After the poor reception given to George Lazenby in Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sean Connery was no doubt lured back to the series with a gadget-stuffed briefcase full of cash (most of which he allegedly gave to charity) for this wry, snappily made seventh instalment in the series. Some of its secret weapons include a smart script, a Las Vegas setting providing plenty of neon reflections on windscreens for a memorable car chase through the Strip, and the comely Jill St. John as Tiffany Case, a diamond cut-above most of the preceding Bond girls. (Apart from Diana Rigg in Her Majesty's Secret Service, that is). Blofeld and his fluffy white cat are on hand to menace 007--it's the Nehru jackets and steely surface-look of this one in particular that the Austin Powers spoofs are sending up. Blofeld's initial cover as a reclusive Howard Hughes-like millionaire points to how the series was catching up with more contemporary figures and issues. Other highlights include two truly ferocious, karate-kicking female assassins and a sizzling moon-buggy chase across the dunes. --Leslie FelperinOn the DVD: The mind boggling possibility of casting Adam West (TV's Batman) as Bond was seriously mooted because the suits at United Artists wanted to Americanise the franchise, th e documentary reveals. Sean Connery was eventually persuaded to return but demanded a record fee to reprise his role, and then donated all the cash to his charitable foundation, the Scottish International Education Trust. The rags to riches story of larger-than-life producer Albert R Broccoli is told in the second documentary. The commentary is another in the series of edited selections from interviews with cast and crew, which are exhaustive in the wealth of detail offered but a little exhausting to sit through. Sundry trailers, radio and TV spots plus a few deleted scenes complete the comprehensive selection. --Mark Walker
The girl who became the greatest show in show business. Ringing with the show-biz sass of its Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim score the film version of the Broadway hit Gypsy takes you on a grand vaudeville tour. It sweeps you up in the roller-coaster relationship of Louise (Natalie Wood) the wallflower later to blossom into sophisticated stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and her ambitious mother Rose (Rosalind Russell whose performance won her a fifth Best Actress Golden Globe
The Adventures Of Huck Finn is an action-packed adaptation of Mark Twain's classic adventure. The unforgettable story of two unlikely friends a mischievous boy and a runaway slave on a wild trip down the mighty Mississippi River. On their treacherous journey to freedom they come across an entertaining assortment of diverse characters and face one incredible adventure after another. You won't want to miss this sensational telling of Twain's classic tale - a fun-filled mix of thrills and adventure!
Inspired by the 1973 motion picture of the same name, Westworld is a one-hour drama series about a futuristic theme park populated by artificial beings. Written and directed by Michael Crichton this dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin is set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past. It explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. 1. Pilot 2. Chestnut 3. The Stray 4. Six Impossible Things 5. Contrapasso 6. Trace Decay 7. Trompe L'Oeil 8. The Adversary 9. Job's Root 10. The Bicameral Mind.
The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, West Side Story stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighbourhoods--and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colourful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score. --Tom Keogh
The World Is Not Enough is an exhilarating but sophisticated, action-packed adventure. Pierce Brosnan returns as Bond, charged to protect a gorgeous billionaire heiress (Sophie Marceau) from the ruthless hands of the nuclear-obsessed terrorist Renard (Robert Carlyle), who wants control of the world's petroleum supply.
First screened on BBC2 in 1978, at a time when the standing of The Beatles was at its lowest, The Rutles--All You Need is Cash is the original and (pace This is Spinal Tap) best "rockumentary" spoof. Codirector Eric Idle was then enjoying success with Rutland Weekend Television, while his script displays the same feeling for the inane non-sequitur evident in his Monty Python work. The band's progress from "penniless, untalented nobodies" to "rich, untalented somebodies" is vividly brought to life--with dialogue adapted from actual Beatles interviews and newsreels, and a roster of songs sounding uncannily close to Beatles originals thanks to "Nasty" Neil Innes' genius for pastiche. Interviews with a suitably primed Mick Jagger and Paul Simon give added realism, as do cameos from George Harrison (one-time Beach Boy Rikki Fataar plays his Rutles double Stig) and Stones guitarist Ron Wood. Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi make characterful, pre-Blues Brothers appearances. On the DVD: The Rutles--All You Need is Cash has come up well in this DVD transfer. The fullscreen 4:3 ratio picture and mono sound wear their age well, enhanced by the extra scenes included. There's further interview material with Jagger and Simon, and a specially recorded, though wholly unfunny, DVD introduction from Idle, who also contributes a running commentary. All in all, this is an ideal way to get to know, or renew acquaintance with, a film that brings the swinging 60s back down to earth. --Richard Whitehouse
Comedy sketch show from the 80's written and starring Victoria Wood alongside Julie Walters.
Do you know anyone who hasn't seen this movie? A box-office smash when released in 1993, this spectacular update of the popular 1960s TV series stars Harrison Ford as a surgeon wrongly accused of the murder of his wife. He escapes from a prison transport bus (in one of the most spectacular stunt-action sequences ever filmed) and embarks on a frantic quest for the true killer's identity, while a tenacious U.S. marshal (Tommy Lee Jones, in an Oscar-winning role) remains hot on his trail. Director Andrew Davis hit the big time with this expert display of polished style and escalating suspense, but it's the antagonistic chemistry between Jones and Ford that keeps this thriller cooking to the very end. In roles that seem custom-fit to their screen personas, the two stars maintain a sharply human focus to the grand-scale manhunt, and the intelligent screenplay never resorts to convenient escapes or narrative shortcuts. Equally effective as a thriller and a character study, The Fugitive is a Hollywood blockbuster that truly deserves its ongoing popularity. --Jeff Shannon
LIVING is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful into one he can say has been lived to the full. 1953. A London shattered by WWII is still recovering. Williams (Bill Nighy), a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild. Buried under paperwork at the office, lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a shattering medical diagnosis forces him to take stock and to try and grasp fulfilment before it goes beyond reach. At a seaside resort, chaperoned by a local decadent (Tom Burke), he flirts with hedonism before rejecting it as his solution. Back in London he finds himself drawn to the natural vitality of Margaret (Aimee Lou Wood), a young woman who once worked under his supervision and is now determined to spread her wings. Then one evening he is struck by a revelation one as simple as it is profound and with a new energy, and the help of Peter (Alex Sharp), an idealistic new recruit to his department, he sets about creating a legacy for the next generation.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: With its clever tunes (including the Oscar-Nominated title song), marvellous cast and enchanting storyline, this delightful romp is lots of fun and simply 'toot sweet' to pass up. Dick Van Dyke stars as eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, who creates an extraordinary car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It not only drives--but also flies and floats--as it leads him, his two children and his beautiful lady friend, Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), into a magi...
The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of three daring young Jedi as a new chapter begins--Star Wars: The Clone Wars. On the front lines of the intergalactic struggle between good and evil Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker join forces in the mission that unites them as Jedi mentor and student as they battle to save the Republic from being splintered by the war between the separatist robot army and the white-armored clones which are destined to become the army of Imperial storm troopers. Young Padawan Jedi novice Ahsoka joins Anakin and Obi-Wan in their epic battle against Darth Sidious Count Dooku and General Grievous who plot to rule the galaxy.
Join the fun with Spanky Alfalfa Darla Buckwheat Petey the dog and the whole gang as they are up to their usual mischief! The Rascals try anything to raise the money needed to save their grandma's (Doris Roberts) bakery. The only trouble is - they can't seem to do anything right! From botched pet washes to a terrible taxi service they just can't raise a penny. Their only hope is to win prize money from the local talent show - but have you ever heard Alfalfa sing?
Computer operator Terry Dolittle (Goldberg) becomes involved in international espionage when a desperate message from a British Intelligence officer appears on her computer terminal...
In September 1944 the Allies launched one of the most audacious attacks of the entire Second World War. Men of the British 1st Airborne Division were landed at Arnhem in Holland to capture and hold a vital bridge across the River Rhine. In one bold move the war could have been shortened by many months. It was a desperately risky strategy and it ended in disaster. Allied intelligence had underestimated German strength in the area including a crack Panzer unit. For days the paratroopers held out against overwhelming odds in a gallant action that has since passed into military legend - but defeat was inevitable. Theirs Is the Glory is a truly remarkable and totally unique account of that battle. One year after the war survivors from 1st Airborne returned to the actual battlefield amid the ruins of the town and re-enacted the battle in front of film cameras. There are no actors. There are no studio sets. Everything that happens in this extraordinary drama-documentary film actually happened to those taking part or was witnessed by them. There is no finer tribute to the soldiers who gave their lives at Arnhem and no better film record of one of the fiercest-fought battles of the Second World War.
Join the British explorer as he travels through the Arabian Peninsula; a 5,000-mile journey that sees him travel through 13 different countries.
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
Fine casting, genuinely special effects and a keen combination of whimsy and danger make this Peter Pan the one to beat among all previous adaptations of JM Barrie's classic children's fantasy. The technical advances of CGI make the magic of Barrie's tale come alive and the spectacular effects combined with luminous live action create an action-packed Neverland that's both believable and breathtakingly artificial, like a Maxfield Parrish landscape springing vividly to life before your eyes. More importantly, however, is the fact that director PJ Hogan (whose films include Muriel's Wedding and My Best Friend's Wedding) has taken care to develop a substantial, pre-adolescent affection between the boyish sprite Peter (Jeremy Sumpter) and resourceful London girl Wendy, played by Rachel Hurd-Wood in a marvellous screen debut. This emotional bond--and the mixed blessing of Peter's eternal childhood--is what gives Hogan's Peter Pan it's rich emotional subtext, added to an already bountiful adventure that's equal parts delightful and menacing, especially when the villainous pirate Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs, doubling as Wendy's father) threatens to spoil the fun. With a mischievously dazzling Tinker Bell (played by Swimming Pool's Ludivine Sagnier) and no expense spared on its lavish Australian production, this Peter Pan gets it entirely right by presenting childhood as fun and frightening, in all its wondrous joys and sorrows. --Jeff Shannon
With The Searchers John Wayne and director John Ford forged an indelible saga of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays Ethan Edwards an ex-Confederate who sets out to find his niece captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger thirst the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive quest Ethan finds something unexpected: his own humanity. One of the most influential movies ever made.
In the second film of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the breathtaking adventure continues. The Fellowship is broken, but its quest to destroy the One Ring continues. Winner of two Academy Awards.
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy