Actor Sean Connery, the star of writer/director John Boorman's bizarre 1974 fantasy feature "Zardoz", depicting a post apocalyptic world where barbarians are granted an eternal life, has died in Barbados at the age of 90:
"...in 2293, the human population is divided into the immortal 'Eternals' and mortal 'Brutals." The Brutals live in a wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in the 'Vortex', leading a luxurious but aimless existence on the grounds of a country estate.
"The connection between the two groups is through 'Brutal Exterminators', who kill and terrorize other Brutals at the orders of a huge flying stone head called 'Zardoz', which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect.
"'Zed' (Connery), a Brutal Exterminator, hides aboard Zardoz during one trip, temporarily killing its Eternal operator-creator 'Arthur Frayn' (Niall Buggy).
"Arriving in the Vortex, Zed meets two Eternals – 'Consuella' (Charlotte Rampling...
"...in 2293, the human population is divided into the immortal 'Eternals' and mortal 'Brutals." The Brutals live in a wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in the 'Vortex', leading a luxurious but aimless existence on the grounds of a country estate.
"The connection between the two groups is through 'Brutal Exterminators', who kill and terrorize other Brutals at the orders of a huge flying stone head called 'Zardoz', which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect.
"'Zed' (Connery), a Brutal Exterminator, hides aboard Zardoz during one trip, temporarily killing its Eternal operator-creator 'Arthur Frayn' (Niall Buggy).
"Arriving in the Vortex, Zed meets two Eternals – 'Consuella' (Charlotte Rampling...
- 10/31/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Stars: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton, Sally Anne Newton, Niall Buggy, Bosco Hogan, Jessica Swift, Bairbre Dowling, Christopher Casson, Reginald Jarman | Written and Directed by John Boorman
To many, Zardoz simply reminds them of Sean Connery in a red bikini but in truth the film is much more than that. With Arrow Video’s new Blu-ray we have a chance to revisit a unique science fiction film that really deserves to be watched and not be mocked in the [out of context way] it always seems to be.
In the year 2293 society has broken down into three distinct classes. The Brutals work the land and are forbidden from reproducing. The Executioners are brutal overseers who rule by the gun, and the Eternals, protected in a force field enclosed Eden of immortality. When a Brutal, Zed (Sean Connery) find his way into the Eternals protected little world he threatens the status quo...
To many, Zardoz simply reminds them of Sean Connery in a red bikini but in truth the film is much more than that. With Arrow Video’s new Blu-ray we have a chance to revisit a unique science fiction film that really deserves to be watched and not be mocked in the [out of context way] it always seems to be.
In the year 2293 society has broken down into three distinct classes. The Brutals work the land and are forbidden from reproducing. The Executioners are brutal overseers who rule by the gun, and the Eternals, protected in a force field enclosed Eden of immortality. When a Brutal, Zed (Sean Connery) find his way into the Eternals protected little world he threatens the status quo...
- 9/14/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
We pay tribute to Brian Clemens, a screenwriter and producer whose work lit up 1970s cult TV and beyond...
Brian Clemens, who died earlier this week aged 83, was a highly respected screenwriter and producer both for TV and Film. He will chiefly be remembered for his work on The Avengers, The New Avengers and The Professionals but his credits were numerous and encapsulated a real golden age of cult, escapist television from the 1950s onwards.
Clemens was born in Croydon in July 1931. He spent his National Service as a Weapons Training Instructor. After spending time as a copywriter, he established himself as a scriptwriter - sometimes using the pseudonym "Tony O'Grady" - O'Grady being his mother's maiden name. He received his first commission from the BBC at the age of 24 - a thriller called Valid For Single Journey Only. He went on to write for many of the big TV...
Brian Clemens, who died earlier this week aged 83, was a highly respected screenwriter and producer both for TV and Film. He will chiefly be remembered for his work on The Avengers, The New Avengers and The Professionals but his credits were numerous and encapsulated a real golden age of cult, escapist television from the 1950s onwards.
Clemens was born in Croydon in July 1931. He spent his National Service as a Weapons Training Instructor. After spending time as a copywriter, he established himself as a scriptwriter - sometimes using the pseudonym "Tony O'Grady" - O'Grady being his mother's maiden name. He received his first commission from the BBC at the age of 24 - a thriller called Valid For Single Journey Only. He went on to write for many of the big TV...
- 1/14/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Acting partners and husband and wife Pauline Collins and John Alderton star in these comedic short stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. The flavor and fun is just as fresh now as when these were first broadcast in 1975-1978 and series one of the set has the bonus of the late author.s introductions to each story. This is a must have set for fans of British comedy. I had my introduction to the zany comedy of P. G. Wodehouse years ago when an uncle gave me .Uncle Fred in Springtime. to read. I was hooked and read everything Wodehouse I could find. It was delightful when PBS began having Wodehouse stories as Wodehouse Playhouse where we could see these daft...
- 2/8/2013
- by June L.
- Monsters and Critics
Poirot
Kieran Kinsella
Acorn Media have released numerous Agatha Christie tales on DVD but this month they are upping the ante by releasing a box set that is like manna from Heaven for fans of Britain’s favorite mystery writer. Their six disc, 16 hour long, January 29 release contains some of the best loved stories involving both Marple and Poirot. Two super sleuths squeezed into one novel sized box.
The six Poirot tales include my personal favorite – The ABC Murders, and Christie’s best loved tale – Murder on the Orient Express. I had never seen Four and Twenty Blackbirds or The Mysterious Affair at Styles before but both were very good. The former revolved around the double murder of two elderly brothers while the latter involved the murder of an early 20th century “cougar” who may or may not have been “done in” by her toy boy. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas...
Kieran Kinsella
Acorn Media have released numerous Agatha Christie tales on DVD but this month they are upping the ante by releasing a box set that is like manna from Heaven for fans of Britain’s favorite mystery writer. Their six disc, 16 hour long, January 29 release contains some of the best loved stories involving both Marple and Poirot. Two super sleuths squeezed into one novel sized box.
The six Poirot tales include my personal favorite – The ABC Murders, and Christie’s best loved tale – Murder on the Orient Express. I had never seen Four and Twenty Blackbirds or The Mysterious Affair at Styles before but both were very good. The former revolved around the double murder of two elderly brothers while the latter involved the murder of an early 20th century “cougar” who may or may not have been “done in” by her toy boy. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas...
- 1/29/2013
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Pauline Collins has just had another big break – playing an ex-opera singer with dementia in Dustin Hoffman's directing debut. She talks to Simon Hattenstone about her mother, escaping Shirley Valentine – and the baby she gave up
"Surprises," says Pauline Collins. "That's what I love about this business. Even at my age, you can get surprises." The surprise in question was a request from Dustin Hoffman to star in Quartet, his debut as a director. "I thought, he doesn't even know me." And actually he didn't. But Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay had recommended her, and Hoffman watched her give an interview on the red carpet for some movie event and decided he wanted her.
He phoned her and they chatted for two hours, and then he offered her the part. Collins plays Cissy, a former opera singer with vascular dementia living in a home for retired musicians, in this gentle,...
"Surprises," says Pauline Collins. "That's what I love about this business. Even at my age, you can get surprises." The surprise in question was a request from Dustin Hoffman to star in Quartet, his debut as a director. "I thought, he doesn't even know me." And actually he didn't. But Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay had recommended her, and Hoffman watched her give an interview on the red carpet for some movie event and decided he wanted her.
He phoned her and they chatted for two hours, and then he offered her the part. Collins plays Cissy, a former opera singer with vascular dementia living in a home for retired musicians, in this gentle,...
- 12/13/2012
- by Simon Hattenstone
- The Guardian - Film News
Trevor Eve Kidnap and Ransom
By K Kinsella
Acorn Media’s popular North American British TV streaming service has expanded its online content to include no less than 18 full seasons of the most popular UK shows. The channel’s current line-up includes Cadfael, Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Marple. On 29 October, Acorn plans to add the latest Midsomer Murders stories to its already formidable line-up. For a low annual fee of just $29.99, fans of British TV based in both Canada and the U.S. can gain access to Acorn TV which is available through Roku and a number of other mediums. If streaming isn’t your thing, Acorn are also set to release another batch of hit dramas on DVD.
Kidnap and Ransom is the pick of Acorn’s 2 October releases. The DVD set contains both seasons of the popular ITV show in which hostage negotiator Dominic King (Trevor Eve...
By K Kinsella
Acorn Media’s popular North American British TV streaming service has expanded its online content to include no less than 18 full seasons of the most popular UK shows. The channel’s current line-up includes Cadfael, Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Marple. On 29 October, Acorn plans to add the latest Midsomer Murders stories to its already formidable line-up. For a low annual fee of just $29.99, fans of British TV based in both Canada and the U.S. can gain access to Acorn TV which is available through Roku and a number of other mediums. If streaming isn’t your thing, Acorn are also set to release another batch of hit dramas on DVD.
Kidnap and Ransom is the pick of Acorn’s 2 October releases. The DVD set contains both seasons of the popular ITV show in which hostage negotiator Dominic King (Trevor Eve...
- 10/3/2012
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Actor known for her roles in The Ipcress File and Crossroads
The actor Sue Lloyd, who has died aged 72, exuded glamour and sophistication on screen in the 1960s, before finding renewed fame two decades later as Barbara Hunter in 714 episodes of the TV soap opera Crossroads. But it took two attempts by the serial's producers to persuade her to join a programme that was roundly abused by the critics.
"My initial reaction was to be a bit sniffy about it," Lloyd recalled in her 1998 autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. "The soap was renowned for its wobbly scenery, bizarre storylines and regular slaughtering by the critics. Why would I, just back from filming [Revenge of] The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers in the south of France and about to embark on the comedy The Upchat Line with John Alderton, want to get involved in a project like that?...
The actor Sue Lloyd, who has died aged 72, exuded glamour and sophistication on screen in the 1960s, before finding renewed fame two decades later as Barbara Hunter in 714 episodes of the TV soap opera Crossroads. But it took two attempts by the serial's producers to persuade her to join a programme that was roundly abused by the critics.
"My initial reaction was to be a bit sniffy about it," Lloyd recalled in her 1998 autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. "The soap was renowned for its wobbly scenery, bizarre storylines and regular slaughtering by the critics. Why would I, just back from filming [Revenge of] The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers in the south of France and about to embark on the comedy The Upchat Line with John Alderton, want to get involved in a project like that?...
- 10/23/2011
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Calendar Girls".
In 1997's "The Full Monty", it was a bunch of down-and-out lads in the urban blight of Sheffield who danced naked because they were unemployed. In "Calendar Girls", it's a group of middle-aged ladies who get their kit off in beautiful rural Yorkshire.
Far from the ranks of the unemployed, they're industrious members of the Women's Institute. These doughty women of a certain age pose in the nude not because they're broke, but to raise money for leukemia research. It's a real-life story adapted into a grown-up comedy that is warm, winning and sexy. Call it "The Full Auntie".
With a rich mix of characters, emotions and reactions that all couples will recognize, and a clever nod to the younger generation, "Calendar Girls" has universal wit and wisdom that should make it a crowd-pleaser everywhere. The film opens here Sept. 5 and in North America on Dec. 19.
The aunts, mothers, wives and widows who make up the "Calendar Girls" are played by a roster of fine British performers who, along with the actors who play the long-suffering men in their lives, combine for an enchanting ensemble performance. Helen Mirren (Chris) and Julie Walters (Annie) play the best-pal ringleaders of the more spirited members of the Women's Institute in the picturesque village of Knapely on the Yorkshire dales. Easygoing Chris is not past submitting a ready-made cake from Marks & Spencer in the baking competition at the annual fete, but sober Annie usually provides the brakes for her wilder schemes. When Annie's husband dies of leukemia, however, Chris' notion of a WI nude calendar captures her imagination.
The real-life calendar ladies did end up becoming famous, going on "The Tonight Show"and raising thousands for charity, and the film follows all of that. But the rest is fiction, and clever stuff it is. Producers Nick Barton and Suzanne Mackie, writers Juliette Towhidi and Tim Firth and director Nigel Cole have combined to develop a fable rooted in character and firm plot development.
In many ways, "Calendar Girls" is a better movie than "The Full Monty" because it doesn't just take a moment in time and freeze it the way the earlier movie did. For the lads in Sheffield, nothing much was going to change after they stripped off, whereas you have the sense that things will never be quite the same in the village of Knapely -- and for the better.
It's a triumph that there is nothing sniggering or preachy in a film that deals with breaching conventions of decorum and explores how the bonds of marriage and friendship can be tested by acts of freedom and encounters with fame.
The gags will mostly travel well, though only British viewers will truly appreciate a line delivered by one of the husbands over breakfast when he looks up from the country's most hidebound and illiberal newspaper: "You're nude in the Telegraph, dear."
Mirren and Walters play against type very well, with the "Gosford Park" star shedding her often dour screen presence for a lighthearted and captivating performance and the animated star of "Educating Rita" showing a calmer more complex side. They will each be in the running when awards season comes around.
Penelope Wilton is also standout as a devoted wife who discovers that her husband is having an affair, and John Alderton is excellent in the small but crucial role of Annie's dying husband.
Cinematographer Ashley Rowe captures both the beauty and aching loneliness of the Yorkshire countryside and lights the Southern California sequences to heighten the glare of sudden and transitory fame. Patrick Doyle's typically melodic score cannily plays to the landscape of the ladies' minds rather than the cliche of their rural English environment.
CALENDAR GIRLS
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures presents a Harbour Pictures production
Credits:
Director: Nigel Cole
Screenwriters: Juliette Towhidi, Tim Firth
Producers: Nick Barton, Suzanne Mackie
Music: Patrick Doyle
Editor: Michael Parker
Director of photography: Ashley Rowe
Production designer: Martin Childs
Costume designer: Frances Tempest
Cast:
Chris: Helen Mirren
Annie: Julie Walters
Ruth: Penelope Wilton
Jessie: Annette Crosbie
Celia: Celia Imrie
Cora: Linda Bassett
Kathy: Georgie Glen
May: Angela Curran
Trudy: Rosalind March
Rod: Ciaran Hinds
John: John Alderton
Lawrence: Philip Glenister
Jem: John-Paul McLeod
Marie: Geraldine James
Gaz: Marc Pickering
Eddie: George Costigan
Richard: Graham Crowden
Frank: John Fortune
Danny: John Sharian...
In 1997's "The Full Monty", it was a bunch of down-and-out lads in the urban blight of Sheffield who danced naked because they were unemployed. In "Calendar Girls", it's a group of middle-aged ladies who get their kit off in beautiful rural Yorkshire.
Far from the ranks of the unemployed, they're industrious members of the Women's Institute. These doughty women of a certain age pose in the nude not because they're broke, but to raise money for leukemia research. It's a real-life story adapted into a grown-up comedy that is warm, winning and sexy. Call it "The Full Auntie".
With a rich mix of characters, emotions and reactions that all couples will recognize, and a clever nod to the younger generation, "Calendar Girls" has universal wit and wisdom that should make it a crowd-pleaser everywhere. The film opens here Sept. 5 and in North America on Dec. 19.
The aunts, mothers, wives and widows who make up the "Calendar Girls" are played by a roster of fine British performers who, along with the actors who play the long-suffering men in their lives, combine for an enchanting ensemble performance. Helen Mirren (Chris) and Julie Walters (Annie) play the best-pal ringleaders of the more spirited members of the Women's Institute in the picturesque village of Knapely on the Yorkshire dales. Easygoing Chris is not past submitting a ready-made cake from Marks & Spencer in the baking competition at the annual fete, but sober Annie usually provides the brakes for her wilder schemes. When Annie's husband dies of leukemia, however, Chris' notion of a WI nude calendar captures her imagination.
The real-life calendar ladies did end up becoming famous, going on "The Tonight Show"and raising thousands for charity, and the film follows all of that. But the rest is fiction, and clever stuff it is. Producers Nick Barton and Suzanne Mackie, writers Juliette Towhidi and Tim Firth and director Nigel Cole have combined to develop a fable rooted in character and firm plot development.
In many ways, "Calendar Girls" is a better movie than "The Full Monty" because it doesn't just take a moment in time and freeze it the way the earlier movie did. For the lads in Sheffield, nothing much was going to change after they stripped off, whereas you have the sense that things will never be quite the same in the village of Knapely -- and for the better.
It's a triumph that there is nothing sniggering or preachy in a film that deals with breaching conventions of decorum and explores how the bonds of marriage and friendship can be tested by acts of freedom and encounters with fame.
The gags will mostly travel well, though only British viewers will truly appreciate a line delivered by one of the husbands over breakfast when he looks up from the country's most hidebound and illiberal newspaper: "You're nude in the Telegraph, dear."
Mirren and Walters play against type very well, with the "Gosford Park" star shedding her often dour screen presence for a lighthearted and captivating performance and the animated star of "Educating Rita" showing a calmer more complex side. They will each be in the running when awards season comes around.
Penelope Wilton is also standout as a devoted wife who discovers that her husband is having an affair, and John Alderton is excellent in the small but crucial role of Annie's dying husband.
Cinematographer Ashley Rowe captures both the beauty and aching loneliness of the Yorkshire countryside and lights the Southern California sequences to heighten the glare of sudden and transitory fame. Patrick Doyle's typically melodic score cannily plays to the landscape of the ladies' minds rather than the cliche of their rural English environment.
CALENDAR GIRLS
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures presents a Harbour Pictures production
Credits:
Director: Nigel Cole
Screenwriters: Juliette Towhidi, Tim Firth
Producers: Nick Barton, Suzanne Mackie
Music: Patrick Doyle
Editor: Michael Parker
Director of photography: Ashley Rowe
Production designer: Martin Childs
Costume designer: Frances Tempest
Cast:
Chris: Helen Mirren
Annie: Julie Walters
Ruth: Penelope Wilton
Jessie: Annette Crosbie
Celia: Celia Imrie
Cora: Linda Bassett
Kathy: Georgie Glen
May: Angela Curran
Trudy: Rosalind March
Rod: Ciaran Hinds
John: John Alderton
Lawrence: Philip Glenister
Jem: John-Paul McLeod
Marie: Geraldine James
Gaz: Marc Pickering
Eddie: George Costigan
Richard: Graham Crowden
Frank: John Fortune
Danny: John Sharian...
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