Gruffudd, Ioan

Amazing Grace

From the makers of Ray AMAZING GRACE tells the inspiring story of William Wilberforce and his passion and perseverance to pass a law ending the slave trade in the late 18th century. Several friends including Wilberforce's minister a reformed slave ship captain who penned the beloved hymn Amazing Grace urge him to see the cause through.System Requirements:Running Time: 111 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 024543444930

In this inspirational costume drama, Michael Apted (49 Up) recounts a period in British history sure to be unfamiliar to most Americans. In fact, his eye-opening biography of 18th century abolitionist William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) is likely to come as a revelation to many Britons, as well. After all, despite the presence of his wife, Barbara (Romola Garai), this isn't a particularly "sexy" story, but it is a powerful one. The title comes from John Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace" ("I once was lost but now am found"). Newton (Albert Finney) was a former slaveholder, who became a clergyman and spent his days repenting. While America had John Brown, England had Wilberforce, and Newton is one of many who helped the MP to abolish slavery in the UK. The story begins towards the end of Wilberforce's mission when he's sick with colitis and addicted to laudanum. Apted continues to alternate between 1797 and 1789, when Wilberforce was fitter and more idealistic, and ends in 1807 as his efforts come to fruition. Apted and writer Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) do right by their hero. Unlike Amistad, however, slaves are largely off-screen, with the exception of author Equiano (Senegalese vocalist Youssou N'Dour). Amazing Grace reserves its focus for the politicians who risked their reps for the greater good, like Wilberforce and Prime Minister Pitt (an excellent Benedict Cumberbatch), and those more concerned with the income slavery provided their constituents, like Lord Tarleton (Ciarán Hinds) and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

King Arthur - The Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition)

The legend of King Arthur, focusing on the history rather than the fantasy.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: UN
Release Date: 22-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

It's got a round table, some knights, and a noble warrior who rises to become King Arthur, but everything else about this revisionist legend is pure Hollywood. That's not such a bad thing if you enjoyed Rob Roy, Braveheart, Gladiator, and Troy, and there's some intriguing potential in presenting the "real" Arthur (played by Clive Owen) as a 5th-century soldier of Rome, assigned to defend Roman-imperial England against a hoard of invading Saxons (led by Stellan Skarsgård in hairy villain mode). As revamped history and "archaeological findings" would have us believe, Guinevere (Keira Knightley) is a warrior babe in face-paint and Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd) is a nonentity who fades into the woodwork. Never mind! Best to enjoy the harsh, gloomy atmosphere of Irish locations, the ruggedness of Owen and his hearty supporting cast, and the entertaining nonsense of a Jerry Bruckheimer production that strips battle-ready Guinevere down to leather-strap S&M gear while all the men sport full-body armor. Hail to the queen, indeed! --Jeff Shannon

Horatio Hornblower Collector's Edition

From midshipman to commander, experience the thrilling escapades of the ultimate high-seas hero with the HORATIO HORNBLOWER COLLECTOR'S EDITION, an eight-volume treasure chest of sweeping naval adventure and lavish historical drama. Joining the British Royal Navy at the outset of the Napoleonic Wars, the enterprising Horatio Hornblower rises quickly from raw recruit to seasoned sailor, charting a course from the West Indies to the coast of Africa in the name of the Crown. Along the way he encounters roiling sea battles, mutiny, plague and love, but always proves himself equal to the task. Gorgeously filmed and richly produced, A&E's Emmy®-winning adaptations of C.S. Forester's classic novels star Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four, Black Hawk Down) and a stellar supporting cast that includes Robert Lindsay (Wimbledon), Jamie Bamber (Band of Brothers) and Paul Copley (Queer as Folk). The HORATIO HORNBLOWER COLLECTOR'S EDITION contains all eight feature-length Hornblower films (with many a bonus material below deck): The Duel The Fire Ships The Duchess and the Devil The Wrong War The Mutiny Retribution Loyalty Duty DVD Features: Exclusive Interview with Ioan Gruffudd; Filmmaker Commentary on "Loyalty" and "Duty"; 3 Bonus Programs: "England's Royal Warships," "Sail 2000: Aboard the Eagle," and "The Making of Horatio Hornblower"; About C.S. Forester; Nautical Terms and Definitions; Interactive 3D Naval Cannon; Guide to Royal Warships; C.S. Forester Biography; Cast and Crew Biographies; Photo Gallery; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Black Hawk Down

Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down conveys the raw, chaotic urgency of ground-force battle in a worst-case scenario. With exacting detail, the film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters. Based on author Mark Bowden's bestselling account of the battle, Scott's riveting, action-packed film follows a sharp ensemble cast in some of the most authentic battle sequences ever filmed. The loss of 18 soldiers turned American opinion against further involvement in Somalia, but Black Hawk Down makes it clear that the men involved were undeniably heroic. --Jeff Shannon

Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down conveys the raw, chaotic urgency of ground-force battle in a worst-case scenario. With exacting detail, the film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters. Based on author Mark Bowden's bestselling account of the battle, Scott's riveting, action-packed film follows a sharp ensemble cast in some of the most authentic battle sequences ever filmed. The loss of 18 soldiers turned American opinion against further involvement in Somalia, but Black Hawk Down makes it clear that the men involved were undeniably heroic. --Jeff Shannon

From acclaimed director Ridley Scott and renowned producer Jerry Bruckheimer comes this year's most intense true story about heroism under extraordinary circumstances.System Requirements:Starring: Eric Bana Ewan Bremner William Fichtner Josh Hartnett Ewan McGregor Sam Shepard and Tom Sizemore. Directed By: Ridley Scott. Running Time: 144 Min. Color. Copyright 2002 Columbia TriStar.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396067660 Manufacturer No: 06766

Titanic

When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era, and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman, and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time, and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain, and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world, and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story, and although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

Nothing on Earth can rival the epic spectacle and breathtaking grandeur of Titanic the sweeping love story that sailed into the hearts of moviegoers around the world ultimately emerging as the most popular motion picture of all time.Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar-nominee Kate Winslet light up the screen as Jack and Rose the young lovers who find one another on the maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" R.M.S. Titanic. But when the doomed luxury liner collides with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic their passionate love affair becomes a thrilling race for survival.From acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron comes a tale of forbidden love and courage in the face of disaster that triumphs as a true cinematic masterpiece.System Requirements:Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Directed By: James Cameron. Running Time: 194 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2002 Paramount Pictures.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 097361552248 Manufacturer No: 155224

Fantastic Four (Widescreen Edition)

Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, the Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, Horatio Hornblower) has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, Nip/Tuck) in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, The Shield); his former lover, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba, Dark Angel, Sin City), who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, Cellular). Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?--with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is undergoing a transformation.

Among the many entries in the comic-book-movie frenzy, Fantastic Four is refreshing because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characterization isn't too deep, and the action is a bit sparse until the final reel (like most "first" superhero movies, it has to go through the "how did we get these powers and what we will do with them" churn). But it's a good-looking cast, and original comic-book cocreator Stan Lee makes his most significant Marvel-movie cameo yet, in a speaking role as the FF's steadfast postal carrier, Willie Lumpkin. Newcomers to superhero movies might find the idea of a family with flexibility, strength, invisibility, and force fields a retread of The Incredibles, but Pixar's animated film was very much a tribute to the FF and other heroes of the last 40 years. The irony is that while Fantastic Four is an enjoyable B-grade movie, it's the tribute, The Incredibles, that turned out to be a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
The principal extra on the DVD is a spirited commentary track by Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, and Ioan Gruffud. Self-avowed FF fan Chiklis explains why the Thing doesn't have a craggy brow, Alba recalls which things were "cool," and they talk about looking forward to the sequel. There are three short deleted scenes (including a goofy Wolverine reference), 20 minutes of barely watchable hand-held video footage from the press tour, music videos, and some short featurettes including an appearance by FF creator Stan Lee. --David Horiuchi

The Fantastic Four at Amazon.com

Comics and Graphic Novels	Disney animated series	The classic comic book
Movie tie-in graphic novel	The Xbox game	Fantastic Four Soundtrack

The Fantastic Cast

Jessica Alba as Sue Storm	Michael Chiklis as The Thing
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards	Chris Evans as Johnny Storm

Stills from Fantastic Four (click for larger images)

Four astronauts obtain superpowers after exposure to cosmic radiation and set out to save the world and foil the plans of the evil Doctor Doom.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: EVANS/ALBA/CHIKLIS/GRUFFUDD/MCMAHON
Title: FANTASTIC FOUR
Street Release Date: 07/17/2007
Domestic
Genre: ACTION / ADVENTURE

Fantastic Four Collection (Fantastic Four/ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

Disc 1 Side A: FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER P&S Disc 1 Side B: FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER WS

Disc 2: FANTASTIC FOUR WS

Black Hawk Down (3-Disc Deluxe Edition)

Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down conveys the raw, chaotic urgency of ground-force battle in a worst-case scenario. With exacting detail, the film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters. Based on author Mark Bowden's bestselling account of the battle, Scott's riveting, action-packed film follows a sharp ensemble cast in some of the most authentic battle sequences ever filmed. The loss of 18 soldiers turned American opinion against further involvement in Somalia, but Black Hawk Down makes it clear that the men involved were undeniably heroic. --Jeff Shannon

Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down conveys the raw, chaotic urgency of ground-force battle in a worst-case scenario. With exacting detail, the film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters. Based on author Mark Bowden's bestselling account of the battle, Scott's riveting, action-packed film follows a sharp ensemble cast in some of the most authentic battle sequences ever filmed. The loss of 18 soldiers turned American opinion against further involvement in Somalia, but Black Hawk Down makes it clear that the men involved were undeniably heroic. --Jeff Shannon

From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator Hannibal) and renowned producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbor Armageddon) comes a gripping true story about bravery camaradarie and the complex reality of war. Black Hawk Down stars an exceptional cast including Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor) Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!) Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan) Eric Bana (Chopper) William Fichtner (The Perfect Storm) Ewen Bremner (Snatch) and Sam Shepard (All The Pretty Horses). In 1993 an elite group of American Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are sent to Somalia on a critical mission to capture a violent warlord whose corrupt regime has lead to the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. When the mission goes terribly wrong the men find themselves outnumbered and literally fighting for their lives.System Requirements:Starring: Josh Hartnett Tom Sizemore Eric Bana and Ewan McGregor. Directed By: Ridley Scott. Running Time: 144 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2002 VPD Inc.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396092884 Manufacturer No: 09288

Wilde (Special Edition)

The TV Set

An all-star cast bites the hand that feeds them in The TV Set, a sneaky satire of network programming. As a writer named Mike (David Duchovny, The X-Files) struggles to shepherd his semi-autobiographical sitcom into development, his vision--of a guy who's brought back to his home town by his brother's suicide and rediscovers his joy in life--is slowly eroded by a domineering network executive named Lenny (Sigourney Weaver, Aliens) who favors trashy reality programming like Slut Wars. The rub, of course, is that every crass suggestion Lenny makes improves the show's response from test audiences and brings the show a step closer to getting on the air. Almost everyone in The TV Set has connections to television--Judy Greer (Arrested Development), Justine Bateman (Family Ties), Ioan Gruffudd (the Horatio Hornblower TV-movies), Lucy Davis (the original British version of The Office)--and so have a keen grasp on the behavior and lingo of the media industry. Sometimes the satire is so close to the naked reality of TV development that it isn't even funny--but Weaver (whose own father was a television producer) gives an inspired performance that skirts truth and satire so adroitly it makes your skin tingle. --Bret Fetzer

An insightful and fast-moving comic look at the world of network television development. The story follows a TV pilot as it goes through the network TV process of casting production and finally airing while showing that there is as much entertainment behind the cameras as there is in front.System Requirements:Running Time: 87 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 024543460596 Manufacturer No: 2254690