Top Secret!
by Jim Abrahams
from Paramount
In between the disaster movie satire Airplane! in 1980 and the hardboiled cop show parody The Naked Gun in 1988, the comedy crew of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker put together a picture that's almost as funny as their better-known hits. Top Secret! sends up spy movies and cheesy teen rock & roll musicals. Val Kilmer stars as swivel-hipped American rocker Nick Rivers, a sort of blonde Elvis whose secret weapon is Little Richard's tune "Tutti Fruitti." On tour behind the Iron Curtain, Nick strikes blows for democracy overtly and covertly, with his music as well as his espionage skills. In short, this is a very, very silly motion picture. Some great gags, including a subtitled scene in a Swedish book shop, and an inspired bit with a Ford Pinto that not everybody may get anymore. (The Pinto, you may or may not recall, was notoriously prone to gas tank explosions when rear-ended.) --Jim Emerson
An American rock star teams up with a scientist's daughter to rescue her father before the enemy can force him to make a devasting weapon.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVD
A Christmas Carol
by Clive Donner
from 20th Century Fox
In the same year that he directed a handsome version of The Scarlet Pimpernel for television, Clive Donner also made this worthy 1984 small-screen production of the Dickens tale. George C. Scott can't quite muster a decent English accent, but he does bring some new colors to this movie's interpretation of Scrooge, making the character less nasty for the sake of nastiness and more a product of a life of lovelessness. The supporting cast is first-rate, and the production is far more handsome than most TV fare. --Tom Keogh
Christmas elicits nothing more than "Bah, humbug!" from Ebenezer Scrooge (Scott), a miser whose sole pursuit of financial success has left him a bitter and lonely old man. But a Christmas Eve visit from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future ultimately teaches him to open his heart to the spirit of Christmas and to the joys of friends and family.
Agatha Christie's Seven Dials Mystery
by Tony Wharmby
from Acorn Media
A lavish weekend party in a venerable old house promises to be frightfully jolly. Punting and pranks top the agenda until one morning a late sleeper doesn't wake up at all. Another death, whispers of a secret society called the Seven Dials and stolen state secrets thicken the plot. Feisty Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent (Cheryl Campbell) runs her roadster right into the middle of the mystery and teams up with charming "man about town" Jimmy Thesiger (James Warwick) to find the fiends. Full of sly Christie wit, this ingenious mystery also features Sir John Gielgud in top form as Bundle's distracted but indulgent father.
Hitler's SS - Portrait in Evil
by Jim Goddard
from Westlake Ent. Group
HITLER'S SS PORTRAIT IN EVIL (DVD MOVIE)
Grief
from TLA Releasing
Writer/Director Richard Glatzer has taken his personal experiences as a writer for TV's "Divorce Court" and fashioned an engaging and funny comedy-drama about friendship, love and Trash TV. The film follows the mis-adventures of Mark, a writer for a daytime TV show as he comes to grips with hsi co-workers, office politics, an office crush and homophonbia. Stars Craig Chester, Illeana Douglas, Alexis Arquette, Jackie Beat. Includes 2 commentary tracks with the stars.
Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again
by Charles Jarrott
from Delta
Sweeping from the risqué music halls of Paris to Hollywood in the '30s, to World War II in England to the sun-drenched vineyards in France's Champagne region, Till We Meet Again tells the story of three extraordinary generations of women who risked their lives for love and country. Starring an all-star cast including Hugh Grant and Courteney Cox Arquette.
1989 • Color • 230 Minutes
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
A Christmas Carol / Jingle All the Way
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