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Product Details
Actors: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds
Directors: Norman Taurog
Writers: Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin, Jack Mintz, James Kevin McGuinness, John Meehan
Producers: John W. Considine Jr.
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French 
 DVD Release Date: November 8, 2005
Run Time: 199 minutes

Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan, who opens Boys Town and dedicates himself to helping juvenile delinquents go straight. Mickey Rooney plays one of the tougher kids, figuring out early on that Flanagan is nobody’s fool. Warmhearted and inspiring, the film’s inevitable sentimentality is nicely cut by Tracy’s performance and a smart script by Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary (who also won Oscars). A good film for all ages, directed by Norman Taurog (Adventures of Tom Sawyer). –Tom Keogh

This is indeed a classic and is definitely one of the greats! Values of yesteryear are still applicable today.  Top notch performances by Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. I recommend this for the whole family! Only problem is explaining why there is no colour in the movie or rather why is it black and white. 😀

Product Details
Actors: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Abigail Breslin, Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwether
Directors: Michael O. Sajbel
Writers: Cheryl McKay, Jim Stovall
Producers: Cleve Landsberg, Dave Ross, Jim Van Eerden, John Shepherd, Paul Brooks
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: August 21, 2007
Run Time: 114 minutes

Editorial Review From Amazon:-

The Ultimate Gift is a tale of one man’s tumultuous journey toward personal growth and fulfillment. Surrounded in life, and death, by avaricious family members fueled by a sense of entitlement, billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) wants to bequeath at least one member of his extended family “the ultimate gift”: something he perceives as immensely more valuable than material wealth. Red’s arrogant grandson Jason (Drew Fuller) holds a deep-seated hatred for his newly-deceased grandfather, so he’s surprised to learn from his grandfather’s friend and lawyer Mr. Hamilton (Bill Cobbs) and assistant Miss Hastings (Lee Meriwether) that he’s been mentioned in his late grandfather’s will. Far from a straightforward gift of cash, land, or stock, Red’s bequest comes in the form of a series of mysterious recorded instructions, the first of which requires Jason to hop on a plane for Texas the very next morning without a hint of the trip’s purpose or the nature of the gift that awaits him. Dropped into a life of hard physical labor on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, Jason’s bad-tempered fury eventually turns to resignation and he finds himself engaged in, and even taking pride in, the first real manual labor he’s ever done in his life. Unbeknownst to him, his journey toward claiming the ultimate gift has only just begun. When he returns from Texas, Jason finds his home cleared out, his car confiscated, and instructions to produce one true friend. While Jason is reduced to sleeping in the park, a young child name Emily (Abigail Breslin) and her mother Alexia (Ali Hillis) make his acquaintance and lead him to re-examine his personal prejudices and perceptions of what’s truly important in life. Jason’s journey of self-discovery continues throughout a series of other trying experiences and, in the end, Grandpa Red’s “ultimate gift” of life lessons profoundly and permanently improves the quality of Jason’s life. What’s more, Jason’s new perspective of his place in society has a very positive affect on the larger community. This very powerful film is funny, heartbreaking, and intensely thought-provoking. –Tami Horiuchi

I love this movie! Nice Riches to Rags to Riches story with a whole lot of life lessons in betweeen! Perhaps the most intriguing thing which I got out of the movie, is the fact that there are various gifts presented to each and everyone of us which we often overlook, write off as inconsequential or are even seen as banes of our existence instead of gifts. 

What about the innumerable gifts given to us by God our Father, have we used or abused them……….Another Great Family movie I highly recommend!

DVD Details

Actors: Daniele Liotti, Enrico Brignano, Jose Sancho

Directors: Umberto Marino

Format: Full Screen, Closed-captioned,

NTSCLanguage: ItalianSubtitles: English

Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Number of discs: 1Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Ignatius PressDVD

Release Date: January 1, 2005

Run Time: 95 minutes

Product Description

The first major feature length drama on the life of St. Anthony of Padua, one of the most popular saints in Christian history. Made in Italy with top-notch acting talent, and superb cinematography, this is an outstanding film on the inspiring life of St. Anthony. It presents Anthony as a strong and appealing person who sacrificed wealth, popularity and looks for the Kingdom of God. It beautifully portrays the power of his preaching, the holiness of his life, his love for the poor and oppressed, and the wonders of his miracles. Sure to be a very popular film!

Personal Review

I love this movie for the actors, storyline and cinematography, though I cannot comment on the historical accuracy of the film.   Still the life and the Scripture knowledge of this remarkable Saint is inspiring and I have developed a deep fondness for St Anthony.  I definitely recommend watching it!

Perhaps this extract of a review done by Madeline P Nugent will help with the historical accuracy bit in this movie.

Here are just some of the things that the movie portrayed that are not in any of the histories:

1. That Anthony killed a man in knightly combat.
2. That Anthony had a girl friend by any name (she is called Teresa in the movie)
3. That Anthony was depressed

Here are some wonderful, true incidents in the life of St. Anthony that were not in the movie but, in my opinion, should have been:

1. The power of his preaching. The preaching he is shown giving is sappy, in my opinion, when we actually have volumes of his stirring sermon notes and lofty and beautiful theology. I could have preached better than he did in the movie.
2. The confrontation with heretics (he was called the Hammer of Heretics) yet his love for them. We have hints of this in the movie but don’t get a good sense of why he had enemies (the religious and political controversy involving Catharism is not explained well enough).
3. His miracles such as the poor woman’s broken wine glass restored or the maid that ran through the rain with vegetables for the friars and didn’t get wet or the band of robbers that went to hear him and were all converted.

A great deal of the movie concerned fiction that is not in any of the biographies of the saint while leaving out some of the major and powerful aspects of his life. The movie is worth seeing, but it falls short of the saint. I hope someone remakes a movie of St. Anthony and sticks close to his life as we have it historically because such a movie would be stirring indeed.

Actors: Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Hurley, Eric Thal, Michael Gambon, Diana Rigg
Directors: Nicolas Roeg
Writers: Allan Scott
Producers: Eleonora Andreatta, Gerald Rafshoon, Heinrich Krauss, Lorenzo Minoli, Luca Bernabei
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Turner Home Ent
DVD Release Date: September 6, 2005
Run Time: 180 minutes

Product Description

Visually stunning with lots of liberties taken in the retelling of this famous bible tale.  However the essence of the story is intact.  Some may find certain scenes offensive in that they can be quite brutal while others may find the sex scene between Samson and Delilah distasteful. ( NO it did not border on porn in any way)  I on the other hand applaud them for trying to make this as accurate as possible how else would you be able to see just what a temptress Delilah really was!

I did however have problem with the casting of Dennis Hopper as the fictional Philistine General Tariq, I reckon they spent too much time developing his fictional character as a result and this indeed was not one of his better performances.  Diana Rigg was exceptional as Mara while Eric Thal did a very convincing portrayal of Samson.  Liz Hurley is as usual visually stunning on film.

Product Details

Actors: Patrick Dempsey, Oliver Reed, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Vincent Regan, Leonor Varela
Directors: Harry Winer
Writers: Harry Winer
Producers: Lorenzo Minoli, Luca Bernabei, Paolo Lucidi, Paolo Piria
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1 
 Run Time: 90 minutes

Product Description

Jeremiah tells the story of the prophet who abandons his family and the woman he loves in order to relay God’s message in Jerusalem. Although he is persecuted and branded as a traitor for warning others of the destruction of the Holy City he continues fearlessly with his mission. When his prophecy is fulfilled he experiences first-hand Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians.

Review

Most great stories comes from the Bible and yet the scriptwriters decided to take some liberties in including some fictitious characters such as Jeremiah’s early ‘love interest’ ‘Judith’ (Lenor Varela)  and ‘General Safan’ (Oliver Reed) to make it even better.  Also Jeremiah is somewhat younger in this story but played superbly by Patrick Dempsey.  Well I must say they did an impressive job of even condensing it without compromising the heart of the Biblical story which they kept intact. 

The only thing I didn’t like was the portrayal of God which appeared to Jeremiah in the form of a little girl and an old man.  If one can look past this then this definitely a film worth watching.  Best scene for me was when Jeremiah the gentle looking man does not flinch from forcefully speaking the Word when it is needed especially when he first addressed the people at the temple calling for repentance.

Product Details

Actors: Louise Lombard, F. Murray Abraham, Jürgen Prochnow, Thomas Kretschmann, Ornella Muti
Directors: Raffaele Mertes
Writers: Sandy Niemand
Producers: Lorenzo Minoli, Luca Bernabei, Paolo Lucidi, Paolo Piria, Roberta Cadringher
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: 
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Release Date: September 26, 2000
Run Time: 90 minutes

Product Description

Following the conquest of Babylon the King of Persia gives a banquet for his people at which he requests the presence of his wife Vashti. As she refuses the King’s demand Ahasuerus disowns Vashti and goes in search of her replacement. In his harem he meets the young girl Esther who immediately captivates him with her charm and beauty. Unaware of her Jewish heritage King Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther. Esther then reveals to Ahasuerus that she is Jewish and asks him to show her people mercy because of a planned genocide of the Jews by the King’s right-hand man Haman. In doing so she saves the lives of many innocent people and paves the way for their return to Jerusalem.

Review

This story from the Old Testament is quite accurately depicted with only minor liberties taken to bring out the rich entirety of the story.  The pretty Louise Lombard was a good choice for her role as Esther as she brought out the graceful, emphathetic, courageous, intergrity, wisdom and dignity of Esther to the silver screen.  Also both F. Murray Abraham and Jürgen Prochnow were excellent choices for their roles as Mordecai and Haman respectively.  The only gripe I have is the portrayal of King Ahasuerus aka Xerxes ( as in the movie 300 ) because he comes across as young, impetuous, immature, drunkard and a reluctant King!

Overall this is DVD movie is still one for your library…..