Duigan, John

Sirens

Australian filmmaker John Duigan (The Year My Voice Broke, Wide Sargasso Sea) has a taste for sensual art direction that occasionally flares up in a big, big way. With Sirens, he manages to turn oceans of female nudity into a slightly tongue-in-cheek decorousness that is neither unpersuasively arty nor purely soft porn. Starring Hugh Grant (and released the same year as two other Grant vehicles, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bitter Moon, thus establishing him as a star), the film finds the handsome, stammering actor playing an Anglican priest newly posted to Australia. There, the clergyman's first mission is to convince a famously libertarian artist (Sam Neill) not to exhibit a painting with mixed erotic and religious themes. The experience of being at their host's anything-goes compound for a few days, however, nestled deep in the wilds and keeping company with uninhibited, frequently naked models proves terribly stirring for Grant and his character's timid wife (Tara Fitzgerald), the two of them a study in sexual repression. The film doesn't have a point so much as it does an appealing atmosphere of unbridled naturalism counterpointed by Grant's charming self-consciousness. Once you've grown accustomed to the phenomenal sight of an unclothed Elle Macpherson (who is actually very good in her acting debut as a semi-savage model) wandering toward the bank of a river, for instance, you realize she's only part of the amazing flora and fauna enriching this pocket of earth and the souls of our principal characters. --Tom Keogh

Sexy and spirited, this endearingly funny comedy has captivated moviegoers everywhere! The charming Hugh Grant (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) plays an idealistic young minister on a mission. He must tame the wicked ways of a notorious artist (Sam Neill -- JURASSIC PARK), whose nude paintings of his beautiful models (including sexy supermodel Elle MacPherson) scandalize the nation! Intent on delivering salvation, the repressed reverend and his wife instead are led into temptation by their playfully seductive hosts and sensuous new surroundings! Enchantingly sexy fun from beginning to end -- you too will find the allure of SIRENS irresistible!

Head in the Clouds

If movies were solely about the cheap pleasure of watching gorgeous people make grand gestures in epic circumstances--because, sure, sometimes movies are--director/screenwriter John Duigan's goopy, obvious, overwrought contemplation of how global unrest really messes with your love life would be Oscar-worthy. Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, and Penelope Cruz are headstrong 1930s playthings who each discover that they need to pull their attractive heads out of their inviting behinds if they're going to play a part in stopping the spread of European fascism. Charlize is socialite Gilda, who ensnares both brooding, Cambridge-educated Irishman Townsend and Spanish rebel Cruz (who is particularly ill-defined) in a love triangle while seemingly caring not a whit for the imminent goosesteps of the Nazis. Charlize wears a lot of fabulous outfits, and she and real-life paramour Townsend do impetuous things like sport fedoras while romping in a milky-white bathtub; Cruz, meanwhile, performs a passionate impromptu striptease. Hey, there are worse ways to be entertained. Unfortunately, you don't really give a damn about any of them, and you can predict what's going to happen to all of them well before it actually does. It's an efficient, glamorous, hokey, ultimately downbeat time-killer for anyone willing to spend two hours trying to decide which of the doe-eyed trio you'd save from destruction first. --Steve Wiecking

Academy Award®-winner Charlize Theron (Best Actress Monster 2003) Pen lope Cruz (Vanilla Sky) and Stuart Townsend (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) star in this sweeping romantic saga of passion betrayal and redemption. War clouds may be gathering over Europe but Gilda (Theron) still chooses to live her life solely for pleasure. A restless free spirit she has traveled the world in search of passion and excitement only to find it in a romantic m nage trois with Guy (Townsend) and Mia (Cruz) two friends with whom she shares an apartment in Paris. But when desire turns to guilt and both her lovers leave to fight in the Spanish Civil War an abandoned Gilda vows never to see them again. Six years later with liberation just days away Guy returns to occupied Paris as a British spy only to discover Gilda's the priveleged mistress of a German officer. Dismayed Guy is now forced to make the most difficult decision of his life: to let Gilda suffer a traitor's fate or rescue the woman he once loved.System Requirements: Running Time 121 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396069596 Manufacturer No: 06959

Wide Sargasso Sea

A prequel to "Jane Eyre." An Englishman in nineteenth-century Jamaica falls into a tortured marriage with a native Creole. When the woman begins to go mad, her husband takes her back to his gothic estate in England, where he locks her in the attic.

Lawn Dogs

Molly

The title character of Molly, played by Elisabeth Shue (Oscar nominee for Leaving Las Vegas), suffers from one of those afflictions that are only found in Hollywood movies: she's sort of mentally challenged, sort of autistic--but only enough to give her a childlike appreciation of rhythmic water fountains and The Wizard of Oz. An operation that somehow activates brain cells brings Molly to a more sophisticated level of intelligence, much to the astonishment and joy of her brother Buck (Aaron Eckhart, playing a much more sympathetic character than he did in In the Company of Men). Then, when her brain cell progress becomes threatened for some unclear reason, Molly and Buck are faced with her mental reversal. Aside from being scientifically dubious and somewhat insulting to mentally challenged people and their families, the developing sibling relationship has an emotional pull. Eckhart brings a quiet dignity to his role, lending a bit of realism with his understated performance. Shue, though saddled with an impossible character, has moments of naked emotion that almost make Molly believable. Thomas Jane (Deep Blue Sea), as a medical assistant with a never-explained "learning disability," does all he can with his equally inconsistent part but fares less well. Molly wants to be a combination of Forrest Gump and Flowers for Algernon, movies about discovering the meaning of life through an appreciation of simple things, but falls short. --Bret Fetzer

Imagine experiencing life through the eyes of an innocent child forever. Beautiful and vibrant, Molly McKay might have a mental disability but she's not about to let the world pass her by. Starring Academy AwardÂ(r) nominee* Elizabeth Shue in an inspired performance, Molly is a joyous celebration of the irrepressible human spirit. Autistic since birth, 28-year-old Molly (Shue) isa carefree young woman with an incredible zest for life. Her brother Buck (Aaron Eckhart), a 32-year-old with a full social calendar and a booming career, has had little contact with Molly over the yearsuntil the facility that cares for her closes down. Now it's up to Buck to take his sister in and that's turning into a full-time job! Bold, childlike and very energetic, Molly completely envelops her brother's life and turns his ordered world into chaos. Then, just when Buck is at his wit's end, Molly becomes a candidate for a new medical procedure that could cure her completely but is it worth the risk? Molly sure thinks so'she's ready to experience everything! *1995: Actress, Leaving Las Vegas

Flirting

The second part of a projected trilogy by Australian director John Duigan (the preceding film was The Year My Voice Broke), Flirting is a wonderful tale of misfit adolescents who find their independence through a forbidden, interracial relationship. Noah Taylor returns to Duigan's ongoing story as Danny, a gangly stutterer with a wry wit, few friends, and a big crush on Thandiwe (Thandie Newton), a Ugandan student whose father is in some political danger back home. Danny goes to a boys academy and Thandiwe boards at a girls school nearby. The two meet secretly and deepen their doomed affair, exploring adulthood for the first time on their own terms. Duigan is a director who can occasionally be seduced by the surface of things, but Flirting is richly layered in tones both light and ominous, youthful performances that easily alternate between childhood buoyancy and grown-up passion, and a hard-won wisdom about the mysteries of loss. An added bonus is a terrific supporting performance by Nicole Kidman. --Tom Keogh

Two star-crossed misfits risk everything to be together in this sexy and amusing coming-of-age film. Starring Noah Taylor (Vanilla Sky), Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2), and Academy Award® nominee* Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge), Flirting is a "brilliant"(The Washington Post) story about first love that's "miles ahead of the average teenage film" (Variety)! With his slight stature, obstinate stutter and love for existentialism, Danny (Taylor) doesn't quite fit in at his rugby-dominated boys' school. But then he falls for radiant, intellectual Thandiwe (Newton)an African student ostracized by the icy clique leader (Kidman) of a nearby girls' school. Despite meddling classmates, imperious teachers and a lake separating their schools, Danny and Thandiwe's romance blossoms...until a crisis threatens to take Thandiwe away forever. *2001: Actress, Moulin Rouge

The Journey of August King

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 25-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD

Room to Move

The Leading Man [Region 2]

The Leading Man

A brash young American comes to London to star in a major new production-and becomes the central character in a mystery fueled by intrigue and passion. Interactive Menus, Filmographies, Production Credits, Scene Access