About this product: Flora (Juliet Stevenson in a tour de force performance) is the politician's wife. The politician, in this smart, unconventional thriller, is Tory MP Duncan Matlock (Troy's Trevor Eve). The setting is 1990s Britain. When they met, Duncan was a nobody, while Flora was from money. She married for love... and thought he did, too. Over the years, he became a powerful leader and she was always by his side. Then she--along with the rest of the nation--finds out he's been cheating. The woman (Minnie Driver) is an escort girl. Flora is devastated, but decides to put up a brave front. Secretly, however, she embarks on an ingenious plan to regain everything she's lost: pride, dignity, identity. There are no guns or knives in this award-winning miniseries (just a little nudity and profanity). Featuring a first-rate cast, including the late Ian Bannen (Waking Ned Devine) as the lynchpin in Flora's plan. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
About this product: CONTAINS 4 COMPLETE SHOWS FROM THE CLASSIC TV COMEDY SERIES (1952-53), TRANSFERRED FROM THE ORIGINAL 35MM FILM MASTERS. The Abbott and Costello TV Show is timeless American humor, as fresh today as it was 40 years ago. All the classic routines which "the boys" performed on film, radio and stage, were captured in 1952-1953 for the new medium of television and delivered at the peak of their powers. The regular cast of characters, including Mr. Fields, Mike the Cop, Stinky, Bacciagalupe and Hillary, had worked with Bud and Lou on film and stage and each contributed memorably. These shows stand today as perhaps the finest surviving representation of the art of burlesque comedy. EPISODES: Politician, Public Enemies, From Bed to Worse, Car Trouble.
About this product: Synopsis: John Candy heads up a hysterical cast in this laugh a minute tale of a jealous husband and his attempts to keep his wife from leaving him. When Skeet, played by Anthony Newley, vows to stop at nothing to win back his wife, he signs up for more than he bargained for and one by one his bungled plans descend into comedic chaos!
About this product: Mel Brooks scored his first commercial hit with this raucous Western spoof starring the late Cleavon Little as the newly hired (and conspicuously black) sheriff of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart teams up with deputy Jim (Gene Wilder) to foil the railroad-building scheme of the nefarious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). The simple plot is just an excuse for a steady stream of gags, many of them unabashedly tasteless, that Brooks and his wacky cast pull off with side-splitting success. The humor is so juvenile and crude that you just have to surrender to it; highlights abound, from the lunkheaded Alex Karras as the ox-riding Mongo to Madeline Kahn's uproarious send-up of Marlene Dietrich as saloon songstress Lili Von Shtupp. Adding to the comedic excess is the infamous campfire scene involving a bunch of hungry cowboys, heaping servings of baked beans and, well, you get the idea. --Jeff Shannon
About this product: The superlative British miniseries becomes a smart, soap opera-free film courtesy of The Last King of Scotland's Kevin Macdonald. His writers, including Tony Gilroy (the Bourne series) and Billy Ray (Breach), haven't simply condensed and Americanized the six-hour series--they've reinvented it. Now set in Washington D.C., veteran journalist Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe, replacing Brad Pitt, who dropped out over script changes) still collaborates with editor Cameron Lynne (a delectably imperious Helen Mirren) and junior reporter Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) on a story involving Cal's politico pal, Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), but there's a new subtext behind their plunge into sex scandals and corporate malfeasance, since this State of Play also eulogizes old-school beat reporting, and in interviews, Macdonald has acknowledged the influence of newsprint classics like All the President's Men (the Watergate Hotel even shows up as a location). So, while Cal and Della, the Globe’s blogger, try to determine whether the congressman’s aide Sonia (with whom he was having an affair) died at her own hands or the hands of another, they're also fighting for their careers and the survival of their ailing paper. Stephen's political rival Senator Fergus (Jeff Daniels), does his best to stymie their efforts, but PR flack Dominic Foy (Jason Bateman) becomes a reluctant ally. Though fans of the series may miss a few characters, like Cameron's son (played by James McAvoy in the BBC version), Oscar-winning documentarian-turned-filmmaker Macdonald remains true to its spirit. Be sure to stay through the poignant end credits, during which he returns to his doc roots. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from State of Play (Click for larger image)
About this product: In STAR-SPANGLED GIRL, campus newspaper editors Andy Hobart (Roberts) and Norman Cornell (Susman) are two self-proclaimed radicals who work for an underground newspaper. Meeting the perfectly perky ‘Girl Next Girl,’ Amy Cooper (Duncan), the two leftists find themselves falling inexplicably in love with the girl whose good old American pie ideals are the very antitheses of them.
About this product: Lupin the 3rd is up to his old tricks as he and Jigen steal a precious diamond during the height of Carnivale. Easy enough for the world’s greatest thief. But Lupin’s walking straight into trouble as the plane he boards for his escape has been prophecied to be hijacked! A bizarre cult called the Nostradamus Sect has successfully predicted the outcome of world events by consulting the ancient writings of their sacred book. And so far, they’ve never been wrong. Aboard the plane Lupin encounters Fujiko working as a nanny for a young girl named Julia. She was hired to steal the book of prophecies, which is being stored in a vault atop a skyscraper owned by Julia’s father, a wealthy American with dreams on the Presidency. What’s more, the vault can only be opened by a member of Julia’s family. Without warning the prophecy comes true and Julia is kidnapped in the process! Can Lupin rescue Julia, find a way into the vault, and discover the connection between the cult and the kidnapping? And what about his diamond?!
About this product: Greed, graft and corruption pollutes the city in director Tay Garnett's witty slapstick murder mystery, Slightly Honorable. Framed for the murder of party girl Alma Brehmer, honest lawyer John Webb (Pat O'Brien) crusades to prove his innocence while encountering all manner of hilariously corrupt big city denizens.A director comfortable in nearly any genre (be it the high comedy of China Seas, the heartbreaking romantic melodrama of One Way Passage, or the smoldering intrigue of the film noir classic, The Postman Always Rings Twice), Tay Garnett (1894-1977) infuses Slightly Honorable with his hallmarks - frank sexual innuendo, a rich and witty visual style and finely drawn performances.
About this product: Highlighted by newsreel footage and insightful interviews, Death of a Prophet is the tragic, truthful, and awe-inspiring story of the last twenty-four hours of Malcolm X.
About this product: After his critically acclaimed mood pieces Distant and Climates, leading Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan shifts gears in this twisty, noirish tale while retaining his mastery of ambience, nuance and astonishing cinematography. Winner of the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, THREE MONKEYS opens with an ambitious politician fleeing a hit-and-run accident in the dead of night. Afraid of hurting his election chances, he pays off his chauffeur Eyup to take the rap. While Eyup stews in jail, this devil's bargain takes its toll on his brooding son Ismail and restless wife Hacer, who falls into an illicit affair with the politician. Ismail's discovery of his mother's infidelity and Eyup's suspicions after he gets out of jail crank up the simmering tensions in a household already haunted by hidden ghosts.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE: - 16:9 anamorphic transfer, created from Hi-Def elements and enhanced for widescreen televisions - Theatrical trailers - Optional English subtitles - Director's note and interview with Nuri Bilge Ceylan
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