Stomping out their usual cuteness and carbon copying Disney's grand animation style to a tee, directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman (An American Tail) create a successful musical comedy from the story of the lost Russian princess. Adapting the story of imperialism and revolution is tricky, and subsequently the film's opening is weak. Once Anya (voiced by Meg Ryan, sung by Liz Callaway) is a teenager and on her own (suffering from some degree of amnesia), Anastasia is quite pleasing though never refreshingly new. 20th Century Fox's big-money gamble to horn in on Disney's realm is worthy. The songs, especially the recurrent "Once Upon a December" by Broadway team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, are better than Disney's recent efforts. It's worth picking up the soundtrack. The mix of cell animation and computer work is vivid. The collection of vocal talent is also strong, from John Cusack (as Dimitri, who wants to earn the reward by bringing Anya to Paris) to Hank Azaria as an amusing albino bat. Kelsey Grammer helps turn a roly-poly sidekick into a warm and strong supporting character. The biggest drawback is Bluth/Goldman's insistence on having a typical villain. Surprisingly, the story would be strong enough without one and the undead corpse of Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd) is unneeded and unoriginal. --Doug Thomas
Set in 1899, this musical drama from director Baz Luhrmann ("Romeo + Juliet") stars Ewan McGregor as a young poet who begins a passionate but doomed affair with the most famous courtesan in Paris (Nicole Kidman).
Splash was big news in 1984. It was the sole reason for a renewed Disney Studios forming its Touchstone Pictures subsidiary. This was so they could get away with displaying Daryl Hannah's nude bottom! It was also big news for launching the film career of Tom Hanks, who immediately became a massive box-office comedy draw in the 80s. For Ron Howard, it was the breakaway success that guaranteed he'd be able to pursue as diverse a directorial career path as he wanted to. It's a simple romance tale, spiced up by making the female lead a mermaid. The stroke of brilliance in the script was in making the comedy happen around the two leads, while letting them believably convey they are hopelessly lost in love. The comedy comes from the ever-reliable John Candy as a larger-than-life womanising older brother, and Eugene Levy as a scatty scientist. Although New York looks a little different today, the movie has hardly aged at all. Which is just as well since it boldly begins "This morning." On the DVD: Splash offers a transfer that has some defects, but colours and dark areas seem just about right. We're spoiled for extras, with a warmly nostalgic Howard joining a key production crew commentary in reminiscing on how much fun they had making the movie. There's a half-hour documentary ("Making a Splash") interviewing everyone involved, including some archival footage of the late Candy. Best of all are the original Audition Tapes for Hanks and Hannah, which reveal the consummate professionals these once-hungry stars really are. --Paul Tonks
Charles (Grant) is witty and charming but at the age of 32 is looking like a serial monogamist. His life has been full of girlfriends but he just can't commit to any of them. The more weddings he and his close circle of friends attend the less they want to get married themselves. Until one particular Saturday at one particular wedding Charles meets Carrie (MacDowell)... Instantly smitten Charles begins to pursue her only to learn that she is ready to take the plunge with som
If you don't mind a heavy dose of schmaltz and sentiment, this romantic comedy has a gentle way of seducing you with its charms. While You Were Sleeping was the first starring role for Sandra Bullock after her blockbuster success in Speed. In a role that nicely emphasises her easygoing appeal, Bullock is the reason the movie works at all. She plays Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, a Chicago Transit tollbooth clerk who's hopelessly smitten with a daily commuter, Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher). She saves the object of her affection from certain death after he's mugged and falls onto the train tracks. While Peter is in a coma, she lets his family believe that she is his fiancée, and surprisingly finds herself drawn to his brother (Bill Pullman), for whom the attraction is definitely mutual. How Lucy gets out of this amorous predicament is what makes this pleasant movie less predictable than its familiar ingredients would initially indicate. It's feel-good fluff, with characters and performances that keep you smiling through the drippy plot mechanics. --Jeff Shannon
In South London, a young man, Abdullah Asif (Sam Otto), is shot dead delivering a pizza. The detective in charge, DI Kip Glaspie (Carey Mulligan), quickly discovers that the pizza manager Laurie Stone (Hayley Squires), inexplicably sent Syrian refugee Abdullah instead of regular driver Mikey Gowans (Brian Vernel). At the crime scene, KIP dismisses pushy reporter Robert Walsh (Mark Umbers) and is briefed by her partner DS Nathan Bilk (Nathanial Martello-White). The killing seems professional, but the only witness - a young woman strung out on drugs on the street corner - gives the police a false name and address. Local MP David Mars (John Simm) arrives to comfort his ex-wife Karen (Billie Piper), the customer of the fatal pizza delivery. Kip and Nathan track down Abdullah's home, a set of garages, to find his sisters, Fatima (Ahd Kamel) and Mona (July Namir). The sisters are scared and Kip's convinced they're hiding something. Meanwhile, Mikey takes a beating from two men he tries to warn about the police investigation. And manageress Laurie returns home to care for her aging mum... unaware that two shady figures are watching her every move. Features: Includes subtitles for the Hard of Hearing.
Andre Morell stars as Professor Bernard Quatermass in this landmark television classic. Now available on Blu-Ray for the very first time, in a brand new high-definition remaster from the original film elements. When a strange capsule is unearthed at an archaeological excavation in London, an unexploded bomb is initially suspected. However, with a history of supernatural events in the area going back many centuries and with events at the dig site about to take an unexpectedly alien turn, the origins of the capsule are soon revealed to be far more distant than anyone could have imagined. When the capsule is finally opened, something is unleashed upon the streets of London that nobody can control and mankind's past and future collide with devastating consequences. Includes an 8-page collectors booklet SPECIAL FEATURES: Brand new commentaries featuring members of the original cast and crew. Presented by Toby Hadoke. A newly compiled photo gallery, including images of a number of previously unreleased images from the show's original production. A complication of alternate title sequences from the BBC Archives. Making Demons visual effects featurette. Archive documentary content, covering the 1958 production.
When Karen and Fred Schouten finally conceive a child they feel it is the most important achievement of their lives. But their unborn baby develops a brain defect which means that it will only survive for a few hours after birth. Out of this tragedy however comes a gift of hope and life. For Alice and Gordon Hole whose baby will die unless he receives a heart transplant it could be the answer to a desperate prayer...
Audrey Hepburn is the delightful, young, eponymous Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur who is hopelessly in love with David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy younger son in the rich Long Island household her father works for. In order to help her forget her woes, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris. While there, she befriends a baron who provides a bit of culture--and the encouragement to snip off her childlike ponytail. Upon her return to New York, Sabrina is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is entranced by her. However, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) has arranged David's marriage to Elizabeth Tyson in order to seal a business merger and thus must steer David away from Sabrina. To do this, Linus takes on the task of wooing her for himself. Full of great dialogue ("A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven") and wonderful performances, this film is a romantic masterpiece. Also enjoyable is the 1995 remake, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. --Jenny Brown
When it was released in 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral quickly became a huge international success, pulling in the kind of audiences most British films only dream of. It's proof that sometimes the simplest ideas are the best: in terms of plot, the title pretty much says it all. Revolving around, well, four weddings and a funeral (though not in that order), the film follows Hugh Grant's confirmed bachelor Charles as he falls for visiting American Carrie (Andy McDowell), whom he keeps bumping into at the various functions. But with this most basic of premises, screenwriter Richard Curtis has crafted a moving and thoughtful comedy about the perils of singledom and that ever-elusive search for true love. In the wrong hands, it could have been a horribly schmaltzy affair, but Curtis' script--crammed with great one-liners and beautifully judged characterisations--keeps things sharp and snappy, harking back to the sparkling Hollywood romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s. The supporting cast, including Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow and Rowan Atkinson (who starred in the Curtis-scripted television show Blackadder) is first rate, at times almost too good: John Hannah's rendition of WH Auden's poem "Funeral Blues" over the coffin of his lover is so moving you think the film will struggle to re-establish its ineffably buoyant mood. But it does, thanks in no small part to Hugh Grant as the bumbling Charles (whose star-making performance compensates for a less-than-dazzling Andie MacDowell). Though it's hardly the fault of Curtis and his team, the success of the Four Weddings did have its downside, triggering a rash of far inferior British romantic comedies. In fact, we had to wait until 1999's Notting Hill for another UK film to match its winning charm--scripted, yet again, by Curtis and starring Grant. --Edward Lawrenson
Strife-torn America wanted a meat-and-potatoes romance in the late 1960s, and the country embraced Erich Segal's slim, generic-sounding novel in a big way. It did so again for the film adaptation of Love Story in 1970, starring Ryan O'Neal as a law student who defies his rich and powerful father (Ray Milland) on every issue, including the former's love for a music student (Ali MacGraw). The two marry, start life together ... and then the Grim Reaper turns up at the door. Directed by Arthur Hiller (The In-Laws), the film ends up lacking the kind of stylistic boost that might have made it a must-see for the ages. But its faithfulness to the book's uncomplicated and, yes, moving intentions is pretty solid. O'Neal is convincing as a nice guy who's as bullheaded in his own way as his steely father (a nice job by Milland), and MacGraw has a way of getting under one's skin. A viewer just has to try not laughing at the refrain, "Love means never having to say you're sorry". --Tom Keogh
In South London, a young man, Abdullah Asif (Sam Otto), is shot dead delivering a pizza. The detective in charge, DI Kip Glaspie (Carey Mulligan), quickly discovers that the pizza manager Laurie Stone (Hayley Squires), inexplicably sent Syrian refugee Abdullah instead of regular driver Mikey Gowans (Brian Vernel). At the crime scene, KIP dismisses pushy reporter Robert Walsh (Mark Umbers) and is briefed by her partner DS Nathan Bilk (Nathanial Martello-White). The killing seems professional, but the only witness - a young woman strung out on drugs on the street corner - gives the police a false name and address. Local MP David Mars (John Simm) arrives to comfort his ex-wife Karen (Billie Piper), the customer of the fatal pizza delivery. Kip and Nathan track down Abdullah's home, a set of garages, to find his sisters, Fatima (Ahd Kamel) and Mona (July Namir). The sisters are scared and Kip's convinced they're hiding something. Meanwhile, Mikey takes a beating from two men he tries to warn about the police investigation. And manageress Laurie returns home to care for her aging mum... unaware that two shady figures are watching her every move. Features: Includes subtitles for the Hard of Hearing.
Seven years after he earned his first screen credit as the writer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, former Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe made his directorial debut with this acclaimed romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Ione Skye as unlikely lovers on the cusp of adulthood. The casting is perfect and Crowe's rookie direction is appropriately unobtrusive, no doubt influenced by his actor-loving, Oscar-winning mentor, James L. Brooks. But the real strength of Crowe's work is his exceptional writing, his timely grasp of contemporary rhythms and language (he's frequently called "the voice of a generation"), and the rich humour and depth of his fully developed characters. In Say Anything, Cusack and Skye play recent high-school graduates enjoying one final summer before leaping into a lifetime of adult responsibilities. Lloyd (Cusack) is an aspiring kickboxer with no definite plans; Diane (Skye) is a valedictorian with plans to further her education in Europe. Together they find unlikely bliss, but there's also turbulence when Diane's father (John Mahoney)--who only wants what's best for his daughter--is charged with fraud and tax evasion. Favouring strong performances over obtrusive visual style, Crowe focuses on his unique characters and the ambitions and fears that define them; the movie's a treasure trove of quiet, often humorous revelations of personality. Lili Taylor and Eric Stoltz score high marks for memorable supporting roles, and Cusack's own sister Joan is perfect in scenes with her on- and offscreen brother. A rare romantic comedy that's as funny as it is dramatically honest, Say Anything marked the arrival of a gifted writer-director who followed up with the underrated Singles before scoring his first box-office smash with Jerry Maguire. --Jeff Shannon
Paul Hogan's hilarious endearing performance made 'Crocodile Dundee' the biggest box-office comedy smash of 1986! Michael J. 'Crocodile' Dundee (Hogan) is a free-spirited Australian who hunts crocodiles with his bare hands stares down giant water buffaloes and drinks mere mortals under the table. But he's about to face the ultimate torture test - a trip to New York City. Beautiful and tenacious reporter Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) gets more than just a story as the ""wonder fr
Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dom Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody they've blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he's not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil Hobbs learns he can't separate the good guys from the bad. Now he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey... before someone else runs them down first.
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
Hugh Dancy stars in this moving drama about the Rwandan genocide.
In an emotive performance Sheffield born Sean Bean stars as Jimmy Muir captain of the local football team within a gritty working class Sheffield community who sees life as a game both on and off the pitch. Though encouraged by his spirited girlfriend Annie (Emily Lloyd) it is not until he is spotted by local talent scout Ken Jackson (Pete Postlethwaite) that Jimmy starts to believe his dream to make it into professional football could be realised. When offered the chance to p
No relation to the 1992 Clint Eastwood film of almost the same name, 1959's The Unforgiven is based--like John Ford's The Searchers--on a novel by Alan LeMay. Again the story focuses on a frontier family divided by racism. But instead of the complex, endlessly resonant demonology of the Ford picture, here John Huston aims for a pat, civil-rights-era allegory of loving solidarity triumphing over societal prejudice--and, to be sure, some noble but dangerous Kiowas. Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn costar as, respectively, the eldest son of a ranching family and the beloved sister who's not his sister at all, but an Indian. However, the film's dark heart belongs to Joseph Wiseman as an avenging ghost who materialises out of the wind and Lillian Gish as the matriarch who will do whatever she must to protect her clan. --Richard T Jameson
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