A heartfelt epic from Irish director Neal Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire), Michael Collins is the biography of the charismatic and controversial Irish rebel leader who led the fight for independence from Britain. Among the most beautiful and atmospherically photographed movies of the 1990s, Michael Collins is also a rich and intelligent study of the nature of politics and leadership: the IRA spokesman, full of fiery convictions, eventually gives way to the more mature negotiator who strives to reach a compromise solution and is politically undone in the process. Liam Neeson gives a grand and towering performance as Collins, but for all the character's legendary, heroic, or otherwise larger-than-life attributes, Jordan and Neeson also keep him human. This is sweeping historical filmmaking of the kind we haven't seen since the heyday of David Lean, but with Jordan's characteristic touches of complexity and ambivalence. --Jim Emerson
Jason Schwartzman stars as a speed junkie who embarks on an three-day adventure with his dealer in this darkly comic look at the grungy underworld of American life.
One of director Sam Peckinpah's lesser-known and little-seen outings, Junior Bonner is actually one of his most interesting for being so relaxed. Yet it deals with the themes that always interested him: the man who has watched the world pass him by and realises that his time is gone. In this case, it's rodeo rider Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns home to try to win top prize in the bull-riding competition to raise money to stake his father (Robert Preston) to a future. As easy-going and good-natured as you'd like, with a delicious chemistry between Preston and a feisty Ida Lupino as Junior's estranged parents, who are still able to strike romantic sparks. Great rodeo footage captures both the violence and beauty of the sport. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com
Drive takes the standard American mismatched-buddies action comedy formula and turbo-charges it with furious Hong Kong wirework and martial arts. The result is a three-and-a-half million dollar "B" picture which looks like it cost 10 times more. The perfunctory story crosses Universal Solider (1992) with Rush Hour (1997) as a biologically enhanced Mark Dacascos flees a small army of Hong Kong assassins through California, teaming up with comedian Kadeem Hardison and delivering an almost unbelievable amount of bang per buck. Director Steve Wang stages the action with flair and clarity, the stunts, wirework and fights being exceptionally well-choreographed and shot. With Hardison's patter, two offbeat redneck assassins and a TV show about a frog with Einstein's brain there's abundant surprisingly genial humour, aided by Brittany Murphy's ditzy performance as a Twin Peaks-like teenager with hormones in overdrive. The cyborg aspect simply justifies the superhuman combat, but nevertheless a huge showdown in a retro-space age club is clearly styled after the "Tech Noir" bar sequence in The Terminator (1984), adding motorcycle killersstraight out of Rollerball (1975). Drive captures the rush of Hong Kong action movies yet almost has the feel of a musical, the mayhem replacing song and dance and offering more popcorn entertainment than many a bloated summer blockbuster.On the DVD: For such a low budget movie the 2.35:1 anamorphically enhanced image puts many far bigger features to shame, being pin-sharp throughout, with strong and accurate colours and minimal grain. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is equally strong, with sound-effects and music both having considerable impact, explosions ripping thorough the room like the latest Arnie shoot 'em up. There is a 47-minute retrospective documentary which is particularly interesting on the way the film was cut and restored for American release--this DVD presenting the director's cut which runs over 16 minutes longer than the US version. Six deleted/extended scenes are presented in a variety of formats, and it's easy to see why they were deleted. Also included are the original theatrical trailer, three photo galleries, cast and crew biographies and interview galleries with director Steve Wang and four of the main stars totalling about 20 minutes of material. The informative commentary track has Wang, Dacascos, Hardison and stunt co-ordinator Koichi Sakamoto revelling in their sheer enthusiasm for the movie and for Hong Kong action in general. --Gary S Dalkin
Too late, perhaps, for a cure. Too late for an early diagnosis to save the life of the poor wretch on the cold steel slab. But not too late to solve the puzzle, to right a wrong... To make a bit of difference in this bad, hard world. McCallum is a series unlike any other. This isn't a glossy cop show where the smiles dazzle more than the badges. This isn't a tale of heroes and villains, of extraordinary people. Just the entirely believable tales of a man in crisis, the dedicated team around him struggling to work with slashed budgets, and the mysteries of forensic pathology, where a spot of lateral thinking can mean the difference between a right and a wrong conclusion, and an over-looked point can result in the conviction of an innocent man. Set in the East End of London hunting ground of the notorious Jack the Ripper the series stars John Hannah (The Mummy / Four Weddings and a Funeral) in the title role of Dr. Iain McCallum, a motorcycling forensic pathologist with a passion for truth and more women problems than he can handle. Surrounding him are the dedicated St. Patrick's team of Angela Moloney, Sir Paddy Penfold, Fuzzy and Bobby... close friends at the sharp end, making up a formidable body of opposition to those determined to flaunt the law. Nominated for a BAFTA in 1996 and the 1997 BAFTA Award Scotland for Best Single Drama Starring BAFTA Film Award nominee John Hannah (The Mummy / Four Weddings and a Funeral) Also features Suzanna Hamilton (1984), Hugo Speer (The Full Monty), Eva Pope (Waterloo Road) and Nathaniel Parker (Stardust)
Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbird is quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defence of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbour Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. --Jeff Shannon
The Blues Brothers (Dir. John Landis 1980): They'll never get caught. They're on a mission from God. After the release of Jake Blues (John Belushi) from prison he and brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) go to visit the orphanage where they were raised by nuns. They learn that the church stopped its support and will sell the place unless the tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The brothers decide to raise the money by putting their blues band back together and stagin
She's called 'Tir na nOg' because she came from a land under the sea. A magical white horse. Why she came was a mystery to all except Ossie and Tito two small boys who living day to day in a soulless slum with their dejected father Papa Reilly knew Tir na nOg had come for a special reason. When the horse is taken by the police and sold to a cruel farmer Hartnet the boys decide to steal Tir na nOg and escape to the west. But Ossie and Tito hadn't bargained for an agitated police force and a menacing posse of Hartnet's men. Only Papa Reilly can save his sons from ill fortune... but then maybe that was Tir na nOg's intention all along.
A 4 DVD box set comprising of 19 film adaptations of plays by Samuel Beckett. Includes: 1. Waiting for Godot (director Michael Lindsay-Hogg) 2. Not I (director Neil Jordan) 3. Rough for Theatre I (director Kieron J Walsh) 4. Ohio Impromptu (director Charles Sturridge) 5. Krapp's Last Tape (director Atom Egoyan) 6. What Where (director Damien O'Donnell) 7. Footfalls (director Walter Asmus) 8. Come and Go (director John Crowley) 9. Act Without Words I (director Karel Reisz) 10. Happy
An early sitcom by legendary comedy writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke Alcock and Gander stars BAFTA-winner Beryl Reid as Marigold Alcock - a woman who has been saddled with her late husband's less than flourishing business. From a tiny run-down office above a Soho strip club the Alcock Group of Companies encompasses such household names as Captain Sotheby's Racing Service and Alcock Economy Coach Tours while supplying an eager world with the likes of the Alcock Swiss Elixir and Artistic Books. With the company came Ernest the oldest office boy in the world while Marigold's new business partner is the misguidedly ambitious Richard Gander (Richard O'Sullivan); as a man who has barely survived an Alcock Coach Tour Marigold thinks it cheaper to hire him than to offer him a refund...
A collection of classic and unusual Marlon Brando movies including The Wild One One The Waterfront The Ugly American and The Appaloosa. The Wild One (1954) An angry young Marlon Brando scorches the screen as The Wild One in this powerful 50s cult classic. Brando plays Johnny the leader of a vicious biker gang that involves a small sleepy California town. The leather-jacketed young biker seems hell-bent on destruction until he falls for Kathie (Mary Murphy) a 'good-girl' w
Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson yet again returns to Baltimore for inspiration with the semi-autobiographical Liberty Heights. Set in 1954, it tells the story of two young Jewish boys and their experiences of growing up in an America trying to come to terms with a changing society. The film focuses both on the sweet and innocent (the relationship between younger brother Ben and sole black student Sylvia) and the darker, more vicious side of a nation in flux. The evils of racism form a backdrop to all the intertwining plot lines--not only white against black but also widespread anti-Semitism. The young, largely unknown cast are all excellent--especially Adrien Brody and Ben Foster as the brothers and Rebecka Johnston as the quietly knowing Sylvia. Taking its cue from the great teen movies of the past, the film buzzes with the vitality of youth and of a generation on the verge of a new dawn (music plays a huge part), placing the political problems of the age in the context of adolescence to great effect. This is not Levinson's most high-profile work but certainly one of his best. On the DVD: The music of the period features heavily in the movie and dominates much of the action, so much so that it is possible to watch Liberty Heights with a music-only soundtrack. The film moves effortlessly between light and shade, both metaphorically and physically. Fair attempts have been made to provide an interesting set of extras: a gallery of interviews with the cast and director, deleted scenes and a very brief on-set documentary. --Phil Udell
New York, 1929: a war rages between two rival gangsters, Fat Sam and Dandy Dan in Alan Parker's much-loved kiddie mob flick.
Tooth FairyDreams and "what ifs" have no place in the life of hockey player Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson). As a major league player who's been moved down to the minor leagues following an injury, Derek thrives on negative attention, is ruthlessly pragmatic, and doesn't think twice about crushing the hopes and dreams of even his youngest fans. His poor attitude spills over into his personal life when he almost convinces his girlfriend's young daughter Tess (Destiny Whitlock) that the tooth fairy doesn't exist. As if the potential end to his relationship with girlfriend Carly (Ashley Judd) wasn't bad enough, Derek's actions inexplicably result in a nighttime summons from the "Department of Dissemination of Disbelief." Transformed into a tutu-wearing fairy with wings and whisked away to a fairy world, Derek assumes that his fanciful journey--and his sentencing by the head fairy (Julie Andrews) to a two-week stint as a tooth fairy--is just a bad dream. When his pager starts buzzing and wings sprout from his back at inopportune times, he realises that his sentence is for real, yet he continues to deny the possibility that dreams and imagination have value. Derek's disbelief makes him an extremely inept fairy, but with the help of fellow fairy Tracy (Stephen Merchant) and some bonding time spent with Tess and her brother Randy (Chase Ellison), he begins to glimpse the importance of dreams and imagination and even manages to rediscover some of his own dreams in the process. Derek is definitely one crazy fairy, but Dwayne Johnson's skilled performance drives home the message that it's OK to dream, believe, and imagine.--Tami HoriuchiMeet DaveMeet Dave is a family space farce with enough Eddie Murphy slapstick to make the whole family chuckle. With elements of InnerSpace, Starman, Men in Black, and even a bit of Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, the film may not break new ground, but Murphy's giddy performance lifts the material to an engaging level. Murphy plays a space ship in human form, carrying wee aliens on an excursion to earth. As "Dave Ming Chang," he interacts with his surroundings and fellow humans by following the orders given by the ship's commanders inside his "head." It's an endearing fish-out-of-water yarn that riffs of pop culture as well as potty humour for its laughs. ("Lieutenant Bottoms, what is your status?" "Captain, we had a small gas leak. It was silent, but not deadly.") In the course of his mission, Dave is hit by a car, becomes a substitute teacher in a New York City public school, and starts to develop feelings for earth kids--and ladies. All the while his homage to the Bee Gees, from the white suit to his high-pitch-perfect rendition of "Stayin' Alive," provides an oddly perfect backdrop and symbol for Dave's being ever so slightly behind the times. Murphy is engaging as always, firing off deadpan one-liners and happily being the straight man to the film's jokes. A potential love interest, Gina (Elizabeth Banks), mentions that her late husband was a captain in the Navy. Dave says, "I am a captain." Gina: "Oh really? A captain of what?" Inside Dave's head, the crewmembers frantically search their earth database to give him the answer: "I am a captain of crunch." --A.T. Hurley
Deaf and mute since having his hearing knocked out at the age of 12, Asher has been training for almost two decades to avenge himself on Ivan, the man that killed his older brother, 21 years ago. And now that his nemesis is out of prison, he gets his chance. But Asher's target also happens to be his father.
This psychodrama is set in New Zealand during the 1880's and is based on the true story of an orphaned 18 year old who marries a cruel much older man. He constantly abuses her and keeps her under his thumb until she finally snaps and kills him. Later she is tried in court for murder...
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