Gods and Monsters (DVD) @ discount dvd online store
Gods and Monsters (DVD)
Based on Christopher Bram`s novel FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN, Bill Condon`s semi-fictional 1998 sleeper stars Sir Ian McKellen in a fantastic performance as director James Whale (FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, SHOW BOAT). It is 1957, and Whale is living in semiseclusion in Southern California with his scrutinizing maid, Hannah (Lynn Redgrave). His health is failing, and he is able to do little but lounge around and contemplate his younger days--his many male loves, his days in WWI, and the film world that has forsaken him. When Whale first gazes upon his musclebound gardener, Clay (Brendan Fraser), however, it is the beginning of an unusual (and platonic) friendship. Seasoned with multiple flashbacks to the sets of his films and to the battlefield, GODS AND MONSTERS is a haunting and touching look at the life of a man who was at the top of the Hollywood hierarchy but soon found himself out of favor--and the offbeat friendship he formed in his final days. McKellen and Redgrave were both nominated for Oscars, and the film garnered one statue for Best Adapted Screenplay.R"
Director: Bill Condon
ACTORS: Ian McKellen, Lynn Redgrave, Brendan Fraser, Lolita Davidovich, David Dukes
Rap War One (VHS)
Aspiring rapper, Dequan, is intent on leaving his hard life on the streets of Brooklyn to pursue his lifelong dream. His inspiration for success is his unwillingness to give in to the daily hardships of ghetto life. When he loses his job and finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, however, he devises a plan to make fast money. When his right-hand-man Brandon introduces him to a well-known Hip Hop club called The Pit, Dequan realizes that his talent for rapping can make him the money he needs by entering a rap contest. Local gangster G-Mega, the owner of The Pit, becomes involved in the contest and soon it escalates to an all out rap war where Dequan quickly becomes a pawn in a world of crime, corruption, and drugs.NR"
Wit (DVD)
Margaret Edson`s Pulitzer-winning script is faithfully adapted to the small screen by director Mike Nichols and star Emma Thompson in this HBO special. Thompson plays Vivian Bearing, a professor of 17th Century poetry specializing in the Holy Sonnets of John Donne. The intellect is everything to Vivian--which is why, when she is diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer-- there is no stage five --she agrees to undergo aggressive chemotherapy in the name of cancer research. You must be very tough, her doctor tells her, and Vivian is nothing if not tough--a tough professor who is tough on her students. Yet as her treatment--and her cancer--progresses, Vivian finds that what she needs most isn`t the cold rationality with which she`s lived her whole life and which is amply evidenced by the hospital staff attending her, but the simple human kindness shown by her primary nurse and her former mentor. This beautiful meditation on death and humanity is shot in close-ups that linger on Emma Thompson`s spare, emotionally naked performance. Nichols`s sure-handed direction brings out both the script`s own wit and its poignancy.PG-13"
Director: Mike Nichols
ACTORS: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Harold Pinter
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends - Make Someone Happy & Other Thomas Adventures (DVD)
Thomas and friends share fun and adventure as they learn the rewards of doing good deeds and making people happy. Includes the episodes Make Someone Happy, A Big Surprise for Percy, Happy Ever After, Thomas and the Rumors, James & the Trouble with Trees, Baa! and the song It`s Great to be an Engine. NR"
Lawless Heart (DVD)
Three men who have led very different lives are reunited by the funeral of a mutual friend in this second feature film from writing-directing team Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger (BOYFRIENDS). Stuart`s accidental death leads his brother-in-law, his boyfriend, and his best friend to reconsider some of the choices they have made in their lives and, in some cases, gives them the courage to try things they have never tried before. Stuart`s brother-in-law, Dan (Bill Nighy), is a loyal father and a faithful husband to Judy (Ellie Haddington) who is suddenly tempted by an exotic stranger (Clementine Celarie). Following the death of his lover Stuart, restaurateur Nick (Tom Hollander) is forced to confront his emotions when he is drawn to a woman (Sukie Smith). Carefree wanderer Tim (Douglas Henshall) faces adulthood for the first time when he falls in love with a local girl (Josephine Butler). Told in three sections from the perspective of each of the three main characters, this modern romance takes a remarkable look at how delicately lives can be intertwined and how the simplest action done by one person can affect so many others.R"
Director: Neil Hunter|Tom Hunsinger
ACTORS: Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Douglas Henshall, Clementine Celarie, Stuart Laing
