Television's number-one drama continues to deliver as LVPD's brilliant forensics team encounters their greatest challenges yet in the stunning ninth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Watch and learn as the team wrestles with death destiny and inner demons. This must-own collection includes the historic departure of Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and the much-anticipated arrival of Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne).
Drugstore Cowboy was the breakaway change of pace and success for a number of those involved in its making. Principally, Gus Van Sant became a director of immediate notability winning multiple international Festival awards and acclaim. It also allowed Matt Dillon to stretch his acting abilities well outside of the teen rebel pigeonhole he'd become associated with in the 1980s and provided far meatier roles for Kelly Lynch and Heather Graham. Adapted from James Fogle's novel, the broad strokes of the plot are simple enough; a junkie foursome led by Dillon's headstrong Bob, move around the Pacific Northwest in the early 70s scoring pharmaceutical drugs in a series of robberies. The finer details, created with the sense of family developing between the principals, and how they are not portrayed as either victims or "bad" criminals. Van Sant occasionally slips into the surreal depicting Bob's drug-addled thinking like a James Bond title sequence, along with a questionable in-joke cameo with Williams S Burroughs, dish out advice and temptation to Bob. In one simple way, it's little more than a road movie. Yet on another level there's a cautionary tale of the life of a junkie that has relevance well beyond the film's timeframe. On the DVD: A stereo track and a grainy print in 1.85:1 usually does a movie little favours, but here they add to the overall gritty atmosphere surprisingly well. The only extra is unfortunately the original trailer. --Paul Tonks
A lively mixture of action and comedy with George Formby starring as a chimney sweep's assistant who has dreams of winning the Isle Of Man TT Races.
This gentle comedy almost seems like something out of Hollywood's Golden Age, a movie that might have been made by a talented contract director, perhaps featuring Don Ameche and Claudette Colbert. But in fact One Fine Day stars George Clooney as an investigative columnist for a New York newspaper and Michelle Pfeiffer as an architect. Both single parents, the two meet and bicker and develop a relationship over the course of a day while their young children play together. Michael Hoffman (Restoration) directs with a good sense of what's funny about harried caretakers and kids who do whatever they want to do. The story stretches out of shape a bit when Clooney's character has to rally to prove some point of corruption at City Hall; nobody involved seems quite up to making that subplot believable, but all that really matters about this very nice movie is the winning love story. --Tom Keogh
A wise-cracking hipster and a nerd are sent to a military academy to be straightened out. But the two manage to turn the academy inside out with their comic capers and war games.
First screened on BBC2 in 1978, at a time when the standing of The Beatles was at its lowest, The Rutles--All You Need is Cash is the original and (pace This is Spinal Tap) best "rockumentary" spoof. Codirector Eric Idle was then enjoying success with Rutland Weekend Television, while his script displays the same feeling for the inane non-sequitur evident in his Monty Python work. The band's progress from "penniless, untalented nobodies" to "rich, untalented somebodies" is vividly brought to life--with dialogue adapted from actual Beatles interviews and newsreels, and a roster of songs sounding uncannily close to Beatles originals thanks to "Nasty" Neil Innes' genius for pastiche. Interviews with a suitably primed Mick Jagger and Paul Simon give added realism, as do cameos from George Harrison (one-time Beach Boy Rikki Fataar plays his Rutles double Stig) and Stones guitarist Ron Wood. Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi make characterful, pre-Blues Brothers appearances. On the DVD: The Rutles--All You Need is Cash has come up well in this DVD transfer. The fullscreen 4:3 ratio picture and mono sound wear their age well, enhanced by the extra scenes included. There's further interview material with Jagger and Simon, and a specially recorded, though wholly unfunny, DVD introduction from Idle, who also contributes a running commentary. All in all, this is an ideal way to get to know, or renew acquaintance with, a film that brings the swinging 60s back down to earth. --Richard Whitehouse
Director William Wellman (The Big Heat) offered up this 1949 treatment of the Battle of the Bulge, which won Oscars for best screenplay and best cinematography. The film concentrates on the camaraderie and the divisions between the troops as they prepare for the big offensive. Told in a taut narrative, the men of the 101st, led by Van Johnson, wait out the winter in the Ardennes forest to confront the German army in what would be the last major offensive of World War II. The men are demoralised and trapped, with no hope of support from the Allies as they are forced to band together and defend their position. A classically assembled war drama that nevertheless manages to be both engrossing and entertaining, Battleground is a mainstay of the genre. --Robert Lane
Fabulously successful LA divorce attorney Miles Massey is missing something from life when he meets much-divorced Marilyn Rexroth. Cue the mother of all battles of the sexes as the two square off, personally and professionally.
A group of five mountaineers are climbing in the remote Scottish Highlands when they make a horrific discovery: a young girl buried in a small chamber, with only a small air pipe to the surface keeping her alive.
Stylish cool incisive - protective of his loving wife 'Steve' - Paul Temple was an exemplary crime writer turned crime solver as played by Francis Matthews in the acclaimed and much loved TV series. Often filmed at glamorous locations throughout Europe Temple operated like a cross-between Miss Marple and Poirot with the slick cutting-edge style of The Saint. The Complete Paul Temple Collection represents the surviving colour episodes of this rich series along with the five final episodes available only in black and white. The collection reveals a time capsule of 1970s fashion in clothes cars décor - and crime presenting an unmissable collection of mysteries that must be solved; and there's only one crime writer who can do it! Special Features: Being Paul Temple An Interview with Francis Matthews The Women of Paul Temple Fashion Statements Francis Durbridge Biography Selected Cast Filmographies Subtitles
When paratroopers begin to go missing during routine jumps, investigators are sent to shed some light on the mystery. However, things get complicated very quickly when an alien invasion plot is discovered. This little-known 60s British science fiction flick from the Tigon, the company that bought us Witchfinder General, The Sorcerers, and Blood on Satan's Claw, offers a uniquely UK take on the flying saucer phenomenon. Featuring George Sanders (Village of the Damned) and Maurice Evans (The Planet of the Apes), it's a must for all collectors of cult classics from good old uncanny Britannia
Get all three classic films in this fantastic double disc box set. Smokey And The Bandit: What we have here is a total lack of respect for the law! 'Smokey and the Bandit' is one of the all-time big box office hits. Burt Reynolds is the Bandit a king-of-the-road trucker hero who has accepted a challenge to pick up a truckload of Coors beer in Texarkana the closest place it can be legally sold and bring it back to Atlanta in 28 hours. The reward? $80 000. The resul
Comedy icon Penelope Keith stars as Jean Price a newly elected Labour MP who finds her cherished principles severely tested in the unforgiving often murky world of Westminster. Jean s ambition withstands the dreadful facilities and uncivilised hours that might drive a lesser woman out of the job with the wife and mother managing to hold her own amid the swollen egos rampant chauvinism and Machiavellian scheming of the political elite; husband Geoff provides much-needed moral support. Also featuring Ruth Rendell Mysteries star George Baker as Tory adversary Sir Godfrey Eagan and Garfield Morgan as Labour whip Norman this cleverly scripted Thames comedy was directed by BAFTA Award winner John Howard Davies whose high-profile credits include The Good Life Fawlty Towers and Mr Bean.
Fallen women? Does it mean they've hurt their knees? After a decade of soul-saving in Africa Charles Fortescue is asked to minister to the ladies of the night in 1906 London. So Fortescue feeds them shelters them and not infrequently provides them a bed: his! A naive man of the cloth becomes a man of the sheets in this playfully naughty yet always tasteful comedy that stars Monty Python's Michael Palin (who also wrote the script) as Fortescue and features a colourful array of cockeyed characters: a blissful airhead (Phoebe Nicholls) a lusty mission sponsor (Maggie Smith) a bewildered butler (Michael Hordern) an earthy bishop (Denholm Elliott) a cantankerous John Bull (Trevor Howard) and more. Jolly good fun!
Mel Brooks scored his first commercial hit with this raucous Western spoof starring the late Cleavon Little as the newly hired (and conspicuously black) sheriff of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart teams up with deputy Jim (Gene Wilder) to foil the railroad-building scheme of the nefarious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). The simple plot is just an excuse for a steady stream of gags, many of them unabashedly tasteless, that Brooks and his wacky cast pull off with side-splitting success. The humour is so juvenile and crude that you just have to surrender to it; highlights abound, from Alex Karras as the ox-riding Mongo to Madeline Kahn's uproarious send-up of Marlene Dietrich as saloon songstress Lili Von Shtupp. Adding to the comedic excess is the infamous campfire scene involving a bunch of hungry cowboys, heaping servings of baked beans and, well, you get the idea. --Jeff Shannon
A model for dozens of action films to follow, this box-office hit from 1967 refined a die-hard formula that has become overly familiar, but it's rarely been handled better than it was in this action-packed World War II thriller. Lee Marvin is perfectly cast as a down-but-not-out army major who is offered a shot at personal and professional redemption. If he can successfully train and discipline a squad of army rejects, misfits, killers, prisoners, and psychopaths into a first-rate unit of specialised soldiers, they'll earn a second chance to make up for their woeful misdeeds. Of course, there's a catch: to obtain their pardons, Marvin's band of badmen must agree to a suicide mission that will parachute them into the danger zone of Nazi-occupied France. It's a hazardous path to glory, but the men have no other choice than to accept and regain their lost honor. What makes The Dirty Dozen special is its phenomenal cast including Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, George Kennedy, Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, Jim Brown, Clint Walker, Trini Lopez, Robert Ryan, and others. Cassavetes is the Oscar-nominated standout as one of Marvin's most rebellious yet heroic men, but it's the whole ensemble--combined with the hard-as-nails direction of Robert Aldrich--that makes this such a high-velocity crowd pleaser. The script by Nunnally Johnson and Lukas Heller (from the novel by E.M. Nathanson) is strong enough to support the all-star lineup with ample humour and military grit, so if you're in need of a mainline jolt of testosterone, The Dirty Dozen is the movie for you. --Jeff Shannon
A visually sumptuous and quintessentially British production, Death on the Nile won an Oscar® for Anthony Powell's costume design and introduced Peter Ustinov in his first portrayal as the Belgian detective Poirot. Abroad a luxury Nile steamer a mystery assassin takes the life of an heiress. EXTRAS Making Of Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell Interview with Dame Angela Lansbury Interview with producer Richard Goodwin Behind the scenes stills gallery Costume designs stills gallery
Twenty years before the Farrelly Brothers turned raunch into acceptable film comedy, the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker exploited it first. The college threesome made it big with Airplane in 1980, but this 1977 cinematic version of their live theatre show was the ground zero for their talents. Kentucky Fried Movie is a mish-mash of sketches, fake commercials, and parodies with no central theme--except their crudeness and laugh-out-loud humour. Highlights include a commercial for "Scot Free", a board game based on the Kennedy assassination conspiracy; "The Wonderful World of Sex", in which a couple goes through foreplay with a self-help narrator instructing them step-by-step; and a 20-minute spoof of Bruce Lee films entitled "A Fistful of Yen". Brazen to a fault, the movie will reach for any punchline, no matter how crude (and those who flocked to the film's initial release looking for R-rated sex will remember the final sketch and the infamous trailer for "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble".) Directed by then-unknown John Landis (who went on to make The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London) on a shoestring budget, the film has aged. But crassness, when this funny, is forever. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com
French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet were filming a documentary about a 'typical' New York firefighter on the fateful day September 11th 2001 when two planes hit the World Trade Centre. The brothers were able to film the courageous actions of the firefighters as they went about their business in the lobby of Tower One.
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