Richard Gere is pretty convincing as a severe manic-depressive whose episodes of euphoria sometimes find him dancing on a two-by-four far above the street or climbing onstage during a symphony performance to "conduct" the orchestra. When the pendulum swings the other way, he is practically catatonic. As a character study, this film by Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) has its truly compelling moments, but Mr. Jones isn't just a character study. Inexplicably, the film ushers in a preposterous romance between this poor fellow and his psychiatrist (Lena Olin). Delroy Lindo has a nice part as a sympathetic construction worker who tries to help Gere's character. --Tom Keogh
When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and story lines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep-down sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford
Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's German-language movie Das Experiment finds a group of 20 volunteers randomly divided into 12 prisoners and eight guards and asked to play out their roles for a fortnight while scientists study their reactions. A conflict arises between undercover reporter Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu), a con with a hidden agenda and the apparently mild-mannered Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi), a guard with a megalomaniac streak. The film begins as a psychological drama as ordinary people settle into the game, with joking displays of resistance by the "prisoners" greeted with increasing brutality from the "guards", but detours into suspense and horror as Fahd, who needs the experiment to get out of hand in order to make his story more saleable, deliberately ratchets up the tension between the factions only to see the situation spiral nightmarishly out of control as various test subjects in both camps edge closer to snapping. With a terrific display of ensemble acting and unforced use of the currently popular claustrophobic semi-documentary look, Hirschbiegel's movie takes its time to get underway, with apparently irrelevant cutaways to Fahd's outside girlfriend (Maren Eggert), but works up to a powerful second half that delivers a sustained symphony of psychological and physical anguish. On the DVD: Das Experiment on disc has an excellent-looking anamorphic widescreen transfer with English subtitles. The only extra feature is the trailer. --Kim Newman
The brittle marriage of Alec and Lee Windom is on the verge of breakdown. With Alec working in a remote Asian village as a doctor and Lee back home in England the strain cannot continue. So Lee decides she will move to be with her estranged husband hoping to re-kindle their affections. However on arrival Lee realises that both their lives are in danger as local plantation workers and the authorities are clashing on an ever increasingly violent scale. The predicament the Windom's find themselves in strengthens their marriage but will they survive the escalating conflict...
The award winning That Peter Kay Thing not only launched the career of one of the UK's most popular comedians but was also the forerunner to the phenomenally successful Phoenix Nights. Six beautifully crafted stories set in and around Bolton with Peter Kay himself playing 15 unique character creations including Mr Softee the ice cream man; Leonard the oldest paper boy in Britain; Marc Park the egocentric pop star; Phoenix Club owner Brian Potter; and Max the haple
You are about to view something very special... For over twenty years Lew Grade's Incorporated Television Company produced many world-famous series for the ITV network. Originally shot on film, these series have rarely been seen at their full technical potential until now! The High Definition transfers contained in this set are taken from the original film elements and herald a new era for these iconic shows. Features: THE PERSUADERS! RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED) DEPARTMENT S THE CHAMPIONS STRANGE REPORT THE SAINT DANGER MAN THE PRISONER GIDEON'S WAY MAN IN A SUITCASE THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD SHIRLEY'S WORLD THE INVISIBLE MAN THE BARON RETURN OF THE SAINT THE ZOO GANG
The first ever feature length Minder escapade. Terry and Arthur race through Europe on the Orient Express and become involved in a tale of gangland revenge murder and mayhem. Terry has been given tickets for the Orient Express by a mysterious young woman but Arthur needs Terry for protection and Terry need Arthur like a hole in the head. By devious means Arthur boards the train only to find Chisholm is aboard working with Interpol...
Celebrated filmmaker Antony Balch directs one of the most idiosyncratic and unforgettable British movies of all time - the film the censor tried to stop! From beyond the grave a 1 000-year-old mummy (voiced by Valentine Dyall) narrates a series of kinky stories to illustrate the age-old battle of the sexes. From cosmic thrills supernatural kinks and swinging permissiveness this is boy versus girl in a hip psychedelic mix of vintage glamour and grotesque horror. Now fully restored from the original negatives Secrets of Sex features a cast of gorgeous young models including Sue Bond (The Benny Hill Show) Cathy Howard (School for Sex) and Nicola Austine (Come Play with Me) and is presented here completely uncut for the very first time in the UK.
"Everything is numbers," states Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) in the pilot of Numb3rs, a satisfying (and educational!) crime drama. Executive-produced by brothers/film directors Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and Tony Scott (Top Gun), it's like CSI with algorithms and probabilities instead of blood spatter and DNA swabs, which separates it from the slew of gruesome forensics-centered cop shows currently on the air. In this case, it's a brains-vs.-brawn matchup: a brilliant math professor (Krumholtz) consulting on crimes for an FBI agent (Rob Morrow) who happens to be his older brother. While Don, Morrow's character, busts the baddies with his team of agents, Charlie's scribbling formulas on chalkboards and statistically deducting a rapist's next target by comparing his pattern to a sprinkler system. (Yes, it sounds geekier than it is). As the show progresses, Charlie--not yet desensitised to people's fates relying on his findings--takes it harder and harder when his hypotheses don't always result in justice. It sounds very cerebral, but the cops and robbers concept plus brother-to-brother dynamics make it all go down easy. There's an unpretentious way the premise is executed, which ends up making math--get this--fun. --Ellen A. Kim
A 12 year old girl walks chest deep into the freezing waters of a South Island lake in New Zealand. She is five months pregnant and won't say who the father is. Then she disappears. Robin Griffin is a gutsy but inexperienced detective called in to investigate. But as Robin becomes more and more obsessed with the search for Tui she slowly begins to realise that finding Tui is tantamount to finding herself - a self she has kept well hidden. Available in beautiful high definition and set against one of the most amazing and untouched landscapes left on the planet Top of the Lake is a powerful and haunting story about our search for happiness where the dream of paradise attracts it dark twin the fall.
Two of the most iconic science fiction epics from Paramount Pictures come together in one out-of-this-world double feature from producer George Pal. Making its 4K UHD debut, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is an Oscar®-winning* adaptation of the chilling H.G. Wells novel. Then, get ready for impending disaster when a runaway star signals the destruction of Earth in WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, included on Blu-ray⢠remastered from the original film elements. Both are essential Technicolor masterpieces from the Golden Age of Hollywood, delivering eye-popping visual effects. This collector's edition includes The War of the Worlds (1953) 4K UHD, When Worlds Collide Blu-ray, 8 photo cards, 5 art cards and 2 magnets. Product Features Commentary by Actors Ann Robinson and Gene Barry Commentary by Film Director Joe Dante, Film Historian Bob Burns, and Bill Warren, author of Keep Watching The Skies ! The Sky Is Falling: Making The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction The Mercury Theatre On The Air presents The War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast Original Theatrical Trailer
Oscar-nominated Carroll Baker gives a memorable performance as a manipulative vamp in this erotically-charged, X-rated thriller written by Bryan Forbes and Brian Clemens and stylishly directed by Seth Holt. Co-starring Ian Bannen, Denholm Elliott and German character actor Peter van Eyck, Station Six Sahara is presented here as a brand-new High Definition transfer from original film element in its original theatrical aspect ratio. Five dysfunctional individuals man an isolated oil pipeline station in the Sahara, their mutual contempt only overshadowed by their desire for female company. Without warning, a car drives out of the desert night and crashes in front of the station - the driver is badly injured but the passenger, a gorgeous blonde, stirs up the tension amongst the men to unbearable levels.
Set in Europe during WWII a group of American soldiers are in the process of being shipped off to military prison for a variety of infractions ranging from desertion to murder. While they're being transported a German artillery attack hits the convoy killing the MPs and enabling four of the prisoners to escape. The group decides their best bet is to head to neutral Switzerland where they can avoid the fighting and prison. As they make their way to what they think will be freedom they end up volunteering for a commando mission to steal a V2 warhead for the French Underground.
In Malham Bridge former socialite and feisty pensioner Isobel Hewitt is accused of assault by fellow fly fisher Margaret Seagrove. When Barnaby and Troy investigate the allegations they discover that all is not well on the Midsomer riverbanks. The investigation takes a more serious turn when two bodies are discovered in the river. Are they the victims of an uncalculated attack by poachers or was there a more sinister motive?
Young advertising executive Jim Ferguson suddenly finds himself tossed back and forward in time between present-day New York and the battlefields of World War I. In London he learns that he is the time twin of flying ace Captain James Bigglesworth - `Biggles' to his friends. Unpredictably flung back and forward between eras he comes to the aid of Biggles and his friends as they try to combat a deadly new German sonic weapon...
It's name is Quetzalcoatl... just call it Q that's all you'll have time to say before it tears you apart! It's just another monstrous day in New York City where window washers have their heads bitten off topless sunbathers are plucked from rooftops bloody body parts rain down onto the streets and small-time crook Jimmy Quinn (Moriarty) discovers an enormous nest in the spire of the Chrysler building. Meanwhile an NYPD detective (Carradine) investigates a series of ritual
The dark and complex tale of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen is brought to life in this stunning and magical mix of music and song animation and 'live' drama. The tale of how innocence and love in the shape of the heroine Gerda can overcome the evil power of their nemesis The Snow Queen takes us on a journey through the Enchanted Flower Garden on a flight through the Northern Lights and into the palace of the Snow Queen herself - a figure po
The complete first series of ITV's comedy drama comes to DVD for the first time. The Braithwaites are a dysfunctional family who live in Leeds and comprise mother Alison (Redman) father David (Davison) and their three daughters Virginia Sarah and Charlottle. The story begins with Charlotte giving her mother a Euro Lottery ticket for her birthday and subsequently scooping a 38 million jackpot. However Alison decides to keep the win a secret from her family and sets up a charity - t
Filmed in 1968 and set in British India in 1895, Carry On Up the Khyber is one of the team's most memorable efforts. Sid James plays Sid James as ever, though nominally his role is that of Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond, the unflappable British Governor who must deal with the snakelike, scheming Khasi of Khalabar, played by Kenneth Williams. A crisis occurs when the mystique of the "devils in skirts" of the 3rd Foot and Mouth regiment is exploded when one of their numbers, the sensitive-to-draughts Charles Hawtrey, is discovered by the natives to be wearing underpants. Revolt is in the offing, with Bernard Bresslaw once again playing a seething native warrior. Roy Castle neatly plays the sort of role normally assigned to Jim Dale, as the ineffectual young officer, Peter Butterworth is a splendid compromised evangelist, while Terry Scott puts his comedic all into the role of the gruff Sergeant. Most enduring, however, is the final dinner party sequence in which the British contingent, with the Burpas at the gates of the compound, plaster falling all about them, demonstrates typical insouciance in the face of imminent peril. The "I'm Backing Britain" Union Jack hoist at the end, however, over-excitedly reveals the streak of reactionary patriotism that lurked beneath the bumbling double entendres of most Carry On films. On the DVD: Sadly, no extra features except scene selection. The picture is 4:3 full screen. --David Stubbs
A celebration of Britain's most famous and enduring television programme Coronation Street features 80 landmark episodes 8 from each year of the decade from the 1970s in a 10-disc box set. With 8 outstanding episodes from each year this box set represents the very best of 'Coronation Street' in the decade that established it as a staple part of British TV culture. With many episodes unseen since their original broadcast the release is an opportunity to revisit old friends and
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