Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing, set in the White House, has won innumerable awards--and rightly so. Its depiction of a well-meaning Democrat administration has warmed the hearts of countless Americans. However, The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funny and moving American TV series of all time. In its first series, The West Wing established the cast of characters who comprise the White House staff. There's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), a recovering alcoholic whose efforts to be the cornerstone of the administration contribute to the break-up of his marriage. CJ (Alison Janney) is the formidable Press Spokeswoman embroiled in a tentative on-off relationship with Timothy (Thirtysomething) Busfield's reporter. Brilliant but grumpy communications deputy Toby Ziegler, Rob Lowe's brilliant but faintly nerdy Sam Seaborn and brilliant but smart-alecky Josh Lyman make up the rest of the inner circle. Initially, the series' creators had intended to keep the President off-screen. Wisely, however, they went with Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlet, whose eccentric volatility, caution, humour and strength in a crisis make for such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. The issues broached in the first series have striking, often prescient contemporary relevance. We see the President having to be talked down from a "disproportionate response" when terrorists shoot down a plane carrying his personal doctor, or acting as broker in a dangerous stand-off between India and Pakistan. Gun control laws, gays in the military, Fundamentalist pressure groups are all addressed--the latter in a most satisfying manner ("Get your fat asses out of the White House!")--while the episode "Take This Sabbath Day" is a superb dramatic meditation on Capital punishment. Handled incorrectly, The West Wing could have been turgid, didactic propaganda for The American Way. However, the writers are careful to show that, decent as this administration is, its achievements, though hard-won, are minimal. Moreover, the brisk, staccato-like, almost musical exchanges of dialogue, between Josh and his PA Donna, for instance, as they pace purposefully up and down the corridors are the show's abiding joy. This is wonderful and addictive viewing.--David Stubbs
Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental US patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funny and moving American TV series of all time. In its first series, The West Wing established the cast of characters who comprise the White House staff. There's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), a recovering alcoholic whose efforts to be the cornerstone of the administration contribute to the break-up of his marriage. CJ (Alison Janney) is the formidable Press Spokeswoman embroiled in a tentative on-off relationship with Timothy (Thirtysomething) Busfield's reporter. Brilliant but grumpy communications deputy Toby Ziegler, Rob Lowe's brilliant but faintly nerdy Sam Seaborn and brilliant but smart-alecky Josh Lyman makes up the rest of the inner circle. Initially, the series' creators had intended to keep the President off-screen. Wisely, however, they went with Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlet, whose eccentric volatility, caution, humour and strength in a crisis make for such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. The second series of The West Wing takes up where the first one left off and, a few moments of slightly toe-curling patriotic sentimentalism apart, maintains the series' astonishingly high standards in depicting the everyday life of the White House staff of a Democratic administration. With Aaron Sorkin's dialogue ranging as ever from dry, staccato mirth to almost biblical gravitas, an ensemble of overworked (and curiously undersexed) characters and an overall depiction of the workings of government that's both gratifyingly idealised yet chasteningly realistic, The West Wing is one of the all-time great American TV dramas. --David Stubbs
The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-speciesthought to be mere mythsrise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.
The second series of The West Wing takes up literally where the first series left off and, after a few moments of slightly toe-curling patriotic sentimentalism, maintains the series' astonishingly high standards in depicting the everyday life of the White House staff of a Democratic administration. The two-part opener covers the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt on President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), switching between the anxious wait on the injured and flashbacks to Bartlet's campaign for the Presidency. Other peaks in a series exceedingly short on troughs include "Noel", the episode in which Alan Arkin's psychiatrist forces Josh Lynam to confront his post-traumatic stress disorder and the concluding episodes in which President Bartlet, having lost his secretary Mrs Landingham in a tragic car accident, rails angrily against God in Latin. Other new features of this series include the introduction of Ainsley Hayes, a young Republican counsel hired after she beats communications deputy Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) in a TV debate ("Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl!" crow his colleagues), as well as the revelation (to us first, then later his staff) that the President has been suffering from multiple sclerosis. Meanwhile, the White House must move heaven and earth to make incremental political gains as well as deal with a host difficulties abroad, demonstrating, some might argue, more compassion, skill and restraint than that exercised by the real-life US administration. With Aaron Sorkin's dialogue ranging as ever from dry, staccato mirth to almost biblical gravitas, an ensemble of overworked (and curiously undersexed) characters and an overall depiction of the workings of government that's both gratifyingly idealised yet chasteningly realistic, The West Wing is one of the all-time great American TV dramas. --David Stubbs
The price of admission is the rest of your life From Ozploitation King Brian Trenchard-Smith (Turkey Shoot, Stuntrock) comes an Australian Grindhouse classic which pits the dregs of society against each other in a crazed battle featuring atomic punks, burnt out junkers and a totally corrupt police force. In an apocalyptic future where crimes rates have spiralled out of control and the economy has permanently collapsed, those in charge have found a perfect solution to the rise of lawlessness Lock away the undesirables, criminals and low down dirty scumbags in the old Drive-in movie theatres, now converted into violent concentration camps. Now, two kids who thought they were only coming along to see the show are trapped by circumstance in the chaos of Dead End Drive-In, can they escape before they too become resigned to the crazed life in this hellhole like everybody else? . There's a party every day, a movie every night, and all the junk food you can eat. What more can a kid want except to get out.
Amiable con man Jack Cooper (Craig Sheffer) is on a westbound stagecoach headed for the next batch of suckers who will mistake them for an easy mark. Fiery Sarah O'Rourke (Linda Fiorentino) rides the same coach handcuffed to lawman Bill Speakes (Sam Elliott) and headed for the hangman. In a few hours all should reach their destinations. But the trail they travel takes an unexpected turn: Cooper and O'Rourke are soon off the stage and running for their lives. The law ends and the ch
A triple bill of Adam Sandler movies including Billy Madison Bulletproof and Happy Gilmore. Billy Madison: He's heir to the Madison Hotel millions but the only subjects Billy has studied lately are babes and booze. For him life has been a ten-year party since he left high school: drinking bottomless daiquiris catching rays by the pool pulling moronic pranks and chasing anything in (or out of!) a skirt. But when Brian Madison informs his goofball son that he plans to turn over his Fortune 500 company to vice president and corporate weasel Eric Gordon Billy makes the bet of his life. He's going back to school - grades 1 through 12 in 24 weeks! - with hilarious results. And this time Mr Madison's cheque book won't be the source of Billy's academic advancement. Can bona fide blockhead Billy clean up his act to win his father's respect the family fortune and the love of his beautiful teacher Veronica? Hey it's worth a shot! Bulletproof: Once inseparable pals Archie Moses (Sandler) and Rock Keats (Wayans) find themselves on opposite sides of the law each feeling betrayed by the other. In fact the only person who hates them more than they hate each other is ruthless drug kingpin Frank Colton (James Caan) who wants to put them both six feet under! Now through a strange twist of fate Moses and Keats are on the run - together. With a little luck the bungling boys just might get out of this one alive... if they don't kill each other first! Happy Gilmore: Happy a raucous hockey player turned golfer sends the sedate sport of golf into overdrive after he becomes a media sensation with his outlandish antics on the links!
The Nerds are Back... and They're Taking a Trip to Paradise! Everyone's favourite nerds are back! This time the gang is off to the United Fraternity Conference in Ft. Lauderdale but thanks to the Alpha Betas the Tri-Lambs are forced to endure Florida's most dismal accommodations. Although the boys are misled mistreated and misused they once again strike back proving the importance of self-respect in a wild and wacky lesson you'll never forget.
He's heir to the Madison Hotel millions but the only subjects Billy has studied lately are babes and booze. For him life has been a ten-year party since he left high school: drinking bottomless daiquiris catching rays by the pool pulling moronic pranks and chasing anything in (or out of!) a skirt. But when Brian Madison informs his goofball son that he plans to turn over his Fortune 500 company to vice president and corporate weasel Eric Gordon Billy makes the bet of his life
Burn Up is a gripping two part TV action thriller from the team behind Spooks Hustle Life On Mars and Clocking Off in which two friends and power players in the international oil industry face a series of violent and shocking events that could tear their world apart. Climaxing around a tense summit on climate change this high-octane drama takes no prisoners with the conflicting agendas around this ultra-topical hot issue.
Revenge Of The Nerds: Two high school pals who can best be described as 'nerds' arrive at college and cause an uproar when they attempt to join a fraternity. After being rejected they make plans for revenge... Revenge Of The Nerds 2 - Nerds In Paradise: Lewis Skolnick and his band of barmy classmates attend a congress of national fraternities at Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Upon their arrival they come face-to-face with their rivals the Alpha Betas. From that point all
The second series of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin's relentlessly erudite drama about life behind the scenes at the White House, continues here with the emphasis on President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis, a condition that he has hitherto concealed from the American electorate and most of his staff. Tensions grow between himself and the First Lady (Stockard Channing) as she realises, in the episode "Third State of the Union" that he intends to run for a second term in office. It becomes clear to Bartlet (Martin Sheen) that he must go public with his MS, and his staff are forced to come to terms with this, as well as deal with the usual plethora of domestic and international incidents, which apparently preclude any of them from having any sort of private lives, least of all love lives. These include crises in Haiti and Columbia, an obstinate filibuster and a Surgeon General's excessively frank remarks about the drugs situation. Thankfully, the splendid Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees) is on hand to make chief of staff Leo McGarry's life more of a misery in "The Drop-In". These episodes, though occasionally marred by a sentimental soundtrack and an earnest and wishfully high regard for the Presidential office, are masterclasses in drama and dialogue, ranging from the wittily staccato to the magnificently grave, capturing authentically the hectic pace of political intrigue and the often vain efforts of decent, brilliant people to do the right thing. "Two Cathedrals", which features flashbacks to Bartlet's schooldays and his thunderous denunciation of God following a funeral, is perhaps the greatest West Wing episode of all. On the DVD: The West Wing, Series 2 Part 2 features no extras, though the transfer is immaculate. --David Stubbs
An award-winning film centering on the life of a teenage girl who is divided between stirrings of passion and her need for self-fulfilment... Sybylla is a girl living in the Australian outback early in the 20th Century Sybylla is a well of boundless energy wanting desperately to escape the backwardness of her young life. A chance meeting with a charming young man presents her with a tempting offer allowing her to escape the frontier life forever.
Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing, set in The White House, has won innumerable awards--and rightly so. Its depiction of a well-meaning Democrat administration has warmed the hearts of countless Americans. However, The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funny and moving of recent American TV series. In its first series, The West Wing established the cast of characters who comprise the White House staff. There's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), a recovering alcoholic whose efforts to be the cornerstone of the administration contribute to the break up of his marriage. CJ (Alison Janney) is the formidable press spokeswoman embroiled in a tentative on-off relationship with Timothy Busfield's reporter. Brilliant but grumpy communications deputy Toby Ziegler, Rob Lowe's brilliant but faintly nerdy Sam Seaborn and brilliant but smart-alecky Josh Lynam make up the rest of the inner circle. Initially, the series' creators had intended to keep the President off-screen. Wisely, however, they went with Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlet, whose eccentric volatility, caution, humour and strength in a crisis make for such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. Handled incorrectly, The West Wing could have been turgid, didactic propaganda for The American Way. However, the writers are careful to show that, decent as this administration is, its achievements, though hard-won, are minimal. Moreover, the brisk, staccato-like, almost musical exchanges of dialogue, between Josh and his PA Donna, for instance, as they pace purposefully up and down the corridors are the show's abiding joy. --David Stubbs
Dr Bob Shushan (Sutherland) has spent his life working to help those less fortunate than himself. But his job as director of the British Columbian Centre for the Mentally and Physically Disabled has led the workaholic Shushan unwittingly to neglect his family. Shushan's life changes dramatically the day he suffers a heart attack at the wheel of his car. His unlikely saviour is James Jones (Fox) a dishevelled and disturbed young man who works as a janitor at the centre. Shushan now has a burning new mission in life: to look behind James's ""mask"" of anti-social behaviour and help him to find both respect and a rewarding place in society. Also to track down the one person whom James really needs: the father who abandoned him many years ago.... An absorbing drama based on actual events.
While the plot of this Australian film may seem a bit familiar (the Ugly Duckling meets Dirty Dancing), the whimsical tone and superb dance sequences will make you forget the movie's predictability. Scott (Paul Mercurio) is a champion ballroom dancer who wants to dance "his own steps". Fran is the homely, beginning dancer who convinces Scott that he should dance his own steps... with her. Complicating matters are Scott's domineering mother (Pat Thompson), a former dancer herself, who wants her son to win the Australian Pan Pacific Championship (the same contest she lost years ago), and a conniving dance committee that is determined that "there are no new steps!" The dancing is enjoyable, yet not overwhelming, and the movie strives hard not to take itself too seriously (the beginning of the film is even styled as a pseudo-documentary). Strictly Ballroom, while not so subtly imparting its moral ("A life lived in fear is a life half-lived"), is a laughable romp that's sure to be a crowd pleaser. --Jenny Brown, Amazon.com
My Life
Billy Madison: He's heir to the Madison Hotel millions but the only subjects Billy has studied lately are babes and booze. For him life has been a ten-year party since he left high school: drinking bottomless daiquiris catching rays by the pool pulling moronic pranks and chasing anything in (or out of!) a skirt. (Dir. Tamra Davis 1995): But when Brian Madison informs his goofball son that he plans to turn over his Fortune 500 company to vice president and corporate weasel Eric Gordon Billy makes the bet of his life. He's going back to school - grades 1 through 12 in 24 weeks! - with hilarious results. And this time Mr Madison's cheque book won't be the source of Billy's academic advancement. Can bona fide blockhead Billy clean up his act to win his father's respect the family fortune and the love of his beautiful teacher Veronica? Hey it's worth a shot! Happy Gilmore: Adam Sandler stars in this hilarious comedy that scores a hole in one for gut-busting wit and outrageous slapstick. Happy a raucous hockey player turned golfer sends the sedate sport into overdrive after he becomes a media sensation with his outlandish antics on the links. It's par for the course entertainment co-starring Christopher McDonald Carl Weathers and Kevin Nealon. (Dir. Dennis Dugan 1996) Anger Management: Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) is usually a mild-mannered non-confrontational guy. But after an altercation aboard an airplane he is remanded to the care of anger management therapist Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) who could probably use some anger management himself. Now Dave is really mad! (Dir. Peter Segal 2003)
This box set containing the complete first three series of The West Wing is available exclusively from Amazon.co.uk. Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing, set in the White House, has won innumerable awards--and rightly so. Its depiction of a well-meaning Democrat administration has warmed the hearts of countless Americans. However, The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funniest and moving US TV series of all time. Martin Sheen leads a strong ensemble cast: his Jed Bartlet is such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. Handled incorrectly, The West Wing could have been turgid, didactic propaganda for The American Way. However, the writers are careful to show that, decent as this administration is, its achievements, though hard-won, are minimal. Moreover, the brisk, staccato-like, almost musical exchanges of dialogue, between Josh and his PA Donna, for instance, as they pace purposefully up and down the corridors are the show's abiding joy. --David Stubbs
The price of admission is the rest of your life From Ozploitation King Brian Trenchard-Smith (Turkey Shoot, Stuntrock) comes an Australian Grindhouse classic which pits the dregs of society against each other in a crazed battle featuring atomic punks, burnt out junkers and a totally corrupt police force. In an apocalyptic future where crimes rates have spiralled out of control and the economy has permanently collapsed, those in charge have found a perfect solution to the rise of lawlessness Lock away the undesirables, criminals and low down dirty scumbags in the old Drive-in movie theatres, now converted into violent concentration camps. Now, two kids who thought they were only coming along to see the show are trapped by circumstance in the chaos of Dead End Drive-In, can they escape before they too become resigned to the crazed life in this hellhole like everybody else? . There's a party every day, a movie every night, and all the junk food you can eat. What more can a kid want except to get out.
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