Fulford, Christopher

Immortal Beloved

This sumptuous and moving 1994 film written and directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman) investigates the artistic and romantic passions of one of the greatest composers of all time. Featuring a superb performance by Gary Oldman (Sid and Nancy) as Ludwig van Beethoven, Immortal Beloved is full of uncommonly vivid, rich imagery as it charts the tumultuous life of the deaf child prodigy and his rise to the height of musical achievement. Along the way, he attempts to play mentor to his nephew, attend to his many passionate romances--the most stable one was with a countess (Isabella Rossellini)--and fight bouts of depression and madness that ruled his life and his art. The film is framed around a "Rosebud"-type letter found after the composer's death that makes up the crux of the story. Jeroen Krabbé (The Fugitive), playing Beethoven's lifelong friend, attempts to discover who Beethoven's muse really was, becoming as driven as his friend in discovering the unlikely identity of the composer's "immortal beloved." Through this we gain an insight into the nature of obsession, romance, and the heights and sacrifices of artistic achievement. The film exhibits some extraordinary sound design, and the finale features a magical encapsulation of Beethoven's life and loves set to his "Ode to Joy." As an exciting and passionate journey, Immortal Beloved is its own masterpiece. --Robert Lane

Scoop

Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman star in this hilariously twisted tale of murder and mystery! When an inquisitive college journalist (Johansson) stumbles upon new clues to a string of murders her investigation leads directly to a handsome businessman (Jackman) who draws her in with his mysterious charm. Could a whirlwind romance with the subject of her search also become the most dangerous scoop of a lifetime? Experience the laughs in this witty new comedy that will have you guessing until the very end! System Requirements:Run Time: 96 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 025193121325 Manufacturer No: 62031213

Light and charming, Scoop blends murder, ghosts, and falling in love. While inside of a magician's magic cabinet, aspiring journalist Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation) is visiting by the ghost of a dead reporter (Ian McShane, Deadwood) who has gotten a hot tip in the afterlife: A rising young politician named Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman, X-Men) may be the notorious serial killer who leaves tarot cards by his victims. With the magician (writer-director Woody Allen) in tow, Sondra sneaks her way into Lyman's life--and, despite increasing evidence that the tip is true, finds herself falling in love with him. Scoop is stronger than Allen's last film, the overrated Match Point; moment to moment, scene to scene, it's his most zippy and entertaining movie in years. It still suffers from laziness--Allen seems unwilling to look at the plot's holes and find a way to sew them up--and Allen's own persona, with his now-rote comic stutterings and hesitations, drags on the film's momentum. Despite this, Scoop has flashes of suspense and wit that, in an unknown filmmaker, would be cause for celebration. Also featuring Charles Dance (White Mischief) and Romola Garai (I Capture the Castle), one of the few actresses who can compete with Johansson in lusciousness. --Bret Fetzer

Millions

Millions wears its heart on its sleeve, and it wears it well. Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do? Director Danny Boyle takes a simple premise and, with the help of Frank Cottrell Boyce's sweet, smart script, finds something special to say about the hopes everyone has for the future of a changing world. Brothers Anthony and Damian have vastly different agendas for the stash, and then have to deal not only with the money's original thief but with the disarming woman who seems to be stealing their widowed father. The film is full of quirks that work--seven-year-old Damian (an endearing Alex Etel) has private conversations with a collection of eclectic religious saints--and a technically spirited way of commingling both the scary realities and fanciful imaginings of young minds. --Steve Wiecking

From legendary director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) comes ?a family film of limitless imagination and surprising joy!? (Chicago Sun-Times)

It?s holiday season and seven-year-old Damian believes he?s received a divine gift from above when a suitcase filled with cash literally falls out of the sky. Damian is anxious to share the wealth with those less fortunate while his fun-loving brother Anthony would rather spend it like there?s no tomorrow! But when the loot turns out to be stolen, both the boys? plans are put to the test?with heartwarming and hilarious results.

A Prayer For The Dying

Mickey Rourke (9 1/2 Weeks) gives "his finest performance to date" (L.A. Weekly) in this hair-trigger action-thriller co-starring Bob Hoskins (Enemy at the Gates), Alan Bates (The Sum of All Fears) and Liam Neeson (Star Wars: Episode I). A gritty tale of retribution and redemption, A Prayer for the Dying has "a brisk style and an edgy rhythm" (The New York Times) that will keep your heart racing in suspense until the final frame! Tormented IRA revolutionary Martin Fallon (Rourke) wants out of the endless cycle of violence and bloodshed. Unfortunately, the price for his freedom is to perform one last murder for a ruthless mobster (Bates). As the vicious world he's trying to escape closes in on him, Fallon's only hope for salvation may be the man he's been ordered to kill.

The Couple

From the producer of the Oscar Award Winning films Platoon and The Last Emperor comes John Daly's THE COUPLE. Based on the true story of a Jewish Hungarian's desperate attempts to save his family from the Nazi death camps. Mr. Krauzenberg (Martin Landau) is forced to hand over his vast wealth to the Nazis for the safe passage of his family out of occupied Europe, only to find his two remaining servants are left trapped in a web of deceit and danger. Their only hope for survival relies on the courage of Krauzenberg.

Mountains of the Moon

How did Bob Rafelson, the director of small-scale American studies such as Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens, find himself helming an old-fashioned adventure story such as Mountains of the Moon? Whatever the reasons, Rafelson invested this 1990 epic with passion and professionalism. The hero is one of the greatest British explorers of the 19th century, Sir Richard Burton (played by Patrick Bergin), a fascinating figure and a man out of time: a modern in the Victorian era. Mountains of the Moon is primarily concerned with Burton's trek into East Africa to discover the source of the Nile, accompanied by fellow adventurer John Hanning Speke (Iain Glen). Rafelson is at least as interested in the tricky psychological jockeying between the two men, as he is in the grueling conventions of the adventure movie, but he delivers well on both counts. The brawny Bergin is sensational in a role that should have made him a star, but didn't (though he had a shot, menacing Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy); the film disappeared quickly. Perhaps audiences were put off by the lack of marquee names and confused by the title, which refers to a piece of African landscape. Providing solid support are Fiona Shaw (another should-have-been star), Richard E. Grant, and Delroy Lindo, as an African warrior. A very satisfying excursion into the National Geographic pith-helmet genre. --Robert Horton

In the 1850's two British officers Capt. Richard Burton (Patrick Bergen) and Lt. John Speke (Iain Glen) set out on a spectacular adventure to discover the source of the Nile. They are warned that great dangers await them but against all odds they push on deeper and deeper into the magnificent untamed African wilderness where no western man had ever gone. As the difficult journey takes its toll Burton and Speke forge a strong bond. A bond that one will eventually betray. But history will be the judge as the two intrepid explorers venture into realms perilous to both body and soul in their quest for the secret of the Nile.System Requirements: Running Time 140 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 012236125303 Manufacturer No: 12530

Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman

Following in the footsteps of his father and uncle before him Albert Pierrepoint (Timothy Spall) joins the 'family business'. He becomes the most feared and respected executioner in Britain hanging over 450 people before his sudden resignation in 1956. Living a double life as a master craftsman hangman and as a grocery deliveryman and loyal husband Pierrepoint's obsession with becoming the 'Number One' executioner in the country results in a fate he could not have chosen.System Requirements:Run Time: 98 minutes Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 796019805407 Manufacturer No: 80540

Henry Fielding's Tom Jones

"It is not enough that your actions are good. You must take care that they appear so." This is one lesson that plucky orphan Tom Jones (Max Beesley, a dead ringer for Ewan McGregor) never learns, charging through life with his chin up and his libido unchecked. With tongue firmly in cheek, narrator Henry Fielding (John Sessions) walks us through this randy satire like a tour guide, proffering introductions and amusing observations as he tours the drama. Beesley is all charm and earthy sincerity as handsome Tom, with Samantha Morton a determined, elegant, and deliciously funny Sophia and red-faced Brit stalwart Brian Blessed (Black Adder) as her blustery, bellowing pater. Comparisons to Tony Richardson's hearty interpretation are inevitable: this 1997 miniseries favors dry wit and understated asides to Richardson's knockabout comedy and high energy, and it's a delight from start to its improbably (and delightfully) contrived conclusion. --Sean Axmaker

Made in Britain

Academy Award(r) nominee Tim Roth (RESERVOIR DOGS PULP FICTION) made his unforgettable film debut as Trevor a ferocious teenage skinhead whose random acts of racism vandalism and violence send him on a snarling spiral through England's justice system. This is the unsparing portrait of youth fueled by rage and hate prowling an empire ruled by repression and despair. It remains a shattering cinematic experience that could only be MADE IN BRITAIN.This uncompromising classic directed by Alan Clarke (SCUM) from a searing screenplay by David Leland (MONA LISA WISH YOU WERE HERE) features gritty cinematography by two-time Oscar(r) winner Chris Menges (THE MISSION THE KILLING FIELDS) with music by anarchist icons The Exploited.DVD Features: Available Subtitles: English Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) Audio Commentary #1 with Star Tim Roth Audio Commentary #2 with Writer David Leland and Producer Margaret Matheson Archive Interview with Star Tim Roth Poster & Still GallerySystem Requirements:Running Time 76 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 827058104494 Manufacturer No: BU1044

Written by David Leland and directed by Alan Clarke, Made in Britain is a slice of horrible but not inaccurate life from 1982. It holds a terrific early performance from Tim Roth as a skinhead with a swastika caste-mark tattoo, who constantly bares shark-like teeth as he spits embittered, articulate defiance at caring social workers and truncheon-wielding policemen alike. Sixteen-year-old Trevor (Roth) is remanded to an assessment center before sentencing, but remains determined to disobey the rules imposed on him by any authority figures and spends the whole 73-minute play challenging the system to smack him back down, by vandalizing the Job Centre, using his case-file as a toilet, stealing cars, victimizing members of the "immigrant community" and shouting bile at people. The cycle that will lead him to an adult life in prison is explained to him with blackboard diagrams, but he believes he's better off keeping his hatred burning than toeing the line to end up as a no-hoper in a society that prizes obedience over conscience. It was originally televised as one of four Leland-filmed dramas about different aspects of the British education system, which made it seem less monomaniacal in its focus on an extreme case. There's no denying that it's an honest portrait of a monster calculated to terrify even the most concerned liberals which still manages to celebrate his self-destructive defiance. A film for television rather than a TV play, it has very strong language but the violence is all in Roth's face. --Kim Newman

Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone