While too many films suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich.The puppeteer takes a job working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started. Add a devious co-worker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognisable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalise on the thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's pièce de résistance, playing on his own persona with obvious delight and--when he enters his own brain via the portal--appearing with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. --Jeff Shannon
After the conclusion of the Battle City Finals chaos erupts once again! The three Egyptian God Cards are stolen! A terrifying new villain emerges! And as if things couldn't get any worse real monsters begin to appear around the world terrorizing the population! Are these strange events connected and can they be resolved?! Yugi and the gang better find out... before the planet faces total destruction! Contains episodes 145-184.
Steven Spielberg's alien abduction opus Taken is what happens when you cross-breed Close Encounters of the Third Kind with The Waltons. Obviously flushed with the success of the TV mini-series Band of Brothers, Spielberg's Dreamworks studio has created an equally epic 10-part story chronicling 50 years of habitual abduction over several generations of three American families. Beginning with the most notorious alien cover-up in US history, the 1947 "crash" at Roswell, New Mexico, Taken introduces the "Greys" and the families they routinely abduct, probe and, in a couple of cases, impregnate over the course of the ten hour-and-a-half-long episodes. The three families are: the Keys, from which first Russell, then his son Jessie, then grandson Danny, are all abducted; the Clarkes, who are descended from a liaison between lonely put-upon housewife Sally Clarke and one of the Roswell crash survivors; and the Crawfords, the ruthless G-men who are committed to uncovering the purpose behind the alien visitations at any cost. But even though the Greys' actions are at best ambiguous and at worst hostile, Taken is basically a soap opera, lacking the sinister undercurrent of either Dark Skies or The X-Files despite its science-fiction trappings. Nevertheless, this is an engaging series which has decent performances--most notably Joel Gretsch as psychotic Owen Crawford--special effects and an engaging enough storyline to make it entertaining, if somewhat disposable, TV. --Kristen Bowditch
She's the One is actor-writer-director Edward Burns' second film, following the widely acclaimed The Brothers McMullen. Given a slightly larger budget to play with ($3m as against his debut project's $25,000), Burns revisits much the same territory--love and sibling rivalry within a New York Irish-American family--but rather more expansively. This time, too, he can run to a few stars-in-the-making (Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, and John Mahoney from Frasier) to jazz up his cast of relative unknowns. Burns himself plays Mickey, a cab-driver in the Big Apple, with Mike McGlone as his yuppie stockbroker brother, and Maxine Bahns as Hope, the girl Mickey falls for and impulsively marries, much to the romantic delight of Francis' neglected wife Renee (Aniston). Francis, meanwhile, is having a clandestine affair with Heather (Diaz), Mike's former girlfriend--something Mike has yet to learn. Dispensing flawed wisdom and generally muddying the waters yet further is the lads' blunt-spoken father (Mahoney). Plotwise that's about it. Burns relies on his appealing cast and some amiably barbed repartee to hold our interest in what's essentially a dialogue-driven movie. He makes shrewd and sometimes unexpected use of his New York locations, too--it's a fair bet most people's mental image of Brooklyn wouldn't include a waterfront fishing community. This is a good-natured, slightly old-fashioned movie whose benevolent view of the battle of the sexes (where the women are invariably smarter than the men) never digs too deep or hits too hard. On the DVD: She's the One is presented on disc in its original widescreen ratio (1.85:1) and Dolby 4.0 sound that does the movie fair justice. Along with the original trailer, we get a seven-minute "making-of" featurette and a music video of the title song "Walls" from Tom Petty, who composed the film's score. Burns provides an unpretentious voice-over commentary, dealing mainly with matters of casting and the problems of shooting on location. --Philip Kemp
In Waxwork a waxwork museum appears overnight in an American small town and sinister showman David Warner invites a group of typical teens to a midnight party. However, as expected, the place is home to nasty secrets, and the blundering kids find themselves transported via the exhibits into the presence of "the 18 most evil men in history". What this means is that the film gets to trot out gory vignettes featuring such horror staples as Count Dracula (played inaptly with designer stubble and a Clint croak by ex-Tarzan Miles O'Keefe), the Marquis de Sade, an anonymous werewolf with floppy bunny ears (John Rhys-Davies in human form) and the Mummy. Nerdy hero Zach Galligan appeals to wheelchair-bound monster fighter Patrick MacNee for help. Waxwork is strictly a film buff's movie--with Warner and MacNee turning in knowingly camp performances, and references to everything from Crimes of Passion to Little Shop of Horrors cluttering up its very straggly story line. It's not without ragged charms, though the tone veers between comic and sick (the de Sade scene, although inexplicit, features some lurid dialogue) more or less at random. The effects are likewise variable, and in any case rather fudged by direction, which frequently fails to point up the gags properly. It winds up with a scrappy Blazing Saddles-style fight between the forces of Good and a whole pack of monsters, and the budget runs out before the climactic burning-down-the-waxworks scene. The episodic approach echoes the old Amicus omnibus horrors (Dr Terror's House of Horrors, The House that Dripped Blood etc.), and various cameos allow director Anthony Hickox to parody/emulate the styles of Hammer films, Night of the Living Dead and Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. On the DVD: It's a nice-looking and sounding print, but fullscreen format. The only extras are filmographies taken from the IMDB and the trailer.--Kim Newman
This wrong-headed adaptation of the very funny (and scatological) novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle was written and directed by Alan Parker, who doesn't seem to have much of a clue. It's not a botch, just a movie that hammers its efforts at humour too hard. The focus is split between three storylines: the life of cereal tycoon John Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins with buck teeth), who has created a health spa for the wealthy that focuses on regular cleansing of the digestive tract (as well as applications of electricity); the troubles of an unhappy young couple (Matthew Broderick and Bridget Fonda), who come to the spa hoping to cure their marital ills (Broderick gets the worst of the deal); and the efforts of a young hustler (John Cusack), who is trying to break into the breakfast-cereal business but gets taken by an even bigger hustler (Michael Lerner). There are subplots about Kellogg's children but they add little. For all the excrement and enema jokes, the joys of this movie are distinctly scattered. --Marshall Fine
Philadelphia resident Will (Will Smith) is sent to live with his exceedingly wealthy Bel-Air cousins and finds that his street sensibilities cause havoc with the well-ordered lives of his distant family! Season 1 episodes: 1. The Fresh Prince Project 2. Bang The Drum Ashley 3. Clubba Hubba 4. Not With My Pig You Don't 5. Homeboy Sweet Homeboy 6. Mistaken Identity 7. Def Poet's Society 8. Someday Your Prince Will Be In Effect (Part 1) 9. Someday Your Prince Will Be In Effect
With this trailblazing musical, writerdirectorstar John Cameron Mitchell and composerlyricist Stephen Trask brought their signature creation from stage to screen for a movie as unclassifiable as its protagonist. Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig (Mitchell) undergoes a traumatic personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an internationally ignored but divinely talented rock diva, characterized by Mitchell as a beautiful gender of one. The film tells Hedwig's life story through her music, an eclectic collection of original punk anthems and power ballads by Trask, matching them with a freewheeling cinematic mosaic of musicvideo fantasies, animated interludes, and moments of bracing emotional realism. A hardcharging song cycle and a tender character study, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a tribute to the transcendent power of rock and roll. Features: New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director John Cameron Mitchell and cinematographer Frank DeMarco, with 5.1 surround DTSHD Master Audio soundtrack Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Mitchell and DeMarco New conversation between members of the cast and crew, including Mitchell, DeMarco, composer and lyricist Stephen Trask, hairstylist and makeup artist Michael Potter, animator Emily Hubley, actor Miriam Shor, and visual consultant Miguel Villalobos Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig (2003), an 85minute documentary tracing the development of the project from its beginnings in a New York club to its theatrical premiere at the Sundance Film Festival New conversation between Trask and rock critic David Fricke about the film's soundtrack From the Archives, a new programme exploring Hedwig's production and legacy through its memorabilia Deleted scenes with commentary by Mitchell and DeMarco Trailer PLUS: An essay by Stephanie Zacharek, along with, production photos by Potter and costume designer Arianne Phillips, illustrations by Hubley, and excerpts from two of the film's inspirations, Plato's Symposium and The Gospel of Thomas.
A special one-off comedy from Charlie Brooker, which spoofs the very best and worst of British crime dramas. An all-encompassing parody of every police procedural ever written. John Hannah plays DCI Jack Cloth - a maverick, heavy drinking loner who has thrown himself into his work following the mysterious death of his wife. The damaged, haunted Cloth is teamed with plucky no-nonsense sidekick DC Anne Oldman, played by Suranne Jones. Together the pair investigate a series of increasingly grisly murders and find themselves on the trail of a devious killer. As you do. If you're a detective. The case leads Cloth and Oldman from leafy forests to sinister lock-ups, from the luxury home of an arrogant TV chef to the cold dissection rooms of vampish forensic pathologist, packing in as many jokes as humanly possible along the way. Their boss repeatedly demands results, fast. No, faster than that. Faster! Slow down. Not that much. Hold it there. Yeah, precisely that fast...
Cynthia McKay is Lawton Hobbs' personal bodyguard. Hobbs is being threatened by Nina Lindell a seductress who had earlier killed McKay's lover.
A box-office hit, this heart-rending drama features child star Janette Scott in her breakthrough role as a young girl struggling to cope with the trauma and divided loyalties arising from her parents' divorce and ensuing custody battle. No Place for Jennifer is written by Oscar nominee J. Lee Thompson and presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements, in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.When her parents' marriage breaks up, Jennifer is torn between the love she has for both of them. Sickened and weary after a court case, the accompanying scandal and the remarriage of both parents, the troubled young girl runs away a desperate act, but one that might just offer her a chance to find the happiness and security she has never known.SPECIAL FEATURES: Image Gallery Promotional Materials PDFs
It's glamorous sexy and totally unmissable - it's the all-new Footballer's Wives Complete Series 1 and 2 DVD boxset! Available for the very first time the set contains all 14 hours of the gloriously over-the-top first and second series together with a whole host of equally flashy DVD special features. No self-respecting 'Footie Wives' fan can do without this boxset!
Stop On By And Give Afterlife A Try. Zach Galligan (Gremlins) teams up with special effects wizard Bob Keen (Alien Highlander) to star in this spine-tingling horror. Mark and his college class decide to have a little fun and attend a 'private' midnight showing at the new waxwork museum. Admission is free... but getting out may cost them their lives! Join them in this roller-coaster ride into terror in Waxwork.
This box set features the entire fourth series of the classic British Television drama Inspector Morse. Episodes comprise: 1. Infernal Serpent: Morse investigates the death of an environmentalist killed only minutes before he was due to give a highly controversial lecture... 2. The Sins Of The Fathers: Morse and Lewis are called in to investigate the mystery of an unwelcome takeover bid of a family-run real ale brewery and the death of the current managing d
The true story of one woman's confinement in a World War II Japanese prison camp from the account by Agnes Newton Kieth. She and her British husband were separated when the Japanese invaded Borneo during WWII. Though the camp commander took an interest in her he could not prevent her torture starvation or humiliation by the guards....
David Jason is the gritty and dogged Detective Inspector Jack Frost a man who has little time for paperwork or the orthodox approach. Featuring the complete series 6 of A Touch Of Frost. Episodes include: Appendix Man One Man's Meat Private Lives Keys To The Car.
The British Are Coming! Britain's finest athletes have begun their quest for glory in the 1924 Olympic Games. Success brings honour to their nation. For two runners the honour at stake is personal... and their challenge one from within. Winner of four 1981 Academy Awards including Best Picture 'Chariots Of Fire' is the inspiring true story of Harold Abrahams Eric Liddell and the team that brought Britain one of its greatest sports victories. Ben Cross Ian Charleson Nigel Havers Nicholas Farrell and Alice Krige enjoyed their first major movie roles in this debut theatrical feature for director Hugh Hudson. Producer David Puttnam blended those talents to shape a film of unique and lasting impact. From its awesome footage of competition to its Oscar-winning Vangelis score 'Chariots Of Fire' has blazed its way into the hearts of movie lovers everywhere.
The Revenge of Billy the Kid is an outrageous farce like no other comedy film you've ever seen. Its bizarre blend of murder and mirth terror and titters simply defies sane description! When horney-handed farmer Gyles MacDonald has his wicked way with the farmyard goat little does he realise the freakish consequences of his strange desires. The Macdonalds are crude and grotesque living by their (dim) wits on a desolate island. Shunned by the mainlanders the family's laughable lifestyle is shattered when the unfortunate goat finally gives birth! Only Gyles' soft-headed daughter takes pity on the hideous creature. Naming it Billy she warns her brutish brothers to keep their hands off her new-found friend! But Billy doesn't beat about the bush. He grows quickly... Too quickly for Gyles who realises his diabolical secret will soon be out and the legacy of his evil lust is about to drop him deep in the manure....
"Family Guy" revolves around the Griffin family and their madcap adventures.
Titles Comprise:The Hangmen Waits: This 1947 semi-documentary style featurette shot around the news of the world press, is a story of grisly murders by a cinema organist. A fascinating film produced by Five Star Films using the mediums of the Press and the cinema. Good historic scenes of the News of the World Printing Plant and Victoria Station.The Gentle Trap: A 1960 Butchers production about safe cracker Johnny Ryan (Spencer Teakle) who after robbing a jewellers, is himself robbed by a rival gang headed by Ricky Barnes(Martin Benson). Barnes has also pinched Ryan's girlfriend and she in turn has set Ryan up. However, Ricky's dumb henchmen miss the diamonds on Ryan. With this 60,000 booty, he acquires some refuge at a nightclub in the company of two sisters; the kindly Jean (Felicity Young) and deceitful Mary (Dorinda Stevens).
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