Around the World in 80 Days, the latest adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel, is a mediocre bit of mish-mash, which while it has its moments, is an almost completely skippable movie.
Quite appropriately, Jackie Chan gets top billing in this movie, as this really is a Jackie Chan movie. Unfortunately, it has other stuff too. One doesn't watch Jackie Chan's movies for the writing or the acting or the special effects; one watches for the action. In the Jackie Chan portions of this film, the action is enough to entertain. At the other times, however, the bad acting, writing and effects are more than a little annoying.
No one comes off looking well in this movie. I wasn't demanding Oscar-caliber performances, just something that wasn't overly hammy. The dialogue, even if delivered... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Jackie Chan - Steve Coogan - Jim Broadbent Director(s): Frank Coraci DVD Release Date: Released the 02 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days is an entertaining hodge-podge of adventure, comedy, and scenery from across the globe. Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People), an obsessively precise inventor, bets that he can circumnavigate the planet in 80 days--considered impossible in the Victorian era. In this version, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese peasant who retrieves a stolen idol from the Bank of England, then convinces Fogg to hire him as a French valet so that Chan can get back to his village. Chan supplies numerous spectacular fights against the forces trying to stop Fogg or get the idol, while Coogan is both funny and a surprisingly appealing romantic lead (he flirts with a fetching French painter who joins them). The various episodes--featuring cameos... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Jackie Chan - Steve Coogan - Jim Broadbent Director(s): Frank Coraci DVD Release Date: Released the 02 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This BBC TV is based on the true story of Deric and Diana Longden, who were faced with the debilitating symptoms of what was at the time undefined Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, with Diana a paralytic who has blackouts. The trap in dramatising this kind of tale is allowing the proceedings to get either too maudlin or too icky sweet uplifting. Adapter playwright Jack Rosenthal and director Richard Loncraine overcome this but fall into the opposing trap, by making the situations mundane and distracting the narrative with the seemingly unnecessary plight of the Longden's to be married son, and the lack of success of Deric's business. We don't so much resent the time given to Deric's doddery mother played by Thora Hird since her addle-mindness is so funny, with the reactions... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Julie Walters - Jim Broadbent Director(s): Richard Loncraine DVD Release Date: Released the 05 August 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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While it necessarily streamlines the Charles Dickens classic, this delightful adaptation of Nicholas Nickelby captures the essence of Dickens in all of its Victorian splendor and squalor. With Charlie Hunnam (the U.K. Queer as Folk) doing noble work in the title role, this quintessentially Dickensian tale begins with the death of Nicholas's father, and the subsequent scheme by his cruel uncle (Christopher Plummer, perfectly cast) to separate Nicholas from his now penniless sister and mother. Stuck in a squalid school run by the evil Mr. and Mrs. Squeers (Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson), Nicholas escapes with his loyal friend Smike (Billy Elliott's Jamie Bell), whose lineage will determine the greedy uncle's fate. As he did with Jane Austen's Emma,... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Charlie Hunnam - Christopher Plummer - Anne Hathaway - Jim Broadbent - Jamie Bell Director(s): Douglas McGrath DVD Release Date: Released the 22 July 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The popular children's books by Mary Norton have been filmed before, but never with as much imagination and ingenuity as you'll find on display in this delightful fantasy film released to critical praise in 1998. The "Borrowers" of the title are a family of tiny people who live in the walls and under the floorboards in the homes of "normal-sized" humans; they earn their by "borrowing" the household items (string, food crumbs, buttons, etc.) needed to furnish their tiny hiding places and provide their meals. The little Clock family lives happily undisturbed in the home of an aged aunt, but when the aunt dies and her will is stolen by an unscrupulous lawyer (John Goodman), the Clocks face eviction and the frightening hazards of the outside world. Under the ingenious direction of Peter... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): John Goodman - Jim Broadbent Director(s): Peter Hewitt DVD Release Date: Released the 05 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Iris teems with fussy charm and the intimate joy found only in a lover's foibles. Adapted from the memoirs of literary critic John Bayley, the film recounts his courtship of and long marriage to British novelist Iris Murdoch. The scenario tacks back and forth from the young Iris (Kate Winslet)--ready to seduce one and all with her coy command of words and sex appeal--to the elder Iris (Judi Dench)--slowly giving way to the cruel erasure of Alzheimer's--and it is impossible not to be moved by the film's denouement of loss. Ms. Dench is, as usual, resplendent, tossing off literary quips, knowing glares, and razor-sharp metaphors with graceful ease. The pleasure Murdoch took in what must have been an extraordinary life is palpable every second Dench is onscreen. Jim Broadbent is also... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Judi Dench - Jim Broadbent Director(s): Richard Eyre DVD Release Date: Released the 20 August 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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