Raid On Entebbe tells the amazing true story of a daring mission by Israeli commandos to free hostages of a terrorist hijacking at Entebbe Airport in Uganda and is presented here in its full length version.In 1976 four militants hijacked an Air France plane, diverting it to Entebbe, their cause was to secure the release of militants in Israel and four other countries. They held the hostages captive for three days before releasing a large number, keeping 100 passengers who were Israelis or Jews on board. What followed has gone down in history as one of the most daring rescue opertaions ever mounted.Directed by Irvin Kershner this Golden Globe winning film grips to the very end. The stand out cast includes Peter Finch as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, alongside Charles Bronson and Martin Balsam.
Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a shrewdly successful businessman who is accustomed to being in control of each facet of his investments and relationships. His well-ordered life undergoes a profound change however when his brother Conrad (Sean Penn) gives him an unexpected birthday gift that soon has devastating consequences. There are no rules in The Game...
Oh, just one more thing, mystery mavens--get ready to be mystified and entertained by the award-winning third season of Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled but unbeatable Lieutenant. Having taken home Emmys for outstanding limited drama and lead actor in its '71-'72 debut season, Columbo was again named best drama for its third season ('73-'74). The reason for the repeat success? The formula remained the same: intelligent, engaging scripts and direction, guest performances by top actors, and, of course, Falk at center stage as Columbo, the most unlikely of supersleuths, but unquestionably one of the sharpest (the role would later earn Falk three more Emmys between 1975 and 1990). The 10 episodes compiled in this two-disc set again feature top talent from film and television: directors include veterans Jeannot Swarc and Boris Sagal, as well as actors Nicholas Colasanto (better known as Coach from Cheers) and Ben Gazzara (Falk's frequent co-star in the films of John Cassavetes), while the season's scripts feature contributions from Stephen J. Cannell, Steven Bochco, and Larry Cohen. And in regard to co-stars, Falk matched wits with the likes of Donald Pleasance, Martin Sheen, Vincent Price, Robert Culp (in one of four turns on the series), Jose Ferrer, Ida Lupino, and in two novel but effective casting choices, Johnny Cash and hard-boiled mystery scribe Mickey Spillane. And there's even a bonus feature in the form of an episode of the spinoff series Mrs. Columbo, starring Kate Mulgrew as the Lieutenant's oft-mentioned better half. In short, it's 11 hours of solid sleuthing for armchair detectives. --Paul Gaita, Amazon.com
""Oh just one more thing..."" Peter Falk returns as Lt. Columbo for the complete second season which includes guest stars Robert Culp Valerie Harper Dean Stockwell Leonard Nimoy Martin Landau and Marc Singer and two episodes written by Stephen Boccho (Murder One). Expect plenty of cigar-chewing slouching and suspects being questioned about their shoes! Episodes comprise: 1. tude in Black 2. The Greenhouse Jungle 3. The Most Crucial Game 4. Dagger of the
There are angels on the streets of Berlin... One of Wim Wenders' biggest commercial successes and arguably his most accessible film to date WINGS OF DESIRE (Der Himmel uber Berlin) centres around two trench-coated angels Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) wandering the streets of post-war pre-unification Berlin. Invisible to humans they listen to the tortured thoughts of the mortals occasionally dispensing heavenly solace to those in need. An encounter with a beaut
On paper, The Royle Family doesn't sound that promising: a working-class family from Manchester sit in their cluttered living room, watch the telly and argue over domestic details (the arrival of a telephone bill, for instance, provides the big dramatic event of the first episode, which aired in September 1998). But from such small everyday incidents, Royle Family creators Caroline Aherne and Dave Best (who play young couple Denise and Dave) have crafted one of the most successful shows on British television: a comedy about the joys and frustrations of family life that's warm, honest and very, very funny--Britain's answer to The Simpsons, whose success the show rivalled when it started broadcasting on BBC2 (the programme jumped channels to BBC1 for its second series).The Royle Family marked an on-screen reunion for Brookside-actors Ricky Tomlinson (who plays bearded, big-hearted, banjo-playing Jim Royle) and Sue Johnston as his wife Barbara, the driving force behind the Royle household. It is smart casting because The Royle Family is as much a soap opera as a situation comedy. Now in its third series, The Royle Family has seen its characters develop like real folk. Denise and Dave got married and now have a little sprog; Barbara starts menopause (how many sitcoms are brave enough to use that for laughs?) and Denise's kid brother Anthony shakes off his surly adolescence when he turned 18 in series two. Unlike Oasis, who provide the shows theme song "Halfway Round the World", this programme just keeps getting better.But no soap--not even Brookside in its dafter moments--has one-liners as brilliantly crafted as The Royle Family. (The scripts from the series are available to buy.) Slouched in his armchair, Jim's dour running commentary on the TV shows that are on at the time are particularly priceless: Changing Rooms, for instance, boils down to "a Cockney knocking nails into plywood... Is this what its come to?" Not quite: because as long as the Royle Family are around, there is something worthwhile to watch. --Edward Lawrenson
It's 1992 and the miners of Grimley Colliery are facing uncertainty. Not only is their pit under threat but the Grimley Colliery Band is on the verge of breaking up - that is until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) arrives. As the only female member of the band she somehow manages to rekindle their enthusiasm for the forthcoming National Championship as well as rekindling a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor).
Will and Jake Grimm are travelling con-artists who find themselves up against a genuine fairy-tale curse.
This strange, 1985 experiment by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) starred the up-and-coming Tom Cruise in a fairy-tale world of dwarfs and unicorns and demons. After the horn of a unicorn is broken, darkness and winter descend upon the world. Cruise's character, helped along by a magic sprite played by David Bennent (The Tin Drum), descends into hell to save paradise. This movie is almost a classic case of art direction gone amok. The somewhat amorphous Cruise doesn't lend much dramatic focus or artistic definition, but the drama between Tim Curry's satanic majesty and Mia Sara's character, who becomes a sort of princess of the netherworld, is pretty captivating. A mixed experience all around that makes one wish it had been more successful. --Tom Keogh
The New York City Ballet Workout routine was developed by Peter Martins and the New York City Ballet along with the New York Sports Club. If you envy the ballet dancer's long, lean body and graceful, elegant movements, then this beautifully produced video is for you. First watch the rippling muscles of four gorgeous ballet dancers (two bare-midriffed women and two bare-chested men) performing the warm-up moves to classical ballet music, while Martins narrates: no ballet technique is taught, so it's look-and-follow if you have no previous ballet training. Then get down on a mat for slow lower-body stretches. A difficult abdominal series is next, followed by "floor barre" exercises to tone the thighs and buttocks while still using the abdominals, then moves to strengthen the back and upper body. Next is a series of standing exercise segments using various ballet movements to strengthen the legs and postural/balance muscles. The workout is divided into 17 short sections, which may give it a disjointed feeling if you're used to more continuity. At the end is a bonus sequence with profiles of the four performers, all dancers with the New York City Ballet. We get to watch them performing, practicing, and eating. One dancer makes the point that ballet is very athletic, but because it's supposed to look ethereal, the hard work stays hidden from the audience. If you love ballet (even just watching it), you'll enjoy this workout. (By the way, Sarah Jessica Parker introduces the video, but does not have any other role in it.) --Joan Price, Amazon.com
Victoria Wood Live at the Albert Hall provides proof, if any were needed, that after two decades at the top of her profession, Wood is one of a small handful of British comedians of either sex capable of filling the country's largest venues. For the consistently high quality of her penetrating observations of the mundane she has no equal. Recorded in 2001, this performance has all the hallmarks of her microscopic examinations of life's perplexing minutiae and trivia. From her recent hysterectomy to Paul Daniels, from the NHS help line to wheelie bin covers, from Americans in Disneyworld to the ageism of catalogue mailing lists, nothing escapes Wood's attention. Not even in-vogue authors: she refuses to read "Captain Corelli's friggin' Mandolin" as it sits reproachfully at her bedside. Wood even provides her own interval act: a devastatingly accurate parody of a vulgar, second-rate cabaret singer shot to stardom on the wings of a cruise ship docu-soap. Jane McDonald's sense of humour will never face a harder test. More poignant are Wood's observations on parenthood and marriage, with all the physical ailments of middle age ("We've only got one fully operating leg between us"). She has since separated from her husband, the magician Geoffrey Durham. Fans will await the impact of that on her stand-up material with some interest. --Piers Ford
""Oh just one more thing..."" Peter Falk dusts down his trenchcoat for another season of Columbo. Again there's a veritable smorgasbord of stars and big-names behind each episode... Featuring all the cigar-chewin' episodes from Columbo Season 4 including the Emmy-award winning episodes By Dawn's Early Light and Playback! Episodes Comprise: 1. An Exercise In Fatality 2. Negative Reaction 3. By Dawn's Early Light 4. Troubled Waters 5. Playback 6. A Deadly State Of Mind
Roman Polanski adapted Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles and came up with this moody, haunting film starring Nastassia Kinski as the farm girl who is misused by the aristocrat for whom she works and who is then caught in a marriage where her initial happiness soon turns to grief. Fans of the novel may feel unpersuaded by Polanski's effort to marry Hardy's Dorset vision with his own fascination with psychosexual impulses toward survival, but the film is an often stunning thing to see, and Kinski's sensitive, intelligent performance lingers in the memory. --Tom Keogh
Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinborne the reluctant heroes from the TV series 'The Beiderbecke Affair' return in this feature length mystery. Trevor is given some jazz tapes from a fellow Bix Beiderbecke fan the barman at the local pub but he receives far more than music compilations. One of the tapes turns out to be a recording of a sinister conversation about dumping nuclear waste in the Yorkshire Dales. When Trevor and Jill go to the pub to confront the barman they discover he has gone missing and a mystery ensues....
A five-year-old boy Lorenzo Odone is diagnosed as having a brain disease known as ALD a condition so rare that no medical body has undertaken to research the ailment and develop a cure. Desperate Lorenzo's parents (Nolte and Sarandon) embark on a desperate search for a cure and must battle the medical establishment when they make astounding progress using humble olive oil...
In the enthralling Blow Out, brilliantly crafted by Brian De Palma (Sisters, Carrie, Scarface), John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction) gives one of his greatest performances, as Jack, a movie sound-effects man who believes he has accidentally recorded a political assassination. He enlists the help of Sally (played by Carrie's Nancy Allen), a possible eyewitness to the crime who may be in danger herself, to uncover the truth. With its jolting stylistic flourishes, intricate plot, profoundly felt characterizations, and gritty evocation of early-1980s Philadelphia, Blow Out is an American paranoia thriller unlike any other, as well as a devilish reflection on the act of moviemaking. Special Features: New, restored digital transfer, supervised by director Brian De Palma, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack New hour-long interview with De Palma, conducted by filmmaker Noah Baumbach New interview with star Nancy Allen Cameraman Garrett Brown on the Steadicam shots featured in the film within the film Select on-set photos from photographer Louis Goldman Original theatrical trailer More! PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragow and Pauline Kael's original New Yorker review
"North Face" tells of an adventure against time and against Mother Nature herself! Based on an incredible true story!
More wit than wisdom? More style than substance? Both these charges have been levelled at The Madness of King George, but neither are entirely fair. It could be that the notional subject matter--the psychological collapse of George III, later attributed to the neurological disease porphyria--implies a profound, analytical approach of the kind associated with Oliver Sachs. However, as the screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based upon his stage play The Madness of George III, what we have here is a typically shrewd, elegant and poignant depiction of how the world seems when viewed by someone who sees things in their own unique way. And as it is by Bennett, who allows himself a brief, bumbling cameo appearance, the dialogue is of course scalpel-sharp throughout and often extremely moving.The historical accuracy is strong on detail, but there's an element of artistic license, such as the depiction of HRH's apparent partial recovery at the close of the film (although the scene itself, in which Hawthorne's befuddled monarch rallies himself to address his subjects, is a joy). In the end, though, we really don't mind.On the DVD: the widescreen DVD extras include the theatrical trailer, a featurette and a lucid commentary by director Nicholas Hytner. --Roger Thomas
The man who made the Twenties roar! The story of the rise and fall of the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone (Ben Gazzara) and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years as well as with his subsequent fall...
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