Made in 1989, Roger and Me is a loose, smart-alecky documentary directed and narrated by Michael Moore. Here for the first time, the man who won unexpected Oscar glory with Bowling for Columbine exposed audiences to his devastating wit and a working-class pose. When his hometown is devastated by the plant closure of an American corporate giant (making record profits, one should note), the hell-raising political commentator with a prankster streak tries to turn his camera on General Motors Chairman Roger B Smith, the elusive Roger of the title, and the film is loosely structured around Moore's odyssey to track down the bigwig for an interview. While Moore ambushes his corporate subjects like a blue-collar Geraldo Rivera, a guerrilla interviewer who treasures his comic rebuffs as much as his interviews, his portraits of the colourful characters he meets along the way can be patronising. The famous come off as absurdly out of touch (Anita Bryant appears for some can-do cheerleading, and hometown celebrity Bob Eubanks tells some boorish jokes), and the disenfranchised poor (notably an unemployed woman who sells rabbit meat to make ends meet) all too often appear as buffoons or hicks. But behind his loose play with the facts and snarky attitude is a devastating look at the victims of downsizing in the midst of the 1980s economic boom. This portrait of Reagan's America and the tarnish on the American dream comes down to a simple question: what is corporate America's responsibility to the country's citizens? That's a question no-one at GM wants to answer. --Sean Axmaker
Navy diver Ted Jackson (Presley) with the help of the skipper's daughter hunts for sunken treasure...
The foundation stone of the Troma label's trash-movie empire, The Toxic Avenger introduces the character of nerdy janitor Melvin, who suffers heaps of abuse from local bad-guys and is stuffed into a vat of toxic waste while dressed in a ballerina outfit. He emerges mutated into a Swamp Thing/Hulk-style monster hero who romps around the blighted township of Tromaville, New Jersey, offing the grotesque villains in nastily gruesome ways and mooning over his blind true love. The Troma style is unique, and perhaps predates the anything-gross-for-a-laugh approach of the Farrelly Brothers by a good 10 years, but it sometimes wavers between the good-natured gags and genuinely unpleasant plot images that somewhat spoil the tone. Entry-level filmmaking, but with surprisingly professional head-squashing effects and a degree of enthusiasm that breaks down most resistance. Several sequels have ensued, including The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie. -- Kim Newman
This release features the complete 1974 series of Johnny Speight's Till Death Us Do Part from 1972 featuring Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett. Episode titles: TV Licence The Royal Wedding Strikes And Blackouts Party Night Three Day Week Gran's Watch 'Paki-Paddy'.
Based on Ludovic Kennedy's investigative book '10 Rillington Place' is the true and horrifying story of English mass murderer John Christie (chillingly played by Richard Attenborough). When Timothy Evans (John Hurt) his wife Beryl (Judy Geeson) and their young daughter move into Christie's house they unknowingly sign their death warrants. Christie offers to help Beryl have an abortion and uses this opportunity as he has already done with previous victims to strangle and rape her. Believing himself to be an accomplice to a fatal abortion Evans panics and flees with the hope that his child will be looked after; in fact Christie kills her too. Evans is arrested charged with double murder found guilty and hanged. But Christie continues to kill... Attenborough and Hurt give unforgettable performances in this thought-provoking frightening and atmospheric true crime classic directed by Richard Fleischer.
Welcome to Tromaville High School the most bizarre High School you'll ever attend and it is conveniently located a stone's throw from the local Nuclear Power Plant. Meet the students as they transform into horrifying mutations! Become a member of The Cretins - a psychotic punk gang who ride motorcycles through the classrooms trashing the school. If you're thinking of bunking off classes you had better beware - there is a gigantic gremlin-like creature growing in the hot water pipes and a gigantic slime drenched monster growing in the basement - just waiting for you!
Sometimes the hero of the story just ends up being you! In this thrill a minute Western Pecos Bill (Swayze) helps a young lad save his family's farm. They then embark on a journey where plenty of danger and surprises are waiting for them!
A grim, disheartening view of the underside of city life, Q & A is a legal drama with a disturbing twist. Not exactly a whodunit--the guilt of policeman Nick Nolte is established early on--the plot follows the closing of the circle around him. Leading the murder investigation is Timothy Huttons young, idealistic district attorney Al Reilly, who finds himself battling a fraudulent and cynical culture. Racism, corruption and political machinations are all added to the mix, resulting in a film that is just a little too dense and slow moving to capture the imagination. Director Sidney Lumet creates a feeling of enveloping darkness around Hutton, who slowly manages to let the light in and bring the truth to the surface. With an obviously small budget, the film has more of a made-for-television feel than that of a big blockbuster and some of the performances err too much on the side of cliché. The concept of the New York melting pot is fairly effectively dismissed by the film, painting a picture of distrust between communities that often spills into verbal and physical violence. Not quite as unremittingly bleak as Harvey Kietels Bad Lieutenant, Q & A is still a tough, dark piece of cinema. On the DVD: Q & A is very much a film of the night, with much of the action taking place either in the shadows or in rooms with harsh, artificial light. The picture on the DVD reflects that perfectly, although the lack of budget is hard to disguise. The soundtrack quality is good, if not startling, but there are no extras aside from the movies theatrical trailer. All in all, its a fairly average package. --Phil Udell
The suave sleuth Tony Rome makes a shocking discovery while diving for treasure: a beautiful blonde woman anchored in a block of cement. When a local hood hires him to find his missing girlfriend his investigation begins with the mysterious ""Lady in Cement."" But everyone he talks to either is killed or trying to kill him...
A few years after the events in Scream 2, Gale Weathers has continued the horror franchise called Stab.
Titles Comprise: Rescue Dawn: Christian Bale and Steve Zahn star in Rescue Dawn an action drama by Werner Herzog based on the director's acclaimed 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The film recounts the true story of German-born Dieter Dengler who dreams of being a pilot and eventually makes his way to the United States where he joins the military during the Vietnam War era. Shot down and captured in Vietnam Dieter along with a handfull of other captives decide to hatch an escape plan before it's too late... Behind Enemy Lines: On a reconnaissance flight over eastern Europe disillusioned naval pilot Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) and his partner Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) photograph a scene they were not meant to see. When their plane is shot down and Stackhouse is quickly captured and executed Burnett must struggle to survive in unfamiliar hostile territory with a cold-blooded assassin and hundreds of enemy troops on his heels. Meanwhile on an American battleship in the Adriatic Sea Burnett's commanding officer Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman) attempts to negotiate his soldier's return amidst tense political and military maneuvers. Soon Burnett discovers exactly why he's being hunted making his situation and Reigert's actions even more perilous... Tigerland: Roland Bozz after being conscripted into the US army joins a platoon of other young soldiers preparing to fight in Vietnam. He has no interest in fighting for his country and tries to get sent home as a trouble maker but his superiors mistake his defiance as intelligence and he soon gets a chance to try his hand at leadership... Windtalkers: In 1942 several hundred Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines and trained to use their language as code. Marine Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) - a Navajo code talker the Marines' new secret weapon. Enders' orders are to protect his code talker but if Yahzee should fall into enemy hands he's to protect the code at all costs. Against the backdrop of the horrific Battle of Saipan when capture is imminent Enders is forced to make a decision: if he can't protect his fellow Marine can he bring himself to kill him to protect the code?
One nonfiction film that truly creates a narrative journey, My Architect is filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn's engrossing search for his father. Louis Kahn, one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th century, died in 1974 and left behind a highly compartmentalized life, including two children born out of wedlock to two mistresses. Nathaniel interviews the members of this somewhat puzzled family, but his deepest experiences are visits to the buildings that his father made (such as the grand Salk Institute in La Jolla, California), culminating in an emotional trip to Bangladesh. Here, Louis Kahn designed a massive government complex, a soaring achievement (and fascinating paradox--a Muslim capital designed by a Jewish man). This film asks: where does an artist truly live? In his life, or in the work he leaves behind? Nathaniel Kahn takes an amazingly even-tempered approach to this, given his personal stake in the story, and the result is a uniquely stirring movie. --Robert Horton
Edmund O'Brian - DOA
Coming-of-age themes are an obvious choice for movie-makers but All Over Me is far from being run of the mill. It follows the friendship and codependence of two 15-year-old New York girls, one (Claude) gradually coming to terms with the fact that she's gay, the other (Ellen), getting sucked into a world of boys, violence and drugs. It brilliantly and sympathetically realised by film-maker sisters Alex and Sylvia Sichel, with superb performances by the two leads, Alison Folland and Tara Subkoff. When the violent, homophobic murder of the girls' new-found friend, Jesse (Wilson Cruz) threatens to rip them apart, Ellen embarks on a trail of self-destruction while Claude finally seems able to come to terms with her own destiny, ultimately getting together with the pretty, magenta-haired punk musician, Lucy (a superbly empathetic performance from Leisha Hailey). It's a film that's saved from introspective self-indulgence by the brutal interruption of the outside world, and it's not just a thought-provoking hour-and-a-half, it's a compelling narrative experience. The only weakness is the two-dimensional characterization of Ellen's psychotic boyfriend, well enough played by Cole Hauser, but intrinsically limited in scope. Ann Dowd is superb as Claude's man-chasing mother and the film is topped off by a funky soundtrack. On the DVD: All over Me doesn't just offer the "usual theatrical trailer" for the film in question but instead offers trailers for two related films, Better than Chocolate and Trick, both of which deal truthfully with gay issues offering a light and often humorous touch. However, that's it as far as additional goodies are concerned, which is a shame, but the vibrant soundtrack is presented in a great Dolby Digital sound. --Harriet Smith
Anti-Clock, Jane Arden and Jack Bond's last collaborative work, mixes pioneering video techniques with pin-sharp colour footage in order to create a densely woven, dream-like narrative which explores issues of personal identity and social conformity. Based on Jane Arden's extraordinary writings on the limitations of rational thought, this groundbreaking films has remained unseen since its last public screening in 1983 and is presented here in a new transfer from the original 16mm negative, along with a selection of never-before-seen special features.
In the latest comedy from the Farrelly brothers, two conjoined twins find their brotherly bond tested when one of them decides to head to Hollywood to become a movie star.
In this sequel to Tony Rome, Sinatra is back as the Miami private eye. This time around he's hired by a small time hood (Dan Blocker) to find his missing girlfriend. In finding out the fate of the girl, Rome runs across a variety of shady characters, including a Mafia chieftain and a beautiful alcoholic, Kit Forrest (Raquel Welch) who instantly becomes the first suspect. The film takes a sharp twist when Rome is accused of murder himself!
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