After the technical achievement of Babe, it was almost inevitable that "talking animal" effects would be applied to the serious themes of George Orwell's Animal Farm. A bitterly satirical indictment of Stalinist Russia and the failure of Communism, Orwell's 1945 novel is a time-honoured classic, so it's only fitting that this TNT production remains largely faithful to Orwell's potent narrative. A showcase for the impressive creations of Jim Henson's Creature Shop (where director John Stephenson was a veteran supervisor), the film employs animatronic creatures and computer animation to tell the story of uprising, unity, and tragic rebellion among the farm animals.The politics of "Animalism" are initially effective, ousting enemy humans according to rules ordained by Old Major, the barnyard pig whose death sets the stage for the corruptive influence of the pig Napoleon, who cites superior intelligence as his right to dominance. This tyrannical reign destroys the farm's stability, and the film--decidedly not for young children--preserves Orwell's dark, cynical view of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Particularly effective is a propaganda film shown to the barnyard collective, and certain scenes--while not as impressive as the Babe films--powerfully convey the force of Orwell's story through animal "performance". Animal Farm occasionally falters in its emotional impact (the fate of the horse Boxer should be heart-rending, and it isn't), but it's certainly blessed with an elite voice cast, including Peter Ustinov, Patrick Stewart, Pete Postlethwaite, Julia Ormond, Kelsey Grammer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Paul Scofield, and Ian Holm. Not the masterpiece it might've been, this is nevertheless a worthy representation of Orwell's novel. --Jeff Shannon
Sweeney! Hard-bitten Flying Squad officer Jack Regan (Thaw) gets embroiled in a deadly political plot when an old friend asks him to investigate the death of his girlfriend. Framed on a drink-driving charge and suspended from the force with his partner and best mate George Carter (Waterman) unable to help Jack must rely on his wits to evade deadly government hitmen and expose the real villain... Sweeney 2 Regan and Carter head a n investigation into a series of British bank raids by a team of well-armed villains who are flying in from the continent.
It's only a state of mind. Jonathan Pryce stars as Sam Lowry in this surrealistic spectacle about a daydreaming bureaucrat trapped in a future dystopia where love is forbidden from interfering with efficiency. But with the help of an underground superhero (Robert De Niro) and a beautiful mystery woman (Kim Greist) Sam learns to soar to freedom on the wings of his untamed imagination or so he thinks. Acclaimed filmmaker Terry Gilliam directs with an acerbic wit and poet's eye that dazzles like never before in glorious high
A big-budget, mega-event epic motion picture that revolves around an abrupt climate change that has cataclysmic consequences for the planet.
The second in the series of The Borrowers based on the books by Mary Norton. The Borrowers are a family of tiny people who live under the stairs in an old house populated by the larger version of the human being. One day a tiny member of the family befriends a member of the 'bigger' household...
The come-from-behind winner of the 1981 Oscar for Best Picture, Chariots of Fire either strikes you as either a cold exercise in mechanical manipulation or as a tale of true determination and inspiration. The heroes are an unlikely pair of young athletes who ran for Great Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympics: devout Protestant Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a divinity student whose running makes him feel closer to God, and Jewish Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a highly competitive Cambridge student who has to surmount the institutional hurdles of class prejudice and anti-Semitism. There's delicious support from Ian Holm (as Abrahams's coach) and John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson as a couple of Cambridge fogies. Vangelis's soaring synthesised score, which seemed to be everywhere in the early 1980s, also won an Oscar. Chariots of Fire was the debut film of British television commercial director Hugh Hudson (Greystoke) and was produced by David Puttnam. --Jim Emerson
The Borrowers are a family of tiny people who live under the stairs in an old house populated by the larger version of the human being. One day a tiny member of the family befriends a member of the 'bigger' household... Based on the novel by Mary Norton.
A remake of one of Conan Doyle's most famous and popular Sherlock Holmes stories. Is Sir Charles Baskerville's strange death the result of demonic forces and a family curse? Sherlock Holmes searches for a more earthly explanation when Sir Henry Baskerville receives a death threat upon his arrival from America. In this eerie mystery hounds are howling on the moors... a killer is on the loose... and Holmes is on the case.
Following the success of both The Count of Monte-Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask, ITC re-teamed with Norman Rosemont Productions to produce what is arguably the definitive version of Victor Hugo's classic tale of injustice and redemption. Richard Jordan gives a career-best performance as the courageous Jean Valjean, alongside Anthony Perkins as the despicable Javert and a star-studded cast that includes John Gielgud, Ian Holm, Celia Johnson, Christopher Guard and Flora Robson. This classic drama is featured here as both a widescreen High Definition remaster of the theatrical version and the extended fullscreen version that was shown on ITV.Jean Valjean, cruelly sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread, is finally free from captivity and intent on revenge. Persuaded to turn the other cheek he adopts a new identity and tries his best to become an honest man, though a chance encounter with the former Inspector of Prisoners sets both men on a path towards their shared, bloody fate.Product FeaturesBrand-new interviews with actors Christopher Guard and Timothy Morand, and 1st assistant director Bill WestleyTheatrical TrailerTextless MaterialImage GalleryLimited edition booklet written by Barry Forshaw
All the dreams you've ever had.... and not just the good ones. The first of three Terry Gilliam films collectively referred to as his Trilogy of the Imagination (along with Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) Time Bandits is a wonderfully inventive fantasy with a massive cult following and universal appeal. A sleeper hit in 1981 the film grossed well over eight times its million budget. Co-written by Gilliam and fellow Monty Python veteran Michael Palin (who also appears in the film) Time Bandits tells the story of Kevin (Craig Warnock) a young imaginative boy kidnapped by a band of mischievous dwarves who have stolen a map of the universe detailing the locations of holes in the space-time continuum from the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson). The dwarves with Kevin in tow set off on a bizarre journey back and forth though time with the intention of looting the fortunes of history's rich and famous. Along the way they meet the likes of King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) Robin Hood (John Cleese) and Napoleon (Ian Holm) among others and even get to sail on the Titanic moments prior to its unfortunate encounter with an iceberg. Unknowingly the diminutive bandits are being watched by the spectre of Evil Genius (David Warner) who wants the map for his own typically wicked purposes...
Beautiful Joe is a well-intentioned film. The problem is that it tries for both comedy and drama, and succeeds in neither. Amiable Irishman Joe (Billy Connolly), after one of the worst days imaginable, decides to leave his adopted New York home and seek adventure. Unfortunately, he runs into Hush (Sharon Stone) and gets "Far More Adventure than He Bargained For". Stone's character is the standard beautiful-but-messed-up-woman-who-needs-rescuing that is for some mystifying reason supposed to be appealing. And yes, of course she has a mute son who just might speak if only he had the right reason. Stone is "stretching" herself here, and is clearly eager to play a character: she mugs, she drawls, she wiggles and she cries. Not a scrap of scenery escapes her gullet; at times her attempts at comedy actually become sort of upsetting. Ally McBeal's Gil Bellows turns in a similarly inept and cartoonish "comic" performance. Beautiful Joe's one saving grace is Connolly, who manages to rise above his fellow cast members and the bizarre editing to turn in a charming, dignified performance. --Ali Davis, Amazon.com
Collection of seven films from Canadian writer/director Atom Egoyan. Includes EXOTICA, THE ADJUSTER, FAMILY VIEWING, THE SWEET HEREAFTER, CALENDAR, NEXT OF KIN and SPEAKING PARTS.
Director Ridley Scott's new cut of his 1979 sci-fi classic about a lifeform that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. In space no-one can hear you scream.
Feature film and documentary. The Homecoming: This is a superlative piece of 20th century drama transferred to the screen with great skill. The screenplay differs little from the original play but Peter Hall uses the camera to create new imagery and symbolism. It is clear that Hall and his cast were completely in tune with this piece as the acting is superb. Paul Rogers is the clan 's malevolent patriarch and Ian Holm is the amusing but insidious Lenny while Vivien Merchant 's Ruth is both hypnotic and captivating. This is Harold Pinter 's masterpiece perfectly brought to the big screen by Sir Peter Hall. Pinter's Progress: A personal take on working with Harold Pinter from intimate conversations with actors directors and writers on their experiences of the man and his work. One of the truly great modern playwrights Harold Pinter passed away on Christmas Eve 2008 leaving behind a great legacy of work in theatre and film.
Smart sharp witty and always devilishly unpredictable the rich multi-layered films of Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan have shown him to be one of the world’s most enticing and engrossing post-modern auteurs. Investigating the complex nature of social and psychological disintegration through black humour fantasy tragedy and the pervasive yet intangible presence of the filmic medium itself his labyrinthine body of work has provided an inexhaustible supply of riches for viewers across the world. Here in this extensive box set some of his most celebrated films have been brought together to celebrate his unique cinematic vision and extend its reach to new audiences.
The Abyss A civilian oil-rig crew is recruited to conduct a search-and-rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver (Ed Harris) soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey over 25 000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it... Aliens In this action-packed sequel to Alien Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley the only survivor from mankind's first encounter with the
Woody Allen's 17th film. Gena Rowland plays Marion, an academic who rents a flat in which to write a book on philosophy and becomes intrigued by conversations she overhears from a psychologist's office next door. One patient, Hope (Mia Farrow), has a particular effect on Marion forcing her to re-think many of her assumptions about her own life: her unhappy marriage; her feelings for another man (Gene Hackman); and her relationships with her best friend (Sandy Dennis) and brother (Harris Yulin).
In the first chapter of the terrifying Alien saga, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo answers a distress signal from a desolate planet, only to discover a deadly life form that breeds within human hosts. Now the crew members must fight not only for their own survival, but for the survival of all mankind.
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