Stephen Frears

The Queen

Helen Mirren reigns supreme in The Queen, a witty and ingenious look at a moment that rocked the house of Windsor: the week that followed the sudden death of Princess Diana in 1997. Diana's death came at just the same time that Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by the bright Michael Sheen) was settling into his new government--and trying to figure out the delicate relationship between 10 Downing Street and Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren). A large portion of the British population was trying to figure out the Windsors that week, as Elizabeth remained stiff-upper-lip and largely mum about the death of the beloved princess. In Peter Morgan's skillful script, we watch as Blair grows increasingly impatient with the Royals, who are sequestered in their Scottish estate while the public demands some show of grief. Prince Philip (James Cromwell, in good form) clumsily decides to take Diana's sons hunting, while a sympathetically-treated Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) displays some frustration with his mother's eerie calm.

None of this conveys how funny the film is, or how deftly it flows from one scene to the next. Director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) deserves great credit for that, and for the performances, and for the movie's marvelous sense of well-roundedness; you could see this movie and groan at the cluelessness of the Royals and their outmoded existence, or you might just sympathize with showing reserve in a world that values gross public displays of emotion. But either way, you'll marvel at Mirren, who makes the Queen far more alert and human than one might ever have imagined. --Robert Horton

Beyond The Queen

The British are Coming! Kings & Queens on DVD

Helen Mirren Essential DVDs

The Queen: Music From the Motion Picture by Alexandre Desplat

Portrays the crisis in the British royal family immediately following the death of Princess Diana as Queen Elizabeth II reconciles her tradition-bound world with a modern Great Britain.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 24-APR-2007
Media Type: DVD

High Fidelity

Transplanted from England to the not-so-mean streets of Chicago, the screen adaptation of Nick Hornby's cult-classic novel High Fidelity emerges unscathed from its Americanization, idiosyncrasies intact, thanks to John Cusack's inimitable charm and a nimble, nifty screenplay (cowritten by Cusack). Early-thirtysomething Rob Gordon (Cusack) is a slacker who owns a vintage record shop, a massive collection of LPs, and innumerable top-five lists in his head. At the opening of the film, Rob recounts directly to the audience his all-time top-five breakups--which doesn't include his recent falling out with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle), who has just moved out of their apartment. Thunderstruck and obsessed with Laura's desertion (but loath to admit it), Rob begins a quest to confront the women who instigated the aforementioned top-five breakups to find out just what he did wrong.

Low on plot and high on self-discovery, High Fidelity takes a good 30 minutes or so to find its groove (not unlike Cusack's Grosse Pointe Blank), but once it does, it settles into it comfortably and builds a surprisingly touching momentum. Rob is basically a grown-up version of Cusack's character in Say Anything (who was told "Don't be a guy--be a man!"), and if you like Cusack's brand of smart-alecky romanticism, you'll automatically be won over (if you can handle Cusack's almost-nonstop talking to the camera). Still, it's hard not to be moved by Rob's plight. At the beginning of the film he and his coworkers at the record store (played hilariously by Jack Black and Todd Louiso) seem like overgrown boys in their secret clubhouse; by the end, they've grown up considerably, with a clear-eyed view of life. Ably directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons), High Fidelity features a notable supporting cast of the women in Rob's life, including the striking, Danish-born Hjejle, Lisa Bonet as a sultry singer-songwriter, and the triumphant triumvirate of Lili Taylor, Joelle Carter, and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Rob's ex-girlfriends. With brief cameos by Tim Robbins as Laura's new, New Age boyfriend and Bruce Springsteen as himself. --Mark Englehart

Follows the love affairs and belated growing up of a \""Generation X\"" pop music fanatic and record store owner.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 8-APR-2003
Media Type: DVD

Dangerous Liaisons

Three Academy Awards(R) went to this sly seductive tale about the fatal attraction linking 18th century French aristocrats Glen Close John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. From the international stage hit.Running Time: 120 min.System Requirements:Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer Glenn Close John Malkovich Swoosie Kertz Uma Thurman Director: Stephen Frears Produced by Norma Heyman Hank Moonjean; written by Choderlos De Laclos Christoph; running time of 120 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1988 Warner Bros. Interactive Menus Production Notes Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Standard 1.33:1 (4.3) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs Subtitles: English Spanish and French Track Info: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French: Dolby Digital 5.1 SurroundFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 085391187226

A sumptuously mounted and photographed celebration of artful wickedness, betrayal, and sexual intrigue among depraved 18th-century French aristocrats, Dangerous Liaisons (based on Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses) is seductively decadent fun. The villainous heroes are the Marquise De Merteuil (Glenn Close) and the Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich), who have cultivated their mutual cynicism into a highly developed and exquisitely mannered form of (in-)human expression. Former lovers, they now fancy themselves rather like demigods whose mutual desires have evolved beyond the crudeness of sex or emotion. They ritualistically act out their twisted affections by engaging in elaborate conspiracies to destroy the lives of their less calculating acquaintances, daring each other to ever-more-dastardly acts of manipulation and betrayal. Why? Just because they can; it's their perverted way of getting get their kicks in a dead-end, pre-Revolutionary culture. Among their voluptuous and virtuous prey are fair-haired angels played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman, who have never looked more ripe for ravishing. When the Vicomte finds himself beset by bewilderingly genuine emotions for one of his victims, the Marquise considers it the ultimate betrayal and plots her heartless revenge. Dangerous Liaisons is a high-mannered revel for the actors, who also include Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, and Keanu Reeves. --Jim Emerson

The Grifters (Miramax Collector's Series)

Annette Bening twists like a mink on a leash through Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel. This may be the perfect trope for the moral hysteria that coils around a mother, her son, and his girlfriend in this slender but highly pleasurable neo-noir. Small in effect and local in scope, the film is about small-fry, attractive, bloodless con artists who view the world as neatly split between ropers and suckers, grifters and squares. "Grifter's got an irresistible urge to beat a guy that's wise," an old-timer tells Roy (John Cusack). And yet the three characters here--played by Angelica Huston, Cusack, and Bening--only beat the innocent: Lilly (Huston) gigs at the track for a mobster named Bobo, putting wads of cash on long-shot horses to even out the odds. Roy, her son, swindles citizens by dimes and degrees, flashing twenties at bars then paying for his beer with tens. His girlfriend, Myra (Bening), is hustling herself, her salad days as a long-con roper behind her. Theirs is a world of gut punches and smart lines, and the adrenaline these cheats and chiselers live by is palpable onscreen. But a larger canvas? Maybe it's there as a parallel universe. "What do you sell again?" Myra asks Roy, the matchbook salesman. "Self-confidence," he says, a wry allusion to the confidence game all three of them are playing. The movie boasts dazzling turns by Bening, Cusack, and especially Huston, whose mère fatale breaks new ground for noir. --Lyall Bush

A con man, his mother, and his girlfriend all become involved in a game of deception, in which they prey on each other.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 10-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

The Snapper

The Snapper may be the funniest film ever made about an unexpected pregnancy. In adapting the second novel of his popular Barrytown Trilogy, Irish author Roddy Doyle brilliantly captures the hilarious dynamics of a working-class family, the virulent gossip of their nosy Dublin neighbors, and the mixed emotions of a young woman on the verge of single motherhood. Sharon (Tina Kellegher) is the 20-year-old daughter of Dessie (Colm Meaney), and her refusal to name the father of her unborn child turns into an escalating crisis that's as traumatic (especially for Dessie) as it is delightfully amusing. The film was directed for British television by Stephen Frears, but its flawless blend of comedy and drama made it worthy of a theatrical release, landing it on many critics' top 10 lists for 1993. Best known as Chief O'Brien on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Meaney mines gold from the role of his career, and his fatherly love turns The Snapper into a heartwarming charmer with universal appeal. --Jeff Shannon

One little secret is about to cause a big, big commotion in this hilariously funny hit comedy that has everyone talking! When the oldest daughter of a riotous, close-knit family announces her unexpected pregnancy, everyone wants to know who fathered the "snapper" she's carrying. But the young woman's refusal to reveal anything about her predicament sends the entire town into a tizzy! Critics coast-to-coast praised THE SNAPPER as one of the year's finest and funniest films -- it's sure to deliver nonstop laughs to you!

My Beautiful Laundrette

With its "extraordinary cast" (Los Angeles Times) including Oscar® winner* Daniel Day Lewis and "riveting visual style" (Newsweek) this "warm compassionate and feisty" film (The Hollywood Reporter) about a young Pakistani man coming of age in London is "a fascinating eccentric [and] very personal movie" (The New York Times)!Living on the dole with his alcoholic father in a shabby South London flat Omar is a bright-eyed Pakistani teenager who wants to make something of himself. And as his papa drowns deeper in vodka and self-pity Omar turns to his unscrupulous wheeling-and-dealing Uncle Nasser to show him the key to success. But when Nasser hires Omar as manager of a seedy dilapidated laundromat Omar is forced to choose between running a squeaky-clean establishment or conducting some very dirty business!*1989: Actor My Left FootSystem Requirements:Running Time: 98 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616869326 Manufacturer No: 1002734

My Beautiful Laundrette, Stephen Frears's low-budget realization of Hanif Kureishi's subversively critical play, captures the contradictions of mid-'80s Thatcherism in a way that's as fresh today as when it was new. Wheeler-dealer Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey) sums it up when he says, "In this damn country, which we hate and love, you can get anything you want." He sets up his nephew Omar (Gordon Warnecke) with a rundown laundrette and the instruction to make it a success, which Omar temporarily does, with the help of his childhood friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis). When the film was first released, it was the gay content that dominated the conversation, whereas now it seems a sensitive and multifaceted summation of its decade, exploring social, ethnic, and sexual issues and contradictions. Bringing together two such different characters as Omar--Asian, ambitious, for whom success is defined by wealth--and former childhood friend Johnny--white trash, ex-National Front--was inspired. Watching their friendship develop into love, and the ensuing bitterness and misunderstanding that they suffer from friends and family, is very poignant. All the lead roles are well taken, the contradictory character of Nasser in particular. By turns, funny, touching and anger-inducing, My Beautiful Laundrette wears its age lightly and its era proudly. --Harriet Smith

Mrs. Henderson Presents (Widescreen Edition)

The blitz-bombing of London in World War II provides the serious backdrop for the uplifting entertainment of Mrs. Henderson Presents, a delightful British comedy anchored by the flawless performances of Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. After losing a son in World War I, and becoming a widow in 1937, the wealthy and respectable Mrs. Henderson (Dench) decides that the best way to support soldiers going off to battle is to give them a wartime send-off they'll never forget. Thus, she buys and renovates the Windmill Theater in London's Soho district, hires Mr. Vivian Van Damm (Hoskins) as the impresario of an all-day musical variety show called "Revudeville," and secures permission from the censorious Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) to include naked women in the stage show - on the condition that the ladies remain still onstage to qualify as "art," like nude portraits in a gallery, with the "foliage" of their "midlands" discreetly obscured. "Revudeville" is an instant hit, British propriety remains tastefully intact, and as The Windmill's fortunes rise, fall, and rise again, Mrs. Henderson Presents develops an emotional depth and good-natured nobility that's perfectly matched to the comedy of tweaking British manners. Working from an eloquently witty, fact-based screenplay by Martin Sherman, director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) brings out the best in a well-chosen cast, and Andrew Dunn's cinematography (enhanced by judicious use of digital effects to show the London blitz in progress) casts a warm, inviting glow over this winning tale of show-biz tenacity in the best and worst of times. --Jeff Shannon

Wartime entertainment takes a new turn when Mrs Henderson decides to offer an all naked female dance troupe to bring some cheer in times of trouble.System Requirements:Running Time: 103 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 796019790994 Manufacturer No: 79099

Dirty Pretty Things

The luminous Audrey Tautou (Amelie) stars in Dirty Pretty Things, a riveting thriller about an illegal immigrant in London named Okwe (Chiwetal Ejiofor, Amistad), a doctor in his homeland who now works days as a taxi driver and nights as a hotel desk clerk. When a hooker tells him there's a mess in one of the hotel's bathrooms, Okwe finds a human heart in the toilet. He soon discovers a snare of desperation, poverty, and black-market body organs--and finds that his only friend, a Turkish hotel maid (Tautou), may be the next to be caught. Dirty Pretty Things, skillfully directed by Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dangerous Liaisons, My Beautiful Laundrette), fuses taut suspense with an unsettling portrait of life among the British underclass of immigrant service workers. Thanks to the excellent cast and script, the movie makes its social points subtly, while the gripping story coils itself around you. --Bret Fetzer

A Turkish chambermaid working at a London hotel full of illegal activity discovers a human heart in a toilet.
Genre: Feature Film Urban Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD

The Judi Dench Collection

To call The Judi Dench Collection a treasure trove is indubitably cliché, but that's so much classier than "Dench-a-Palooza." Essential for fans of the great Dame, theatre buffs, and drama students, this eight-disc set is an embarrassment of riches, with nine BBC productions of classic and original plays, plus three radio plays and excerpts from televised interviews, one of which features her moving rendition of "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical (is there nothing she can't do?). They etch an indelible portrait of an artist with a compelling presence and staggering range. Judi Dench is one of those actors who rarely seem to make a false move, handling wrenching drama, madcap farce, and witty comedy with equal aplomb. John Hopkins' Talking to a Stranger (1966) is a British television benchmark that is mentioned in the same breath as Dennis Potter's masterpieces. Dench won her first BAFTA (the British equivalent of the Oscar) for her role as a damaged sibling in a dysfunctional family. Dench stars as Anya in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, a 1962 production translated by, and starring, John Gielgud and, as Madame Ranesvky, Peggy Ashcroft. Ashcroft is a hard act to follow, but Dench pulls it off in a 1981 production in which she assumes the role of the irresponsible aristocrat.

Georges Feydeau's Keep an Eye on Amelie (1973) is a carefree hour in which Dench stars as a coquette who agrees to marry a confirmed bachelor (Patrick Cargill) so he can inherit a million francs. This production is paired on disc 4 with writer Michael Frayn's (Noises Off!) award-winning comedy Make and Break, which unfolds at a trade fair in Frankfort and stars Dench as a devoted secretary to a work-consumed boss. Two powerful dramas comprise disc 8, Going Gently, for which Dench earned another BAFTA as a hospice nurse to two adversarial patients, and Can You Hear Me Thinking?(1990), starring Dench and her late husband Michael Williams (A Fine Romance) as parents whose lives are shattered when their teenage son develops schizophrenia. Ibsen's still potent Ghosts (1981) boasts a stellar ensemble, including Kenneth Branagh as doomed son Oswald and Michael Gambon as Pastor Manders, with Dench as Mrs. Alving, whose respected late husband led a dark, secret life. Anything but, Absolute Hell (1991) is a lost-souls black comedy starring Dench as Christine, the proprietor of a bohemian nightclub in post-World War II London. The cast includes her future Notes on a Scandal costar, Bill Nighy, as a washed-up writer. Stardom in the States came late to Dench. This collection allows her audience to catch-up with these mostly towering performances that established her as one of the premier actors of our time. --Donald Liebenson

Dame Judi Dench is one of the most celebrated stars of stage and screen. She is the winner of an Academy Award(R) two Golden Globes an unprecedented seven Olivier Awards and numerous BAFTAs. At the BBC she has appeared in a dazzling range of material from sitcoms to Shakespeare. This collection contains ten star-studded BBC productions spanning four decades and ranging from the Feydeau farce Keep an Eye on Amelie to Ibsen's Ghosts with Kenneth Branagh Michael Gambon and Natasha Richardson an Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard with John Gielgud Peggy Ashcroft and Ian Holm. And tucked away among the bonus features is a 1996 interview in which she sings "Send in the Clowns" from her Olivier-winning performance of A Little Night Music just o of the many gems in this glorious testament to one of the greatest performers of our time.System Requirements:Run Time: 1260 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794051286628 Manufacturer No: E2866

Hero

Dustin Hoffman plays a lowlife who happens upon a plane crash and rescues the passengers, but doesn't really care about the value of his deed or the attendant publicity when the media starts searching for the hero. Another fellow (Andy Garcia) steps into the gap and claims credit, and as his life changes for the better he takes on a messianic glow. Geena Davis is the cynical television reporter who pushes the latter's fame in order to keep her story alive, and this film, directed by Stephen Frears (Prick Up Your Ears), takes a few familiar jabs at a manipulative and voyeuristic press. This is essentially an unofficial remake of Meet John Doe, though it is less dramatic and forceful in the end than Frank Capra's classic. Chevy Chase has an oddly anachronistic part as Davis's editor (maybe he thought he really was in Meet John Doe), but the film belongs to Hoffman, who makes his character a slightly cleaned-up version of the actor's own Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. --Tom Keogh