Based on an improbable but true story, Cool Runnings concerns the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Director Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon) does a fine job with both the absurdity of the situation (the athletes had never even seen snow) and the passion behind it (their desire to compete and win). John Candy, in one of his last roles, is touching as a disgraced coach who seizes the opportunity to work with the Jamaicans as a chance for redemption. The bobsled scenes look good and the races are exciting. The climax, which is entirely unexpected, takes the film to a wholly different level, even if events in the story don't quite match the facts. --Tom Keogh
Robin Williams stars as an English teacher who doesn't fit into the conservative prep school where he teaches but his charisma and love of poetry inspires several boys to revive a secret society with a bohemian bent. The script is well-meaning but a little trite, though director Peter Weir (The Truman Show) adds layers of emotional depth in scenes of conflict between the kids and adults. (A subplot involving one father's terrible pressure on his son--played by Robert Sean Leonard--to drop his interest in the theatre reaches heartbreaking proportions). Williams is given plenty of latitude to work in his brand of improvisational humour, though it is all well-woven into his character's style of instruction. --Tom Keogh
An epic story of a world at war. And a boy at play.
The story of Calamity Jane, her saloon, and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok.
Christmas family comedy directed by independent filmmaker Jon Favreau. Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, a human being who has spent his whole life believing himself to be an elf. Brought up by Santa (Edward Asner) and his elves at the North Pole, Buddy has spent the last 30 years happily working in Santa's toy workshop. But when his ungainly size starts to become a liability in the elf-sized working environment, Santa suggests that Buddy head to New York City to find his biological father (James Caan). Needless to say, the unlikely spectacle of a 6'5' man dressed from head to foot in bright green stands out a mile on the streets of the Big Apple, and the good-natured Buddy finds himself in all sorts of scrapes as he gets used to his new family and surroundings - and they get used to him.
London, 1872. On the day his world is turned upside down by a postcard from a lost love, Phileas Fogg (David Tennant) is inspired by an article about the exciting advances in travel to take on an almost impossible wager to circumnavigate the globe in just eighty days. As a man who has spent the last twenty years in a comfortable leather armchair at The Reform Club, he will need all the resilience he can muster and of course would be nowhere without the assistance of quick-witted Frenchman, Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma). Joining them on the road will be the Daily Telegraph journalist who came up with the whole crazy idea in the first place Abigail Fix (Leonie Benesch).
Reach for the Sky was a box-office hit in 1956 and rightly remains a fondly regarded classic of British cinema. Kenneth More is ideally cast as Douglas Bader, the gifted pilot who loses both legs in a pre-war air crash, only to play a major role in the Battle of Britain, rise to the rank of Group Captain and become a war hero. Based on Paul Brickhill's biography, this is an "official" history maybe, but Lewis Gilbert's screenplay and direction are historically accurate and informed by that very British humour, of which More was a natural. The film is graced by a decent supporting cast and a typically "widescreen" score from John Addison. On the DVD: Reach for the Sky is vividly reproduced in 16:9 anamorphic format and decent mono. There are subtitles for the hard of hearing and detailed biographies of More, Gilbert and Barder. The original theatrical trailer is included, but it would also have made sense to include an interview or documentary footage of Bader himself. --Richard Whitehouse
WE HAVE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU! In 1987, master of horror Clive Barker unleashed Hellraiser upon unsuspecting audiences launching what has proven to be one of the genre s most enduring franchises and creating an instant horror icon in the figure of Pinhead in the process. In Barker s original Hellraiser, Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) comes head-to-head with the Cenobites demonic beings from another realm who are summoned by way of a mysterious puzzle box. Picking up immediately after the events of the original Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II finds Kirsty detained at a psychiatric institute and under the care of Dr. Channard, a man with an unhealthy interest in the occult. Meanwhile, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth sees Pinhead and his band of Cenobites let loose in our own world, with terrifying consequences.
The wonderful Judy Garland stars in this charming musical as Esther Smith whose father comes home and announces he is going to uproot his whole family to New York on the very eve of the 1903 St. Louis World Fair. Brilliantly directed by Vincente Minnelli and full of wonderful songs - 'Trolley Song' 'Have yourself A Merry Little Christmas'.
A Naval Secret Service agent's tough assignment is to stop the ruthless pirating of gold bullion in the Irish Sea. The trail takes him to a tiny port in the Hebrides where mysterious disappearances of boats yachts and people are commonplace...
BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning actress Brenda Blethyn stars as the unorthodox but brilliant DCI Vera Stanhope in this hit crime drama. Vera may be unconventional and unglamorous, but she faces the world with her caustic wit, guile and courage, and what she lacks in charm she more than makes up for in wisdom and insight. Follow all ten gripping seasons as the indomitable Vera and her trusted team investigate tragic and intriguing cases, chasing ruthless killers, unravelling complex mysteries and uncovering secrets that sometimes stray a little too close to home. Set against the atmospheric landscapes of the breathtaking Northumberland countryside, this top-rating drama is inspired by the bestselling novels and characters created by acclaimed author Ann Cleeves.
The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate into the size of SUVs...and they're hungry.
In North London, a shady dealer lives an undisturbed existence. But the arrival of a gifted 10 year-old boy changes all that.
The Black Death descends on Seville, one of the richest and most significant cities in the world. It is the doorway to Europe for goldrich migrants from the New World, and it is a city cloaked in Catholic piety. Pursuit of power is fueled by fear and greed, and hypocrisy abounds. Convents are lax, brothels are regulated and hospitals are used as graveyards. Mysticism and chaos rule. Mateo, a former heretic, must now return to the city that sentenced him to death. He must honour the dying wish of his best friend: to save Valerio, his friend's bastard son. On arrival in Seville, Mateo is arrested, but the Holy Office offers Mateo a proposal for absolution: solve the murders in the city which all seem to be part of a demonic ritual and he will be pardoned. For Mateo this is life or death and he is drawn into a conspiracy which reaches the very heights of power in Seville. As the plague begins to consume the city, the walls are closed and the pursuit to find the murderer intensifies. Steeped in intrigue and treachery, The Plague is a unique noir thriller, with edge-of-seat suspense, taking you back to a complex time when public repression and private hedonism walked hand in hand. Cinematic, stylish and with exceptional attention to detail, its period setting, combined with a contemporary pace, dramatically captures a chaotic era.
20 of the greatest British films ever produced by the world renowned Hammer film studio! Includes: 1. Blood From The Mummy's Tomb (Dir. Seth Holt 1971) 2. Demons Of The Mind (Dir. Peter Sykes 1972) 3. The Devil Rides Out (Dir. Terence Fisher 1968) 4. Viking Queen (Dir. Don Chaffey 1967) 5. Dracula Prince Of Darkness (Dir. Terence Fisher 1966) 6. Fear In The Night (Dir. Jimmy Sangster 1972) 7. Frankenstein Created Women (Dir. Terence Fisher 1967) 8. The Horror Of Frankenstein (Dir. Jimmy Sangster 1970) 9. The Nanny (Dir. Seth Holt 1965) 10. One Million Years BC (Dir. Don Chaffey 1966) 11. Plague Of The Zombies (Dir. John Gilling 1966) 12. Quatermass And The Pit (Dir. Roy Ward Baker 1967) 13. Rasputin The Mad Monk (Dir. Don Sharp 1966) 14. The Reptile (Dir. John Gilling 1966) 15. The Scars of Dracula (Dir. Roy Ward Baker 1970) 16. SHE (Dir. Robert Day 1965) 17. Slave Girls (Dir. Michael Carreras 1967) 18. To The Devil A Daughter (Dir. Peter Sykes 1967) 19. The Vengeance Of SHE (Dir. Cliff Owen 1968) 20. The Witches (Dir. Cyril Frankel 1966)
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