From the outset, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was about conflict. Producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller challenged the utopian ideals of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe to create something totally different from its predecessors. That meant no familial camaraderie, squeaky-clean Federation diplomacy, or beige décor. Instead they wanted interpersonal friction, ruthless enemies (Gamma Quadrant Imperialists--The Dominion) and rebellion at every turn. The DS9 concept was originally facilitated by introducing the Cardassian/Bajoran war during The Next Generation's final days. After a muted first reception fans gradually came to accept the new look, but no one liked Star Trek without a starship and eventually the producers capitulated to viewers' wishes by introducing the USS Defiant (an apt name) in Season 3. Relying far less on technobabble than TNG, DS9 was unafraid to focus on matters of the spirit instead, demonstrating a ballsy independence from its parent shows. Taking up the gauntlet thrown down by Babylon 5, improved CGI space battles also became a fan favourite. Throughout the increasingly serialised story arc there were rebellious factions within the different establishments: Kira had belonged to the Shakaar resistance cell; the Maquis was Starfleet vs Cardassians; section 31 was a secret Starfleet group; the True Way was a Bajoran group opposed to peace; the Cardassians had their Obsidian Order and the Romulans their Gestapo-like Tal Shiar. Yet for all its constant bickering and espionage (even Bashir got to be James Bond), there was always some contemporary social commentary lurking: the Ferengi were used as a comedic foil to frown on materialistic greed; drugs were looked at via the Jem'Hadar foot soldiers' addiction to Ketracel White. Perhaps Sisko summed up the real heart of things: "Bajor doesn't need a man, it needs a legend". A future vision that retains a place for religion and spirituality turned out to be Deep Space Nine's first best destiny. --Paul Tonks
ROAD TO PALOMA stars Jason Momoa (Conan the Barbarian, Game of Thrones) as Wolf who is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands after his mother is brutally murdered.
Life is Sweet is the remarkable story of an unremarkable British family told in the classic tragi-comedy style that is uniquely Mike Leigh's. It covers issues of unemployment, anorexia, failure, nervous breakdown, and hope, as they affect one suburban London family and their friends and acquaintances. The characters and story were created with and by the actors - giving a special edge and momentum to the unfolding events.Leigh's sharply satirical and unsentimentally compassionate view of life strikes a chord with audiences and critics alike. Life is Sweet brings together an impressive cast - including Alison Steadman ('Let Them Eat Cake'), Jim Broadbent ('The Avengers'), Jane Horrocks ('Little Voice') and Timothy Spall ('Topsy Turvey') - many of whom have worked with Leigh in the past, as has producer Simon Channing-Williams.
This DVD set features the 2 disc special editions of all four Die Hard films! Die Hard (John McTiernan) (1988): New York cop John McClane facing Christmas alone flies to Los Angeles to see his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and their kids in an attempt to patch things up. He arrives at his wife's high tech office building in the middle of their Christmas party just as it is gatecrashed by the ruthless master criminal Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and a dozen fellow activists intent on relieving the Nakatomi Corporation of six hundred million dollars in negotiable bonds... Die Hard 2 - Die Harder (Dir. Renny Harlin) (1990): On a snowy Christmas Eve in the nation's capital a team of terrorists has seized a major International Airport and now holds thousands of holiday travellers hostage. The terrorists a renegade band of crack military commandos led by a murderous rogue officer (William Sadler) have come to rescue a drug lord from justice. They've prepared for every contingency except one: John McClane an off-duty cop seized by a feeling of deadly de-ja-vu. Die Hard With A Vengeance (Dir. John McTiernan) (1995): This time New York cop John McClane (Willis) is the personal target of the mysterious Simon (Jeremy Irons) a terrorist determined to blow up the entire city if he doesn't get what he wants. Accompanied by an unwilling civilian partner (Samuel L. Jackson) McClane careens wildly from one end of New York City to the other as he struggles to keep up with Simon's deadly game. Die Hard 4.0: Live Free Or Die Hard (Dir. Len Wiseman) (2007): A computer genius is systematically shutting down the computer infrastructure of the US. The mysterious figure behind the scheme seems to have figured out every digital angle but he hasn't counted on an old fashioned 'analogue' cop John McClane.
Sextette
Beset by nightmares that leave his scar hurting more than usual Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is all too happy to escape his disturbing dreams by attending the Quidditch World Cup with his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson). But something sinister ignites the skies at the Quidditch campsite - the Dark Mark the sign of the evil Lord Voldemort. It's conjured by his followers the Death Eaters who haven't dared to appear in public since Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) was last seen thirteen years ago - the night he murdered Harry's parents. Harry longs to get back inside the safe walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) can protect him. But things are going to be a little different this year. Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament one of the most exciting and dangerous of the wizarding community's magical competitions. One champion will be selected from each of the three largest and most prestigious wizarding schools to compete in a series of life-threatening tasks in pursuit of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup. The Hogwarts students watch in awe as the elegant girls of the Beauxbatons Academy and the dark and brooding boys of Durmstrang Institute fill the Great Hall breathlessly awaiting the selection of their champions. Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch (Roger Lloyd Pack) and Professor Dumbledore preside over a candlelit ceremony fraught with anticipation as the enchanted Goblet of Fire selects one student from each school to compete. Amidst a hail of sparks and flames the cup names Durmstrang's Quidditch superstar Victor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski) followed by Beauxbatons' exquisite Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy) and finally Hogwarts' popular all-around golden boy Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson). But then inexplicably the Goblet spits out one final name: Harry Potter. At just 14 years old Harry is three years too young to enter the grueling competition. He insists that he didn't put his name in the Goblet and that he really doesn't want to compete. But the Goblet's decision is binding and compete he must. Suspicion and jealousy abound as muckraking journalist Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson) fans the flames of the Harry Potter backlash with her outrageous gossip columns. Even Ron begins to believe his fame seeking friend somehow tricked the cup into selecting him. Suspecting that whoever did enter Harry's name in the Tournament deliberately wants to put him in grave danger Dumbledore asks Alastor Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to keep his highly perceptive and magical eye trained on the teenage wizard. Harry prepares for the challenging Triwizard tasks - evading a fire-breathing dragon diving into the depths of a great lake and navigating a maze with a life of its own. But nothing is more daunting than the most terrifying challenge of them all - finding a date for the Yule Ball. For Harry dealing with dragons merpeople and grindylows is a walk in the park compared to asking the lovely Cho Chang (Katie Leung) to the Yule Ball. And if Ron weren't so distracted perhaps he would acknowledge a change in his feelings for Hermione. Events take an ominous turn when someone is murdered on Hogwarts grounds. Scared and still haunted by dreams of Voldemort Harry turns to Dumbledore. But even the venerable Headmaster admits that there are no longer any easy answers. As Harry and the other champions battle through their last task and the advancing tendrils of the ominous maze someone or something is keeping a watchful eye.
Includes the following great Clint Eastwood movies: Where Eagles Dare: The mission: rescue an important US general from the hands of the German High Command. The obstacle: the most inaccessible fortress in the world. The stakes: the very outcome of World War II... City Heat: A tough cop and a wise-cracking private investigator are forced to work together on a case involving the mob. Heartbreak Ridge: Sergeant Tom Highway (Eastwood) a hardened veteran of Korea
The life and times of Edward VII dramatised for the television. The BAFTA award winning 1975 drama comes to DVD for the first time! Episode titles: The Boy Experiment In Education The New World Alix A Hundred Thousand Welcomes The Invisible Queen Dearest Prince The Royal Quadrille Scandal The Years of Waiting King At Last The Peacemaker Good Old Teddy!
This performance of George Balanchine's ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream was filmed live at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, in February 1999 and won the award for "Best Television Realisation of a Stage Production" at IMZ Dance Screen. The music is from Mendelssohn's youthful overture plus later theatre music, and five other pieces by the composer all selected by the great Russian choreographer Balanchine in 1962. In a fine ensemble cast, Paul Gibson as Oberon and Patricia Barker as Titania are suitably aloof, at least until the latter dances with the ass Bottom (Timothy Lynch) in a highlight of touching comedy. After all the quarrelsome entanglements of the first act, the finale ensures celebration and richly deserved happy endings all round. The simple sets have a picturesque charm, the costumes a fairytale glamour and the large cast, including many children, dance with flair and enthusiasm; this is clearly one production where everyone was having a fine time. In fact it is rather more enjoyable than Hollywood's A Midsummer Night's Dream of the same year. Ballet aficionados may also want to explore the BBC's wonderful Coppélia (2000). On the DVD: There are no special features on the disc, but the 12-page booklet is entirely in English and is well presented, offering track and cast lists, a synopsis and notes on Balanchine, Mendelssohn and the creative talents and directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The sound is atmospheric--Dolby Digital 5.0--and the anamorphically enhanced 16:9 image is good, though slightly soft, and does occasionally reveal some compression artefacting. In defiance of regional encoding regulations, not only is this DVD region free, but includes the normal PAL UK television system programme material on one side and on the reverse includes the same content in NTSC format, suitable for American playback. Anyone curious to see if one format is better will find that the UK PAL transfer contains just a little more picture detail. --Gary S Dalkin
A collection of spine-tingling horror tales from the pen of bestselling horror novelist Stephen King... Salem's Lot - 2 Discs (Dir. Tobe Hooper 1979): Ben Mears (David Soul) returns to his hometown Salem's Lot to complete work on his latest novel but finds himself increasingly disturbed by the object of his attention Mr Straker's (James Mason) mansion house which terrified Ben as a child. It seems that the residents have been acting up and some have even gone missing; all of which coincides with the arrival of Mr Straker and his mysteriously anonymous business partner Mr Barlow to Salem's Lot. Ben vows to get to the bottom of the disappearances and confront his childhood fears... It - 1 Disc (Dir. Tommy Lee Wallace 1990): A series of murders prompts Mike Hanlon to suspect that the supernatural menace that he and a group of friends battled as children has returned. He begins to call his friends to remind them of the oath they swore: if It returned again they would come back to Derry to do battle again... Storm of the Century - 2 Discs (Dir. Craig R. Baxley 1999): From Stephen King the best-selling novelist of all time comes the terrifying tale of a town besieged by evil. The inhabitants of a picturesque sleepy little town on a small island off the coast of Maine find themselves completely cut off from the rest of the world when they are hit by the worst storm of the century. As Snow steadily buries everything familiar terror arrives in the form of an evil stranger. As streets disappear and an eerie darkness envelops the town a series of bizarre murders creates a nightmare of fear. With no help coming from the outside world and no end to the storm in sight the towns folk are forced to take drastic action before it's too late... The Shining - 2 Discs (Dir. Mick Garris 1997): A recovering alcoholic must wrestle with demons within and without when he and his family move into a haunted hotel as caretakers. TV miniseries remake of Stanley Kubrick's classic chilling 1980 film. Rose Red - 2 Discs (Dir. Craig R. Baxley 2002): The chilling tale of Dr. Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis) an obsessed psychology professor who commissions a team of psychics and a gifted 15 year old autistic girl Annie Wheaton to literally wake up a supposedly dormant haunted mansion: Rose Red. Their efforts unleash myriad spirits and uncover horrifying secrets of the generations who have lived and died there... Diary of Ellen Rimbauer - 1 Disc (Dir. Craig R. Baxley 2003): This series is a prequel to the Stephen King mini-series Rose Red. At the turn of the twentieth century Ellen Rimbauer (Lisa Brenner) the young bride of charming Seattle industrialist John Rimbauer (Steven Brand) began keeping a remarkable diary. This diary became the secret place where Ellen could confess her anxieties about her new marriage express her confusion over her emerging sexuality and contemplate the nightmare that her life was becoming. The diary also follows the construction of the Rimbauer mansion Rose Red an enormous home that would be the site of so many horrific and inexplicable tragedies in the years ahead. Due in part so it seems to a murder that took place during its construction. After Ellen's daughter vanishes John's philandering ways and violent tendencies aggravate her desperation...
Some windows should never be opened! Following a bitter separation from his wife (Bello) famed mystery writer Mort Rainey (Depp) is unexpectedly confronted at his remote lake house by a dangerous stranger named John Shooter (Turturro). Claiming Rainey has plagiarised his short story the psychotic Shooter demands justice. When Shooter's fearful demands turn to threats - and then murder - Rainey turns to a private detective for help. But when nothing stops the horror from spiralling out of control Rainey soon discovers he can't trust anyone or anything...
When Claudia meets Tom it's love at first sight. But Tom's 10 year old son Joshua is distant and wary of her. To him Claudia is just another in the long string of female 'friends' his father brings home. She slowly gets to know this lonely little boy aching to love someone who will honestly love him back. In time she realises that Tom is not all she originally cracked him up to be and is not much of a father to Joshua either. With her relationship with Tom on the rocks Claudia is faced with a heart rendering dilemma: Should she fight to keep Joshua in her life or let go of him and risk breaking his heart along with her own? This is the touching story of the painful realities of love and responsibilities in today's throw away world.
Lucky Break Small time villians Jimmy and Rudy are caught doing a bank raid and are put in HM Prison Long Rudford. Whilst there they hatch an escape plan which involves them staging the prison governor's musical 'Nelson'. Very Annie Mary Tells the story of Annie Mary a woman in her early thirties living in the Rhondda Valley South Wales who is forced to make changes in her life when her father suffers a major stroke. The future of the family business is left in her hands and so she hatches a plan to raise money the only way she can.
Animated adventures with Clifford the big red dog. Episodes Comprise: 1.My Best Friend 2.Fair Weather Friend 3.A New Friend 4.The Dog Who Cried Woof 5.Friends 6.Morning 7.Noon And Night 8.Screaming For Ice Cream
A teen-themed entry in the long-established Psycho-Bitch-from-Hell sub-genre of Hollywood thriller, Wicked affords current high school princess Julia Stiles an opportunity to stop smiling and play a manipulative, disturbed, alienated girl who is also the number one suspect in the did she or didn't she batter Mum to death with a heavy tragedy mask mystery.Set in one of those hideous American "gated communities", a pastel suburban enclave with round-the-clock security and enough adulteries to keep a soap going for a year, the film is subtler than stablemates like The Crush and Teacher's Pet, with a more convoluted plot and enough suspects to put the outcome in doubt. However it's still a by-the-numbers mix of soap and suspense. Stiles crosses her eyes and pouts a lot, making tastefully incestuous moves on her weakling father (an aptly hollow William R Moses), but she's not really well cast in a role Christina Ricci could have played in her sleep a few years ago. The best supporting performance comes from Michael Parks as a drawling cop brought into the community by the killing of the strident mother (Chelsea Field), who lingers to watch the fall-out as Stiles replaces Mum as the homemaker only to be sidelined in favour of the au pair who needs a green-card marriage. When the battering and stabbing starts, the film is surprisingly explicit, splattering several distinct types of stage blood around the designer living caricature home.On the DVD: the picture is an anamorphic 1.85:1 print, with Dolby Digital surround-sound. The minimal extras include trailers, filmographies for very few of the principals, and a neat menu. --Kim Newman
This classic BBC period drama series follows the fortunes of the aristocratic Lacey family living peacefully in their Arnescote castle until the onset of the English Civil War in 1640. The head of the family Sir Martin Lacey is unswervingly loyal to the King. However the family is torn apart when his eldest daughter Anne weds John Fletcher son of a merchant family who support the forces of Cromwell. Featuring episodes 1 - 5: Gather Ye Rosebuds / This War Without An Enemy / T
Secrets And LiesNominated for 5 Oscars winner of 3 BAFTA Awards and the winner of 'Best Film' at the Cannes Film Festival Mike Leigh's hilarious bittersweet comedy is an unmissable and moving slice of real life. Life Is SweetLife is Sweet is the remarkable story of an unremarkable British family told in the classic tragi-comedy style that is uniquely Mike Leigh's. It covers issues of unemployment anorexia failure nervous breakdown and hope as they affect one suburban London family and their friends and acquaintances. The characters and story were created with and by the actors - giving a special edge and momentum to the unfolding events. Leigh's sharply satirical and unsentimentally compassionate view of life strikes a chord with audiences and critics alike. Life is Sweet brings together an impressive cast - including Alison Steadman ('Let Them Eat Cake') Jim Broadbent ('The Avengers') Jane Horrocks ('Little Voice') and Timothy Spall ('Topsy Turvey') - many of whom have worked with Leigh in the past as has producer Simon Channing-Williams. Career GirlsFormer college flatmates Annie (Lynda Steadman) and Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) decide to meet up in London for the weekend. Naturally both girls have changed since their student days of some 10 years earlier. The curry loving Cure obsessed acne ridden and moody flatmates of yesteryear have been replaced by confident career girls of today. As they talk go flat-hunting get drunk and bump into numerous people from their past the girls start to reminisce upon their earlier friendship.
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