“Life Is Sweet” (1990) Andy (played by Jim Broadbent) and Wendy (played by Alison Steadman) have been married for more than 20 years and live a fairly standard life in North London with their two daughters in their early twenties, twins Nat (played by Claire Skinner) and Nicola (played by Jane Horrocks). Not all is perfect in the family as their individual quirks and weaknesses get to the best of them. Andy is a senior chef at a catering facility though he has a problem not finishing DIY projects at home, including finishing the patio and working on restoring a dilapidated food van which is his latest acquisition from his friend Patsy (played by Stephen Rea). Nat is fairly independent working as a plumber, but she has no prospects of boys or having a family in the future, more looking towards traveling the world. Nicola is battling bulimia and also shutting herself from the world. Unlike Nat who is working, Nicola stays at ho...

Paul Hemdale (Lukas Hassel) and his wife Jennifer (Ghosts of Mars' Natasha Henstridge) make a killing on the purchase of a suburban McMansion that was abandoned fully-furnished by its owner Maggie Black (Insidious' Lin Shaye) after her granddaughter Dawn (Alex Rinehart) was badly burned in a freak accident involving the furnace in the basement, a fact reluctantly disclosed by driven real estate agent Monica (Tromeo and Juliet's Tiffany Shepis). In tracing a stray set of pipes from the furnace, pervy handyman Oscar (The Frightening's Robert Donavan...

Kill, Baby… Kill AKA Operazione Paura (Mario Bava, 1966) In a 19th Century village, a young woman, Irena Hollander (Mirella Panfili), appears to commit suicide by impaling herself on a rusted iron fence. Dr Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) arrives in the village: he has been asked to provide an autopsy on the dead girl’s body and co-operate with Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli) and the burgermeister, Karl (Luciano Catenacci). Eswai arrives in the village just as the villagers are burying Irena’s body; Eswai stops the funeral and confers with Kruger. The pair agree that the villagers seem in an extraordinary hurry to inter the corpse and avoid an autopsy. Kruger reveals to Eswai that before Irena’s death, she sent a letter to Kruger that described a ‘ring of murder’ that centred on the mansion of Baroness Graps (Giovanna Galletti). Kruger is assisted in the autopsy of Irena by Monica Schuftan (

"The Story of Kon Ichikawa" 「市川崑物語」 (2006) In 2006, film director Kon Ichikawa was looking at an incredibly busy year. He directed "The Inugamis", a remake of his groundbreaking and iconic 1976 feature "The Inugami Clan", directing one segment to the ombibus film "Ten Nights of Dreams" with the segment of second night, and being part of the documentary profile "The Story of Kon Ichikawa", a biography directed by Shunji Iwai. All three productions would open within two months after his 91st birthday. "The Story of Kon Ichikawa" opened on December 9th, 2006 in select arthouse cinemas, "The Inugamis" opened wide in cinemas across Japan on December 16th, 2006 and "Ten Nights of Dreams" on January 27th, 2007. With more than 70 films directed in a career that started in pre-war Japan, the master director had craft...

"Style of Kon Ichikawa" Art + CM + Animation (1936-2000) Filmmaker Kon Ichikawa's career in cinema spanned more than 70 years, from his entry as an artist in 1933 to his final directorial feature film released in 2006, with more than 70 features in his filmography. And while that seems like a lot that doesn't cover even half of his other output. Animation, TV productions, commissioned documentary works, television commercials are some of the other arts that the director had dipped into over the years and he was known for his versatility in style. The director's foray into filmmaking was not live action cinema but as an artist in animated shorts which where heavily influenced by Walt Disney's innovative cartoons. The early animated shorts that Ichikawa worked on were surprisingly on par with what many of the American studios were doing at the time, though they had significant limitations with technology and budgets resulting in a lot more use of repeated cells and a lack of color productions. "Shinsetsu Kachi Kachi Yama" is one of the few animated works that has survived from Ichikawa's time at J.O. Studios. Whi...

Fulvia Bolk (Flash Gordon's Mariangela Melato) is a highly successful post-industrial industrialist, meaning that she has discovered that there is more money to be made in saving the Earth than in destroying it. Dedicating her leisure time to ecological causes, she has also formed a small private company to "clean the world of shit" by abducting terrorist Giuseppe Catana (Lamerica's Michele Placido) to send a message out to other kidnappers for profit as well as to recover with interest the roughly one hundred million lire that her industrialist colleagues have paid terrorists in ransoms for their love ones. Hiring one-eyed, one-armed, one-footed blitz expert Salvatore Cantalamessa AKA Turi (Good Morning, Night's Roberto Herlitzka) to undertake the highly illegal operation, she has Catana captured in a raid on...

“Did she? Didn't she? Who was to blame?”  Ah, a tale of murder….or is it? Or is it a tale of unrequited love gone wrong? Of all the ways to kill a person, poisoning is easily the most insidious. It is frequently a chosen method of predominantly female killers as well. History is loaded with tales of female poisoners that includes Lucrezia Borgia, Mary Ann Cotton, Nannie Doss, and North Carolina’s own, Velma Barfield. What is there about this style of crime that has such allure to the female species? Back in the day arsenic was the usual instrument of slow death; it was commonly used for a number of ordinary household uses including roach and rat extermination and was readily available from the local pharmacy or hardware store. But there is another more subtle motivation in this method of dispatch; the woman usually is the perpetrator of the crime, casually dispensing the poison in the form of food or drink, playing the heartfelt role of caretaker, while at the same time being the killer; hidden in ...

Shooting a low-budget feature film can usually be done in around 16 days, more or less. Some sadists can do it in as few as seven, while other shoots may become bloated due to factors beyond the production’s control. But in the land of do-it-yourself, no-budget filmmaking the length of a shoot is often dictated by the availability of funds… and that can leave some homegrown pictures twisting in the wind for a long while. Micro-budget filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter rose to some prominence after making such a feature, “The Dead Next Door” (1989). An epic zombie film heavily inspired by all things George A. Romero, Bookwalter’s micro-budget masterpiece has a scope to it that few films of such limited means have achieved. But it took a long time to see it through to the end; four years, to be exact, as filming began in 1985 and it wasn’t until 1989 that the Little Cult Classic That Could finally met with audiences. After struggling to complete his intended vision, a filmmaker with some insight into the difficulties of completing a feature on little more than ambition and generous donations came on board to assist Bookwalter – and that man wa...

The prose and peculiarity of H.P. Lovecraft’s work has proven to be difficult for feature film adaptation, with only a handful of titles – at best – getting it mostly right. Slavish translation would be pretty much impossible, and I doubt even Guillermo del Toro could have pulled it off with his unmade epic take on “At the Mountains of Madness”. The best most filmmakers can hope to achieve – and viewers hope to experience – is the essence of Lovecraft; the sensation of being in a world of arcane magic and ancient gods. For the most part, genre heavyweight Dan O’Bannon’s “The Resurrected” (1991) gets it right, immersing audiences in Lovecraft’s backyard, literally, as the film takes place in Rhode Island (it was lensed in Canada, though). The foggy New England countryside and forested landscapes are perfectly replicated, inspiring a good East Coast chill and springing up that back-of-the-mind fear that something could be – and is – lurking just outside a smoky tree line. After an unexplained, bloody crime scene the film flashes back a few weeks, to when Claire Ward (

In 2014 Marvel surprised everyone with "Guardians of the Galaxy" elevating formally "B" and "C" list characters front and center in a big budget Phase Two Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Off beat horror director James Gunn was hired to bring the adventure to life and boy did he nail it. The film ended up being one of the best entries in the MCU, delighting critics and fans, making a boatload of money, and introducing a new generation of fans to the loveable and mischievous cast of characters. Here we are now, Phase Three, and the long-awaited and hotly anticipated follow-up finally hits home video after a successful theatrical run surpassing the stellar box office of the first film. Taking place right after the first film, here we see The Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) - no...

Nostalgia can be a strong muse and that is what led to the creation of this film. Will Sheff, lead singer for the band, Okkervil River, channels this feeling for the 80’s and the films of that period into this short film. Two young boys (Dustin Courmoyer and Griffin Gamache), share a bond through their love of drawing, science fiction films, and the woods in this almost wordless film. Set in 1987 in rural Meridian, New Hampshire, this is the recreation of the director’s childhood memories. The plot, which is very much undefined, is that the two boys, one an isolated loner, the other a new comer to town, quickly become friends and meet an imaginary creature in the woods. The film is not dialogue driven, but is essentially a mood piece, that uses music and imagery to move the film forward. I can understand what the director was trying to achieve through this film, but I believe that he did not accomplish what he had in mind, even though there obviously was a lot of effort put into trying to recapture a magical time in the past. Very few films ...

When their professor (Kingpin's Vanessa Angel) decides to forgo the final exam and assign them a final project in which they are to "rediscover a moment in history," six students – sensitive hunk Jake (1313: Night of the Widow's Jake Lockett), bitchy debutante Blair (Entourage's Rebekah Graf), ditzy pledge Crissy (The Hunger Games' Kalia Prescott), pot-smoking wannabe filmmaker Kenny (Were the World Mine's Parker Croft), trying-to-be-anything-but-token-black-guy Irving (

The Day of the Jackal (Fred Zinnemann, 1973) After a botched attempt on the life of President Charles de Gaulle that is led by Lieutenant Colonel Bastien-Thiery (Jean Sorel), motivated by de Gaulle’s decision to grant independence to Algeria, the leaders of the OAS (Organisation armée secrete) – Rodin (Eric Porter), Montclair (David Swift) and Cassin (Dennis Carley) – seek refuge in Austria. From their hideout there, the OAS decide to hire a professional assassin from outside the country to ‘hit’ de Gaulle. They commission an assassin, codenamed ‘the Jackal’ (Edward Fox), to act out this task. The Jackal appears for all intents and purposes to be an English gentleman. The Jackal visits an English village cemetery and identifies the grave of a child who, if alive, would be a similar age to the Jackal himself. The Jackal then acquires the child’s birth certificate and uses this to acquire a passport in the name of Paul Oliver Duggan. He visits Genova, paying a gunsmith (Cyril Cusack) to make a highly unique and concealable rifle, telescopic sight and silen...

In a series of delirious, unreliably subjective memories of King Ferdinando Barone of Naples (The Perfume of a Lady in Black's Mario Scaccia) on his deathbed, he flashes back to his carefree youth as a young rascal (Ciao, Professore!'s Adriano Pantaleo) leading a gaggle of mischievous boys when he learns that his father Carlo (Gerardo Gargiulo) has been made King of Spain and that he has become King of Naples. Growing into a young man (Inspector Nardone's Sergio Assisi), his only interests are in hunting and fucking, leaving the governing to his underlings ("The advisors advise, councilors council, commanders command…"). His is aware, however, that Queen Maria Theresa of the Austrian House of Hapsburg (

Following on from a twist at the end of the last episode of season two, the third season of The Flash weaves into its season-long story arc the consequences of actions and choices that people make. It's a great backdrop to the week-by-week action, exploring the notion that some things can't be undone. Following on from a stellar first season, the entertaining second season of The Flash threw an absolute stinker into the works in its closing scene of the finale, setting up the theme for this third season. As a fan of the series, I was unimpressed with the closing teaser and the implications it had for the third season's story. I was then pleased when this season came around and the events that unfolded in that scene were not brushed away or neatly tidied up - clearly what had happened should not have occurred, and things were messed up as a result. There is no easy fix for the decisions that were made. This theme of choices and their results permeates throughout the season, reoccurring in the various relationship dynamics of the main characters - most notably between Barry and Iris - and leading to a much deeper and more fraught finale, raising the bar higher still for the forthcoming fourth season. Against this backdrop, The...

Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role: Giancarlo Giannini (nominated), Best Director: Lina Wertmüller (nominated), Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Lina Wertmüller (nominated), and Best Foreign Language Film (nominated) - Academy Awards, 1977 Golden Flobe for Best Foreign Film (nominated) - Golden Globes, 1977 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures: Lina Wertmüller (nominated) - Directors Guild of America, 1977 Plate for Best New Actress: Francesca Marciano (won) - Golden Goblets, Italy 1976 NYFCC Award for Best Film, Best Director: Lina Wertmüller, and Best Screenplay: Lina Wertmüller (3rd Place) - New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 1977 Neapolitan hood Pasqualino Frafuso (Life is Beautiful's Giancarlo Giannini) – nicknamed "Settebellezze" (seven beauties)...

The Ghoul (Gareth Tunley, 2016) Police detective Chris (Tom Meeten) arrives in London. He meets with a colleague, Jim (Dan Renton Skinner). They enter a house where a shooting has taken place – only this one is, in Jim’s words, ‘a fucking doozy’: a man and a woman were apparently shot multiple times but neither of them died. After mulling over the crime scene, Chris decides the best course of action is to investigate the property manager responsible for the house; the property manager is a man named Coulson (Rufus Jones), who has a reputation for ‘hang[ing] around criminals and crime scenes’. Coulson is under therapy for what he claims is manic depression, though Kath (Alice Lowe), a psychologist and friend of Chris, suggests that Coulson may be faking these symptoms because ‘he’s a ghoul’. Deciding to go undercover as a prospective patient of Coulson’s psychotherapist, Fisher (Niamh Cusack), Chris asks Kath to advise him on a specific type of depression, dysthymia, so that he may fake the symptoms. Chris attends a series of sessions with Fisher, living in a bedsit. H...

"Azure Striker: Gunvolt - Striker Pack" 「蒼き雷霆（アームドブルー）ガンヴォルト - ストライカーパック」 (2017) For the sake of the review, the game, characters, and terms will be referred to their English titles and names rather than the original Japanese titles and names. In 2014, Inti Creates released the throwback platform game "Azure Striker: Gunvolt" exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS. Taking inspiration from the Capcom "Mega Man X" series, it was a retro 2D sidescroller where the player controlled Gunvolt AKA "GV" who could choose multiple stages to clear and acquire special attacks used by those stage bosses. Graphically speaking "Azure Striker: Gunvolt" also looked similar to the "Mega Man X" series using retro 16 bit style or early 32 bit style for another throwback to retro gaming. The game was highly acclaimed and a Windows version would be released the following year, but Inti Creates was not done there. The anticipated sequel "Azure S...

"Opening Night" (2016) Former Broadway singer turned stage manager, Nick (Topher Grace) has the odds stacked against him backstage on opening night of the new Broadway Musical "One Hit Wonderland". He must corral the eccentric cast and crew after learning that his ex-girlfriend Chloe (Alona Tai) had a drunken fling with the star JC Chasez (of NSync playing himself).From a prima donna back-up dancer (Taye Diggs), to a temperamental producer (Rob Riggle), to his leading lady (Anne Heche) suffering one accident after another, Nick does everything he can to make sure "The show must go the f#&k on" in this raunchy musical comedy. A number of films have been made about the musical theater's behind the scenes antics. From "The Producers" (1967)...

"Tudawali" (1988) Ernie Dingo delivers an outstanding portrayal of Robert Tudawali, the first Aboriginal film star, whose lead role in "Jedda" (1955) is iconic in Australian cinema. The film traces the life of Tudawali from the moment he's selected to play the lead in Jedda, right through until his premature death at around age 40 from severe burns. It also portrays the stark contrasts between Tudawali's home outside Darwin, and his life in Sydney, where he did most of his filming for movies and TV series. This powerful and important story also stars Charles "Bud" Tingwell and serves as a vital document on Australian film history and Aboriginal culture. "Tudawali" was a made for television production directed by Steve Jodrell, showcasing one of the most important stars to emerge in Australia, whose rise to fame also led to many hardships including harsh racism and personal battles wit...

The Big Knife (Robert Aldrich, 1955) Made immediately after fiercely independent filmmaker Robert Aldrich’s subversive Mickey Spillane adaptation Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955) was an adaptation of Clifford Odets’ stage play, originally written in 1948; taken together, these two pictures offer a one-two punch to the ‘culture industry’, Kiss Me Deadly offering a satirical depiction of Cold War paranoia through the lens of Spillane’s lurid pulp noir-fantasy character of Mike Hammer, and The Big Knife delivering a direct attack on Hollywood studio system. Aldrich’s subsequent film, Attack! (1956) – on which the director worked once again with Jack Palance, who played the lead role in The Big Knife – was equally subversive and was also based on a play, this time by Norman Brooks. Aldrich later reflected that he believed these three films to be among his best, t...

The unholy and unwieldy spawn of ABC, Disney, and the writers of Lost that is Once Upon a Time arrives on Blu-ray in its sixth season. Long, very convoluted story short: The Evil Queen Regina (Spiders' Lana Parrilla) obtained a curse from her mentor Rumplestiltskin (Trainspotting's Robert Carlyle) that enabled her to transport characters from fairy stories – including her stepdaughter Snow White – to the real life town of Storybrooke, Maine where they have been living without their memories for the past twenty-eight years, unaged and never reaching the end of their respective stories (although some have achieved something like happily ever after): among them, her stepdaughter Snow White who is a local school teacher Mary Margaret (Big Love's

Gli invasori (Erik the Conqueror, Mario Bava, 1961) In 786AD, the village of Viking warlord Harald (Folco Lulli) is ransacked by British invaders led by Sir Rutford (Andrea Checchi). This is part of an ongoing series of conflicts between the British and the Vikings. Rutford has been ordered to negotiate with Harald, but defying King Lotar (Franco Ressel), Rutford has Harald executed in front of Harald’s young sons Eron and Erik. Erik and Eron are taken from the scene by their father’s associate Ragnor, but when Ragnor is also killed, the brothers are separated. Eron is taken by the fleeing Vikings, but Erik is left behind. Rutford is chastised for his role in the massacre by King Lotar. One of Rutford’s men shoots an arrow through the throat of King Lotar, killing the monarch before laying responsibility for his death on an already-deceased Viking. Mourning the death of her husband, Queen Alice wanders across the beach and discovers the near-drowned Erik. Taking pity on the boy, and presumably unaware of his heritage as Harald’s son, Queen Ali...

On a pleasure cruise along the Adriatic, a casual political argument between right-wing industrialist's wife Raffaela (Flash Gordon's Mariangela Melato) and a Catholic Communist guest (Deep Red's Eros Pagni) incenses communist boathand Gennario (Blood Feud's Giancarlo Giannini) who already feels demeaned for having to serve a yacht full of wealthy parasites. Catching his dirty look, Raffaela takes an instant dislike to Gennario, interpreting every from his preparation of the coffee, the overdone pasta, to the smell of his clothing as deliberate acts of defiance, and proceeds to mercilessly mock him. Gennario stifles his own responses, venting them instead to the level-headed Pippo (Seduced and Abandoned's

"I'm the 'Great talents bloom late' type," says protagonist Ryota (Tokyo Raiders' Hiroshi Abe), to which his mother Shinoda (Sweet Bean's Kirin Kiki) replies, "You're taking too long to bloom. Hurry up or I'll haunt you." While she laments aloud that he cannot afford to buy her a condo, Ryota's mother is really more worried about her son's fundamental unhappiness as he visits to borrow money and see what items of his late father's he can pawn. Having achieved early success with a prize-winning novel, Ryota's sophomore slump has lasted nearly twenty-five years and has cost him his marriage to Kyoko (The Grudge's Yôko Maki) and his relationship with his young son Shingo (Taiyô Yoshizawa). Having taken a job as a private detecti...

“Silence” (2016) The year is 1640. Two young Portuguese priests receive word that their mentor Father Ferreira (played by Liam Neeson) who was on a mission in Japan had renounced his faith. Rodrigues (played by Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (played by Adam Driver) are shocked by the news and find the information impossible to believe, so they set course for Japan to find the truth of the matter. The two are smuggled into Japan by a fishing boat with the stranded Japanese fisherman Kichijiro (played by Yosuke Kubozuka), who leads them to the village of Tomogi, where villagers live in secret as Christians fearing the governing warlords. Although Rodrigues and Garupe’s mission is to find Ferreira, it seems clear that their mission is far greater as many living in secrecy are begging for their help. As both witness the persecution and torture of the Christians by the samurai, the men bound by God must endure the hardest test ever faced - survival. Christianity began in Japan wi...

“Death Wish II” (1982) / “Death Wish 3” (1985) Brian Garfield’s novel “Death Wish” about a man who becomes a vigilante after the murder of his wife and assault on his daughter was highly controversial when it was published in 1972. Two years later, producer Dino De Laurentis along with director Michael Winner and star Charles Bronson took the story to screen in “Death Wish”, which received middling to negative reviews for its portrayal of brutal violence and misogynist views. Although there were more appraisals in later years, audiences were much more positive in 1974 with a $22 million box office intake on a $3 million budget. It became a hit on television and early videotape, which eventually led to a sequel being made nearly a decade later. The rights moved to Cannon Films, the notorious distributors of everything from exploitation pictures t...

“Death Wish II” (1982) / “Death Wish 3” (1985) Brian Garfield’s novel “Death Wish” about a man who becomes a vigilante after the murder of his wife and assault on his daughter was highly controversial when it was published in 1972. Two years later, producer Dino De Laurentis along with director Michael Winner and star Charles Bronson took the story to screen in “Death Wish”, which received middling to negative reviews for its portrayal of brutal violence and misogynist views. Although there were more appraisals in later years, audiences were much more positive in 1974 with a $22 million box office intake on a $3 million budget. It became a hit on television and early videotape, which eventually led to a sequel being made nearly a decade later. The rights moved to Cannon Films, the notorious distributors of everything from exploitation pictures t...

“Dating the Enemy” (1996) We all know opposites attract...but is the grass always greener? Meet Brett and Tash. Brett (Guy Pearce) is good-looking, confident and perhaps a tad on the egotistical side. Tash (Claudia Karvan) is intellectual and reserved, but maybe a little too smart for her own good. When these two meet it's love at first sight, but when a lack of compromise threatens to break-up their relationship, the natural forces of the universe intervene. Brett and Tash wake up - in each other’s’ body! The stage is set for a hilarious Aussie romantic comedy that takes the battle of the sexes to a brand new frontline. If you enjoyed Muriel's Wedding, if you loved Priscilla Queen of the Desert, you'll die laughing at Dating the Enemy, a film about love, sex and life in other people’s shoes. The concept of the body-swap film genre is far and wide - from switching between the sexes, between parent and child, old and young, h...

Ah, the Western; let’s hit the dusty trail, all you cowpokes and saddle up for this here yarn loosely based on the so called facts of the life of one James “Wild Bill” Hickok. Back in the 50’s the Western was a popular genre for many of television’s popular shows: "Gunsmoke"(1955-1975), "Have Gun - Will Travel" (1957-1963), "The Rifleman" (1958-1963) and many others. Some were like this film, loosely based on one of the legends of the Old West, and due to their familiar sets and plots, they were relatively inexpensive for the studios to produce. It wasn’t until 2004 when HBO produced the hit series "Deadwood"(2994-2006) that some realism entered the scenario and we were shown the West for what it really was: a cruel and difficult time made up of gunslinging drunkards, crusty cowhands, pioneers settlers, and aimless wanderers looking for a place to call home; violence was commonplace and the law was hit and miss at best. In the 50’s television showed a sanitized version of life out on the plains, where the lawmen were righteous and obeyed a moral code and life was somewhat civilized, and "Hickok" is more along those terms than a Sam Peckinpah Western or the chaos of life in "Deadwood"...

Not much is going right for meek misfit Willard Stiles. He’s constantly screamed at by his overbearing mother, ruthlessly bullied by the boss who stole his father’s business and mercilessly laughed at by his co-workers. Willard eventually turns to a colony of rats for friendship and with training they will soon do anything for their new friend. It’s time for Willard to get even....

Playwright Peter Nichols adapted his own blackly comic 1967 Tony Award-winning play for this confrontational film version by director Peter Medak. Alan Bates and Janet Suzman play a married couple struggling to come to terms with their daughter's disability using comedy and cruelty to dispel the desperation of their situation. This uncomfortable, provocative film about marriage, children and life choices is startlingly funny as well as deeply moving....

Jack Gold's film about life and death in a shabby London hospital interweaves the story of the real hospital with a fantasy one which exists in the soap-opera world of 'Nurse Norton's Affair', where everything is fully funded and patients are miraculously cured. A darkly funny satire on the state of the nation and also a deeply prescient comment on TV's ability to turn tragedy into entertainment, The National Health sits somewhere between the bawdy antics of the Carry On films and the angry satire of Lindsay Anderson’s Britannia Hospital, but emerges as a starkly prophetic film, more relevant now than ever....

Based on John le Carré's first novel, Call for the Dead (which introduced spymaster George Smiley), The Deadly Affair sees an ageing British secret agent (James Mason) set out to uncover the truth behind a government employee's apparent suicide. Eschewing the glamour of the era’s Bond thrillers, Lumet's chilling and intelligent take on the spy drama presents a palpable and darkly sinister picture of Cold War intrigue. The exemplary cast also includes Maximilian Schell, Harriet Andersson, Harry Andrews, Roy Kinnear and Lynn Redgrave....

A ruthless business executive (an intense tour de force performance by leading man Nicol Williamson) returns home to his Liverpool roots to investigate his father’s death. An unflinching exploration of the British class system, Jack Gold's penetrating, brutal drama stands alongside contemporary classics Up the Junction and Room at the Top, and prefigures Get Carter by several years. Underrated and underexposed, The Reckoning may well be one of the most essential British films ever made....

"La rupture" AKA "The Breach" (1970) Helene Regnier’s husband Charles injures their son Michel in a psychotic rage. Charles moves back in with his wealthy and manipulative parents, who blame Helene for their son’s condition and vow to win custody of Michel. Thwarted by the courts, they hire a seedy penniless operative Paul to destroy her reputation. He moves into her rooming house and begins to insinuate himself into her life, hatching darker and more convoluted plots to implicate Helene. A harrowing thriller from France's master of suspense, "La rupture" ranks among Claude Chabrol's finest works. "La rupture" was director Claude Chabrol's 19th feature and made during his golden age of critical acclaim. Starring his then wife Stéphane Audran in the role of the tormented Helene, she gives an excellent performance on the physically and mentally shocked wife. Also starring Jean-Claude Drouot and Jean-Pierre Cassel, and based off the novel by

"Chosen" (2016) An epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1944 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands. An unassuming recently widowed Hungarian barrister leads an inspirational fight back against the increasingly desperate and dangerous Nazis in the dying embers of the war. With a combination of daring, courage and audacity he turns a struggle to survive into something far more consequential - a way to avenge the deaths of his people by saving thousands of others. Based on true events, "Chosen" is a harrowing account of the Hungarian lawyer Sunsun (played by Luke Mably) who loses his wife to cancer, loses his home and freedom to the Nazi regime during World War II. Also starring Ana Ularu and Harvey Keitel, directed by Jasmin Dizdar, the film is an emotional draw yet it has some minor issues . The flashback storytelling, the underdeveloped supporting characters, and the slightly lack...

"Les biches" AKA "The Does" (1968) Directed by Claude Chabrol, "Les biches" is a landmark in film history: its theme of bisexuality and upper-class decadence is surpassed only by its cool precision of cinematic style and exceptionally subtle performances. Socialite Frederique (Stephane Audran) encounters young student Why (Jacqueline Sassard) on the streets of Paris, seduces her and whisks her off to spend winter with the chic crowd of St. Tropez. When architect Paul (Jean-Louis Trintignant) meets Why, he too charms her and comes between the two lovers. Frederiqe then seduces Paul out of jealousy, but finds herself feeling real love. Paul and Frederique invite Why to live together with them, resulting in a ménage a trios beset by jealousy, madness, and ultimately, murder. "Les biches" was Chabrol's 15th film in a 10 year span, and was seen as an artistic comeback after a series of underwhelming works. Not a large commercial success, but "Les biches" w...

Three years have passed in a town that will never forget; but times change. The local newspaper, once the backbone of Broadchurch, is about to be closed down. And DI Alec Hardy with DS Ellie Miller are about to explore a case that reopens old wounds and divides the town in ways they could never have predicted. Hardy and Miller are called on to investigate the brutal sexual assault of a local woman, Trish Winterman. The crime scene points to a party attended by close to a hundred people. But not a casual assault the act appears premeditated. What dark secrets still lie buried in a town that has been so closely examined? And how will unresolved issues around the death of young Danny Latimer finally be settled? These answers lie in Broadchurch: The Final Chapter....

The fifth season of the classic BBC One Sunday soap sees the Hammond clan in deep public and private turmoil. As David (Robin Chadwick) comes to terms with his wife s death and Brian (Richard Easton) reels from the reverberations of his divorce, Edward (Patrick O'Connell) is in constant battle with scheming banker Paul Merroney (Colin Baker) about the direction of the family haulage firm. Edward finally ties the knot with Jennifer (Jennifer Kingsley), who has seemingly won over her new mother-in-law Mary (Jean Anderson), and with all eyes on the wedding, Merroney manipulates a bid for the ailing company. But he hasn't reckoned on a counter-bid from tough-talking air freight chief Jane Maxwell (Kate O Mara). As Merroney woos a rich Lebanese backer, the brothers plot to oust him from the firm altogether, but as always he's a tricky man to outfox....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Terror stalks a beautiful bank teller in this classic thriller from Blade Edwards. Glenn Ford plays the dedicated F.B.I. agent, John Ripley, who fights to protect Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) from a ruthless killer. Unless his plans to rob the bank succeed, the unseen assailant (Ross Martin) - identifiable only by his asthmatic breathing - threatens to murder Kelly and her teenage sister, Toby (Stephanie Powers). To save the two terrorised sisters, the F.B.I. sets up an elaborate trap using Kelly as a decoy, but the killer gets away. Nerve-racking suspense builds as Kelly, now panic-stricken, continues to act as bait long enough to let the Feds trap the killer. Unless they act quickly, the woman in distress will become the casualty of a deadly EXPERIMENT IN TERROR!...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Laugh... or I'll blow your lips off! As the private eye of private eyes, Steve Martin is Rigby Reardon. He’s tough, rough and ready to take anything when Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) appears on the scene with a case: her father, a noted scientist, philanthropist and cheese-maker has died mysteriously. Reardon immediately smells a rat and follows a complex maze of clues that lead to the “Carlotta Lists’. With a little help from his “friends”, Alan Ladd, Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Laughton, etc, Reardon gets his man. An exciting, action-packed film the way 40s’ films used to be!...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Bursting with limitless creativity, SWISS ARMY MAN goes from the absurd to the emotional to the whimsical to the profound and back again. Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a deserted island, having given up all hope of ever making it home again. But one day everything changes when a corpse named Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) washes up on shore; the two become fast friends, and ultimately go on an epic adventure that will bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams. SWISS ARMY MAN creates a world like no other—a place of pure fantastical imagination, brimming with magical realism yet featuring two characters whose dreams and fears are entirely relatable. Dano and Radcliffe both fully commit to their directors’ audacious vision, and their work is exceptional, finding the perfect balance of humour and heart that drives the whole film. A celebration of all the wonders cinema has to offer, SWISS ARMY MAN is a cultural phenomenon in the making -- a surreal and wholly original examination of human vulnerability and connection that must be experienced...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn team up in this non-stop-action comedy directed by John Badham. Hiding under the FBI Witness Protection Program, Rick Jarmin (Gibson) gets nervous when old flame Marianne Graves (Hawn) recognises him. But before he can assume a new identity, the man he put in jail (David Carradine) is released and comes to pay his respects. Rick and Marianne find themselves thrown together on an exhilarating cross-country scramble, barely evading the gangsters, police and an amorous veterinarian (Joan Severance). Their whirlwind travels eventually lead to an unforgettable climax in an elaborate zoo exhibit. A rare rollercoaster of a movie which will keep you on the edge of your seat....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** What if there were a list? A list that said: Our finest actors weren't allowed to act. Our best writers aren't allowed to write. Our funniest comedians aren't allowed to make us laugh. What would it be like if there were such a list? It would be like America in 1953....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** A HARD COP AND A SOFT DAME… IN A BRASS-KNUCKLE THRILLER! Fritz Lang’s iconic film noir masterpiece is an uncompromising exploration of corruption and violence at the dark heart of small-town America. Glenn Ford is the good cop in a bad town, who single-handedly takes on local mobsters headed by Alexander Scourby and his psychotic right-hand man Lee Marvin....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** One of the most memorable, uplifting and beautiful stories of recent years, MUM’S LIST is a romance for all ages. Now a feature film, the true story of a profound, unstoppable and undying love is based on the best-selling book by St John (Singe) Greene, published by Penguin Books in the United Kingdom in 2012. Written and directed by Niall Johnson (“White Noise”; ”Keeping Mum”), it is the story of Singe and Kate, a couple from North Somerset, whose lives were turned upside down when Kate was diagnosed with an incurable breast cancer. Over her last few days, she created her list: writing her thoughts and memories down, to help the man she loved create the best life possible for their two sons, after she was gone....

A gripping four-part drama about the great explorer s epic Antarctic expeditions, based on Shackleton s own journals. Having had a taste of Antarctic adventure on Captain Scott s failed 1901 bid to reach the South Pole, seven years later Ernest Shackleton (David Schofield) leads his own expedition. Agonisingly close to reaching the Pole, the men have to pull back in an appalling blizzard to reach their ship before the advancing ice cuts off the passage home. By 1911 Roald Amundsen has reached the Pole and Scott and his men, trailing in the Norwegian s wake, have perished. Undeterred, in 1914 Shackleton and his trusted deputy Frank Wild (David Rodigan) set out their most famous journey aboard Endurance, with the aim of crossing the icy continent from sea to sea. When the ship is trapped and crushed by pack-ice, Shackleton and five of his men embark on a desperate 800-mile journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the James Caird, a 20-foot lifeboat pitched against the furious Southern Ocean. Once they hit land, the fastest way to reach help on the other side of the island will be to improvise a route across the treacherous mountain interior. With Wild and the rest of the men left behind with dwindling supplies at their makes...

From three-time Oscar-winner, Oliver Stone, SNOWDEN is a riveting personal look at one of the most polarising figures of the 21st century, the man responsible for what has been described as the most far-reaching security breach in U.S. intelligence history. Snowden opens the door on the untold story of Edward Snowden, examining the forces that turned a conservative young patriot eager to serve his country into a historic whistle-blower and posing provocative questions about which liberties we are willing to give up in order for our government to protect us....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** This haunting, psychological horror follows Seth, a lonely man working in an animal shelter. His monotonous routine is broken one day when he bumps into Holly, a girl from school who he soon becomes obsessed with. However, when she rejects his advances, Seth's obsession reaches a terrifying new level, with Holly hiding secrets of her own. Helmed by Award Winning director Carles Torrens (Apartment 143, ABCs of Death 2.5) and starring Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings trilogy), Ksenia Solo (Lost Girl, Black Swan) and Jennette McCurdy (Between, Sam & Cat), Pet is a dark and disturbing love story asking how much you could sacrifice in the name of love?...

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 8” (2013-2014) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD f...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** "No *#@!!* Navy's going to give some poor *!!@ kid eight years in the #@!* brig without me taking him out for the time of his *#@!!* life." When Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mulhall (Otis Young) are detailed to take a young sailor, Meadows (Randy Quaid), from a Virginia Naval Base to a New Hampshire Naval Prison to serve an eight-year sentence for a trivial offense they decide to show him a good time on their journey north......

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 7” (2012) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD format...

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 6” (2011-2012) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD f...

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 5” (2010) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD format...

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 3” (2008) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD format...

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 4” (2009) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD format...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the show from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Emily Watson stars as Yvonne Carmichael, a married woman living a quiet life with her husband and two children. Her world is turned upside down however, when a chance meeting with alluring stranger Mark Costley (Ben Chaplin) leads to a passionate affair. Despite her best attempts to keep her home life and career separate from her affair, Yvonne begins to lose control as a series of bad decisions soon leave her facing a court trial....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Definitely – no clues! In this suspense film even one clue might tell all! THE SEARCH FOR 'BUNNY LAKE’ IS ON! When Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) arrives to collect her four-year-old daughter, Bunny, from nursery, she is told that no child of that name is enrolled there. Superintendent Newhouse (Lawrence Olivier) is assigned to the case, and before long a number of people are under suspicion, including the child's protective uncle (Keir Dullea), the Lake's eccentric landlord (Noël Coward) and the school's eccentric ex-headmistress (Martita Hunt). However, when he learns that no-one has actually ever seen the child, Newhouse begins to suspect that the young woman may be unbalanced....

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 1” (2004-2006) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD f...

“The Angry Video Game Nerd: Season 2” (2007) The web series “Angry Video Game Nerd” has been a continuous mainstay on YouTube for over 10 years now - a lone white button-up shirt wearing nerd that plays terrible retro games and takes out his frustration with Rolling Rock beer and loud outbursts of obscenities. Conceptually it sounds like many other YouTube channels of useless videos of so called critics commenting haphazardly and without merit, but writer/director/star James Rolfe sets his show apart from others with creative production work, witty scriptwriting, great editing, and rewatchability. While episodes used to come every two weeks, Rolfe started to slow down the pace of AVGN episodes to concentrate on other work - other web series such as “Board James” and “James & Mike Mondays”, and the theatrical feature film “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The AVGN web series had been released on the DVD format...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the show from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Directed by BAFTA-winner Matthew Robinson (Byker Grove / Eastenders) and Sebastian Graham Jones (Mystery!: Cadfael), Shadow of the Noose tells the true story of the career and personal life of "The Great Defender" Sir Edward Marshall Hall. He was London's most celebrated barrister and the first world-famous legal celebrity, whose gripping cases consistently made news headlines and drew crowds in to the public gallery of the Old Bailey during the late Victorian era and early Edwardian era. Jonathan Hyde (Titanic) brings Marshall Hall’s style and personality to life on screen in an outstanding performance. Marshall Hall was known for his theatrics as he argued his cases with gusto and determination, keeping the Court audience on the edge of their seat, particularly at a time when a guilty verdict meant facing the rope. Throughout the series, which is based on true cases, Marshall Hall tackles a variety of seemingly impossible and controversial cases, and defends a colourful array of characters. Whether championing a lowly German pro...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Someone is listening... Someone is watching... As the crime of the century unreels! When Duke Anderson (Connery) is released from prison after serving ten years for taking the rap for a Mafia family, he cashes in a debt of honour and gets the funds he needs to bankroll an ambitious robbery. Planning to ransack a exclusive East Side New York Apartment building, he rounds up a gang of top-flight thieves, and proceeds to carry out his caper unaware that he is being taped....

* Note - The following review references not having the booklet to hand. We have now received the booklet from Powerhouse and the review will be updated very soon. ***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Richard Fleischer's gritty and fateful portrait of LA cops adapted from Joseph Wambaugh's autobiographical best-seller, is anchored by superb performances from George C. Scott as a world-weary older cop who quietly fears becoming obsolete, and Stacy Keach as the young rookie he takes under his wing....

***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** He's got a lot on his mind. Roger Greenberg (Stiller) is single, fortyish and deliberately doing nothing. In search of a place to restart his life, he agrees to housesit for his brother in LA and tries to reconnect with his former bandmate (Rhys Ifans) and ex-girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh). But his old friends aren't necessarily still best friends, and Greenberg soon finds himself forging a connection with his brother's personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig). Despite his best attempts not to be drawn in, Greenberg comes to realise that he may at last have found a reason to be happy....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** James Woods leads a band of ruthless vampire hunters in a blood-soaked battle against the undead. Also starring Sheryl Lee, Daniel Baldwin and Maximillian Schell, Carpenter crafts a tense, brutal and action-packed horror/western crossover....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** John Carpenter blends horror and sci-fi in this action adventure set on Mars in the year 2176 as Martian police battle supernatural forces unleashed by a deep mining facility....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE*** Three people, three extraordinary stories. All lived out within a hundred London streets. Directed by Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Jim O’Hanlon, 100 STREETS is a layered and gripping drama, with an original screenplay by Leon F Butler. It takes a compelling look at the vibrant and complicated life of a group of individuals in contemporary London – destination capital of the world. 100 STREETS intersect the film’s setting. Chelsea is just down the road from high-rise estates, riverside opulence contrasts with the day-to-day grind. It’s in these streets that the characters face major choices and fundamental change in their separate lives, as they negotiate their paths through life - through those hundred streets....

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the show from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Financial shenanigans, ill health and industrial action all threaten the Hammonds family business in the fourth series of BBC One s classic Sunday night drama. When matriarch Mary (Jean Anderson) suffers another heart attack, the family rallies round and Edward (Patrick O Connell) decides to keep quiet about his impending marriage to his father s former mistress Jennifer (Jennifer Kingsley). After rapid expansion, moves are afoot for the Hammonds to go public. Brian (Richard Easton) has money man Martin Farrell (Murray Hayne) join the board, while Edward appoints ex-foreman Bill Riley (Derek Benfield) to help run the business. Farrell is alert to the firm s organisational weakness, while Riley is suspected of causing unrest among the workers about the new share issue. The company is floated at a time of deep tension, on the advice of slippery merchant banker Paul Merroney (Colin Baker), and Edward is left fighting for survival as chairman. Can he rely on the support of all the family?...

***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the show from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** His religion is revolution. Lenny Belardo, aka Pius XIII, is the first American Pope in history. Young and charming, his election might seem the result of a simple and effective media strategy by the College of Cardinals. But, as we know, appearances can be deceptive. Especially in the place and among the people who have chosen the great mystery of God as the guiding light of their existence. That place is the Vatican and those people are the leaders of the Catholic Church. And the most mysterious and contradictory figure of all turns out to be Pius XIII himself. Shrewd and naive, old-fashioned and very modern, doubtful and resolute, ironic, pedantic, hurt and ruthless, Pius XIII tries to walk the long path of human loneliness to find a God for mankind. And for himself....