For Rosemarys Baby, his modern horror tale about Satanic worship and a pregnant womans decline into madness, Roman Polanski moves from the traditional monolithic mansions of Gothic flicks to an apartment building in New York City. Based on Ira Levins novel, the story concerns Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse who find the apartment of their dreams in a luxurious complex in Manhattan. Soon after moving in and making friends with a group of elderly neighbours, Guys career takes off and Rosemary discovers she is pregnant. Their happiness seems complete. But gradually Rosemary begins to sense that something is wrong with this baby, and slowly and surely her life begins to unravel. Polanski uses such subtle means to build up the sense of preternatural disquiet that initially you suspect Rosemarys prenatal paranoia to be a figment of her imagination. But the guilty parties and their demonic plan to make Rosemary the receptacle of their masters child are eventually revealed and, as Rosemary looses her grip on reality, she realises that no one can be trusted. The performances are excellent throughout; Farrow as the young wife is so fragile that you wonder how she made it unscathed to adulthood and John Cassavetes is horrifyingly duplicitous as her husband Guy. But the real star is Polanskis masterful direction. The mood is at the same time oppressive and hysterical with the mounting terror coming from the situation and gradually unravelling plot rather than any schlock horror moments. On the DVD: the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack shows off Christopher Komedas eerie "lullaby" score to its haunting best. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is relatively free of speckle and dust, some scenes filmed in low light are slightly grainier but this adds to the oppressive tension that Polanski is building up in the film. In terms of extras there is a 20-minute "making of" feature from 1968 and retrospective interviews with Polanski, production designer Richard Sylbert and producer Robert Evans. --Kristen Bowditch
When you get lost between the moon and New York City (ahem), chances are you'll find yourself taking another look at this hit comedy starring Oscar-nominated Dudley Moore as the charmingly witty, perpetually drunken millionaire Arthur Bach. Arthur falls in love with a waitress (Liza Minelli) who doesn't care about his money but unfortunately Arthur's stern father wants him to marry a Waspy prima donna. The young lush turns to his wise and loyal butler (Oscar-winner John Gielgud) for assistance and advice. Arthur was a huge hit when released in 1981, as was its Oscar-winning theme song by Christopher Cross. Few remember that the movie was,sadly, the only one ever made by writer-director Steve Gordon, who died less than a year after the film's release. Consistently funny and heartwarming, Arthur was hailed as a tribute to the great romantic comedies of the 1930s. --Jeff Shannon
Under ROMAN POLANSKI's chilling direction, a classic thriller is born. Rosemary (MIA FARROW) and Guy Woodhouse (JOHN CASSAVETES) are newlyweds, but Rosemary has no idea that her wedded bliss is about to come to a horrific end. Her husband's ambition as a struggling actor is about to plunge her into an abyss of terror like she has never known. In exchange for a taste of fame, Guy makes a deal with the devil that puts his wife and soul in jeopardy. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, her husband b...
The mythical world starts a rebellion against the human realm in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the myriad creatures.
Neil Simon's classic stage comedy made an effortless transition to the big screen in 1967, when The Odd Couple provided Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau with a tailor-made mid-career affirmation of their status as two of cinema's greatest funny men. Lemmon is Felix, manically obsessed with cleanliness and housekeeping, struggling to understand why his wife wants a divorce. Matthau is Oscar, his slovenly poker-playing buddy who invites him to take the spare room and lives to regret it as they rapidly and comically come to grief like an old, totally incompatible, married couple, revealing exactly why their respective wives have had enough. "I don't think two single men living alone in a big eight-room apartment should have a cleaner house than my mother", Matthau wails, trying to make sense of the disintegrating situation. The pair devour Simon's typically sharp and witty script in a frenzy of classic one-liners that allow Lemmon's trademark twitchy neurosis and Matthau's baleful cussedness to flourish. Great as they are, though, they are nearly eclipsed in the funniest scene of the film by Monica Evans and Carole Shelly as a couple of British expatriate sisters from the apartment upstairs. Carry On innuendo briefly meets Manhattan repartee and the screen crackles with brilliance. It's a comic masterclass. On the DVD: The Odd Couple on disc has no extras apart from the original cinema trailer, but the film, presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, is pristine, Neal Hefti's score providing that instantly identifiable flavour of sophisticated 1960s American comedy. --Piers Ford
Set in Victorian England, Robert Hamer's 1949 masterpiece Kind Hearts and Coronets remains the most gracefully mordant of Ealing Comedies. Dennis Price plays Louis D'Ascoyne, the would-be Duke of Chalfont whose Mother was spurned by her noble family for marrying an Italian singer for love. Louis resolves to murder the several of his relatives ahead of him in line for the Dukedom, all of whom are played by Alec Guinness, in order to avenge his Mother--for, as Louis observes, " revenge is a dish which people of taste prefer to eat cold". He gets away with it, only to be arraigned for the one murder of which he is innocent. Guinness' virtuoso performances have been justly celebrated, ranging as they do from a youthful D'Ascoyne concealing his enthusiasm for public houses from his priggish wife ("she has views on such places") to a brace of doomed uncles and one aunt, ranging from the doddery to the peppery. Miles Malleson is a splendid doggerel-spouting hangman, while Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood take advantage of unusually strong female roles. But the great joy of Kind Hearts and Coronets is the way in which its appallingly black subject matter (considered beyond the pale by many critics at the time) is conveyed in such elegantly ironic turns of phrase by Dennis Price's narrator/anti-hero. Serial murder has never been conducted with such exquisite manners and discreet charm. --David Stubbs
A sleeper star vehicle for Denzel Washington Ricochet is a campy revenge thriller in the Brian De Palma style. Director Russell Mulcahy (The Shadow) makes the most of the opportunity to showcase two great actors in an exaggerated story of cops, robbers, and revenge. Washington plays a cop who becomes a rising legal star as a result of arresting master criminal John Lithgow, who escapes prison, fakes his own death, and sets about framing lawyer Washington for various crimes. Lithgow methodically destroys his life, until Washington enlists the help of childhood friend and drug dealer Ice-T to turn the tables and put his tormentor out of business for good. Lurid and violent, the film is also happily over the top, making Ricochet a cheerfully decadent indulgence.--Robert Lane, Amazon.com
One movie-lover's nightmare is another's raucous joyride, and this special effects-laden horror comedy is bound to split both camps right down the middle. Michael J Fox plays a psychic investigator who can actually see ghosts, and lives with a trio of spirits who scare people to promote Fox's ghost-busting business. In a town infamous for serial killings, a new series of deaths prompts Fox to induce his own out-of-body experience so he can battle death in a spirit-plagued netherworld where evil reigns supreme--or something like that. So much happens in this chaotic film that you might feel like you're watching several movies at once--a slasher pic, a supernatural thriller, and a black comedy all rolled into one non-stop showcase for grisly makeup and a dozen varieties of special effects. It's an odd but wildly inventive film from New Zealand director Peter Jackson, who earned critical acclaim for his previous film Heavenly Creatures and would later create the ingenious pseudo-documentary Forgotten Silver. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
This Disney 2-Pack collection will have you seeing spots as it includes Disney''s live-action 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. 101 Dalmatians Cruella De Vil dognaps a litter of Dalmation puppies--as well as every other Dalmation pup in London--and the litter''s parents must rally all the animals to their rescue. 102 Dalmatians Cruella De Vil is released from prison and is soon plotting another fur-ocious scheme to get her ultimate dalmatian coat.
Rosemary's Baby: Like most first time mothers Rosemary experiences confusion and fear. Her husband an ambitious but unsuccessful actor makes a pact with the devil that promises to send his career skyward... Possibly the best horror film ever made this brilliant adaptation of Ira Levin's best-selling novel is the story of a loving young New York city couple who are experiencing their first child. Director Roman Polanski elicits uniformly extraordinary performances from the all-star cast. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for her performance as an oversolicitous next-door neighbour in this classic chiller. Chinatown: Jack Nicholson is private eye Jake Gittes living off the murky moral climate of sunbaked pre-war Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together for one unforgettable night in ... Chinatown. The Tenant Roman: Polanski directs and stars as Trelkovsky an expatriate Pole in Paris who takes over the lease of a gloomy apartment and comes to believe that the other tenants in the block are conspiring to drive him to kill himself. The real or imagined conspiracy is supported by the suicide of the previous tenant. Trelkovsky finds himself assuming the identity of his predecessor but the twist that sets this film above the competition is that this previous occupant was a girl. Polanski uses this twist to explore the character's latent bisexuality in an atmosphere of paranoia and delusion.
John Travolta plays George Malley an easy-going car mechanic who's hopelessly in love with a pretty newcomer in town (Kyra Sedgwick)... a woman who wants nothing to do with relationships. Then on George's birthday a mysterious force bestows on him special telekinetic powers and genius mental abilities! It's a phenomenon that will begin to alienate him from his lifelong friends... but it might just bring him closer to the woman he loves. Phenomenon is an inspiring story of love c
Dark Horse Comics' popular cult superhero Hellboy makes the leap from the comic book pages to the big screen in this fantasy action adventure. In the final days of World War II, the Nazis attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause. The Allies raid the camp where the ceremony is taking place, but not before a demon - Hellboy (Ron Perlman) - has already been conjured. Joining the Allied forces, Hellboy eventually grows to adulthood under the supervision of his adopted 'father', Professor Broom (John Hurt), serving the cause of good rather than evil. When the powerful and evil Nazi wizard who unleashed Hellboy suddenly reappears in modern times, he discovers that Hellboy is now working as a paranormal investigator at a secret U.S. government agency dedicated to protecting humanity from the forces of darkness. Now, Hellboy must fight to prevent the destruction of mankind.
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.
Collection of every episode from all nine seasons of the long-running American soap following the mixed fortunes of a wealthy Denver oil business family presided over by Blake Carrington (John Forsythe). Scandalous love affairs, dirty business deals, power struggles, catfights and bulging shoulder pads all add to the drama in the show that epitomised the glamour and greed of the 1980s. Season 4 (7 Discs), Season 5 (8 Discs), Season 6 (8 Discs), Season 7 (7 Discs) and Season 8 (6 Discs) offer...
The mythical world starts a rebellion against the human realm in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the myriad creatures.
The word "vampire" is never mentioned in Near Dark, but that doesn't stop this 1987 cult favourite from being one of the best modern-era vampire films. It put then-unknown director Kathryn Bigelow on Hollywood's radar and gave choice roles to Aliens costars favoured by Bigelow's ex-husband James Cameron--Lance Henriksen is the leader of a makeshift family of renegade bloodsuckers, nocturnally seeking victims in rural Oklahoma; his immortal gal pal is Aliens and T2 alumnus Jenette Goldstein; and Bill Paxton is the group's deadliest leather-clad ass kicker. Fellow traveller Jenny Wright lures Okie farm boy Adrian Pasdar into the group with a love bite and he's soon turning toward vampirism with a combination of frightened revulsion and relentless desire. With Joshua Miller as the youngest vampire, Near Dark is Bigelow's masterpiece of low-budget ingenuity--a truck-stop thriller that begins well, gets better and better (aided by a fine Tangerine Dream score) and goes out in a blaze of glory. --Jeff Shannon
Director Renny Harlin (Cutthroat Island) took the reins of this 1990 sequel, which places Bruce Willis's New York City cop character in harm's way again with a gaggle of terrorists. This time, Willis awaits his wife's arrival at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, when he gets wind of a plot to blow up the facility. Noisy, overbearing and forgettable, the film has none of the purity of its predecessor's simple story; and it makes a huge miscalculation in allowing a terrible tragedy to occur rather than stretch out the tension. Where Die Hard set new precedents in action movies, Die Hard 2 is just an anything-goes spectacle. -- Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Based on Ludovic Kennedy's investigative book '10 Rillington Place' is the true and horrifying story of English mass murderer John Christie (chillingly played by Richard Attenborough). When Timothy Evans (John Hurt) his wife Beryl (Judy Geeson) and their young daughter movie into Christie's house they unknowingly sign their death warrants. Christie offers to help Beryl have an abortion and uses this opportunity as he has already done with previous victims to strangle and rape
Boasting a virtuoso comic performance from Leonard Rossiter The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976-79) remains one of the greatest of all television sitcoms. Writer David Nobbs combined the surrealist absurdity of Monty Python with an on-going story line that unfolded through each of the three seasons with a clear beginning, middle and end; a ground-breaking development in 70s TV comedy. The first and best season charts middle-aged, middle-management executive Reginald Perrin as he breaks-down under the stress of middle-class life until he informs the world that half the parking meters in London have Dutch Parking Meter Disease. He fakes suicide and returns to court his wife Elizabeth (Pauline Yates) in disguise, a plot development that formed the entire basis of Mrs Doubtfire (1993). Series Two is broader, the rapid-fire dialogue still razor sharp and loaded with caustic wit and ingenious silliness, as a now sane Reggie takes on the madness of the business world by opening a chain of shops selling rubbish. The third season, set in a health farm, is routine, the edge blunted by routine sitcom conventions. At its best The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is hilarious and moving, its depiction of English middle-class life spot on, its satire prophetic. Reggie's visual fantasies hark back to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and Billy Liar (1963), and look forward to Ally McBeal (1997-2002) and are the icing on the cake of a fine, original and highly imaginative show. On the DVD: Reginald Perrin's discs contain one complete seven episode season. There are no extras. The sound is good mono and the 4:3 picture is generally fine, though some of the exterior shot-on-film scenes have deteriorated and there are occasional signs of minor damage to the original video masters. Even so, for a 1970s sitcom shot on video the picture is excellent and far superior to the original broadcasts. --Gary S Dalkin
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