California Street is a classic Neil Simon comedy that takes place at the Beverly Hills Hotel during the weekend of the Academy Awards celebration. Herb Ross's film follows the misadventures of four groups of guests including a divorced couple battling over the custody of their daughter (Jane Fonda and Alan Alda) a husband who gets caught with a hooker in his room by his wife (Walter Matthau and Elaine May) a British actress nominated for an Oscar and her straying gay husband (Maggie Smith and Michael Caine) and two competing doctors and their wives forced to share a hotel room (Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor).
The filmed version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, adapted from the wildly popular book by J.K. Rowling, stunningly brings to life Harry Potter's world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The greatest strength of the film comes from its faithfulness to the novel, and this new cinematic world is filled with all the details of Rowling's imagination, thanks to exuberant sets, elaborate costumes, clever makeup and visual effects, and a crème de la crème cast, including Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, and more. Especially fine is the interplay between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his schoolmates Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), as well as his protector, the looming Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane). The second-half adventure--involving the titular stone--doesn't translate perfectly from page to screen, ultimately because of the film's fidelity to the novel; this is a case of making a movie for the book's fans, as opposed to a transcending film. Writer Steve Kloves and director Chris Columbus keep the spooks in check, making this a true family film, and with its resourceful hero wide-eyed and ready, one can't wait for Harry's return. First sequels are the true test of an enduring movie franchise, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets passes with flying colors. Harry's second year at Hogwarts involves a darker, more malevolent tale (parents with younger children beware), beginning with the petrified bodies of several Hogwarts students and magical clues leading Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a 50-year-old mystery in the monster-laden Chamber of Secrets. House elves, squealing mandrakes, giant spiders, and venomous serpents populate this loyal adaptation (by director Chris Columbus and screenwriter Steve Kloves), and Kenneth Branagh delightfully tops the supreme supporting cast as the vainglorious charlatan Gilderoy Lockhart. At 161 minutes, the film suffers from lack of depth and uneven pacing, and John Williams's score mostly reprises established themes. The young, fast-growing cast offers ample compensation, however, as does the late Richard Harris in his final screen appearance as Professor Albus Dumbledore. Brimming with cleverness, wonderment, and big-budget splendor, Chamber honours the legacy of J.K. Rowling's novels. Some movie-loving wizards must have cast a magic spell on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, because it's another grand slam for the Harry Potter franchise. Demonstrating remarkable versatility after the arthouse success of Y Tu Mamá También, director Alfonso Cuarón proves a perfect choice to guide Harry, Hermione, and Ron into treacherous puberty as the now 13-year-old students at Hogwarts face a new and daunting challenge: Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban prison, and for reasons yet unknown (unless, of course, you've read J.K. Rowling's book, considered by many to be the best in the series), he's after Harry in a bid for revenge. This dark and dangerous mystery drives the action while Harry and his third-year classmates discover the flying hippogriff Buckbeak (a marvelous CGI creature), the benevolent but enigmatic Professor Lupin (David Thewlis), horrifying black-robed Dementors, sneaky Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall), and the wonderful advantage of having a Time-Turner just when you need one. The familiar Hogwarts staff returns in fine form (including the delightful Michael Gambon, replacing the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and Emma Thompson as the goggle-eyed Sybil Trelawney), and even Julie Christie joins this prestigious production for a brief but welcome cameo. Technically dazzling, fast-paced, and chock-full of Rowling's boundless imagination, The Prisoner of Azkaban is a Potter-movie classic.
Contains all episdoes of the first four series of the ITV costume drama, following the lives and loves of those above and below stairs in an English stately home. This collection also includes the Christmas day episodes from 2011 & 2012.
The world's greatest detectives have been invited to dinner. But when murder is on the menu who will make it to dessert? You are cordially invited to join an all-star cast featuring Peter Sellers David Niven Peter Falk James Coco Elsa Lanchester Maggie Smith Alec Guinness Eileen Brennan Nancy Walker James Cromwell and Estelle Winwood for Neil Simon's hilarious murder-mystery spoof Murder By Death. The isolated mansion of eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) is the setting for the twisted puzzler. Twain informs his guests that one of them will be murdered at the stroke of midnight. The pay-off: $1 million to whoever lives through the night. Murder By Death cleverly sends up both the mystery genre and the characterisations of a host of these instantly recognisable gumshoes. Match wits with the super sleuths but remember you can't win if you end up dying from laughter!
A highflying adventure from the magic of Steven Spielberg, HOOK stars Robin Williams as a grownup Peter Pan and Dustin Hoffman as the infamous Captain Hook. Joining the fun is Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell, Bob Hoskins as the pirate Smee, and Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy Darling, who must convince middleaged lawyer Peter Banning that he was once the legendary Peter Pan. And so the adventure begins anew, with Peter off to Neverland to save his two children from Captain Hook. Along the way, he rediscovers the power of imagination, friendship and magic. A classic tale updated for children of all ages, HOOK was nominated for five 1991 Academy Awards® including Best Visual Effects.
A Private Function is a hysterically funny tale of social climbing and a stolen pig starring Monty Python legend and famous world traveller Michael Palin (A Fish Called Wanda; Brazil; Time Bandits; The Missionary).
Follow Harry Hermione and Ron from day one as vulnerable young children learning new tricks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to their epic final battle as fully fledged wizards in a true battle of good vs. evil. This collection contains all 8 of the popular adaptions of J.K. Rowling’s action-packed novels.
Peter Pan - the hero who never grows old - has grown up! And he's even forgotten how to fly! Enter the magical, mystical world of a hundred fun summers as the ageless avenger and faithful fairy Tinkerbell return to Never Never Land in search of Peter's forgotten childhood, his lost children, and a fearless confrontation with his evil pirate enemy - Captain Hook.Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Juila Roberts and Bob Hoskins hook up for the fantasy flight for a lifetime, as dream-maker Steven Spielberg brings this amazing tale of adventure to the screen. All children grow up... except one!
Maurice Maurice Hall and Clive Durham find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. In a time when homosexuality was punishable by imprisonment, the two must keep their feelings for one another a complete secret. After a friend is arrested and disgraced for 'the unspeakable vice of the Greeks', Clive abandons his forbidden love and marries a young woman. Maurice however, struggles with questions of his identity and self-confidence, seeking the help of a hypnotist to rid himself of his ...
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish dramatist literary critic socialist spokesman and a leading figure in 20th century theatre. The George Bernard Shaw Collection includes the following 10 star-studded productions: 1. Arms and the Man 2. The Man of Destiny 3. The Devil's Disciple 4. Mrs Warren's Profession 5. You Never Can Tell 6. Pygmalion 7. Androcles and the Lion 8. Heartbreak House 9. The Millionairess 10. The Apple Cart
A group of British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when you begin to let go of the past. From the Director of Shakespeare In Love and featuring an all-star British cast, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a charming, life affirming comedy drama about life, love and new beginnings... Special Features: Behind the Story: Lights, Colours and Smiles Four Featurettes: Casting Legends Welcome to the Real Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Trekking to India: Life is Never the Same Tuk Tuk Travels
This film adaptation of a critically acclaimed stage production of Shakespeare's historical drama stars Ian McKellen in the title role. The setting is a comic-book vision of 1930s London: part art deco, part Third Reich, part industrial-age rust and rot. The play's force is turned into a synthetic high by art directors and storyboard sketchers, all of whom have a field day condensing the material into disposable pop imagery. Richard III is a fun film, more than anything, so infatuated with its own monstrous stitchery that even the most awkward casting (Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr) seems a part of the ridiculous design. McKellen is the best thing about the movie, his mesmerising portrayal of freakish despotism and poisoned desire a thing to behold. --Tom Keogh
Based on the true story of Miss Shepherd (played by a magnificent Maggie Smith), a woman of uncertain origins temporarily parks her van in Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings) London driveway and proceeds to live there for 15 years. What begins as a begrudged favor becomes a relationship that will change both their lives.Acclaimed director Nicholas Hytner reunites with iconic writer Alan Bennett to create this rare and touching portrait. Special Features The Making of The Lady In The Van The Visual Effects Playing the Lady: Maggie Smith on Miss Shepherd Commentary with Nicholas Hytner Deleted Scenes
Oscar winner Kevin Kline plays Mathias a New Yorker who travels to Paris in order to liquidate a very valuable apartment that he has inherited from his late father. However once there he finds a peculiar old woman occupying it (Oscar winner Maggie Smith) and she has more than just a bit of bad news regarding his plans to become wealthy.
Emma Thompson returns to the role of the magical nanny who appears when she's needed the most and wanted the least in the next chapter of the hilarious and heartwarming fable that has enchanted children around the world.
Fallen women? Does it mean they've hurt their knees? After a decade of soul-saving in Africa Charles Fortescue is asked to minister to the ladies of the night in 1906 London. So Fortescue feeds them shelters them and not infrequently provides them a bed: his!A naive man of the cloth becomes a man of the sheets in this playfully naughty yet always tasteful comedy that stars Monty Python's Michael Palin (who also wrote the script) as Fortescue and features a colourful array of cockeyed characters: a blissful airhead (Phoebe Nicholls) a lusty mission sponsor (Maggie Smith) a bewildered butler (Michael Hordern) an earthy bishop (Denholm Elliott) a cantankerous John Bull (Trevor Howard) and more. Jolly good fun!
Series 1 Downton is the home of the Crawleys, who have been the Earls of Grantham since 1772. The family live in oppulence with tall windows looking across the park. Below stairs at Downton live the servants; some loyal to the family and committed to Downton, and others just moving through, on the look out for new opportunities, love or adventure. The Crawleys know so little about the lives of their staff, but the servants hold both the family's secrets and their own. Series 2 Julian Fellowes' hit drama Downton Abbey returns for a second series with all the regular cast including Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt and Dan Stevens. Returning to Downton Abbey in 1916, we see the effects of The First World War on the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them. The new series sees the return of all the much loved characters whose intertwined lives are rendered more complicated by wartime and its impact on the great house itself. And when the storms of war have finally cleared, will the way of life known by all the inhabitants of Downton have changed forever?
Directed by Seth Holt (The Nanny and Blood From The Mummy's Tomb), Nowhere To Go is a stylish, grimy tale of deception and betrayal. A rare, late excursion into film noir for Ealing Studios, scripted by first-time director Holt and critic Ken Tynan. This is the digitally remastered, previously unreleased original 100 minute version of the film. Paul Gregory (George Nader, Robot Monster) is a thief and conman. He has come to London from Canada in order to rob Harriet Jefferson (Bessie Love, The Lost World) of her rare coin collection. Having sold the coins, he puts the money in a safe deposit box and waits to be arrested, expecting to be out in five years. Sentenced instead to ten years, Gregory breaks out of prison with the help of Victor Sloane (Bernard Lee, The Third Man, Dr, No, Goldfinger, From Russia with Love), planning to collect the money then leave the country. A series of accidents and double-crosses sends Gregory spinning through London’s criminal underworld, before he ends up on the run in the Welsh countryside with socialite Bridget Howard (Maggie Smith, TV's Downton Abbey, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). Special Features: Revisiting Nowhere to Go (A new Featurette including Crew Interviews)
The Best Exotic Marigold HotelSome of the finest actors in England lend their formidable talents to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a charming fish-out-of-water yarn. The Brits, who include Evelyn (Judi Dench), Muriel (Maggie Smith), Douglas (Bill Nighy), and Graham (Tom Wilkinson), are planning retirement in a less expensive country. After "thorough research on the Internet," the group chooses what looks to be a grand, peaceful retreat, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It turns out that the bloom is off this marigold--it's shabby, antiquated, and as chaotic as the city in India, Jaipur, where it is set. Who can adapt to this very different retirement experience, and who founders? That question lies at the heart of the plot of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The cast is uniformly superb, as the retirees bond and bicker and fall out and then try to encourage one another. And Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) shines as Sonny, the barely-holding-it-together Marigold Hotel manager. Patel and Tena Desae, who plays Sunaina, his girlfriend, are charming yet face adaptation struggles of their own, in a modern-day India still tied strongly to its traditions but rapidly charging into the future. And the young Indians also seem to represent the energetic future, as the Brits represent the old world that's fast falling. At its heart, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, deftly directed by John Madden, is an uplifting journey, allowing the viewer to feel what the retirees are discovering on the screen. When Evelyn sighs, "Nothing here has worked out quite as I expected," Muriel crisply replies, "Most things don't. But sometimes what happens instead is the good stuff." The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is most definitely the good stuff. --A.T. Hurley Slumdog MillionaireDanny Boyle (Sunshine) directed this wildly energetic, Dickensian drama about the desultory life and times of an Indian boy whose bleak, formative experiences lead to an appearance on his country's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Jamal (played as a young man by Dev Patel) and his brother are orphaned as children, raising themselves in various slums and crime-ridden neighorhoods and falling in, for a while, with a monstrous gang exploiting children as beggars and prostitutes. Driven by his love for Latika (Freida Pinto), Jamal, while a teen, later goes on a journey to rescue her from the gang's clutches, only to lose her again to another oppressive fate as the lover of a notorious gangster. Running parallel with this dark yet irresistible adventure, told in flashback vignettes, is the almost inexplicable sight of Jamal winning every challenge on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a strong showing that leads to a vicious police interrogation. As Jamal explains how he knows the answer to every question on the show as the result of harsh events in his knockabout life, the chaos of his existence gains shape, perspective and soulfulness. The film's violence is offset by a mesmerising exotica shot and edited with a great whoosh of vitality. Boyle successfully sells the story's most unlikely elements with nods to literary and cinematic conventions that touch an audience's heart more than its head. --Tom Keogh
Gnomeo and JulietPerfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world's most timeless stories features music from Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, and Ozzy Osbourne. Be prepared for a shedload of fun and adventure around every plant pot! Gnomeo and Juliet is an out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy your entire family will love. The Smurfs When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours - in fact, right in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down. Despicable MeIn a happy suburban neighbourhood sits a black house with a dead lawn. This is the secret hideout of Gru (Steve Carrel), who, with his army of excitable little yellow minions, plans to take over the world! But the arrival of three little orphaned girls, and their determination to make him their Dad, threatens his reputation as a super-villian!
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