Halfway through A New Nightmare Heather Langenkamp goes to visit Wes Craven to discuss resurrecting the Freddy Krueger series for one last film. Craven's script focuses on a malevolent demon that has escaped from the stories in which he was trapped because they have lost their power to scare. Sound familiar? This script-within-a-film refers, of course, to the real-life fate of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, and is an idea typical of this intelligent movie which successfully blurs the line between this horror film and its real-life production context. Langenkamp plays herself, in virtually her own life: a D-list actress unable to match the success she found in the original Nightmare on Elm Street films. She, like the rest of the cast and crew of the original films (also played by themselves--most notably Craven and Robert Englund, camping himself up as an adored celebrity and part-time "artist"), is haunted by dreams of the Freddy Krueger character. Craven's script reveals that if Freddy is not trapped within a story more powerful than the Elm Street sequels--i.e. this film--he will become real.New Nightmare is an interesting precursor to the Scream series, and it attempts to capitalise on its self-reflexivity in a similar way. The idea is that, having openly revealed that the rest of the Elm Street series were "only films", New Nightmare can then set about scaring your pants off. The biggest hindrance, however, is the Freddy character himself. Despite the fact that we are told that this is the "real" Freddy, rather than the cinematic incarnation we've seen many times before it is still difficult to shake off a persistent sensation of déja-vu. Freddy just isn't scary any more: his face looks a lot less gnarled than it used to be and even the once-terrifying claw seems to have lost its edge. Similarly, having hammered home the fact that this movie is real, those elements of the film which require a little more imagination--such as Freddy's body-stretching, the surreal scare sequences and the Gothic-fantasy finale--appear absurd. Thus, if certainly not as good as the original, New Nightmare is at least an intelligent, fresh and occasionally scary film: which makes it head and shoulders above most of its genre and certainly better than most of this series. --Paul Philpott
Danger and wonder at the Earth's core! The accent is on fun and fantasy in this film version of Jules Verne's classic thriller stars James Mason Pat Boone and Arlene Dahl. With spectacular visuals as a backdrop the story centres on an expedition led by Professor Lindenbrook (Mason) down into the Earth's dark core. Members of the group include the professor's star student Alec (Boone) and the widow (Dahl) of a colleague. Along the way lurk dangers such as kidnapping death sabotag
It's all in the name of science. Weird Science. The Frankenstein legend takes an uproarious twist in this outrageous special effects - laden comedy from the writer/director of Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club. Critically acclaimed filmmaker John Hughes is at it again giving nerdy computer whiz Ilan Mitchell - Smith and best friend Anthony Michael Hall power to create the ""perfect woman"" (the tantalizing Kelly Le Brock). Like a computer gene
Media madness reigns supreme in screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky's scathing satire about the uses and abuses of network television. But while Chayefsky's and director Sidney Lumet's take on television may seem quaint in the age of "reality TV" and Jerry Springer's talk-show fisticuffs, Network is every bit as potent now as it was when the film was released in 1976. And because Chayefsky was one of the greatest of all dramatists, his Oscar-winning script about the ratings frenzy at the cost of cultural integrity is a showcase for powerhouse acting by Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight (who each won Oscars), and Oscar nominee William Holden in one of his finest roles. Finch plays a veteran network anchorman who's been fired because of low ratings. His character's response is to announce he'll kill himself on live television two weeks hence. What follows, along with skyrocketing ratings, is the anchorman's descent into insanity, during which he fervently rages against the medium that made him a celebrity. Dunaway plays the frigid, ratings-obsessed producer who pursues success with cold-blooded zeal; Holden is the married executive who tries to thaw her out during his own seething midlife crisis. Through it all, Chayefsky (via Finch) urges the viewer to repeat the now-famous mantra "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" to reclaim our humanity from the medium that threatens to steal it away. --Jeff Shannon
Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey at every turn will test his mettle. With his back against the wall Stark is left to survive by his own devices relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: Does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? Starring Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow Don Cheadle Guy Pearce Rebecca Hall Stephanie Szostak James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Shane Black.
The original 1962 version of Cape Fear is directed by J Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) in a deliberately Hitchcockian manner, and stars Robert Mitchum as a creepy ex-con angry at the attorney (Gregory Peck) whom he believes is responsible for his incarceration. After Mitchum makes clear his plans to harm Peck's family, a fascinating game of crisscrossing ethics and morality takes place. Superior to Martin Scorsese's punishing 1991 remake, which seems trapped in its explicitness, Thompson's film accomplishes a lot with a more economical and telling use of violence. The result is a rich character study that explores the nature of guilt. Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake dabbles a bit in some fascinating psychological crosscurrents between its characters, but it finally trades in all that rich material for extensive and gratuitous violence. Robert De Niro plays a serial rapist released from prison after 14 years. Angry because his appalled attorney (Nick Nolte) made it easy for him to be convicted, this monster is out to hurt Nolte's character through his wife (Jessica Lange) and daughter (Juliette Lewis). The themes of interlocking guilt and anger between these people suggests a smart film in the making. But the final act, set on a boat with De Niro's vengeful pervert attacking Nolte and the two women, takes a more unfortunate direction. The stars of the original film, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, each make a cameo appearance. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
The evil organization SPECTRE has hatched a plan to steal a decoder that will access Russian state secrets and irrevocably unbalance the world order. It is up to James Bond to seize the device first but he must confront enemies that include Red Grant and the ruthless Rosa Klebb a former KGB agent with poison-tipped shoes. Even as Bond romances a stunning Soviet defector he realizes he is being lured into a deadly trap and he will need all of his courage abilities and cutting-edge technology to triumph over the forces that seek to destroy him.
Six timeless episodes starring Mark McManus James MacPherson Blythe Duff and John Michie. Taggart is one of the best remembered detective series in television history thanks to a superb mix of brilliant writing direction and performances from its entire cast. Each episode took months to research and write: this was not formula television. Over the years the storylines became more sophisticated to involve a whole range of influences from the IRA to the Gulf War Roman burial sites to ex-hitmen. Now 30 years after it first appeared on our screens the popularity of Taggart shows no signs of diminishing and it has rightly achieved classic status in British television history. This unforgettable collection includes six vintage episodes that span the generations starring James MacPherson John Michie Blythe Duff and two classic episodes starring Mark McManus the actor who remains synonymous with his career-defining role as DCI Jim Taggart. Packed with intriguing plot lines plenty of twists and turns as well as the obligatory mysterious murder each programme keeps you guessing right to the end. So sit back and enjoy over 10 hours of Taggart at its very best. They just don't make them like this anymore. Episodes Comprise: The Hit Man Secrets A Few Bad Men Long Time Dead Do or Die Running Out of Time
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne charm in Leo McCarey's Oscarwinning screwball comedy In this Oscar®winning farce, Cary Grant (in the role that first defined the Cary Grant persona) and Irene Dunne (Love Affair) exude charm, cunning, and artless affection as an urbane couple who, fed up with each other's infidelities, resolve to file for divorce. Try as they each might to move on, the mischievous Jerry can't help but meddle in Lucy's ill matched engagement to a cornfed Oklahoma businessman (His Girl Friday's Ralph Bellamy), and a mortified Lucy begins to realize that she may be saying goodbye to the only dance partner capable of following her lead. Directed by the versatile Leo McCarey (Make Way for Tomorrow), a master of improvisation and slapstick as well as a keen and sympathetic observer of human folly, The Awful Truth is a warm but unsparing comedy about two people whose flaws only make them more irresistible. Features: New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New interview with critic Gary Giddins about director Leo McCarey New video essay by film critic David Cairns on actor Cary Grant's performance Illustrated 1978 audio interview with actor Irene Dunne Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1939, starring actor Claudette Colbert and Grant PLUS: An essay by film critic Molly Haskell
Stanley Kubrick's dazzling, Academy Award®-winning achievement is a compelling drama of man vs. machine, a stunning meld of music and motion. Kubrick (who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke) fi rst visits our prehistoric ape-ancestry past, then leaps millennia (via one of the most mind-blowing jump cuts ever) into colonized space, and ultimately whisks astronaut Bowman (Keir Dullea) into uncharted space, perhaps even into immortality. Open the pod bay doors, HAL. Let an awesome journey unlike any other begin.
Flight of the Navigator is the action-packed classic '80s adventure into another world. It's 1978 and 12-year old David Freeman is knocked unconscious while playing. He wakes up and discovers it's now 1986 and he's been missing for eight years. NASA believes he's been abducted by aliens and want to use him for their research. But with the guidance of a strange unseen entity he discovers a hidden spaceship and with the help of MAX the computer sets off on an incredible mission to get ba...
Available for the first time on DVD! Robert Mitchum Peter Falk and Arthur Kennedy star in the rivetting war drama Anzio a vivid portrait of one of the bloodiest WWII battles ever fought. After landing with Allied troops at Anzio Italy in 1944 war correspondent Dick Ennis (Mitchum) and buddy Corporal Rabinoff (Falk) tell Anzio commander General Lesley (Kennedy) that the road to Rome is wide open. But instead of heading to Rome Lesley attempts to build a coastal stronghold only
Mike works on a boat in Acapulco: when the bratty daughter of the boat owner gets him fired Mike must find new work and becomes embroiled in a love triangle with two women and a champion Mexican diver!
Clement (Trintignant) is part of a right-wing political movement. Although monied and comfortable he is an active terrorist. Betrayed he grabs his wife Anne (Schneider) and takes refuge in a friend's house while he plots his deadly revenge... As part of the French Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) explosion of young energetic brave and brilliant directors Alain Cavalier fashioned a superb story of love loyalty and betrayal with a backdrop of political upheaval. Scripted by Jean-Paul Ra
Scorching the streets clean...Flamethrowers ready as the alleyways of skid row are set ablaze with the brutal vengeance of one man... The Exterminator!John Eastland has been to 'Nam and he's seen things... Things you wouldn't believe. Surviving torture and witnessing the brutal deaths of his friends, John returns home to a tough neighbourhood in New York and his loving family. But when some local thugs take a crippling dislike to his best friend Mike, leaving him paralysed, something snaps in John. Did he fight the Vietcong for this?Taking the law into his own hands, Eastland sets out to clean the streets of every low life, good for nothing gang banger, mobster and ghetto ghoul across the city in director James Glickenhaus' (McBain) brutally violent vigilante classic.
Weary of being alone in the vast forest unicorn Amalthea (Mia Farrow) begins to wonder if she's the last of her kind. Following a rumor she joins forces with feeblish wizard Schmendrick (Alan Arkin) and wayward barmaid Molly (Tammy Grimes) to look for the mystical Red Bull a creature known to hunt and imprison unicorns. In order to walk unnoticed among men Schmendrick magically transforms Amalthea into a beautiful woman. Together the three embark on a adventurous journey into the dark land of King Haggard the man rumored to control the Red Bull.
The only Deanna Durbin film made in colour Can't Help Singing was a spectacular musical triumph nominated for two Academy Awards and a real favourite with her fans. Featuring four great songs from Deanna Durbin - ""Can't Help Singing"" ""Any Moment Now"" ""More and More"" and ""Cal-i-for-ni-ay"" Can't Help Singing captures Deanna at her musical best.
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