The Tailor of Panama (DVD) @ discount dvd online store
The Tailor of Panama (DVD)
Pierce Brosnan stars as the anti-Bond in maverick director John Boorman`s adaptation of legendary spy novelist John le Carre`s seamy tour of post-Noriega Panama. A British intelligence agent whose taste for gambling and other men`s wives has put him on the wrong side of his bosses at MI6, Andy Osnard (Brosnan) is posted to the backwater of Panama to atone for his sins. To that end, he recruits upscale tailor Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush), leveraging the man`s financial problems and questionable past to gain access to information about the activities of his elite clientele. Meanwhile, Osnard remains true to form, recruiting the personal services of lovely embassy official Francesca (Catherine McCormack), and attempting the same with Harry`s wife, Louisa (Jamie Lee Curtis). When Harry`s best friend Micki (Brendan Gleeson), a former member of the anti-Noriega underground, now a broken man, begins blustering about politics in front of Osnard, both of these con men begin to see him as the solution to their problems. The mundane tragedy of espionage familiar to le Carre`s Cold Warriors has been replaced by farce with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Boorman creates an atmosphere redolent with U.S.-abetted corruption in this well written and acted film, which also features playwright Harold Pinter in a cameo role.R"
Director: John Boorman
ACTORS: Geoffrey Rush, Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Gleeson, David Hayman
Town and Country (DVD)
Ellie and Porter Stoddard appear to be the perfect couple. Ellie (Diane Keaton) is a successful designer, Porter (Warren Beatty) a high-powered architect, living in the lap of luxury on Fifth Avenue with their wonderful children and various foreigners wandering through their home. Off they jet to Paris to celebrate their 25th anniversary with their best friends, Griffin (Garry Shandling) and Mona (Goldie Hawn). But upon their return to New York, the idyllic life disappears when Mona catches Griffin having an affair, setting off a trail of suspicion and betrayal among the foursome. While Porter tries to downplay his fling with a cellist named Alex (Nastassja Kinski) quiet, he gets himself stuck in hilarious entanglements with Jenna Elfman and Andie MacDowell--and a much more serious one with his oldest and dearest friend, Mona. Peter Chelsom`s romantic comedy, cowritten by and featuring the great Buck Henry, is a lighthearted romp through New York City, Sun Valley, Mississippi, Paris, and the Hamptons. The terrific cast also includes Charlton Heston and Marian Seldes as MacDowell`s dangerously bizarre parents, but it is Shandling and Beatty who steal the show. Shandling provides constant comic relief as he struggles with his newfound sexuality while Beatty hems and haws his way through a series of increasingly ridiculous situations, able to do with a glance and a grin what most actors can`t do in a lifetime.R"
Director: Peter Chelsom
In a Class of His Own (DVD)
Based on a true story, Mr. Phillips stars a Texas high school custodian who learns that he`ll be fired if he doesn`t pass an equivalency exam. The students of the school band together to help their beloved custodian study to pass the exam.NR"
Director: Robert Munic
ACTORS: Lou Diamond Phillips, Joan Chen, Cara Buono
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (DVD)
Although many of the films released under the studio system during the so-called Golden Age may have been something less than golden and some of their creators may have felt like well-paid galley slaves, at its best, as in this film, the system was capable of producing a type of intelligent entertainment now rarely seen. Starring Charles Laughton as the severely misshapen bellringer Quasimodo, William Dieterle`s adaptation of the familar Victor Hugo classic is set in the bustling society of 15th-century Paris, as the forces of church and state strive to maintain their sway over a populace struggling for a better life. Jean Frollo (Cedric Hardwicke), chief justice of Paris, unites secular and religious authority in one foully hypocritical personage. Spying a spectacularly beautiful Gypsy woman named Esmeralda (Maureen O`Hara) in church, he sends his factotum, Quasimodo, to abduct her. Frollo`s plan is foiled by Phoebus, captain of the guard (Alan Marshall), and the hunchback is sentenced to public flogging and exposure. Despite her earlier fear of Quasimodo, only Esmeralda is willing help the bound hunchback as he begs for water in the public square. The film features one of Laughton`s best performances, a superb supporting cast, a vivd script, and extraordinary production values on a vast scale.NR"
Director: William Dieterle
ACTORS: Charles Laughton, Maureen O`Hara, Edmond O`Brien, Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell
Country (DVD)
A family of farmers struggle to retain possession of their property during a difficult financial crisis. They are suddenly faced with the prospect of losing their land to the insensitive rules of a government bureaucracy more concerned with paperwork than people.PG"
Director: Richard Pearce
ACTORS: Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard, Matt Clark, Wilford Brimley
