From Taxi Driver to Little Fockers. DeNiro. How did it happen? By now, Robert DeNiro has officially shed every micron of self-respect he ever had as an actor. But, before he jumped the shark landing in the murky waters of Holiday blockbuster sequels, he made a few transition films. Ronin was one of them. In his character, there’s a glimmer of the old greatness. There are also some good shoot-outs and a car chase that by itself is worth the price of the rental.
The soccer is phenomenal and the acting isn’t bad, either. This flick has Pelé, the greatest soccer player of all time, and Michael Caine, the greatest British actor of all time, sharing the screen. This 1981 sports-adventure-war drama revolves around an unlikely soccer match between Allied prisoners of war and their German captors during WWII. Sylvester Stallone, five years after making the greatest boxing movie ever, made this, the greatest soccer movie ever.
Western movies often suffer from various cheap Hollywood clichés. It could be the Australian setting and/or the film’s writer, Nick Cave’s, outsider status that gives 2005’s The Proposition it’s fresh feel. It is a bleak and ruthless tale of three outlaw brothers turned against each other by a meddling lawman. But there’s no John Wayne schlock, just plenty of gunfire and vultures circling ominously overhead.
You’re either down with Motörhead or you’re not. Die-hard fans say bassist Lemmy Kilmister is God. Could be. He’s definitely a rock-n-roll icon and heavy metal pioneer whose influence poisoned rock’s gene pool long ago. His Jack Daniels drinking, Marlboro smoking, full-on leather pants, ass-kicking life is chronicled in this just released multiple award-winning documentary.
This movie is wild. An Australian family of criminals lives by the ‘kill or be killed’ street code. The psycho eldest son, the “Pope”, (chillingly played by Ben Mendelsohn) is caught between fear & guilt in the Melbourne underground. As the family members are pursued by each other and the police, an internal struggle threatens to blow their sordid scene to pieces.
The TV series Soul Train was HOT in the 70s. This influential musical variety show featured every major name in R&B, soul and pre-Hip-Hop. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha—they were all on. With polyester pantsuits, giant afros & fancy footwork, the Soul Train dancers introduced disco moves to the masses and brought soul superstars into American living rooms. This 9-disc set contains over 130 performances, plus 3-hours of interviews & extras.
When a movie is set in prison, you usually know what you’re getting into. Not the case with this one. Actor Tahar Rahim plays Malik, a young convict forced into killing and further crimes by the pressures of prison gangsters. Scamming his way through his sentence, Malik eventually ends up as the central player in a struggle for prison power between French, Corsican & Arab gangs.
The steady release of new Star Wars products has been ongoing for over 30 years. It might never stop. You may wonder what (if any) of this stuff is something you need. This disk set is. No matter what your collection looks like, this new boxed-set on Blu-ray is essential. It features all six Star Wars live-action movies, plus over 30 hours of extra DVD material.
Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a great creep. As Truman Capote, he won an Oscar. In 2009’s Doubt, he was nominated for another. He’s up to his patented smarmy style in this 80s-era story of compulsive (and dangerous) gambling. During the day, he’s a putz assistant bank manager – after hours, he’s a hardcore gambling addict. When his habit gets too big to fund, he turns to the closest source of capital: the bank. Embezzlement begins and so does Mahowny’s undoing. It’s a sick and tragicomic look into the seedy world of gambling. Are you in?
We sincerely hope you’re too young to remember watching this show. Rocky & Bullwinkle were a 60s phenomena: an adventuresome squirrel and a dim-witted moose who fought villains. Like most good cartoons, the adult humor was written to go right over the kid’s heads. And it did, making the series classic. This boxed set gives you 5 seasons of zany adventure—that’s over 90 episodes—plus a heap of special material.
