Great edition of wonderful film

This is the best I've seen from Hitchcocks British period. The plot has a lot of odd twists - some of them highly impropable. But it doesn't really matter - this is a film that should be enjoyed just for the ride. It is a movie that just sparkles.
Robert Donat I've never seen before but he seems to be an actor who instinctively knew what Hitch was after, and so suave, too, he beats Cary Grant!
This edition offers an extremely nice-looking print + some wonderful extras including a very informative documentary on Hitchcocks British films. At the present amazon bargain price you simply can't go wrong!

Travolta Vs Cage - the ultimate action film

The synopsis above will tell the plot and the general outline of the film which. can I just say, is fantastic; but what it doesnt say is how the two actors Cage and Travolta turn out what is possibly two of the best performances of their professional career. This is when actors are put to the test. Not only do both fully commit to their character and delivering a believable performance that submerses the audience into the plot, when the two actors swap chatacers they take on each others characteristics, movements, posture, facial expressions, and everything that defines how the other actor created their character. Effectively what you will see is Travolta playing Cage playing Travolta, and Cage playing Travolta playing Cage. Its ingenious!
The effect this has on the audience is outstanding, as you cant help but be drawn into the film, holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat as each twist turns the plot into a new direction. Althoguh ultimately you know how its going to end, the acting is fantastic, the film is beautifully shot, and it has that perfect balance of intelligent scripting, action, comedy and real emotion. If you get this film there is no way you cannot be entertained. Having seen it for the first time last night, Ive just bought it, and would highly recommend you do the same

Darker version of Lethal Weapon

The strengths of the film include an odd relationship between the two lead cops, who seem loosely based on the two lead cops of the"Lethal Weapon" series, but who (thankfully) never play for laughs, and never really become"buddies" - the young cop is too arrogant, and the older cop has too much experience, which the young cop refuses to acknowledge. The two characters are also brilliantly acted by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt (probably his best performance).

There's one odd flaw in the film - about half-way through, I found that I had learned to"expect the unexpected" from the film, which meant that the rest of the film was predictable in a bizarre way - simply decide where the expected move would be, and then expect the unexpected move instead. The most obvious instance of this is in the finale itself, which could be guessed at least 5 minutes ahead of time.

Normally, this would be a formula for disaster - but fortunately, the high quality of the film-making twists the film into an edge-of-the-seat suspenseful waiting game as we watch with horror the one cop's encounter with the insanity of pure evil.

Good, but with reservations

Having read all the the Cadfael books several times, and visited the ruins and reconstruction of parts of the Abbey, I was interested to see how they would come across in a film. For the most part it was excellent in terms of acting, costumes, sets, unfolding of plots. My reservation is in the casting of Sir Derek Jacobi in the title role. He is undoubtedly a fine actor (that goes without saying) but in my opinion is far too polished and sophisticated for the down-to-earth and practical Cadfael. Other casting was excellent, especially Prior Robert and his side-kick Brother Jerome, but that of the main character,I am sorry to say,diminished my enjoyment.

Well Worth Watching

When my wife suggested we watch this movie, I wasn't too keen. I'm very glad I did watch it, from the opening karaoke scene this film is a good old fashioned british mob movie.

It's incredibly funny at times, and the humour very black, but its just sooooo good! Ray Winstone is exceptional as the east end mob boss 'Ray' and Jude Law is also up there as his nephew 'Jude'. Ray Burdis is brilliant as Ray's second-in-command (also called Ray) who has erection problems, and spends most of the film wondering how he's going to satisfy his wife, played by the always funny Kathy Burke.

Most of the film tends to centre around a new boy to the gang - played by Jonny Lee Miller - who manages to get accepted into the east end gang, only to cause problems when he takes out two gang members from the south london gang, led by Sean Pertwee.

One of the funniest bits is the gun battle which takes place in a timber yard - Watch the film, and you'll see what I mean.

Other people starring in this film are Denise van Outen, Laila Morse (Mo' in eastenders) and also happens to be the sister of Gary Oldman! Rhys Ifans also appears.

One of the best british films in a long time, in my opinion.

Great movie

I didn't guess the twist in the plot and I'm glad I didn't, excellent film with lots of action and humour with some serious parts too. Josh Hartnett is a great actor and will definitely go places, good to see Kingsley and Freeman facing off and both ending up as losers.....

The Gangster Of Slang

This is the best British gangster film of all-time. It is The Sex Pistols of the cinema and the West Ham Utd of movies.
I can give it no higher praise or pay it a bigger compliment than saying it is up there with `Stop THe Ride I Want To Get Off` by Dave Courtney and `Till Death Us Do Part` by Garry Jackson.
I have this classic crime thriller at the cinema, in video and DVD and every time I watch it - it gets better.

Disappointed

The quality of the pic and am amazed that a recent TV series has been put out on DVD with NO SUBTITLES!!! When are hard of hearing and deaf people going to be included????

THE BEST CSI DVD YET

Up to recently i did not really like csi new york and only watched it out of loyalty. This Season 3 is the best yet and now New York is the best. i hired this but will be buying it. it does inc a Csi being framed, some drug bust breaking into the lab, and some personal issues.

Brilliant thriller

I think this movie has been deemed a horror movie and I watched it expecting one. However, when I finished watching this movie I realised it wasn't a horror movie, but a thriller filled with excitement and a few fairly creepy moments. I am not saying that it has to be a scary movie, because I think if it was, it would ruin it because this movie is much deeper than all that.

The movie starts with an extremely succcesful child psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Crowe and his wife ( Bruce Willis ). They are both happy until one of Malcolms deranged ex-clients breaks into their house and shoots him.A year later Malcolm is having trouble getting his life back together, his wife seems to be ignoring him, aswell as many other problems. He is called in to help a boy called Cole Sear who tells the doctor that he can see dead people. Malcolm is determined to help the boy because he has the same problem that the boy who shot him had and he feels that this would make up for his failure to help the other boy.

This was such a great movie, with an incredibly moving ending and a great twist at the end aswell. I can't imagine anybody not liking this so I recommend it to anybody.

A Superb 1930s-Era Detective Drama

Chinatown is a terrific period drama (in my top 5 best films) directed by Roman Polanski, which deservedly won an Oscar for Best Screenplay.

It features 2 fantastic lead actor performances, from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, and is perhaps notable for the fact that the Nicholson character is never off the screen since the film is made from his viewpoint.

He plays a private detective who gets himself involved with an investigation into an apparent murder, corruption and family feuding. Things progress dramatically and he unearths many well-kept secrets....

It is set in the 1930s and the production values to reflect that era (eg costume and vehicles) are superb.

Similarly, the musical soundtrack (which it turns out only replaced an inferior version at the very last minute !) helps to portray the mood.

There are some other well-known actors (eg John Huston) but this film belongs to Nicholson, who delivers his lines (which include some hilarious one-liners) superlatively and exhibits all the necessary emotions of confusion, aggression and competence in a lively and masterly fashion.

The restored picture on this 'Special Collector's Edition' disc is excellent and is a clear improvement over the previous issue (not that it was that bad). It is sharp, bright, flawless and has vivid colours. I didn't notice any great change in the soundtrack, largely because the previous issue was already quite good.

There are a number of interesting featurettes which include contributions from Polanski, Nicholson and the writer of the Screenplay, Robert Towne.

Totally Flawed Plot

Clive Owen is a very watchable actor but his talents are wasted in this film, which suffers from a badly flawed and overly sentimental plot.

The film depicts the breakdown of British society into ultra-violent murderous terrorist factions opposed by brutal police and army units, with vast refugee camps where victims are grusomely processed. The problem with the plot is that it is set in a world where humanity has become infertile and no babies have been born for eighteen years. However, in our world it is the mounting pressure of overpopulation which fuels war; racial and religious tension are the outcome of the struggle to hold territory and resources for reproduction. So human infertility would actually result in general relaxation and could possibly lead to a marked improvement in behaviour and peaceful cooperation.

The hero's task is to help the only pregnant woman in the world, a black refugee, to give birth and escape on a ship called Tomorrow. At the sight of the newborn infant, vicious murderers, terrorists and soldiers are reduced to tears and feelings of religious awe. The idea that humanity's salvation is to be found through women giving birth is absolutely crazy: in reality, overbreeding has created a hellish environment. Surely it is time to stop depicting motherhood as unquestionably wonderful. Womb worship is a dead end.

Fails to gel

From the first reading of Highsmith's novel I felt she was a minor genius in evoking both the mind of a deeply disturbed character and the divided society of high elegance and low misery in which he moved and from which he was alienated. Was the split in his mind or the society's? Surely both. For years Holywood seemingly"bottled" out of confronting the issue as it avoided Highsmith's most masterly opus. This film was eagerly awaited. Disappointingly the whole comes to less than the sum of its parts. The locations and period values are stunning. The direction is considered. The essence of Highsmith's novel sporadically peeps through some of the acting. Yet the final article fails to convince. Damon and Law are too unsubtle and lack the chemistry to realize the homoerotic undercurrent essential to the evolution of the plot. The characters fail to fit within the lovingly evoked '50s settings. It felt weirdly as though 21st century characters were transplanted into a 1950s milieu. The"spirit" of the acting failed to coalesce with the externals. The departures from the novel merely contributed to the diffusion of the plot and the unconvincing ending. I can empathize with other reviewers who thought the film went on too long....from the point at which, I believe, it departed from the understated tension of the novel to overdramatize Ripley's anti-heroic personality. One of the strengths of the novel lay in suggesting how precisely such an understated and chameleon personality as Ripley's could literally"get away" with murder by (unconsciously or instinctively, perhaps) taking advantage of his society's readiness or need to turn a blind eye where elegant appearance conflicted with bloody reality. The overwhelming feeling at the end of this film is that this character could never have got away with it. So - good in parts, I feel; but we still await the definitive English version of Highsmith's 'magnum opus' on film.

Pity they didn't publish the full versions

I'd been looking forward to getting this box set for a long time. Joan Hickson is the perfect Miss Marple and always will be. The stories are well adapted, capturing the atmosphere of the books well.

This dvd release DOES NOT DESERVE FIVE STARS. It is supposed to be a 'complete' set of the Miss Marple stories that were produced. So why, oh why, did the BBC supply cut versions of some of them?
In their infinite wisdom the BBC seems to have decided that one dvd per story was the way to go.

Yes, some of the productions would not have fitted onto one disc, but I for one would have preferred to view the full uncut version - even if this meant the story was spread over 2 or more discs.

A SUBTLE TALE OF MEN BECOMING WHAT THEY WERE DESTINED TO BE

After the phenomenal success of The Sixth Sense, everyone was curious to see what director M. Night Shyamalan had in store for us next. The result was Unbreakable, the most original idea for a (major spoilers ahead!) comic book/superhero movie I have ever encountered to date. Even seven years into the future, the final play of this film manages to send these small shivers of joy down my spine.

Dealing yet again with humans with supernatural talents, Shyamalan takes his time building his characters (as usual) and slowly introduces us into their downbeat world. Bruce Willis is David Dunn, your everyday Joe who miraculously survives a horrific train crash. Dunn holds a secret: this isn't the first time he walks away unharmed from a near-death situation. Shortly after his media-frenzy survival, he encounters his counterpart, Elijah Price (the fabulous Samuel Jackson, in one of his best roles ever). Price suffers from a rare medical condition which basically comes down to him having extremely fragile bones, which tend to break ever-so-easily. The two men then have numerous encounters which have drastic affects on their lives, but I'd rather not spoil the fun for those of you who intend to see the film.

I think what really got me hooked up on this film was the final twist, which was on par with that of Shyamalan's initial attempt (if not better); and the dreamy, subtle atmosphere which sucked you me for the mere sake of curiosity. Bottom line, Unbreakable is a tale of men becoming what they were meant to be; one that leaves you pondering whether your destiny is a matter of free will - or something you can never escape no matter how hard you try.

csi what more need i say

This is a fantastic show and the second part of the first session was no dissapointment. It was fantastic. The starnge thing about csi is the fact that it aint so packed with imformation that its hard going but there is enough there to still keep you on your toe's. great show

The Perfect Film

This movie is a must see. The cast is excellent and the story is addictive, in depth and full of twists. In fact there's not many reasons to dislike this movie!

Guy Pearce plays a straight good cop. Russell Crowe plays a slightly dodgy bad cop. Kevin Spacey plays a"media loving" cop and I won't say any more because it will give it all away.

Needless to say there are movies that you MUST SEE - Like Goodfellows, The Godfather, Ben Hur etc. I would easily rate this film as a must see along side those classics.

If you've seen it them you'll kow what I'm saying. If you haven't, then what are you waiting for?

perfect throwaway entertainment

entertaining mystery thriller which ticks all the boxes,it may be overlong and silly but as throwaway fun its rather good

The Green Mile...where Miracles can happen and do

Frank Darabont returns after directing The Shawshank Redemption to direct another prison tale of sheer class and written again by Stephen King in their second attempt to make a another gem....John Coffey a simplistic gentle giant is accused of the murder of a little girl and is convicted to the death penalty on"The Green Mile" a short stretch of prison corridor where men meet there fate...whilst waiting strange things happen witnessed by the prison boss played by Tom Hanks together with a rather unusual mouse named Mr Jingles....Good versus evil, darkness versus light....The Green Mile is another classic film from a great duo who have scored another great success in a very emotional tale with both great joy and great sadness....For anyone looking for a classic film then look no further....