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- U-571 (2000) DVD
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Jon Bon Jovi, Harvey Keitel
Taut and gripping, U-571 follows the exploits of a fictional team of World War II U.S. submariners who undertake a secret mission to capture a German Enigma machine to decode German documents. Writer-director Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown) tells an intense, economical tale, reminiscent of the best classic war films, while infusing it with modern sentiments.
Spring 1942: a crew of young submarine sailors are on a much-needed 48-hour liberty when they're suddenly called together and engaged in an expedition. At the helm are Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren (Bill Paxton), Lieutenant Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaughey), and Chief Klough (Harvey Keitel). Other pivotal crew members include Tyler's Annapolis pal Lieutenant Pete Emmett (Jon Bon Jovi, proving his acting mettle) and Lieutenant Hirsch (Jake Weber), who, along with Marine Major Coonan (David Keith), organizes the mission. As much of the movie takes place in a submarine during WWII, there are inevitable comparisons with the technical masterpiece Das Boot, but Mostow's masterfully shot tale can hold its own.
McConaughey's Tyler is believably earnest as he comes to grips with the reality, tragedy, and consequence of being in command. While this explosion-filled film consistently maintains its tense pace (as did the underrated Breakdown), it also presents with surprising restraint a genuine human story--and the remarkable journey of an unexpected hero.
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- Midnight Express (1978) VHS - (NTSC Format - USA & Canada)
- Midnight Express (1978) DVD - (Region 1 - USA & Canada)
- Midnight Express (1978) DVD - (Region 2 - Europe, Middle East & Japan only)
Starring Brad Davis, Randy Quaid
A young American boy is caught smuggling dope and sentenced to life imprisonment in a Turkish jail.Alan Parker's 1978 movie remains a masterpiece of exploitation cinema. From the stupendously misleading "based on a true story" legend (most of the gooshy stuff as well as the toning down of Billy's gay affair is script invention) through incredible racism (Amnesty International pulled out of a publicity deal with the filmmakers when they saw the flick), borderline homophobia and ultra-stylish gratuitous violence, Parker retains a vice-like grip on his audience's emotions, building both tension in the stunningly realised arrest and escape sequences as well as a mounting sense of sympathy for Hayes (Brad Davis who died in 1991 from AIDS). Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning script displays the explosive bombast that would typify his later directorial work, particularly in a fight sequence in which Hayes bites out a guard's tongue. Incidentally, the Turkish authorities still have a warrant out for the real Hayes' arrest. God knows how they feel about Alan Parker.
****Special features on the Europe DVD version: Old school trailer plus a short interview with the real Billy Hayes made at the time in which he visits the set in Malta sporting a perm that many would say justified incarceration.
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- The Tragedy of Flight 103 (1990) - VHS - (NTSC Format - USA & Canada)
Starring Ned Beatty, Peter Boyle
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747 carrying 259 people on a London-JFK flight, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all passengers, plus 11 people on the ground. Now that we know flight 103 was brought down by a bomb, this movie shows, several years after the event, the threats of Pan Am safety and the spirit of vengeance from the Middle East after an Iran Air airbus is brought down by mistake by an American missile in 1988, leading finally to the transfer of a bomb disguised as a radio at Frankfurt, then on to flight 103.
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