Eve, Trevor

Possession

Modern love and classic romantic passion meet in this lush adaptation of A.S. Byatt's brilliant novel. Academics Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart) and Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow) are experts on the work of two different Victorian poets. As they pursue a possible connection between their subjects, the two sleuths begin to stumble toward a romance of their own. Though it necessarily loses some of the depth of Byatt's original, Possession is a worthy adaptation, faithful to the book in both story and spirit. Director Neil LaBute uses clever and visually elegant methods of switching back and forth between time periods, subtly contrasting the prickly moderns and the swoony Victorians without making either pair seem unappealing. The movie also does an excellent job of capturing the exhilaration (and the politics) of intellectual discovery, and feels truly romantic without ever getting icky. Though Paltrow and Eckhart both succeed as the modern leads, the real standouts are Jeremy Northam as Randolph Henry Ash and Jennifer Ehle as Christabel LaMotte. Their passion gives the movie its romantic core and makes the whole search worthwhile. --Ali Davis

The Charles Dickens Collection, Vol. 2 (David Copperfield / The Pickwick Papers / The Old Curiosity Shop / Dombey and Son)

For Dickens aficionados who own the first DVD Collection, but still want some more, this four-disc set collects four sterling BBC productions of some of the author's essential masterworks. The best of the lot is David Copperfield, starring a pre-Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe as the tragically put-upon young Copperfield. Shot on film, this impeccable 1999 production is an embarrassment of riches, with a cast that includes Academy Award-winner Maggie Smith, who earned an Emmy nomination as the formidable Aunt Betsey, Oscar-nominee Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings) as the cruel and sadistic teacher Mr. Creakle, a wonderful Bob Hoskins as the debt-ridden Micawber, Trevor Eve as David's loathsome stepfather Mr. Murdstone, and Nicholas Lyndhurst as the dastardly clerk Uriah Heap. Holding his own with this formidable ensemble is Ciaran McMenamin as the adult David, whose ultimate triumph is particularly hard earned. Rich with incident and populated by some of literature's most memorable characters, this production does satisfying justice to one of Dickens's most beloved and oft-told sagas. When it comes to a series of unfortunate events, Lemony Snicket has nothing on Dickens.

The Old Curiosity Shop, from 1979, stars Sebastian Shaw as the grandfather determined to provide a better life for his beloved and beautiful granddaughter, Nell (the winning Natalie Ogle). But his gambling leaves them at the mercy to the bent and malignant Quilp (Trevor Peacock). The lesser known Dombey and Son, from 1983, is a tale of foolish pride, comeuppance, and redemption starring Julian Glover as Mr. Dombey, so determined that his son take over his business that he cruelly neglects his daughter, Florence (the heartbreaking Lysette Anthony). The Pickwick Papers, from 1985, is a welcome comic change of pace that follows the misadventures of "the immortal" (and comically rotund) Mr. Pickwick (Nigel Stock) and his three friends as they embark on the first expedition of "the corresponding society of the Pickwick Club." Shot on video, the latter three miniseries are somewhat stodgy in appearance. The adaptations are faithful to a fault, but Dickens' masterful tales provide inspiration enough for the casts who grandly rise to the occasion. --Donald Liebenson

These four acclaimed adaptations bring to life the legendary characters, devastating drama, and coarse humor of one of the world's greatest novelists.

Heat of the Sun Boxed Set (Private Lives / Hide in Plain Sight / The Sport of Kings)

A tangled web of blackmail murder passion and more awaits former Scotland Yard detective Albert Tyburn (Trevor Eve from The Politician's Wife) when he arrives in Nairobi. He has been sent to head up a new criminal investigation unit under the command of pompous local police commissioner Ronald Burkitt (Michael Byrne). In these three mysteries: Private Lives Hide in Plain Sight and The Sport of Kings Tyburn uses his cunning courage and headstrong policing style to battle arson drug-dealing murder and the creeping colonialism of Kenya's hedonistic expatriate community.System Requirements: Running Time 360 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 783421337695 Manufacturer No: WG33769

Former Scotland Yard detective Albert Tyburn (Trevor Eve) finds himself in colonial Nairobi, the setting of Out of Africa, as head of a new criminal investigation unit. Imagine an athletic Hercule Poirot in the heat of the Kenyan sun. Superintendent Tyburn's unrelentingly independent policing style is remarkably effective against the murder, arson, blackmail, slave-trading, and other crimes that await him. The most serious impediments to Tyburn's investigations come from pompous Police Commissioner Ronald Burkitt (Michael Byrne) and the elitist, expatriate community's secret passions and vices. The outstanding cast includes Tyburn's talented crime-solving assistants, Constable Jonah Karinde (Freddie Annobil-Dodoo) and Assistant Superintendent James Valentine (Julian Rhind-Tutt), and his romantic interest, Emma Fitzgerald (Susannah Harker). The attractive, strong-willed biplane pilot Fitzgerald bears remarkable similarity to the real-life Beryl Markham, who recounted her experiences in West with the Night. The three episodes, "Private Lives," "Hide in Plain Sight," and "The Sport of Kings," are well written and action-packed. Mobil Masterpiece Theatre's Heat of the Sun will delight fans of fine detective work. --Tara Chace

Dracula

Chalk this one up as something that seemed like a good idea at the time. Frank Langella had just taken Broadway by storm in a revival of the play based on Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel. He was tall, elegant, and almost painfully romantic--all qualities that failed to translate to this garish, tarted-up film version. The story remains the same, if told in greater length than in Bela Lugosi's version. The film even offered Laurence Olivier as vampire-hunter Van Helsing (in one of several roles he played during the period that required a middle-European accent) and a young Kate Nelligan as the woman whose love (and blood) Dracula most wants. But director John Badham, working from W.D. Richter's clunky script, makes a hash of most of it, relying on special effects to do the heavy lifting. --Marshall Fine

Waking the Dead - The Complete Season Two

The Cold Case squad is a crack team of three detectives a forensic expert and a psychological profiler. Their brief to reopen the files on unsolved murders. In this season a psychotic killer is the key to an investigation when a victim who survived is harassed by a copycat assailant; a deathbed confession appears to link the hanging of an East End gangster and the assassination of the jury who found him guilty; the team come up against a wall of Whitehall secrecy when a petty burglar is acquitted of murdering a prominent Home Officer advisor; and DCI Boyd makes terrible mistakes while under pressure to discover the truth behind the disappearance of an 18-year-old girl.Running Time: 480 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 794051414021 Manufacturer No: E4140

David Copperfield

A year before he played his first Quidditch match as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe cast his spell on audiences as young David Copperfield in this stellar British miniseries based on Charles Dickens's classic novel. Vastly superior to the 2000 American-made miniseries (which gave us Michael "Kramer" Richards as Micawber), this impeccable production, originally broadcast on ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre, is an embarrassment of riches, with a cast that includes Oscar® winner Maggie Smith (Radcliffe's Potter costar) as the indomitable Aunt Betsey, Oscar nominee Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings) as sadistic teacher Mr. Creakle, a wonderful Bob Hoskins (Oscar nominee for Mona Lisa) as the debt-ridden Micawber, Trevor Eve as David's loathsome stepfather Mr. Murdstone (he believes in "firmness" with a vengeance), and Nicholas Lyndhurst as the scheming clerk Uriah Heap. Holding his own with this formidable ensemble is Ciaran McMenamin as the adult David, whose soap opera existence spans an idyll-shattered childhood, unscrupulous villains, tragic romance, and a hard-won happily-ever-after. Rich with incident and populated by some of literature's most memorable characters, this production does full justice to one of Dickens's most beloved and oft-told sagas. --Donald Liebenson

The classic David Copperfield was not just Charles Dickens' favorite work. It has been the most popular of his books since it was first published 150 years ago. Micawber Peggotty Betsey Trotwood Uriah Heep Mr. Creakle Mrs. Crupp and Mr. Dick... never were so many of Dickens' famous and vest-loved characters gathered together in just one of his works.They are all brought to life by a world-class cast including Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) Oscar-winner Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) Bob Hoskins (Hook) Nicholas Lyndhurst (Bullshot) and Pauline Quirke (The Elephant Man) in this sparkling adaptation.The most autobiographical of Dickens' work David Copperfield often echoes the writer's own life. It tells a moving story of David's journey from birth to maturity a journey which inextricably links his life with some of Dickens' most colorful and extraordinary families.Special DVD features include: Cast list; Masterpiece Theatre poster gallery; access to David Copperfield Web site featuring production notes interviews with the cast and crew a Dickens timeline a guide to the featured characters and more; scene selection; English audiotrack; and closed captions.One one DVD9 disc. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Widescreen (Anamorphic)Runtime: 180 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 783421365094 Manufacturer No: WG36509

Aspen Extreme: Top Gun On The Slopes!

In this heart-pounding action-adventure, two buddies abandon their blue-collar world to become ski instructors in Aspen, Colorado. There, they discover the electrifying playground of the rich and famous -- experiencing firsthand extreme skiing, wealth, and seduction. Surrounded by temptation, and Aspen's alluring lifestyle, the two friends soon face the toughest challenge of their lives ...

Tribe

Stephen Poliakoff's 1998 made-for-TV British drama tells the story of Jamie (the always-excellent Jeremy Northam) a developer who gets sucked into the strange subculture of a seemingly contended modern-day cult when he sets out to evict them from one of his properties. The impressive cast also includes Joely Richardson Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Anna Friel.System Requirements:Running Time: Approximately 100 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 844628010771 Manufacturer No: TE1077

The Politician's Wife

Flora (Juliet Stevenson in a tour de force performance) is the politician's wife. The politician, in this smart, unconventional thriller, is Tory MP Duncan Matlock (Troy's Trevor Eve). The setting is 1990s Britain. When they met, Duncan was a nobody, while Flora was from money. She married for love... and thought he did, too. Over the years, he became a powerful leader and she was always by his side. Then she--along with the rest of the nation--finds out he's been cheating. The woman (Minnie Driver) is an escort girl. Flora is devastated, but decides to put up a brave front. Secretly, however, she embarks on an ingenious plan to regain everything she's lost: pride, dignity, identity. There are no guns or knives in this award-winning miniseries (just a little nudity and profanity). Featuring a first-rate cast, including the late Ian Bannen (Waking Ned Devine) as the lynchpin in Flora's plan. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

When the tabloids scream the news that Minister of the Family Duncan Matlock has been caught in an affair with an "escort" girl, no one is more stunned than Flora, his wife. As her husband and the Tory establishment behind him expect, Flora maintains her loyal façade. But behind her public smiles, she seethes with mounting fury. Employing strange sexual games and covert political tactics, she plots to exact the ultimate revenge against her husband and the system that created him.

This powerful, award-winning PBS drama stars Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply; Bend It Like Beckham), Trevor Eve (In the Name of the Father), and Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting, Grosse Pointe Blank).

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE background essay by writer Paula Milne and cast filmographies.
"Splendidly wicked" —The New York Times
"Smashing!" —TV Guide
"A true PBS `Masterpiece'. . . a brilliant, incisive political potboiler"—Los Angeles Times

Scandal

This complex and intriguing drama chronicles--with some probable narrative liberties--the chain of events that instigated the provocative Profumo affair, the infamous cold war scandal that toppled Britain's conservative government in the early 1960s. John Hurt stars as charming osteopath Stephen Ward, who grooms a malleable and beautiful teen showgirl, Christine Keeler (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer), to party with his swinging high-society friends. Trouble starts brewing when Christine becomes simultaneously entangled with both a Russian diplomat and a British cabinet minister. Once the media learn of her sexual escapades, the reigning Conservative Party comes under fire and begins seeking a scapegoat to distract the public from the dangerous political implications that the affairs represent. Under Michael Caton-Jones's confident direction, the film generates sympathy for its decadent lead characters, and it intelligently explores how private personal matters become vulgar public affairs when political machinations intrude. The most intriguing aspect of Scandal is the platonic love affair between Keeler and Ward amid the trials and tribulations of their stormy relationship--think of it as a twisted variation on My Fair Lady. The fine cast also includes Ian McKellan as John Profumo and Bridget Fonda as Christine's partner-in-fun Mandy Rice-Davies. The uncut DVD version features a little more skin than the R-rated release, although viewers will probably wonder why those few extra shots caused such a stir. --Bryan Reesman