The satirical sensibilities of writer Peter Shaffer and director Milos Forman (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) were ideally matched in this Oscar-winning movie adaptation of Shaffer's hit play about the rivalry between two composers in the court of Austrian Emperor Joseph II--official royal composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), and the younger but superior prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). The conceit is absolutely delicious: Salieri secretly loathes Mozart's crude and bratty personality but is astounded by the beauty of his music. That's the heart of Salieri's torment--although he's in a unique position to recognise and cultivate both Mozart's talent and career, he's also consumed with envy and insecurity in the face of such genius. That such magnificent music should come from such a vulgar little creature strikes Salieri as one of God's cruellest jokes, and it drives him insane. Amadeus creates peculiar and delightful contrasts between the impeccably re-created details of its lavish period setting and the jarring (but humorously refreshing and unstuffy) modern tone of its dialogue and performances--all of which serve to remind us that these were people before they became enshrined in historical and artistic legend. Jeffrey Jones, best-known as Ferris Bueller's principal, is particularly wonderful as the bumbling emperor (with the voice of a modern mid-level businessman). The film's eight Oscars include statuettes for Best Director Forman, Best Actor Abraham (Hulce was also nominated), Best Screenplay and Best Picture. --Jim Emerson Note: this region two DVD is a "flipper" with a break between sides A and B.
His baseball coach is Reggie Jackson, his own personal McDonald's is inside the family mansion, and his array of gadgets like the Dadlink, the Smell-Master and RoboBee would astonish any techno-buff. You've never seen a world like Richie Rich's. But now the welcome mat is out for you to stay as long as you like. In a comedy adventure with lots of heartĀ (Los Angeles Times), Macaulay Culkin portrays the world's wealthiest youngster, likable but isolated, who has everything except friends until he hits it off with some sandlot kids. He'll need their help when a scheming advisor (John Larroquette) plots to dispose of Richie's parents (Edward Herrmann and Christine Ebersole) and plunder the family vault. It's all such exciting fun even the world's richest kid can't afford to miss it!
Amadeus triumphs as gripping human drama sumptuous period epic glorious celebration of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - and as the winner of eight 1984 Academy Awards including Best Picture (produced by Saul Zaentz) Actor (F. Murray Abraham) Director (Milos Forman) and Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer).
A note-perfect cinematic event whose immortality was assured from its opening night, Amadeus is an unlikely candidate for the Director's Cut treatment. Like one of Mozart's operas, the multiple Oscar-winning theatrical version seemed perfectly formed from the outset--ideal casting, costumes, sets, cinematography, lighting, screenplay, music, music, music--so the reinstatement of an extra 20 minutes simply risks adding "too many notes". Yet though this extended cut can hardly be said to improve a picture that needed no improvement, it does at least flesh out a couple of small subplots and shed new light on certain key scenes. Here we learn why Constanze Mozart bears such ill-will towards Salieri when she discovers him at her husband's deathbed: he has insulted and degraded her after she came to him for help. We also see deeper into the reasons why Mozart has no pupils: not only has Salieri poisoned the Emperor's mind against him, but the only promisingly lucrative teaching job he can find ends disastrously when he realises that the master of the house just wants music to quiet his barking dogs. In a humiliating coda to that episode, a drunk and desperate Wolfgang returns later to beg for money only to be coldly rejected. The structure of the picture is otherwise unaltered. On the DVD: Amadeus--The Director's Cut finally accords this masterful work the DVD treatment it deserves. The handsome anamorphic widescreen picture is accompanied by a choice of Dolby 5.1 or Dolby stereo sound options, and it's all contained on one side of the disc (the original single-disc DVD release was that crime against the format, a "flipper"). Director Milos Forman and writer Peter Shaffer provide a chatty though sporadic commentary, but they're obviously still too mesmerised by the movie to do much more than offer the odd anecdote. Disc 2 contains an excellent new hour-long "making of" documentary, with contributions from Forman, Shaffer, Sir Neville Marriner and all the main actors, taking in the scriptwriting, choice of music, casting and problems involved in filming in Communist Czechoslovakia with half the crew and extras working for the Secret Police. --Mark Walker
California's San Fernando Valley, 1973. Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) is a precocious high schooler and child star who meets - and is immediately besotted with - Alana (Alana Haim), a twenty-something photographer's assistant trying desperately to find herself. The two of them form an unlikely bond, and soon begin running around the Valley together taking part in Gary's many haphazard schemes.
After her adventures in 'My Girl' Vada is now thirteen years-old and living with her father and pregnant step-mother. A school project leads to a stay in Los Angeles and a holiday with Uncle Phil. There she discovers a lot about herself the uncertainties of first love and her role in a changing family...
It's Emmy Grammy and Golden Globe-winner Bette Midler in the role she was born to play. The superstar of Beaches Ruthless People Down & Out in Beverly Hills and For the Boys delivers a ""standing room only"" performance as Mama Rose the ultimate vaudeville stage mother. Rose's blind ambition for her two daughters forces one to desert her and the other to emerge as the world's most famous striptease artist - Gypsy Rose Lee. Based on the actual memoirs of Ms. Lee and directed by the late Emile Ardolino (Sister Act Dirty Dancing) this musical motion picture extravaganza is true to the original Broadway production... including the glorious Jerome Robbins choreography and the memorable Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim score. The classics are all here - from ""Everything's Coming Up Roses"" to ""Let Me Entertain You"" and as a special bonus the complete version of Gypsy's classic overture. Spectacular performances by Ms. Midler and her supporting cast - Peter Riegert Cynthia Gibb (as the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee) and Ed Asner - will leave you asking for an encore!
In Kenneth Branagh's stylish suspense film Branagh stars as Mike Church a Los Angeles detective. Mike is drawn into the life of Grace (Emma Thompson) a woman with amnesia who is plagued by disturbing nightmares. Attempts to help her regain her memory lead them to Franklyn Madson (Derek Jacobi) a mysterious hypnotist who runs an antique shop. Under hypnosis Grace claims that in a previous life she was Margaret Strauss a concert pianist who was murdered by her jealous husband Rom
It took them 20 years to fall in love at first sight: two strangers whose paths are always crossing finally meet when fate steps in.
If you met Ray and Mickey Davis you'd swear they had a perfect marriage. But if you read Mickey's diary you'd know that unrest is lurking just beneath the surface. Enter Scott Muller a small time burglar who robs the Davis home-making off with assorted valuables and Mickey's diary. Muller becomes obsessed with Mickey. He plots to seduce her and play out her most secret fantasies. Mickey is an easy target for Muller's advances and soon the Davis's perfect marriage and perfect wor
Tired but watchable adaptation of the popular 60s TV show of a friendly Martian who lives with an agreeable earthling. Like Disney's other live-action remakes 101 Dalmatians and Flubber, the emphasis is on quick-moving scenes and special effects--not character. Jeff Daniels is the bemused earthling who gets to know Christopher Lloyd's alien ways. Much of the film feels like a retread borrowing heavily from other sci-fi comedies (and "fish out of water" films), including Lloyd's own Back to the Future. Lloyd and his talking space suit (voiced by Wayne Knight who brings the same personality as his Newman role on Seinfeld) don't know simple Earth customs but inexplicably know every pop culture reference in the last 10 years. Daryl Hannah and Elizabeth Hurley are along for the ride as Daniels' good-girl and bad-girl flames. TV's Martian, Ray Waltson, shows up as a secret agent alien hunter--and pours more emotion into his scenes than the rest of the movie combined. Ages 6 and up. --Doug Thomas
Legendary recording artist and Oscar nominee Diana Ross stars with multi-platinum Grammy Award winning singer and actress Brandy in this compelling story of a mother driven to reach the heights of superstardom at the cost of abandoning her only child. With dazzling performances from both stars the film includes an exclusive duet ""Love Is All That Matters."" Eighteen years after leaving her baby daughter in pursuit of fame Olivia (Diana Ross) returns to seek out Kayla (Brandy) and make amends for the past. With years of experience and well placed contacts Olivia helps Kayla realize her own dream of singing stardom. But their fragile mother-daughter bond is tested when Kayla's success threatens to surpass her mother's... Together they must discover that love is more powerful than ambition and family more important than fame.
There's one in every family! Meet Mike Donnelly (Chris Farley). He's one lovable hilarious accident waiting to happen. Dedicated to helping his big brother Al (Tim Matheson) win the race for Washington State Governor he turns every opportunity for votes into an embarrassing disaster. Campaign aide and super slacker Steve Dobbs (David Spade) volunteers to baby-sit Mike. Big mistake! When Mike discovers that the incumbent governor is a crook he dives headfirst into a whole new
Cool Runnings (Dir. Jon Turteltaub 1993): You'll love Cool Runnings - the outrageously funny comedy hits inspired by the true story of Jamaica's first Olympic bobsled team. They were four unlikely athletes with one impossible dream. Now with the help of ex-champion as their coach (John Candy - Uncle Buck) four Jamaicans leave their sunny island home and enter the chilly winter Olympics to compete for the gold in a sport they know nothing about - bobsled racing! My Favourite Martian (Dir. Donald Petrie 1999): In the Disney tradition of fun family comedies comes the hilarious live-action film My Favourite Martian - an out-of-this-world comedy about friendship loyalty and aliens. When a harmless Martian (Christopher Lloyd Back to the Future) crashes onto earth and into the life of struggling TV reporter Tim (Jeff Daniels) he must use all his magical powers to keep his identity a secret and quickly find a way back to Mars. Tim initially wants to expose the friendly Martian whom he names Uncle Martin and his crazy animated spacesuit Zoot. Ultimately Tim helps Uncle Martin but can he send him safely home before the world discovers their secret? Snow Dogs (Dir. Brian Levant 2002): Make no bones about it Disney's Snow Dogs is a hilarious action-packed comedy your whole family will love. Eight adorable but mischievous dogs get the best of dog hater Ted Brooks (Cuba Gooding Jr.) when he leaves his successful Miami Beach dental practice for the wilds of Alaska to claim his inheritance- seven Siberian huskies and a border collie- and discover his roots. As Ted's life goes to the dogs he rises to the occasion and vows to learn to mush with his inheritance. Totally out of his element he faces challenges he's never dreamed of. There's a blizzard thin ice an intimidating crusty old mountain man named Thunder Jack (James Coburn) the Artic Challenge Sled Dog Race that's only two weeks away and a life-and-death rescue. This fish-out-of-water tail-wagging comedy is nothing but doggone good fun and a celebration of family - both human and canine!
A soapy backstage melodrama originally produced for network broadcast, Double Platinum downplays showbiz verisimilitude to turn on the tears. With 60s soul queen Diana Ross and 90s pop princess Brandy sharing production credit as well as billing, this formulaic tearjerker focuses on its stars' dramatic chops more than their musical prowess, a choice that won't deter their respective audiences, even as it disappoints less partisan music fans who might have hoped for a stronger musical component.Olivia King (Ross) is the former St. Louis housewife who abandoned her family for pop stardom, only to return 18 years later determined to meet, and reconcile with, her daughter, Kayla (Brandy), now nurturing her own footlight fantasies. But when the prodigal mom finally does reveal herself to the bright, feisty teen, Kayla is outraged and then hard-boiled. Olivia's offer to help the undeniably talented girl make industry contacts is accepted, with the bitter caveat that the superstar should abandon any hopes of a true maternal bond with her embittered daughter. The usually imperious Olivia meekly accepts those terms, while the secretly yearning Kayla keeps up her tough-cookie cover, but the plot telegraphs its ultimate destination, even as the tears flow.Both stars acquit themselves well in the story's stormier clashes, and the emotional tug of the story is well engineered to soak hankies. Less credulous viewers will be hampered by the original songs--when Ross steps on-stage, her regal demeanour and flashy (if occasionally silly) gowns support her supposed status as a legend, but the utterly forgettable, generic songs she mouths deflate that image. That said, viewers less interested in the actual music than the glitzy idea of the two characters may well be content to wallow in the waterworks of a story that could as easily have been titled Divas: The Next Generation. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com
Jon Aldrich an all around nice guy inadvertently becomes the target of an FBI sting. But compared to everything else in his life that doesn't seem so bad.
Amadeus triumphs as gripping human drama sumptuous period epic glorious celebration of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - and as the winner of eight 1984 Academy Awards including Best Picture (produced by Saul Zaentz) Actor (F. Murray Abraham) Director (Milos Forman) and Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer). Now in a revitalized digital transfer and including more than 20 minutes of extra scenes not seen on its original release Amadeus remains a screen triumph! Amadeus won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture Actor Director and Adapted Screenplay. About as close to perfection as movies get. USA Today
Tired but watchable adaptation of the popular 60s TV show of a friendly Martian who lives with an agreeable earthling. Like Disney's other live-action remakes 101 Dalmatians and Flubber, the emphasis is on quick-moving scenes and special effects--not character. Jeff Daniels is the bemused earthling who gets to know Christopher Lloyd's alien ways. Much of the film feels like a retread borrowing heavily from other sci-fi comedies (and "fish out of water" films), including Lloyd's own Back to the Future. Lloyd and his talking space suit (voiced by Wayne Knight who brings the same personality as his Newman role on Seinfeld) don't know simple Earth customs but inexplicably know every pop culture reference in the last 10 years. Daryl Hannah and Elizabeth Hurley are along for the ride as Daniels' good-girl and bad-girl flames. TV's Martian, Ray Waltson, shows up as a secret agent alien hunter--and pours more emotion into his scenes than the rest of the movie combined. Ages 6 and up. --Doug Thomas
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