Frazer, Rupert

The Bank Job

A small-time crook takes on a bank heist when an old friend offers him an inside track to the vault. Along with his hastily assembled team of low-rung criminals Terry (Statham) finds himself deep into this real-life heist and quite suddenly the target of ruthless mobsters the police government officials at the highest level and even the royal family.System Requirements:Running Time: 110 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 031398236108 Manufacturer No: 23610

A cheerful, energetic, and completely entertaining movie, The Bank Job follows some small-time hoods who think they've lucked into a big-time opportunity when they learn a bank's security system will be temporarily suspended--little suspecting that they're being manipulated by government agents for their own ends. The result is that the movie doubles its pleasures: While the robbery itself has the usual suspense of a heist film, when the robbery is over the hoods find themselves being hunted by the police, the government, and brutal criminal kingpins who were storing dangerous information in a safety deposit box. The Bank Job won't win any awards, but it's enormously fun. Director Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Species) propels the action along with vigor, editing zippily with perfect clarity among multiple storylines and various colorful characters. Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), as the leader of the bank robbers, successfully steps away from his usual bone-crunching roles to a more human presence. The rest of the cast--including Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea), Keeley Hawes (Tipping the Velvet), David Suchet (Poirot), and many faces familiar from British film and television--give their characters the right degree of personality and flavor without getting fussy or detracting from the headlong rush of the story. A little sex, a lot of action, a sly sense of humor, and a twisty plot; if more movies had these basic pleasures, the world would be a happier place. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Bank Job (click for larger image)

Empire of the Sun

Roundly dismissed as one of Steven Spielberg's least successful efforts, this very underrated film poignantly follows the World War II adventures of young Jim (a brilliant Christian Bale), caught in the throes of the fall of China. What if you once had everything and lost it all in an afternoon? What if you were only 12? Bale's transformation, from pampered British ruling-class child to an imprisoned, desperate, nearly feral boy, is nothing short of stunning. Also stunning are exceptional sets, cinematography, and music (the last courtesy of John Williams) that enhance author J.G. Ballard's and screenwriter Tom Stoppard's depiction of another, less familiar casualty of war.

In a time when competitors were releasing "comedic," derivative coming-of-age films, Empire of the Sun stands out as an epic in the classic David Lean sense--despite confusion or perceived competition with the equally excellent The Last Emperor (also released in 1987, and also a coming-of-age in a similar setting). It is also a remarkable testament to, yes, the human spirit. And despite its disappointing box-office returns, Empire of the Sun helped to further establish Spielberg as more than a commercial director and set the standard, tone, and look for future efforts Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. --N.F. Mendoza

Eye of the Needle

Eye of the Needle is a superbly effective World War II spy thriller from the Ken Follett bestseller of the same name. Donald Sutherland is "the Needle," a German spy in England bearing critical information on Allied invasion plans that he must deliver personally to the Führer. He's so named because of his preferred method of assassination, the stiletto. As played by Sutherland, he's a coldly calculating psychopath, emotionlessly focused on the task at hand, whether the task is to signal a U-boat or to gut a witness to avoid exposure. On his way back to Germany, a fierce storm strands him on an island, occupied only by a woman (Kate Nelligan), her disabled husband, and the lighthouse keeper. A romance of sorts develops between the woman and the spy, due to an estrangement of affections between the woman and her husband, whose accident has rendered him emotionally crippled as well. Much of the suspense of the latter half of the movie has to do with this romance, and the way it begins to reveal the Needle's motivations and whether there's a sympathetic personality buried somewhere inside him, though he remains by-and-large tantalizingly enigmatic. Early on, we discover that he may not enjoy the hand life has dealt him. When a courier asks him about the way he lives, and "What else can one do?" the Needle answers, "One can just stop." But as the film makes amply clear in its final third, one doesn't stop, does one? The direction by Richard Marquand (known primarily for thrillers such as this one and Jagged Edge, although he also did Return of the Jedi) is crisply done, boasting numerous suspenseful episodes, including a deadly encounter between Sutherland and the disabled husband, which is jaw-droppingly surprising. --Jim Gay

Donald Sutherland (Outbreak) and Kate Nelligan (Up Close & Personal) ignite the screen as ill-fated lovers in this exciting emotionally involving thriller (New York Magazine). Based on the best-selling novel by Ken Follett this searing mystery is a roller coaster ride of suspense centering on the relationship between a master spy and a brave woman - with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Englishmen know him as Faber but to the Fatherland he s the loyal and lethal spy known as "The Needle". On his way back to Germany Faber is shipwrecked on an island outpost where he befriends Lucy a beautiful Englishwoman who lives there with her family. Lonely and scorned by her bitter crippled husband Lucy falls for the enigmatic stranger not knowing that he s a traitor determined to prevent the D-Day invasion. But as their passion erupts Lucy discovers the brutal truth - as love and war melt into an electryfing climax of eroticism adrenaline and terror!System Requirements:Starring: Donald Sutherland Kate Nelligan Ian Bannen and Christopher Cazenove. Directed By: Richard Marquand. Running Time: 1 Hour 51 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 MGM Home Entertainment Inc.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 027616799128

The Far Pavilions

The first happy day in the adult life of Anjuli (Amy Irving) is the day her husband's body is set on fire. Her rich and powerful husband, the Rana of Bhitor (Rossano Brazzi), is ritually immolated in a lavish ceremony where his other wife, Anjuli's half sister, is expected to commit ritual suttee. Only after she is released from her marriage is Anjuli free to follow her heart. Based on M.M. Kaye's beloved novel, The Far Pavilions tells the haunting love story of Anjuli and Ash (Ben Cross) against the spectacular backdrop of mid-19th-century colonial India, replete with accurate historical and cultural details. Full of battle, treachery, intrigue, passion, and prejudice, the film brims with stunning sights, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the famed palaces of Bhitor, remarkable battle scenes, and royal pageantry, including a lavish, several-day-long traditional Hindu wedding where the groom enters on an elephant. The all-star cast, including Omar Sharif, Sir John Gielgud, and Rupert Everett, truly brings the novel to life.

This two-DVD set includes interactive menus, a scene index, production notes, and a Kaye biography and book list. Originally released for television in 1984, The Far Pavilions has inspired viewers to travel to India, plus it has been included in numerous university courses because of its postcolonial and multicultural themes. This film will appeal to viewers interested in postcolonialism or Indian history and culture as well as anyone who loves a good romance. --Tara Chace

The House of Eliott - Complete Collection

In stylish 1920s London, two beautiful sisters struggle to the top of the fashion world

From the creators of Upstairs, Downstairs (Jean Marsh, Eileen Atkins) comes an addictive drama series set in the era of flappers and suffragettes. Louise Lombard (Hidalgo, CSI) and Stella Gonet (Nicholas Nickleby) star as Evangeline and Beatrice Eliott, sisters born into wealth and privilege who must support themselves after their profligate father dies and leaves them penniless. They have no education or training, just a passion for fashion design. As suitors try to woo them and scoundrels try to trip them up, they make independent, exciting lives for themselves and the women they employ in their house of haute couture.

Seen on A&E, PBS, and BBC America. Winner of top awards for costume design, including an Emmy® and a BAFTA.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE an exclusive interview with Louise Lombard, production notes, 1920s fashion background, photo gallery, and cast filmographies.

Gandhi

Sir Richard Attenborough's 1982 multiple-Oscar winner (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley) is an engrossing, reverential look at the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who introduced the doctrine of nonviolent resistance to the colonized people of India and who ultimately gained the nation its independence. Kingsley is magnificent as Gandhi as he changes over the course of the three-hour film from an insignificant lawyer to an international leader and symbol. Strong on history (the historic division between India and Pakistan, still a huge problem today, can be seen in its formative stages here) as well as character and ideas, this is a fine film. --Tom Keogh

Stills from Gandhi (click for larger image)

Beyond Gandhi on Amazon.com

Other Oscar Winners at Oscar Central

More Biographies on DVD

The Films of Ben Kingsley

The Shooting Party

At last, the British film classic The Shooting Party receives the digital restoration that does justice to its sweeping vistas and heartbreaking snapshots of an era in its death throes. Set in 1913 England, on the brink of what would be the war to end all wars, the film focuses on an assortment of upper-crust acquaintances who gather for a weekend of hunting and society niceties (billiards, cards, draping oneself in jewels the evening after stomping around all day in the muck). Presiding over the festivities is a masterful James Mason as Sir Randolph Nettleby, a sort of benevolent dictator of his breathtaking estate, as his family and friends dip in and out of the action, adhering to the strict code of class conduct for all of their affairs--sport, self-advancement, illicit love. Though the weekend is supposed to be a holiday, there is subtle, ominous foreshadowing in the very first scenes, of the men lined up in a meadow, as though troops on a battlefield, taking out ducks and hares with an almost dispassionate relish. The 2006 remastering allows full appreciation of the cinematography of Fred Tammes, the muted greens, grays and tweedy browns of the English countryside combining to make a painterly backdrop for this drama of manners. Mason as Nettleby has rarely been better--crisp, bemused, comfortable in his role but not quite in his own skin. The score by John Scott is transportative. Extras include a making-of documentary; a tour of the Knebworth House, the stately home here the film was shot; rare stills, and more. Splendid! --A.T. Hurley

In October 1913, a group of aristocratic men and women gather for a shooting party at an estate in the heart of the English countryside. Assured and opulent, they move through the elaborate rituals of an Edwardian country house party. But times are changing, The values that have ordered their glittering world will no longer have any meaning in the new age about to dawn.

Love in a Cold Climate

Love in a Cold Climate, Deborah Moggach's efficient 155-minute adaptation of Nancy Mitford's two best-known novels, hits an entirely appropriate balance between the comic and the sentimentally tragic. Viewpoint figure Fanny (Rosamund Pike) observes from her happy marriage the complicatedly messy lives of her two closest friends, Polly (Megan Dodds) and Linda (Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh). Polly escapes from a mother jealous of her beauty into a marriage that gets her disinherited and leaves her ultimately alone when her husband falls for the pretty male cousin who has supplanted her; Linda falls in turn for an Anglo-German banker, a posh young Communist who ships her off to the Spanish Civil War, and a brilliant doomed French aristocrat. Mingled with this sweet-sour material is the memorable comic relief: Linda's monstrous father and world-weary mother, the eccentric and affectionate Lord Merlin (John Wood) and Fanny's long-absent mother, the Bolter (Frances Barber). This has everything we expect from a BBC serial--excellent casting, a strong sense of period, and fast-paced direction. --Roz Kaveney

Based on Nancy Mitford's beloved novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate—part thinly-veiled memoir, part biting satire, and part fascinating window on a vanished way of life—this witty drama from the BBC follows the romantic adventures of three young aristocrats in the decade between the wars.
Starring British acting legends Alan Bates (Gosford Park), Celia Imrie (Bridget Jones's Diary), Sheila Gish (Mansfield Park), and Anthony Andrews (Brideshead Revisited), with young stars Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day), Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh (Bertie and Elizabeth), and Megan Dodds (Malice Aforethought). Providing an authentic backdrop are several English castles and country houses, including Batsford Park, home of the Mitford family from 1916 to 1919.

The Oscar Wilde Collection (The Importance of Being Earnest / The Picture of Dorian Gray / An Ideal Husband / Lady Windermere's Fan)

"Wilde" about witty dialogue, scandalous secrets and ingenious intrigue?

Let the BBC transport you back to the decadent aristocratic drawing rooms of 1890's England. Lovingly restored, these plays feature a who's who of great actors of the British stage & screen including stars like Sir John Gielgud, Joan Plowright, Jeremy Brett, Susan Hampshire, Margaret Leighton and Gemma Jones.

Rediscover the charm and delight of Wilde's masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest - "To loose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune...to lose both seems like carelessness." - Lady Bracknell

Unleash the chilling and ruthless melodrama of Wilde's notorious novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which disturbed the very foundations of Victorian society.

Indulge yourself in the scandalous gossip and intrigue of An Ideal Husband and Lady Windermere's Fan

"I can resist everything but temptation" - Lord Darlington

Treasure the genius of Oscar Wilde in this complete collection of his major works.

"I have nothing to declare but my genius" - Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest 1988, The Picture of Dorian Gray 1976, An Ideal Husband 1969, Lady Windermere's Fan 1985

Hussy

Helen Mirren's career spans four decades and includes starring roles in the long-running series Prime Suspect, the recent HBO miniseries 'Elizabeth I', and such films as 'Gosford Park'; 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover'; 'Excalibur'; 'The Mosquito Coast'; and 'The Long Good Friday'.

Twice an Academy Award nominee, Mirren also has received The American Society of Film Critics Award, BAFTA awards, Emmy awards, Golden Globe awards and many others.

In HUSSY Mirren gives a smoldering performance as Beaty, a hostess and prostitute in a posh London nightclub working to support her young son. Beaty falls for Emory, a mysterious American (John Shea) who works at the club and who has a "murkier past than his guileless looks suggest" (VARIETY). Although Beaty finds herself brought deep into the criminal underworld, she realizes Emory may be her best chance to escape her destiny.

Shot in London in 1980, HUSSY features cabaret and dance club scenes that "re-create well the seedy, druggy atmosphere of British nightclubs of the period" (RADIO TIMES UK).