Director Barry Levinson treats The Natural as a kind of shrine to America's national pastime, baseball, complete with all the possible mythic resonance that can be gleaned from the subject. Fans of the Bernard Malamud novel may be dismayed, but anyone who fell for the similarly mythic Field of Dreams will be hooked. Levinson displays an unabashed devotion to the game, although the film could use more of the realities of chewing tobacco and pine tar. The story opens as a young man (Robert Redford, in soft lighting) emerges from the sun-dappled heartland as maybe the best baseball player anybody's ever seen. On his way to the majors, he is waylaid by an enigmatic black widow (Barbara Hershey) and vanishes for many years. When he re-emerges, a silent mystery, he lands a spot with a New York team and begins tearing up the league--he's still the natural. Redford is fine, and Kim Basinger and Oscar-nominated Glenn Close are effective as the women in his life. The crowning touch is the soaring, extraordinary music by Randy Newman, the singer-songwriter turned orchestral composer. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
Available for the first time on Blu Ray in the UK. Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey stars as Carla Moran, a hard-working single mother who, one terrible night is raped in her bedroom by someone or something that she cannot see. Met with sceptical psychiatrists, she is repeatedly attacked in her car, in the bath, and in front of her children. Could this be a case of hysteria, a manifestation of childhood sexual trauma, or something even more horrific? Now, with a group of daring parapsychologists, Carla will attempt an unthinkable experiment: to seduce, trap and ultimately capture the depraved spectral fury that is The Entity. Eureka Entertainment is proud to present this groundbreaking horror in a special Dual-Format edition. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: Gorgeous 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Trailer
Raging Bull Robert De Niro gives the performance of his career as Jake La Motta, a boxer whose psychological and sexual complexities erupt into violence both in and out of the ring. Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty are unforgettable as the brother who falls prey to Jake's mounting paranoia and jealousy, and the fifteen-year-old girl who becomes his most prized trophy. Raging Bull garnered eight Oscar nominations, and won two, including Best Actor for De Niro. Offers French, German, Italian and Spanish language dubbing and Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and German for the hearing impaired subtitles. New York New York Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro team up in Martin Scorsese's romantic post-war film that celebrates the glorious days of New York's big band era. Offers French, Spanish and Polish language dubbing and French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Greek, Hungarian, Hebrew, Slovenian, Croatian and Bulgarian subtitles. Boxcar Bertha Based on a true story, Boxcar Bertha is a beautifully directed (The New York Times) tale of railroad renegades and runaway romance. Bristling with searing energy and the raw, sensual (Motion Picture Herald) performances of Barbara Hershey and David Carradine, the film delivers a humour and warmth (Cue) that's right on track. Free-spirited Bertha (Hershey) is a small-time crook with a 'love 'em and leave 'em' philosophy until she falls hard for union man and 'Robin Hood of the rail', Big Bill Shelly (Carradine). Stealing from the rich and giving to the workers, Bertha and Bill soon become the most notorious train robbers in the south. Offers German, French and Spanish language dubbing and French, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Portuguese, Polish and Greek subtitles. The Last Waltz It started as a concert. It became a celebration. Join an unparalleled line-up of rock superstars as they celebrate The Band's historic 1976 farewell performance. Directed by Martin Scorsese, The Last Waltz is not only the most beautiful rock film ever made (The New York Times), it's one of the most important cultural events of the last two decades (Rolling Stone). Offers Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish and German for the hearing impaired subtitles. The King of Comedy A struggling comedian gambles his uncertain future on a hare-brained scheme to ransom his way onto televison by kidnapping a popular talk show host. Offers Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles.
It isn't difficult to imagine why this 1988 retelling of the Crucifixion story was picketed so vociferously on its release in the US--this Jesus bears little resemblance to the classical Christ, who was not, upon careful review of the Gospels, ever reported to have had sex with Barbara Hershey. Heavily informed by Gnostic reinterpretations of the Passion, The Last Temptation of Christ (based rather strictly on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name) is surely worth seeing for the controversy and blasphemous content alone. But the "last temptation" of the title is nothing overtly naughty--rather, it's the seduction of the commonplace; the desire to forgo following a "calling" in exchange for domestic security. Willem Dafoe interprets Jesus as spacey, indecisive and none too charismatic (though maybe that's just Dafoe himself), but his Sermon on the Mount is radiant with visionary fire; a bit less successful is method actor Harvey Keitel, who gives the internally conflicted Judas a noticeable Brooklyn accent, and doesn't bring much imagination to a role that demands a revisionist's approach. Despite director Martin Scorsese's penchant for stupid camera tricks, much of the desert footage is simply breathtaking, even on small screen. Ultimately, Last Temptation is not much more historically illuminating than Monty Python's Life of Brian, but hey, if it's authenticity you're after, try Gibbon's. --Miles Bethany
Gene Hackman attempts to exorcise some ghosts from his past by coaching a poor local basketball team into top league condition. Dennis Hopper turns in a fine performance as the town drunk with a wide knowledge of basketball whom Hackman rehabilitates into his assistant.
Based on Tom Wolfe's novel of the same name, The Right Stuff is a spectacular and thrilling epic that chronicles the fledgling years of the American space programme, from breaking the sound barrier to putting the first man into orbit. Rather than focusing on the technological advances that made this possible, writer-director Philip Kaufman pays tribute to the daring and heroic air-force test-pilots, most notably Chuck Yeager, John Glenn and "Gordo" Cooper , whose competitive desire to be the fastest and the highest drives them to keep "pushing the outside of the envelope". Despite its grand historical scale, the movie is grounded in the emotional highs and lows of these men and their long-suffering wives, delicately balancing their personal achievements and failures with the invasive media frenzy surrounding NASA's attempts to better the rival Soviet space effort. The Right Stuff has a coherence and pace that belies its sprawling plot, wide array of main characters and a running time of over three hours. This is thanks to an exciting script, a superb cast, Caleb Deschanel's stunning cinematography and--given the dramatic subject matter--a surprisingly humorous edge. Parts of the gruelling astronaut selection process make complete monkeys of the pilots, NASA's unsuccessful first attempts to launch a rocket are shown in all their explosive glory, and Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer steal the show as two oddball recruitment officials. On the DVD: The Right Stuff Special Edition comes with a sizeable, if somewhat superficial, second disc of extra features. There are two separate commentary tracks pieced together from a selection of soundbites--one from the cast (including an introduction from technical advisor Yeager) and the other from the production team. Both are played out over an identical, 25-minute sequence of scenes from the film, but only refer occasionally to the action on screen and yield little insight into the film's production. There are also four separate documentaries. The largest of these is John Glenn: American Hero, a 90-minute PBS special charting the legendary astronaut's life and including some great documentary footage of his appearance on Name That Tune (recreated in the film). Realising the Right Stuff (21 mins) and T-20 Years and Counting (10 mins) are both standard selections of cast and crew interviews. The Real Men with the Right Stuff (15 mins) features documentary footage and interviews with the surviving members of the Mercury team (Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter and Walter Schirra). Deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer and an "Interactive Timeline to Space" make up the remainder. --Paul Philpott
The events leading up to an 11:14 PM car crash, from five very different perspectives.
In a small town a woman is found brutally murdered by an axe. There are no suspects or witnesses to the killing. Based on the novel 'Evidence Of Love' by John Bloom who based the story on the actual events in a small American town.
Vietnam veteran Cameron (Steve Railsback) is on the run from the police when he stumbles onto the set of a war movie directed by megalomaniac Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole). But when the young fugitive is forced to replace a dead stunt man he falls in love with the movies leading lady (Barbara Hershey) while trying to avoid getting arrested or killed. Is Eli trying to capture Cameron's death on film? And what happens to a paranoid stunt man when illusion and reality change places?
When radio reporter Martin (Reeves) falls for his sexy aunt Julia (Hershey) the station's zany soap opera writer Pedro (Falk) decides to play Cupid and broadcast the details! Courtship soon turns to chaos with Martin's love life in shambles Julia in disgrace and irate listeners rioting in the streets. Everyone will have to tune in tomorrow to discover how it all turns out!
It isn't difficult to imagine why this 1988 retelling of the Crucifixion story was picketed so vociferously on its release in the US--this Jesus bears little resemblance to the classical Christ, who was not, upon careful review of the Gospels, ever reported to have had sex with Barbara Hershey. Heavily informed by Gnostic reinterpretations of the Passion, The Last Temptation of Christ (based rather strictly on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name) is surely worth seeing for the controversy and blasphemous content alone. But the "last temptation" of the title is nothing overtly naughty--rather, it's the seduction of the commonplace; the desire to forgo following a "calling" in exchange for domestic security. Willem Dafoe interprets Jesus as spacey, indecisive and none too charismatic (though maybe that's just Dafoe himself), but his Sermon on the Mount is radiant with visionary fire; a bit less successful is method actor Harvey Keitel, who gives the internally conflicted Judas a noticeable Brooklyn accent, and doesn't bring much imagination to a role that demands a revisionist's approach. Despite director Martin Scorsese's penchant for stupid camera tricks, much of the desert footage is simply breathtaking, even on small screen. Ultimately, Last Temptation is not much more historically illuminating than Monty Python's Life of Brian, but hey, if it's authenticity you're after, try Gibbon's. --Miles Bethany
Vietnam veteran Cameron (Steve Railsback) is on the run from the police when he stumbles onto the set of a war movie directed by megalomaniac Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole). But when the young fugitive is forced to replace a dead stunt man he falls in love with the movies leading lady (Barbara Hershey) while trying to avoid getting arrested or killed. Is Eli trying to capture Cameron's death on film? And what happens to a paranoid stunt man when illusion and reality change places?
David Schwimmer plays a drifting twentysomething who receives a telephone call out of the blue to be a pallbearer at the funeral of someone he supposedly knew in school. Trouble is, the caller has mistaken Schwimmer's character for someone else, but our hapless hero--who still lives with his mother at home--doesn't know how to say no. An encounter with the dead man's mother (Barbara Hershey) leads to a sexual relationship, while an old flame (Gwyneth Paltrow) from high school is suddenly on the horizon if only Schwimmer's loser character can quickly get his act together. The Pallbearer is the umpteenth variation on the Oedipal conflicts made famous in Mike Nichols's The Graduate, but it doesn't have the imagination, vitality, or authority to take classic themes about growing up all the way to the finish line. But in its brooding, comic way, The Pallbearer is honest about the difficulties of crossing the line into adulthood when one doesn't know how. --Tom Keogh
This fact-based drama deals with the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy who murdered at least 36 women before he was sent to the electric chair in 1989. Based on Ann Rule's novel Stranger Beside Me Bundy was a close friend of the writer and an unassuming law student. Rule stumbled upon the ugly truth in the late 1970s while covering a string of grisly unsolved murders stretching from Utah to Seattle. An ex-cop working at the rape crisis center in Seattle Anne Rule writes true
Anne Shirley (Golden Globe-winner Barbara Hershey) returns to Avonlea in 1945 and relives buried memories from before her time at Green Gables. This fascinating prequel features performances by Academy Award-winner Shirley MacLaine and Hannah Endicott-Douglas as Young Anne.
When about to head off to a concert with two of his friends Alan Parker receives a phone call and finds out that his mother's in hospital after having a stroke. So Alan skips the concert and hitchhikes to get to his old hometown to visit his Mom. But the journey proves to be far from easy as he experiences strange and bizarre encounters along the way. Eventually he is picked up by a stranger who gives him a choice... a choice between life and death.
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