Jan Vokes, a cleaner and bartender, recruits her reluctant husband Brian and local accountant Howard Davies to help her bring together a syndicate of villagers to breed a foal - which they raise on an allotment and name Dream Alliance. On the racetrack, he proves himself to be more than a match for the multi-million-pound race horses he comes up against - a true working-class champion, taking on the establishment at their own game. But much more than this, Dream begins to alter the lives of everyone in the syndicate, not least Jan's. He is everything to her: friend, confidant and an escape from a life of always putting other people's needs first. Dream Horse is a classic story of triumph against adversity, and a tale of how a woman strives to make her dream a reality in a place where hope is thin on the ground.
The second sequel to the mould-making action film Die Hard brings Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) to New York City to face a better villain than in Die Hard 2. Played by Jeremy Irons, he's the brother of the Germanic terrorist-thief Alan Rickman played in the original film. But this bad guy has his sights set higher: on the Federal Reserve's cache of gold. As a distraction, he sets McClane running fool's errands all over New York--and eventually, McClane attracts an unintentional partner, a Harlem dry cleaner (Samuel L Jackson) with a chip on his shoulder. Some great action sequences, though they can't obscure the rather large plot holes in the film's final 45 minutes. --Marshall Fine
Antonio Banderas returns as the masked hero in this sequel to the 1998 adventure.
Soccer hooliganism explodes into the world of white-collar crime head on as two recently reunited footie friends find themselves way out of their league in this hard-hitting compelling British crime-thriller...based on a true story.
Antonio Banderas returns as the masked hero in this sequel to the 1998 adventure.
Bully, based on a true story, sees Larry Clark return to the violent and disturbing underworld previously documented in his controversial and provocative 1995 debut KIDS.
This time New York cop John McClane (Willis) is the personal target of the mysterious Simon (Jeremy Irons) a terrorist determined to blow up the entire city if he doesn't get what he wants. Accompanied by an unwilling civilian partner (Samuel L. Jackson) McClane careens wildly from one end of New York City to the other as he struggles to keep up with Simon's deadly game. It's a battle of wits between a psychopathic genius and a heroic cop who once again finds himself having a real
True virtue triumphs over superficiality in this distinguished BBC production of Jane Austen's celebrated novel Mansfield Park. Set in 18th century England Jane Austen's tale of virtue and vice tells of young impoverished Fanny Price who arrives at the elegant country estate of her uncle Sir Thomas Bertam. Snubbed by everyone except her cousin Edmund Fanny begins her long struggle for acceptance by her shallow relatives who believe wealth automatically means quality. When
The Mask Of Zorro (1998): With the slash of a steel blade and the mark of a 'Z' he defends the weak and exploits and avenges the wrongs committed against them... It has been twenty years since Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) successfully fought Spanish oppression in Alta California as the legendary romantic hero Zorro. He transforms troubled bandit Alejandro (Antonio Banderas) into his successor in order to stop the tyrannical Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) who
For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science-fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on a first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds--an astounding amount--and ran for two seasons from 1975 to 77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances are: the moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from its orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors, having been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticised the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway", which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propel it out of orbit and sent it flying through space without regard for any physical laws. In "Earthbound", aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.comOn this DVD: Presented in production order (not the sequence they were transmitted in), this first volume from Space: 1999's first year nonetheless begins with the all-important "Breakaway". Commander Koenig arrives at Moonbase Alpha as planet Meta is passing Earth. He's there to investigate why people are dying of what seems to be radiation poisoning and ensure the Meta Probe is launched in time. Everything is tied into what's wrong with their nuclear waste disposal. Then on September 13, 1999, the unthinkable happens, and the Moon with its 311 inhabitants is catapulted out of Earth's orbit. Some time later they pass planet Terra Nova which seems too good to be true. When Dr Russell's supposed dead husband (Richard Johnson) re-appears from the long-lost Astro 7 mission, it becomes a "Matter of Life and Death" in determining whether to settle on a Paradise populated by parrots! Another passing stellar body accidentally drags them towards a "Black Sun" in the next episode. Given three days to live, there's a graceful acceptance of fate by the team that is paid off by what seems to be some sort of guiding hand watching over them all. Finally an orange eye appears and emits a "Ring Around the Moon", a mysterious enveloping beam that exerts mind-control over various crew members. After a warning from the mythic planet Triton, Dr Russell is taken as their "conduit" (much like Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Three publicity stills, 15 production drawings and eight character biographies may seem a little stingy as extra features. The neat CGI-animated menus make up for that a little though: an Eagle has never looked so agile. --Paul Tonks
Keith 'Cheggers' Chegwin is a household name and has been at the top of his game for nearly 40 years. He's an all round entertainer and has lived with us via our TV screens on Swap Shop as kids through to GMTV as parents. He is undoubtedly a national treasure, and for nearly four decades has been much loved by viewers young and old. But now it's time to Kill Keith.
Mike Jacobs (Nevern) is back and living the good life in Spain with a new identity under the witness protection scheme. However, when old enemies discover his whereabouts and kidnap his girlfriend, Mike has just four days to pay off the gangsters.
His reputation precedes him but commander Fess Parker is in no position to be choosy when he learns that his tired platoon will not be shipping home as rumored but tossed into a ragged new offensive...
Most critics couldn't get behind Bill Murray's modern retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, finding it too unfocused at times and not nearly wicked enough. Still, if you are a Murray fan, you have to enjoy his deliciously nasty portrayal of the world's meanest TV executive, who has his cathartic moment one cold Christmas night in New York City. The various ghosts lead him on a ghost-town tour of Manhattan, with stops at holidays past, present and future and a Kumbaya moment when Al Green and Annie Lennox sing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". The effects are otherworldly, but one wishes the writing were as sharp as Murray's edgy portrayal. --Marshall Fine
Die Hard New York cop John McClane facing Christmas alone flies to Los Angeles to see his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and their kids in an attempt to patch things up. He arrives at his wife's high tech office building in the middle of their Christmas party just as it is gatecrashed by the ruthless master criminal Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and a dozen fellow activists intent on relieving the Nakatomi Corporation of six hundred million dollars in negotiable bonds...
Since a tragic accident left him hideously scarred seven years ago Justin MacLeod has hidden away in his cliffside retreat. Meanwhile the locals have delighted in painting him as a perverted madman with an horrific past. Twelve-year-old Chuck Norstadt is also an outsider. Alienated from his family he awaits the day he can go to a boarding school far from home - but he has to pass his entrance exam first. Then by accident Chuck meets Justin Macleod. Justin turns out to be the fr
Double bill of British crime dramas. The Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan (2012)Mike Jacobs (Nick Nevern) a football casual who is no stranger to finding himself on the wrong side of the law. However the violence and intimidation he indulges in at football matches are one thing the credit card fraud schemes proposed by his friend Eddie Hill (Simon Phillips) are something else and Mike is soon in over his head. The Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan 2: England Away (2013)Mike is living in Spain safeguarded by the Witness Protection Programme after testifying against several of his former associates. Mike's fatal weakness is his passion for the England football team and his problems begin when he is spotted attending a game. Soon his life is turned upside down as those he betrayed seek revenge through the kidnapping of his friend Katie.
Nadia is the mail-order bride of sweet but dull bank clerk John, and although she's as beautiful as he hoped she's hardly the ideal non-smoking, English speaking wife he hoped for...
Featured episodes include: Breakaway A Matter Of Life & Death Black Sun Ring Around The Moon Earthbound Another Time Another Place Missing Link Guardian of Piri Force Of Life Alpha Child The Last Sunset Voyager's Return
Many fans don't rate the second series of Space: 1999 as highly as the first. Responding to audience feedback, as well as the separation of producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the programme makers drafted in new producer Fred Freiberger, the man responsible for the third and weakest season of the original Star Trek. Under his guidance the storylines drifted away from the hard sci-fi of the first season in favour of more action and a faster pace. The theme music, sets and costumes all changed, as did some key personnel. Out went professorial (and very dull) Barry Morse, in came dashing Tony Anholt as security officer Tony Verdeschi, while the glamour quotient was upped considerably by Catherine Schell as the shape-shifting Maya (a much-needed change, since the frosty Barbara Bain had reduced the show's sex appeal to nil in Series 1). Series 2 also introduced lots and lots more aliens kitted out in badly fitting costumes and dodgy glam-rock era makeup. Responding to yet more feedback from American TV executives the protagonists now had to encounter more highly unconvincing monsters than even Dr Who ever dared imagine: "The Beta Cloud", for example, is a classic rampaging-bloke-in-a-suit scenario. That said, this second season has more emphasis on characters other than the headline stars, as various stranded Alphans are allowed to come to the fore instead of just blankly following Commander Koenig's orders. It's all good fun in a silly, nostalgic sort of way, and fans of the more vintage Season 1 will find it hard to resist this second season as well.On the DVD: There aren't many extras here, although sundry interviews with principal cast and crew are scattered across the six discs in this complete box set. There's also a commentary on some episodes with special effects man Brian Johnson, a couple of deleted scenes, production stills and some text features. Each disc has a small booklet that gives some useful background information on the episodes. The remastered 4:3 ratio picture and mono sound are fine. --Mark Walker
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