A marvelously delightful 1930's style song and dance spectacular the likes of which would be wiped away by the December bombing of Pearl Harbor Second Chorus finds Fred Astaire as a struggling bandleader chased by a collection agent - Paulette. She serves the papers he chases her. She wangles him an audition with Artie Shaw which Burgess Meredith hilariously sabotages. A rich sugar daddy (the marvelous Charles Butterworth) smoothes things over with Artie and through it all Fred and Paulette dance and sing. For what more could you ask?
These days people are dangerously nostalgic about the sinister tackiness of the 1980s, but there's no stiffer antidote to such delusion than Alan Clarke's The Firm. This unforgettable film was made as a one-off drama for the BBC in 1988, but its cult following has grown steadily through video, thanks to a startling central performance from a young Gary Oldman, and the riveting manner in which Clarke captures the lethal, mindless energy of football hooliganism. Oldman plays Clive "Bexy" Bissell, working-class East London boy done good: a prosperous estate agent, proud homeowner, happy husband and doting father. But his chief pleasure is to be team leader ("top boy") of a bunch of overgrown yobs who attend football matches in order to cause violence. At weekends Bexy leads his "Inter City Crew" into rucks with rival warlords such as Yeti (Phil Davis) and Oboe (Andrew Wilde), in search of what he calls "the buzz", no matter the cost to his young family and his future prospects. The Firm was entirely shot on SteadiCam, enabling Clarke to drop the viewer right into the thick of the action and exploit some hair-raisingly authentic rowdiness from his talented cast. Among these thugs, soap fans will spot Eastenders' Steve McFadden and Charlie Lawson of Coronation Street. The Firm is a masterpiece of social-realist drama, and one of the most virulently anti-Thatcherite films of its time. An avid supporter of Everton FC, Clarke responded to Al Hunter's script because he felt that the vicious idiots spoiling football were a new breed of disgrace. The tabloids raised a stink about the film's violence, and the BBC delayed its broadcast until 1989. A year later, Alan Clarke died of cancer, But The Firm is a tremendous last testament from the finest English director of his generation. --Richard Kelly
Father's Little Dividend: Reprising his role from the 1950 release 'Father Of The Bride' Spencer Tracy rejoins Joan Bennett Elizabeth Taylor and Don Taylor in a charming sequel. Tracy portrays Elizabeth Taylor's father Stanley Banks who is still recovering from the effects of giving up his ""little girl"" Kay to Buckley Dunstan played by Don Taylor. Upon hearing the news that the newlyweds are expecting Tracy opposes the new arrival feeling the stresses of middle ag
George Romero's classic 1968 zombie-fest Night of the Living Dead (shot in black and white) offers some disturbing images, even decades later. In a Pittsburgh suburb people are being stalked by zombies ravenous for human flesh. In a house whose occupant has already been slain, two separate groups of people unite and board themselves in, hoping to fend off the advancing ghouls. Through radio and TV reports they learn that radiation from outer space is thought to be responsible for the wave of zombie attacks all over the eastern United States. Once the humans are trapped, Romero shifts the focus to the internal feuding between them as they decide how to handle their dreadful situation. What unfolds is an examination of human nature, and of the fear and selfishness that keep many citizens from getting involved in the world's problems. Appropriately, both the zombies, and the authorities who later hunt them, are equally soulless. This film could also be read as a criticism of white males--it is not merely a coincidence that the film's two most rational, constructive characters are a woman and a black man. It is also no coincidence that the sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978) takes place in a mall infested by the undead--a perfect analogy for consumer culture. --Bryan Reeseman, Amazon.com
Bukowski: Born Into This is the first comprehensive documentary of Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) - international celebrity poet novelist and underground cult icon. Director John Dullaghan spent seven years researching and shooting conducting dozens of interviews with relatives girlfriends and other poets as well as better-known friends like Bono Sean Penn Harry Dean Stanton Barbet Schroeder and Taylor Hackford.
Hey gang! Check out this comic book movie!!! The only movie with your favourite artists and writers. See Marvel Master Stan Lee brings Spiderman's money worries to life! Hear underground artist Robert Crumb confess why he killed Fritz the Cat! Wonder at congressional hearings from the 1950s ""proving"" the link between comic books and juvenile delinquency! Comic Book Confidential is a funny smart eye popping history that finally gives comic books the respect they deserve.
A serial-killer begins a one man vendetta against the Catholic Church brutally slaying several priests and nuns. The police are baffled and the community frustrated. But someone may know who the murderer is... A man came to Father Koesler's confessional booth and said some things that made him suspect the stranger could be guilty of committing the heinous crimes. As a Catholic clergyman Koesler is forbidden to reveal anything said during the holy sacrament of Confession. But his co
A small town cop in Illinois investigates the murders of local teenagers eventually tracing the crimes to a research laboratory where mind experiments have been taking place by an insane doctor. An extremely gruesome horror title.
A CIA agent must destroy the leader of an international crime syndicate any way he can.
Remarkably, the Johnny Mortimer-scripted series Never the Twain ran to over 50 episodes between 1981 and 1984 on ITV. It starred Donald Sinden as Simon Peel, a stuffy, upper-middle class antiques dealer who lives next door to Oliver Smallbridge (Windsor Davies of It Aint Half Hot, Mum fame), a working-class lad made good, also in the antiques trade. As the first series establishes, theirs is a prickly relationship, not just because theyre rivals in trade but also rivals for the affections of the middle-aged, comely Veronica. They are aghast when they discover their respective son and daughter plan to marry, coming on like the Capulets and Montagues of Middle England. Never the Twain is a pleasantly predictable antique of the sitcom variety, redeemed by Sinden and Davies gruff, blustery and persistent antagonism. It depicts a cosy, never-never world of "dirty weekends", huge suburban houses, borderline homophobic mirth and reliable puns on "genes" and "jeans"--the sort of series in which characters greet surprising news by spraying a mouthful of tea halfway across the room. Some will find it barely endurable, others a welcome reminder of a bygone televisual era before alternative comedy became the ubiquitous norm. This DVD contains an episode guide and picture gallery. --David Stubbs
This legendary animated feature is surely beyond criticism by now and, furthermore, it's unlikely that we'll see such forceful narrative in a kids' cartoon ever again. Disney's treatment of Collodi's story of the little wooden puppet who wants nothing more than to be a real boy is always guaranteed to have audiences entranced. While some of the movie's success is derived from its liberal use of the kind of imagery no children's film-maker would even attempt to get past the storyboard stage today--a mysterious island where children smoke cigars, get drunk and turn into donkeys, a monstrous, malicious sea-creature which is devoid of any trace of cuddliness and a pair of villains who routinely abduct children, to give just a few examples--the characters are depicted with the finest attention to detail, most of the songs have become classics in their own right ("When You Wish Upon a Star" being only one of many) and the graceful, stylised animation positively glows with fine detail. Essential family viewing. --Roger Thomas
A second volume of nasties that were at one time banned in the UK. Even more depraved and even more corrupt! Tenebrae (Dir. Dario Argento 1982): Shortly after American mystery-thriller novelist Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) arrives in Rome to promote his new book (the Tenebrae of the title) an attractive young woman is murdered by a razor-wielding maniac who stuffs pages of Neal's latest novel into the mouth of his victim before slashing her throat. So begins a biza
After his mother's death Collin Fenwick goes to live with his father's cousins the wealthy avaricious and controlling Verena Talbo and her compliant earthy sister Dolly...
Raging Bull is arguably the finest work produced from the Scorsese and De Niro partnership. De Niro gives an amazing portrayal of real-life boxer Jake LaMotta whose animal side lurks just beneath the surface ever ready to erupt. Vivid and unremitting in its uncompromising brutality and honesty the fight sequences are famed for their realism. Jake LaMotta is 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 the fifteen-year-old girl who becomes his most prized trophy. Violent throughout this film is a testament to Scorsese's and De Niro's skills creating a thoroughly absorbing film about such an unlikable character. Renowned for throwing himself into the roles of his character De Niro went on a diet to gain fifty pounds during production for the role of the faded star. Raging Bull garnered eight Oscar'' nominations and won two including Best Actor for De Niro - the second of two Golden statues for the Italian-American method actor.
Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto star in this powerful pull-out-the-stops crime thriller from director Jonathan Kaplan. It's a gritty action-packed tale of the streets pulsating with ultra-smooth soul high-octane energy and nonstop suspence. Truck Turner (Hayes) is a footbal star-turned-bounty hunter who's tracking a sadistic pimp on the mean streets of Los Angeles. Armed with his brute strength and ace cool partner (Alan Weeks) Truck closes in on his mark. But a tragic accident s
John Duttine stars as David Powlett-Jones who has been invalided out of the First World War and sent to work in a large public school in Devon. Utterly unconvinced of his teaching abilities he is persuaded to stay and so begins his long relationship with Bamfylde school...
Jane Lucas an Agony Aunt with a call-in radio show has her own set of troubles with her very Jewish mother and her husband Laurence. Then there's the crazy lives of her station co-workers and the nice gay couple who live upstairs.
Creatures called Blood Gnomes from another dimension seek human blood to co-mingle with their own. They suddenly appear ripping their victims apart and feeding the remains to a grotesque monster that is their mother. As the body count increases the police are baffled. Daniel a crime scene photographer discovers the secrets to the murders only no one believes him! He follows their trail into the underground S&M world where he encounters the seductive and evil Elandra who controls the creatures 'Mother' imprisoned in a crate to do her bidding. Elandra lures Daniel into a trap at a party where the Blood Gnomes attack him and all the party goers in an orgy of blood and carnage.
Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis! Atten-hut! Twelve jailbirds will earn their freedom... if they survive a suicide mission against the Nazi brass. Tough-as-nails Lee Marvin leads a nothing-to-lose convict squad in this all-time action trendsetter. They don't make 'em like this anymore!
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