London, 1928. Nine years have passed and Harry Selfridge is at the pinnacle of his wealth and celebrity and enjoying the frenzy of the roaring 20s.
Fearsome swordplay abounds in this 16th Century epic chronicling the time-tested loyalty of two friends during the notorious Inquisition.As children, Martin (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Headhunters, Game of Thrones) and Georg (Peter McDonald, Wreckers) developed a strong bond, both orphans growing up in a monastery. Following a 15 year absence, neither could have predicted the devastating circumstances which cause their lives to collide once more. When soldier Martin unwittingly becomes forced into the role of executioner, and local cleric Georg sentenced to death, Martin has to make a choice: will he be executioner or saviour?
In August 1977, in a seemingly normal house in Enfield, North London a series of disturbing paranormal events have begun to take place. Reports of an unworldly presence making repeated attempts on the life of 11-year-old Janet Hodgson soon attracts the attention of paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse (Timothy Spall) who is convinced that the house is plagued by a poltergeist. With the attacks growing increasingly violent by the day Maurice will stop at nothing to protect Janet from these strange and dark forces.
The classic science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury was a curious choice for one of the leading directors of the French New Wave, François Truffaut. But from the opening credits onward (spoken, not written on screen), Truffaut takes Bradbury's fascinating premise and makes it his own. The futuristic society depicted in Fahrenheit 451 is a culture without books. Firemen still race around in red trucks and wear helmets, but their job is to start fires: they ferret out forbidden stashes of books, douse them with petrol and make public bonfires. Oskar Werner, the star of Truffaut's Jules and Jim, plays a fireman named Montag, whose exposure to David Copperfield wakens an instinct towards reading and individual thought. (That's why books are banned--they give people too many ideas.) In an intriguing casting flourish, Julie Christie plays two roles: Montag's bored, drugged-up wife and the woman who helps kindle the spark of rebellion. The great Bernard Herrmann wrote the hard-driving music; Nicolas Roeg provided the cinematography. Fahrenheit 451 received a cool critical reception and has never quite been accepted by Truffaut fans or sci-fi buffs. Its deliberately listless manner has always been a problem, although that is part of its point; the lack of reading has made people dry and empty. If the movie is a bit stiff (Truffaut did not speak English well and never tried another project in English), it nevertheless is full of intriguing touches, and the ending is lyrical and haunting. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
Set in and around Rome and based on the best-selling novels by the late Michael Dibdin Rufus Sewell stars as the fictional Italian detective Aurleio Zen. Vendetta Cabal & Ratking will feature many of the combined attractions of Italy and the Dibdin novels - thrilling investigations fun passion warmth and beautiful people. Includes Bonus Digital Copy As a bonus to your DVD you can also transfer a digital copy this will allow you to view your 'Zen' episodes on your PC or your mobile device(s). Just follow the step by step instructions inside your DVD.
With all the men away to war Lily (Anna Friel) falls madly in love and marries a handsome Canadian soldier Charlie Travis (Aden Young). But Charlie is shipped off to the front and Lily discovers she's expecting his baby not knowing if she will ever see him alive again. Lily receives instructions from the Canadian Embassy that she is to be shipped across the sea to her new Canadian in-laws. Life for Lily is not about to improve on arriving in Canada she is met by cold-hearted mother-in-law Betty (Brenda Fricker) and crippled sister-in-law Sylvia. Lily finds she has swapped one horrendous existence for another as she must struggle to survive on a dilapidate farm in the bleak Canadian wilderness. Based on the true story and winner of two Genies (Canada's Academy Awards) this film is both heartfelt and funny and will genuinely keep you engrossed till the end.
Frank Herbert's Dune is a three-part, four-and-a-half-hour television adaptation of the author's bestselling science fiction novel, telling a more complete version of the Dune saga than David Lynch's 1984 cinema film. The novel is a massive political space-opera so filled with characters, cultures, intrigues and battles that even a production twice this length would have trouble fitting everything in. While television is good at setting a scene, it loses the novel's capacity to explain how the future works, and as with Lynch's film, Frank Herbert's Dune focuses on Paul Atreides, the young noble betrayed who becomes a rebel leader--an archetypal story reworked everywhere from Star Wars (1977) to Gladiator (2000). Top-billed William Hurt is only in the first of the three 90-minute episodes, and while he gives a commanding performance, carrying the show falls to the less charismatic Alec Newman. This version is at its strongest in the ravishing Renaissance-inspired production and costume design and gorgeous lighting of Vittorio Storaro (The Last Emperor). The TV budget special effects range from awful painted backdrops to excellent CGI spaceships and sandworms. The performances are variable, from the theatrical camp of Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonnen to the subtlety of Julie Cox's Princess Iruelan. John Harrison's direction is less visionary than Lynch's, but he tells the story more coherently and ultimately the tale's the thing. --Gary S. Dalkin
This incredible epic follows the tragic yet inspirational life of Ariana Von Gotthard (Nastassja Kinski) a woman who gains strength and courage as a young girl coming of age in pre-war Germany. As the daughter of an upper-class Berlin family Ariana watches her family and her country torn apart at the hands of impending war. Aware of the dangerous political climate her father helps Ariana's brother to escape to Switzerland.
It's been twelve years since Paul Maud'dib Atreides's (Alec Newman, Frank Herbert's Dune) desert-dwelling Freman Jihad spread out across the universe to exterminate all that remained of the Old Imperial armies-twelve years of war as all the known planets were colonized, one-by-one, under Maud'dib's rule. Out of this chaos, the House Atreides has emerged as a superpower of Dune-the arid planet, Arrakis. But its Imperial government is not omnipotent. Its greatest enemy, the fallen Baron Harkonnen (Ian McNeice, A Christmas Carol), still strives to regain control of Dune, its mysterious life force, and everything it represents to the galactic order. A far more insidious threat is poised and ready to strike within the treacherous House Atreides. As Maud'dib's secret enemies grow in number, his only chance to protect the family's supreme reign is in his new twins, born of his concubine, Chani. Soon, the hope for Dune will be in the hands of his young son Leto (James McAvoy - X Men: First Class, Filth, Wanted) heir to a power unimaginable. It will be Leto's responsibility to demystify the legacy of his father, raze the old regime, and restore peace to the Empire. But the ultimate battle has yet to be waged, and the children of Atreide-the children of Dune-will find themselves trapped in an unpredictable future of their family's own making. As Frank Herbert's award-winning visionary masterpiece reinvented the mythology of fantasy fiction, so does Dune Apocalypse reinvent the boundaries of fantasy film. From high court intrigue to stupendous battles, from theological/ecological speculations of the future to confrontations with the supreme intelligence of the universe.
Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as an official appointed second-in command to the US ambassador to a tumultuous Eastern European country. When the ambassador is murdered in an attempted coup it's down to JC and a small group of US marines to fend off the attackers!
After stumbling upon a portal to the past in the ruins of an old Yorkshire farmhouse Tom a troubled schoolboy is whisked back to the time of the Second World War. With a loveable sheep dog named Tess as his only guide he meets Sam Wheeler a kindly farmer (Tom Wilkinson) and May an orphaned evacuee about his own age. Learning to cope with the dangers and difficulties of life in this time helps Tom come to terms with his own family problems. Back in the present he discovers something terrible has happened to his friends just a few days after his visit and he is desperate to get back to the past to save them... even if doing so has consequences he could never dream of.
Billy Elliot: Inside every one of us is a special talent waiting to come out. The trick is finding it. Starring Julie Walters and newcomer Jamie Bell the film (based on a real-life story) follows the progress of little Billy Elliot a motherless 11 year-old from a poor Durham pit village. When young Billy chooses ballet classes over boxing lessons his life is changed forever. He decides to keep the lessons secret from his father a coal miner but when his ballet instructor persuades him to try out for the Royal Ballet School in London Billy must make the choice between family responsibilities and his dreams... Billy Elliot received plenty of recognition at the Academy Awards picking up nominations for Best Supporting Actress Best Director and Best Screenplay. (Dir. Stephen Daldry 2000) Steel Magnolia's: A beautiful bittersweet comedy set in deep south Louisiana 'Steel Magnolias' unites talents of America's finest actresses as six very special friends bonded together by mutual triumphs and tragedies. Despite their differences beautiful Shelby (Julia Roberts) her strong-willed mother M'Lynn (Sally Field) beauty parlour owner Truvy (Dolly Parton) elegant wealthy widow Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) sharp tongued Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) and mousey newcomer Anelle (Daryl Hannah) enjoy a friendship that spans the boundaries of age and status. Sharing each other's strength and loyalty they face their greatest fears and highest hopes with dry wit and a self-deprecating style... (Dir. Herbert Ross 1989) Erin Brockovich: She brought a small town to its feet and a huge corporation to its knees. A research assistant (Roberts) helps an attorney (Finney) in a lawsuit against a large utility company blamed for causing an outbreak of cancer and other illnesses in a small community. (Dir. Steven Soderbergh 2000)
Children of Dune is the sequel to the Sci-Fi Channel's Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), and surpasses that earlier mini-series in every way. The screenplay is again by John Harrison, who has combined Herbert's novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune into three 84-minute TV movies, and continues the labyrinthine space opera with little concession to the uninitiated. Indeed, this a very rare attempt to put the complexity of printed SF on screen, and if the result is sometimes rather hermetic it is perhaps inevitable when realising Herbert's Byzantine, pseudo-Shakespearean tragedy. The same tableaux-like qualities infuse the new Star Wars films and the similarities between Herbert's and Lucas' worlds have never been more obvious than here. Performances range from excellent--Julie Cox, Alice Krige, Alex Newman (much better here than in the first series) and James McAvoy--to a surprisingly wooden Susan Sarandon. The set-pieces are exceptional, with many individual images sufficiently memorable to stand comparison with the work of Ridley Scott. Production-wise this is surely the most beautiful mini-series ever made, with gorgeous lighting by cinematographer Arthur Reinhart, breathtaking set design from Ondrej Nekvasil and a ravishing score from Brian Tyler. By TV standards the CGI is first-rate and, though rarely looking real, establishes a credible science fictional universe. Even when rather baffling, the production achieves moments of dramatic grandeur and a sense of wonder not experienced in TV SF since Babylon 5. On the DVD: Children of Dune on DVD has one feature-length episode on each disc. The picture is presented at 1.77:1 anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs. Shot in high definition, its clarity and detail is superb with virtually no blemishes to the image at all. Colour has a painterly beauty that is remarkable. However, some shots look inaccurately framed, with what was presumably a 4:3 image being a little too closely cropped for widescreen presentation. It's a minor flaw and really only noticeable in some close-ups. Sound is a richly luxuriant Dolby Digital 5.1, which gives no ground to any modern blockbuster movie. Perfunctory extras are confined to the first disc and consist of an interesting but short look at the special effects (13 minutes), a storyboard comparison for one key scene and a photo gallery. --Gary S Dalkin
Suspecting that the Pimpernal is an English aristocrat Chauvelin is sent to England to discover the identity of the mystery man. Once there Chauvelin meets his former lover the beautiful French actress Marguerite who is married to a foppish English aristocrat. Marguerite reluctantly gives Chauvelin information to find the elusive Pimpernel and has unwittingly betrayed him...
Wrongly accused of murdering the doctor who refused to treat his ailing mother young Arnold (Jim Hutton) is placed in a mental institution under the care and supervision of Dr Laura Scott. While there he is taught the secrets of out of body travel by a fellow inmate. Freed when the real killer is found Arnold swears revenge on those who committed him. Using his new-found psychic powers Arnold eliminates those he hates in a brutal and bloody reign of terror which leaves Detectives Mogan (Paul Burke) and Anderson (Aldo Ray) faced with a killer they can't even see.
Marry in haste, repent at leisure, goes the old adage. Certainly, The War Bride sees the chirpy Cockney Lily (Anna Friel) with plenty of time to regret her lot. After a whirlwind romance in wartime Britain she marries her handsome Canadian hunk, Charlie (Aden Young). Finding herself pregnant and alone, Charlie having been sent back to the front, she jumps at the chance of a new life abroad when she receives a one-way ticket to Canada. Unfortunately Charlie's tales of his family ranch in Alberta are more fanciful than factual and when she gets there her natural ebullience is tested to the limit by a crumbling shack and a frostbite-inducing welcome from his widowed mother (Brenda Fricker, superbly dour) and his crippled sister (Molly Parker). They view her townie ways, her penchant for picture houses and scarlet lipstick, with deep suspicion. The only light in these dark days is derived from visits from her longstanding best friend Sophie (who also married a Canadian, but one with rather more to offer) and a burgeoning friendship with Joe, her sister-in-law's boyfriend. The film was inspired by the experiences of screenwriter Angela Workman's mother, one of 48,000 war brides who immigrated to Canada during World War II, and it vividly demonstrates that for the unlucky ones the future was far from rosy. The result could have been mawkish but it's saved by fine performances from Friel--who is increasingly showing herself to be an actress of some versatility--and the always splendid Brenda Fricker. --Harriet Smith
Poirot is called in to investigate a fourteen year old murder... A woman was hanged for poisoning her husband to death. Her only daughter has come of age and is back from living overseas. She must find out if there was a mis-carriage of justice all those years ago if she is to have any future. Her late father was an artist reknowned for having affairs with his models. The family home was full of visitors. Who else had a motive?
It's been twelve years since Paul Maud'dib Atreides's (Alec Newman Frank Herbert's Dune) desert-dwelling Freman Jihad spread out across the universe to exterminate all that remained of the Old Imperial armies-twelve years of war as all the known planets were colonized one-by-one under Maud'dib's rule. Out of this chaos the House Atreides has emerged as a superpower of Dune-the arid planet Arrakis. But its imperial government is not omnipotent. Its greatest enemy the fallen Baron Harkonnen (Ian McNeice A Christmas Carol) still strives to regain control of Dune its mysterious life force and everything it represents to the galactic order. A far more insidious threat is poised and ready to strike within the treacherous House Atreides. As Maud'dib's secret enemies grow in number his only chance to protect the family's supreme reign is in his new twins born of his concubine Chani (Barbara Kodetova Dune). Soon the hope for Dune will be in the hands of his young son Leto heir to a power unimaginable. It will be Leto's responsibility to demystify the legacy of his father raze the old regime and restore peace to the Empire. But the ultimate battle has yet to be waged and the children of Atreides-the children of Dune-will find themselves trapped in an unpredictable future of their family's own making.
Born to a weak but loving mother soon after his father dies David Copperfield is nine years old when his mother Clara marries Mr Murdstone. A cruel man who believes in extreme discipline he has no hesitation in sending David away to school. Shortly after he is sent away Clara dies and Murdstone seizes the opportunity to send him away for good this time into menial labour at a London wine merchants. It is here that David meets the genial Micawber family and his aunt Betsey arrange
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