Dutton, Tim

The Bourne Identity (Widescreen Extended Edition)

A man washes up on the beach with no memory of who he is, but with a whole array of alarming skills.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: DAMON/POTENTE/STILES/COOPER/COX/OWEN
Title: BOURNE IDENTITY
Street Release Date: 02/14/2006
Domestic
Genre: ACTION / ADVENTURE

Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon

The Bourne Identity (Full Screen Extended Edition)

Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon

A man washes up on the beach with no memory of who he is, but with a whole array of alarming skills.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 14-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

Into Thin Air: Death on Everest

Based on Jon Krakauer's bestselling book, Into Thin Air re-creates an ill-fated 1996 expedition to Everest that claimed at least five lives, including those of two world-class climbers. Only 90 minutes in length, the film jumps right into the action at Everest base camp and compresses the two-month trek into just a few days of exhilarating adventure. Periodic voice-overs by Krakauer (Christopher McDonald) provide essential background information and guide us through the invisible, intensifying effects of altitude and stress. Krakauer joined the trip to write an article on the commercialization of Everest, but as conditions on the mountain deteriorate he is forced to focus all his energy on survival.

Unfortunately the film fails to really develop any of its characters before thrusting them onto the harrowing face of Everest. As a result, it's difficult to understand the relationships that play out as the group struggles to the summit and back. While the trio of leading actors is solid, only Nat Parker (who plays guide Rob Hall) has enough screen time to develop an interesting, complex character. Peter Horton's portrayal of unconventional guide Scott Fischer is almost hyperbolic and McDonald's Krakauer is stiff and difficult to read.

While the film succeeds in creating a palpable sense of agony and suspense, those in search of a more thoughtful, detailed account of the expedition will be better served by reading the book. --Claire Campbell

The Bourne Identity (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon

The Bourne Identity (Full Screen Collector's Edition)

Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon

Masterpiece Theatre: Frenchman's Creek

This picaresque bodice-ripper is far more engrossing than one might expect, but then again it has a good pedigree. Based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier, the Restoration-era tale concerns Dona St. Columb (Tara Fitzgerald), a Catholic in the age of William and Mary and a survivor of Cromwell's repression. Married to an older, foolish aristocrat whom she easily manipulates, Dona has cultivated a suggestion of scandal to enhance her natural reputation as a tough, willful, cigarette-puffing Londoner. In an effort to get away from intrigues at the royal court, Dona takes her two children and heads for the family's Cornwall estate, where she hopes to find peace. She soon discovers, however, that French pirates turned patriots have been making use of her land, home, and even housekeeping staff to aid in France's war against Britain. Initially outraged, Dona is soon swayed by the pirates' passion for their cause and feels the absence in herself of a similar authenticity. The solution: join the raiders on their exploits and become the lover of their handsome captain (Anthony Delon). The story hums along most entertainingly and Fitzgerald's focused performance, both harsh and sensuous, provides a sturdy backbone to the drama. Delon mostly smolders, which is enough here, but the terrific supporting cast brings a dimension and color that makes the whole production more than agreeable. The ending is particularly satisfying, ultimately turning Frenchman's Creek into a human adventure that is more than the sum of its swashbuckling parts. --Tom Keogh

In search of peace and solitude, wealthy Dona St. Columb retreats to her country estate in Cornwall and discovers the exact opposite. Tara Fitzgerald (The Woman in White) and Anthony Delon recreate classic romance in Daphne du Maurier's enduring story of piracy and betrayal.

Robert Louis Stevenson's St. Ives

Not to be confused with the Charles Bronson vehicle of the same name, St. Ives--All for Love when it debuted on the BBC--is based on St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The irreverent tale revolves around the exploits of Captain Jacques St. Ives (Jean-Marc Barr from The Big Blue). In 1813 he's captured by the British and thrown in jail; things aren't all bad, however. While there, he meets the droll Miss Gilchrist (Miranda Richardson) and her lovely niece, Flora (Anna Friel), who take an interest in the prisoner. For Jacques and Flora, it's love at first sight--although Major Chevening (Richard E. Grant) had his eye on her first. Not long afterward, Jacques escapes and makes an enemy out of his long lost brother Alain (Jason Isaacs), who's been living in Scotland and looking to take over the family fortune upon the death of their grandfather (Michael Gough, Alfred from the Batman series); Jacques thought Alain had been killed with their parents during the French Revolution. The escaped prisoner represents a threat to his brother and to the major, and things can only get worse for him... or can they? St. Ives looks and feels much like a Masterpiece Theatre production, but with a more humorous bent (as well as a little nudity). Sometimes the humor works (mostly when Richardson and Grant are on the screen), sometimes not (Barr is less consistent), but it's rarely as stuffy as most other literary adaptations. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Starring screen favorite Miranda Richardson (SLEEPY HOLLOW, THE CRYING GAME) Robert Louis Stevenson's ST. IVES is a witty, romantic comedy in the spirited style of EMMA and AN IDEAL HUSBAND. During the Napoleonic Wars, a handsome French officer, Captain Jacques St. Ives (Jean-Marc Barr -- DANCER IN THE DARK), is captured in battle and brought to a prisoner of war camp in Scotland. Once there, adventure and daring await when he meets and falls in love with a beautiful local woman (Anna Friel -- ROGUE TRADER), befriends the prison camp's British Major (Richard E. Grant -- SPICE WORLD), and discovers his long-lost grandfather living just down the road

Tom & Viv

The passionate, turbulent love story of the writer T.S. Eliot and his wife Vivienne and the terrible secret that divided them.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 3-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

Tom is T.S. Eliot (Willem Dafoe), the St. Louis-born poet who tried to turn himself into an Englishman. Viv is his wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood (Miranda Richardson). She's got money, which allows him to give up his job and focus on poetry. She urges him on, promotes him to the Bloomsbury group (which adopts him but looks down its nose at her), and begins to go slightly crazy. Is it Eliot's chilly demeanor (in a terrific repressed performance by Dafoe) that's driving her nuts, or something else? In fact, she suffers from misdiagnosed physical ailments, and a combination of drugs and alcohol send her around the bend. It's hard to get emotionally involved in Dafoe's Eliot or to really plug into this story, though Richardson's passion nearly pulls you in. --Marshall Fine

Oliver Twist (Masterpiece Theatre, 1999)

In this extraordinary production, storyteller Alan Bleasdale broadens the scope of Charles Dickens' classic tale of an orphan in 19th century England—and the characters who influence his destiny.

Oliver's mother, Agnes, struggles against the tragic circumstances that ultimately leave Oliver a penniless orphan. At the Parish Workhouse, he is forced by other boys to ask for more food, and as a result, is sold as an apprentice to a miserly undertaker. He runs away and is taken in by master thief Fagin, who is in league with a murderous pair determined to see that Oliver never inherits the fortune he deserves. Life twists and turns again and again for Oliver, landing him in alternately dangerous and hopeful circumstances.

Oliver Twist is a drama of dark comedy, astonishing vivacity and soaring imagination, but ultimately, it is a story that celebrates the resilience and triumph of a little boy's spirit.

Special DVD features include: materials and activities for educators; a link to the Masterpiece Theatre Web site; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

On three DVD5 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

P.D. James - Original Sin

Book publishing is always a competitive business. At Peverell Press, it's becoming cutthroat.

Scotland Yard's Adam Dalgliesh is called to the venerable publishing house by one of his longtime literary heroes to look into a stream of hate mail received by some members of Peverell's Board.

When a series of macabre deaths occur, Dalgliesh and his young DI team uncover a snake pit of family rivalry, sexual jealousy and dark secrets. It appears that the answer to murder lies buried deep in the past - but whose?

Dalgliesh faces a long line of suspects - and a murderer prepares to kill again.