Inspired by Stephen Sayers' rise from the backstreets of Newcastle's West End to the top of the criminal ladder and the authorities subsequent attempt to bring him crashing back down again.
What would have happened if Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson had met as schoolboys? Why the solution is elementary - nothing but adventure! And that's just what director Barry Levinson gives us in this special effects spectacular that sends the super-sleuth on his very first case! When a plague of bizarre puzzling murders grip London young Holmes and his new found friend Watson find themselves unwittingly entangled in the dark mystery. So 'the fame is afoot!' And the budding detect
Pride And Prejudice: The five Bennet sisters have all been raised by their mother with one purpose in life - finding a husband. However the second eldest Lizzie can think of 100 reasons not to marry. When Mrs Bennet hears the exciting news that a wealthy bachelor and his circle of sophisticated friends are to take up summer residence in a nearby mansion the Bennets are abuzz with the hope that potential suitors will be in full supply. Obligingly the newcomer Mr Charles Bingl
Cockney boys Tom, Soap, Eddie and Bacon are in a bind; they owe seedy criminal and porn king "Hatchet" Harry a sizeable amount of cash after Eddie loses half a million in a rigged game of poker. Hot on their tails is a thug named Big Chris who intends to send them all to the hospital if they don't come up with the cash in the allotted time. Add into the mix an incompetent set of ganja cultivators, two dimwitted robbers, a "madman" with an afro, and a ruthless band of drug dealers and you have an astonishing movie called Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Before the boys can blink, they are caught up in a labyrinth of double-crosses that lead to a multitude of dead bodies, copious amounts of drugs, and two antique rifles. Written and directed by talented newcomer Guy Ritchie, this is one of those movies that was destined to become an instant cult classic à la Reservoir Dogs. Although some comparisons were drawn between Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino, it would be unfair to discount the brilliant wit of the story and the innovative camerawork that the director brings to his debut feature. Not since The Krays has there been such an accurate depiction of the East End and its more colourful characters. Indicative of the social stratosphere in London, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a hilarious and at times touching account of friendships and loyalty. The director and his mates (who make up most of the cast) clearly are enjoying themselves here. This comes across in some shining performances, in particular from ex-footballer Vinnie Jones (Big Chris) and an over-the-top Vas Blackwood (as Rory Breaker), who very nearly steals the show. Full of quirky vernacular and clever tension-packed action sequences, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a triumph--a perfect blend of intelligence, humour and suspense. --Jeremy Storey
Raging Bull is arguably the finest work produced from the Scorsese and De Niro partnership. De Niro gives an amazing portrayal of real-life boxer, Jake LaMotta, whose animal side lurks just beneath the surface, ever ready to erupt. Vivid and unremitting in its uncompromising brutality and honesty, the fight sequences are famed for their realism. Jake LaMotta is a boxer whose psychological and sexual complexities erupt into violence both in and out of the ring. Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty ar...
Angelina Jolie stars as Hannah, a smoke jumper reeling from the loss of three young lives she failed to save from a fire. When she comes across a bloodied and traumatized 12-year-old boy, they set out together to cross the miles of thick forest with two assassins in pursuit. Braving deadly lightning storms that threaten even Hannah's well-honed survival skills, they are caught between two relentless killers hunting the boy from one direction, and a massive fiery blaze coming straight for them, quickly consuming everything in their path.
From producer of The Office Ash Atalla comes BBC3's latest sketch show Man Stroke Woman. With a cast featuring Nick Frost from Spaced and Daisy Haggard from Green Wing the show describes itself as 'a show about your girlfriend your boyfriend your kids and the girl you fancy in the accounts department'.
The Rising is the story of Neve Kelly (Rugaard), who discovers that she is dead. She's scared and confused by this new existence. But, when she realizes she has been murdered, she's furious. She's determined to find her killer and get justice, believing that it was someone she knew. Impulsive and restless, Neve regrets never leaving her isolated community. And, as she comes to terms with her abilities, she begins to destabilize the lives of those she left behind. Particularly her estranged father, Tom (Matthew McNulty) and her beloved mother Maria (Emily Taaffe). Neve is a disruptive, unsettling hero who should not exist, and she needs to find her purpose. She takes us through the investigation into her death, going where the police can't. In the process she uncovers deeply buried secrets and is forced to re-examine everything about her life and the people she cared about. With nothing to lose but time, Neve will push for the truth even when it hurts. Her return forces everyone around her to change, confess, or start covering their tracks. But, it also reveals that there are others like her out there.
Starring Nicholas Lyndhurst Goodnight Sweetheart became an instant hit with TV viewers of all ages as it charts the life of Gary Sparrow a dealer in memorabilia and antiques of WW2 who has miraculously discovered a portal in time which allows him to travel between the present and wartime Britain. This handy little trick obviously adds to the success of his business but the complications that it adds to Gary's love life are a different matter! Episodes comprise: 1. Mine's A Double 2. All About Yvonne 3. California Dreamin' 4. Grief Encounter 5. The 'ouses In Between 6. Just In Time 7. How I Won The War 8. Something Fishie 9. Flash Bang Wallop 10. Accentuate The Positive
A former collegiate wrestler is working as a biology teacher in a failing school. When cutbacks threaten to cancel the music lessons, Scott begins to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter.
The seventh and final season of Buffy's vampire vanquishing adventures. Episodes Comprise: 1. Lessons 2. Beneath You 3. Same Time Same Place 4. Help 5. Selfless 6. Him 7. Conversations With Dead People 8. Sleeper 9. Never Leave Me 10. Bring On The Night 11. Showtime 12. Potential 13. The Killer In Me 14. First Date 15. Get It Done 16. Storyteller 17. Lies My Parents Told Me 18. Dirty Girls 19. Empty Places 20. Touched 21. End Of Days 22. Chosen
Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture this internationally acclaimed motion picture recounts the poignant true story of two British sprinters vying for gold in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) a driven athlete of Jewish ancestry runs to overcome prejudice and to achieve personal fame; his rival Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) a devout Scottish missionary competes for the glory of God. An inspirational story of spirit and strength in the face of enormous odds the film combines the finest elements of athletic competition and human drama to create a compelling and timeless cinematic classic.
In Blumhouse's continuation of the cult hit The Craft, an eclectic foursome of aspiring teenage witches get more than they bargained for as they lean into their newfound powers.
Starring Nicholas Lyndhurst (Only Fools and Horses), Clive Francis and Michael Percival, The Piglet Files is the sitcom that truly lifts the lid on the shadowy world of espionage during the early nineties with quite startling results. Coerced into working for M15 only to find his spymasters are a collection of misinformed, bungling incompetents, electronics lecturer Peter Chapman is hapless gadgets expert Piglet Puma and Panther being already in use and he s feeling the pressure. This series finds the unlikely agent attempting to steal a former agent's memoirs, searching for a mole near the top of MI5... and falling headlong into a KGB honey trap!
This mini-series based on Joanna Trollope's novel explores the internal politics and scandals of a British cathedral choir school. It features the singing voice of first-time actor and boy treble soloist Anthony Way a real-life student at the St. Paul's Cathedral Choral School in London.
The behind-the-scenes true life story of ground-breaking producer Milton Fruchtman and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz, who, overcoming enormous obstacles, set out to capture the testimony of one of the war's most notorious Nazis, Adolf Eichmann. He is accused of executing the 'final solution' and organising the murder of six million Jews. This is the extraordinary story of how Eichmann's trial came to be televised and the team that made it happen. Filmed at the trial in Jerusalem in 1961, the production became the world's first ever global TV documentary series, where, for the first time, the horror of the camps was heard directly from the mouths of its victims. It was edited daily and broadcast in Germany, America, Israel and 34 other countries. People fainted when they saw it on TV. Never before had there been such drama in the use of cameras, their positioning or the revolutionary effect of operators being able to adjust frame and position to match subject and content.
Although the superhero comic book has been a duopoly since the early 1960s, only DC's flagship characters, Superman and Batman (who originated in the late 1930s) have established themselves as big-screen franchises. Until now--this is the first runaway hit film version of the alternative superhero X-Men universe created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others. It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape introducing all the characters, and this is the exception. X-Men drops us into a world that is closer to our own than Batman's Gotham City, but it's still home to super-powered goodies and baddies. Opening in high seriousness with paranormal activity in a WW2 concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden zapping people with his "optic beams", Rebecca Romijn-Stamos shape-shifting her blue naked form, and Ray Park lashing out with his Toad-tongue. The big conflict is between Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (who has retractable claws and amnesia), and Anna Paquin's Rogue (who sucks the life and superpowers out of anyone she touches). The plot has to do with a big gizmo that will wreak havoc at a gathering of world leaders, but the film is more interested in setting up a tangle of bizarre relationships between even more bizarre people, with solid pros such as Stewart and McKellen relishing their sly dialogue and the newcomers strutting their stuff in cool leather outfits. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics' fans engaged, but it feels more like a science fiction movie than a superhero picture. --Kim Newman
Only Fools and Horses is perhaps the last great and universally popular British sitcom. Series 4 reached 1985; Grandad has sadly passed on, to be replaced at Nelson Mandela House by Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield). Only Fools and Horses improved with age and the fourth series was still confined to the half-hour format, is good but not vintage (that occurred during Delboy's "Yuppy" years). Episodes such as "It's Only Rock'n'Roll", in which Rodney joins a band, show all the failings sitcoms usually expose when getting to grips with such alien subject matter: the situations have yet to involve the full complement of the entire Nag's Head ensemble and there are still occasional disturbing racial references. However, Uncle Albert's introduction does bring the series up a notch, as his furtive brandy-swilling, yarn-spinning and doddery bungling swiftly get on Delboy and Rodney's wick (though he's not without some cleverly introduced pathos), while episodes such as "Watching the Girls Go By" and "As One Door Closes" build effectively up to the sort of big, laugh-out-loud final twists that would become the series' trademark. On the DVD: full screen, no special features, sadly, except scene selection. --David Stubbs
In 1998, Mike Hodges, director of the iconic Get Carter, returned to the genre that made his name with Croupier, an unforgettable thriller that put leading man Clive Owen firmly on the map and established itself as a classic of British crime cinema. Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) is an aspiring writer going nowhere fast. Taking a job as a casino croupier just to make ends meet, he finds himself seduced by the high stakes world of luck and chance. As the job takes over his life and his relationship to girlfriend Marion (Gina McKee) begins to crumble, Jack's attention is caught by down-on-her-luck gambler Jani (Alex Kingston). Under pressure from her creditors, she asks Jack to be the inside man for a planned heist at the casino. It all sounds so easy. But even a pro can't predict the cards he will be dealt. With a screenplay by Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence) Hodges first theatrical feature in almost a decade proved that he'd lost none of his edge. Cooly confident, mercilessly gripping and tautly directed, Croupier arrives on Arrow Video looking better than ever, newly restored from the original 35mm camera negative with a wealth of special features. Product Features Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Mike Hodges Bonus disc containing brand new feature-length documentary Mike Hodges: A Film-Maker's Life Fully illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by film critics Barry Forshaw and Philip Kemp, plus select archival material Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley DISC 1 CROUPIER (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY) 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) Original uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Optional audio description for the visually impaired Brand new audio commentary by film critic Josh Nelson Archive audio commentary by director Mike Hodges A Streak of Fortune, a new interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg about the writing and making of Croupier Film, Scones and Fury, a new interview with actress Kate Hardie in which she looks back on the making of Croupier and her friendship with Mike Hodges Mike Hodges at the BFI, an archival audio interview with director Mike Hodges from the time of Croupier's release Theatrical Trailer Image Gallery DISC 2 MIKE HODGES: A FILM-MAKER'S LIFE (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY) In this all new documentary from Arrow Films, film critic David Cairns sits down with Croupier, Get Carter and Flash Gordon director Mike Hodges to take a closer look at the entirety of his career; featuring candid insights into the making of each film and his experience of the industry at large, it is a remarkable portrait of one of Britain's finest filmmakers
Shackleton is not a biopic of the great Anglo-Irish explorer but a dramatisation of the failed trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-16. As written and directed by Charles (Longtitude) Sturridge the production, filmed on real ice floes in Greenland, stays remarkably close to the facts, capturing the look of the surviving expedition photos of Frank Hurley (collected in the book South With Endurance) with great fidelity. Kenneth Branagh makes no attempt at an authentic accent but otherwise gives a powerful impression of a most commanding personality. When the expedition ship Endurance became locked in the Antarctic ice Shackleton vowed to bring every man home alive, and against virtually impossible odds, including a 700-mile journey in an open boat through some of the worst seas in the world, he did just that. This superlative mini-series realises the story with production values and cinematography which would not disgrace a big-budget feature (Hurley's own 1919 documentary film can be seen on video in South). Intense physical drama, strong performances and Adrian Johnston's fine score combine here to deeply moving effect, marred only a little by a rushed conclusion. With Roland Huntford, author of the definitive Shackleton biography, as production advisor, this easily stands as the benchmark for all future comparable films. --Gary S Dalkin
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