As Time Goes By - Complete Series 5 (DVD) @ discount dvd online store
As Time Goes By - Complete Series 5 (DVD)
Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer) have finally gotten married. The Korean conflict coming between them, Jean and Lionel had their romance ripped apart years ago. Now, the reunited couple ties the knot and adjusts to married life in these episodes from the heartwarming British series.NR"
ACTORS: Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench
Are You Being Served? - V. 12 (DVD)
The workers at Grace Brothers are equaled in their eccentricity only by the customers who frequent the store. The British comedy series is represented here by six classic episodes. Installments included are Memories are Made of This, Calling all Customers, Monkey Business, Lost and Found, Goodbye Mrs. Slocombe, Grounds for Divorce. NR"
ACTORS: Mollie Sugden, John Inman
Hard Eight (DVD)
Sydney (Philip Baker Hall), a mysterious professional gambler, befriends John (John C. Reilly), a young man in trouble, and teaches him the ways of making a living in the casinos of Reno. John gets involved with Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow), a pretty waitress who doubles as a prostitute, and Jimmy (Samuel L. Jackson), a two-faced criminal. When trouble erupts, suddenly Sydney has to rescue his young friend, but a secret from his past threatens to destroy everything he has tried to build up.
Director Paul Thomas Andersons highly acclaimed debut feature (based on the films of Jonathan Demme and John Cassavetes) is a tight, intricate film noir character study with a more disciplined plot than his later, more expansive films. The film also features excellent work from his four actors, particularly Hall as the experienced, world-weary Sydney, and fascinating details about the lowlife world the characters inhabit. HARD EIGHT originated as a short film, CIGARETTES AND COFFEE, that Anderson developed at the Sundance Film Institute.R"
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
ACTORS: Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Ridgely
Black and White (DVD)
With BLACK AND WHITE, writer-director James Toback (FINGERS, TWO GIRLS AND A GUY) confronts the topic of race head on--most specifically, the influence of black urban hip-hop culture on white America. Set in New York City as the 1990s wind to a close, the film is told in a broad, episodic fashion, interweaving several different story lines in order to address a multitude of ideas. In the most comedic, a white documentarian (Brooke Shields) and her gay husband (Robert Downey Jr.) follow a group of affluent white teenagers (led by Bijou Phillips) around the city as they unabashedly pursue a Staten Island hip-hop crew. As the leader of the crew, Rich Bower (the Wu-Tang Clan`s Power) struggles to leave his criminal past behind and become a legitimate musician. In the most dramatic subplot, an undercover police detective (Ben Stiller) frames a talented college basketball player (Allan Houston) in order to exact an ambiguous revenge. Toback blends improvisation with tightly scripted scenes, and the result is a loose, broad essay on the state of racism at the turn of the millennium. BLACK AND WHITE features impressive performances by the all-star cast, but it is Mike Tyson who steals the film with his unforgettable cameo.R"
Director: James Toback
ACTORS: Robert Downey, Bijou Phillips, Allan Houston, Brooke Shields, Ben Stiller
Liam (DVD)
Originally produced for the B.B.C., director Stephen Frears masterfully crafts this poignant portrait of one family`s attempt to stay afloat in impoverished 1930s England. The political, religious, and economic strife of pre-Word War II Liverpool is seen through the eyes of Liam (Anthony Burrows), a seven-year-old living with Dad (Ian Hart) and Mam (Claire Hackett), and preparing himself for his First Communion. Dad is a deeply proud working class Catholic who labors tirelessly to feed his family, until he loses his job at the local shipyard. Desperate for money, Liam`s teenage sister Teresa (Megan Burns) is forced to take a job as a maid for the upper class Jewish owners of the shipyard while Mam relies on her religious beliefs for strength and comfort. As Liam questions his own religious identity and struggles with the concepts of sin and salvation, he watches his father slip into a stagnant and hateful rage fueled by his family`s poverty and loss of self-respect. This rage leads Dad to join a group of Fascists who blindly blame the local Jews for their own starvation, poverty, and powerlessness, as the threat of war looms on the horizon. Liam, portrayed with remarkable grace and ability by young Burrows, is a stuttering, charming, and naive antihero who embodies the profound innocence of children as they fight to comprehend the sometimes unfathomable actions of the adult world. This quiet ensemble piece highlights the actors, who deftly work together in a tale of simple realism which finds beauty in the daily routines and rituals of a family struggling to survive a daunting change.R"
Director: Stephen Frears
ACTORS: Anthony Burrows, Ian Hart, Anne Reid, Claire Hackett
