A 50 year celebration of the re-opening of the Vienna State Opera since the Second World War.
An old, old story as told circa 1980, Breaking Glass, written and directed by Brian Gibson, follows the path of Stardust not to mention A Star is Born and most other films about showbusiness, by following the rise of a talented young hopeful who learns that success comes with strings. Kate Crowley (Hazel O'Connor) begins as a bleached New Wave ranter, fly-posting on the tube and yelling songs about dehumanisation over fascist chants in rowdy pubs, but ends up a stoned glam zombie dressed as a robot, packaging her anger for the benefit of corporate music biz baddies and retreating to a sanatorium. The plot may be familiar, but the film still works, thanks to persuasive central performances from O'Connor, who wrote her own songs and shows real acting muscle that sadly didn't lead to anything like a film career, and Phil Daniels as her hustling manager/boyfriend/conscience. The fine supporting cast includes Jon Finch and Jonathan Pryce as a Bond villain-style record producer and a deaf junkie sax player, with glimpses of later perennials such as Jim Broadbent and Richard Griffiths. Made and set at the start of the 1980s, it catches its times exactly: a "Rock Against 1984" outdoor gig that turns into a riot, a routine police harrassment of a band rehearsal, a power cut that transforms a concert into a before-its-time "unplugged" session. Credits trivia: the executive producer was Dodi al Fayed. On the DVD: A nice letterboxed transfer looks a bit soft and grainy--but that's the way it's supposed to be. The only extras are cribbed-from-the-IMDB filmographies, a trailer with a wonderfully unconvincing narration and an image gallery (posters, ads and stills). --Kim Newman
""Let's be careful out there."" The complete second season of Steve Bochco's ground-breaking cop show. Episodes Comprise: 1. Hearts and Minds 2. Blood Money 3. The Last White Man on East Ferry Avenue 4. The Second Oldest Profession 5. Fruits of the Poisonous Tree 6. Cranky Streets 7. Chipped Beef 8. The World According to Freedom 9. Pestolozzi's Revenge 10. The Spy Who Came in From Delgado 11. Freedom's Last Stand 12. Of Mouse and Man 13. Zen and
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift has all the elements that spelled success for its predecessors: Speed, sex, and minimal dialogue. The plot doesn't need explication; it's a nonsensical series of confrontations and standoffs that serve to get us from one race to another. Tokyo Drift can most accurately be described as a visual poem about screeching tires, crunching fiberglass, and sleek female skin, set to a killer soundtrack of Japanese pop and hip-hop. The actors are only needed for tight close-ups of narrowed eyes or sweaty hands tightly gripping gearshifts, though Sung Kang, Better Luck Tomorrow, stands out as a vaguely philosophical hoodlum with deadpan charisma. The curved bodies of the cars and the luscious flesh of the women are both shot with a fetishistic hunger. The "drift" style of racing--in which the cars are allowed to slide in order to take sharp turns at high speeds--grabs your eyes; there's a strange, spectral beauty to rows of cars sliding sideways down a mountain road at night. Also starring Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights) as our wheel-happy hero; Bow Wow (Roll Bounce) as the scam-artist comic relief; and martial arts legend Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill) as a yakuza big shot. --Bret Fetzer
When his mother dies of a heroin overdose, 17-year-old Joshua J Cody moves in with his estranged relatives in a Southern California beach town. Heading up their petty crime dynasty is J's manipulative grandmother, Janine Smurf Cody, whose iron-fisted, velvet-gloved tough love controls her four sons: adopted right-hand man Barry Baz; intense, mentally disturbed Pope; tough, hyperactive Craig; and troubled baby, Deran. As J copes with losing his mom, aggressive rivalry between his uncles, and a helpful high school teacher, his new family incites more danger, excitement and trouble than he's ever known. Emmy® Award winner* Ellen Barkin rules over a fiercely talented ensemble cast in all 10 episodes of this edgy, crime-fueled series based on the award-winning Australian film of the same name.
The Thing (1982): Horror-meister John Carpenter teams Kurt Russell's outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build this chilling version of the classic The Thing. In the winter of 1982 a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100 000 years. Soon unfrozen the shape-shifting alien wreaks havoc creates terror and becomes one of them... John Carpenter's Vampires (1998): In the blood-chilling tradition of Halloween and Village Of The Damned comes John Carpenter's unique vision of the ultimate killing machines vampires. Forget everything you've ever heard about vampires warns Jack Crow (James Woods) the leader of Team Crow a relentless group of mercenary vampire slayers. When master Vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) decimates Jack's entire team Crow and the sole team survivor Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) set out in pursuit. Breaking all the rules Crow and Montoya take one of Valek's victims hostage. The beautiful prostitute (Sheryl Lee) is their sole psychic link to Valek and through her senses they will track down the leader of the undead. As Valek nears the climax of his 600 year search for the Berziers cross Jack and the new Team Crow do everything humanly possible to prevent him from possessing the only thing that can grant him and all vampires the omnipotent power to walk in the daylight... Village Of The Damned (1995): From the master of suspense John Carpenter comes a chilling new version of the sci-fi classic. Something is terribly wrong in the tiny village of Midwich. After an unseen force invades a quiet coastal town 10 women mysteriously find themselves pregnant. Local physician Dr. Alan Chaffee (Reeve) and government scientist Dr. Susan Verner (Alley) join forces when the women simultaneously give birth...and the reign of terror begins. In what the New York Times calls one scarifying trip the people of Midwich must try to find a way to stop the children in the Village Of The Damned.
Daniel Beckett is the black sheep son of wealthy art dealer Jack Beckett. He and his girlfriend Suzanne are on their way to Thanksgiving dinner at his parents' estate 'their own little utopia'. When they arrive they find Daniel's family eagerly waiting. At dinner Suzanne learns more about the crushing dominance of Daniel's father. After dinner Daniel's father tells him he must join the family business or be cut off from the family fortune. Unable to cope Daniel takes Suzanne down
John Carpenter's Vampires (1998): In the blood-chilling tradition of Halloween and Village Of The Damned comes John Carpenter's unique vision of the ultimate killing machines vampires. ""Forget everything you've ever heard about vampires"" warns Jack Crow (James Woods) the leader of Team Crow a relentless group of mercenary vampire slayers. When master Vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) decimates Jack's entire team Crow and the sole team survivor Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) set out in pursuit. Breaking all the rules Crow and Montoya take one of Valek's victims hostage. The beautiful prostitute (Sheryl Lee) is their sole psychic link to Valek and through her senses they will track down the leader of the undead. As Valek nears the climax of his 600 year search for the Berziers cross Jack and the new Team Crow do everything humanly possible to prevent him from possessing the only thing that can grant him and all vampires the omnipotent power to walk in the daylight... John Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars(2001): 200 years in the future a Martian police unit is dispatched to transport a dangerous prisoner from a mining outpost back to justice. But when the team arrives they find the town deserted and some of the inhabitants possessed by the former inhabitants of the planet.
In 1990, Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael showed Winona Ryder as cinema's top teenage role model. Her edge was a delinquency-equals-sympathy angle that held true throughout Beetlejuice, Mermaids, Heathers and Edward Scissorhands. Here as Dinky Bossetti she's chasing the ghosts of a past no one can explain. She's adopted; her town of Clyde, Ohio is mysteriously stuck in the 1950s; but weirder still is everyone's fixation with the imminent return of once-famous homecoming girl Roxy Carmichael. Dinky's school peers conform to the John Hughes 80s look and mindset, but it's the retro adult population that really winds her up. Jeff Daniels ought to be a perfectly conditioned suburbanite, but can't get over having once been married to Roxy. Imparting the secret that they'd had a child and given it away, Dinky's own confusions and obsessions suddenly make sense. The tangle of B-plots are given purpose at the same time she is. Her silent admirer (Thomas Wilson Brown) is able to approach her at last, and her school guidance counsellor becomes the friend she's never had. Ultimately the story's about the notion that no teenager ever feels like they fit in. Of course the real problem facing Ryder, Dinky and any viewer is that all teens grow up. What then? On the DVD: This is a bare-bones package with a simple two-channel stereo and 16:9 anamorphic ratio transfer. That said, it looks and sounds just fine. There's only one trailer, but someone's tried with the diner-style menu at least. --Paul Tonks
An affectionately tongue in cheek comedy exploring the early 1990's human traffic club culture in Britain where open air raves moved into more respectable indoor premises but the drugs dance music and dramas continued...
A humorous look at the 1950's muscle men's magazines which were primarily being purchased by the underground homosexual community. Wise-eyes Neil O'Hara the epitome of all American wholesomeness leaves his rural home in search of adventure in L.A. He is spotted by obsessive photographer Bob Mizer and introduced to the world of physique photography. Along with his fellow he enjoys the giddy lifestyle of Mizer's estate - until he becomes aware of a seedier undercurrent.
Speed needs no translation. From the makers of The Fast and the Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious comes the highest-octane instalment of the hit movie franchise built for speed! Shaun Boswell has always been an outsider. A loner at school his only connection to the indifferent world around him is through illegal street racing - which has made him particularly unpopular with the local authorities. To avoid jail time Shaun is sent out of the country to live with his uncle in the military in a cramped apartment in a low-rent section of Tokyo. In the land that gave birth to the majority of modified racers on the road the simple street race has been replaced by the ultimate pedal-to-the-metal gravity-defying automotive challenge ... drift racing a deadly combination of brutal speed on heart stopping courses of hairpin turns and switchbacks. For his first unsuccessful foray in drift racing Shaun unknowingly takes on D.K. the Drift King with ties to the Yakuza the Japanese crime machine. The only way he can pay off the debt of his loss is to venture into the deadly realm of the Tokyo underworld where the stakes are life and death.
Opera in two acts from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1975. Sung in Italian.
The latest entry in the Harry Potter saga could be retitled Fast Times at Hogwarts, where finding a date to the winter ball is nearly as terrifying as worrying about Lord Voldemort's return. Thus, the young wizards' entry into puberty (and discovery of the opposite sex) opens up a rich mining field to balance out the dark content in the fourth movie (and the stories are only going to get darker). Mike Newell handily takes the directing reins and eases his young cast through awkward growth spurts into true young actors. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, more sure of himself) has his first girl crush on fellow student Cho Chang, and has his first big fight with best bud Ron. Meanwhile, Ron's underlying romantic tension with Hermione comes to a head over the winter ball, and when she makes one of those girl-into-woman Cinderella entrances, the boys' reactions indicate they've all crossed a threshold. But don't worry, there's plenty of wizardry and action in Goblet of Fire. When the deadly Tri-Wizard Tournament is hosted by Hogwarts, Harry finds his name mysteriously submitted (and chosen) to compete against wizards from two neighboring academies, as well as another Hogwarts student. The competition scenes are magnificently shot, with much-improved CGI effects (particularly the underwater challenge). And the climactic confrontation with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, in a brilliant bit of casting) is the most thrilling yet. Goblet, the first installment to get a PG-13 rating, contains some violence as well as disturbing images for kids and some barely shrouded references at sexual awakening (Harry's bath scene in particular). The 2 1/2-hour film, lean considering it came from a 734-page book, trims out subplots about house elves (they're not missed) and gives little screen time to the standard crew of the other Potter films, but adds in more of Britain's finest actors to the cast, such as Brendan Gleeson as Mad Eye Moody and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. Michael Gambon, in his second round as Professor Dumbledore, still hasn't brought audiences around to his interpretation of the role he took over after Richard Harris died, but it's a small smudge in an otherwise spotless adaptation.--Ellen A. Kim, Amazon.com
Vault Of Horror
Speed needs no translation. From the makers of The Fast And The Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious comes the highest-octane instalment of the hit movie franchise built for speed! Shaun Boswell has always been an outsider. A loner at school his only connection to the indifferent world around him is through illegal street racing - which has made him particularly unpopular with the local authorities. To avoid jail time Shaun is sent out of the country to live with his dad in the military in a cramped apartment in a low-rent section of Tokyo. In the land that gave birth to the majority of modified racers on the road the simple street race has been replaced by the ultimate pedal-to-the-metal gravity-defying automotive challenge ... drift racing a deadly combination of brutal speed on heart stopping courses of hairpin turns and switchbacks. For his first unsuccessful foray in drift racing Shaun unknowingly takes on D.K. the Drift King with ties to the Yakuza the Japanese crime machine. The only way he can pay off the debt of his loss is to venture into the deadly realm of the Tokyo underworld where the stakes are life and death.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton draw on their personal experiences as real-life partners going through marraige difficulties for their performances in this story of the breakup of an 18-year matrimonial union as seen from the points of view of both the husband and the wife. The movie is told in two parts - first his side of the divorce then hers
By night, vampires rise from loamy graves in search of human prey. By day, vampire slayer Jack Crow (Woods) leads a contingent of Vatican mercenaries in a long-waged war against these enemies.
Madeline: Based on the popular story books by Ludwig Bemelmans the mischievous Madeline character is brought to vivid life in this charming family adventure. Madeline and her eleven friends live at school run by Miss Clavel (Frances McDormand) in an old house in Paris. The smallest of the girls Madeline is also the most adventurous! She loses her appendix but gains an awesome scare falls into the River Seine only to be rescued by a dog called Genevieve and matches wits with Pepito the devilish son of a Spanish Ambassador who moves in next door. However when stuffy Lord Covington puts the future of the school in jeopardy it's up to Madeline and her friends to save the day! Care Bears: The Movie 2 - A New Generation: Come help the care bears save the kingdom of caring! In a peaceful summer camp evil Dark Heart makes a bargain with an unhappy little girl to trap the Care Bears and destroy goodness. But when she learns the cost of her decision she realizes that she must race to save them before it is too late! Featuring beautiful animation and songs by Stephen Bishop and Debbie Allen this is a heart-warming adventure for the whole family! Elmo In Grouchland: Elmo loves his fuzzy blue blanket and would never let anything happen to it. A tug-of-war with his friend Zoe sends his blanket to a faraway land and Elmo is in hot pursuit. Facing life without his cherished blanket Elmo musters all of his courage and heads off on an action-packed rescue mission that plunges him into Grouchland.
The imminent homecoming of rock star Roxy Carmichael sends the good folks of her small Ohio hometown into a frenzy of preparation. Among those anxiously anticipating this joyous reunion are Denton Roxy's old boyfriend and Dinky a troubled fifteen-year-old obsessed with the notion that Roxy is her mother...
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