Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: there are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics. Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch" but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humour and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease", he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range--the ever-cheerful, do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face--he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. --Jenny Brown
All hope was lost in a land where sunlight disappeared and the world became dreary grey. Until Despereaux Tilling was born that is!
Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, Kramer vs. Kramer remains as powerfully moving today as it was when released in 1979, simply because its drama will remain relevant for couples of any generation. Adapted by director Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, this is perhaps the finest, most evenly balanced film ever made about the failure of marriage and the tumultuous shift of parental roles. It begins when Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) bluntly informs her husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman) that she's leaving him, just as his advertising career is advancing and demanding most of his waking hours. Self-involvement is just one of the film's underlying themes, along with the search for identity that prompts Joanna to leave Ted with their first-grade son (Justin Henry), who now finds himself living with a workaholic parent he barely knows. Juggling his domestic challenge with professional deadlines, Ted is further pressured when his wife files for custody of their son. This legal battle forms the dramatic spine of the film, but its power is derived from Benton's flawlessly observant script and the superlative performances of his entire cast. Because Benton refuses to assign blame and deals fairly with both sides of a devastating dilemma, the film arrives at equal levels of pain, growth, and integrity under emotionally stressful circumstances. That gives virtually every scene the unmistakable ring of truth--a quality of dramatic honestly that makes Kramer vs. Kramer not merely a classic tearjerker, but one of the finest American dramas of its decade. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Featuring a montage of highlights from his weekly Friday night series, Graham Norton: For Your Pleasure is a splendid showcase of the slickly uproarious, impeccably vulgar chat show host who is part Frankie Howerd, part Dame Edna Everage, part Julian Clary, but mostly himself. He hosts this programme in elderly make-up, enjoying the ministrations of a young manservant. Norton fans will be familiar with the formula. Included here are quite outrageously lewd confessions from members of the audience, one of whom made love to a frozen chicken only to find his parents tucking into it the next day. But it's the guests who are the true staple of the show. Mostly women, mostly glamorous but just over the hill, and so willing to play good sports to Norton, they include Cher, Dolly Parton, Alison Moyet, Dolph Lundgren (who stoically endures Norton's flirtatious attentions) and David Ginola. The host doesn't so much interview his guests as regale them with surreal Internet clips of penguins tripping each other up or goats having heart attacks. They're also willing to dish a little dirt: Cybill Shepherd confides that "there was one thing Elvis didn't eat 'til he met me". Norton has priceless fun with Sophia Loren, who he has order a pizza named after her over the phone and play in a mock-EastEnders sketch, as well as introducing Martine McCutcheon to the delights of the Hot Cock, a microwaveable penis substitute. It's gross, camp, crude yet pulled off with great panache. On the DVD: Graham Norton: For Your Pleasure comes with a droll commentary, in which Norton comments on the curious English accent Gillian Anderson adopted for the show and pours scorn on the cheapness of the props. He's also interviewed at length in his dressing room, where he proudly shows off the bizarre, vulgar and kitsch items viewers send him. Also interviewed is resident audience member Betty, elderly butt of his jokes, who reveals that her newfound fame enabled her to jump the queue at her orthopaedic ward. --David Stubbs
This rousing romantic adventure Robert Redford plays ex-world champion cowboy reduced to huckstering breakfast food in a suit studded with flash lights. Jane Fonda is a chic sharp member of the electronic media a TV newswoman who'll do anything to get a good story. When Redford rides out of Las Vegas casino into the desert astride his sponsor's living symbol a multi-million dollar racehorse Jane is determined to discover why. She does one step ahead of a posse of pursuing police. But by the time they reach a remote rendezvous high in the Utah mountains she is in love with both the Cowboy and his convictions...
From the Academy Award®-winning° Coen brothers, The Big Lebowski is a hilariously quirky comedy about bowling, a severed toe, White Russians and a guy named The Dude. Jeff The Dude Lebowski doesn't want any drama in his life heck, he can't even be bothered with a job. But, he must embark on a quest with his bowling buddies after his rug is destroyed in a twisted case of mistaken identity. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro, experience the cultural phenomenon of The Dude in the #1 cult film of all time! (The Boston Globe)
Available for the first time on DVD. New York 1935: Billy Bathgate a naive Bronx-born teenager wangles his way into the gang of his hero crime boss Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman). Although the boy doesn't know it Schultz is approaching the end of his storied career and the Feds are closing in hoping to put him behind bars for income-tax evasion. The youth quickly learns about the endless violence treachery and double-crossing that characterize mob life such as Schultz's cold-
It's summer vacation, but the Pearson family kids are stuck at a boring lake house with their nerdy parents. That is until feisty, little, green aliens crash-land on the roof, with plans to conquer the house AND Earth! Using only their wits, courage and video game-playing skills, the youngsters must band together to defeat the aliens and save the world - but the toughest part might be keeping the whole thing a secret from their parents! Featuring an all-star cast including Ashley Tisdale, Andy Richter, Kevin Nealon and Tim Meadows, Aliens In The Attic is the most fun you can have on this planet!
When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet receives a life changing diagnosis the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance: suppressed emotions competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert quite possibly their last only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy. Inspired by and structured around Beethoven's Opus 131 String Quartet in C-sharp minor A Late Quartet pays homage to chamber music and the cultural world of New York.
Albert Markovsky is an environmental poet at odds with a slick department chain salesman, so he seeks the aid of existential detectives, the Jaffees, to help him deal with it.
An IRS Agent's world is turned upside-down when he begins to hear his life being chronicled by a narrator only he can hear.
The worldwide phenomenon of The Hunger Games continues to set the world on fire with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, which finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in District 13 after she literally shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and a nation moved by her courage. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 is directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Danny Strong and Peter Craig and produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the third in a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins that has over 65 million copies in print in the U.S. alone.
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Franklin J Schaffner's Papillon is quite possibly the definitive prison escape drama. Not as thrilling as The Great Escape, nor as emotionally cathartic as The Shawshank Redemption, its unflinching emphasis on the barbarism of "civilised" societies is nevertheless unparalleled. Significantly, the only characters to display any real kindness in this film are the social outcasts: the lepers and native Indians; everyone else has been corrupted and debased by the true villain, the penal system itself. Based on Henri Charrière' s heavily fictionalised "autobiography", the film's timeless themes of man's insatiable desire for freedom and the indomitability of the human spirit are thankfully not dependent for their impact on the source material's veracity. Dalton Trumbo's liberal-minded screenplay echoes the themes of his earlier script for Spartacus, and Schaffner's innate gift for epic cinema (this was made just two years after his great war biography Patton) is fully equal to the task of realising it on screen. The director's painterly eye for widescreen composition and his careful pacing impart a gravitas to proceedings even during the film's most squalid depictions of brutality, of which there are many emphasising the cheapness of human life among the convicts and their equally criminal prison guards in the penal colony of French Guiana. Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman form a remarkable screen pairing, with Hoffman outstanding as the pusillanimous Dega. McQueen magnificently overcomes his tough-guy persona in the extraordinary solitary confinement sequences as he is gradually reduced to a shambling, cockroach-eating wreck. Longtime collaborator Jerry Goldsmith, who had previously scored Schaffner's Planet of the Apes and Patton, attained yet another career high with his music. On the DVD: The anamorphic widescreen print of the original Panavision 2. 35:1 ratio looks fine without being as stunning as some more modern prints; the Dolby 5.1 audio does however do great service to Jerry Goldsmith's score, which can also be selected separately from the Audio Setup menu as an isolated track (note that there's no music at all in the first 20 minutes of the film). The 12-minute "Magnificent Rebel" featurette was made at the time of the film's release , and includes some fascinating footage of Henri Charrière touring the prison se t, reminiscing about his experiences and pontificating ("Society does not want free men, society wants conditioned men"). --Mark Walker
Rule Number One: All's Fair in Love and Law. Welcome to Suits the acclaimed original series set in the power hungry world of Manhattan corporate law - in a place where lying cheating and stealing are just part of the job. High flying closer Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and brilliant dropout Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) are the irrepressible duo pulling all the strings. After running out on a drug deal gone bad Mike finds himself face to face with Harvey in an interview for one of New York's most prestigious legal jobs. Tired of the endless stream of law school grads Harvey decides to take a chance on Mike after recognizing his unique genius f or the job. The unlikely team soon develop into a winning combination closing cases and raising the profile of the firm. But there's just one problem - for all his natural talent for the law Mike doesn't have a legal degree! As their caseload grows and the bond between them tightens slick Harvey and rookie Mike have to live on their wits cunning and legal acumen to stay in the game before their strictly confidential secret gets them disbarred for good. Can they keep bending the rules to practice law? Or will justice catch up with them before it's too late? Featuring all 28 episodes of Seasons One and Two plus deleted scenes and cast and crew commentaries Suits is full of entertainment so great it should be illegal! Special Features: Deleted Scenes Cast and Crew Commentaries
This playful, profound, and immensely moving docu-fantasia by KIRSTEN JOHNSON (Cameraperson) is a valentine to the director's beloved father, Dick Johnson, made as she has begun to face the reality of losing him to dementia. Using the language of cinema both to defy death and to confront it head-on, Johnson mischievously envisions an array of ways in which the man she loves most in the world might die, staging a series of alternately darkly comic and colorfully imaginative tableaux interwoven with raw vérité footage capturing the pair's tender but increasingly fragile bond. Tackling taboo questions of aging, mortality, and grief with subversive humour and surprising grace, Dick Johnson Is Dead is ultimately a triumphant celebration of life, and of the gentle, funny, unforgettable man at its centre. Long live Dick Johnson. Special Edition Features New 2K digital master, approved by director Kirsten Johnson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New audio commentary featuring Johnson, cowriter and editor Nels Bangerter, and documentary sound recordist Judy Karp New conversation among Johnson and her fellow producers Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness and coproducer Maureen A. Ryan New interview with sound designer Pete Horner New programme featuring Johnson in conversation with fellow filmmakers about redefining what a documentary can be Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing English descriptive audio PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer
A highflying adventure from the magic of Steven Spielberg, HOOK stars Robin Williams as a grownup Peter Pan and Dustin Hoffman as the infamous Captain Hook. Joining the fun is Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell, Bob Hoskins as the pirate Smee, and Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy Darling, who must convince middleaged lawyer Peter Banning that he was once the legendary Peter Pan. And so the adventure begins a new, with Peter off to Neverland to save his two children from Captain Hook. Along the way, he rediscovers the power of imagination, friendship and magic. A classic tale updated for children of all ages, HOOK was nominated for five 1991 Academy Awards® including Best Visual Effects in 1991. Features: 11 NeverBeforeSeen Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer
Leave nothing to chance. HBO presents this provocative original series set in the worlds of horseracing and gambling. Created and executive produced by David Milch (Deadwood), legendary director Michael Mann (Heat, Public Enemies) and Carolyn Strauss, this one-hour drama series centers on Chester 'Ace' Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), an intuitive tough guy with a long history in dirty pool. Recently released after three years in prison, Ace and his longtime chauffeur (Dennis Farina) craft a complex plan to reverse the sagging fortunes of a California racetrack. Meanwhile, four dissolute gamblers at the track pool their resources in an effort to win an elusive Pick Six bet while a weathered trainer (Nick Nolte) sees a second chance in an untested thoroughbred. The stellar cast also includes: John Ortiz, Richard Kind, Kevin Dunn, Jason Gedrick, Ritchie Coster, Ian Hart, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon and Jill Hennessy.
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