Poor Rosanna Arquette ended up in this Van Damme potboiler about an escaped convict who moves onto the farm of a widow (Arquette) and her two kids. Stuff happens: a cop who likes her gets jealous and beats up the Muscles from Brussels (but only after handcuffing him), there's a fire in the barn, bad guys are trying to drive her away, etc. The story was first developed by screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) and the late director Richard Marquand (Eye of the Needle). Eszterhas wrote the script, but who knows what direction this story was originally going? Van Damme's best film is still Timecop, and this is a long way from the quality of that.
Analyze That has more bada bing than its lukewarm box office reception would lead you to expect. Analyze This (1999) had the advantage of a then-fresh idea--Robert De Niro as a neurotic mob boss seeking therapy with reluctant shrink Billy Crystal--but that idea's stale (and has been handled more authentically in The Sopranos), so this sequel relies on established chemistry and zesty dialogue that matches the original. There's nothing wrong with a retread when it's this funny, and De Niro's latter-day penchant for comedy suits him well when, as kingpin Paul Vitti, he lures Dr Sobel (Crystal) into a prison breakout scheme involving faked catatonia and West Side Story show tunes. The contrived plot involves Vitti's criminal comeback. Unfortunately, there's little room for Lisa Kudrow as Sobel's sarcastic wife, but De Niro's Raging Bull co-star Cathy Moriarty-Gentile is welcomed as a rival mob queen. You want a comedy masterpiece? Fuhgeddaboudit. You want 95 minutes of easy fun? It's right here... and don't miss those obligatory outtakes. --Jeff Shannon
Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Dogs of War is an uneasy mix of espionage and combat that never really succeeds in either role. Based around the character of Paul Shannon, the film follows events in the fictional African state of Zagaro. Hired on a reconnaissance mission by a nameless multi-national corporation, Shannon is captured and tortured before his release, only to return to the country to lead a small band of mercenaries (the dogs of the title) in a bloody coup. The first section of the movie works best, building a real sense of tension and unease, not least through a typically understated performance by Christopher Walken as the paranoid loner who keeps a pistol in his fridge (watch too for a brief appearance from a young Jim Broadbent). There are obvious references to the by-then obsolete school of Vietnam filmmaking in the second section, with the Asian enemy replaced by an African one. The gung-ho mentality of the soldiers is, however, so two-dimensional that the viewer develops little empathy for their plight. The action is slow and drawn out, with the seemingly endless pregnant pauses operating as a means for enabling the film to achieve a reasonable running time. On the DVD: little is on offer here aside from the usual scene selection, audio and subtitle options and original cinema trailer. --Phil Udell
Based on the best-seller, Stephen King's Thinner stars Robert John Burke (Robocop 3, Tombstone) and Joe Mantegna (Bugsy, The Godfather III) in a story of supernatural terror and a countdown to the ultimate payback. A 109-year-old gypsy, hell-bent on revenge, exacts a curse so shocking it compels its victim to gorge himself in an effort to avoid shrinking away to nothingness. With time running out and a torture so bizarre and powerful, even death seems a more likely option.
James Cameron's 1989 aquatic epic The Abyss was, quite literally, a watershed in the annals of filmmaking: not only was it the first (and only) movie to be shot almost entirely underwater, in the largest tank ever used for a movie set, and to use live dialogue from specially designed headsets, it also pushed forward the boundaries of computer animation in one gigantic leap. The famous water tentacle sequence is now regarded as the defining moment when CGI came of age; ironically perhaps, its very success has ensured that the punishing realism of the setting, which is the best thing about the movie, is likely never to be attempted again. But the impressive technical aspects aside, is the movie any good? Granted it contains any number of striking moments, from forcing a rat to breathe liquid (it really works, apparently) to resurrecting a drowned Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. But the story is a slim one for the running time, especially in the extended Special Edition version which plays almost half an hour longer than the theatrical cut and contains a completely excised subplot featuring much too much heavy-handed moralising: "How all the world can stop fighting and learn to get along with each other", by James Cameron esq. All you need is love, apparently. Here is one rare example of the theatrical cut being preferable to the director's. Now, if only he had cut the love story from Titanic too On the DVD: The Abyss Special Edition two-disc set has plenty of neat extra features, but is let down a little by the non-anamorphic 2.35:1 letterboxed picture. Sound, on the other hand, is vivid THX mastered Dolby 5.1. Happily, the first disc contains both the original theatrical cut and the extended special-edition version. There's a reasonably informative though inevitably rather dry text-only commentary. The principal extra on Disc 2 is a 60-minute documentary, "Under Pressure", with retrospective interviews in which cast and crew detail the extraordinary challenges involved in making the film, and more than one near-death experience. In addition there's the complete screenplay, various different pieces on the effects sequences, storyboards, artwork, DVD-ROM features--in short, plenty to keep even jaded DVD enthusiasts amused for hours. The menu interfaces for both discs are a treat and the set comes with a good 12-page booklet. --Mark Walker
From the macabre imagination of Stephen King (the best-selling author of 'Firestarter' 'The Shining' and 'Carrie') comes this trio of terrifying tales linked by a stray cat that roams from one story to the next. In the first episode a New York man (James Woods Vampires Nixon) has trouble giving up cigarettes. He turns to a shady self-help operation whose hot-headed owner outlines a litany of incrementally harsh penalties for those who cannot resist having another puff. The second story centers on Cressner (Kenneth McMillan) an Atlantic City mobster. His wife has been having an affair with a tennis pro (Robert Hays) so Cressner forces the athlete to walk the ledge around his high-rise apartment. If the athlete can complete one lap along the overhang he gets to be with Cressner's wife forever. In the closing narrative a young girl (Drew Barrymore Scream E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) has difficulty sleeping. Though her parents suspect the family cat of wrongdoing the girl knows better especially after she spots a foot-high troll coming out of her bedroom wall...
Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn created one of the most memorable partnerships in ballet history. This documentary features clips of the dynamic duo's most popular performances including the pas de deux from ""Le Corsaire"" and ""Swan Lake"" and excerpts from ""Romeo and Juliet"" and ""Les Sylphides"".
The True Glory is widely regarded as one of the greatest war documentaries ever made. Co-directed by the legendary Carol Reed this feature length film was produced by the Allied military during 1944 and 1945 as a permanent visual record of the campaign in Europe and covers all the major engagements. Compiled from the pick of over six and a half million feet of film it includes some of the most devastating and memorable images of war ever captured on camera - and it won a well
Righteous Kill stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as a pair of veteran New York City Police detectives who must track down a vigilante serial killer in this adrenaline fuled psychological thriller! After 30 years as partners in the NYPD highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement but aren't. Before they can hang up their badges they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before. Like the original murder the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can't do on their own - take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars?
Sara Gruen's bestselling novel comes to glossy life in this period romance. A sparkle-free Robert Pattinson plays Jacob Jankowski, who studies veterinary medicine during the Great Depression. After a family tragedy, he loses everything, including the chance to graduate from prestigious Cornell, so he hops a train, where he finds himself part of the struggling Benzini Brothers Circus. Ringleader August (Christoph Waltz, echoing his Oscar®-winning Inglourious Basterds performance) has doubts about the softhearted lad, but a fellow Pole smoothes the way, and Jacob becomes the company vet, which leads him to platinum-blonde equestrian Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), August's wife. The two make eyes at each other, but an affair would surely end badly, so they concentrate on their work. When Marlena's prize steed falls ill, August purchases an elephant, hoping Rosie will turn their fortunes around, and enlists Jacob to train her. Unfortunately, she's slow to respond to commands until Jankowski unlocks her secret--and after August has beaten the poor thing into submission. After that, things start to look up until Jacob steals a kiss from his dream girl. As in The Notebook, the film it most closely resembles, an elderly version of the central character (Hal Holbrook, touching) narrates in the present day (screenwriter Richard LaGravenese also adapted The Bridges of Madison County). He tells an interesting tale, so it's too bad the leads strike so few sparks. For those who find big-top classics like Nightmare Alley too dark, however, Francis Lawrence's feel-better variant may be just the ticket. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Airplane!The persons and events in this film are fictitious - fortunately! A masterpiece of off-the-wall comedy. Airplane! features Robert Hays as an ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning; Julie Hagerty as his girlfriend/stewardess/co-pilot; and a cast of all-stars including Robert Stack Lloyd Bridges Peter Graves Leslie Nielsen Kareem Abdul-Jabbar... and more. Their hilarious high jinks spoof airplane disaster flicks religious zealots television commercials romantic love... the list whirls by in rapid succession. And the story races from one moment of zany fun to the next.Airplane IIThere's a mad bomber on board the first lunar shuttle is about to self-destruct the engines are not working and - worst of all - the flight crew discovers they are completely out of coffee! It's the high-flying lunacy of Airplane! all over again as Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty fly totally out of the ozone to recreate their hilarious original roles. The crew of crazies includes Peter Graves Lloyd Bridges William Shatner Chad Everett Sonny Bono Raymond Burr and many others. Can Hays save the day again - without caffeine? Fasten your seatbelts for a ride you'll never forget - Airplane II: The Sequel.
Join the legendary Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, in all 268 original episodes from all 7 seasons of the complete series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the Emmy® Award-winning murder-mystery series that, in the words of Hitchcock himself, brought murder back into the home-where it belongs. In over 111 hours of the most captivating, intriguing suspenseful television ever aired.
What would you do if you discovered an enormous comet will collide with Earth and all humanity could be annihilated? Emmy® winner Mimi Leder ( E.R. ) directs an all-star cast featuring Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Leelee Sobieski, Blair Underwood, Maximilian Schell and Morgan Freeman in a unique and dynamic fusion of large-scale excitement with touching human-scale storylines. DEEP IMPACT on 4K Ultra HD⢠with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 is a must-have action-adventure for your collection. Blu-ray Special Features include Commentary, Featurettes and more!Special FeaturesCommentary by Director Mimi Leder and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott FarrarPreparing For The EndMaking An ImpactCreating The Perfect Traffic JamParting ThoughtsPhoto GalleryTeaser Trailer - HDTheatrical Trailer - HDAudio Languages:4K UHD: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround, French - Parisian, German, Japanese, Spanish - Castilian Dolby Digital 5.1 SurroundBlu-ray: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround, French, German, Italian, Spanish - Castilian Dolby Digital 5.1
More skits and sketches from comedy duo Mitchell And Webb.
In Bed With Madonna: This movie reveals her as she really is on stage and off--den mother to her family of dancers sex goddess to her millions of fans businesswoman singer dancer. The biggest star in the world of music. Join her and experience an intimate backstage look at her ""Blonde Ambition"" tour. From her hotel room to her dressing room from her stage show to her boudoir here is Madonna - outrageous hilarious uninhibited. Desperately Seeking Susan: If you know what to look for you can find almost anything in the personal ads...including the love of your life! Rosanna Arquette is irresistible and in her first starring role pop star Madonna gives a marvelously comic performance in this delightful madcap comedy about mistaken identity. Bored New Jersey housewife Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) fills her days by reading the personal ads and following an ongoing romance between Jim (Robert Joy) and Susan (Madonna) a mysterious drifter who appears to lead the kind of free-spirited life about which Roberta can only dream. And dream she does until the day she actually shows up at the couple's pre-arranged rendezvous in New York City... and after a bump on the head a bout of amnesia turns Roberta into Susan and opens the door to intrigue laughter and love! Body Of Evidence: Seductive gallery owner Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) is accused of a unique crime - using violent sex to murder a wealthy businessman. Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe) is the lawyer trying to defend her helpless to resist her extraordinary brand of lovemaking...
Directed by Fritz Lang and starring Gary Cooper and Lili Palmer this rare film mixes intrigue with the atomic threat tension builds as a research scientist turned spy (Cooper) has to enter an occupied Europe of World War 2. Cooper is backed up by a host of talent including Robert Alda (father of Alan Alda of M.A.S.H. fame). The film culminates in a vicious hand-to hand duel with and Italian Gestapo agent (Marc Lawrence). This film has an intrigue all it''s own and is unique in many ways. The thread holding it all together is the down home character played credibly by Gary Cooper as the simple man thrust into a complex situation.
Based on James Herriot's autobiographical best sellers 'If Only They Could Talk' and 'It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet' the long running TV series All Creatures Great and Small continued to satisfy the Herriot hysteria of the British public.
United We Fall is the hilarious new comedy about the beautiful game and the overpaid, overbranded and oversexed men who play in it. On the brink of making history, Manchester United needed only to win the last three games of the season to claim the glory of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles. United We Fall charts the team's complete failure as the dubious antics of the 5 key players ensures their downfall. With contributions from the Prime Minister and a dodgy unofficial FIFA ambassador, the 5 mates reunite to look back on all that went wrong in the season that wasn't to be.
Director and co-star Danny DeVito spins David Mamet's literate screenplay into an unforgettable biopic starring Jack Nicholson as Jimmy Hoffa the legendary Teamster boss whose mysterious disappearance has never been explained. The film traces Hoffa's passionate struggle to shape the nation's most influential labor union his relationship with the mob and his subsequent conviction and prison term at the hand of Robert Kennedy...
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