Two Raymond Briggs' animated classics, The Snowman and Father Christmas are here sensibly paired for maximum yuletide delight. Based on Briggs's classic children's book and crafted in a coloured-pencils-on-paper look, like fluffy, hand-drawn illustrations, The Snowman is a gentle fable of friendship and the power of imagination. It's the story of a small boy whose lovingly ...
Both series of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's triumphant Extras are united in this box, and with nothing more than a Yuletide special planned beyond these episodes, it's a great chance to catch up with this star-packed, offbeat programme. Unlike their previous The Office, Gervais and Merchant have delivered a less accessible but no less rewarding programme with ...
Sarah (a teenage Jennifer Connelly) rehearses the role of a fairy-tale queen, performing for her stuffed animals. She is about to discover that the time has come to leave her childhood behind. In real life she has to baby-sit her brother and contend with parents who don't understand her at all. Her petulance leads her to call the goblins to take the baby away, but when they actually do, she ...
Attracting yet more star names, while wisely moving the narrative on, the second series of Extras really finds the show maturing nicely, and unsurprisingly, cleaned up more awards in the process.That said, it remains a far more divisive programme than its forerunner, The Office. Written by, directed and featuring Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, its appeal is more concentrated ...
The Prestige attempts a hat trick by combining a ridiculously good-looking cast, a highly regarded new director, and more than one sleight of hand. Does it pull it off? Sort of. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play rival magicians who were once friends before an on-stage tragedy drove a wedge between them. While Bale's Alfred Borden is a more skilled illusionist, Jackman's Rufus Angier is ...
First released in France, Luc Besson's Arthur and the Invisibles is a touching computer animated adventure that makes up in look and in character for what it lacks in narrative originality. As a direct hybrid of Excalibur and A Bug's Life, Arthur stars a heroic ten year-old, Arthur (Freddie Highmore), who draws a sword from a stone to fight a miniature battle in the garden ...