When two strangers stumble into international intrigue in the middle of a Los Angeles night anything can happen... and it does in this zany comedy directed by John Landis! Ed Okin is an insomniac with a cheating wife and a dull job. His chance for excitement looks hopeless until a mysterious blonde named Diana drops onto the bonnet of his car. She is being pursued by a gang of Iranian gunmen and despite Ed's reluctance he gets involved and Diana leads him on a murderous chase where
After the first season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer became a ratings success the show was renewed with a bigger budget and twice as many episodes. Seeds are sown through the early episodes for many of the stunning plot developments later in the season: there's a slow burn for the relationships building between Buffy and Angel (no surprise), Giles and Jenny (nice surprise), and Xander and Cordelia (huge surprise). Most importantly, we're introduced to important semi-regulars Spike and Drusilla ("School Hard"), Oz ("Inca Mummy Girl") and fellow Slayer Kendra ("What's My Line Part 1"). Their appearances tackle youth issues such as sibling rivalry, sexual maturity and rejection. But nothing that came before it prepared audiences for the latter half of season 2. In the extraordinary double act of "Surprise" and "Innocence" every aspect of the show grows up in a big hurry: the result of Buffy sleeping with Angel is a series of tragedies everyone is powerless to predict or prevent, a piece of powerful storytelling conveyed with pared-down dialogue and remarkable performances from the young cast. All of these threads are tied together then torn apart by the two-part finale "Becoming". With a cliffhanger ending to rival The Empire Strikes Back, the second chapter of Buffy The Vampire Slayer closes in tantalising style leaving everything at stake. --Paul Tonks On the DVD: The computer-animated menu opens this gorgeous box set in style with a tour through a dark and oppressive cemetery, a lavish display of graphics that's all the more impressive when compared to the uneventful DVD for the first season. Most of the extra features are concentrated on the last disc, which includes the obligatory biographies, trailers and TV spots that add little value to hardcore fans but serve as a good introduction to the world of Buffy for non-adepts. The three featurettes are captivating: "Designing Buffy" offers a wealth of information about the set designs, and even includes a walk through of Buffy's home; "A Buffy Bestiary" features every monster from the second season, and "Beauty and the Beats" explores the make-up artistry and special effects. There are also brief cast interviews, in which James Masters ("Spike") reveals his American accent. All in all the extras make a worthy accompaniment to the spectacular season 2 episodes, though one might regret that Joss Whedon did not offer a commentary on the double bill season finale "Becoming". --Celine Martig
Based on the Danish The Killing (aka Forbrydelsen), one of the original Nordic Noir' hits that put this brand new genre on the map, with its renowned jumper-wearing detective Sarah Lund, comes the hugely popular US remake The Killing series one to three on DVD and Blu-ray.
From the legendary director of Dawn Of The Dead, George A. Romero comes a new take on his terrifying world of the undead.
Acclaimed director John Landis presents this madcap send-up of late-night TV low-budget sci-fi films and canned laughter-filled sitcoms packed with off-the-wall sketches that will have you in stitches! Centered around a television station which features a 1950s style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials wacky shorts and weird specials this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of enterta
A police investigation, the saga of a grieving family, and a Seattle mayoral campaign all interlock after the body of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen is found in the trunk of a submerged car.
Synopsis and product details to follow
The fifth season of Joss Whedon's hit series started out in excellent form as slayer extraordinaire Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) did battle with the most famous of vampires (that Dracula guy) and then went on to spar with another nemesis, little sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg). Wait--Buffy has a teenage sister? Where has she been the past four years? And why is everyone acting like she's always been around? Turns out that young Dawn is actually "The Key," a form of pure energy that, true to its name, helps open the gates between different dimensions. To protect said key from falling into the wrong hands, a group of monks gave it human form and sent it to the fiercely protective Buffy for safekeeping, creating new memories of Dawn for everyone as if she'd existed... well, always. Why all the super secrecy? There's this very, very, very bad girl named Glory (Clare Kramer) who wants the key very badly, and will do anything to get it. Oh, and by the way, Glory isn't just a run-of-the-mill demon... she's way worse. Some fans will tell you that Buffy "jumped the shark" with the introduction of Dawn, when in actuality this season was the pinnacle of the show's achievement, as there was superb comedy to be had ("Buffy Vs. Dracula," the double-Xander episode "The Replacement," the introduction of the "Buffybot" in "Intervention") as well as some of television's best drama. The Whedon-scripted and -directed "The Body" remains one of Buffy's best episodes, when the young woman who faces down supernatural death on a daily basis finds herself powerless in the wake of her mother's sudden passing. The first third or so of the season was a bit choppy, but once the evil Glory came into her own, Buffy was a television force to be reckoned with. Kramer was the show's best villain (after the evil Angel, natch), and the supporting cast was never better. But as always, it was the superb Gellar who was the powerful centre of the show, sparking opposite lovelorn vampire Spike (James Marsters) and wrestling with moral dilemmas rarely seen on television. With this season, Buffy Summers became, like Tony Soprano, one of television's true greats. --Mark Englehart
The third season of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer was marked by the arrival in Sunnydale of renegade slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), a moody loner who seemed to like her demon-staking calling just a little too much. While Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was always wary of Faith, the two developed a deep friendship and appreciative rapport--that is, until the evil mayor of Sunnydale (Harry Groener) tapped into Faith's dark side and lured her into his plot to take over the world, first as a double agent spying on Buffy, then as out-and-out nemesis. And as the mayor's ascension approached--which happened to fall on Sunnydale High's graduation day--Buffy and Faith's battles got nastier and nastier, as Buffy attempted to wrestle with her dark side (literally and figuratively), save the world and her friends, and keep her lover Angel (David Boreanaz) out of Faith's evil clutches. Chock-full of exceptional episodes, this third season started out with a bang (the superb season opener "Anne," in which a runaway Buffy finally returns to her Slayer calling) and never let up. Among other highlights, the season introduced former vengeance demon and soon-to-be regular Anya (Emma Caulfield), fleshed out Angel's tortured character (and readied him for his own series), and featured a hilarious doppelganger Willow (Alyson Hannigan), a vampire from a parallel universe, who in Willow's own words was "evil and... skanky... and kinda gay!" (Total foreshadowing there, folks.) The season's pièce de résistance, though, was the two-parter "Graduation Day," wherein Faith tries to kill Angel, and the students of Sunnydale High prepare to do battle with a mutated mayor and his army of demons. Aside from the series' exceptional writing and acting, this compelling year of Buffy was anchored by the consistently excellent Gellar, as well as Dushku's complicated Faith, a girl you truly love to hate. By the time you finish these episodes, Faith will have cast a spell on you that you'll find very hard to shake. --Mark Englehart
A specially created box set containing all 7 seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: over 100 hours of vampire ass-kicking action!
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is so many things: an historical epic on a grand scale, an Asian martial-arts flick with both great effects and fantastic fighting (choreographed by The Matrix's guru Yuen Wo Ping), a story of magic, revenge and power played with a posse of star-crossed lovers thrown in for good measure. Set during the Qing dynasty (the late 19th century), the film follows the fortunes of righteous warriors Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien (Asian superstars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, respectively) whose love for one another has lain too long unspoken. When Li Mu Bai's legendary sword Green Destiny is stolen by wilful aristocrat's daughter Jen (exquisite newcomer Zhang Ziyi), who has been trained in the way of the gangster by Li Mu Bai's arch-rival Jade Fox, the warriors must fight to recover the mystical blade. The plot takes us all across China, from dens of iniquity and sumptuous palaces to the stark plains of the Western desert. Characters chase each other up walls and across roof and treetops to breathtaking effect, and Tan Dun's haunting, Oscar-winning East-West inflected score. Directed by Taiwanese-born Ang Lee and co-written by his longtime collaborator American James Schamus, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon joins the ranks of the team's slate of high-quality, genre-spanning literary adaptations. Although it superficially seems like a return to Ang's Asian roots, there's a clear throughline connecting this with their earlier, Western films given the thematic focus on propriety and family honour (Sense and Sensibility), repressed emotions (The Ice Storm) and divided loyalties in a time of war (Ride with the Devil). Nonetheless, a film this good needs no prior acquaintance with the director's oeuvre; it stands on its own. The only people who might be dismissive of it are jaded chop-socky fans who will probably feel bored with all the romance. Everyone else will love it. --Leslie Felperin
Fairy tale endings aren't what they used to be... Tired of the status quo Frida Cinderella's evil stepmother leads a war pitting the bad against the good! Cinderella (aka Ella) starts out as a damsel in distress but when her own fairy tale takes a radical left turn she is forced to form and eventually lead a resistance group without her Prince Charming. Set against a backdrop of fractured fairy tales spinning wildly out of control Ella must choose her own destiny in a world of happy endings gone wrong. The race for control of the kingdom is on and the power mad Frieda fuelled by a total disdain for goodness is set to change the age-old storyline to Happily N'Ever After!
As the remains of a blazing asteroid travels across the universe, six adventures are uncovered which herald danger at every turn. Starring (Scott Adkins, The Bourne Ultimatum, Zero Dark Thirty), Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight), Michelle Lee (Pacific Rim, The Pirates of the Caribbean series) and John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), The Metal Hurlant heroes are back.With a planet devastated by war between human and alien races, an icy hush spreads as ashes settle across the charred landscape. Meanwhile, a loyal warrior seeks an elixir to cure his beloved princess from a terrible disease while, across the galaxy, two brothers battle for control of an almighty kingdom, each drawing upon their powerful and supernatural skills to claim victory.In the follow up to Metal Hurlant Chronicles and based on the popular comic book franchise comes an action-packed, sci-fi adventure exploding with peril, destruction and the bravery of a select few in a vast universe.
Police Assassins combines a mismatched detective buddy movie with Three Stooges-style buffoonery. Making the mixture more unusual still, both detectives are female, Michelle Yeoh (Magnificent Warriors), in only her second film, joining forces with American martial arts legend Cynthia Rothrock (China O'Brien), in her then debut, to track down some missing microfilm. After introducing Yeoh in a direct steal from Dirty Harry the plot stagnates as the microfilm falls into the hands of small-time crooks, Asprin (Hoi Mang), Strepsil (John Sham) and Panadol (action movie producer Hark Tsui). Though their physical comedy is ingeniously choreographed the routine rapidly becomes tiresome, far too little space being given to Yeoh and Rothrock. The latter's 1980s' fashions date the movie and the dubbing is dreadful, though entertainment is to be had from a supporting villain who looks strangely like Groucho Marx on a very bad hair day. For martial arts fans the film nevertheless delivers several excellent fight scenes and an inventive and exciting finale. Collectors should know Police Assassins has also been released as In the Line of Duty 2, Super Cops and Yes, Madam, the last of which is actually the English title on this print. --Gary S Dalkin
They're here they're queer and they make Sex & The City look like a demure tea party. Showtime's quintessentially American Queer As Folk--based on the British miniseries--pours on copious amounts of hot and steamy sex. This slick (and slickly entertaining) series shares the same basic concept as its British counterpart--centering on a group of gay friends living in a primarily industrial city--but after that all bets are off. Whereas the British version focused on the gritty realistic drama of its characters the American QAF is a glossy fun soap opera that occasionally tackles big issues but never lets you forget that life at times can be a party and you shouldn't be one of those poor suckers starving to death. A good part of the show's charm lies in its cast--boy-next-door Michael (Hal Sparks) ruthlessly seductive rake Brian (Gale Harold) out-and-proud Emmett (Peter Paige) wallflower Ted (Scott Lowell) and nubile teen Justin (Randy Harrison)--who grew from standard gay prototypes to intriguing characters by the first season's end. And while some subplots didn't work (such as Emmett's farfetched foray into gay-conversion therapy) others were quietly affecting including Brian's coping with his father's death. Some may object to the show's relentless fixation on sex (and gay men--there are just two lesbian characters) but this is a series that in its own polished way is both engrossingly fun and truly groundbreaking. It's liberating to watch an American TV series in which the straight world is only peripheral. Let's hear it for the boys!
An irresistible melange of showbiz and politics, The Rat Pack is a sprawling HBO TV movie about the late-50s axis between Frank Sinatra's cool-talking cronies and the White House-bound Kennedy clan. Ray Liotta, William L Petersen and Joe Mantegna manage to give real performances as opposed to impersonations as Frankie, JFK and Dean Martin, and there's a stand-out turn from Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis Jr, who fantasises a blazing, gunslinging rendition of "I've Got You Under My Skin" as delivered to the cross-burning Nazi pickets outside his hotel campaigning against his marriage to a white Swedish starlet. Naturally the story goes over a lot of familiar ground (Marilyn Monroe, and so on,) but the Hollywood-Vegas angle, with the obvious criminal tie-ins, lends it a freshness. Angus McFadyen remains typecast as real-life actors, following up his Orson Welles (Cradle Will Rock) and Richard Burton (Liz, the Elizabeth Taylor biopic) by doing a squirming, but funny take on Peter Lawford, caught between the White House and Sinatra's vast, demanding ego. Its general style is somewhere between a Scorsese gangland epic and made-for-TV muckraking biopic and a lot of material from Shawn Levy's fine book Rat Pack Confidential is worked into the weave. On the DVD: The Rat Pack is a no-frills disc presented in a good-looking 16:9 anamorphic transfer, though as it's a TV movie this means trimming the top and the bottom of the image. --Kim Newman
The fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about illusions and the truth that they often reveal; suddenly Buffy has a younger sister, has always had a younger sister. Michelle Trachtenberg as the moody, gawky Dawn achieves the considerable triumph of walking into an established stock company of well-known characters--Xander, Willow, Giles and so on--with the perfect assurance of a long-term member of the cast. Of course, nothing is as it seems; even Glory, the mad brain-sucking beauty in a red dress who is the villain of the year, turns out to be even more than she seems. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy manages to convey heartbreak, self-involvement and real heroism as her relationship with her emotionally dense soldier boyfriend Riley hits the shoals and the blonde vampire Spike starts to show an altogether inappropriate interest. This season is also about the hard truth that there are some enemies it is impossible to fight. Even being around Buffy and Dawn is dangerous for their friends, as Glory and her minions proceed by a process of elimination. The eventual confrontation, when it comes, is genuinely shocking. Meanwhile, the vampire Spike's obsessed desire for Buffy takes them both to some very strange places and Willow and Tara have their love tested in the most gruelling of ways. And in the quietly upsetting episode "The Body", the cast produce their most impressive performances yet as they have to deal with another enemy they cannot fight. --Roz Kaveney
An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend. But he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman's disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist.
The blockbuster global "Mummy" franchise takes a spellbinding turn as the action shifts to Asia for the next chapter in the adventure series, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor".
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