Fine casting, genuinely special effects and a keen combination of whimsy and danger make this Peter Pan the one to beat among all previous adaptations of JM Barrie's classic children's fantasy. The technical advances of CGI make the magic of Barrie's tale come alive and the spectacular effects combined with luminous live action create an action-packed Neverland that's both believable and breathtakingly artificial, like a Maxfield Parrish landscape springing vividly to life before your eyes. More importantly, however, is the fact that director PJ Hogan (whose films include Muriel's Wedding and My Best Friend's Wedding) has taken care to develop a substantial, pre-adolescent affection between the boyish sprite Peter (Jeremy Sumpter) and resourceful London girl Wendy, played by Rachel Hurd-Wood in a marvellous screen debut. This emotional bond--and the mixed blessing of Peter's eternal childhood--is what gives Hogan's Peter Pan it's rich emotional subtext, added to an already bountiful adventure that's equal parts delightful and menacing, especially when the villainous pirate Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs, doubling as Wendy's father) threatens to spoil the fun. With a mischievously dazzling Tinker Bell (played by Swimming Pool's Ludivine Sagnier) and no expense spared on its lavish Australian production, this Peter Pan gets it entirely right by presenting childhood as fun and frightening, in all its wondrous joys and sorrows. --Jeff Shannon
M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense sets itself up as a thriller, poised on the brink of delivering monstrous scares, but gradually evolves into more of a psychological drama with supernatural undertones. Many critics faulted the film for being mawkish and New Agey, but no matter how you slice it, this is one mightily effective piece of filmmaking. The bare bones of the story are basic enough, but the moody atmosphere created by Shyamalan and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto made this one of the creepiest pictures of 1999, one that forsakes excessive gore for a sinisterly simple feeling of chilly otherworldliness. Bruce Willis is in his strong, silent type mode here, and gives the film wholly over to Haley Joel Osment, whose crumpled face and big eyes convey a child too wise for his years; his scenes with his mother (Toni Collette) are small, heartbreaking marvels. And even if you figure out the film's surprise ending, it packs an amazing emotional wallop when it comes; it will have you racing to watch the movie again with a new perspective. You may be able to shake off the sentimentality of The Sixth Sense, but its craftsmanship and atmosphere will stay with you for days. --Mark Englehart
From the director of "This Year's Love", a romantic comedy about single Londoners looking for love, against a backdrop of Salsa.
Hollywood superstar Bruce Willis (Armageddon, Unbreakable) brings a powerful presence to an edge-of-your-seat supernatural thriller that critics have called one of the best films in recent times. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Willis) is a distinguished child psychologist haunted by the painful memory of a disturbed young patient he was unable to help. So when he meets Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment - Artificial Intelligence)... a frightened, confused eight-year-old with a similar condition... Dr. Crowe se...
An aging movie star (Daniel Craig) returns to his English seaside hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend where he unearths many troubling memories.
Filmmaker David Ayer (End Of Watch) directs SABOTAGE, an action thriller that follows one of the best assault teams on the planet, an elite special operations team of ten DEA agents.
When Geraldine Bretherick and her 5-year-old daughter Lucy are found dead in the bathroom of their luxury home, the case divides new DS Charlie Zailer and her DCSimon Waterhouse. Is it a murder-suicide or something even more sinister, and how watertight is the alibi of the apparently distraught husband Mark? Meanwhile, when Sally Thorne, a young working mother with a husband and twosmall children hears of the deaths, she is deeply shocked. Months before she’d met a man called Mark Bretherick at a hotel and they had a brief but passionate affair.Now, against the advice of her best friend, Esther, Sally feels the need to getin touch with Mark again to offer her sympathy. Based on the bestselling novel Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah, this psychological thriller explores the darker side of motherhood, identity and love.
"Rushmore" tells the story of Max Fischer, a 10th grader at Rushmore Academy and an overachiever. When his plans to be the perfect student go awry, he plots his revenge.
Based on Jane Austen's actual letters and diaries this drama unravels the secrets of this elusive woman. Jane is nearing her forties and has never married. To her niece Fanny Knight - a young pretty girl desperate to fall in love - Jane is a favourite aunt who offers the wisdom and knowledge that will help her in her own search for a happy marriage. But surely the woman so capable of writing love on the page must have experienced love herself? Jane surrenders little to her niece but secrets there are and Jane is forced to examine afresh the reasons why she has remained single.
Falling from the Oscar-winning glory of Dances with Wolves to the opposite end of the critical and box-office scale, Kevin Costner must have been deeply humbled when this three-hour postapocalyptic tale--his sophomore effort as a director--was greeted with a critical thrashing and tepid audience response. One of the most conspicuous flops of its decade, the 1997 release must have seemed like a sure thing on paper: a kind of futurist Western starring Costner as a charismatic drifter-turned-hero who leads the resistance against a military tyrant (Will Patton) by reviving the long-dormant postal system to reunite isolated communities in their fight for freedom. The movie bombed, but, like many audacious failures, it's got qualities that make it at least partially endearing, and its earnestness (although bordering on corny) keeps it from being entirely silly. Faint praise, perhaps, but Costner's ode to patriotism is occasionally stirring and visually impressive. --Jeff Shannon
With Tim Roth as Oliver Cromwell and Dougray Scott as Sir Thomas Fairfax, the film explores how the love and loyalty between two of the most fasicnating figures of the English Civil War turned to betrayal and political intrigue.
Tessa is seventeen and passionate about life. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, she determines to use every moment, compiling a catalogue of what a normal teenager would experience, including losing her virginity and taking drugs. With the help of her friend Zoey, she sets the list in motion. While her family deals with fear and grief, each in their own way, Tessa explores a whole new world. Falling in love with Adam, her new neighbour, wasn't on the list, but it proves to be the most exhilarating experience of them all.
"Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll" is the 2009 film of the Ian Dury story starring Andy Serkis in the role of the punk legend.
Filmmaker David Ayer (End Of Watch) directs SABOTAGE, an action thriller that follows one of the best assault teams on the planet, an elite special operations team of ten DEA agents.
This version of Jason and the Argonauts is not a remake of the classic 1963 Ray Harryhausen feature, but a new re-telling of the Greek legend. It takes just as many liberties with the saga, but--with a running time twice as long as the original--it packs in much more of the story, building to an exciting finale filled with betrayal, retribution and copious sword-play. Made by mini-series specialists Hallmark, who also produced a lavish version of Homer's The Odyssey (1997), only the rapid fades where the commercial breaks would be really give away the fact that this is a TV feature. The multinational cast is variable, and while Jason London is unhappily wooden in the title role, such stars as Denis Hopper and Frank Langella are good value, American accents aside. Coming straight from the big screen sword and sandal epic, Gladiator, Derek Jacobi adds sheer class, while Jolene Blalock makes a breathtaking debut as Medea. The visual atmosphere is strong; the superb cinematography varying between lush beauty and the stark, sun-bleached look of Pitch Black. Production values are excellent, with several increasingly powerful and spectacular action set-pieces incorporating outstanding (for TV) CGI effects, the whole being immeasurably lifted by British composer Simon Boswell's splendid musical score.--Gary S. Dalkin
Academy Award nominee Bill Murray stars as Franklin D. Roosevelt in this delightful look at one of the most pivotal meetings in history. As Great Britain faces an imminent war with Germany, the US President and his wife invite King George VI (Samuel West - Mr Selfridge) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman - The Iron Lady, Tyrannosaur) for a weekend at their home in upstate New York. But during the first-ever visit of a reigning British monarch to America, international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of Roosevelt's domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal trip an unforgettable one. As British and American traditions clash with hilarious consequences, they somehow begin to develop a close bond and strengthen the ties between England and America forever. Hyde Park on Hudson is a charming and fresh look at true events and the mysteries of love and friendship, from the acclaimed director of Notting Hill. Special Features: Deleted Scenes A Look Inside Hyde Park on Hudson First Days (Audio Piece with Static Onscreen Image) Commentary with Director Roger Mitchell and Producer Kevin Loader
In 1883 the volcanic island of Krakatoa situated in the Sundra strait in Indonesia erupted killing 36 000 people and unleashing a series of terrifying tsunamis. According to records it generated the loudest sound ever historically reported - the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia (1900 miles). This spectacular docu-drama starring Olivia Williams uses eye witness accounts to tell the true story of one of the most destructive natural disasters in history
Based on the critically acclaimed, award-winning novel by György Dragomán, The White King, set in a fictitious dictatorship, can be described as 1984 meets Empire of the Sun with its startling and all- too-timely exploration of what the world would, and could, look like. Djata is a 12-year-old boy coming to grips with his father's imprisonment by the totalitarian state he calls home. Preyed upon by the secret police and venal dignitaries, Djata and his mother are forced to navigate a world of propaganda, abuse and vicious gangs, making them risk everything to reunite their family. The White King stars Jonathan Pryce (Game of Thrones), Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song), Greta Scacchi (War & Peace), Ãlafur Darri Ãlafsson (The BFG), Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter) and, in an vocal cameo, Olivia Williams (Maps to the Stars).
Sometimes the best way to find yourself... is to lose yourself in someone else's life Tara Road tells the story of two women one Irish and one American - who swap houses one summer and change the course of their lives forever. An accidental phone call brings these two otherwise unrelated women together and in their mutual need for space and time alone they agree to a two-month house exchange. In swapping homes both women slowly find healing and strength through new surroundings and the kindness of others and gradually learn to accept the reality of their changed lives.
Sweet-natured Justin (FREDDIE HIGHMORE) dreams of becoming a Knight just like his legendary Grandfather, Sir Roland. However Knights have been banished from the Kingdom by The Queen (OLIVIA WILLIAMS) and replaced by Lawyers and their strict rules.
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy