Paula Jacobs Movies

This collection of skits from the fourth series of French & Saunders lives up to its title. Although the comedic duo takes aim at British culture, BBC TV, pop stars, and the Middle Ages, most of the material focuses on Hollywood parody. Dawn French takes on a pair of box-office villains as she pokes fun at Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs and Kathy Bates in Misery; partner Jennifer Saunders, meanwhile, essays the Jodie Foster and James Caan roles, respectively. French experiences the familiar progression from face-hugger to stomach-exploder in a send-up of Aliens that also features Kathy Burke standing in for Jenette Goldstein as Pvt. Vasquez. Thelma and Louise also gets the patented F&S treatment. Other sketches include faux music videos for the Mamas and the Papas, Guns N' Roses, and Shakespear's Sister; "Lucky Bitches," a parody of celebrity sisters Joan and Jackie Collins; and an elaborate re-creation of the historical soap House of Eliott, in which the show's original stars, Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard, appear. The DVD edition of French & Saunders: At the Movies also includes the duo's 1999 Christmas special French & Saunders: The Phantom Millennium, an elaborate parody of Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The made-for-TV Duel of Hearts is based on a novel by Barbara Cartland. It is difficult to believe that there's a Gothic-romance TV movie in existence that isn't based on a Cartland novel. Alison Doody plays gorgeous debutante Lady Caroline Faye, who falls for dashing nobleman Genuse Warlingham (Michael York). To be near the love of her life, Lady Caroline poses as a humble servant. The top-drawer British supporting cast includes Geraldine Chaplin, Billie Whitelaw, Virginia McKenna, Richard Johnson, Jeremy Kemp and Beryl Reed. Duel of Hearts made its American TV bow over the TNT Cable service on February 24, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Author Tom Sharpe's outrageous best-seller about the power struggle that emerges when the dean of a Cambridge University dies before naming his successor gets the big screen treatment in director Robert Knights' four-part comedy. Porterhouse College is an institute of higher education steeped in five hundred-years of tradition, so when the Head Master passes away and his reform-minded replacement Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson) arrives to take his place the staff is outraged. Head Porter Skullion (David Jason) in particular seems hell-bent on subverting Sir Evans' every decree. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Like the Virginia Woolf novel which it interprets, this 1983 BBC production has three parts: "The Window," "Time Passes," and "The Lighthouse." The first focuses on one day in the life of the Ramsay family -- the father and mother, their eight children, and four guests -- while they vacation on the Cornwall peninsula in remote southwestern England. In conversations in the summer house, at the beach, during strolls, and at cricket and wrestling matches, the characters reveal their beliefs, their prejudices, and their longings in an era when old traditions are dying and new traditions are quickening. James, six -- a brat to his father but a dear to his mother -- repeatedly asserts his wish to visit a lighthouse on an island within easy rowing distance. His father Michael Gough refuses to go (and, thus, no one goes) because the weather isn't right. In a moment of dramatic irony, the self-centered father scolds the boy for always thinking only of himself. Self-effacing Mrs. Ramsay (Rosemary Harris) comforts the child. She also sees to the needs of other family members and guests, who have lighthouses of their own -- metaphorical ones -- to preoccupy them. Her daughter, Prue, for example, anticipates her coming marriage while visitor Lily Briscoe looks forward to her career as a painter. In defiance of social convention, Briscoe chooses to remain unmarried. The film depicts the second part of the novel, "Time Passes," with transitional scenes showing changes of season over ten years. During this period, Mrs. Ramsey dies, and Mr. Ramsey laments her death in a weeping spell, saying she never really understood that he loved her. In the final part, "The Lighthouse," James finally gets his wish when he, his father, and other members of the family row out to the towering beacon. On the shore, meanwhile, Lily Briscoe finishes a painting of Mrs. Ramsey. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

British director Richard Marquand graduated from BBC documentaries to dramatized features with 1979's Birth of the Beatles. This chronicle of the Fab Four begins when the group consisted of five musicians: John Lennon (Stephen MacKenna), Paul McCartney (Rod Culbertson), George Harrison (John Altman), Stu Sutcliffe (David Wilkinson), and Pete Best (Ryan Michael). The group begins its career in the dregs of a Hamburg, Germany nightclub (most of the film was made on location). Under the tutelage of manager Brian Epstein (Brian Jameson), the group sheds its rough-hewn image in favor of choirboy haircuts and Eton collars; along the way, Sutcliffe dies and drummer Best is replaced by Richard Starkey, (aka Ringo Starr, played here by Ray Ashcroft). First aired in the U.S. on November 23, 1979, Birth of the Beatles is significant as the only Beatle biopic made while John Lennon was still alive. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi