Fourteen-year-old Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood) did not expect to make an earth-shattering discovery when he joined his high school astronomy club. He didn't expect to make any discoveries at all; he simply hoped that classmate Sarah Hotchner (Leelee Sobieski) would discover him. Yet a photograph he takes through his small telescope makes him co-discoverer of Comet Wolf-Beiderman...a comet that scientists determine is on a fatal collision course with the Earth. What would you do if you
A psychologist is recruited to interview a young wife found at the scene of a double murder. Through hypnosis he unravels a sinister and disturbed mind...
Before he grew up and started to become a serious filmmaker, Robert Zemeckis created arguably the most unashamedly entertaining film trilogy ever with his Back to the Future series. It's here that Zemeckis came closest to emulating his mentor Steven Spielberg, and here, too, that he showed his own talent for combining flashy visual effects and knock-about comedy. The vivacious screenplays, cowritten with Bob Gale, are chock full of forwards and backwards-looking jokes, 1950s nostalgia and wry nods to other movies. Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd, both alumni of successful small-screen sitcoms (Family Ties and Taxi respectively), bring a frenetic energy to their roles, but also the warmth and likability needed to carry the audience with them through time. Don't try and unravel the time-travel thread running throughout, as that way lie paradoxes: just accept its inherent absurdity and enjoy the ride. Marty McFly travels from 1985 to 1955 in a souped-up DeLorean sports car (Back to the Future), then forward in time to 2015 and back to 1955 again (Back to the Future II), before going all the way back to the Old West of 1885 (Back to the Future III). Matters become progressively more complicated as actions in the past have repercussions for the future, and vice versa. Marty learns life-lessons and Doc finds love at last; the joyful, helter-skelter pace never slackens for an instant. --Mark Walker On the DVD: Back to the Future travels through time to the DVD era with a three-disc set charting the much-loved trilogy in full, along with an abundance of special features. The real joy in this box set is the "Making of the Trilogy" featurette, which spans the three discs and offers a wealth of information on the films. The deleted scenes have not faired well with age, with the visuals and sound suffering immensely. On Disc One the anecdotes can be played along with the film as subtitles, which is more than can be said for the commentary with Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale recorded at the California University, which is simply a Q & A session--not played along with the movie--and would have been stronger as a filmed special feature. But all in all as three-disc sets go it doesn't get much better than this--and you won't need 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to enjoy it. --Nikki Disney
Escaping from a maximum security research facility D.A.R.Y.L. (Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform) is rescued and adopted by the Richardsons. All is happy until D.A.R.Y.L.'s actual parents two scientists come to claim him. The Richardson's soon realize that their adopted son is a lot more than mere flesh and blood...
Charles Burnett's 1990 masterpiece, a family drama suffused with magical realism. A slowburning masterwork of the early 1990s, this third feature by Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) is a singular piece of American mythmaking. In a towering performance, Danny Glover (The Color Purple) plays the enigmatic southern drifter Harry, a devilish charmer who turns up out of the blue on the South Central Los Angeles doorstep of his old friends. In short order, Harry's presence turns a seemingly peaceful household upside down, exposing smouldering tensions between parents and children, tradition and change, virtue and temptation. Interweaving evocative strains of gospel and blues with rich, poeticrealist images, To Sleep with Anger is a sublimely stirring film from an autonomous artistic sensibility, a portrait of family resilience steeped in the traditions of black mysticism and folklore. Features: New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by director Charles Burnett, with 2.0 surround DTSHD Master Audio soundtrack New interview programme featuring Burnett, actors Danny Glover and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and associate producer Linda Koulisis A Walk with Charles Burnett, a new hourlong conversation between Burnett and filmmaker Robert Townsend that revisits Burnett's films and shooting locations Short video tribute to Burnett produced for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Awards ceremony in 2017 PLUS: An essay by critic Ashley Clark
John Flynn has directed some good, tough, pacy thrillers and Best Seller, along with the 1973 The Outfit, can claim to be the best of them. It kicks off with not one but two slam-bang action sequences and then, having grabbed our attention, pitches us straight into its twisty plot premise. Brian Dennehy, reliably watchable as ever, plays an ageing cop-turned-novelist who has hit a writer's block since his wife died. James Woods at his most suavely sinister is a hitman with dirt to dish on the head of a big corporation. Woods proposes a Faustian pact. He provides Dennehy with the full crooked story on the mobster-turned-corporate boss and the cop writes it up. Dennehy gets a best seller; Woods gets his revenge and comes out looking like a hero. The dialogue, courtesy of screenwriter and horror-movie director Larry Cohen (It's Alive; Q--The Winged Serpent), is satisfyingly hard-boiled and slips in plenty of subversive sideswipes at rampant capitalism. ("It's the American Way, Dennis," says Woods, detailing how he helped his boss rise via robbery and murder. "I'm a businessman, an executive.") This certainly isn't the only movie to get mileage out of the symbiotic relationship between cop and crook (see Michael Mann's Heat), but it works several neat variations on the theme, with Dennehy and Woods both at the top of their respective forms. If the film never quite lives up to its potential--the required final confrontation between the two principals doesn't materialise and Victoria Tennant is thrown away as Dennehy's love-interest--it remains a way better than average thriller with its roots deep in the best B-movie traditions. On the DVD: Best Seller on disc has no extras apart from the theatrical trailer. The transfer is good and clean, and preserves the original's full-width framing. --Philip Kemp
Based on an unpublished novella by John Steinbeck (written on commission expressly to provide treatment material for Hitchcock's screen scenario), Lifeboat found the Master of Suspense navigating a course of maximal tension – in the most minimal of settings – with a consistently inventive, beautifully paced drama that would foreshadow the single-set experiments of Rope and Dial M for Murder.After a Nazi torpedo reduces an ocean liner to wooden splinters and scorched personal effects, the survivors of the attack pull themselves aboard a drifting lifeboat in the hope of eventual rescue. But the motivations of the German submarine captain (played by Walter Slezak) on the eponymous craft might extend beyond mere survival...With a cast including Shadow of a Doubt veteran Hume Cronyn and the extraordinary, irrepressible Tallulah Bankhead, this 'picture of characters', as Franois Truffaut aptly termed the film, oscillates dazzlingly between comic reparte and white-knuckle suspense – a perfect example of 'the Hitchcock touch'.
Angel And The Badman: Quirt Evens an all round bad guy is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth a quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose from his world or the world from which Penelope lives by. The Cowboy And The Senorita: Craig Allen (Hubbard) gambler and town boss attempts to take a gold-mine inherited by 17 year old Chip Williams (Lee). Roy suspects that the mine may be more valuable than it appears and investigates a clue le
The captivating Claudette Colbert stars as the frustrated wife of struggling engineer Joel McCrea. In a seemingly amicable agreement Colbert hops a train to Palm Beach where divorces come easy. Desperate to escape a group of obnoxious millionaires on the train to Florida Colbert hides out in a sleeping car where she meets unbeknownst to her one of the world's richest men (Rudy Vallee) who is relentless in his attempt to romance her. Upon their arrival in Palm Beach Colbert is met by her husband who has come to claim her back only to find that Vallee's man-crazy sister (Mary Astor) is after him! The foursome's story unfolds through intensely humorous dialogue flirtatious situations and a splendid soundtrack.
After attackers inexplicably murder her sister and nephew psychologist Jenna (Rothrock) is in the dock as a defence witness by day and an avenging angel meteing out martial arts justice by night...
A collection of classic and unusual Marlon Brando movies including The Wild One One The Waterfront The Ugly American and The Appaloosa. The Wild One (1954) An angry young Marlon Brando scorches the screen as The Wild One in this powerful 50s cult classic. Brando plays Johnny the leader of a vicious biker gang that involves a small sleepy California town. The leather-jacketed young biker seems hell-bent on destruction until he falls for Kathie (Mary Murphy) a 'good-girl' w
Comedy about Carnelle (Hunter) a sexually-loose hellraiser who enters the Miss Firecracker contest in the very old-fashioned town where she was raised Yazoo City Mississippi. Carnelle's not the usual kind of contestant -- but her cousin is a famous winner -- and Carnelle's determined to equal her no matter what the obstacles.
Winning London:Mary-Kate and Ashley get the royal treatment taking on the world in this exciting British adventure. They jet to London to represent their high school at an international competition of Model United Nations and have the time of their lives as they enjoy the thrill of competition and take in the sights of London by day and by night. Mary-Kate and Ashley are out of town visiting the landmarks wearing the hippest fashions hanging out with the cutest guys and danc
Harlequin (1980) is volume 13 in the Ozploitation Classics collection. This release includes O-ring packaging, special features, artwork, and a limited collector's card.In this supernatural political thriller, a hypnotic faith healer Wolfe (Robert Powell in the title role), saves the life of the son of a wealthy government senator (David Hemmings) being groomed for power before both the senator and his wife (Carmen Duncan) fall prey to the enigmatic Harlequin's spellbinding powers of manipulation. A modern-day reworking of the story of 'Mad Monk' Grigori Rasputin, the faith healer and mystic who held a darkly charismatic influence over the Russian Tsar, this atmospheric chiller in the tradition of Rosemary's Baby and The Omen boasts dazzling special effects and a top notch International cast headed by Robert Powell (Jesus of Nazareth), David Hemmings (Blow Up), and Academy Award Winner Broderick Crawford (All The King's Men).8 collector cards.Extended NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD interviews with director Simon Wincer, writer Everett De Roche, producer Antony I. Ginnane and actor Gus Mercurio. 2004 audio commentary with director Simon Wincer and producer Antony I. Ginnane. Archival interviews with actors Robert Powell and David Hemmings.Archival audio interviews with director Simon Wincer, associate producer Jane Scott and production designer Bernard Hides.AN OZPLOITATION RETROSPECTIVE an interview with critic Kim Newman.Stills and poster gallery Antony I. Ginnane trailer reelIsolated music score Original promo Theatrical trailer
Buck Privates: Bud and Lou enlist in the army in order to escape being hauled off to jail and soon find themselves in boot camp. To their dismay the company's drill instructor is none other than the cop who was all set to run them off to the hoosegow in the first place! The boys end up having a whale of a time getting under the skin of their humourless nemesis. One Night In The Tropics: Bud and Lou get mixed up in a ""Love Insurance"" scheme.
There have been many film and TV adaptations of Oliver Twist but this 1948 production from director David Lean remains the definitive screen interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. From the ominous symbolism of its opening storm sequence (in which Oliver's pregnant, ill-fated mother struggles to reach shelter before childbirth) to the mob-scene climax that provokes Bill Sikes's dreadful comeuppance, this breathtaking black-and-white film remains loyal to Dickens while distilling the story into its purest cinematic essence.Every detail is perfect--Lean even includes a coffin-shaped snuffbox for the cruel Mr. Sowerberry--and as young Oliver, eight-year-old John Howard Davies (who would later produce Monty Python's Flying Circus for the BBC) perfectly expresses the orphan's boyish wonderment, stern determination and waifish vulnerability. Best of all is Alec Guinness as Fagin, so devious and yet so delightfully appealing under his beak-nosed (and, at the time, highly controversial) make-up. (Many complained that Fagin's huge nose and greedy demeanour presented an anti-Semitic stereotype, even though Lean never identifies Fagin as Jewish; for this reason, the film wasn't shown in the US until three years after its British release.) Likewise, young Anthony Newley is artfully dodgy as Fagin's loyal accomplice, the Artful Dodger. Guinness's performance would later provide strong inspiration for Ron Moody's equally splendid portrayal of Fagin in the Oscar-winning Oliver! and while that 1968 musical remains wonderfully entertaining, it is Lean's film that hews closest to Dickens' vision. The authentic recreation of 19th-century London is marvellous to behold; Guy Green's cinematography is so shadowy and stylised that it almost qualifies as Dickensian film noir. Lean is surprisingly blunt in conveying Dickens's theme of cruelty but his film never loses sight of the warmth and humanity that Oliver embodies. --Jeff Shannon
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