LIFE OF PI (PG) 2012 LEE, ANG £19.99
Academy Award-winning fantasy adventure based on Yann Martel’s Booker
Prize-winning novel. Suraj Sharma stars as Pi Patel, a 16-year-old
zookeeper’s son from Pondicherry who finds himself stranded on a small
boat in the Pacific Ocean in the company of a hyena, a zebra, an
orangutan and a Bengal tiger following the shipwreck of the freighter on
which he and his family were sailing for Canada. Over the course of
several months Pi manages to survive on the meagre supplies of food and
water he finds on the boat, and also takes up fishing, while in his
half-delirious state he muses on various aspects of animal behaviour,
religion and the meaning of life.
The film won Academy Awards for Best Director (Ang Lee) and Best
Cinematography (Claudio Miranda), as well as an Academy Award and a
Golden Globe for Best Original Score – Motion Picture (Mychael Danna)
and two BAFTAs.
DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/literature-on-dvd
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN (12) 2012 MEHTA, DEEPA £19.99
Based on Salman Rushdie magic realist novel, the film is set against the
backdrop of India’s independence from British rule and the resulting
partition of India. The story concerns Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha), who
was born at the precise moment of India’s independence and has been
imbued with telepathic powers which connect him to all other children
born within a one-hour timeframe.
DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/literature-on-dvd
LES MISÉRABLES (12A) 2012 HOOPER, TOM £19.99
Academy Award-winning big-screen adaptation of the stage musical based
on Victor Hugo’s classic novel. Set in 19th-century France, the film
tells the story of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a prisoner who breaks
his parole and spends the next two decades fleeing from obsessive police
inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). In his quest for personal redemption,
Valjean adopts Cosette (Isabelle Allen/Amanda Seyfried), daughter of
impoverished prostitute Fantine (Anne Hathaway), and is eventually
elected as town mayor.
But despite the events of the intervening years, can he ever really
shake off his past? The ensemble supporting cast includes Helena Bonham
Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks. Hathaway
won the Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA for her supporting
performance. The film also won two additional Oscars and three BAFTAs,
and received Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Musical Or
Comedy and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical Or Comedy (Jackman).
DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/literature-on-dvd
QUARTET (12) 2012 HOFFMAN, DUSTIN £19.99
Comedy drama adapted by writer Ronald Harwood from his own stage play of
the same name. Beecham House is a retirement home with a difference: it
specifically caters for former artistes including one-time opera
singers Cissy (Pauline Collins), Reginald (Tom Courtenay) and Wilf
(Billy Connolly). Once part of a quartet, the three still take part in
an annual concert to celebrate the birthday of composer Giuseppe Verdi.
But this year things are complicated by the arrival of the fourth
member of their quartet, Jean (Maggie Smith), a die-hard diva who also
happens to be Reginald’s ex-wife. Theatrical temperaments and old
hostilities flare as the dramatic foursome fuss, flirt and flounce their
way through rehearsals, adhering emphatically to that old showbiz
adage, ‘the show must go on’.
Once the water settles, the badly-injured mother and son begin a
frantic search for the missing members of their family, but it soon
becomes apparent that Maria is desperately ill and must be given medical
help as quickly as possible.
DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/literature-on-dvd
