The most widely seen movie produced by a Hollywood studio, The Sound of Music grows fresher with each viewing. Though it was planned meticulously in pre-production (save for the scene where Maria and the children take a dipping in an Austrian lake that nearly cost a life), on each viewing one is struck anew by the spontaneous almost improvisatory air of the acting, notably of Julie Andrews under Robert Wise's direction. There are also the little human touches he brings to, for instance, the scene where Maria leads the children to the hills, over bridges and along tow paths where the smallest boy trips up and momentarily gets left behind: it creates a feeling that most of us have encountered. From the opening pre-credit sequence of muted excitement as the camera roves over the Austrian Alps (photographed in magnificent colour), where little phrases from the wind instruments on the soundtrack are flung as if on the breeze, foreshadowing the title song to follow, the production never puts a foot wrong. On the DVD: On the first disc the film itself has never looked or sounded better since its original presentation in Todd AO (prints of which are said to have disappeared forever). The disc also contains a separate audio guide that takes the viewer through the film sequence by sequence, with director Robert Wise commenting on the weather, the production design by Boris Leven, the sequences filmed on location and in Hollywood (like the interiors of the Von Trapp villa), and the naming of other actors who were eager for the lead roles, notably Doris Day and Yul Brynner. On the second disc there are the documentaries. "Salzburg Sight and Sound" was Charmian Carr's own record of her time on location in the summer of 1964, playing Liesl, the eldest Von Trapp daughter. "From Fact to Fiction", running two hours, begins with the birth of Maria in 1905 who inspired the film, charts her subsequent marriage to Captain Von Trapp, their escape from Nazi Germany not across the Alps but via a train across the Italian boarder, their home in Vermont and thence to the German film of the family that was brought to the attention of Rodgers and Hammerstein as an ideal vehicle for a stage musical. A second group of documentaries covers previews, television and radio commercials and a 1973 interview with Wise and Andrews. Overall, this is a marathon package but in its way is as compelling as the film itself. --Adrian Edwards
Classic westerns collection of 3 Blu-ray discs starring Clint Eastwood in 1080p High Definition.
The battle rages on as superstar Sylvester Stallone detonates the third and most explosive in the action-packed Rambo trilogy. Combat has taken its toll on John Rambo (Stallone) but he has finally begun to find inner peace inside a monastery - until his friend and mentor Col. Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) shows up to ask for his help on a top-secret mission to Afghanistan. A war-weary Rambo declines but when Trautman is captured Rambo erupts into a one-man firestorm to rescue his former commanding officer and decimate the enemy. It's an intense pulse-pounding adventure that boasts unrelenting action and suspense from start to finish!
And the hits just keep on coming. Sylvester Stallone, who can't seem to draw flies unless he's playing Rocky Balboa or John Rambo, went back to the Rambo well (or septic system, as it were) to show his well-known solidarity with the Afghan freedom fighters who battled the Soviet army in the 1980s. This time it's personal: his handler, Richard Crenna, is captured by the Evil Empire and so it is up to Rambo to leave his work in a monastery in Southeast Asia (no, seriously) in order to rescue him from the Ruskies. Ever wonder why the Russians had such a miserable time in Afghanistan? It was because Rambo took them on single-handed and sent them packing with hammer-and-sickle all the way back to Moscow. Cartoonish action, taken ever so seriously by Stallone, who was working desperately to scrape away the unsightly wax build up from his reputation. --Marshall FineThe Rambo trilogy is also available on DVD as a complete set.
Set in Wyoming in 1881 during the sunset years of the Wild West, 1992's Unforgiven was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood, and is generally considered to be the towering achievement of his twilight years. Eastwood plays William Munny, once a vicious, whisky-swilling bounty hunter, brought to heel by his marriage to a good woman. When she dies, he must raise two children and run a hog farm alone, something which we see him make a comically poor fist of doing. Then, in a twist of fate, a young outlaw called the Schofield Kid trots up to his farm and invites him to collect on a $1,000 reward raised by a group of prostitutes. However, Clint must not only face up to his own somewhat rusty skills as a gunslinger, but also to genial-but-psychopathic lawman Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman in superb form). Unforgiven ultimately conforms to the expectations of the genre, while subverting quite a few of them on the way. There's brooding on the consequences of violence ("It's a hell of a thing to kill a man"), as Munny's ineptitude with a rifle is matched by his feelings of penitence for his younger wrongdoings. Finally, however, Eastwood casts aside age and inhibition in a chillingly ruthless shootout, his powers miraculously (improbably?) restored, in what could also be seen as an assertion on the part of the ageing Eastwood of his own potency as a major player in Hollywood. --David Stubbs
An Officer And A Gentleman (Dir. Taylor Hackford 1981): Zack Mayo is a young loner with a bad attitude. Tempted by the glamour and admiration of the life of a Navy pilot he decides to sign up for Officer Candidate School. After thirteen tortuous weeks under Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Gossett Jnr.) he slowly begins to learn the importance of discipline love and friendship. Foley warns Zack about the local girls who will do anything to catch themselves a pilot for a husband
Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the story of David Budd (Richard Madden), a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) of London's Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, could he become her biggest threat?
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the most beloved family film of all time! Rodgers & Hammerstein’s cinematic treasure and Winner of five ACADEMY AWARDS® including Best Picture* stars Julie Andrews as Maria the warm-hearted young woman who leaves the convent to bring joy and music to Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) and his children. Experience this magnificent movie musical filled with unforgettable songs including “Do-Re-Mi ” “My Favorite Things” and “The Sound of Music.” Includes All-New 60-Minute Documentary – The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg and more!
PG Wodehouse's much-loved stories about Bertie Wooster and his brilliantly clever valet Jeeves were brought faithfully to life in Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as master and servant. Perfectly cast and with scripts that retain all the sparkling wit of Wodehouse's prose, it's hard to see how any future adaptation of his work could surpass this wonderfully funny series. This set contains the entire first season of Jeeves and Wooster. In "Jeeves Takes Charge" young man-about-town Bertie Wooster employs a new valet called Jeeves, and not a moment too soon. Thanks to his Aunt Agatha, Bertie faces the terrible prospect of marriage to the statuesque Honoria Glossop, and only Jeeves can save the day. "Tuppy and the Terrier" finds Bertie in trouble again when he loses Aunt Agatha's dog. Further aunt-related complications arise when Bertie's chum Tuppy falls for our hero's cousin Angela. Aunt Dahlia is not amused. An uncle in love with a waitress, a trip to the country, a speedy choirboy, and a secret betting syndicate all lead to trouble in "The Purity of the Turf". Jeeves, of course, is the only one who can put things right. Jeeves and Wooster really hits its stride in the final episodes of Series 1: "The Hunger Strike" and "Brinkley Manor". When Bertie visits Aunt Dahlia he is called upon to solve the romantic problems of his friends Tuppy Glossop (in love with Cousin Angela) and the delightful Gussy Fink-Nottle (in love with Madeleine Basset, a young lady who believes the stars to be God's daisy-chain.) Unwisely, Bertie decides to cook up his own plan and before long disaster strikes. Aunt Dahlia's superb chef Anatole gives his notice, and Bertram is to blame. Thank goodness for Jeeves. --Simon Leake, Amazon.com
Documentary about Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, who subsequently became president of the World Bank.
Jet Li stars in this science fiction tale about a killer travelling through parallel universes, killing other versions of himself to gain power.
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music — Winner of five ACADEMY AWARDS® including Best Picture* — with this 2-disc Blu-ray™ set that includes an all-new hour-long documentary detailing Julie Andrews’ return visit to Salzburg where she filmed her iconic role as Maria half a century ago! *1965: Directing Film Editing Music Best Picture Sound Includes All-New 60-Minute Documentary – The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg and more!
This film, which again pairs Richard Gere and Kim Basinger (who starred in 1986's No Mercy), offers up elements of classic noir: a hapless man becomes intimately involved with a beautiful blonde who may or may not be who or what she appears to be. Dedicated psychiatrist Isaac Barr (Gere) reluctantly, and then more obsessively, becomes involved with Heather Evans (Basinger), the sister of his patient, Diana Baylor (Uma Thurman). Evans is unhappily married to a gangster (appropriately played by a muscular and menacing Eric Roberts in a trademark role). Gere and Basinger make a credible, if dangerous couple, and Thurman delivers a subtle, understated performance and demonstrates her range and potential. The thriller is appropriately shot in gorgeous San Francisco, where the literal and figurative curving and hilly roads wind throughout. Credit legendary art director Dean Tavoularis for some amazing sets and scenes, notably the elegantly cavernous restaurant where Evans and her husband have a fateful dinner. This film is, in a way, glossy director Phil Joanou's Hitchcockian tribute--as a climactic lighthouse scene best demonstrates. Final Analysis doesn't offer an intimate look at its characters, but a beautifully stylized one, moody and gloomy. The intricate plot experiments with the device of "pathological intoxication," in which the subject completely loses control after drinking alcohol. And this doesn't mean a conventional ugly drunk; it means a frightening psychotic. Good and evil, hope and despair, beauty and repulsion are often juxtaposed in the film's complex world. --NF Mendoza
After Rocky and its sequels, Sylvester Stallone cast about for another character that would bring him the same kind of box-office hit--and found it in disillusioned Vietnam vet John Rambo in First Blood, a solid little action thriller. So when all else failed, Stallone went back to the same well in hopes of recapturing the same commercial success. Which this film did. But where First Blood was a no-nonsense thriller that pitted Stallone against a worthy (and not necessarily bad) Brian Dennehy, this one is a sadistic chest-thumper in which Rambo gets to go back to Vietnam: ostensibly, he is there to rescue missing POWs, but in fact the movie was a lame excuse for him to refight the Vietnam War--and win. Audiences ate up the cruel Vietcong (and their Russian manipulators) and Stallone's bogus heroics, but it was strictly by-the-numbers action. --Marshall FineThe Rambo trilogy is also available on DVD as a complete set.
Since it's first publication in 1908 Kenneth Grahame's THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS has become a best-seller throughout the world. In this unique film the award-winning animators of Cosgrove Hall have brought Grahame's characters Badger Mole Ratty and the flamboyant Toad of Toad Hall magically to life in a beautiful Edwardian country scene. Join these four lively characters in a wonderful production that captures all the fun and enchantment of a fairy tale adventure.
Based on a true story this film tells of the tireless efforts of a US naval ship crew to save an abandoned Korean / American baby from the post-Korean War political fallout.
John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has gone to ground at a Buddhist temple in Thailand when Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) seeks him out for a new mission: supplying weapons to oppressed rebels in Afghanistan. When Rambo refuses, Trautman leaves for Afghanistan without him but is quickly taken hostage by Soviet forces. With his friend facing imminent death, Rambo volunteers to mount a solo rescue attempt Features: Rambo takes the 80s Part 3 Full Circle A Hero's Journey Rambo's Survival Hardware Alternate Beginning Deleted Scenes Interview with Sylvester Stallone Afghanistan - A Land in Crisis Guts and Glory Behind the Scenes The Restoration Trautman & Rambo How to become Rambo Part 3 Original Trailer Original TV Spots
Three full-length feature films from the popular 'Babylon 5' science fiction series. Third Space (1998) When a mysterious artefact found discarded in hyperspace is recovered and brought back to the station for analysis the crew aboard Babylon 5 face an unexpected threat. Sinister mind altering thoughts take hold through foreboding dreams of a towering structure and giant ships as questions fly surrounding the origin of their discovery. Scientists battle against the clock to
More fun and adventures with Donkey Kong and his friends.
You know the story: Cinderella rides in a magical pumpkin to the ball, enchants the prince and flees at midnight. He finds her slipper and tracks her down, and they live happily ever after. But wait! In The Slipper and the Rose, it turns out there's more to the life of a prince than being charming. The king prefers to choose the prince's wife, one of proper social station who would provide a strong political alliance to ward off the kingdom's enemies. That's one of the twists in this 1976 British take on the classic fairy tale, one of a long line of musical versions. The disgruntled prince, who's as much of a focal point here as the lady with the footwear, is played by Richard Chamberlain, during the years when he was taking on the classics and had not yet been crowned king of the TV mini-series. He displays a pleasant voice opposite Gemma Craven as Cinderella, and veteran character actor Michael Hordern as the king leads the supporting ensemble. Add lavish sets and lush scenery (partially filmed in Austria), humour, fun choreography, and an Oscar-nominated score full of charming songs by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman (veterans of such Disney movies as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book, and who also co-wrote the script with director Bryan Forbes), and you have a grand, engaging family musical. The 143-minute running time and dreamy, deliberate pace might test the patience of antsy viewers, but The Slipper and the Rose's legion of fans wouldn't have it any other way. --David Horiuchi, Amazon.com
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