It was in 1959 that ex-boxer and paratrooper turned screenwriter Rod Serling first opened the door to the "dimension of imagination" that is The Twilight Zone, a show quite unlike anything that had gone before, and better than much that has followed in its wake. This television series ran from 1959-1964 and it still looks fresh as ever, particularly on DVD. What distinguished the series (and still does) is the quality of the scripts, many of which were penned by Serling, but with significant contributions from veteran sci-fi authors and screenwriters such as Richard Matheson. Actors of the calibre of Robert Redford, Burgess Meredith, Lee Marvin and William Shatner gave some of their best small-screen performances, while an unforgettable main title theme by Bernard Herrmann and musical contributions from young turks such as Jerry Goldsmith underline the show's attraction for great creative talent both behind and in front of the cameras.There are four more selected episodes from the series on Volume 2. "Time Enough at Last" (episode 8) features Burgess Meredith in a heartbreaking role as the only survivor of nuclear holocaust whose dreams are (literally) shattered before his very eyes. "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" (episode 22) is Serling at his humanitarian best, issuing a plea against prejudice and intolerance and dissecting the mechanics of mob hysteria all in the space of a half-hour television show. "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (episode 123) is one of the Zone's most celebrated set pieces, featuring a pre-Star Trek William Shatner as the paranoid passenger who sees a gremlin on the plane's wing. Directed by Richard (Lethal Weapon) Donner from a script by Richard Matheson, this episode was one of those remade in the 1983 Twilight Zone film. There is more aircraft oddity in "The Odyssey of Flight 33" (episode 54), co-written by Serling with technical dialogue assistance from a TWA pilot, giving the crew's conversation the stamp of authenticity as they plunge back and then forward in time.On the DVD: A neat animated menu with a winking eye guides the viewer "Inside the Twilight Zone", which consists of digests of background information on the individual episodes, as well as a general history of the show, season-by-season breakdown and a potted biography of Serling. --Mark Walker
Boxset contains: 'True Grit' 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' 'El Dorado' & 'The Sons Of Katie Elder'.
The latest entry in the Harry Potter saga could be retitled Fast Times at Hogwarts, where finding a date to the winter ball is nearly as terrifying as worrying about Lord Voldemort's return. Thus, the young wizards' entry into puberty (and discovery of the opposite sex) opens up a rich mining field to balance out the dark content in the fourth movie (and the stories are only going to get darker). Mike Newell handily takes the directing reins and eases his young cast through awkward growth spurts into true young actors. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, more sure of himself) has his first girl crush on fellow student Cho Chang, and has his first big fight with best bud Ron. Meanwhile, Ron's underlying romantic tension with Hermione comes to a head over the winter ball, and when she makes one of those girl-into-woman Cinderella entrances, the boys' reactions indicate they've all crossed a threshold. But don't worry, there's plenty of wizardry and action in Goblet of Fire. When the deadly Tri-Wizard Tournament is hosted by Hogwarts, Harry finds his name mysteriously submitted (and chosen) to compete against wizards from two neighboring academies, as well as another Hogwarts student. The competition scenes are magnificently shot, with much-improved CGI effects (particularly the underwater challenge). And the climactic confrontation with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, in a brilliant bit of casting) is the most thrilling yet. Goblet, the first installment to get a PG-13 rating, contains some violence as well as disturbing images for kids and some barely shrouded references at sexual awakening (Harry's bath scene in particular). The 2 1/2-hour film, lean considering it came from a 734-page book, trims out subplots about house elves (they're not missed) and gives little screen time to the standard crew of the other Potter films, but adds in more of Britain's finest actors to the cast, such as Brendan Gleeson as Mad Eye Moody and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. Michael Gambon, in his second round as Professor Dumbledore, still hasn't brought audiences around to his interpretation of the role he took over after Richard Harris died, but it's a small smudge in an otherwise spotless adaptation.--Ellen A. Kim, Amazon.com
An engrossing look inside the 1992 US presidential race, is both an entertaining and ground-breaking political documentary. The film explores the operations of Bill Clinton's campaign staff, in particular, James Carville, the demonstrative, and charismatic campaign manager and the press spokesman George Stephanopoulous. The filmmakers follow these two contrasting personalities as they attempt to cling to an overall strategic plan while also dealing with unforeseen problems and negative press.. D.A. Pennebaker is renowned as an innovator in the use of cinema-verite, which is here here uses it to capture the emotional highlights and complexity of the modern political process.
Season 7: Lots happened behind the scenes between seasons and early on in the seventh year of the hit comedy, leaving audiences speculating this might be the last. Perry became seriously ill again, and returned looking more emaciated than ever. Cox regained weight, but despite finishing Scream 3 happily, things were already rocky with David Arquette. Much was made in the press about Aniston marrying Brad Pitt, of course, but the real news (allaying fans' fears) was NBC's expensive renewal of the cast for two years at $750,000 per episode each (more than six times their previous increase). On-screen, at least there was Chandler and Monica's engagement lasting the whole year, despite predictable ups and downs (eg: "T.O.W. the Truth About London" revealing that Monica fancied Joey). By the time we finally get to "T.O.W. Chandler's Dad" (Kathleen Turner), it seems inevitable that the two-part finale will be an insane mess--but with a happy-ish ending. Sure enough, "T.O.W. Chandler and Monica's Wedding" features Gary Oldman joining in the chaos as Chandler repeatedly goes missing. Other star turns in the year were Seinfeld's Jason Alexander as a suicidal Office Manager, Susan Sarandon as soap queen bitch Jessica Lockhart, Denise Richards as one of Ross and Monica's endless number of cousins and Winona Ryder as a surprise old friend, prompting "T.O.W. Rachel's Big Kiss". But perhaps the most telling instalment of this weirdly atmospheric year was "T.O.W. They All Turn Thirty". It suggested that maybe the Friends are all getting too old to carry on living their frivolous lives the same way after all. --Paul Tonks
Description So much of nature functions much faster or slower, lighter or darker, larger or smaller than can be appreciated with the naked eye. The subtle nuances and hidden majesty of the natural world will now be revealed by using all of modern technology to manipulate time, light and size to analyse the speed of life.
Jolene Blalock James Marsters and Tony Todd star in this creepy chiller about a group of strangers who awaken in a locked asylum ward with no idea of who they are or how they got there. They are half-naked cold and frightened. And they are not alone. Who has erased their memories? Why have they been imprisoned? And what is the supernatural force that is slaughtering them one by one? The answers wait deep in the darkness where a beast hungers to feed escape is virtually impossible and the shadows of sanity may hide the most shocking revelations of all.
Black Sabbath: Masters Of Reality condenses 40 years of Black Sabbath inot 3 comprehensive DVD's! This set features the following: The Halcyon Years: Witness the rise to power as the Mighty Sabbath rise from the back streets of Birmingham to global domination. The Dio Era: As Ozzy left the band Ronnie James Dio joined the fray. Follow the transition from one of the best front men in history to another one-off Rock God! A Full Circle: Sabbath finally end their carousel lineup through Tony Martin Dio once more and back to Osbourne in a triumphant return to form.
Blending state of the art animation with live action, Hop is a comedy about E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand), the teenage son of the Easter Bunny. On the eve of taking over the family business, E.B. leaves for Hollywood in pursuit of his dream of becoming a drummer. He encounters Fred (James Marsden), an out-of-work slacker with his own lofty goals, who accidentally hits E.B. with his car. Feigning injury, E.B. manipulates Fred into providing him shelter, and Fred finds himself with the world's worst houseguest.
Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?" scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O J Simpson star as three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt rescue the hoax mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon
Trauma was director Dario Argento's big crossover attempt at combining the Italian giallo genre with the American stalk 'n' slash. His fans may debate whether the result was a complete success, but the film certainly put his name in front of a wider international audience. Essentially the story is a psycho-murderer-mystery, with the audience made to piece together clues towards the identity-revealing denouement. The movie comes alive as a result of suitably intense performances, even while the characters die. Piper Laurie and Brad Dourif supply atypically explosive cameos. The leads are contrastingly subdued for the most part, no doubt because of their characters' involvement with drugs. Asia Argento (the director's daughter) is an anorexic who witnesses her parents' decapitations among a series of similar murders by the notorious "Headhunter". Christopher Rydell plays the ex-junkie who takes her in and helps track down the killer. Backing them up are some even greater performances from Tom Savini's eye-boggling special FX. With the aid of a motorised garrotte, the beheadings are gruesomely real, especially the one that leaves a head still able to talk. On the DVD: Trauma comes to disc in full 2.35:1 widescreen, though this isn't the clearest of transfers (plenty of artefacts present). The sound is in an unspecified Dolby mix. An interesting selection of extras almost makes up for the lack of a commentary. There are filmographies of Dario and Asia, a gallery of behind-the-scenes stills, and trailers for the movie Phantom of the Opera and several more in this series of releases. More interesting are the text features: interviews with Asia on her memories of the shoot and with renegade horror director Richard Stanley surreally recalling his long-term fandom of everything Argento. Most fascinating, there's a mini-essay on what was cut and why by the BBFC for the original UK video release. --Paul Tonks
Beverly Hills Chihuahua: Starring Drew Barrymore as the vopice of Chloe - a pampered Beverly Hills Chihuahua who gets lost in the streets of Mexico. Alone for the first time in her life Chloe must rely on some unexpected new friends including a street-hardened German shepherd named Delgado (Andy Garcia) and an amorous pup named Pai (George Lopez). Underdog: After an accident in the mysterious lab of maniacal scientist Dr. Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage) an ordinary beagle unexpectedly finds himself with unimaginable powers and the ability to speak. Armed with a fetching superhero costume Underdog (voiced by comedian Jason Lee) vows to protect the beleaguered citizens of Capitol City and in particular one beautiful spaniel named Polly Purebread (voiced by Amy Adams). When a sinister plot by Barsinister and his overgrown henchman Cad (Patrick Warburton) threatens to destroy Capitol City only Underdog can save the day.
James McPherson is DCI Mike Jardine in this series of six thrilling Taggart murder mysteries. Packed full of twists and turns Jardine and his team's investigations lead them across a Glasgow landscape in an inevitable race against time. Set Comprises: Legends Angel Eyes Dead Mans Chest A Few Bad Men Long Time Dead Bloodlines
27 Dresses Katherine Heigl stars as a selfless young woman who is trapped in the role of perennial bridesmaid. Set in New York City, the film opens with Jane (Heigl) racing by cab to appear in two friends' weddings in the same night. She is the maid of honour for both fetes, and she rushes back and forth. She meets Malcolm (James Marsden), a cynical young man who, unbeknownst to her, writes for a newspaper's wedding column. Malcolm is intrigued by the sheer number of times Jane has played bridesmaid, and he secretly decides to write a story about her. To further complicate Jane's life, her younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman) has just come to town and ensnared Jane's longtime crush, George (Edward Burns). When George and Tess become engaged, Jane faces the humiliating prospect of playing bridesmaid in the wedding of her sister and the man she loves. Meanwhile, Malcolm continues hounding Jane, and Jane's life and closet soon explode in a taffeta-tangled mess that forces her to make some big changes. The Devil Wears Prada In The Devil Wears Prada, bookish Northwestern grad Andy Sachs interviews to become fashion magazine editor Miranda's newest lackey. Miranda hires her not for her lacklustre wardrobe but for her intellect. Inside the pristine offices, Andy suffers through a never-ending list of impossible tasks, and is the subject of constant harassment by Miranda's jealous first assistant. But to the dismay of her boyfriend and close friends, Andy slowly finds herself seduced by the glamorous world of fashion, and by Miranda herself.
A trio of thrilling feature films from high-octane producer Jerry Bruckheimer including Pearl Harbor Crimson Tide and Con Air. Pearl Harbor features the life and times of a group of people who find themselves caught up in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and in the aftermath of the bombing America's involvement in the Second World War. Crimson Tide is a tense story set aboard an American nuclear submarine caught up in a global crisis. Con Air finds a recently paroled man on an aircraft with some of the most notorious criminals of all time during a hijacking.
In AMERICAN NINJA 3: BLOOD HUNT (1989) the bicep-ridden Steve James (THE EXTERMINATOR) is given the task of babysitting a new tough guy in town – former fighting champion David Bradley who has big shoes to step into! Yet with more martial arts mayhem than one could possibly shake a samurai sword at AMERICAN NINJA 3 sustains the brutal comic book excess that this classic collection became famous for.
The Skulls: For Luke McNamara (Joshua Jackson) an invitation to join the prestigious secret college organization The Skulls is a dream come true. Acceptance into the Skulls would ensure Luke a place at the table and guarantee him both the financial means and the connections to make it into law school. But after the suspicious suicide of his friend Will Luke is forced to confront the possibility that he was murdered for attempting to reveal the secrets of The Skulls and he embarks on a deadly game of cat and mouse. In trying to uncover the truth behind Will's death Luke comes to realize just how powerful The Skulls organization really is. And he learns that the truth like success comes at a very high price. (Dir. Rob Cohen 2000) The Skulls 2: After a college student is tapped to join the elite secret Skulls fraternity he witnesses a girl's death and his life starts to fall apart... (Dir. Joe Chappelle 2002) The Skulls 3: Clare Kramer stars as Taylor Brooks a sexy young undergraduate who is determined to become the first female member of the secret Skulls society. After she coerces the Council into including her in the initiation rites of the elite brotherhood Taylor soon finds herself engulfed in a sinister world of deception intimidation and murder... (Dir. J. Miles Dale 2003)
Leonard Grey (Caan) is superintendent of Jericho Mansions. His world may be small but he cares for every inch of it. For the last thirty years the building has been his universe as beyond the front door of the apartment block lies a terrifying agoraphobic nightmare into which for as long as he can remember he has never dared to venture. Yet Leonard's sanctuary is beginning to crumble as forces conspire to kick him out including a murder in which all the clues point to him alone...
Mutant X takes the useful SF trope of the mutant minority persecuted by the state and adds potentially interesting spins on which it rarely delivers. After a couple of pilot episodes that pushed into OTT visual stylishness, the show has settled into mildly repetitive though watchable blandness: for the most part it avoids story arcs and a large cast of regulars in favour of plugging its characters into the stock plots of television SF, such as doubles, vengeance crusades and untrustworthy lovers. On the DVD: Mutant X Series 1, Volume 2 contains the following episodes: "The Meaning of Death". A plague that kills mutants forces Adam to work with Mason Eckhart and the invulnerable mercenary Marlowe in the knowledge that any cure he comes up with will lead to a double-cross. "Lit Fuse". Brennan is attracted to energy-absorbing Ashley, who is being set up for betrayal by bounty-hunter Cross. When she absorbs Brennan, things get really complicated. "In the Presence of Mine Enemies". Jesse's hacker girlfriend Toni is forced by Eckhart to betray Adam's hideout Sanctuary and the computerised journalist Proxy Blue. Can the tables be turned? "Crime of the New Century". Youthful mutant firestarter Joshua is kidnapped, rescued and then turned over to the GSA by a renegade FBI agent. "Dark Star Rising". The survivors of a commando team have been altered into mutancy by scientists and want vengeance for their dead squad members. Mutant X helps them stop Eckhart getting the secret serum. The DVDs also contain trailers, a feature on the elaborate stunts and interviews with stunt coordinator Paul Rapovski, show runner Howard Chaykin and Victor Webster (Brennan). --Roz Kaveney
The Halo universe will expand on February 15th 2010, with the arrival of seven brand new animated stories.
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