49 up Documentary
The seventh part of the extraordinary television documentary series that documents the attitudes, personalities and lives of 14 Britons of different backgrounds at seven year intervals.
By the early 21st century, many of the original participants had dropped out. Others had begun to critique the negative impact of the show on their own perception of their lives, questioning the value of continuing, thus taking the series into self-relective new territory. Funny, inspiring and heartbreaking - this captures the course of life in all its twists and turns of both good and bad fortune. Director: Michael Apted
The ascent of man Documentary
Renowned TV series from the era of epic-length documentaries, this analyses the progress of mankind through scientific and technological achievement.
Writer Jacob Bronowski gives a uniquely eloquent appraisal of developments in mathematics, art, physics, chemistry, and medicine through the ages, revelling in the telling details of geniuses who have gotten us to where we are today. Comparable in some ways with Kenneth Clarke's “Civilisation”, and while equally poetic is far looser and anecodotal in nature.
Amazing journey: the story of The Who Music
An ‘authorized and definitive’ anthology of The Who, this covers all the bases in the band’s legend-making, four-decade music career, recapturing the energy and electricity of their stadia-filling live performance.
Includes the feature-length documentary profile AMAZING JOURNEY, rare historical interviews and footage, a long-lost Railway Hotel performance from 1964, and more.
Directed by Murray Lerner, Paul Crowder
The trial Film
Welles makes a visual and intellectual feast of Kafka's novel about a man accused of crimes that remain unexplained. Anthony Perkins is suitably twitchy as things go from suspicious to surreal.
U2 18 videos Music
A compilation of selected music videos (actually 19 in total in the main programme) from Irish rockers U2, dating from 1982 through to their 2006 collaboration with Green Day. This DVD also includes various extras, including alternative versions, live clips and 'making of' featurettes.
The frighteners Film
A big-budget Hollywood hootenanny made in Miramar and starring Lyttleton harbour, this is a must-see for any self-respecting patriot let alone movie-buff. More a fantasy-comedy than horror pic, it's a ghost-train ride packed with quirky flourishes and comic invention.
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs, John Astin, Jake Busey
Our people, our century Documentary
Major, award-winning series tells the story of New Zealand and its people throughout the 20th century. Six episodes across three discs.
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Upstairs, downstairs Series 1 -3 (TV)
Famous 70s soap opera about the class struggle in a household of servants and gentry around the turn of the 20th century. Set a new standard in smallscreen drama with its much-loved collection of characters.
The mother Film
An unforgettable British drama about an aging widow, alienated from her ambitious son and neurotic daughter, who confronts the vacuum of her life after her husband dies, and finds passion regained in an unlikely relationship with a much younger tradesman.
Cast: Anne Reid, Daniel Craig, Stephen Mackintosh, Peter Vaughan
O brother where art thou? Film
Stealing a plot from Homer's 'Odyssey', George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson play fugitives from a chain gang who have 'mythic' encounters with various folk en route to radio stardom in depression-era Mississippi.
Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Charles Durning, Michael Badalucco
Buena Vista Social Club Music
A handful of sprightly elderly Cuban musicians assembled in 1996 by guitarist Ry Cooder produced, with their soulful, melodic jazz sound, the biggest selling World-Music album ever.
Documenting the making of their second album, dir. Wim Wenders interviewed the various members, most of them past retirement age (with one energetic guitarist in his 90s!), about finding success at last, and providing a window into the dilapidated yet romantic world of contemporary Cuba.
Director: Wim Wenders
The history of rock ‘n’ roll Music
An epic and comprehensive journey through the history of rock music from the 1950s to the mid-1990s, featuring an unprecendented number of talking heads and musical clips. 10 episodes over 5 discs.
Features: Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Madonna, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Ray Davies, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Prince, Iggy Pop, Sting, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Bono , Joe Strummer, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend
Rain Film
Adapted from the acclaimed novel by Kirsty Gunn, this visually crafted evocation of a seaside holiday in the 1970s – bach, suntan lotion, whiskey sours – gathers some serious talent to unfold its melancholy tale of a family disintegrating in the harsh light of the NZ summer.
Cast: Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, Sarah Peirse, Marton Csokas, Alistair Browning, Aaron Murphy
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