civilians cause any trouble, and we need plot contrivances to get made-for-TV he-man Biehn into danger as he outruns a flood in Kansas City or searches for the heroine's missing kid (Zachary B Charles) in the burning wreckage of Dallas. A large supporting cast of no-name labcoats, uniforms and victims clutter up the screen between the effects. Of course, this can't compete with its big-screen counterparts, but it did get there first, coopting the CGI and modelwork techniques of Independence Day to the rock-from-space sub-genre (cf: Meteor) as cities are smashed, crowds submerged, the planet battered and multitudes saved to order. --Kim Newman
You might not get a thrill from the sight of Faye Dunaway and Marlon Brando throwing popcorn into each other's mouths, but that didn't stop this movie from gaining a new lease on life thanks to cable television and home video. It's a quirky romantic comedy about a mental patient (Johnny Depp) who claims to be Don Juan, the world's greatest lover, and he gets quite a few women to believe it's true. Brando plays the psychiatrist who tries to analyze his patient's apparent delusion, and Dunaway plays Brando's wife, who wants to inject some Don Juan-ish romance into their marital routine. Walking a fine line between precious comedy, wistful drama, and delicate fantasy, the movie gets a big dose of charm from its esteemed cast, with Depp delivering dialogue that would have sounded ludicrous from a lesser actor. Don Juan DeMarco may not be a great movie, but it is guaranteed to put you in an amorous mood. --Jeff Shannon
Trapped by his image in 1976, Clint Eastwood resurrected his Dirty Harry character for a third go-round (out of a total of five) in The Enforcer, a potboiler of a story in which the San Francisco detective takes on a group of revolutionary kids. Tyne Daly costars as a female cop who partners with the reluctant Harry Callahan, and she does very well by a role created merely to underscore and articulate the hero's various virtues. It's a dull package all around, but inside the wrapping are good performances by the two leads. --Tom Keogh
Medieval Europe Father Christmas is a fading memory, after Christmas hasn't come for several years. A young orphan girl, Ayden, receives a magic crystal from a dying elf, with a warning that the North has lost its magic, and that she alone can save Christmas. Ayden and her orphan friends begin a perilous journey, and must escape dragons, goblins, bandits, ogres and other fantasy creatures as they team up with Airk, the wayward son of Father Christmas, to return a stolen Christmas orb to the North. When Santa's magic cannot overpower the growing Snarl (an evil forest with tentacle branches), Ayden and Airk must deliver Christmas on a sleigh pulled by a young dragon, fulfilling Christmas wishes for children to restore Santa's magic and save Christmas.
Throughout film history, Hollywood has produced a number of sweeping epics and generation-defining movies. However, one film - Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments - has stood the test of time. Universally recognised among critics as a cinematic masterpiece, this unforgettable motion picture has also been recognised by The American Film Institute as one of the Top Ten epics of all time. From its Academy Award-winning director and revolutionary Oscar-winning special effects to its memorable music score and all-star cast, The Ten Commandments presents the story of Moses in all of its stunning glory. Starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and a who's who of legendary screen talent, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1956. Now available for the first time ever on Blu-ray and restored to a stunning new visual experience, The Ten Commandments can be relived in the best picture and sound possible.
When Mr. Earnshaw encounters Heathcliff a ragamuffin orphan he kindly brings the boy into his home and makes him part of the family. Instantly Heathcliff falls hopelessly in love with the daughter of the house the beautiful but headstrong Catherine. When a wealthy neighbor woos her Catherine's material instincts overcome her adoration for Heathcliff and so she agrees to marry. Yet as time passes Catherine is to discover that she is unable to forget Heathcliff and not even dea
Humphrey Bogart is heartbreaking as the tragic Captain Queeg in this 1954 film, based on a novel by Herman Wouk, about a mutiny aboard a navy ship during World War II. Stripped of his authority by two officers under his command (played by Van Johnson and Robert Francis) during a devastating storm, Queeg becomes a crucial witness at a court martial that reveals as much about the invisible injuries of war as anything. Edward Dmytryk (Murder My Sweet, Raintree County) directs the action scenes with a sure hand and nudges his all-male cast toward some of the most well-defined characters of 1950s cinema. The courtroom scenes alone have become the basis for a stage play (and a television movie in 1988), but it is a more satisfying experience to see the entire story in context. --Tom Keogh
Season 1 After Frank The Fixer Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt) testifies against his Mafia boss in New York, he enters the Witness Protection Programme and makes an unusual demand: he wants to set up with a new life in the Norwegian town of Lillehammer after falling in love with the place which watching the 94 Winter Olympic Games. Frank knows he is a marked man and figures nobody will ever look for him there. However, vengeful gangsters are only a part of his problems and adjusting to the Scandanavian way of life is driving him crazy! Thust into a brand new world, it is not long before Frank is back to his old ruthless ways and involved in shady dealings with the locals. Confronted with a colourful cast of characters totally unlike the New York variety, he soon finds out, the past always has a way of catching up with you, especially when it concerns the Delucci family Season 2 After sealing a bargain with the Feds in New York, testifying against his 'familys' new boss and entering the witness protection programme, Frank Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt) is known to the inhabitants of Lillehammer as Johnny Henriksen. Frank's new life is going well. His club, the Flamingo, is a great success. He rules Lillehammer like a don, occasionally helping out locals with problems the law is unable to solve. His ex, Sigrid, shares the custody of their newly born twins, and Frank is planning a grand party at the club for their baptising, despite having concerns about the names Sigrid has chosen for them. Meanwhile, Frank has encouraged Jan to explore a new 'business opportunity', a refugee centre in the mountains, run by Jan's former girlfriend. With scams, extortion, protection and bribery on the menu, it's business as usual for Frank / Johnny. Season 3 It's a brand new year for Frank and he starts it with a bang. But with a new year comes a whole host of new problems, including Lithuanian gangs, Brazilian drug cartels and the unexpected return of the self-exiled Jan.... Bonus Features Bloopers Concept Art
Before his handlers persuaded him to settle for the safety of a screen franchise, the young Elvis Presley had weightier ambitions as an actor. The 1958 King Creole, his fourth feature outing, hints at the underlying seriousness of his goals. Presley plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans teenager struggling to graduate from high school while working in a sleazy French Quarter club to support his family. He's also characterised as a troubled youth with a dangerous temper and feelings of shame and resentment toward his meek, unemployed father (Dean Jagger). When Danny's gift for singing provides him with a potential career break (and the requisite excuse for Elvis's production numbers), his involvement with a ruthless gangster (Walter Matthau) and his sultry, alcoholic moll (Carolyn Jones) threatens both his future and his family. King Creole boasts an impressive production pedigree (including producer Hal Wallis and director Michael Curtiz, the team behind Casablanca) and the supporting cast helps elicit one of Presley's most emotional performances. Jones in particular overrides the inherent clichés of her role: her self-loathing and sexuality are both palpable. Presley--still a few years away from the more sanitised image that would be integral to those franchise features--is young enough to be a credible teen, but more crucially he makes his rage and yearning largely convincing. --Sam Sutherland
Best of enemies. Deadliest of friends. They are fast friends and worse foes. One is Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) a law unto himself. The other is the law: Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) who once rode with Billy. Set to a bristling score by Bob Dylan (who also plays Billy's sidekick Alias) and with a `Who's Who' of iconic Western players Sam Peckinpah's saga of one of the West's great legends is now restored to its intended glory. For the first time since it left
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