The most popular and well-loved of all Handel's great oratorios, The Messiah here receives warm if not exactly passionate treatment under the direction of Stephen Cleobury. This is a period-instrument performance featuring Roy Goodman and his Brandenburg Consort, although not one that aims at any inflexible authenticism. The four soloists are all of the first rank, as are, of course, the choristers of King's College, Cambridge. So, musically the concert's credentials are impeccable. The setting is the Pieterskerk, Leiden, which at least boasts a sympathetic acoustic even though its visual beauties are hidden in candlelit gloom. It must have been a charming evening for the audience, but the film version doesn't really have anything more to offer the home viewer than a few close-ups of the soloists and the occasional cutaway shot of an appropriate painting. Hence, this disc will be of interest if you want to see musicians giving a delightful performance instead of just listening to them; but it's no substitute for a good audio recording. On the DVD: This is a non-anamorphic widescreen picture, not the 4:3 ratio claimed on the back cover. The sound is only PCM stereo, there are no extra features, and the disc only has the most basic of menus. Chapter access is restricted to just three points. If you wish to select a specific aria or chorus you have to refer to the inside of the booklet and work out which track you need to jump to. And would it be asking too much for the libretto, either on screen or in the booklet? Overall, a very disappointing DVD presentation of an otherwise enjoyable concert performance. --Mark Walker
February, 1983. Detectives are called to a residential address in the London suburbs following reports that the drains have been clogged by human remains. One of the property's residents, Dennis Nilsen a mild-mannered and unassuming civil servant is brought in for questioning, leading to the discovery of one of the most shocking and disturbing cases of serial murder ever to rock Britain. Offering a grim and gritty retelling of the story of Des Nilsen, often dubbed the British Jeffery Dahmer, 1989's Cold Light of Day stars Bob Flag (the face of Big Brother in Michael Radford's 1984) as Nilsen-cipher Jorden March, delivering one of the most chilling and credible portrayals of a serial killer ever committed to screen. From writer-director Fhiona-Louise, Cold Light of Day which picked up the UCCA Venticittà Award at the 1990 Venice International Film Festival is a hugely underseen and underrated British effort that can stand proudly alongside the likes of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer as one of the most unflinching true-crime films of all time. Special Features: Limited Edition of 2000 units Brand new 2K restoration from the original 16mm camera negative approved by director Fhiona-Louise Original uncompressed mono audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Brand new audio commentary with writer/director Fhiona-Louise Brand new audio commentary with film historians/writers Dean Brandum and Andrew Nette Newly-filmed interview with actor Martin Byrne-Quinn Newly-filmed interview with actor Steve Munroe Original Cold Light of Day promo film made to raise financing for the feature Re-Release Trailer Two short films starring Cold Light of Day director Fhiona-Louise and photographed by Star Wars DP David Tattershall, newly restored in HD: Metropolis Apocalypse (1988, 11 mins) and Sleepwalker (1993, 2 mins) Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx Limited Edition Die-cut O-card Limited Edition collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jo Botting and a look at how the press reported Dennis Nilsen's real-life crimes by Jeff Billington
When the biggest player in British cybercrime faces destruction by some serious Islamic extremists, he knows it's time to settle old scores and play the biggest scam of his life - before bailing out fast. Marcus King is an old school gangster - a crime lord, who's left behind the old school crime. He's maneuverer his business into the leafy lanes of the suburbs and now, in place of pimps and dealers, his team consists of the best graduate geeks that money can bribe. No brothels, no casinos and no drugs - he's dragged serious, organised crime well and truly into the 21st Century. From credit card cloning and skimming to Internet spamming and scamming, he is the King of Cyber Land. He has more cash, more foot soldiers and more connections than ever, but now his world is under threat - targeted by the money making side of terrorism. They want everything. His entire operation. Either Marcus gives it to them, or they will take it plain and simple. He understands the need for power, for money and for respect and he knows how to fight and win against anyone who comes at him. But how does he defeat fanaticism? This time he's beat and he knows it. His last remaining option is to orchestrate a deal. His entire operation - in exchange for his life. He's ready to retire; he's grafted his whole life chasing his dream and now it's time for his very own land of milk and honey... Before he gets there though, he has one last game to play and a huge score to settle. He has a plan; it's audacious and it's daring. It will elevate his smartest geek into the cyber halls of fame and leave a legacy so great, his name will be whispered in awe for generations to come. But, most of all, it will teach these terrorists - that this time - they messed with the wrong gangster. He'll walk away into his new life, free from the past... But what if the past can't be buried and old scores aren't completely settled? Extras: Trailer Bloopers Deleted scenes Behind the scenes.
The name says it all--Star Trek III: The Search for Spock--so you didn't think Mr. Spock was really dead, did you? When Spock's casket landed on the surface of the Genesis planet at the end of Star Trek II, we had already been told that Genesis had the power to bring "life from lifelessness". So it's no surprise that this energetic but somewhat hokey sequel gives Spock a new lease of life, beginning with his rebirth and rapid growth as the Genesis planet literally shakes itself apart in a series of tumultuous geological spasms. As Kirk is getting to know his estranged son (Merritt Butrick), he must also do battle with the fiendish Klingon Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), who is determined to seize the power of Genesis from the Federation. Meanwhile, the regenerated Spock returns to his home planet, and Star Trek III gains considerable interest by exploring the ceremonial (and, of course, highly logical) traditions of Vulcan society. The movie's a minor disappointment compared to Star Trek II, but it's a--well, logical--sequel that successfully restores Spock (and first-time film director Leonard Nimoy) to the phenomenal Trek franchise ... as if he were ever really gone. With Kirk's wilful destruction of the USS Enterprise and Robin Curtis replacing the departing Kirstie Alley as Vulcan Lt Saavik, this was clearly a transitional film in the series, clearing the way for the highly popular Star Trek IV. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
With hindsight, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is the satisfactory middle instalment of a well-rounded trilogy that began with The Wrath of Kahn and ended with The Voyage Home (after which this crew really should have retired gracefully). But on its first release, few fans knew what to expect and initial impressions were disappointing. The biggest talking points were that the film was Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut and that his name wasn't in the opening credits. Naturally, the biggest question was just how would the loss of Spock affect the franchise? That question was neatly dodged and what audiences got instead was a tale of team-spiritedness, sacrifice and rebellion that ended on a question mark. In other words it was a fun ride without many answers. The centrepiece of the movie has to be stealing The Enterprise, a beautifully conceived sequence that remains at the heart of classic Trek's filmic storyline: sacrificing all for the sake of friendship, Kirk and co. set out to rescue their lost companion; this single action defines everything the characters had ever meant to each other, and has an effect on everything that followed. And if the loss of Spock had left audiences eager for more, that was as nothing compared to the loss of The Enterprise. On the DVD: Star Trek III on disc does not come in a new transfer as the previous two special edition DVDs, and you won't find any deleted or new scenes either. The extras package is fascinating, nonetheless, especially with the contributions from Nimoy. His fond reminiscences in the commentary track are priceless, with good support from writer-producer Harve Bennett, director of photography Charles Correll, and Robin Curtis (Saavik). The text commentary from the Okudas isn't as involving as the others, sadly, but this is made up for by the trivia dished out in documentaries covering: model-making, costume design, the science of Terraforming, and how to speak Klingon. The best inclusion is "Captain's Log" featuring interviews with an enthusiastic Nimoy, a sarcastic Shatner, an appreciative Curtis and the rarely seen Christopher Lloyd. --Paul Tonks
This prehistoric spoof follows poor lovesick Atouk (Starr) who is the weakest caveman of the tribe and therefore unable to win the heart of the beautiful Lana (Bach). Banished from the cave by Lana's mate chief Tonda (Matuszak) he's forced to wander the wilderness. Soon he meets some other outcasts and becomes chief of his own tribe of misfits! Leading his band of oddballs into battle Atouk is on a mission to knock Tonda off his throne and carry Lana away by her hair! With an
Get ready for an unforgettable undersea adventure in the enchanting Back to the Sea! Meet Kevin (Yuri Lowenthal Ben 10) a young flying fish who lives in the New York harbour. He has a keen sense of adventure and a dream of leading his family back to Barbados - the mythical kingdom of the flying fish. However one fateful day his determination to explore lands him in trouble as he gets captured by a fishing ship and plunged into a fish tank - right in a famous restaurant in New York City's Chinatown. Whilst there Kevin befriends the owner's son and a and a handful of fishy friends. Together they embark on a daring quest to escape using trust and friendship and to get Kevin back home to the sea. Also stars Mark Hamill (Star Wars) Tim Curry (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) Christian Slater (Bullet to the Head) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants).
The hit video game roars to life with amazing special effects and spectacular action sequences. In 2007 New Angeles is ravaged by earthquakes tidal waves and vicious gang wars. The evil tycoon Koga Shuko (Terminator 2's Robert Patrick) is obsessed with finding both halves of the Double Dragon a talisman which will give him awesome mystical powers. Teenaged brothers Jimmy and Billy (Mark Dacascos Scott Wolf) wind up with the missing half thrusting them into the adventure of their lives. Marian (Alyssa Milano) and her vigilante Power Corps help them summon all of their courage resourcefulness and martial-arts skills to stop the villain's evil plan. This high octane action spectacular crackles with the energy and humour of its heroes: buckle your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!
The second of the Merchant/Ivory films (A Room with a View, Howard's End), Maurice deals with a theme few period pieces dare mention--a young man's struggle with his homosexuality. It's not just a gay coming-of-age story, however. The hero wrestles with British class society as much as his personal and sexual identity.The film opens on a stormy, windswept beach, as an older man awkwardly instructs young, fatherless Maurice Hall (James Wilby) in the "sacred mysteries" of sex. The same turbulent, wordless struggle with passion lasts throughout this slowly evolving, beautifully filmed story. Novelist E M Forster's brainy, British melodrama hinges on choice and compulsion, as the pensive hero falls for two completely different men. First comes frail, suppressed Clive (Hugh Grant), who wants nothing more than classical Platonic harmony ... and a straight lifestyle. (Grant's performance is so convincing, one wonders how he ever became a heterosexual sex symbol.) After Clive's wedding, Maurice turns to hypnosis to cure his unspeakable longings. Unfortunately, his "cure" is interrupted by Clive's lustful, brooding, barely literate gamekeeper Scudder (Rupert Graves), a worker more at home gutting rabbits than discussing the classics. Maurice's love for a "social inferior" forces him to confront his illicit desire and his ingrained class snobbery. --Grant Balfour
A cross-cultural oddity, Tale of a Vampire feels like a 1970s British horror movie retranslated from the Japanese and mounted as a vehicle for Julian Sands. Director-writer Shimako Sato takes a gloom-haunted approach to the undead, allegedly influenced by the necrophile romanticism of Edgar Allan Poe (it claims to be based on Poe's poem "Annabel Lee") but also draws on the popular blood-sucking posiness of Anne Rice's bestselling novels. Alex (Sands), is a style-conscious vampire whose white shirts are always immaculate although he spends most of his nights messily pouring gore over his face. Living in a spartan docklands pad, Alex haunts a library of long-forgotten lore where he sets his cap at a young woman (Suzanna Hamilton) who may be the reincarnation of his lost love. Unfortunately, a hat-wearing rival vampire (Kenneth Cranham) has been nurturing a grudge against Alex for lifetimes and sticks his oar in, complicating the relationship between vampire and willing victim, setting up for a big stake-shoving climax. For all its vampire feuds and dodgily S&M-flavoured blood-drinking scenes, this is somewhat staid and solemn, with few locations and a low budget abstraction reminiscent of those old episodes of The Avengers where they could only afford to build a corner of a set and there wasn't any money left to hire actors. While Sands, with aptly vampirish poise, and Cranham, with a sinister Southern accent, are interesting and poised antagonists, making the most of Sato's allusive dialogue, heroine Hamilton lets the side down with an awkward performance that hardly suggests anyone worth giving up immortality for. Cranham's character is supposed to be Poe himself, oddly transformed from his historical stature: he seems to have put on a bit of weight since his death in 1849, but Cranham's sly nasty way of ordering gruesome nouvelle cuisine and tormenting a harmless crackpot is aptly Poeish. The slow-paced film takes a long time to confirm what is obvious from the outset (even from the title) and then shudders to a halt with all the characters' fates left vague. However, it has a unique and disturbing atmosphere--the few familiar vampire images of a bloody Sands are outweighed by weirder moments like Cranham's presentation of a pale Hamilton, tied to a bed with red ribbons, as an offering to his nemesis--that makes it more insidiously memorable than many of its higher-budgeted, splashier cousins. On the DVD: A no-frills (no trailer, no cast notes, no nothing), full-screen presentation, which sometimes cramps Sato's careful compositions, this also has a mixed blessing transfer which lends a mouldy or rusty fuzz to some of the blacks in the many night scenes. There is, however, a nice animated menu. --Kim Newman
Shutter Island Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Casino) directs this exceptional adaption of Dennis Lehane’s novel Shutter Island. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a riveting performance as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. Teddy has been paired up with newly assigned partner Detective Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a murderess who has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island located in Boston Harbour. Upon arriving the two detectives are forced to surrender their weapons and then are taken to meet the head psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) who explains how impossible it is for anyone to make it out of the island. The longer the two detectives are on the island the more uneasy Teddy begins to feel as they begin to uncover much more than expected and come to realise that Rachel may not even exist. But what is the real reason they have been assigned to this island? No Country For Old Men From Academy Award winning directors Ethan and Joel Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski) comes this Oscar winning thriller based on the critically acclaimed novel from Cormac McCarthy. No Country for Old Men tells the story of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a hunter who stumbles upon the crime scene of a drug deal gone wrong. He decides to flee the scene with a suitcase full of money, which was inadvertently left behind, putting his life in jeopardy. Llewelyn now finds himself in a cat and mouse chase with Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem – In an Oscar winning role), a violence-driven criminal who intends to stop at nothing in order to get back the money.
This box set features a collection of titles from the master of modern-day action choreography Yuen Woo-Ping. Iron Monkey - Platinum Edition: One of the most visually spectacular films ever produced by a Hong Kong studio this is a traditional epic style movie boasting fight choreography by Yuen Woo Ping action director of ""The Matrix"" ""Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"" and ""Kill Bill vol 1"" and soon-to-be Hollywood star Donnie Yen. This film is credited by fans and critics a
Shutter Island Limited Edition BluRay Steelbook
Bandleader & Voice of Level 42. OHNE Filter- Musik Pur;The unparalleled TV music programme whose name literally translated means ""Without Filter-Sheer Unadulterated Music"" has been produced and broadcasted without a break continiously since 1983 a record for a programme of this kind. Over the years artist from the fields of blues country funk gospel jazz rock R'n B and soul have shaped the image of this incomparable live music happening. From Europe via the USA to Japan O
By night, vampires rise from loamy graves in search of human prey. By day, vampire slayer Jack Crow (Woods) leads a contingent of Vatican mercenaries in a long-waged war against these enemies.
A diamond thief is wrongfully accused of murder and put on death row. A corrupt warden learns that the accused has a fortune of diamonds hidden in a secret place. In a race against time he tries to find out where the stones are while the ex-partner of the inmate learns about the scheme of the warden and tries to free his friend.
Hosted by the wild and crazy midnight madman international Horror Host Dr Shock...so turn off the lights melt into your chairs absorb the shock-waves off the screen and roll into act one of Dr. Shock's tales of terror. Featuring: The Town That Loved Pizza The Garden Tool Murders and Demons Day
Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall star in this legendary science fiction masterpiece. Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist. Winner of an Honorary Academy Award for Outstanding Make-up Achievement and nominated for two Oscars (1968 Best Costume Design and Best Original Score) Planet of th
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