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PERIOD FILMS
Listed Alphabetically
THE BOAT THAT ROCKED ***** In 1966 -- arguably British pop music's finest era -- the BBC played only two hours of rock and roll every week. But pirate radio blasted rock and pop from the high seas 24 hours a day. And 25 million people -- more than half the population of Britain -- listened to these pirates every single day. In this fun ensemble comedy the romance takes place between the young people of the '60s and pop music. It's about a band of rogue DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that, incomprehensibly, preferred jazz. Leading the cast are Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Count, a big, brash, American god of the airwaves; Bill Nighy as Quentin, the boss of Radio Rock -- a pirate radio station in the middle of the North Sea that's populated by an eclectic crew of rock and roll DJs; Rhys Ifans as Gavin, the greatest DJ in Britain who has just returned from his drug tour of America to reclaim his rightful position; Nick Frost as Dave, an ironic, intelligent and cruelly funny co-broadcaster; and Kenneth Branagh (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hamlet) as British Minister Dormandy, a fearsome government official out for blood against the drug takers and lawbreakers of a once-great nation. Bonus Features: Hilarious deleted scenes, commentary by Nick Frost, Chris O'Dowd, producer Hilary Bevan and writer-director Richard Curtis.
CASANOVA **** A charming and delightful romantic comedy; it is funny without being frivolous, visually spectacular, and has a script that crackles with wit. He was the world's most notorious seducer. A swashbuckler, master of disguise and wit - it was said no woman could resist Casanova's amorous charms. Until now. For the first time in his life, the legendary Casanova (Heath Ledger) is about to meet his match with an alluring Venetian beauty, Francesca (Sienna Miller), who does the one thing he never thought possible: refuse him. Features: Creating an adventure, Dressing in Style, audio commentary by director Lasse Hallstrom, Extended sequences, visions of Venice.Read more
COCO AVANT CHANEL **** A little girl who is sent with her sister to an orphanage in the heart of France, who waits in vain every Sunday for her father to come for her… A cabaret performer with a weak voice who sings to an audience of drunken soldiers…A humble seamstress, who stitches hems at the back of a provincial tailor's shop…A young, skinny courtesan, to whom protector Etienne Balsan offers a safe haven, amongst the idle and decadent… A woman in love who knows she will never be anyone's wife, refusing marriage even to Boy Capel, the man who returned her love…
A rebel who finds the conventions of her time oppressive, and instead dresses in her lovers' clothes… This is the story of Gabrielle Chanel (featuring a great performance by Audrey Tautou), who begins her life as a headstrong orphan, and through an extraordinary journey becomes the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style. Coco Avant Chanel is directed by Anne Fontaine (La Fille de Monaco/The Girl From Monaco) from a screenplay by Anne Fontaine and Camille Fontaine, with the collaboration of Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons), loosely based on L'irrégulière by Edmonde Charles-Roux. The bonus features include commentary by Anne Fontaine; an an intimate look at bringing the story to the screen. Go behind the scenes Read an interview with Fontaine Read an interview with Audrey Tautou
COLD MOUNTAIN *** Minghella could immediately envision Frazier's epic tale as a motion picture. "The book itself makes an irresistible case for adaptation to the screen," he notes. "It has an honourable hero, a journey, a purpose, a series of obstacles, a woman waiting with forbearance, and Cold Mountain itself, which stands in for a time and way of life that have been lost. At its heart the book has an intriguing, enduring question: Is it better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all?" There's some great features on this two-disc set in this romantic adventure that follows the intertwined paths of three people equally uprooted by war, three people whose physical and spiritual survival comes to depend entirely on one another. Read more
THE DUCHESS ***** Set at the end of the eighteenth century, The Duchess is the story of the beautiful and, glamorous Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley), the most fascinating woman of the age. While her beauty and charisma made her name, her extravagant tastes and appetite for gambling and love made her infamous. Married young to the older, distant Duke of Devonshire, intimate of ministers and princes, Georgiana became a fashion icon, a doting mother, a shrewd political operator and darling of the common people. But at the core of her story is a desperate search for love. The Duchess is a very contemporary tale of fame, notoriety and the search for love. Read more
ELIZABETH THE GOLDEN AGE *****An exquisite, sumptuous cinematic feast, this period drama features Cate Blanchett in top form, reprising her Oscar-winning performances as Queen Elizabeth. Facing bloodlust for her throne and familial betrayal, she grows keenly aware of the changing religious and political tides of late 16th century Europe, and finds her rule openly challenged by the Spanish King Philip II. The bonus features include a fantastic making-of featurette as well as an in depth look into the design, creation and visual effects, deleted scenes and informative audio commentary by director Shekhar Kapur. Read more
THE ENGLISH PATIENT (2 Disc Special Edition) *** Winner of an astounding nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress, this sweeping World War II romantic epic is based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje. After a badly burned pilot is pulled from the wreckage of his plane in the Sahara Desert, he's placed in the care of an army nurse and identified only as 'the English Patient'. As his memory slowly returns, a passionate and consuming love affair with a married woman is unveiled, and lives from both the past and the present become inextricably altered. Features: On Disc One there's Feature commentary by screenwriter and director Anthony Minghella, as well as commentary by Minghella and writer Michael Ondaatje. On Disc 2 there's a master class with Anthony Minghella, a documentary on the making of, a featurette on Michael Ondaatje, A documentary looking at 'From Script to Screen', with interviews with the cast and crew, Conversations with the filmmakers, The Work of Production Designer Stuart Craig.
THE LIBERTINE ***** In every generation, there comes along a person so scandalous, so rebellious, and so willing to break taboos that they topple the world's ideas of what being a free spirit truly means. In the 17th century that person was unequivocally John Wilmot, AKA the 2nd Earl of Rochester - the wily and talented rogue who lived his short, wild life like a Restoration rock star and become known all at once as a troublemaker, a genius and one of history's most irrepressible believers in liberty. Now, in Laurence Dunmore's The Libertine, Johnny Depp brings forth the sexy, irreverent and ultimately moving adventures of a man who broke all the rules at a time when the rules of modern society were first being written. Go behind the scenes
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA ***** Sumptuous and mesmerising. Rob Marshall (Chicago) beautifully captures the spectacle and intimacy of the life of a Japanese girl searching for love in the 40s. Set in a mysterious and exotic world which still casts a potent spell today, the story begins in the years before World War II, when a Japanese child is torn from her penniless family to work as a servant in a geisha house. Bonus features include 4 behind the scenes featurettes including The Look of a Geisha (inside the wardrobe and makeup), the music of the film, Geisha bootcamp (how the actresses became geishas), and a Geisha dance. Audio commentary by director Rob Marshall and co-producer John DeLuca; production audio commentary by costume designer, production designer and editor. Read more
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS **** Judi Dench plays a widow of wealth and connections, who is bored. At 69, she is far too energetic and vital to fade into gentle widowhood. What she needs, says her friend Lady Conway, is a hobby. She buys a theatre - the Windmill Theatre in the heart of Soho.Read more
OUT OF AFRICA 2 Disc Special Edition **** Sydney Pollack's masterful Oscar-winning adaptation of the true story of Karen Blixen, a strong willed woman who falls in love in a strange country, stars Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Features: The bonus disc includes an original documentary 'Song of Africa', as well as commentary by director Sydney Pollack.
PEARL HARBOR - the special edition ***** If you are keen on collecting DVDs with great bonus features, this is a must. The 'One Hour Over Tokoy' documentary, 'Deconstructing Destruction' and the awesome 'Production Diary' makes for entertaining and insightful viewing.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE **** The glorious world of Jane Austen is at last brought back to the big screen in all its romance, wit and emotional force in the utterly charming Pride & Prejudice. Faithful to the setting and period of the beloved novel and filmed entirely on location in the U.K., this is the first movie version of the story in 65 years.The classic tale of love and misunderstanding unfolds in class-conscious England near the close of the 18th century. Features: Audio commentary; featurettes on"The Politics of Dating', 'The Life and Times of Jane Austen', The Stately Homes of Pride and Prejudice' Read more
THE STUDENT PRINCE *** As seen on BBC America and PBS's Masterpiece Theatre (as The Prince of Hearts), it stars Robson Green (Wire in the Blood) as a working class cop assigned to protect the queen's youngest son (Rupert Penry-Jones from Charlotte Gray), who is a new student at Cambridge. Tara Fitzgerald (Brassed Off!) is an American exchange student both men fall for. When the prince proves as inept at love as he is at learning, the macho bodyguard becomes tutor as well as protector, ghost-writing sweet nothings and academic assignments, all the while repressing his own feeling for Grace.
TITANIC (Deluxe Collector's Edition) ***** If ever there was a perfect Festive gift for any film student/buff, this is it. Special Features: Disc one includes the first half of the extended version of the film (an extra 17 minutes), with commentary by James Cameron; cast commentary by Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart, and many others; crew commentary by John Landau and Rae Sanchini; and historical commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marshall. The second disc includes the remainder of the film (an unfortunate break), as well as the commentaries found on disc one. Disc Two also includes the alternate ending and the popular music video "My Heart Will Go On". Disc Three makes this collection worth its price in gold, including 29 deleted scenes with informative commentary by James Cameron. Disc Four includes some disappointing featurettes, trailers, TV spots, Visual Effects Breakdowns, and documentaries.
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE *** This long time dream project of executive producers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott explores the medieval legend of a princess and warrior's love affair, which threatens to tear apart an uneasy peace between England and Ireland. A tale of epic battles, royal intrigue and a timeless, star-crossed passion. A tragic story about forbidden love between a man and woman, the tale predates the legend of Arthur and Guinevere in Camelot as well as Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet." Hopeless romantics and those seeking epic adventure will enjoy the spectacle. Go behind the scenes
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (2 Disc edition) ***** From the director and star of Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou) comes a very different love story: Based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien Japrisot, the adapted screenplay was written by Jeunet & Guillaume Laurant. Every frame is a masterpiece, allowing Jeunet to paint one of the most extraordinary romances in recent years on a vast canvas. Features: Audio commentary by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet; The Making of documentary; Paris in the 20s; Before the explosion; deleted scenes with Jean-Pierre Jeuner commentary. Go behind the scenes
WHITE COUNTESS **** Shanghai, 1936 was a crossroads for political intrigue, refugees escaping turmoil, gathering military forces, international business, and underworld culture. Two people caught in this maelstrom forge a bond on the brink of the Japanese invasion: a beautiful Russian countess, reduced by circumstances to supporting her family as a bar girl and taxi dancer; and a blind former diplomat, devastated by the loss of his family in political violence and disillusioned by the world's inability to make peace. The bonus features include great making off featurettes and tribute to Ishmail Merchant. Read more
THE YOUNG VICTORIA **** From an object of a royal power-struggle, to her romantic courtship and legendary marriage to Prince Albert, Emily Blunt (Devil Wears Prada) gives a stunning performance as the young Victoria. Packed with drama, romance, political intrigue, breath-taking cinematography and featuring an outstanding British cast including Jim Broadbent, Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson and Rupert Friend. Academy Award winning British producer Graham King was in production on The Departed, when the idea for The Young Victoria was presented to him. Oscar winning screen-writer Julian Fellowes heard about the project early on and contacted King about writing the script. Having been interested for a long time in the life of Queen Victoria, it was a dream project for him. "I was very keen. It's always a great advantage when a subject comes to you that is already in your life. I thought if someone else writes this film I'll have to kill myself!" Fellowes says. "I met Graham and Scorsese in Martin's trailer when they were shooting The Departed, which in itself was an iconic day." Go behind the scenes
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