If you don't think Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) is one of the funniest movies of the 1990s, maybe you should be packed into a cryogenic time chamber and sent back to the decade whence you came. Perhaps it was the 1960s - the shagadelic decade when London hipster Austin Powers scored with gorgeous chicks as a fashion photographer by day, crime-fighting international man of mystery by night. Yeah, baby, yeah! But when Powers's arch nemesis, Dr. Evil, puts himself into a deepfreeze and travels via time machine to the late 1990s, Powers must follow him and foil Evil's nefarious scheme of global domination. Mike Myers plays dual roles as Powers and Dr. Evil, with Elizabeth Hurley as his present-day sidekick and karate-kicking paramour. A hilarious spoof of '60s spy movies, this colourful comedy actually gets funnier with successive viewings, making it a perfect home video for gloomy days and randy nights. Oh, behave! "I put the grrr in swinger, baby!" a deliciously randy Powers coos near the beginning of The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and if the imagination of Austin creator Mike Myers seems to have sagged a bit, his energy surely hasn't. This friendly, go-for-broke sequel finds our man Austin heading back to the '60s to keep perennial nemesis Dr. Evil (Myers again) from blowing up the world - and, more importantly, to get back his mojo, that man-juice that turns Austin into irresistible catnip for women, especially American spygirl Felicity Shagwell (a pretty but vacant Heather Graham). The plot may be irreverent and illogical, the jokes may be bad, and the scenes may run on too long, but it's all delivered sunnily and with tongue firmly in cheek. Myers teams Dr. Evil with a diminutive clone, Mini-Me (Verne J. Troyer), then pulls a hat trick by playing a third character, the obese and disgusting Scottish assassin Fat Bastard. Despite symptoms of sequelitis, Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) is must-see lunacy for devoted fans of the shagadelic franchise. Unfortunately, the law of diminishing returns is in full effect: for every big-name cameo and raunchy double-entendre, there's an equal share of redundant shtick, juvenile scatology, and pop-cultural spoofery. All is forgiven when the hilarity level is consistently high, and Mike Myers -returning here as randy Brit spy Austin, his nemesis Dr. Evil, the bloated Scottish henchman Fat Bastard, and new Dutch disco-villain Goldmember - thrives by favouring comedic chaos over coherent plotting. Once they've tossed Austin into the disco fever of 1975 (where he's sent to rescue his father, gamely played by Michael Caine), Myers and director Jay Roach seem vaguely adrift with old and new characters, including Verne Troyer's Mini-Me and pop star Beyoncé Knowles as Pam Grier-ish blaxpo-babe Foxxy Cleopatra. A bit tired, perhaps, but Powers hasn't lost his mojo.
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.
A high school senior tries to cheat death, after a premonition of a disastrous roller-coaster accident.
A young nurse downloads an app that claims to predict exactly when a person is going to die. When it tells her she only has three days to live, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out, all while a mysterious figure haunts her. Click Images to Enlarge
All's fair in love and war Childhood friends Jan and Diana couldn't be more different. Beautiful, fierce and unfathomably wealthy, Diana is the only daughter of a formidable businessman. Country boy Jan is a penniless orphan. The unlikely friends spend a charmed and unconventional childhood together, but Diana's highborn destiny soon pulls her away from her life in the West Country, and all that makes her happy. The underlying moral has a fairy tale simplicity: People can become anything they want if they try hard enough. The New York Times Blossoming in the 1920s and ending after WWII, the fierce friendship between children from opposite sides of the tracks softens to love until life interrupts, forcing them into conflict and a betrayal that will haunt both their futures. Will the unfathomable force of war finally offer them redemption? Based on two novels by R F Delderfield, the BBC series star Jenny Seagrove (Judge John Deed) and Kevin McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean, Downton Abbey) play the star crossed lovers, with an appearance from a then unknown Patsy Kensit as the young Diana. Written by prolific screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones' Diary, Mr Selfridge) with a sweeping soundtrack from Stanley Meyers (The Deer Hunter).
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).
Hang on tight for a suspense-filled action-thriller starring Oscar-winner Meryl Streep in a stunning performance that will take your breath away! Streep portrays a former river guide who arranges a white-water rafting trip to celebrate her son's birthday and salvage her shaky marriage. Her skills and courage are soon put to the test when three mysterious strangers threaten to turn their vacation into a living hell...
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
Meet high school student Sam who scrubs floors at a diner copes with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters and all the while dreams of meeting her prince. But maybe she has a Prince Charming already: her anonymouse-mail buddy who arranges to meet her at the Halloween dance. Can fairytales really come true?
Louise Lombard and Stella Gonet return as the Eliott sisters in the second series of this wonderful BBC costume drama. The House of Eliott is now the smartest most prestigious establishment in London and the Eliott sisters have to contend with the pressures of running their empire as well as the problems in their private lives. Beatrice's devotion to the business puts a tremendous strain on her marriage while Evie embarks upon a liaison which threatens to ruin both her life and th
The crushing pressures of social conformity have always been a central concern of Terence Davies' movies, so Edith Wharton's astringent novel of innocence destroyed makes an ideal choice for him. Set in the edgy, nouveau riche ambience of 1900s New York, the story traces the downfall of the lovely but imprudent Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson) in a world where hypocrisy and predatory vice lurk behind genteel facades. Wharton (whose later novel The Age of Innocence was brilliantly filmed by Martin Scorsese) has an acute feel for the subtleties of social nuance, the way insiders and outsiders are defined, and Davies skilfully renders these hints and insidious judgments in cinematic terms. Working to a tighter budget than most period dramas, he turns his limitations to advantage. The film's never in danger of being swamped by the gorgeousness of its sets and costumes, or turned into an exercise in easy nostalgia. The northern austerity of Glasgow effectively stands in for New York. Throwing off the mantle of Scully (from The X-Files), Gillian Anderson gives a powerful and wholly convincing performance as Lily, movingly despairing as her options are closed off one by one; and there's a fine portrayal of self-satisfied brutality from Dan Aykroyd as the chief agent of her downfall. --Philip Kemp
Denis Leary stars as the grown-up Dawg. A womanizing cheat of a man who misses his own grandmother's funeral due to his philandering. Nonetheless his grandmother leaves him a million dollars on one condition...Dawg must find 12 of the woman he has 'known' and apologise for his heartless behavior in the past. This takes Dawg on the journey of his life.
Claire Lyons the new girl from Orlando Florida has the nerve to show up at the exclusive Octavian Country Day school (OCD) wearing a style-challenged outfit and sensible shoes. She is clearly not Clique material (aka The Pretty Committee) according to super-cool Massie who wears a trendy new outfit every day; expert shopper and logo laden Alicia; diet shake queen and redhead beauty Dylan; and witty star athlete Kristen. Unfortunately Claire's family is staying in the guest house on Massie's huge family estate and the girls are stuck with each other. Claire's future looks worse than a Prada knockoff. But with a little scheming and a lot of vanilla lip gloss she just might stand a chance...
First born in the pages of The New Yorker, then translated into a hit Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical, the title character of Pal Joey had undergone quite a transformation by the time he hit the movies in 1957. He was a singer, rather than a dancer, but more importantly he'd had his rough edges sweetly softened; the callous heel dreamed up by novelist John O'Hara was more of a naughty scamp in the film version. However, Pal Joey remains delightfully watchable for two very good reasons: a terrific song score and a surplus of glittering star power. Frank Sinatra, at the zenith of his cocky, world-on-a-string popularity, glides through the film with breezy nonchalance, romancing showgirl Kim Novak (Columbia Pictures' new sex symbol) and wealthy widow Rita Hayworth (Columbia Pictures' former sex symbol). The film also benefits from location shooting in San Francisco, caught in the moonlight-and-supper-club glow of the late 50s. Sinatra does beautifully with the Rodgers and Hart classics "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "I Could Write a Book" and his performance of "The Lady Is a Tramp" (evocatively shot by director George Sidney) is flat-out genius. Sinatra's ease with hep-cat lingo nearly outdoes Bing Crosby at his best, and included in the DVD is a trailer in which Sinatra instructs the audience in "Joey's Jargon", a collection of hip slang words such as "gasser" and "mouse." If not one of Sinatra's very best movies, Pal Joey is nevertheless a classy vehicle that fits like a glove. --Robert Horton
Meryl Streep tried her hand at action films with this Curtis Hanson film and proved herself quite credible, bringing emotion as well as the willingness to kick butt. She plays a suburban mum and former white-water rafting guide who is taking her family on a raft trip for summer vacation. But overworked Dad (David Strathairn) can't make the trip so she and her son leave without him--and walk right into trouble. Killers on the run (Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly) abduct them and force Streep to take them down the most dangerous stretch of river to elude the cops. Hanson understands how to pace and construct this kind of action fodder but it's strictly formula stuff, enlivened only by the depth of Streep's portrayal and the viciousness of Bacon's character. --Marshall Fine
Played by Charlie Higson and developed from The Fast Show character who claimed ""Buying a car is like making love to a beautiful woman"" Swiss Toni will no doubt entertain enthral evoke laughter and most of all make you feel evolved. With his blonde quiff standing to attention and his grey shot-silk suit sparkling under the showroom lights Swiss Toni is the emperor of his car emporium. However Toni is being taught to drive by his long-suffering wife Ruth and is con
Parties are not always as fun as they look like they should be. Case in point: Groove. The distinction lies in the realm between watching people have fun and actually having fun. Set in San Francisco over the course of one night, this is the story of a rave, plain and simple. Preparation includes inhabiting an empty warehouse, finding the power supply and sending out coded invitations. The film kicks in as the party does, when people start arriving and the DJs start spinning. There's a nice moment early on when a cop shows up asking for the owner of the building, who is then taken on a tour of "a new Internet start-up". It becomes even funnier when the cop turns out to be smarter and more compassionate than anyone would expect. Writer-director Greg Harrison cleverly focuses the story on David, a novice who's never been to a rave before, which breaks the story out of what could have been the suffocating, insular world of rave culture. Unknowingly dosed by someone, David is adopted by Layla, an attractive but lonely East Coaster who has begun to regret her party lifestyle. Other characters include a guy who's just proposed to his girlfriend, a college teaching assistant selling his own manufactured drugs, a DJ who gets to meet his idol and a gay couple having trouble finding the party. If the characters turn out to be just character types, that's OK because the film itself floats by on its own high-octane enthusiasm. Groove is light and frothy entertainment with a beat you can dance to. --Andy Spletzer, Amazon.com
On the night before 9/11 a young man living in SoHo takes out an ad for a new roommate for his 2-bedroom apartment. On the day after 9/11 he has 5 messages on his machine from people who want to come see the apartment despite the fact that the neighborhood is practically shut down. Based on a critically acclaimed stage play the film explores life in New York after 9/11 through the struggles of one man as he tries to find a roommate and keep his emotional balance during the strange days that followed the devastating attack on the city.
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