Rolf Saxon Movies

In this episode of the popular PBS series, the Teletubbies demonstrate the loving care they lavish upon baby animals. Dipsy, Poe, Lala, and Tinky Winky encounter such baby critters as puppies, elephants, birds, and lambs. Young fans of the show are sure to enjoy what ensues as the fuzzy and cute meet up. ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide

Tinky-Winky, Laa-Laa, Po, and Dipsy are heading off to bed, but along the way find that they might not be so tired after all. Thirteen short scenes explore the concepts of sleeping, waking, and general bedtime etiquette, with the usual singing and dancing thrown in. Included are familiar bedtime songs "Frere Jacques" and "Rock-a-bye Baby", as well as the upbeat "wake up" songs "Hey, Diddle Diddle," "Wake Up!," and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." The "tummy" video segments include a boy helping to put his brother to bed, being quiet while others are sleeping, night from a cat's point of view, and the cost of skipping a nap. ~ Sarah Block, All Movie Guide

Characters from the late- '90s TV phenom Teletubbies perform classic nursery rhymes: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Jack and Jill," "Pat-a-Cake," "Little Miss Muffet," "Grand Old Duke of York," "Hey Diddle Diddle," "Hickory Dickory Dock," and "Humpty Dumpty." A video retelling of The Gingerbread Man is also included. Designed to keep toddlers enthralled while teaching them basic music and word patterns, this is the third video in the Teletubbies series. ~ Sarah Welsh, All Movie Guide

This video is part of the popular Teletubbies series. The children's show features whimsical characters who explore and learn amazing about life while on their adventures. In this episode some of the show's best loved characters find a magic door that leads them into a special world where a Big Hug awaits each of them. Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po also go hiking and dancing, and make Tubby Toast. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Featuring the colorful, cherubic denizens of Teletubbyland -- Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po -- this short feature offers educational lessons directed toward young pre-school children. Teletubbyland is a place beyond the hills where anything can happen, and when the wind blows, a magical windmill presents pictures from far-off places, allowing the Teletubbies to play with the children of the real world. On this video the Teletubbies, who speak like babies and heavily employ repetition of their words, use ordinary events like taking a nap, eating toast, playing in the rain, and discovering a puddle to examine and communicate the various needs of children within their homes, schools, and society. The Teletubbies' adventures are told in fantastical terms, stimulating a child's senses through colorful costumes, a baby's face in the sun, the playfulness of youth, and the computer-generated animal parade.
~ Forrest Spencer, All Movie Guide

After he is framed for the death of several colleagues and falsely branded a traitor, a secret agent embarks on a daring scheme to clear his name in this spy adventure. Though it drew its name from the familiar television series, director Brian DePalma's big-budget adaptation shares little more with the original show than the occasional self-destructing message and the name of team leader Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). The film focuses not on Phelps but his protégé, Ethan Hunt (a reserved Tom Cruise), who becomes a fugitive after taking the blame for a botched operation. He responds by banding together with a group of fellow renegades, and he is soon maneuvering his way through a twisted series of double crosses that mainly serve as excuses for spectacular high-tech action sequences. Much of the activity revolves around a missing computer disk, with the film's most famous scene depicting Hunt's delicate efforts to retrieve the disk from a secure, well-alarmed room in CIA headquarters. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Hostages is a made-for-cable film that chronicles the captivity of several Western hostages who were held in Lebanon for five years during the mid-'80s. Combining newsreel footage with re-enactment's, the film captures the horror of the hostages--Americans Terry Anderson, Thomas Sutherland, Frank Reed; British citizens John McCarthy, Terry Waite; and Irish teacher Brian Keenan--as they are held by the Muslim fundamentalist group, the Hezbollah. It also follows the trials and tribulations of their families, who struggle against government bureaucracy to free their loved ones. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Mary (Patricia Kerrigan) is a battered wife with two small children, living in a grim section of Dublin. Unable to stand the abuse any longer, she runs away from home, leaving her kids behind. Without money or a place to stay, she's befriended by a somewhat shady character named Perky (Andrew Connolly). He steals a car, and together they go to the coastal town where she'd honeymooned years earlier. Mary and Perky argue constantly, and since she's determined to never let a man abuse her again, she leaves him and gets a job at a dance hall. At the dance hall she encounters a singer (Billie Whitelaw) who she'd idolized as a child. The singer is now a pathetic alcoholic, so another one of Mary's illusions is shattered. On top of that, the dance-hall manager is making unwanted sexual advances to her. Perky returns to rescue her, and they briefly find happiness on a farm owned by a wryly philosophical old widower ($David Kellly. The film ends on a somewhat upbeat note, as they rescue one of Mary's daughters from a Dublin orphanage, but we're left in doubt as to whether Mary and Perky have a future together. Joyriders was the first effort by female director Aisling Walsh. It was financed by the Irish Film Board. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The first of two full-length television sequels which reprise the 1967 original, finds two convicts (Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine) again forced to lead a suicide mission behind enemy lines. This time, they head into Germany to thwart an unbelievable plot to assassinate Hitler. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Directed by British filmmaker Michael Radford, Nineteen Eighty-Four is the second film adaptation of the George Orwell novel. The film is set during April of 1984 in post-atomic war London, the capital city of the repressive totalitarian state of Oceania. Winston Smith (John Hurt) is a government bureaucrat whose job is rewriting history and erasing people from existence. While his co-worker Parsons (Gregor Fisher) seems content to follow the state's laws, Winston starts to write in a secret diary despite the fact the "Big Brother" is watching everyone at all times by way of monitors. He silently suffers and tries to comprehend his oppression, which forbids individual human behaviors such as free thinking and sex. He meets Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), who works for the Ministry of Truth, and they engage in a stoic love affair. They are soon found out, and Winston is interrogated and tortured by his former friend O'Brien (Richard Burton in his final film appearance). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a long novel by Pat Conroy, the story is shortened to focus on a harrowing account of institutional racism in the 1960s American South. David Keith stars as Will McLean, a senior student at the fictional Carolina Military Institute. When the school admits its first black student, McLean is confidentially charged with making sure that the newcomer's initiation does not get too violent. Yet that is exactly what happens, and McLean becomes alarmed when it seems like someone is out to kill his new charge. McLean's own investigation of the matter uncovers an elusive group of sadistic students who will go to any length to control their school. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide