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Tony Sibbald Movies

1995  
PG13  
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In this high-tech thriller, Dade Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) has been fascinated with computers all his life; at the age of 11, he was able to break into the computer network of several top Wall Street investment and banking firms, and he nearly caused a major stock market crash in the process. As punishment, Dade was forbidden to use a computer until his 18th birthday, but now that he's of age, he's diving back into his PC head first. Dade meets up with a group of fellow hackers: tough-talking cyber gamer Kate, aka Acid Burn (Angelina Jolie), junior hacker Jesse Bradford, born prankster Cereal Killer (Matthew Lillard), Nikon (Lawrence Mason), named for his photographic memory, and telephone expert Phantom Phreak (Renoly Santiago). Dade and his pals aren't out to destroy systems or do cybercrime for profit; they simply want to know more about the systems they encounter, and they like raising some good-natured havoc. But in their travels through cyberspace, they discover The Plague (Fisher Stevens), a former hacker turned computer security expert with a huge multinational corporation. The Plague has not only done the unthinkable and gone into anti-hacker enforcement, he's secretly allied himself with a group of criminals and is using his expertise to drain funds from corporate bank accounts and transfer them to himself and his mistress, Margo (Lorraine Bracco). The Plague is also smart enough to leave clues that would lead investigators to someone else -- in this case, Dade and his friends -- and has a secret weapon at his disposal, a computer virus that could wipe out the entire world wide web in a matter of minutes. Several sequences for Hackers were shot at New York City's Stuyvesant High School, where coincidentally several months after filming, several students were arrested by F.B.I. agents for their involvement in computer hacking. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Jonny Lee MillerAngelina Jolie, (more)
 
1992  
R  
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The year is 2008 and something is terrorizing the streets of London, leaving numerous heartless corpses behind. Fortunately detective Harley Stone (Rutger Hauer) is on the case and discovers that the murderous monster behind the killings is just that. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Rutger HauerKim Cattrall, (more)
 
1986  
PG  
Set during the last days of the old west, this zany adventure follows the exploits of a pair of cow-poke bankrobbers her are captured and then given the choice between going to jail or going overseas to fight WW I. They choose the latter and end up in France where they eventually join a squadron of British pilots. The fliers have been assigned to gun down a well-protected, gigantic German zeppelin that has been causing many headaches for the Allies. Unfortunately, the attempts take a heavy toll on the planes and slightly addled British plane mechanic Fritz is having increasing difficulties piecing the planes back together. Tables turn for the better when the two unwilling soldiers learn to fly the planes themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Scott McGinnisJeff Osterhage, (more)
 
1986  
R  
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A group of radical Vietnam vets become broadcasting pirates and take on a Presidential candidate in this crazy comedy. The vets and their leader, "Captain," are television raiders flying all over the country in a B-29 they turned into flying broadcasting station S&M TV, jamming the airwaves wherever they go. Their self-assigned mission for the past 20 years is to keep the public informed about government activity to stop them from launching another foolish war like Vietnam. To do this they monitor the broadcasts of other television stations and when they don't like what they hear, they bust in and expose the lies. The bulk of the story centers around their final mission: an all-out attempt to keep Mrs. Willa Westinghouse, an ultra-conservative Presidential candidate and strong proponent of the Cold War and military strength, from winning the election. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Dennis HopperMichael J. Pollard, (more)
 
1985  
PG  
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Secret Agent 007 must stop a megalomaniacal technology mogul from destroying Silicon Valley in this fourteenth episode of the long-running James Bond series. Computer baron Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) is planning to trigger a major California earthquake in order to wipe out his competitors. Bond is dispatched to stop him in Europe, where he is partnered with Sir Godfrey Tibbet (Patrick MacNee). Sent in to slow down Bond and Company is Max Zorin's sadistic and murderous sidekick May Day (Grace Jones), the first of two Bond girls in the film (the other being Tanya Roberts). The expected high-wire confrontations ensue, including a parachute jump off the Eiffel Tower, a drive through the streets of Paris with a car cut in half, and a life-or-death struggle with a blimp on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. This production is most notable for the fact that it marked the final appearance of Roger Moore as the dashing Bond. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

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Starring:
Roger MooreChristopher Walken, (more)
 
1984  
R  
Scream for Help could be a failed horror spoof, or just a bad horror film -- either way, this story about a teenage daughter trying to convince the world that her cheating stepfather is out to kill her wealthy mother has its flaws. When the young teenager finally gets some proof that she is right, she and her mother are taken captive by the crazed stepfather, and a series of grisly murders results. With pompously dramatic music and acting that is over the edge, the story plays as tongue-in-cheek, until the blood and gore start to gush, turning anyone's stomach. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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Starring:
Rachel KellyMarie Masters, (more)
 
1983  
R  
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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, Rovi

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Starring:
David KeithRobert Prosky, (more)
 
1981  
PG  
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Milos Foreman's cinematic adaptation of E.L. Doctrow's sprawling pop-culture epic Ragtime follows a variety of characters whose lives intertwine during the earliest years of the 20th century. Brad Dourif plays the meek young brother in a wealthy family who ends up helping Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard E. Rollins) when the proud black man stands up to the racism that surrounds him with a criminal act that leads to a standoff with a police commissioner (James Cagney - making his return to the big screen after fifteen years away). Secondary characters include a street artist (Mandy Patinkin) who gets his foot in the door of the nascent film business, and a flighty young woman (Elizabeth McGovern) who inspires men who desire her to violence. Randy Newman composed the score, which included a song that earned him his first Oscar nomination. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

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Starring:
James CagneyBrad Dourif, (more)
 
1981  
 
While Idi Umin Dada terrorized Uganda with a barbaric, 8-year, depotic rule, he portrayed himself to the world at large as a fat buffoon, albeit in military garb. How the press corps managed to perpetuate that image in the face of his army's rampage against an estimated 500,000 Ugandan victims of murder, torture, and imprisonment is unfathomable. This historical docudrama relates how Imin came to power, and does not spare the audience when it comes to exposing his barbarisms (dismembering his wife's body and forcing her children to look at it is one example of several). As the story of his rule unfolds, the world eventually "discovers" what the Ugandans have known all along, and Tanzanian forces oust Imin in 1979, saving the lives of countless prisoners and other victims of his unbridled violence. Although the movie portrays the horrors of his reign, the violence that is shown is an accurate view of reality, and far from the exploitative gore of a Hong Kong or Hollywood slasher flic. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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1981  
PG  
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Few filmmakers other than Warren Beatty would have had the courage and vision to fashion an epic film from the life of famed American Communist John Reed (who is the only US citizen buried in the Kremlin). The film is an effort to humanize a political movement that has previously been depicted on screen in a series of unsubtle and prejudicial broad strokes. The film begins in 1915, when Reed (Beatty) makes the acquaintance of married Portland journalist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). So persuasive is Reed's point of view--and so charismatic is Reed himself-- that Bryant kicks over the traces and joins Reed and his fellow radicals. Among the famous personages depicted herein are Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson) and Max Eastman (Richard Herrmann). The second half of this nearly-200-minute film skims through the years when Reed, now a Russian resident, becomes disillusioned by the harsh realities of Bolshevism. Despite the celebrity line-up of real-life "witnesses" to the events depicted in the film (ranging from novelist Henry Miller to comedian George Jessel!), historians took Reds to task for its oversimplification of events and its laundering of the notoriously promiscuous Louise Bryant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Warren BeattyDiane Keaton, (more)
 
1980  
PG  
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Between giving up his super powers, confronting criminals from outer space, and having problems with his girlfriend, it's a bad time to be the Man of Steel in this sequel to the 1978 blockbuster. When terrorists threaten to destroy Paris with a thermonuclear device as they hold reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) hostage, Superman (Christopher Reeve) comes to the rescue and flings the weapon into space. However, its blast outside the earth's orbit awakens Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran), three villains from Superman's home planet of Krypton who were exiled to outer space for their crimes. Zod and his partners arrive on Earth and use their powers in a bid to take over the U.S., and then the world. However, when Lois realizes that mild mannered Clark Kent and Superman are actually the same person, he brings her to his Fortress of Solitude, where his decision to marry Lois costs him his remarkable strength. Without his super powers, how can Superman vanquish Zod and save the world? Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Susannah York, and Jackie Cooper return from the first film, which was shot at the same time as parts of the sequel. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Christopher ReeveGene Hackman, (more)
 
1979  
PG  
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In this WWII romance, Harrison Ford (face-to-face with superstardom from his involvement in Star Wars) is cast as David Halloran, an American bomber pilot stationed in London. During an air raid, Halloran meets and falls in love with beautiful Briton Margaret Sellinger (Lesley-Anne Down). Naturally, Margaret is married, and just as naturally David hopes that this won't make too much difference in their relationship. But this is not to be: Halloran is assigned behind enemy lines on a dangerous assignment, and his partner in this endeavor is Margaret's husband, Paul (Christopher Plummer). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Harrison FordLesley-Anne Down, (more)
 
1975  
 
In the second episode of the four-part story "Terror of the Zygons," several North Sea oil rigs have been destroyed, and the main suspect is none other than the Loch Ness Monster. But in the course of his investigation, the Doctor (Tom Baker) finds a spacecraft hidden in the depths of the Loch. It turns out that "Nessie" has been blamed for the skulduggery of a warmongering alien race called the Zygons. First shown on September 6, 1975, "Terror of the Zygons, Episode 2" was written by Robert Banks Stewart. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Tom BakerElisabeth Sladen, (more)
 
1975  
 
Season 13 of Doctor Who got under way August 30, 1975, with episode one of the four-part adventure "Terror of the Zygons". Summoned to Earth by the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney), the Doctor (Tom Baker) investigates a series of mysterious oil-rig wreckings in the North Sea. This requires the Doctor to pay a visit to the Tullock Moor in Scotland -- where a horrifying discovery awaits him. "Terror of the Zygons, Episode 1" was written by Robert Banks Stewart. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Tom BakerElisabeth Sladen, (more)
 
1974  
 
In Mousey a made-for-TV thriller, a disturbed and obsessed man seeks to regain his son from his overbearing, controlling wife. Kirk Douglas, nick-named "Mousey" by his high-school student, is left by his wife, Laura (Jean Seberg) who also takes her young son who "Mousey" has adopted. "Mousey" begins to stalk her, murdering strangers in the vain hope of impressing her. Kirk Douglas, well-directed by Daniel Petrie, gives a strong, chilling performance, portraying a vengeful man obsessed over his lack of power. Mousey is exceptionally well done and engrossing. It presents a portrait of obsession and gives Douglas the opportunity to explore and build on his character. While Jean Seberg, in the last role before her death, is quite good, this is Kirk Douglas' movie and he never lets it go. Mousey was also released as Cat and Mouse. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

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1970  
PG  
The inimitable Vincent Price puts an interesting spin on this otherwise pedestrian witch-hunt exercise -- a rehashing of Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm) and several of Roger Corman's numerous Poe variations from the previous decade. Here Price plays Edward Whitman, a corrupt, sadistic magistrate in 16th-century Ireland who puts a quick and deadly stop to the activities of a local Druidic coven... but not before the sect's leader Oona (Elisabeth Bergner) puts a curse on him and the Whitman family line, calling up a vengeful spirit known as a "sidhee" which takes flesh in the form of an otherwise mild-mannered stable boy (Patrick Mower). As swift and violent retribution works its way through the Whitman family, so does this film snowball toward its bizarre and muddled conclusion -- made all the more confounding by rather choppy editing. Just like Conqueror Worm and half a dozen others, this was fallaciously marketed by distributor American International Pictures as yet another adaptation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe -- as if AIP hadn't kicked Poe's corpse around enough in the '60s. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

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Starring:
Vincent PriceElisabeth Bergner, (more)