Ormond, Julia

Sabrina

Julia Ormond faced one of the great challenges of her career when she tried to re-create Audrey Hepburn's title role in the 1995 remake of 1954's Sabrina. Happily, Ormond performed admirably, and while she may not have the same gamine charm of Hepburn, she makes the role her own. In fact, her transformation from mousy girl to sophisticated young woman is actually more dramatic in this updated version. The basic plot is the same--chauffeur's daughter falls in love with the son of the rich household, only to be wooed away by the older brother for business purposes--but it has been entertainingly modernized: The head of the Larrabee household is the strong matriarch (Nancy Marchand); Sabrina goes to Paris to work with a photographer instead of going to cooking school (although that means the wonderful "new egg" scene of the original had to be ditched); David's (Greg Kinnear) character has been toned down and made more sympathetic; and Humphrey Bogart's revolutionary plastic has become the flattest TV screen ever made. Lauren Holly does a fine job playing Elizabeth Tyson, David's fiancée. If you watch this for its own worth--instead of comparing it to the original--this will prove to be a terrific lighthearted romantic comedy. --Jenny Brown

Remake of the 1954 film about a modern-day Cinderella who is the daughter of a wealthy family's chauffeur. When she is transformed into a graceful woman, she captures the attention of the sons of the family.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 29-DEC-2004
Media Type: DVD

Iron Jawed Angels

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank stars in a fresh and contemporary look at a pivotal event in American history telling the true story of how a pair of defiant and brilliant young activists took the women's suffrage movement by storm putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.Running Time: 124 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359212222

The fight for women's voting rights has rarely been given as dramatic a treatment as in Iron Jawed Angels. Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry) and Frances O'Connor (Mansfield Park) star as second-wave suffragettes Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, who led the final fight for the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Though the movie sometimes tries too hard to avoid the stigma of a period piece (the soundtrack features electric guitars, Swank has a steamy moment in a bathtub, and the editing is jagged and flashy), the mounting energy of the fight--and the increasingly nasty opposition--gains real momentum when a wartime picket line leads to Paul, Burns, and their sisters-in-arms being arrested on trumped-up charges and imprisoned. The actors--including Julia Ormond (Smilla's Sense of Snow), Angelica Huston (Prizzi's Honor, The Grifters), and Brooke Smith (Vanya on 42nd Street)--give fervent, determined performances. --Bret Fetzer

Legends of the Fall (Special Edition)

An epic adventure of brotherhood and betrayal Legends Of The Fall" is a powerful story about a close-knit family which is forever changed when the youngest of three brothers brings home his dazzling bride-to-be inadvertently sparking passions and creating a rivalry.System Requirements:Starring: Anthony Hopkins Brad Pitt Aidan Quinn Julia Ormond and Henry Thomas. Directed By: Edward Zwick. Running Time: 134 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396787278

A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedly flattering star vehicle for Brad Pitt as Tristan--the rebellious middle son of a fiercely independent Montana rancher and military veteran (Anthony Hopkins)--who is routinely at odds with his more responsible older brother, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and younger brother, Samuel (Henry Thomas). From the battlefields of World War I to his adventures as an oceangoing sailor, Tristan's life is full of personal torment, especially when he returns to Montana and finds himself competing with Alfred over Samuel's beautiful widow (Julia Ormond), whose passion for Tristan disrupts the already turbulent Ludlow clan. Under the wide-open canopy of Big Sky country, this operatic tale unfolds with all the bloodlust, tragedy, and scenery-chewing performances you'd expect to find in a hokey bestselling novel (in fact, it's based on the acclaimed novella by Jim Harrison), but it's a potent mix that's highly entertaining. Not surprisingly, John Toll won an Academy Award for his breathtaking outdoor cinematography. --Jeff Shannon

First Knight

1995 had already seen the box-office success of sword-wielding heroes in Rob Roy and Braveheart when along came this glossy revision of the Arthurian legend, in which Lady Guinevere (Julia Ormond) is torn between her love for the noble King Arthur (Sean Connery) and the passionate knight Sir Lancelot (Richard Gere). As the story opens, Guinevere's lands are under attack by the evil knight Malagant (Ben Cross), and she must choose between marriage to Arthur and the security of Camelot, or encouraging the affections of Lancelot, who has heroically rescued her from a potentially lethal attack. Anyone looking for meticulous medieval authenticity won't find it here, but director Jerry Zucker (Ghost) keeps the action moving with exuberant spirit and glorious production values. Even if you don't completely believe Richard Gere as a somewhat too-contemporary Lancelot, the performances of Ormond and especially Connery are effortlessly appealing. --Jeff Shannon

Together Sean Connery Richard Gere Julia Ormond and Jerry Zucker the director of Ghost bring you a new vision of King Arthurs Camelot. A vision of breathtaking battles of heart-pounding courage of the undeniable love that brought an entire kingdom to its knees...and of the undying passion that made it live forever.System Requirements:Starring: Sean Connery Richard Gere and Julia Ormond Director: Jerry Zucker Copyright: 1995 Columbia Produced by Jerry Zucker Hunt Lowry; written by Lorne Cameron David Hoselton DVD released on 10/07/1997; running time of 133 minutes; Closed Captioned. Interactive Menus feature choices of: English 2 Channel or 5.1 (Dolby Digital) Languages: English Spanish & French Subtitles: Spanish & Korean Chapter Selections Widescreen and Standard Presentations Standard version is formatted from its original version to fit your screen. Widescreen version is presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the 1.85:1 aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396711792

Animal Farm

After the technical achievement of Babe, it was inevitable that "talking animal" effects would be applied to the serious themes of George Orwell's Animal Farm. A bitterly satirical indictment of Stalinist Russia and the failure of Communism, Orwell's 1945 novel is a time-honored classic, so it's only fitting that this TNT production remains largely faithful to Orwell's potent narrative. A showcase for the impressive creations of Jim Henson's Creature Shop (where director John Stephenson was a veteran supervisor), the film employs animatronic critters and computer animation to tell the story of uprising, unity, and tragic rebellion among the animals of a British farm.

The politics of "Animalism" are initially effective, ousting enemy humans according to rules ordained by Old Major, the barnyard pig whose death sets the stage for the corruptive influence of the pig Napoleon, who cites superior intelligence as his right to superiority. This tyrannical reign destroys the farm's stability, and the film--decidedly not for young children--preserves Orwell's dark, cynical view of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Particularly effective is a propaganda film shown to the barnyard collective, and certain scenes--while not as impressive as the Babe films--powerfully convey the force of Orwell's story through animal "performance." Animal Farm occasionally falters in its emotional impact (the fate of the horse Boxer should be heart-rending, and it isn't), but it's certainly blessed with an elite voice cast, including Peter Ustinov, Patrick Stewart, Pete Postlethwaite, Julia Ormond, Kelsey Grammer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Paul Scofield, and Ian Holm. Not the masterpiece it might've been, this is nevertheless a worthy representation of Orwell's novel. (Ages 8 and older) --Jeff Shannon

Smilla's Sense of Snow

Based on a much-praised 1992 bestseller by Peter Hoeg, Smilla's Sense of Snow is a film of moody power and boundless mystery in its first half, but it becomes an overblown, conspiracy-laden schlock thriller in its second. Julia Ormond stars as the half-Inuit, Greenland native of Hoeg's book, a loner who is supported by an emotionally ambivalent father (Robert Loggia) in Copenhagen. Apparently perceived as a troublemaker who sees secret plots everywhere, Smilla finds herself largely alone in an effort to discover what really happened to a six-year-old Inuit boy who fell (or jumped) off the roof of her apartment building. Somewhat aided by an ambiguous neighbor (Gabriel Byrne), Smilla investigates a connection between the child's death and the misdeeds of a mining company, a story hook that conveniently ratchets up the action but quickly dissipates the more compelling, introspective intrigue of the film's beginning. Ormond is fascinating, somehow more beautiful than usual through her emphasis of her character's destabilizing conflicts (isolation and a possibly unhinged intelligence). But she isn't done any favors by an unreliable script or by the usually superb Danish director Bille August's chronic problems working in English-language films (including his disastrous The House of the Spirits). The DVD edition of this film includes an original theatrical trailer and a short feature on the making of the production. --Tom Keogh

Based on the best-selling novel this gripping, suspenseful thriller about a headstrong woman who uses her uncanny knowledge of ice and snow to unravel a taut web of lies and intrigue. When her six-year old neighbor falls from a snow covered roof, Smilla suspects the boys death was no accident. Together with a mysterious lover, who holds secrets of his own, she defies local authorities and begins a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in an effort to uncover the truth.

The Nazi Officer's Wife

The most melodramatic Hollywood screenwriter could not concoct a tale as full of dramatic reversals, conflicted characters, and astounding coincidences as the story of Edith Hahn, an Austrian Jew who eluded Nazi oppression by going underground as an Aryan woman in the heart of Germany. When a Nazi factory manager named Vetter proposes to her after they've only known each other a few weeks, she confesses her true identity--and he marries her anyway. Her "U-boat" existence becomes an even more complicated masquerade when Vetter is drafted into the Nazi army and becomes an officer. The Nazi Officer's Wife lays out the story with clarity and compassion, with all its contradictions and glimpses of human goodness, in the face of monstrous evil, intact. The details of Hahn's life are simply amazing. Interviews with Hahn, her daughter, and other survivors give full dimension to the events. --Bret Fetzer

Beach Girls - The Complete Miniseries

They were the BEACH GIRLS an inseparable trio who spent their summers in the beautiful northeast coastal town of Hubbard's Point. But that was a long time ago. Now the past is about to resurface when Nell the daughter of one of these women returns to this same sand and surf with her widower dad. Two generations explore love loss and friendship while discovering how past secrets affect the present. This scintillating six-hour series is based on Luanne Rice's best-selling novel.Running Time: 251 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 012569763166 Manufacturer No: 76316

Legends of the Fall (Deluxe Edition)

A patriarch and his three sons, in turn of the century Montana, find themselves at odds with each other when two brothers fall in love with the fiance of the third.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 29-NOV-2005
Media Type: DVD

A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedly flattering star vehicle for Brad Pitt as Tristan--the rebellious middle son of a fiercely independent Montana rancher and military veteran (Anthony Hopkins)--who is routinely at odds with his more responsible older brother, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and younger brother, Samuel (Henry Thomas). From the battlefields of World War I to his adventures as an oceangoing sailor, Tristan's life is full of personal torment, especially when he returns to Montana and finds himself competing with Alfred over Samuel's beautiful widow (Julia Ormond), whose passion for Tristan disrupts the already turbulent Ludlow clan. Under the wide-open canopy of Big Sky country, this operatic tale unfolds with all the bloodlust, tragedy, and scenery-chewing performances you'd expect to find in a hokey bestselling novel (in fact, it's based on the acclaimed novella by Jim Harrison), but it's a potent mix that's highly entertaining. Not surprisingly, John Toll won an Academy Award for his breathtaking outdoor cinematography. --Jeff Shannon

Captives

A beautiful dentist working at a men's prison falls in love with an inmate and finds herself being blackmailed by another inmate.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 1-MAR-2005
Media Type: DVD

The thrill of forbidden passion electrifies the air when young dentist Julia Ormand, the wounded victim of a rough divorce, falls for sad, soulful convict Tim Roth, a patient in her part-time prison duties. Her impulsive embrace of a man who seduces her with whispered confessions and little love bites (how better to flirt with a dentist?) and the rush of their affair raises unsettling questions: what exactly are his motives, and what crime is he in prison for? Captives can't decide whether it's a tale of obsessive love or a film noir thriller with an erotic twist, and it finally falls back on mundane complications. But delicate Ormand is a beauty with a deer-in-the-headlights look, and Roth steals the film with his simmering and tragic eyes. --Sean Axmaker