Director Michele Soavi does the impossible by squeezing a few more drops of blood out from the slasher genre. Not only that, Soavi lensed one of the most beautiful and suspenseful horror movies of the 1980s. A genuinely haunting horror where the killer dressed as an owl goes to bloody work with a chainsaw that slices through flesh and bone...
This film springs from a long-neglected script by the late John Cassavetes. The script was directed by his son Nick and stars Sean Penn, who was set to star before the elder Cassavetes died. Penn plays Eddie, an alcoholic ne'er-do-well who loves his young wife Maureen (Robin Wright Penn) too much. When she is brutalised by a neighbour, Eddie goes nuts--and lands in a mental hospital for 10 years. When he is freed, he finds Maureen remarried to contractor Joey (John Travolta), with whom she has two children. But Eddie's love is too strong not to draw him back to her and make one final plea for her affection. A great showcase for all of the actors involved (the cast includes James Gandolfini, Harry Dean Stanton and Gena Rowlands), with a particularly fine performance by Sean Penn. The film has the make-it-up-as-you-go feeling of John Cassavetes's work, as well as the kind of naked emotions that were his hallmark.--Marshall Fine
Sultry sopranos and contraltos brood in candle-lit churches or at the top of a shopping mall escalator; a shaven-headed tough menaces enemies with a knife, singing of vengeance and death in a terrifying counter-tenor rasp; a couple sing of fulfilment in the back of a limousine. Jonathan Keates remarks in his accompanying lecture that the heroes and heroines of Handel's opera are real people, whose passions transcend the baroque libretti they are singing; by taking them out of full-bottomed wigs and panniered frocks and putting them at large in contemporary London at night, this interesting documentary reminds us of the immediacy of these arias. This would not work, of course, were not the performances exemplary in their own right and presented with a driving urgency that takes us away from the pieties of the oratorio tradition and reminds us what a superb and popular man of the theatre Handel was. --Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: The DVD comes with the narration in English, French and German, and subtitles in those languages. The arias are also playable as audio only. --Roz Kaveney
Life isn't about believing in dreams; its about living them! An eccentric drifter claiming to be Elvis Presley hitches a ride with a young man and they find themselves on an adventurous road trip to Memphis...
The second series of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin's relentlessly erudite drama about life behind the scenes at the White House, continues here with the emphasis on President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis, a condition that he has hitherto concealed from the American electorate and most of his staff. Tensions grow between himself and the First Lady (Stockard Channing) as she realises, in the episode "Third State of the Union" that he intends to run for a second term in office. It becomes clear to Bartlet (Martin Sheen) that he must go public with his MS, and his staff are forced to come to terms with this, as well as deal with the usual plethora of domestic and international incidents, which apparently preclude any of them from having any sort of private lives, least of all love lives. These include crises in Haiti and Columbia, an obstinate filibuster and a Surgeon General's excessively frank remarks about the drugs situation. Thankfully, the splendid Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees) is on hand to make chief of staff Leo McGarry's life more of a misery in "The Drop-In". These episodes, though occasionally marred by a sentimental soundtrack and an earnest and wishfully high regard for the Presidential office, are masterclasses in drama and dialogue, ranging from the wittily staccato to the magnificently grave, capturing authentically the hectic pace of political intrigue and the often vain efforts of decent, brilliant people to do the right thing. "Two Cathedrals", which features flashbacks to Bartlet's schooldays and his thunderous denunciation of God following a funeral, is perhaps the greatest West Wing episode of all. On the DVD: The West Wing, Series 2 Part 2 features no extras, though the transfer is immaculate. --David Stubbs
Unforgiven Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired down-on-their-luck outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey: Richard Harris is an ill-fated interloper a colourful killer-for-hire called English Bob. Gene Hackman is the sly and brutal local sheriff whose brand of Law enforcement ranges from unconventional to ruthless. Big trouble is coming to Big Whiskey... The Wild Bunch A battle between a ruthless Mexican revolutionary and Texan bandits. This Original Director's Cut restores it to a complete pristine condition unseen since its July 1969 theatrical debut. The image is letterboxed the colour renewed the stereo soundtrack remixed and reintegrated - all to blood-and-thunder effect. Watch William Holden Earnet Borgnine Robert Ryan and more great stars saddle up for the roles of a lifetime! The Outlaw Josey Wales As the Outlaw Josey Wales Clint Eastwood is ideal as a wary fast drawing loner akin to the 'Man With No Name' from his European Westerns. But unlike that other mythic outlaw Josey Wales has a name and a heart. That heart open up as the action unfolds. After avenging his family's brutal murder Wales is pursued by a pack of killers. He prefers to travel alone but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected...
The immortal Peter Sellers is hilarious as a pompous retired general who still has a taste for the ladies in French playwright Jean Anouilh's philosophical farce. A lusty comedy of manners ""Waltz of the Toreadors"" tempers its treatment of an old rake's delusions with generous dollops of wit and compassion.
After half a million dollars is stolen from a small-town bank the get-away car is spotted by the police as the robbers make their escape. So begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse between robber and a small-town police officer determined to catch him.
This tragic love story is brought to life with vitality and verve in this no expense spared lavish production. Van Johnson stars as a G.I. with literary ambitions who relocates to Paris after World War 2 and meets a wealthy American girl. They fall in love and settle down as he attempts to write his first novel. His work is not well received and he hits the bottle. The story follows Johnson to America and then back to Paris as the tragic tale of these two star-crossed lovers unfolds. Elizabeth Taylor was never more beautiful and both she and Van Johnson turn in superb performances.
Dr. Alan Aisling (Beau Bridges) an antiquities professor has lost his wife and struggles to keep his children's spirits high and his loneliness at bay. His daughter Cassie (Chantal Conlin) daydreams about the mythical world her illustrator mother left behind in her drawings and annoys her older sister Miranda (Heather McEwen). Then something magical happens. The family find themselves fleeing a plague of monster trolls by boarding a mysterious ship called The Unicorn and they are given a quest to find the benevolent Dragon that once ruled the legendary Faerie Isles before the demon trolls arrived. A quest that shows them the wonder of mythological worlds; fire breathing Dragons the Mermaids' siren songs and the Minotaur's Labyrinth and tries to re-ignites an exuberance for life within the family.
Rusty Reindeer stumbles into a support group where the Easter Bunny Cupid and other down-and-out holiday icons congregate Featuring the voices of Fred Savage Emily Osment Cole Sprouse Dylan Sprouse Gladys Knight and Fred Willard.
It's No Picnic! Brace yourself for mutant mayhem and pestilent payback in this scary (Los Angeles Times) and repulsively convincing (The Hollywood Reporter) creature feature about good bugs gone BAD! Starring queen of mean Joan Collins this incredible insect extravaganza is swarming with flesh-crawling chills hair-raising thrills and spine-tingling terror...with a venge-ANTS! A heavenly paradise becomes a hellish nightmare when a toxic spill turns harmless ants into rampaging radioactive reprobates! Stumbling into their creepy lair a sleazy land developer (Collins) and her clients are horrified to realize that the ants are having a picnic...and humans are on the menu! Fleeing for their lives - only to be squashed underfoot - they soon discover that these bad-boy bugs are hell-bent on exterminating mankind and building an evil empire where humans check in...but they can't check out!
Magical adventure story of Avik and Albertine - and a love that survived decades of time impossible distances and the ravages of war.
The original and hippest version of Shaft cruised onto cinema screens in 1971. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is an African-American private eye who has a rocky relationship with cops, an even rockier one with Harlem gangsters, and a healthy sex life. The script finds Shaft tracking down the kidnapped daughter of a black mobster, but the pleasure of the film is the sum of its attitude, Roundtree's uncompromising performance, and the thrilling, Oscar-winning score by Isaac Hayes. Director Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree) seems fond of certain detective genre clichés (e.g., the hero walking into his low-rent office and finding a hood waiting to talk with him), but he and Roundtree make those moments their own. Shaft produced a couple of sequels, a follow-up television series, and a remake starring Samuel L. Jackson, but none had the impact this movie did. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com Shaft's Big Score is the first sequel to the super-hip 1971 original. When a pal of detective John Shaft is murdered in a bombing, New York's coolest private eye finds himself caught in the middle of a power struggle between black and white gangsters over the numbers racket in Queens. Directed by Gordon Parks (who does a brief cameo as a croupier in an illegal casino) and written by Ernest Tidyman (both of whom made the original Shaft), this film lacks the pacing of its progenitor. Roundtree is at his best when he's questioning a woman he's just met about a suspect while at the same time beguiling her into the sack (ah, those lazy, crazy days of the sexual revolution). The finale--a shootout in a cemetery, followed by a car-boat-helicopter chase through Queens and up the Harlem River--is preposterously drawn-out: Shaft, impervious to machine-gun fire, winds up tripping, spraining his ankle, and limping while running from the chopper; two shots later, he's sprinting like a halfback. Look for late Muhammad Ali trainer Drew Bundini Brown as a wise-cracking mobster. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.comShaft in Africa, the second sequel to the original hit, foreshadows itself early on when Shaft, asked to go undercover in Africa to halt a modern-day slave trade, claims that he's not James Bond but strictly Sam Spade. Bond, however, is the operative model here, with John Shaft masquerading as an Ethiopian to infiltrate the slave business and bring it down. Yet everyone he encounters seems to know who he is and wants to kill him--but the string of dead bodies he leaves in his wake across two continents proves that no one is able to stop everyone's favourite hip private eye. Written by Stirling Silliphant, the film is long on action set pieces that are filmed with more energy than the previous movie, Shaft's Big Score. Given contemporary practices involving smugglers of illegal Chinese and Mexican immigrants, the plot isn't all that far-fetched. Roundtree, as usual, is the picture of unflappable cool--but don't get him mad. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com
A band of commandos led by a murderous officer seize an international airport. Their aim is to rescue a drug baron (Franco Nero) from justice. Detective McClane (Bruce Willis) finds himself having to battle tough anti-terrorists squads and a deadly snowstorm to break the grip of the terrorists who have control of the plane that is carrying his wife...
'Taggart' is the longest running police drama on TV. Thanks to its explosive storylines and tough-talking Glasgow detective Jim Taggart (Mark McManus) it has become a national institution with these next six feature length editions averaging nearly thirteen million viewers. Set Comprises: Evil Eye: A gypsy is found murdered in her caravan and Taggart and Jardine suspect a connection with a London jewel raid in which a young policeman was murdered. Rogues' Gallery: A body is found in a car that has just been put through a car crusher: Taggart and Jardine investigate a case that seems to link the world of drug pushers with the world of art and artists. Violent Delights: A sixth former Philip Dempster has a crush on his French Teacher the beautiful Francoise Campbell. When spying on her through his telescope he sees what looks like a murder take place in her bedroom. Taggart investigates the death of a young undertaker in a blazing car. Fatal Inheritance: When the verdict of ""Not Proven"" is returned in a murder trial Taggart decides to stay at the scene of the crime - a fashionable health farm. When another murder occurs there Taggart gets involved though officially he is not on the case. Death Benefits: Julia Fraser wife of a police sergeant is brutally murdered whilst he is on duty. During a search of their house a list of names is found. It appears that the people on the list are rapidly meeting with a series of accidents - and yet there is no connection between them except that they are on the list. Taggart is facing a race against time to find the connection. Gingerbread: The murder of his father sets Simon Barrow on a journey which moves from fairy-tale to nightmare. Taggart Jardine and Reid discover the bitter behind the sweet.
See it with someone you're sure of! Before Let The Right One In there was Martin the original story of teenage angst... and vampirism! George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead) directs this chilling tale of a tormented youngster with an insatiable appetite for blood! Martin is seemingly your average awkward teen; only he just happens to have a penchant for the blood of nubile women! Suspicious of Martin's nocturnal activities the lad's uncle decides he must be killed believing his death will lift an age-old family curse but he'll have to catch him first... Martin is a brilliant cult curio from the 1970s and is rightly considered to be one of master horror-maker Romero's finest films.
Bodies banks and birds! Dennis (Bennett) and Hal (Holder) are inseparable. They are also irreverent boisterous highly sexed and eager to acquire a fortune by the most expedient method...robbery. The only problem is that they have to hide their loot. Fortunately Dennis works as an undertaker so a conffin seems like the perfect place to hide it. But the moment that they try to fit the loot and a stiff in to a coffin things start to go wrong...and soon the boys have trouble o
Off the coast of Maine an African cargo vessel mysteriously explodes and crashes into the harbour. What no one knows is that the crew have already been dead for days... Dr. Ben Cahill (Thomas Calabro) arrives on Orrs Island to resolve some personal problems and receives a hostile reception. The locals do not like outsiders and in particular Jack Wald (John Savage) does his best to make Ben feel unwelcome. Soon bizarre and frightening deaths start to occur on the island. Each victim
A group of young good looking college kids with only one thing on their minds - lust set out on a hayride. They stop to rest at a picnic site which unknown to them was once the setting for barbaric satanic rituals and cannibalism. An accident unleashes sinister forces from a bygone era and a blood-thirsty zombie escapes from his tomb.... and he's hungry!
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