Banana Splits: Season 1
John Wayne hams it up as a one-eyed, broken-down marshal in this 1969 adaptation of Charles Portis's bestselling novel. Kim Darby plays the formal-speaking adolescent who goes to Wayne for help tracking down her father's killer, and singer Glen Campbell straps on his guns to join the quest. Directed by old lion Henry Hathaway (Rawhide), True Grit is largely a showcase for Wayne (who finally won an Oscar), but it is also a decent Western with a particularly stirring final act. --Tom Keogh
Disney's 1994 animated feature, The Lion King, was a huge smash in cinemas and continues to enjoy life in an acclaimed stage production. The story finds a lion cub, son of a king, sent into exile after his father is deposed by a jealous uncle. The little hero finds his way into the "circle of life" with some new friends and eventually comes back to reclaim his proper place. Characters are very strong, vocal performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific, the jokes are aimed as much (if not more) at adults than kids, the animation is sometimes breathtaking and the songs from Tim Rice and Elton John, accompanied by a colourful score, are more palatable than in many recent Disney features. --Tom Keogh On the DVD: The Lion King Special Edition is a superb restoration: take a look at the serviceable but dull film clips incorporated in the plethora of extras and compare them to the vivid gorgeousness of the film presentation. This special edition also adds a 90-second song ("Morning Report") that originated in the lavish stage musical. To Disney's credit, the original theatrical version is also included, both restored and featuring two 5.1 soundtracks: Dolby Digital and a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, which does sound brighter. As with the Disney Platinum line, everything is thrown into the discs, except an outsider's voice (the rah-rahs of Disney grow tiresome at times). The excellent commentary from the directors and producer, originally on the laser disc, is hidden under the audio set-up menu. The second disc is organised by 20-minute-ish "journeys" tackling the elements of story, music and so on, including good background on the awkward Shakespearean origins at Disney where it was referred as "Bamlet". The most interesting journey follows the landmark stage production, and the kids should be transfixed by shots of the real African wildlife in the animal journey. Three deleted segments are real curios, including an opening lyric for "Hakuna Matata". Most set-top DVD games are usually pretty thin (DVD-ROM is where it's at), but the Safari game is an exception--the kids should love the roaring animals (in 5.1 Surround, no less). One serious demerit is the needless and complicated second navigation system that is listed by continent but just shows the same features reordered. --Doug Thomas
Laurel and Hardy classics packaged into one fantastic box set ensuring hour upon hour of chuckles. Laurel and Hardy Way out WestPlus Shorts: Way Out West (Black and Whiite) Way out West (Colourised) One Good Turn (Black and Whiite) One Good Turn (Colourised) Thicker Than Water (Black and Whiite) Thicker Than Water (Colourised) Regarded as the most popular of Laurel and Hardy's feature-length films - not least for the song The Trail of the Lonesome Pine -Way out West sees Stan and Ollie visiting the town of Brushwood Gulch to deliver the deed of a gold mine only to be deceived by James Finlayson playing a villainous saloon-keeper. A great favourite among Laurel and Hardy admirers Finlayson is featured elsewhere in this compilation through the classic Laurel and Hardy shorts One Good Turn and Thicker than Water. Laurel and Hardy the Bohemian GirlRelated Shorts: The Bohemian Girl (Black and Whiite) The Bohemian Girl (Colourised) On The Loose (Black and Whiite) That's My Wife (Black and Whiite) Along Came Auntie (Black and Whiite) A classic full-length Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Girl is based on the opera by Michael W. Balfe. Stan and Ollie play gypsies in Europe as it was centuries ago earning their living by an ingenious means of picking pockets. When Mrs. Hardy disappears with her lover they become guardians to a small girl who is really the daughter of an aristocrat. The Bohemian Girl was the last Laurel and Hardy film to feature Thelma Todd who had worked with the team since their first talkie in 1929. This compilation includes one of her starring short comedies with ZaSu Pitts On the Loose to which Laurel and Hardy contribute a guest appearance. Also included is That's My Wife a classic silent Laurel and Hardy film that at one stage was going to be reworked as part of The Bohemian Girl plus the earlier Hardy solo film that inspired its plot Along Came Auntie. Laurel and Hardy Saps at SeaMusic Shorts: Saps At Sea (Black and Whiite) Saps at Sea (Colourised You're Too Darn Tootin' (Black and Whiite) Below Zero (Black and Whiite) Below Zero (Colourised) Tiemblay Titubea (Black and Whiite) A collection of classic Laurel and Hardy including the feature-length comedy Saps at Sea - Laurel and Hardy's last film for Hal Roach - in which Stan's trombone-playing aggravates Ollie's newly-acquired allergy to the sound of horns! Continuing the musical connection are two short comedies in which our heroes struggle to earn a living as musicians: Below Zero - presented in both its original version and in its rare Spanish-language edition with Laurel and Hardfy speaking their own dialogue - and one of their best silents You're Darn Tootin'. Laurel and Hardy Sons of the DesertRelated Shorts: Sons of the Desert (Black and Whiite) Sons of the Desert (Colourised) We Faw Down (Black and Whiite) Their Purple Movement On The Wrong Trek A classic feature film - regarded by many critics as Laurel and Hardy's best - plus the silent short that inspired it another attempt by Stan and Ollie to escape their wives plus Laurel and Hardy returning a guest appearance with Charley Chase. In Sons of the Desert Stan and Ollie attend the Chicago convention of their lodge but tell their wives they are going on an ocean voyage for the sake of Ollie's health - then discover that the ship has sunk! The silent short We Faw Down anticipates this story with Stan and Ollie claiming to have attended a stage show - unaware that the theatre has burned down. In Their Purple Moment Stan and Ollie go out for an evening without their wives only to discover that their money has been replaced with useless coupons. Sons of the Desert include a guest contribution from fellow-Roach comedian Charley Chase; On the Wrong Trek sees Laurel and Hardy returning the compliment in one of Chase's own films.
Animal Attraction (aka Someone Like You): Ashley Judd brings irresistible fun to this sassy romantic comedy about a young woman looking for Mr. Right... in all the wrong places! Jane Good (Judd) is a talk show talent scout whose shaky love life drives her to study the curious mating habits of the male animal. Dizzyingly sexy complications ensue when her research turns her into a revered love guru -- and lands her smack in-between hunky heartthrobs Hugh Jackman and Greg Kinnear. The Truth About Cats And Dogs: Abby a gutsy and witty veterinarian who hosts her own radio talk show is anything but confident when it comes to love. A petite brunette she describes herself as tall and blonde when Brian a caller who is smitten with her radio persona asks her on a date. She talks her tall blonde neighbour Noelle into assuming her identity setting off an escalating series of hilarious and romantic crises. Never Been Kissed: Josie Geller is ready for a change. As the youngest copy editor at a big-city newspaper she longs to be taken seriously as a journalist. But while Josie excels as the nerdy brain at work her personal life is another story still plagued by her teenager reputation as a 'geek to the core' Josie is a 25-year-old who has never ever had a serious love relationship - she has never really been kissed. Against all odd Josie lands her first assignment as a reporter: she must go undercover posing as a student at a local high school. The situation proves hilarious as Josie attempts to juggle her story assignment a potential new love and the never-ending dramas of adolescence.
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.
This remake of the popular heartwarming Christmas classic captures all the joy of the original version. A little girl who has been raised not to believe in fantasy fairy tales and Santa Claus meets a department-store Santa who claims he's the real Kris Kringle. Her mother insists that it can't be true--that Kris is only a nice old man who isn't all too sane. But soon things start happening that may make both of them change their minds... and have faith in magic once again.
Alone and outnumbered they had one thing in their favor... the American dream. Blazing action and spectacle are on the menu as battle-toughened sergeant John M Stryker (John Wayne) prepares a group of soldiers for action in the Pacific. The men have got their biggest test ahead on Iwo Jima where they have to inch their way up Mt. Suribachi under constant Japanese fire.
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy was killed, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Take a journey to find out in the genre-busting 11.22.63, an epic new nine-hour event series from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions (Person of Interest, Fringe, Lost), acclaimed international author Stephen King, executive producer/writer Bridget Carpenter (The Red Road, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) and Warner Bros. Television. Additionally, Academy Award® winner Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, State of Play) will direct and executive produce the first two hours of the series. Based upon the bestselling novel written by King and starring a terrific ensemble cast embodying deeply complex characters, 11.22.63 hurtles viewers deep into the unpredictable darkness of the American dream. James Franco stars as Jake Epping, a high school teacher at a loss with his life, who wants to make a difference and do something meaningful. Encouraged by his ailing friend (Chris Cooper), Jake journeys back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The story transports audiences into the world of 1960s Texas as Jake explores the multiple mysteries surrounding the alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. But Jake's mission faces threats not only from Oswald, but from Sadie, a beautiful librarian he falls in love with, and from the Past itself... which doesn't want to be changed. And if the Past doesn't want to be changed, it will push back -- often violently. With something for everyone, this edge-of-your seat mystery offers an epic and emotional thrill ride unlike any other. Episodes The Rabbit Hole - Part 1 The Rabbit Hole - Part 2 The Kill Floor Other Voices, Other Rooms The Eyes of Texas The Truth Happy Birthday, Lee Harvey Oswald Soldier Boy The Day in Question
Tony Kushner's prize-winning play Angels in America became the defining US theatrical event of the 1990s, an astonishing mix of philosophy, politics, and vibrant gay soap opera that summed up the Reagan era for an entire generation of theatre-goers. Post-9/11 would seem to be too late for a film version--philosophy and politics don't always age well--but this 2003 HBO adaptation, ably directed by Mike Nichols, provides a time capsule of the '80s and reveals the deep emotional subcurrents that will give the play lasting power. The story centers around Prior Walter (Justin Kirk) and Louis Ironson (Ben Shenkman), a gay couple that falls apart when Prior grows ill as a result of AIDS. But cancer is not the only thing invading Prior's life: He begins to have religious visions of an angel (Emma Thompson) announcing that he is a prophet. Louis, who doesn't cope well with disease and suggestions of mortality, leaves and starts a relationship with Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), a closeted Mormon who works for Roy Cohn (Al Pacino)--the real-life right-wing lawyer, notorious for his ruthless behind-the-scenes machinations. Add in Joe's depressed and hallucinating wife Harper (Mary Louise Parker), his determined but open-minded mother Hannah (Meryl Streep), a fierce drag queen/nurse named Belize (Jeffrey Wright, reprising his celebrated performance from the Broadway production), and you've still only begun to discover the wealth of characters and storylines in Kushner's ambitious work. The powerhouse cast (also featuring James Cromwell, Michael Gambon, and Simon Callow) is uniformly superb. The script has its weaknesses--some of the fantastic elements, including Prior's journey to Heaven towards the end, fall flat--but even what doesn't work is bristling with ideas and a ferocious desire to capture human existence in this time and place. --Bret Fetzer
The writing-directing team of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers (Father of the Bride) made this sweet satire about a high-powered yuppie executive (Diane Keaton) who unexpectedly becomes a mom and finds she can't successfully integrate the role into her busy life. Typical of the Shyer-Meyers films prior to Myers taking the director's reins on the wonderful Parent Trap, Baby Boom is a little wooden and more sentimental than genuine. But there are entertaining moments, for sure, and Keaton is a delight. --Tom Keogh
Given that Resident Evil is a Paul Anderson movie based on a computer game which was itself highly derivative (especially of George A Romero and James Cameron films), it's probably unfair to complain that it hasn't got an original idea or moment in its entire running time. In the early 1980s, Italian schlock films such as Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombie Creeping Flesh tried to cram in as many moments restaged from American originals as possible, strung together by silly characters wandering between monster attacks. This is a much-improved, edited, photographed and directed version of the same gambit. As amnesiac Milla Jovovich remembers amazing kung fu skills and anti-globalist Eric Mabius mutters about evil corporations, a gang of clichéd soldiers with nary a distinguishing feature between them (except for Michelle Rodriguez as a secondary tough chick) are trapped in an underground scientific compound at the mercy of a tyrannical computer--which manifests as a smug little-girl-o-gram--fending off flesh-eating zombies (though gore fans will be disappointed by the film's need to stay within the limits of the 15 certificate) and CGI mutants, not to mention the ever-popular zombie dogs. It's tolerably action-packed, but zips past its borrowings (Aliens, Cube, Deep Blue Sea) without adding anything that future schlock pictures will want to imitate. On the DVD: Resident Evil on disc has the expected trailers, both teaser and theatrical; a half-hour making-of; zombie make-up tests; featurettes on music (with Marilyn Manson), production design and costume. A lively commentary track features Anderson, Jovovich, Rodriguez and producer/zombie Jeremy Bolt--Jovovich upbraids Anderson for talking about different gradings of film stock over her nude scene and everyone else talks about how much she hurt them by punching them out during action sequences. Anderson mentions an alternate commentary track with visual effects designer Richard Yuricich, but it isn't included. --Kim Newman
A ruthless elven bounty huntress shoots down the dragon ridden by the fugitive orc shaman, Fangtor Bloodmoon. When Fangtor refuses to surrender quietly, the huntress must battle for her own life against the dangerous villain, and comes away with more than just his head.
IN WHITEWOOD, TIME STANDS STILL Christopher Lee was already a horror icon when he started filming The City of the Dead in 1959. Having played Frankenstein's Monster, Count Dracula and The Mummy for Hammer, this new picture would allow him to extend his range to the American Gothic and witchcraft in a small New England village Lee plays Professor Driscoll, an authority on the occult who persuades one of his students (Venetia Stevenson) to research his hometown, Whitewood, once the site of witch burnings in the 17th century. Booking herself into the Raven's Inn, she soon learns that devil worship among the locals hasn't been consigned to the past. Produced by future Amicus founders Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg, and beautifully shot by Desmond Dickinson (whose credits ranged from Laurence Olivier's Hamlet to Horrors of the Black Museum), The City of the Dead is a wonderfully atmospheric and still shocking slice of horror that stands firmly alongside with its Hammer contemporaries. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: New 4K digital restoration by the Cohen Film Collection and the BFI High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of two versions of the film: The City of the Dead and the alternative US cut, Horror Hotel Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM Audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio commentary by film critic Jonathan Rigby, author of English Gothic: Classic Horror Cinema 1897-2015 and Christopher Lee: An Authorised Screen History, recorded exclusively for this release Trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED! FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Vic Pratt
Nothing extraordinary ever happens to Carol Peters (played by Melissa McCarthy), so when she starts getting snarky backtalk from her TV, phone and microwave, she thinks she's being punked. Or losing her mind. In fact, the world's first superintelligence (voiced by James Corden) has chosen to study and observe Carol's attempt to romantically reconcile with her former boyfriend (played by Bobby Cannavale) to better understand the human condition. Soon, the all-powerful entity takes over her life... with ominous plans to possibly take over the world. Now, Carol is potentially humanity's last chance before this AI-with-an-attitude decides to pull the plug. Features: The One That Got Away-Discover how the empathy between Carol, George and the SI ultimately triumphs over technology and saves the world. Voicing the SI-Join Carol's favorite celebrity, James Corden, as he voices the Superintelligence, and discover how the cast and crew filmed scenes without having James on set. Fashion According to A.I.-Enjoy the fun between Melissa McCarthy, Usman Ally and Jenna Perusich as Carol gets a no-limit makeover Superintelligence-style, courtesy of the top designers at J'Adore Boutique. Agents-Laugh with Sam Richardson and Ben Falcone as Agents Donahue and Kuiper survey and capture Carol in their attempts to secure her safety from the SI. What Money Can't Buy-Watch the relationship between Carol and George rekindle with a little help from the SI, and learn what money can and cannot buy. Georgia Film Commission
A 2-Disc Set covering the entire 150-minute concert plus incredible extras. Metallica never resting never ceasing to innovate or amaze returns with an extraordinary document of their concert with the San Francisco Symphony. Metallica's select favorites unfold like never before with the eloquent symphonic backing; they have never sounded more powerful or dramatic. The performance includes two new songs--""No Leaf Clover"" and ""Human."" TRACKS:: The Ecstasy of Gold The Call o
This 4 disc box set features the complete series of Arthur Of The Britons. With the roman withdrawal from Britain the tribes have entered into a period of feudal warfare. Arthur is the war chieftain of a tribe of Celts who has his eye on the bigger picture - unification of the tribes in the face of the Saxon threat. Assisted by his adoptive father Llud and Saxon friend Kai he has his hands full keeping the peace with opposition from the various feuding factions as well as his duplicitous cousin Mark of Cornwall.
Metallica Through The Never is a ground-breaking music-driven 3D motion picture event combining a spectacular never-before seen live performance by Metallica created exclusively for the film and a suspenseful narrative to produce a bracing raw and visceral cinematic experience. As Metallica perform a roaring live set for fans in a sold-out arena a young roadie named Trip (Dane DeHaan) is sent on a mission to find a broken down truck and retrieve its contents for the band.
A Passage to India, David Lean's adaptation of EM Forster's mysterious tale of racism in colonial India, turned out to be the master director's final film. Subtle and grand at the same time, Lean's adaptation is faithful to the book, rendering its blend of the mystical and the all-too human with exquisite precision. Judy Davis plays a young British woman travelling in India with her fiancé's mother. While visiting a tourist attraction, she has a frightening moment in a cave--one that she eventually spins from an instant of mental meltdown into a tale of a physical attack that ruins several lives. Lean captures Forster's sense of awe at the kind of ageless wisdom and inexplicable phenomena to be encountered in India, as well as the British tendency to dismiss it all as savage, rather than simply different. --Marshall Fine
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy