Drums pound, building excitement; the music bursts into life with a cry of "Stingray! Stingray!" Who can resist? Especially when a dramatic voice announces, "Anything can happen in the next half hour!". Stingray (1964) was the show Gerry Anderson made just before he really hit the big time with Thunderbirds (1965), producing 39 episodes of the 21st-century adventures of Troy Tempest--tall, dark and handsome (his voice was based on James Garner) captain of the titular submarine. His mission: to protect the seas on behalf of WASP (World Aquanaut Security Patrol). With complex underwater model and puppet effects, this was ground-breaking television, especially as it was the first UK series to be made in colour, though for years it was only seen in black and white. Special effects director Derek Meddings later graduated to the James Bond movies, while Moneypenny herself (actress Lois Maxwell) voiced Atlanta Shore. Here, just as in the Bond movies, she played second fiddle in our hero's affections, the mute Marina becoming Stingray's sex-goddess. The end-credits even featured a song in her honour, "Aqua Maria", which became an international hit. As for the bad guys: half-man, half-fish Titan and his Terror Fish wage dastardly war against humanity and the peaceful underwater citizens of Pacifica. Four decades on the model and underwater sequences still impress, and surely much of the inspiration for the underwater city in The Phantom Menace came from locations in Stingray. Whether as bizarre 60s nostalgia, or winning a new generation of fans, Stingray remains eccentric cult family entertainment. --Gary S Dalkin
Four Italian-Americans from New York's lower East Side hang around at a local bar. Charlie (Harvey Keitel) the most responsible of the group tries to protect his girlfriend's cousin Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) from the local debt collectors but his young charge seems determined to live fast and die young. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave 'Mean Streets' provided the first high-profile success for director Martin Scorsese and star Robert De Niro.
All the episodes from the first three series of the British drama which follows events at James Herriot (Christopher Timothy)'s rural veterinary practice in the Yorkshire Dales. Series 1 episodes are: 'Horse Sense', 'Dog Days', 'It Takes All Kinds', 'Calf Love', 'Out of Practice', 'Nothing Like Experience', 'Golden Lads and Girls', 'Advice and Consent', 'The Last Furlong', 'Sleeping Partners', 'Bulldog Breed', 'Practice Makes Perfect' and 'Breath of Life'. Series 2 episodes are: 'Cats and Dogs', 'Attendant Problems', 'Fair Means and Fowl', 'The Beauty of the Beast', 'Judgement Day', 'Faint Hearts', 'Tricks of the Trade', 'Pride of Possession', 'The Name of the Game', 'Puppy Love', 'Ways and Means', 'Pups, Pigs and Pickle', 'A Dog's Life' and 'Merry Gentlemen'. Series 3 episodes are: 'Plenty to Grouse About', 'Charity Begins at Home', 'Every Dog His Day...', 'Hair of the Dog', 'If Wishes Were Horses', 'Pig in the Middle', 'Be Prepared', 'A Dying Breed', 'Brink of Disaster', 'Home and Away', 'Alarms and Excursions', 'Matters of Life and Death', 'Will to Live' and 'Big Steps and Little 'Uns'.
Ensemble drama from acclaimed director Robert Altman centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer (Neve Campbell) who's poised to become a principal performer.
There have been many film and TV adaptations of Oliver Twist but this 1948 production from director David Lean remains the definitive screen interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. From the ominous symbolism of its opening storm sequence (in which Oliver's pregnant, ill-fated mother struggles to reach shelter before childbirth) to the mob-scene climax that provokes Bill Sikes's dreadful comeuppance, this breathtaking black-and-white film remains loyal to Dickens while distilling the story into its purest cinematic essence.Every detail is perfect--Lean even includes a coffin-shaped snuffbox for the cruel Mr. Sowerberry--and as young Oliver, eight-year-old John Howard Davies (who would later produce Monty Python's Flying Circus for the BBC) perfectly expresses the orphan's boyish wonderment, stern determination and waifish vulnerability. Best of all is Alec Guinness as Fagin, so devious and yet so delightfully appealing under his beak-nosed (and, at the time, highly controversial) make-up. (Many complained that Fagin's huge nose and greedy demeanour presented an anti-Semitic stereotype, even though Lean never identifies Fagin as Jewish; for this reason, the film wasn't shown in the US until three years after its British release.) Likewise, young Anthony Newley is artfully dodgy as Fagin's loyal accomplice, the Artful Dodger. Guinness's performance would later provide strong inspiration for Ron Moody's equally splendid portrayal of Fagin in the Oscar-winning Oliver! and while that 1968 musical remains wonderfully entertaining, it is Lean's film that hews closest to Dickens' vision. The authentic recreation of 19th-century London is marvellous to behold; Guy Green's cinematography is so shadowy and stylised that it almost qualifies as Dickensian film noir. Lean is surprisingly blunt in conveying Dickens's theme of cruelty but his film never loses sight of the warmth and humanity that Oliver embodies. --Jeff Shannon
A ten-year-old goes on an epic search for the Invisibles, a tiny people living in harmony with nature.
Robert Duvall and Beau Bridges star in the complete collection of 23 films.
Lochdubh: a frontier town in the wild west of Scotland. One hotel one general store one doctor and one lawman - PC Hamish Macbeth (Robert Carlyle). He's the sherrif along with canine sidekick Wee Jock with his own singular methods of dealing with crime and misdemeanours. If only his love life were so easily solved. But then that's another story... Episodes comprise: 1. The Great Lochdubh Salt Robbery 2. A Pillar Of The Community 3. The Big Freeze 4. Wee Jock's Lament 5.
For The First Time, In One Collection, The Complete Television Phenomenon Twin Peaks: All 29 episodes of the original groundbreaking seasons All 18 parts of the Limited Event Series - the return to Twin Peaks - that captivated audiences 25 years later, written by the series co-creators and entirely directed by David Lynch A wealth of intriguing, behind-the-scenes special features So grab a cup of coffee, a slice of cherry pie, and experience the legendary mystery...again and again!
The second half of CSI's third season serves up generous amounts of the bizarre and depraved for our voyeuristic viewing pleasure: a man driving with a wooden spike in his head, ultra-violent Robot Wars, decomposing bodies in toxic waste drums and violent death during foam-soaked debauchery all add up to a typical night's work for the Las Vegas crime lab. Standout episodes include the 90-minute special, "Lady Heather's Box", in which Grissom renews his acquaintance with the sultry bordello madam and her world of S&M. But is the delightful dominatrix the murderer? In "Night at the Movies" the plot hinges on a reworking of a Hitchcock classic and in "Play with Fire" an explosion in the lab has disastrous consequences for the team. Personal concerns come to the fore in these 12 episodes more prominently than ever before (a contrast to the show's original single-minded focus on the cases). Here, Sara Sidle's paramedic boyfriend unwittingly reveals a guilty secret when he is involved in a devastating car accident ("Crash & Burn"); Warwick witnesses his boyhood mentor falling apart when the older man's daughter is killed in a drive-by shooting ("Random Acts of Violence"); Catherine Willows' daughter and ex-husband are caught up in more violence and mayhem; and Grissom finally has to admit that his hearing problem can no longer be ignored. A welcome development is the expansion of the CSI unit and the introduction of some new, albeit secondary, team members. Guest stars include Elizabeth Berkely ("Lady Heather's Box") and Bobcat Goldthwait ("Last Laugh"). The show remains unrivalled for slick, fast-paced entertainment. On the DVD: CSI, Series 3 Part 2 is a three-disc set with a handful of minor extra features. It has two frankly rather uninspiring episode commentaries featuring the directors, scriptwriters and other crew. Better are the two small featurettes--"Making It Real" and "The Writer's Room"--that shed more light on the making of the show. --Mark Walker
SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. In Season 2, the Destiny continues its journey through the Universe, while its crew suffers from a lack of supplies and no knowledge of its final destination. Struggling to control the ships systems, tempers and personalities of the crew clash. Facing uncharted space and enemies who would take the ship by force, the Destiny crew persevere in their struggle to stay alive and find a way home.
This film, which again pairs Richard Gere and Kim Basinger (who starred in 1986's No Mercy), offers up elements of classic noir: a hapless man becomes intimately involved with a beautiful blonde who may or may not be who or what she appears to be. Dedicated psychiatrist Isaac Barr (Gere) reluctantly, and then more obsessively, becomes involved with Heather Evans (Basinger), the sister of his patient, Diana Baylor (Uma Thurman). Evans is unhappily married to a gangster (appropriately played by a muscular and menacing Eric Roberts in a trademark role). Gere and Basinger make a credible, if dangerous couple, and Thurman delivers a subtle, understated performance and demonstrates her range and potential. The thriller is appropriately shot in gorgeous San Francisco, where the literal and figurative curving and hilly roads wind throughout. Credit legendary art director Dean Tavoularis for some amazing sets and scenes, notably the elegantly cavernous restaurant where Evans and her husband have a fateful dinner. This film is, in a way, glossy director Phil Joanou's Hitchcockian tribute--as a climactic lighthouse scene best demonstrates. Final Analysis doesn't offer an intimate look at its characters, but a beautifully stylized one, moody and gloomy. The intricate plot experiments with the device of "pathological intoxication," in which the subject completely loses control after drinking alcohol. And this doesn't mean a conventional ugly drunk; it means a frightening psychotic. Good and evil, hope and despair, beauty and repulsion are often juxtaposed in the film's complex world. --NF Mendoza
Shameless proudly presents the 1st ever Cinema-of-Death anthology of Ruggero Deodato, Mr Cannibal himself, the director of possibly the nastiest Video Nasties which have since become cult must-see and now subject of top academic research, public debates and high-brow critical acclaim. Cannibal HolocaustCannibal Holocaust on its 1st release, director Deodato was charged with killing his own cast - and jailed! In UK, it incarnated THE Video Nasty. Banned and then cut by several minutes, it took a full 30 years for the censors to relax their grip! We present two versions of this, the most controversial film ever made: A unique Director's re-edit (shown 1st in London's West-End) which tones down the animal cruelty (to fit better with 21st Century sensibilities) without shortening the film. The other is the full strength 80s dish! Very strong stuff - especially because of its unsurpassed, documentary-like, extremely realistic depiction of gory violence. With this landmark film Deodato single-handedly invented the 'found-footage' genre (imitated by Blair Witch et al). Often imitated, this is The Original and unequaled best. House On The Edge Of The ParkThe House On The Edge Of The Park also a Video Nasty, this claustrophobic staging of a vicious home-invasion scenario explodes into slasher torture hell, with star David Hess giving one of the strongest performances of his career and Deodato a master-class in directing, proving again that under the blood and guts there is a brilliant film maker formed by Neo-realism. Special Features: Deodato and star Giovanni Lombardo Radice in a public debate with senior BBFC examiner. In-depth interview with the late David Hess. The Phantom of DeathIn The Phantom of Death Deodato's unwavering directing meets a barnstorming performance from Michael York (Cabaret, Austin Powers) as the pianist virtuoso who suddenly starts aging at alarming speed - progeria, a devastating real-life affliction. With death closing in fast, the pianist loses his mind in a murderous frenzy of brutal hackings... Edwige Fenech and Donald Pleasence co-star.
Simply Media are delighted to announce the DVD release of the critically acclaimed dystopian drama 1990: The Complete Collection, on 20th November 2017. This collection contains all 16 episodes from series 1 and 2, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1977. 1990 has been lauded as a TV landmark by Junsui Films Limited, a minor miracle it has been finally released by We Are Cult, and a well-crafted British character drama by Archive TV Musings. The Guardian has described the series creator Wilfred Greatorex (Secret Army) as one of the most prolific and assured television script-writers and editors from the 1960s into the 1980s. 1990 tells a chilling tale of a bleak and nightmarish future Britain where individual rights have been replaced by rights only for the common good. Government bureaucracy is out of control. The lives of ordinary citizens are in the hands of the Home Office's corrupt and overbearing Public Control Department (PCD), which has its watchful eye on everyone to monitor and expose all possible and imaginary threats to the country. Greatorex described his series as Nineteen Eighty-Four plus six because of the parallel themes with Orwell's prophetic novel. The PCD uses sophisticated surveillance systems to expose anyone threatening the status quo. Special State-sanctioned brainwashing units, cunningly disguised as caring rest-homes, are ruthlessly used to suppress independent thought and cure dissidents. A strict rationing of food, alcohol and travel is imposed, and ID cards are required to work, which can be withdrawn by the state at any time. Free speech is forbidden, censorship is rife, and with no rule of law to protect the vulnerable, all citizens are left at the mercy of the state's tyrannical control. Or so it seems.... 1990 stars Golden Globe winner Edward Woodward (The Wicker Man) in the lead role as the calm, witty and charming rebel Jim Kyle. He's a journalist working for one of the last remaining independent newspapers, and a secret dissident who is fighting the corrupt establishment by covertly helping others escape. He risks prison or even death if identified. Woodward leads a strong supporting cast including Robert Lang (Othello (1965)), who gives an unforgettable performance as the PCD's ruthless controller Herbert Skardon; and Barbara Kellerman (The Sea Wolves) shines as his provocatively alluring deputy, Delly Lomas. Series two sees Lynn Blake (Lisa Harrow) join the cast as Kyle's ex-lover, who becomes the new Deputy Controller of the PCD. She's even more determined to expose his informer and finally get her man. 1990 also takes a rare and fascinating original spin on the dystopian fiction genre, unusually depicting a totalitarian regime where the government follows a socialist agenda, instead of the more usual fascist regime. In a society today where the Snoopers Charter has been passed by the British Government, justified as a means of combating terrorism, Greatorex's fictional vision of the future may not be so different from our real present.
The two best horror baddies in a showdown to make you squirm. Freddy comes back from Hell as the notorious Jason takes on Elm Street in his own style.
Expelled from yet another private school for his blossoming, illegal entrepreneurial activities, wealthy teenager Charlie Bartlett tries his tricks at a regular High School.
On the same day in 1989, forty-three infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by a billionaire who creates The Umbrella Academy and prepares his children to save the world. Now, the six surviving members reunite upon the news of their father's passing and must work together to solve a mystery surrounding his death. But the estranged family begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse. The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book series created and written by Gerard Way, illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics. Special Features: Includes Art Cards and Poster
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
When a mass hysteria of unknown origin causes parents in a quiet suburban town to turn violently on their own children, Carly Ryan (Anne Winters) and brother Josh (Zackary Arthur) have to fight to survive a vicious onslaught from the very people who brought them into this world (Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair). From the director of Crank, and featuring one hell of a cast, including Nicolas Cage (Face Off, Con Air), Selma Blair (Hellboy, Cruel Intentions) and Lance Henriksen (The Terminator, Aliens), Mom and Dad is one of the great jet-black comedies about suburbia (Variety) that sees Cage play one of the most viciously berserk characters of his career!
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