Taking the Bach Cantatas as a basis for a year-long pilgrimage in 2000, conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner led the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists on an emotional and artistically triumphant world tour to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composers death. Many of the Cantatas were performed in religious buildings throughout Europe and even in New York, at appropriate times in the liturgical calendar. These performances feature Cantatas 179, 199 and 113, all composed for the 11th Sunday after Trinity, in marvellously dramatic interpretations by the Choir and soloists including soprano Magdalena Kozen, alto William Towers, tenor Mark Padmore and Stephan Loges. Gardiners mission to expose the delicacy of emotion at the heart of Bachs deceptively simple melodies pays dividends in settings which range from baroque German cathedrals to the austere bleakness of Iona. Filmed by BBC Wales, the concerts create a moving spiritual journey in which the music itself is allowed to take centre stage thanks to the passion of the performances and, above all, to Gardiners vision of Bachs continuing relevance in the modern world at the beginning of a new millennium. On the DVD: thanks to the crystal clarity of the PCM Stereo soundtrack and Surround Sound, its possible to reproduce at home the distinctive acoustics of the different venues where the cantatas are performed. The picture quality (anamorphic 16:9 ratio) makes for the standard television viewing experience but its the music which counts. Extras include a 60-minute documentary explaining Gardiners vision for the pilgrimage, with further performance extracts, giving a sense of the sheer size and ambition of the project--not least the logistical issues of moving a large group of performers around such a diverse range of locations. It also shows the extent to which the performers become absorbed by Bachs music and through it, discover new aspects of their own spirituality. Extensive booklet notes include full texts of the featured Cantatas and the double-sided disc allows viewing in PAL or NTSC format.--Piers Ford
For his part in a failed bank robbery Frank Ross has served years in prison. Now he's out and looking for the cuplrit responsible for his incarceration...
Master filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci applies his considerable talent to this haunting adaptation of the Paul Bowles novel. John Malkovich and Debra Winger play Port and Kit Moresby, characters loosely based on Bowles and his wife Jane, who flee New York for North Africa, where they hope to find mystical truths that will reignite the spark of their marriage. But instead they lose their moral bearings (with help from a friend, played by Campbell Scott, who has an affair with Kit) while travelling deeper and deeper into the Sahara. Before long, what started as a vacation at exotic lodgings has descended into a tour of hell, as they stumble farther and farther into an unknowable spiritual territory. Though long and at times slow-moving, The Sheltering Sky features marvellously nuanced acting by Malkovich and Winger and visionary filmmaking that makes the landscape at once picturesque and threatening. --Marshall Fine
Catherine Cookson was born Catherine McMullen in 1906. Her life began in poverty and she grew up believing her real mother was her sister. In a life that could have been taken from any of her own novels Catherine aspired to achieve more than many of her time. From poverty to wealth she left the sadness behind to start a new life in Hastings where she was to meet her husband Tom Cookson. As a form of therapy Catherine began to write and never stopped and became one of the world's be
First broadcast in 1983 with its second series airing in 1986, Auf Wiedersehen Pet was an unlikely comedy hit about a group of British labourers forced to work in Germany during the recession. Scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, (previously responsible for Porridge and The Likely Lads) its main players are likable stereotypes from all over England: Barry (Timothy Spall), the bumbling, haplessly pretentious Brummie; gentle West Country giant Bomber (Pat Roach); amiable scouse Moxey (Christopher Fairbank); and the three Geordies, nervous Neville (Kevin Whately), loudmouth xenophobic lummox Oz (Jimmy Nail) and put-upon Dennis (Tim Healy), the reluctant gaffer of the mob. The second series saw the lads reunited to work for a dubious entrepreneur called Ally Fraser to whom Dennis owes money, and the location varying from Spain to Derbyshire. Gary Holton (cheeky cockney Wayne) died during the making of the series and Clement and La Frenais farmed out several episodes to other writers, such as Stan Hey, but the characters were well established by this point and the comedy held up. An episode in which the gang upset the locals of a stuffy country pub with their very presence is particularly memorable. A belated third series followed in 2002. --David Stubbs
Amiable con man Jack Cooper (Craig Sheffer) is on a westbound stagecoach headed for the next batch of suckers who will mistake them for an easy mark. Fiery Sarah O'Rourke (Linda Fiorentino) rides the same coach handcuffed to lawman Bill Speakes (Sam Elliott) and headed for the hangman. In a few hours all should reach their destinations. But the trail they travel takes an unexpected turn: Cooper and O'Rourke are soon off the stage and running for their lives. The law ends and the ch
As Treme opens, a group of New Orleans residents are celebrating their first "second-line parade" since Hurricane Katrina blew through the city and across the Gulf Coast just three months earlier. Folks are strutting and dancing, a brass band is blowing a joyful noise--it's a celebration of "NOLA's" resilience and proud spirit ("Won't bow--don't know how," as they say). But there's darkness just below this shiny surface, and anyone familiar with The Wire, cocreator-writer David Simon's last show, won't be a bit surprised to find that he and fellow Treme writer-producer Eric Overmyer aren't shy about going there. The New Orleans we see is a city barely starting to recover from what one character calls "a man-made catastrophe of epic proportions and decades in the making." Many people's homes are gone, and insurance payments are a rumor. Other locals haven't come back, and still others are simply missing. The people have been betrayed by their own government, and New Orleans's reputation for corruption is hardly helped by the fact that the police force is in such disarray that the line between cop and criminal is sometimes so fine as to be nonexistent. Bad, but not all bad. NOLA still has its cuisine, its communities, and best of all its music, which permeates every chapter, from the Rebirth Brass Band's "I Feel Like Funkin' It Up" in episode 1 to Allen Toussaint and "Cha Dooky-Doo" in episode 10. There's Dixieland and zydeco, natch, but also hip-hop and rock; there are NOLA stalwarts like Dr. John, Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey, and the Meters (as well as appearances by Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, and others), but plenty of younger, lesser knowns, too. Whether we hear it in the street, in a club or a recording studio, at home, or anywhere, music is the lifeblood of the city and this series, and it's handled brilliantly. Treme has a lot of characters and their stories to keep up with. There's trombonist Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce), a wonderful player but kind of a dog, especially to his current baby mama and his ex-wife, LaDonna (Khandi Alexander), a bar owner who's desperately searching for her missing brother. There's Creighton Bernette (John Goodman), a writer preoccupied with telling the world what's really going on in the city, and his wife Toni (Melissa Leo), a lawyer and thorn in the side of the authorities. There's Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn), a well-meaning but annoyingly clueless radio DJ, his occasional girlfriend Janette (Kim Dickens), who's struggling to keep her restaurant open, and Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters), who returns from Houston, finds his house in ruins, and sets about rebuilding it. You might not like all of them. Not all get through the series unscathed, or even alive. But that's part of the deal. The show feels authentic: dialogue (natural, plain, and profane), story lines, locations, camera work, the utter lack of gloss and glamour--this is no Chamber of Commerce travelogue. It's not a documentary either, but there are moments when it's just down and dirty enough to pass for one. --Sam Graham
After the visual bombast of many contemporary CGI and motion-capture features, the drawn characters in The Princess and the Frog, Walt Disney Studio's eagerly awaited return to traditional animation, feel doubly welcome. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), The Princess and the Frog moves the classic fairy tale to a snazzy version of 1920s New Orleans. Tiana (voice by Anika Noni Rose), the first African-American Disney heroine, is not a princess, but a young woman who hopes to fulfill her father's dream of opening a restaurant to serve food that will bring together people from all walks of life. Tiana may wish upon a star, but she believes that hard work is the way to fulfill your aspirations. Her dedication clashes with the cheerful idleness of the visiting prince Naveen (Bruno Campos). A voodoo spell cast by Dr. Facilier (Keith David) in a showstopping number by composer Randy Newman initiates the events that will bring the mismatched hero and heroine together. However, the animation of three supporting characters--Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a jazz-playing alligator; Ray (Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly; and 197-year-old voodoo priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis)--is so outstanding, it nearly steals the film. Alternately funny, touching, and dramatic, The Princess and the Frog is an all-too-rare example of a movie a family can enjoy together, with the most and least sophisticated members appreciating different elements. The film is also a welcome sign that the beleaguered Disney Feature Animation Studio has turned away from such disasters as Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons and is once again moving in the right direction. --Charles Solomon
Spectacular adventure exotic locations beautiful girls dare-devil heroes dastardly villains humour and romance: these are the ingredients of Virgin of the Secret Service an all-action drama series with a difference!
Agatha Christie's classic sleuth Miss Marple (here essayed by Geraldine McEwan) takes on another case of murder most foul.... After a serious motorcycle accident the dashing Jerry Burton (James D'Arcy) arrives in the sleepy village of Lymstock with his sister Joanna (Emilia Fox) to recuperate. Their expectations of peace and quiet are quickly dashed when they discover a poison pen-writer is at large in the village. Together Miss Marple and Jerry set out to stop the malicious mess
Emergency Ward 10 - Vol. 3 (4 Discs)
Gabriel (Christian Campbell) is a sophisticated New York composer. Mark (Jean Paul Pitoc) is a sexy muscular dancer. Thrown together by chance on a crowded subway train the pair must find somewhere to be alone - which is going to be tough when they have Gabriel's roommate his annoying best friend and a bitchy drag queen to contend with! Could a potential one-night-stand turn into something more special for Gabriel and Mark?
WWE caps off 2012 with the most unpredictable and chaotic annual pay-per-view on the calendar - Tables, Ladders and Chairs! Sheamus and Big Show slug it out in a brutal Chairs Match, John Cena challenges Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match for The Showoff's Money in the Bank briefcase, and a renegade new faction called The Shield makes their PPV debut vs Team Hell No and Ryback. What stunning turn of events will happen when the top Superstars of Raw and SmackDown unleash Tables, Ladders and Chairs!
Set within the steamy world of international show jumping Rupert Campbell-Black ad Jake Lovell are top riders and sworn enemies both in and out of the ring. Their bitter rivalry has been escalating until it ultimately erupts at the Los Angeles Olympics with devastating conclusions. The first of the Rutshire chronicles Riders is an explosive mix of romance sex and adventure.
When I was a copper it was ninety-nine per cent boredom to one per cent terror. I always preferred the one per cent. EastEnders Leslie Grantham stars as maverick undercover cop Mick Raynor in a thriller set in the no-man s land where the underworld meets the establishment. Posing as a bent ex-policeman Raynor is gaining information on a complex web of organised crime and high-level corruption lurking beneath the surface of British public life. He's after the big fish: the gangsters with knighthoods; the politicians who are laundering the money. In their pursuit he faces assignments that stretch his nerves and his conscience to the very limit. Now Raynor has made up his mind to quit the world of undercover detection. But an incoming police chief has other ideas... This second series features appearances by Arabella Weir Kenneth Cope and Nadia Sawalha and is scripted by a team that includes multi-award-winning playwright Terry Johnson Merlin co-creator Julian Jones and The Bill contributors Barbara Cox and Jonathan Rich.
John Wayne: Cold Vengeance
Their crime was against nature...and nature found them guilty! Attempting to resurrect their failing marriage Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) set out on a camping trip to a deserted stretch of Australian coastline in the hope that a long weekend in the sunshine will help them patch their differences. They are a careless couple littering the unspoilt countryside with refuse shooting guns and even driving off after wounding a kangaroo with their car. Their
Romance, action, betrayal, suspensethis timeless BBC adaptation of The Three Musketeers has it all. In 1620s France, the young, poor and unfailingly ambitious d'Artagnan (BAFTA-nominee Joss Ackland) leaves his humble village and treks to Paris on a quest to join the Musketeers of the Guard. At first, he's ridiculed, abused, and scornedbut after he impresses the three high-estesteemed musketeers in the land, they take him under their wing. With Porthos (Brian Blessed, Z Cars), Athos (Jeremy Young), and Aramis (John Woodvine) at his side, d'Artagnan sharpens his skills as a swordsman and, more often than not, is forced to put them to the test. The gang becomes entangled in a web of lies, love, violence and deceit among the French royalty, treacherous territory where even one wrong move could land them in prisonor worse. Over the course of ten thrilling, masterfully-crafted episodes, this series from the heyday of the BBC's classic Sunday serial (Telegraph) traces through Alexander Dumas' masterwork with stylebringing 17th century France to life in all its swashbuckling, chivalric, captivating glory.
Every episode of this much loved classic crime TV show featuring that unforgettable theme tune! A brilliant fast-paced violent and hard-hitting action series The Professionals chronicles the lives and exploits of the men of covert British security unit CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5) in particular the unit's top operative partnership of ex-cop Ray Doyle (Martin Shaw) and former mercenary and ex-SAS paratrooper William Bodie (Lewis Collins) and their superior officer the gruff but
War Inc stars John Cusack Joan Cusack Ben Kingsley Marisa Tomei and Hilary Duff! War Inc is a political satire set in Turaqistan a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President (Dan Aykroyd). In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers the corporation's CEO hires Brand Hauser (John Cusack) - a hit man - to kill a Middle East oil minister. Now struggling with his own growing demons Brand must pose as the corporation's Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff) an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star and keeping a sexy left wing reporter (Marisa Tomei) in check.
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