Mowbray, Malcolm

The Boyfriend School

True love has never been more confusing or more hilarious! Fabulous funnyman Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy Three Men and a Baby) teams with Jami Gertz (Sibling Rivalry) and Golden Globe® winners Shelley Long ("Cheers") and Kyle MacLachlan ("Twin Peaks") in a laugh-riot comedy of passion romance and mistaken identity!Painfully boring Gus Kubicek (Guttenberg) isn't exactly ladies' man material at least not until his meddling romance writer sister (Long) gets hold of him. Soon he's the buff and bronzed main character in the romantic fantasies of his dream girl Emily. Trouble is Gus can't tell if Emily really loves him or just his sexy leather-clad alter ego!System Requirements: Running Time 103 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 027616902146 Manufacturer No: 1005983

A Private Function

Michael Palin (A Fish Called Wanda) teams with Oscar® winner* Maggie Smith (Gosford Park) in this uproarious comedy in which the laughs come fast (Variety) and the upper class becomes furious! Co-starring Denholm Elliott Pete Postlethwaite and one divine swine this hilarious comedy is alive and unruly [and] the humor keeps boiling up (Pauline Kael The New Yorker)! Life isn t easy in 1947 Yorkshire where strict post-war rationing is putting the squeeze on the townspeople. But when a married working-class couple (Palin and Smith) discovers that the town s wealthy elite has been secretly fattening up an illegal pig for their own selfish gluttony they hatch an outlandish kidnapping scheme that gives new meaning to the phrase bringing home the bacon ! *1969: Actress The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; 1978: Supporting Actress California SuiteSystem Requirements:Running Time: 96 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616884510 Manufacturer No: 1004371

Sweet Revenge

As Henry Bell (Sam Neill from Jurassic Park and The Piano) is preparing to throw himself off the Tower Bridge in London, he hears cries of help, which lead him to Karen Knightly (Helena Bonham Carter, Fight Club, Howard's End), who has just thrown herself off of the bridge and gotten her belt caught on a protuberance. In short time they're telling each other what led them to take this drastic step, how they'd each like to kill a certain person who has made each of their lives miserable. Karen hatches a plan: They'll each take on the other's act of revenge. Henry's not so sure about this, but when he wakes up the following morning Karen's plans are already underway. She's fiercely determined that he keep up his end of the bargain and ruin the life of Imogen (Kristin Scott Thomas, The English Patient, Four Weddings and a Funeral). Unfortunately, Henry falls in love with Imogen instead, leaving Karen with no choice but to enact revenge on Henry as well. Adapted from a play by Alan Ayckbourn, Sweet Revenge is blessed with sweet and funny performances by the three leads (who seem delighted by the opportunity to be frivolous), as well as capable work from a supporting cast of British character actors. --Bret Fetzer

Screen favorites Sam Neill (BICENTENNIAL MAN, THE HORSE WHISPERER), Helena Bonham Carter (FIGHT CLUB, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE), and Kristin Scott Thomas (THE ENGLISH PATIENT, GOSFORD PARK) form a winning combination in this offbeat, uncommonly funny comedy! Quite by chance a downcast businessman Henry Bell (Neill) and quirky aristocrat Karen Knightly (Bonham Carter) save each other's life just as they were both attempting to leap from London's Tower Bridge! Then, Karen quickly invents a plot of devilish retaliation against those who drove them to the edge! She will punish the man who stole Henry's job and he will destory the life of the woman (Scott Thomas) who broke up Karen's love affair! With memorable performances from its stellar cast, this broadly entertaining comedy plays for big laughs when revenge is the name of the game!

Cadfael - The Sanctuary Sparrow

Twelfth-century Shrewsbury comes to life in Ellis Peters' Cadfael stories, a PBS Mystery! favorite starring Sir Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius; Gladiator). When Shrewsbury's goldsmith is robbed and left for dead, drunken locals decide the guilty party must be Liliwin, an itinerant juggler who was performing at the wedding feast of the goldsmith's son. The mob pursues the young man through the streets to the abbey where he frantically seeks the sanctuary of the altar. Cadfael believes Liliwin is innocent, but his search for the truth leads to the discovery of an even deadlier sin. DVD special features include exclusive audio comments by Derek Jacobi, Ellis Peters biography and booklist, English subtitles, filmographies and scene index.

Masterpiece Theatre: Monsignor Renard

Out Cold

'terrific comic performances by all three stars (Glamour)John Lithgow, Teri Garr and Randy Quaidhighlight this devious black comedy about a scorned wife's attempt to get away with murder. Very funny (Los Angeles) and deliciously underplayed (The New York Times), Out Cold will leave you laughing out loud for days! Unlucky in love. Unluckier in murder. Sunny Cannald (Garr) is a dissatisfied wife who schemes to get rid of her cheating husband one way or another. First, she hires a P.I. (Quaid) to dig up the dirt on him. Then, she discovers a way to puthim on ice and frame an innocent man (Lithgow) for the crime! Can she pull it off? Undoubtedly shemight if not for the determined P.I. who won't stop snooping!

Cadfael - Monk's Hood

Wonderfully preposterous as whodunits go, Cadfael proves that sleuthing for clues in 12th-century England can be hazardous to a "mere" monk's health. In this 1994 episode, Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) becomes entangled in a murder investigation. A wealthy landowner disinherits his stepson (played by then-unknown Jonny Lee Miller) and wills his estate to Shrewsbury Abbey, home of Cadfael's clerical order. But the brutal old fellow is soon poisoned, and Cadfael is alone in doubting the boy's culpability.

The case becomes more urgent after the incorrigible monk discovers the suspect's mother is a sweetheart he left behind after joining the Crusades 40 years earlier. Complicating matters is growing corruption at the abbey following news of the deceased man's benevolence. As usual, Cadfael's fearlessness at pursuing truth in the face of powerful interests, along with Jacobi's knowing performance, is the most compelling element of this medieval thriller. --Tom Keogh

Cadfael - The Holy Thief

Suspicion falls on the holy, the holier-than-thou, and the unholy when the sacred relics of Saint Winifred are stolen from the abbey and the pious prior of a fallen monastery and a greedy land baron both lay claim to them. Kidnapping, the jewel robbery, and murder only complicate the efforts of Brother Cadfael--worldly monk, medieval detective, secular humanist before his time--to separate holy miracle from worldly conspiracy. Derek Jacobi fills Brother Cadfael with a warmth to match his logic and a passion for justice that stands in contrast to the often fatal superstition of his world (trial by water as binding law). This episode is one of the darkest and most interesting entries in the series.

The DVD features a brief audio interview with Derek Jacobi, historical background to the struggle between King Stephen and Queen Maude over the throne, stills, filmographies, and Ellis Peters bio and booklist. --Sean Axmaker

Brother Cadfael - The Raven in the Foregate

Political passions ran high in 12th-century England, and the Church was often caught in the middle of the feud between King Stephen and Empress Maud. This feud takes its toll in Shrewsbury upon the appointment of a new priest whose political sympathies outweigh his human compassion. With unrequited love and farmland dispossession adding to the local turmoil, the long list of people who wanted to see Father Ailnoth dead keeps both the sheriff and Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) busy for days. As with all episodes in this medieval mystery series, the writing, acting, and production values are of the highest quality, re-creating the 12th century's grand and small passions in rich detail while viewers try to puzzle out who done it.

DVD extras include an audio interview with Derek Jacobi in which he shares his thoughts on Cadfael's faith and sense of guilt, an Ellis Peters biography and book list, and a production scrapbook of behind-the-scenes stills. --Larisa Lomacky Moore

Brother Cadfael - The Virgin in the Ice

The first Brother Cadfael mystery to be released on DVD, The Virgin in the Ice captures all of the elements that make these adaptations of Ellis Peters's novels a perennial PBS favorite. The performances and sets bring 12th-century England to vivid life (although the series was actually filmed in Hungary). Derek Jacobi portrays Cadfael with a quiet authority and just the right edge of world-weariness one would expect from a Crusader turned monk. His search for two missing children and for the band of outlaws who brutally beat one of his fellow monks turns up intrigues and surprise twists that make this episode a captivating human drama as well as an expertly crafted mystery. From frictions within Shrewsbury Abbey to the ongoing war between Queen Maud and King Stephen, The Virgin in the Ice plunges viewers fully into Cadfael's world and all of its unexpected joys and perils.

The DVD includes several minutes of audio comments by Derek Jacobi about taking on the role and the appeal of Cadfael. Other special features include biographical information about Ellis Peters (a pseudonym for Edith Pargeter), a production scrapbook of behind-the-scenes photos, and English captions for the hearing-impaired. --Larisa Lomacky Moore