In the California apple country, nine hundred migratory workers rise up in dubious battle against the landowners. The group takes on a life of its own-stronger than its individual members and more frightening. Led by the doomed Jim Nolan, the strike is founded on his tragic idealism-on the courage never to submit or yield. Published in 1936, In Dubious Battle is considered the first major work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck.
Media madness reigns supreme in screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky's scathing satire about the uses and abuses of network television. But while Chayefsky's and director Sidney Lumet's take on television may seem quaint in the age of "reality TV" and Jerry Springer's talk-show fisticuffs, Network is every bit as potent now as it was when the film was released in 1976. And because Chayefsky was one of the greatest of all dramatists, his Oscar-winning script about the ratings frenzy at the cost of cultural integrity is a showcase for powerhouse acting by Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight (who each won Oscars), and Oscar nominee William Holden in one of his finest roles. Finch plays a veteran network anchorman who's been fired because of low ratings. His character's response is to announce he'll kill himself on live television two weeks hence. What follows, along with skyrocketing ratings, is the anchorman's descent into insanity, during which he fervently rages against the medium that made him a celebrity. Dunaway plays the frigid, ratings-obsessed producer who pursues success with cold-blooded zeal; Holden is the married executive who tries to thaw her out during his own seething midlife crisis. Through it all, Chayefsky (via Finch) urges the viewer to repeat the now-famous mantra "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" to reclaim our humanity from the medium that threatens to steal it away. --Jeff Shannon
Here's a film that only a Steven Seagal fan could love. Fire Down Below not nearly as good as Under Siege (the movie destined to remain Seagal's high-water mark), but not any worse than Above the Law. This time ol' Steve is an agent of the Environmental Protection Agency who's busting heads in Kentucky. He's on good terms with the local yokels (including Marg Helgenberger and Harry Dean Stanton), but locks horns with a slimy mogul (Kris Kristofferson) who's using abandoned mines to dump toxic waste. Along with an ecological message, Seagal serves up several broken limbs, cracked skulls, and bloody noses, and he even finds time to do some guitar picking with country boys such as Travis Tritt and Randy Travis. Once you've heard Seagal crooning a country tune, you'll be eager to see him go back to whuppin' the bad guys. --Jeff Shannon
Based on a retro-styled comic book hit of the 80s, this Disney film was meant to launch a whole line of Rocketeer films--but the series began and ended with this one. That's too bad because this underrated Joe Johnston film has a certain loopy charm. The story centres on a pre-World War II stunt pilot (Bill Campbell) who accidentally comes into possession of a rocket-propelled backpack much coveted by the Nazis. With the aid of his mechanic pal (Alan Arkin), he gets it up and running, then uses it to foil a plot by a gang of vicious Nazi spies (is there any other kind?) led by Timothy Dalton. Jennifer Connelly is on hand as the love interest but the real fun here is when the Rocketeer takes off. There's also a nifty battle atop an airborne blimp. --Marshall Fine
All ten episodes from the sixth and final season of the TV drama about the lives and relationships of a group of young New Yorkers living in Manhattan's Upper East Side. In this season, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Chuck (Ed Westwick) make a pact to get back together only once they have each found success in their respective business ventures; Serena (Blake Lively) attempts to turn over a new leaf away from her friends; Dan (Penn Badgley) writes a second book which reveals some harsh truths a...
Stephen Elliott (James Franco) is enjoying a moment of fame and notoriety after publishing a celebrated memoir charting his difficult childhood at the mercy of a brutalising father (Ed Harriss). Going from busy book signings to sold-out talk-sessions he is riding the crest of a wave that has hitherto been so uncharacteristic of his life s journey so far. But what goes up must come down and when his estranged father resurfaces in his life, claiming that Stephen fabricated much of the dark childhood that that fuelled his best-selling book, it comes down with a crash. Adrift in the precarious grey area of memory, prescription medication and an onset of serious writers-block Stephen is guided by a new romance with the beautiful and enigmatic Lana (Amber Heard) and the chance to write about an infamous murder trial that reminds him more than a little of his own story.
Ed Harris plays the captain of a Cold War Soviet missile submarine who has secretly been suffering from seizures that alter his perception of reality. Forced to leave his wife and daughter, he is rushed into a classified mission, where he is haunted by his past and challenged by a rogue KGB group (led by David Duchovny) bent on seizing control of the ship's nuclear missile. With the fate of humanity in his hands, Harris discovers he's been chosen for this mission in the belief he would fail. ...
Oscar® winners Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem deliver unforgettable performances in Oscar® nominated Darren Aronofsky's praised opus. The film shattered audiences and critics around the world. It's been called gorgeous, distressing and utterly confounding (Empire) and Darren Aronofsky eclipses even his own darkest work (Time Out). Experience the visually arresting psychological thriller that will leave your heart pounding and your mind blown! Bonus Features: mother! The Downward Spiral The Makeup FX of mother!
Oscar® winners Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem deliver unforgettable performances in Oscar® nominated Darren Aronofsky's praised opus. The film shattered audiences and critics around the world. It's been called gorgeous, distressing and utterly confounding (Empire) and Darren Aronofsky eclipses even his own darkest work (Time Out). Experience the visually arresting psychological thriller that will leave your heart pounding and your mind blown! Bonus Features: mother! The Downward Spiral The Makeup FX of mother!
Bonnie and Clyde they ain't. George Segal and Jane Fonda star in this hilarious send-up of upper middle-class mores and the price people are willing to pay to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. Just as they're putting in a new pool at the house that has sunk them deep into debt Dick is fired from his high-paying job as an executive. Housewife Jane isn't too worried at first figuring she'll go to work and they'll just tighten their belts for awhile but it quickly becomes appa
He's the star of the show but he doesn't know. Jim Carrey wowed critics and audiences alike as unwitting Truman Burbank in this marvel of a movie from director Peter Weir about a man whose life is a non-stop TV show. Truman doesn't realise that his quaint hometown is a giant studio set run by a visionary producer/director/creator (Ed Harris) that folks living and working there are Hollywood actors that even his incessantly bubbly wife is a contract player. Gradually Truman ge
A unique crime thriller set on the unforgiving streets of London, iLL Manors follows six disparate lives, all struggling to survive the circles of violence that engulf them.
The inspiring true-life story of the relationship between a high-school football coach and a mentally-challenged man nicknamed "Radio" who together transform their South Carolina community.
They came they saw they changed their minds! A group of disillusioned townsfolk living in the West renounce their settlemen and decide to return to their homes in the East. Hiring a grizzled and eccentric wagonmaster (Candy) they set off on the trail...
Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, the creative troika behind Airplane!, scored another hit with this big-screen adaptation of their short-lived television show Police Squad!. Deadpan as ever, Leslie Nielsen revives his TV role of Lt Frank Drebin, the idiot with a detective's badge. The jokes come thick and fast, gathering a momentum that lasts until the final act. Ricardo Montalban is a perfect foil as a villain whose aquarium is invaded by Drebin during routine questioning, and George Kennedy is delightful in a self-parodying part as an earnest but obtuse lawman. There's a hilarious bit when Drebin--wearing a live police wire while going to the bathroom--can be overheard over the loudspeakers at a speech given by a flustered mayor (Nancy Marchand). And yes, that's OJ Simpson as a detective who ends up on the wrong side of numerous Drebin blunders. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
From legendary creator/writer Steven Bochco the multi award-winning Hill Street Blues is the original pioneering ' TV cop show' that blazed the trail for later ensemble hits such as NYPD Blue and L.A. Law. One of the most innovative and critically acclaimed series of its time this is the story of an overworked under-staffed police precinct in an anonymous inner city patterned after Chicago. 'Let's be careful out there.' So ends each roll-call session at the
Nastassja Kinski stars as Irena a beautiful young woman on the bridge of sexuality; she discovers love for the first time only to find that the explosive experience brings with it tragic consequences. The tremendous passion of this girl's first romantic love is so strong however it by-passes the chaos around her-including her brother's (Malcom McDowell) extraordinary demands - as it pushes her on to her own bizarre destiny. With a style as timeless as myth Cat People is an erotic
A struggling comedian gambles his uncertain future on a hare-brained scheme to ransom his way onto television by kidnapping a popular talk-show host.
UFO was Gerry Anderson's first live-action TV series after a decade of producing such children's animated classics as Stingray (1963) and Thunderbirds (1964). The premise of UFO, which ran for a single season of 26 episodes, was like a more serious version of Anderson's Captain Scarlet (1967)--in the near future of 1980 a hi-tech secret organisation, SHADO, waged covert war against mysterious alien attackers. Ed Bishop played the American head of SHADO--he had had previously featured in Captain Scarlet and Anderson's Doppelganger (1969)--though in all other respects this was a thoroughly British production. As with all Anderson series UFO evidenced remarkable technological inventiveness and groundbreaking production values, coupled with startling lapses in fundamental logic too numerous to list. Much more adult in story and content than earlier Anderson productions, and surprisingly dark with its pragmatic view of human nature and downbeat endings, the show now seems like a forerunner of The X Files and the equally short-lived Dark Skies (1996). Barry Gray's memorable theme and atmospheric music greatly enhanced the overall impact. Stylishly made, though terribly sexist by current standards and featuring eye-catching costumes more fitted for a camp fancy dress party than the front line of a futuristic war, this cult classic eventually evolved into Space 1999 (1975). On the DVD: this four-disc deluxe box features the first 13 episodes. The box set has five free postcards and a booklet offering interesting background on the programme. The first disc includes an alternate, more violent opening scene, while later discs feature text transcriptions and photographs from scenes cut due to TV running time restrictions. All discs provide extensive galleries of publicity and behind the scenes photos, as well as character profiles or a history of SHADO. The opening episode, "Identified", features a commentary by Gerry Anderson, in which he talks in general about the production of the series and Ed Bishop does the same for the episode "Sub Smash". From the animated menus onwards these DVDs have been beautifully designed and produced. The mono sound is exceptionally strong and the restored and remastered picture is almost unbelievably good for a 1970 TV show. With barely a flaw anywhere the episodes look so clear, colourful and detailed that they could have been filmed last week. --Gary S Dalkin
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