Tutt, Julian Rhind

Notting Hill (Collector's Edition)

They don't really make many romantic comedies like Notting Hill anymore--blissfully romantic, sincerely sweet, and not grounded in any reality whatsoever. Pure fairy tale, and with a huge debt to Roman Holiday, Notting Hill ponders what would happen if a beautiful, world-famous person were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you. That's the crux of the situation for William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a travel bookshop in London's fashionable Notting Hill district. Hopelessly ordinary (well, as ordinary as you can be when you're Hugh Grant), William is going about his life when renowned movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore and into his heart. After another contrived meet-cute involving spilled orange juice, William and Anna share a spontaneous kiss (big suspension of disbelief required here), and soon both are smitten. The question is, of course, can William and Anna reconcile his decidedly commonplace bookseller existence and her lifestyle as a jet-setting, paparazzi-stalked celebrity? (Take a wild guess at the answer.) Smartly scripted by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and directed by Roger Michell (Persuasion), Notting Hill is hardly realistic, but as wish fulfillment and a romantic comedy, it's irresistible. True, Roberts doesn't really have to stretch very far to play a big-time actress who makes $15 million per movie, but she's more winning and relaxed than she's been in years, and Grant is sweetly understated as a man blindsided by love. Together, in moments of quiet, they're a charming couple, and you can feel her craving for real love and his awe and amazement at the wonderful person for whom he has fallen. The only blight on the film is its overbearing pop soundtrack, though Elvis Costello's heart-wrenching version of "She" gets poignant exposure. With Rhys Ifans as Grant's scene-stealing, slovenly housemate and Alec Baldwin in a sly, perfectly cast cameo. --Mark Englehart

They don't really make many romantic comedies like Notting Hill anymore--blissfully romantic, sincerely sweet, and not grounded in any reality whatsoever. Pure fairy tale, and with a huge debt to Roman Holiday, Notting Hill ponders what would happen if a beautiful, world-famous person were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you. That's the crux of the situation for William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a travel bookshop in London's fashionable Notting Hill district. Hopelessly ordinary (well, as ordinary as you can be when you're Hugh Grant), William is going about his life when renowned movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore and into his heart. After another contrived meet-cute involving spilled orange juice, William and Anna share a spontaneous kiss (big suspension of disbelief required here), and soon both are smitten. The question is, of course, can William and Anna reconcile his decidedly commonplace bookseller existence and her lifestyle as a jet-setting, paparazzi-stalked celebrity? (Take a wild guess at the answer.) Smartly scripted by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and directed by Roger Michell (Persuasion), Notting Hill is hardly realistic, but as wish fulfillment and a romantic comedy, it's irresistible. True, Roberts doesn't really have to stretch very far to play a big-time actress who makes $15 million per movie, but she's more winning and relaxed than she's been in years, and Grant is sweetly understated as a man blindsided by love. Together, in moments of quiet, they're a charming couple, and you can feel her craving for real love and his awe and amazement at the wonderful person for whom he has fallen. The only blight on the film is its overbearing pop soundtrack, though Elvis Costello's heart-wrenching version of "She" gets poignant exposure. With Rhys Ifans as Grant's scene-stealing, slovenly housemate and Alec Baldwin in a sly, perfectly cast cameo. --Mark Englehart

Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) is the world's most famous movie star. William Thacker (Hugh grant) owns a travel bookstore in the quaint neighborhood of Notting Hill. When their paths cross, the couple comes to face the ultimate question: can two people fall in love with the whole world watching?

Les Miserables

Frenchman Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson), imprisoned for stealing bread, is paroled after nearly two decades of hard labor. A gift of silver candlesticks from a kindly priest helps him begin anew. Forging a decent and profitable existence, he finds success as a businessman and as the mayor of a small town. He even takes in a pregnant young woman (Uma Thurman) and raises her daughter as his own. When a former prison guard (Geoffrey Rush) recognizes Valjean, his past catches up to him. Director Bille August culls mesmerizing performances from his cast, but loses us with an ending that panders to teen audiences. The focus shifts dramatically, and uncomfortably, from the haunted Neeson and his hawk-like pursuer, to his daughter (Claire Danes) and her romance with a handsome revolutionary. After this narrative shift, the script leaves behind the Victor Hugo classic's themes of revenge and redemption to focus improbably on teen angst--hardly what Hugo had on his mind. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition)

Like the video game series it's based on, Tomb Raider is best enjoyed for its physical strategies, since even casual scrutiny of story details will induce a headache. It's more concerned with puzzles than plot, populated with characters that don't have personalities so much as attitudes. It's silly and somber at the same time, but as a franchise vehicle for Angelina Jolie in the title role of relic hunter Lara Croft, this is packaged entertainment at its most agreeable, ambitious in scope and scale, and filled with the kind of globetrotting adventure that could make Jolie the best thing that's happened to action movies since Indiana Jones. Could being the operative word here, because Tomb Raider can't match any of Steven Spielberg's celebrated joyrides, but the ingredients are there for an exquisitely cinematic meal.

Perhaps to distance himself from Lara Croft's video game origins, director Simon West takes things a bit too seriously; Tomb Raider handles its plot (involving a planetary alignment, the nefarious Illuminati, and coveted relics that hold the key to controlling the flow of time) with all the gravity of a championship chess match... minus the tension. If the movie had lightened up and been truly suspenseful (instead of being suffused with been-there, done-that familiarity), it would have been an instant popcorn classic. As it is, however, this is an elegantly mounted adventure featuring exotic locations (in Cambodia and Iceland) and an exotic star born for her role. Even without her padded bra, Jolie would be the living embodiment of Lara Croft, and that's enough to bode well for inevitable sequels. --Jeff Shannon

Paramount Tomb Raider DVD
Based on the popular video gameof the same name, this film stars Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft - a tough, sexy, armed adventurer who was born into wealth and groomed at the most elite schools. She travels to dangerous and mysterious locales around the globe in search of rare, lostcrypts and long-forgotten empires. She speaks numerous languages, is highly trained for combat and answers to no one, obeying only a desire for adventure.
But now she must face her greatest challenge yet: to find two halves of an ancient artifactburied in space and time. To possess it means ultimate power for its possessor. But to get there, she must first take on a powerful and dangerous secret society. The fate of mankind rests in the hands of one Lara Croft.

Lara Croft - Tomb Raider / Lara Croft - Tomb Raider, The Cradle of Life

TOMB RAIDER - A member of a rich British aristocratic family Lara Croft is a "tomb raider" who enjoys collecting ancient artifacts from ruins of temples cities etc. worldwide and doesn't mind going through death-defying dangers to get them. She is skilled in hand-to-hand combat weapons training and foreign languages - and does them all in tight outfits. Well the planets of the solar system are going into planetary alignment (Which occurs every 5000 years) and a secret society called the Illuminati is seeking an ancient talisman that gives its possessor the ability to control time. However they need a certain clock/key to help them in their search and they have to find the talisman in one week or wait until the next planetary alignment to find it again. Lara happens to find that key hidden in a wall of her mansion. The Illuminati steal it and Lara gets an old letter from her deceased father telling her about the society's agenda (Her father was also the one who hid the key). Now she must retrieve the key and find and destroy the talisman before the Illuminati can get their hands on it.THE CRADLE OF LIFE - Pandora s Box is said to house the most unspeakable evil ever known and it is hidden in Africa in an area known as "The Cradle Of Life." Now it is up to Lara Croft to find the infamous box before it falls into the hands of a maniacal Nobel Prize-winning scientist (Hinds) who s intent on harnessing the evil power. Facing her greatest challenges yet the intrepid tomb raider travels the world on a spectacular adventure that takes her to such exotic places as Hong Kong Kenya Tanzania Greece and the Great Wall of China.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 097361242248 Manufacturer No: 124224

The Madness of King George

Nicholas Hytner had an international stage phenomenon with Alan Bennett's play The Madness of King George, starring Nigel Hawthorne as King George III, the British monarch who lost the American colonies. But in this film adaptation, Hytner unfortunately yields to the old temptation to "open up" the piece with lots of arbitrary exteriors, rushed set pieces, choppy editing, and so on, robbing Hawthorne's acclaimed stage performance of coherency and power on the big screen. Viewers are forced to fill in emotional gaps for themselves (and try to imagine what Bennett's work must have looked and felt like originally), and the whole enterprise has a pseudo-cinematic, self-congratulatory air. --Tom Keogh

Written by Alan Bennett from his stage play and featuring a towering performance by Nigel Hawthorne, and a stunning screen directorial debut (Variety) by Tony Award winner* Nicholas Hytner, this Academy AwardÂ(r)-winning** masterpiece of royal intrigue ispotent, engrossing and thrilling (Los Angeles Times). Just five years after losing the 'rebellious colonies, it appears that England's King George III (Hawthorne) is now losing his mind! Suddenly, the stately monarch is hallucinating, shouting obscenities, behaving lewdly towards the Queen's (Helen Mirren) comelylady-in-waiting and generally becoming a candidate for the lunatic asylum. The palace doctors are baffled, but the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), tired of playing the waiting game, conspires to take advantage of the situation. Will the King's supporters be able to restore their monarch's wits before he's stripped of his throne? *1994: Director (Musical), Carousel **1994: Art Direction

Tribe

Stephen Poliakoff's 1998 made-for-TV British drama tells the story of Jamie (the always-excellent Jeremy Northam) a developer who gets sucked into the strange subculture of a seemingly contended modern-day cult when he sets out to evict them from one of his properties. The impressive cast also includes Joely Richardson Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Anna Friel.System Requirements:Running Time: Approximately 100 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 844628010771 Manufacturer No: TE1077

To Kill a King

In Mike Barker's version of British history, Thomas Fairfax (Mission Impossible II's Dougray Scott) represents reason, while Oliver Cromwell (Tim Roth, taking on a role previously assumed by Richard Harris) embodies reform. As the lieutenant-general, who makes up in conviction what he lacks in charisma, declares, "Tom is our emblem. We are brutes without him." He could easily be referring to himself, since Cromwell would turn out to be one of England's more brutal reformers. Barker picks up their story in 1645 during the height of civil war. At the time, King Charles I (Rupert Everett, in fine fettle despite a few unfortunate ensembles) holds a tenuous grasp on the throne. Parliamentarians Fairfax and Cromwell enjoy cordial relations; though the latter's increasing fanaticism bodes poorly for the future. Further, the lord general's wife, Lady Fairfax (Rushmore's Olivia Williams), sympathizes with the king, putting her husband in an awkward position. In the end, Cromwell will decide the fate of the Crown, but many lives might have been spared if Parliament had heeded Fairfax's calls for leniency. Plagued by budgetary problems, Barker was forced to halt production on the film twice (the project was saved largely by actor/producer Scott, who paid crew members out of his own pocket). Consequently, the director opted to emphasize political intrigue over battlefield heroics. Though less satisfying than his underrated Oscar Wilde adaptation A Good Woman, To Kill a King (formerly Cromwell and Fairfax) features convincing performances and raises timely questions about the qualifications for leadership. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

1645: After years of civil war King Charles I is overthrown and two heroes have emerged Lord General Thomas Fairfax and his best friend and deputy General Oliver Cromwell. Their friendship is threatened when Fairfax and his wife conspire to return the King to power and Cromwell instead orders his execution seizing control. His armies spread violence and fear throughout the country and Fairfax realizes Cromwell must be stopped and their bond as two comrades-at-arms irreparably broken. System Requirements:Length: 102 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/BRITISH EMPIRE Rating: NR UPC: 013137217395 Manufacturer No: DV72173

Lara Croft Two Pack (Tomb Raider/The Cradle of Life) - Widescreen

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Like the video game series it's based on, Tomb Raider is best enjoyed for its physical strategies, since even casual scrutiny of story details will induce a headache. It's more concerned with puzzles than plot, populated with characters that don't have personalities so much as attitudes. It's silly and somber at the same time, but as a franchise vehicle for Angelina Jolie in the title role of relic hunter Lara Croft, this is packaged entertainment at its most agreeable, ambitious in scope and scale, and filled with the kind of globetrotting adventure that could make Jolie the best thing that's happened to action movies since Indiana Jones. Could being the operative word here, because Tomb Raider can't match any of Steven Spielberg's celebrated joyrides, but the ingredients are there for an exquisitely cinematic meal. Perhaps to distance himself from Lara Croft's video game origins, director Simon West takes things a bit too seriously; Tomb Raider handles its plot (involving a planetary alignment, the nefarious Illuminati, and coveted relics that hold the key to controlling the flow of time) with all the gravity of a championship chess match... minus the tension. If the movie had lightened up and been truly suspenseful (instead of being suffused with been-there, done-that familiarity), it would have been an instant popcorn classic. As it is, however, this is an elegantly mounted adventure featuring exotic locations (in Cambodia and Iceland) and an exotic star born for her role. Even without her padded bra, Jolie would be the living embodiment of Lara Croft, and that's enough to bode well for inevitable sequels.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
This sequel is certainly better than its 2001 predecessor, but its appeal is mostly aimed at fans of the video games that inspired both movies. That pretty much leaves you with some fun but familiar action sequences, and the ever-alluring sight of Angelina Jolie (reprising her title role) as she swims, swings, kicks, shoots, flies, jet-skis, motorcycles, and free-falls her way toward saving the world, this time by making sure that a grimacing villain (Ciaran Hinds) doesn't open Pandora's Box (yes, the actual mythological object) and unleash a deadly plague that will "weed out" the global population. Exotic locations add to Jolie's own coolly erotic appeal, but we're left wondering if this franchise has anywhere else to go. --Jeff Shannon

Exploring lost empires, finding priceless treasures, punishing villains in mortal combat...it's all in a day's work for adventurer Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie). But a secret from her father's (Jon Voight) past is about to lead Lara to her greatest challenge: The Triangle of Light, a legendary artifact with the power to alter space and time. Lara must find the Triangle before it falls into the clutches of the Illuminati, a secret society bent on world domination. To stop the Illuminati, Lara will have to survive a cross-continental chase filled with unimaginable danger. But for the Tomb Raider, danger is the name of the game. In LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER -THE CRADLE OF LIFE, Pandora's Box is said to house the most unspeakable evil ever known, and it is hidden in Africa in an area known as "The Cradle Of Life." Now, it is up to Lara Croft to find the infamous box before it falls into the hands of a maniacal Nobel Prize-winning scientist (Hinds), who's intent on harnessing the evil power. Facing her greatest challenges yet, the intrepid tomb raider travels the world on a spectacular adventure that takes her to such exotic places as Hong Kong, Kenya, Tanzania, Greece and the Great Wall of China.

Reckless

When introducing Reckless, Russell Baker (as host of Masterpiece Theatre) warns the audience that what's to come has no literary merit; it's just entertainment. Entertainment, of course, is no small thing, and Reckless does a pretty good job of it. Owen (Robson Green), a young doctor heading for a new job in Manchester, first meets Anna (the magnetic Francesca Annis) on the train when he borrows her mobile phone (a very clunky piece of technology that places the show firmly in the late 1990s). As their paths continue to cross, Owen finds himself falling for Anna, even though she's at least 10 years older than he is. But Owen's hopes of love run into a serious obstacle when he discovers Anna is married to his boss, the imperious Dr. Richard Crane (Michael Kitchen).

Reckless charts the shifts and upsets of this love triangle--the tone ranges from light comedy to something bordering on Fatal Attraction. It starts slowly, but the second and third parts grow steadily more intricate, suspenseful, and torrid. Bad behavior is on ample display, acted with verve by the cast. The sequel is actually more fun than the original six-hour series; it's only a single two-hour episode, but it takes a more full-bodied satirical approach that doesn't prevent some heart-wrenching turns. Almost all of the original cast return, with a variety of new characters--including Geoffrey Palmer (As Time Goes By) as Richard's father. --Bret Fetzer

This four-disc set includes the hit romantic dramas Reckless and Reckless: The Sequel, starring Francesca Annis (Wives and Daughters), Robson Green (Touching Evil), and Michael Kitchen (Mrs. Dalloway). Watch romance try to stay on track through trysts, treachery, and trouble, and follow the complex and emotional decisions of the three who are involved in one very complicated love triangle.

In Reckless, Owen Springer (Robson Green) is a young doctor who has just moved to Manchester to take care of his demanding, hypochondriac father. The last thing he is looking for is an affair...until he meets Anna (Francesca Annis). However, there are two obstacles on Owen's path to happiness with Anna--she is several years older, and she is married. Undaunted, Owen sets out to charm her, and just when he's beginning to get somewhere, he's hit with a bombshell. Anna's husband is his new boss at the hospital.

In Reckless: The Sequel, Anna has divorced her husband, Richard (Michael Kitchen), and Anna and Owen have made an impetuous decision to marry--at the end of the week. The idea is to have the ceremony while Richard is out of the country, but he hears of their plans and flies back to England. Still in love with Anna, he is determined to save her from what he sees as a potentially disastrous marriage. Will Anna actually marry Owen?

Special DVD features include: link to the Masterpiece Theatre Web site; scene selections; and closed captions.

On four DVD5 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: 4 x 3 full frame.

Miranda

Miranda appears in the life of daydreaming librarian Frank and propels him into a chaotic world of confidence tricksters, sadistic villains, and amazing sex. Miranda, he discovers, has three identities - con woman, dancer, and dominatrix. Which is the real Miranda? She's sexy, smart, and dangerous to know. She'll become any man's fantasy to get what she wants, but is it money or love that she's after?