Not quite ready to surrender himself to responsibility or mainstream society, a young American travels to Asia and discovers he is not alone in his feelings
From this day to the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered. We few we happy few we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. From Academy Award winners Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg HBO presents the story of Easy Company - an elite team of U.S. paratroopers whose WWII exploits are as incredible as they are true. Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose the epic 10-part miniseries Band Of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company as well as soldiers' journals and letters Band Of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elite rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered vast casualties and whose lives became legend. They were ordinary men swept up in the most extraordinary conflict in history. With the eyes of the world upon them they found their greatest source of strength in one another.
Michelangelo Antonioni's close-up of Swinging Sixties London. David Hemmings plays a master photographer who explores the city twenty-four hours a day focusing in on the world's most beautiful models. One day he takes some photographs of a couple embracing in a park and suspects he has stumbled across a murder. Antonioni received Academy Award nominations for Best Writer and Best Director in 1966 for this his first English Language film.
A genuinely epic achievement, the 10-part World War II drama Band of Brothers is a television series that makes big-screen Hollywood war movies look small in comparison. Based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, the series follows the US 101st Airborne Division's "Easy" E-Company from initial training through D-Day and across Holland, Belgium, Germany and Austria until the end of the war. Coproduced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series take its initial inspiration from Saving Private Ryan and borrows that film's visceral visual approach to combat scenes using hand-held camerawork and de-saturated photography. But where Band of Brothers excels is in its scrupulous attention to the realities of military life (retired US Marine Captain Dale Dye, who also co-stars, is the man to credit). After the high drama of the parachute drop on D-Day, Easy's greatest trial comes during the Battle of the Bulge, when they are besieged at Bastogne in the depths of winter. In one of the most harrowing and credible depictions of war ever committed to film we see the men enduring the repeated artillery attacks of the German forces and experience, if only vicariously, some of the sheer terror of the assault, while being humbled by the soldiers' courage and determination. Such feelings are enhanced by the series' masterstroke--bookend interviews with the surviving members of Easy Company, who talk with barely suppressed emotion of the experiences we see recreated. The endorsement of these veterans elevates Band of Brothers beyond any mere "war film"--its extraordinary achievement is that it shows the horror and savagery of war without gloss or jingoism, and yet celebrates the fraternal bonds and dogged heroism of the men who fought. On the DVD: Band of Brothers arrives handsomely packaged in a six-disc box set with two episodes on each of the first five discs. Sound (Dolby 5.1) and picture (1.78:1 widescreen) only enhance the series' epic credentials. Disc 6 contains all the extras, the meatiest of which is the marvellous 80-minute documentary "We Stand Alone Together" about the real men of Easy Company. There's also a first-rate, genuinely interesting 30-minute "making of" feature about actor boot camp, visual effects and blowing up fake trees among many other things. This is complemented by actor Ron Livingston's revealing Video Diaries of boot camp. Additionally there's a "Who's Who" section and footage of the HBO premiere at Utah Beach, plus a TV spot for car company Jeep. --Mark Walker
From this day to the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered. We few we happy few we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. Based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose this ten part series at '87 million the most expensive TV production ever follows the US 101st Airborne Division's E 'Easy' Company from initial training through operations involving D-Day Market Garden and the Battle Of The Bulge across Holland Belgium Germany and Austria until the end of the war. Episodes Comprise: 1. Currahee 2. Day Of Days 3. Carentan 4. Replacements 5. Crossroads 6. Bastogne 7. The Breaking Point 8. The Last Patrol 9. Why We Fight 10. Points
Hideous Kinky journeys back to the early 1970s to Marrakesh, that hippy mecca for everyone from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix to Gillies MacKinnon, the director of this movie. Here you'll find one nice but confused middle-class young woman escaping the daily grind of a drab London with her two young daughters in tow. Whereas Esther Freud's book was told from the younger girl's perspective, the film-script places Julia centre-stage as she searches for what she describes wistfully as "the annihilation of the ego". Though fresh from her Titanic experience, Kate Winslet is no drippy hippy, bringing a refreshing feistiness to her role and looking fetching swathed in diaphanous layers. As her two daughters, Bella Riza (Bea, the wide-eyed younger one) and Carrie Mullan (Lucy, the sensible one) are brilliant discoveries--unselfconscious, charmingly quirky and enjoying a camaraderie that belies their difference in characters. Completing the family unit is Julia's lover, the endearingly unreliable Bilal (a fiery performance from Saïd Taghmaoui). When the money runs out, their adventures begin and the resilience and practicality of the girls is contrasted throughout with the dreaminess of their mother, her sense of duty vying with her quest for self-discovery. Visually, it's a veritable feast as we're pitched from the colour and cacophony of the market-place to the dusty harshness of the mountains. And that elusive title--which is never explained in the film--is in fact a phrase coined by the girls as a term of approbation. On the DVD: Hideous Kinky is presented in widescreen 16:9 with a Dolby Digital soundtrack. Additional features are disappointing minimal. As well as the usual theatrical trailer, there are brief interviews with the main players (though no marks for imagination as they're all asked the same questions) and approximately eight minutes of behind-the-scenes footage. There are no subtitles. --Harriet Smith
Thatcher's Britain the 80's Dean a shy working class lad from Romford has been kicked out by his abusive father. He heads for London and meets up with gallery owner and society hostess Lady Gryffoyn embarking on a new life of deception and duplicity. As Dean heads off to Europe and spends more of the upper classes' money the fraud squad closes in on him.
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy