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This masterly adaptation of George Orwell’s chilling parable about totalitarian oppression gives harrowing cinematic expression to the book’s bleak prophetic vision.

In a rubble-strewn surveillance state where an endless overseas war props up the repressive regime of the all-seeing Big Brother, and all dissent is promptly squashed, a profoundly alienated citizen, Winston Smith (thrillingly played by John Hurt), risks everything for an illicit affair with the rebellious Julia (Suzanna Hamilton) in a defiant assertion of humanity in the face of soul-crushing confor...

July 23rd is playing host to an excellent variety of home media releases for films both new and old. In terms of recent titles, Alita: Battle Angel, Hellboy (2019), and Critters Attack! are all hitting a variety of formats this Tuesday, and for those of you who grew up during the heyday of John Hughes, Arrow Video’s special edition release of Weird Science looks to be yet another home run collection from the distributor.

Criterion is showing some love to Michael Radford’s 1984 adaptation this week (which unfortunately feels super timely these days), Scream Factory has put together another Universal Horror Collection box set, and if you happen to dig psychological thrillers from the ’90s, Pacific Heights hits Blu-ray on Tuesday as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for July 23rd include Master Z: Ip Man Legacy, Assimilate and Rock, Paper, Scissors.

1984: The Criterion Collection

This masterly adaptation of...

The Criterion Collection has announced its July titles, with Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Brd Trilogy — “The Marriage of Maria Braun,” “Veronika Voss,” and “Lola” — leading the new additions. Also joining the Collection are Agniezka Holland’s “Europa Europa,” Alan J. Pakula’s “Klute,” Marcel Pagnol’s “The Baker’s Wife,” and Michael Radford’s adaptation of “1984,” with Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” getting upgraded from DVD to Blu-ray.

The news comes just a week after Criterion’s streaming service, the aptly named Criterion Channel, went live in the wake of FilmStruck’s closure late last year. “These audiences do need hubs,” the company’s president, Peter Becker, told IndieWire last week.

“If you’re lucky enough to live in a city like New York, which has hubs like the Film Forum and the Metrograph and Lincoln Center, then you actually have living, breathing, every-night film culture with great...

To celebrate the release of 1984 – available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD Dual Format from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 13th August 2018 – we are giving away a copy!

In a holocaustic future world, perpetually at war, where failure to conform is the ultimate crime, Winston Smith (John Hurt) rewrites history books and finds himself dreaming of escape from the all-seeing eyes of the Authorities. He embarks on a passionate (and illegal) affair with a young woman (Suzanna Hamilton) but they are soon caught and Smith undergoes a nightmarish brainwashing at the hands of the chief inquisitor O’Brien (Richard Burton).

The Premium Collection – revered films across all genres, celebrated in a Premium package set containing the film on Blu-ray, DVD and a Digital Copy – gives fans a must own version that allows them to watch however they choose. Each release also includes a collectible slipcase and 4 collectible artcards featuring the films key art.

Where do I get my Big Brother campaign pin and yard poster? Michael Radford's elaborate Orwell adaptation sticks closely to the original book, even after decades of deriviative dystopias have stolen its fire. John Hurt is excellent as Winston Smith, and Richard Burton is his inquisitor. Nineteen Eighty-Four Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Ship Date December 8, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher, James Walker, Phyllis Logan. Cinematography Roger Deakins Production Designer Allan Cameron Art Direction Martin Hebert, Grant Hicks Film Editor Tom Priestley Original Music (2) Dominick Muldowney / Eurythmics Written by Jonathan Gems, Michael Radford from the novel by George Orwell Produced by Al Clark, Robert Devereux, Simon Perry, Marvin J. Rosenblum Directed by Michael Radford

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

George Orwell's pessimistic 1948 novel 1984 is probably the most important political book of the last century.

The year that gave us Gremlins, Ghostbusters and The Temple Of Doom also gave us these 20 underappreciated movies...

It's been said that 1984 was a vintage year for movies, and looking back, it's easy to see why. The likes of Ghostbusters and Gremlins served up comedy, action and the macabre in equal measure. James Cameron's The Terminator cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger's star status and gave us one of the greatest sci-fi action movies of the decade.

This was also the year where the Coen brothers made their screen debut with the stunning thriller Blood Simple, and when the Zucker brothers followed up Airplane! with the equally hilarious Top Secret! And we still haven't even mentioned Beverly Hills Cop, This Is Spinal Tap, The Karate Kid, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and the unexpectedly successful romantic comedy, Splash. Then there was Milos Forman's sumptuous period drama Amadeus, which...

Filming is finally underway on the new Harbour Pictures/BBC Films adaptation of Arthur Ransome's classic novel Swallows and Amazons, after a long period in development.

(Pictured left are the The Walker children from the 1960s BBC adaptation – Simon West, Stephen Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville.)

The team at Shaheen Baig Casting have discovered six young newcomers to take on the roles of the Walker and Blackett children in the Lake District set adventure.

Dane Hughes will play John Walker, Orla Hill (a pupil at Anna Fiorentini Drama School who appeared in Song for Marion) will play Susan Walker, and Bobby McColloch as Roger Walker, with Lily and Alfie Allen's half-sister 8 year old Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen, the daughter of actors Keith Allen and Tamzin Malleson playing the the youngest, Tatty Walker.

The two Blackett sisters are to be played by Seren Hawkes as Nancy, and Hannah Jayne Thorp as Peggy.

★★★★☆It's the ideal time for the rerelease of Bafta-nominated director Claude Whatham's Swallows and Amazons (1974) - the cinematic retelling of Arthur Ransome's classic children's adventure story. Not only is the film celebrating its 40th anniversary, but it's also the perfect celebration of those long summer holidays which seemingly last forever when you're young, and are remembered with nostalgia the older we get. The four Walker children (Stephen Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Simon West) go with their mother (Virginia McKenna) to spend their summer holidays in the Lake District. The adventures they have there make for a story as memorable as it is thrilling.

To mark the release of Swallows and Amazons 40th Anniversary Restoration on 14th July, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Arthur Ransome’s legendary children’s novel Swallows & Amazons was published in 1930 as the first part of what was to become a much-loved literary series. This beautifully filmed adaptation, written by renowned children’s playwright David Wood (whose latest adaptation The Tiger That Came To Tea opens in July at the Lyric Theatre), depicts the adventures of four children and their sailing boat Swallow.

Set in the Lake District in the1920’s, Swallows & Amazons follows the children (played by Simon West, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Stephen Grendon) whilst on summer holiday with their mother (Virginia McKenna, Sliding Doors, Born Free). During this trip the children are given permission to sail Swallow to nearby Wild Cat island to set up camp. However what they don’t...

Originally published in 1949, it’s amazing just how much George Orwell got right when he warned that Big Brother would be watching your every movie in the novel “1984″. Government spying on its citizens? Check. The Thought Police in full force everywhere you look? Double check. The Orwell book was last adapted for the screen in 1984 (see what they did there?), starring John Hurt, Richard Burton, and Suzanna Hamilton. Imagine Entertainment is now moving ahead with another adaptation, this one to be scripted by Noah Oppenheim, who is also banging away in an attic somewhere on that “War Games” remake for MGM. We hope he doesn’t hurt himself too much on that one. For the uninitiated, “1984″ is set in a “totalitarian future society” and concerns “a man whose job it is to rewrite history tries a bit of rebellion by falling in love, a move that runs afoul of Big Brother.

Way back in (surprise!) 1984, there was a Michael Radford (King Lear) directed big0screen adaptation of George Orwell‘s classic dystopian novel 1984, which starred John Hurt, Richard Burton and Suzanna Hamilton. Surprisingly, there hasn’t been an adaptation of the novel since then. That’s all about to change, thanks to Ron Howard and Brian Grazer‘s production company Imagine Entertainment.

THR reports that Imagine is teaming up with Julie Yorn‘s Lbi Entertainment to develop a new take on the classic novel. Imagine and street artist Shepard Fairey, best known for creating the Barack Obama “Hope” poster were simultaneously pursuing Orwell’s estate for the rights to 1984 and decided to pair up. Fairey will likely take on a producer role once the project is underway.

Orwell’s 1984 is set in a dystopian society in a perpetual state of war, which in turn leads to a state of paranoia. Propaganda,...

What do George Orwell, Shepard Fairey, and Imagine Entertainment have in common? Orwell's 1984 may be getting a new movie adaptation. Imagine Entertainment (Brian Grazer and Ron Howard) are teaming with Lbi Entertainment to develop the project.

The classic tale is set in "a dystopian society in a perpetual state of war, which in turn leads to a state of paranoia. Propaganda, surveillance, mind control and cult of personality—all concepts seen in totalitarian and fascist states such as Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union—were taken to new levels in the book, originally written in 1948 and published in 1949." The story centers on "a man named Winston Smith who works for a government branch named the Ministry of Truth, where he alters facts and histories but secretly harbors desires of rebellion (as well as desires of a forbidden love affair). The ideas in the novel became hugely influential in the worlds of politics and art,...

An American consortium that includes director Ron Howard is set to make a new film of George Orwell's highly influential novel

Hollywood is planning a new version of Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell's classic dystopian science-fiction novel which warned of the dangers of totalitarian government and spawned the term Big Brother.

Set in a world where three warring superstates battle each other eternally without any hope of victory, Orwell's 1949 novel has already had two big-screen adaptations. The 1956 version, starring Edmond O'Brien, Michael Redgrave and Jan Sterling, changed the storyline radically from the source material and is these days hard to find, as it was withdrawn from circulation by Orwell's estate following the expiry of a distribution agreement. The best-known version is Michael Radford's critically acclaimed 1984 retelling, starring John Hurt as everyman Winston Smith, the restless party worker who dares to dream of independent thought and possible romance. Richard Burton,...

Brimstone & Treacle (1982) Brimstone & Treacle is a psychological thriller remake based on a play written by Dennis Potter, directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Sting (The Police, Dune), the late Denholm Elliot (Trading Places, Indiana Jones), Joan Plowright (101 Dalmations, Curious George), and Suzanna Hamilton (Out of Africa, The Voice). Movie Synopsis: Tom and Norma Bates (Elliot and Plowright) have been experiencing long-term dys…...

Are you bored of the same old TV shows? Tired of the mainstream? Then check out this round-up of alternative movies and series showing on UK television tonight…

8.00pm Airline Disaster (Syfy)

A passenger jet being flown by the Us president’s brother is hijacked by terrorists, leaving the head of state forced to choose between her family and the lives of her citizens.

9.00pm Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Horror Channel)

Slick slasher featuring horror legend Robert Englund. Leslie aspires to become the next great psycho killer and invites a documentary film crew to chronicle his efforts.

10.00pm Digital Man (Movies4Men +1)

A crack squad of soldiers is sent to hunt down an out-of-control robot inadvertently set loose on a small community. But not all is what it seems when a saboteur is suspected within the unit.

11.00pm The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (CBS Action)

Eric Draven,...

DVD Playhouse—February 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Hunger (Criterion) Harrowing true story of imprisoned Ira member Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) and his 1981 hunger strike protesting the British government’s refusal to recognize him, and other Ira members as political prisoners. Director Steve McQueen delivers the story with true filmmaking panache, mixing startling imagery that blends both stunning beauty and stomach-churning horror. Fassbender is absolutely brilliant in the lead. Not for the faint-of-heart, but not to be missed or, particularly, ignored. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interviews with McQueen and Fassbender; Short documentary; 1981 episode of BBC series “Panorama” that covers the Ira hunger strike; Trailer. Widescreen. DTS-hd audio on Blu-ray.

Adam (20th Century Fox) Quirky romantic comedy about an eccentric, borderline Asperger’s Syndrome, astronomy buff (Hugh Dancy) who is drawn out of his self-imposed shell by a beautiful and sympathetic neighbor (Rose Byrne). Charming film with engaging performances by the two leads,...