Posts Tagged ‘based-on-play’

The Lion in Winter (1968)

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Genres: Drama | History
Countries: UK
Actors: Peter O'Toole | Katharine Hepburn | Anthony Hopkins | John Castle | Nigel Terry | Timothy Dalton | Jane Merrow | Nigel Stock | Kenneth Ives | O.Z. Whitehead | Fran Stafford | Ella More | Kenneth Griffith | Henry Woolf | Karol Hagar
Directors: Anthony Harvey
Download: DivX iPod 

In 1183 Henry II summonses his sons Richard, John, and Geoffrey to join him and his prison-bound wife Eleanor at Chinon for a family Christmas, along with King Philip II of France and his sister Alais, Henry’s mistress. Philip is insisting Alais now marries John as agreed years before else he wants her dowry, the lands of the Vexen, back. As Eleanor has already given the province of Aquitaine to Richard, the outcome of this may decide the very future of England. Everyone present except perhaps Alais are masters of double-dealing and deceipt, so it could be a lively Yuletide.

The Crucible (1996)

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Genres: Drama | History
Countries: USA
Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis | Winona Ryder | Paul Scofield | Joan Allen | Bruce Davison | Rob Campbell | Jeffrey Jones | Peter Vaughan | Karron Graves | Charlayne Woodard | Frances Conroy | Elizabeth Lawrence | George Gaynes | Mary Pat Gleason | Robert Breuler
Directors: Nicholas Hytner
Download: DivX iPod 

A small group of teen girls in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts caught in an innocent conjuring of love potions to catch young men are forced to tell lies that Satan had invaded them and forced them to participate in the rites and are then forced to name those involved. Thrown into the mix are greedy preachers and other major landowners trying to steal others’ land and one young woman (Ryder) infatuated with a married man (Day-Lewis) and determined to get rid of his innocent wife (Allen). Arthur Miller wrote the events and the subsequent trials where those who demanded thier innocence were executed, those who would not name names were incarcerated and tortured, and those who admitted their guilt were immediately freed as a parable of the Congressional Communist witch hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy in 1950’s America.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Genres: Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Walter Pidgeon | Anne Francis | Leslie Nielsen | Warren Stevens | Jack Kelly | Richard Anderson | Earl Holliman | Robby the Robot | George Wallace | Robert Dix | Jimmy Thompson | James Drury | Harry Harvey Jr. | Roger McGee | Peter Miller
Directors: Fred M. Wilcox
Download: DivX iPod 

An expedition is sent from Earth to Altair in the constellation of Aquilae (some 17 light years from Earth) to discover what happened to a colony of settlers on its fourth planet, Altair-4. What they discover is how and why an alien race of geniuses destroyed itself overnight while leaving their technology intact at some point in the distant, distant past.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)

Friday, June 5th, 2009
Genres: Drama
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Jon Finch | Francesca Annis | Martin Shaw | Terence Bayler | John Stride | Nicholas Selby | Stephan Chase | Paul Shelley | Maisie MacFarquhar | Elsie Taylor | Noelle Rimmington | Noel Davis | Sydney Bromley | Richard Pearson | Patricia Mason
Directors: Roman Polanski
Download: DivX iPod 

Roman Polanski’s version of Shakespeare’s tragedy about a Scottish lord who murders the king and ascends the throne. His wife then begins hallucinating as a result of her guilt complex and the dead king’s son conspires to attack MacBeth and expose him for the murderer he is.

About Last Night… (1986)

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Drama | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Rob Lowe | Demi Moore | James Belushi | Elizabeth Perkins | George DiCenzo | Michael Alldredge | Robin Thomas | Donna Gibbons | Megan Mullally | Patricia Duff | Rosanna DeSoto | Sachi Parker | Robert Neches | Joe Greco | Ada Maris
Directors: Edward Zwick
Download: DivX iPod 

Danny and Bernie are two single men living their lives on the wild side. But when Danny meets Debbie at a bar and the two start a relationship with a one night stand, Danny’s life takes a different turn. How does this passionate night become a full affair and what effect will this relationship have on both people and their friendship with their best mates ?

Easy Virtue (2008)

Monday, June 1st, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Romance
Countries: UK
Actors: Jessica Biel | Ben Barnes | Kristin Scott Thomas | Colin Firth | Kimberley Nixon | Katherine Parkinson | Kris Marshall | Christian Brassington | Charlotte Riley | Jim McManus | Pip Torrens | Laurence Richardson | Georgie Glen
Directors: Stephan Elliott
Download: DivX iPod 

A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.

1776 (1972)

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Genres: Drama | Family | History | Musical
Countries: USA
Actors: William Daniels | Howard Da Silva | Ken Howard | Donald Madden | John Cullum | Roy Poole | David Ford | Ron Holgate | Ray Middleton | William Hansen | Blythe Danner | Virginia Vestoff | Emory Bass | Ralston Hill | Howard Caine
Directors: Peter H. Hunt
Download: DivX iPod 

The film version of the Broadway musical comedy of the same name. In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single “nay” vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

Monday, May 4th, 2009
Genres:
Countries:
Actors: Sally Field | Dolly Parton | Shirley MacLaine | Daryl Hannah | Olympia Dukakis | Julia Roberts | Tom Skerritt | Sam Shepard | Dylan McDermott | Kevin J. O'Connor | Bill McCutcheon | Ann Wedgeworth | Knowl Johnson | Jonathan Ward | Bibi Besch
Directors: Herbert Ross
Download: DivX iPod 

Revolving around Truvy’s Beauty Parlor in a small parish in modern-day Louisiana, STEEL MAGNOLIAS is the story of a close-knit circle of friends whose lives come together there. As the picture opens, we find Drum Eatenton shooting birds in the trees of his back yard in preparation for his daughter’s wedding reception that afternoon. Shortly thereafter, M’Lynn and Shelby (Drum’s wife and daughter) depart for Truvy’s to get their hair done for the wedding. “Just the sweetest thing,” Annelle Depuy Desoto (who may or may not be married because her marriage may not be legal) is introduced to Truvy’s customers as her new “glamour technician.” While in the chairs, the sour-tempered Ouiser Boudreaux shows up and entertains the assemblage with her barbs. It seems that the only one of the group who truly understands Ouiser is Clairee who is recently widowed and looking for a diversion. As she says, later in the picture, “If you can’t find anything good to say about anybody, come sit by me.” Filled with humor and heartbreak, these “Steel Magnolias” make us laugh and cry as the realities of their lives in tiny Chiquapin Parish unfolds.

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

Friday, April 17th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Drama | Romance
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Rupert Everett | Colin Firth | Frances O'Connor | Reese Witherspoon | Judi Dench | Tom Wilkinson | Anna Massey | Edward Fox | Patrick Godfrey | Charles Kay | Cyril Shaps | Marsha Fitzalan | Finty Williams | Guy Bensley | Christina Robert
Directors: Oliver Parker
Download: DivX iPod 

Two young gentlemen living in 1890’s England have taken to bending the truth in order to put some excitement into their lives. Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) has invented a brother, Earnest, whom he uses as an excuse to leave his dull country life behind to visit the ravishing Gwendolyn (Frances O’Connor). Algy Montcrieff (Rupert Everett) decided to take the name ‘Earnest’ when visiting Worthing’s young and beautiful ward, Cecily (Reese Witherspoon) at the country manor. Things start to go awry when they end up together in country and their deceptions are discovered - threatening to spoil their romantic pursuits.

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Genres: Drama
Countries: France | UK | USA
Actors: Jason Ciok | Albert Miranda | Kevin Bacon | Mickie Banyas | Jay Bird | Gene Boyer | Michael Patrick Breen | Scott Bryson | Carl Burhanan | Shawn Card | Paul Caroul | Kaine Bennett Charleston | William M. Connor | Joe Fedio | Geoffrey Gould
Directors: Ron Howard
Download: DivX iPod 

A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.