Jack Arnold's horror classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon spawned not one but two iconic images: the web-footed humanoid gill-man with a hankering for women and the leggy, luscious Julia Adams, the object of his desire, swimming the lagoon in a luminous white bathing suit. Not since King Kong has the "beauty and the beast" theme been portrayed in such sexually charged (though chaste) terms. Arnold turns an effectively B-movie plot--a small expedition up a remote Amazon river captures a prehistoric amphibian man, who escapes to wreak havoc on the team and kidnap his bathing beauty--into a moody, stylish, low-budget feature. The jungle exteriors turn from exotic to treacherous when the creature blocks their passage and strands them in the wilds. Much of the film is shot underwater, where the murky dark is animated by shimmering shards of sunlight, creating images both lovely and alien (the studio-built sets of the creature's underground lair are far less naturalistic, but serve their purpose). As with most of Arnold's '50s genre films, he's saddled with a less than magnetic leading man (in this case the colorless but stalwart Richard Carlson) and a conventional script, but he overcomes such limitations by creating a vivid and sympathetic monster (helped immeasurably by a marvelous suit of scales and fins) and establishing a mood thick with atmosphere. The film was originally shot in 3-D. --Sean Axmaker
Chicken Run: Trouble is brewing down on Mrs Tweedy's poultry farm: the chickens are revolting (yes that old chestnut) and clucky hen Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha) is planning her latest coop um coup. Getting one or two birds out of the farm is no problem whatsoever. Unfortunately Ginger plans to get everyone out at the same time and when one of the would-be escapees happens to be kind-hearted but bird-brained Babs (Jane Horrocks) Ginger is fighting a losing battle. As she contemplates her next escape attempt with Scottish engineering genius Mac (Lynn Ferguson) Ginger sees their salvation in the form of a rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) if the cocksure Rocky can teach all of the hens how to fly then they can all fly out of Tweedy's clutches before she gives them the chop! James And The Giant Peach: This is the story of James Henry Trotter a lonely orphan sent to live with his horribly wicked and greedy Aunts Spiker (Joanna Lumley) and Sponge (Miriam Margoyles). When James meets a strange old man who promises that marvelous things will happen indeed they do. Escaping his aunts by climbing inside a giant peach that mysteriously and suddenly grows on their barren tree he meets some very unusual new friends and as they break free in the peach from Spiker and Sponge they embark on a series of wildly imaginative adventures. Anastasia: The lost Russian Princess Anastasia and her incredible quest to find her true identity. When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia Anastasia the royal family's youngest daughter barely escapes with her life. Years later joined by a band of heroic companions Anastasia must battle the evil Rasputin his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris reclaim her rightful destiny.... and solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century!
Something of a cult item among British war movies (and brilliantly spoofed a few years back by a lager ad), The Dam Busters turns a minor World War II incident into a saga of heroic stiff-upper-lippery in the classic British style. A bombing raid is proposed on a strategically vital Ruhr dam, but its position is inaccessible. Enter eccentric inventor Dr Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave in best daffy professor mode) who comes up with a genius idea--a bomb that will bounce on water like a skimmed pebble. Naturally the top brass pooh-pooh it, but gallant Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd) is persuaded, and between them flyer and boffin forge ahead. The touches of carefully understated emotion now verge on self-parody, but it's hard not to get caught up in the narrative sweep, especially when the bombers take off on their mission and Eric Coates' stirring march hits the soundtrack. The modelwork, state-of-the-art for its early 1950s period, still looks impressive, and the death of Gibson's beloved black Labrador (embarrassingly called Nigger) is a three-hanky moment to rival the shooting of Bambi's mum. --Philip Kemp
With a well-established framework of back-story and an increasing list of adversaries, the third series of Stargate SG-1 was the place where casual viewers began to fall away. Unless you were taking notes it was becoming ever harder to stay on top of the Goa'uld history and their constant scheming. Fortunately by now a solid fanbase had appeared worldwide--with clubs, conventions and Web sites galore--so the ratings didn't slip even while ancient gods kept appearing and reappearing. Daniel Jackson could always be trusted to illuminate any relevant myth or legend (or find them in five minutes on the internet), while Carter's memory download from last year supplied the necessary ties with the rebellious Tok'ra. Away from the story arc the show's all-important stand-alone tales gave some thorny old subjects a new SF spin, including organised religion, the use of children in the passing on of knowledge, and leading an alternative life. O'Neill's sarcastic wit went into overdrive this year and Teal'c could be relied upon for a sneer or fish-out-of-water joke. Further comic relief came from Sam "Flash Gordon" Jones and Dom DeLuise, but perhaps the funniest thing of all was the wig Carter would apparently be wearing in an alternate universe. --Paul Tonks
Will and Jake Grimm are travelling con-artists who find themselves up against a genuine fairy-tale curse.
Best of enemies. Deadliest of friends. They are fast friends and worse foes. One is Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) a law unto himself. The other is the law: Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) who once rode with Billy. Set to a bristling score by Bob Dylan (who also plays Billy's sidekick Alias) and with a `Who's Who' of iconic Western players Sam Peckinpah's saga of one of the West's great legends is now restored to its intended glory. For the first time since it left
One of the finest historical adventure films ever made The War Lord dramatises with uncommon intelligence and integrity the brutality difficulties and injustices of the Middle Ages. Charlton Heston (Ben Hur Touch of Evil The Ten Commandments) stars as Chrysagon an honoured knight who takes over a castle tower in the swampland of Normandy to strengthen his duke's authority. But his struggles to maintain power in the face of Pagan villagers barbarian attackers and his brother's jealous counsel are shaken by his growing weariness with bloodshed in a cruel world. Never before released for home viewing in the UK this collaboration between OSCAR-winning director Franklin J. Schaffner and the legendary Charlton Heston three years before their iconic reunion on Planet of the Apes is a gripping saga of ferocious battles heartfelt emotion and powerful storytelling.
The Cassandra Crossing is an all-star disaster spectacular telling of the terrifying odyssey of 1000 doomed passengers trapped aboard a plague infested train. A terrorist infected with a deadly virus boards the Stockholm to Geneva Express and exposes all aboard to the disease. Colonel MacKenzie (Burt Lancaster) is called into handle the situation and finds Dr. Chamberlain (Richard Harris) who is on board the train. Mackenzie decides to re-route the train to the Cassandra Crossi
Two detectives one from New York the other from Long Island join forces to track down a bizarre serial killer. Convinced of a beautiful suspect's innocence the New York detective starts an affair with her despite hard evidence linking her to the murders.
Big Jake is not one of the Duke's classics, but it's a diverting picture nonetheless. Everyone seems to think that Jacob McCandles is six-feet under ("I thought you was dead" is a running line throughout), so some bad men kidnap his grandson. They want a piece of the family fortune and will kill to get it. Patrick Wayne, the Duke's own son, plays one of Big Jake's kids, and together they start out after the boy's abductors. Richard Boone makes a worthy adversary to Jake's larger-than-life figure, and the final confrontation between the two contains some great gritted-teeth dialogue. Maureen O'Hara is barely in the feature, sharing the same fate as Bobby Vinton as the boy's father, who seems to be onscreen just to get shot. --Keith Simanton
The True Glory is widely regarded as one of the greatest war documentaries ever made. Co-directed by the legendary Carol Reed this feature length film was produced by the Allied military during 1944 and 1945 as a permanent visual record of the campaign in Europe and covers all the major engagements. Compiled from the pick of over six and a half million feet of film it includes some of the most devastating and memorable images of war ever captured on camera - and it won a well
Can a kid from Kansas come to New York to conquer the business world and maneuver his way from the mailroom to the boardroom in a matter of weeks? Michael J. Fox proves it can be done in this very funny lampoon of corporate business life. Fresh out of college he's determined to climb New York's corporate ladder in record time by masquerading as an up-and-coming executive even though he's really the new mail boy. However Fox's plans begin to go awry when the boss's wife falls in love with him and he falls in love with a junior executive who also happens to be the boss's mistress...
Agent 007 (Roger Moore) blasts into orbit in this action-packed adventure that takes him to Venice Rio de Janeiro and outer space. When Bond investigates the hijacking of an American space shuttle he and beautiful CIA agent Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) are soon locked in a life-or-death struggle against Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) a power-mad industrialist whose horrific scheme may destroy all human life on earth!
Set in the expanse of the Sudan desert in the midst of holy war, Khartoum (1966) plays like an attempt to work the Lawrence of Arabia magic on the (mostly) true story of eccentric British general Charles "Chinese" Gordon in 1884 North Africa. The magnificent opening desert battle suggests David Lean's epic sweep, at least until the film settles into a more modest story of political games, military standoffs, and a battle of wits and wiles between two fierce leaders. Charlton Heston plays the Christian soldier as cocky, unconventional maverick, and Laurence Olivier (behind heavy make-up and a thick black beard) is almost as good as his cagey nemesis the Mahdi, the Islamic holy warrior on a mission of annihilation. More talk than spectacle, the film falls short of Lawrence but is nonetheless a compelling story of colonial politics, cynical manoeuvring and the unconventional heroics of another colourful British maverick abroad. --Sean Axmaker
It now seems clear that year five of Stargate will be remembered as the one where something went awry with Daniel Jackson. Lots of behind-the-scenes rumours fuelled the idea of cast tension, but whatever the problem, his sudden departure from the show was obviously via a hastily contrived scenario. In retrospect, there must have been a problem for some while before the weird penultimate episode ("Meridian"). Michael Shanks looks frequently bored in his rare moments of individual screen time as he infiltrates a Goa'uld meeting and even when making friends with a creature everyone else wants dead. In fact, there's only one point when everyone really seems to be having fun, and that's in the spoof 100th episode "Wormhole X-treme!" Most shows go through a run-around, skin-of-their-teeth period awaiting renewal and it certainly seems to have affected storylines this year. For example, a next generation of younger SG teams is introduced. Replacements? The most unfortunate aspect of things however was that not a single episode managed to stand alone on its own merits. Every single story was dependent on a part of the greater interwoven warring species threads. Some of the one-off tales were terrific in and of themselves, but it was as if the writers fell into the trap of having to refer to as much backstory as possible, perhaps to ensure loose ends could be easily wrapped up? Ultimately none of this mattered since the show went on for quite a while. --Paul Tonks
Love is a funny thing. Especially when Harrison Ford Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear form the warmest romantic triangle ever! Directed by Sydney Pollack Sabrina shimmers like a fairy tale come true. Ford plays Linus Larrabee a busy tycoon who has no room for love in his appointment book. But when a romance between his playboy brother (Kinnear) and Sabrina (Ormond) daughter of the family chauffeur threatens one of Linus' business deals the CEO clears his schedule for some ruthl
The curtain is up for this fabulous collectable DVD box set which showcases Andrew Lloyd Webbers most successful Broadway musicals. Includes: Cats Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
That wild and crazy guy Steve Martin makes his acting debut in this wild and crazy comedy hit The Jerk. Steve portrays Navin Johnson adopted son of a poor black sharecropper family whose crazy inventions lead him from rags to riches and right back to rags. Along the way he's smitten with a lady motorcycle racer survives a series of screwball attacks by a deranged killer becomes a millionaire by inventing the ""opti-grab"" handle for eyeglasses - and shows why he's the hottest comic performer in America today.
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