Channel Four
Career Girls
HDCareer girls opens with a train journey towards London's Kings Cross where Annie, one of the major characters is about to meet her old university friend Hannah. She recalls moving into a grotty student flat with Hannah in the mid-eighties. In those days Annie was self conscious and jumpy. The pair have not seen one another since graduation. They both now have moderately successful careers and are, at least on the surface, self assured in their new lives. However, they are still carrying a lot of emotional baggage from their university days. During the course of a weekend they rediscover their close friendship and encounter many faces from the past.
The Full Monty
HDIn the decaying steel mill town of Sheffield in Northern England, friends Gaz and Dave, both now unemployed and on the dole after the closure of most of the town's steel mills, steal scrap metal from the closed mills to supplement their meager income, often with Gaz's twelve year old son, Nathan, on the days Gaz has custody. Still, Gaz is behind in child support payments to his ex-wife, Mandy. When Mandy threatens to sue for full custody in that Gaz can't support Nathan in any way, Gaz, seeing the long line up of women clamoring to get in to see a touring Chippendales styled dance troupe, thinks he can solve his financial and thus custody problems by forming his own male exotic dance troupe with some of his fellow un- or underemployed ex-mill workers. In addition to Dave, he has in mind middle-aged Gerald, their former foreman who has not told his spending-happy wife Linda that he has been unemployed for six months, and Lomper, a mild-mannered security guard who they just met in the act of him trying to commit suicide in his depression. The obvious problem is that with the exception of Gerald who knows how to ballroom dance, they are not generally stripper material, either in looks, skill or temperament, with especially slightly overweight Dave having body image issues, he believing his wife, Jean, having a wandering eye because of what he considers his unappealing looks. In an open casting among those at the employment office, they are able to recruit further misfits Horse, an older man who does know the contemporary dances of his era, and younger Guy, who can't dance and can't sing but loves Singin' in the Rain (1952) and has a natural gift below the belt. Beyond the many obstacles in being able to put together a dance strip act that women would pay to see, they have to overcome their own individual issues, Gaz's which includes Nathan, who loves his father but with who he just wants to do "normal" father/son activities.
A Life Less Ordinary
HDUpon being fired, a desperate guy kidnaps a daughter of his former boss. Two angels are sent to Earth to check if love is possible in this case.
Bent
HDIn 1930s Berlin, a gay Jew is sent to a concentration camp under the Nazi regime.
A Price Above Rubies
HDThis movie is about a young woman who is married to a devout Jew and the problems that trouble their marriage because of her wanting something more out of her life.
The Very Thought of You
HD3 childhood friends all separately fall for cute American Martha and within 3 days of her arrival at a London airport, their friendship is at risk.
Croupier
HDJack Manfred is an aspiring writer going nowhere fast. To make ends meet, and against his better judgement, he takes a job as a croupier. He finds himself drawn into the casino world and the job gradually takes over his life; his relationship with girlfriend Marion begins to deteriorate. One gambler in particular catches his attention: Jani, whom he starts to see outside of working hours - a serious violation of casino rules. Jani is down on her luck; under pressure from her creditors she approaches Jack, asking him to be the inside man for a planned heist at the casino. Jack carefully considers the odds; it all looks so simple, but even a professional like Jack can't predict the cards he will be dealt.
Orphans
HDFour siblings gathered together for their mother's funeral in Glasgow face individual torments over night during a tumultuous storm that rips the roof off the church.
Dancing at Lughnasa
HDA young boy tells the story of growing up in a fatherless home with his unmarried mother and four spinster aunts in 1930s Ireland. Five women different in temperament and capability from one another form a firm emotional support system for one another (reluctantly at times), with the eldest assuming the role of "somewhat meddling" overseer. Into this comes their elderly brother, a priest too senile to perform his clerical functions who has "come home to die" after a lifetime in Africa. Then the boy's father rides up on a motorcycle--to announce that he's on his way to Spain to fight against Franco. Although undeniably affected by the presence of the two men, the sisters continue to cope as a close-knit unit until something happens that disrupts the fabric of that cohesiveness beyond repair.
Babymother
HDA single mother determined to make it as a singer puts together an all girl reggae group named Neeta, Sweeta, & Nastie with her friends. Living in a housing project with little support, the odds are obviously against her. Emotiona...
Elizabeth
HDThe early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
Velvet Goldmine
HDIn 1984, British journalist Arthur Stuart investigates the career of 1970s glam superstar Brian Slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by hard-living and rebellious American singer Curt Wild.
Hilary and Jackie
HDBritish sisters Hilary du Pré and Jacqueline du Pré are both talented musicians, Hilary a flautist, Jackie a cellist. With regard to their musical prowess, they have always had a friendly competitive nature with each other, fueled in large part by the want of their pianist mother, Iris, for them to achieve musical greatness. But underlying this friendliness is a deep desire to be truly better than the other. Despite or perhaps in part because of her flamboyant performance style, the younger Jackie emerges from the shadows of older Hilary's more triumphant childhood successes to become the renowned musician in the family. Although both continue with their music and both end up marrying (Hilary to Kiffer Finzi, and Jackie to pianist Daniel Barenboim), Hilary focuses on her home life, whereas Jackie focuses on her career. A seemingly odd request by Jackie to Hilary is later understood, but Hilary's agreement to that request demonstrates the true nature of their loving but unusual sisterly relationship.
The War Zone
HDAn alienated teenager, saddened that he has moved away from London, must find a way to deal with a dark family secret.
The Debt Collector
HDMean, gritty, dirty, and low - and that's just Policeman Gary Keltie (Ken Stott) out for retribution for the horrendous crimes against the helpless people of Edinburgh, Scotland during the 1970s by notorious, torturous, and killer...
Siam Sunset
HDA British design executive, who seemingly has everything going for him has his life totally changed when a refrigerator falls from an aircraft and lands on his wife. He decides to getaway from it all by taking a trip to Australia. On his bus, he meets a wild group of eccentrics, including a woman who has stolen cash from her drug-dealing boy friend. As the movie moves along, we learn further that the executive is constantly accident-prone and drawn into unlikely situations. The film's title refers to a new design color that Roache is trying to develop.
Sunshine
HDThe fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.
The Straight Story
HDSeventy-three year old Alvin Straight is a simple living and stubborn man who lives on his social security. He needs to do things on his own terms. He is in failing health. Both his hips are shot, which requires him to use two canes to walk. He is diabetic. He has emphysema from years of smoking. And he has poor eyesight. Beyond the obvious maladies, he doesn't tell his mentally disabled daughter Rose, who lives with him, of many of these issues. He learns that his brother Lyle Straight, from who he has been estranged for ten years, has just suffered a heart attack. Because of both his and Lyle's mortality, Alvin wants to make peace with his brother before it's too late, which means traveling from his home in the rural town of Laurens, Iowa to Lyle's home in rural Mount Zion, Wisconsin. As with other issues in his life, he needs to make the trip on his own terms, which means on his own. As he doesn't possess a driver's license and since his eyesight is bad, he decides to make the trip driving his aged riding lawn mover towing a trailer which will carry his gear and double as his sleeping quarters. After one mis-start, he is on his way. On that trip, he affects and is affected by those he encounters. But he just hopes that he can finish the trip the way he started it, and before either he, Lyle or the lawn mower give out for good.
Gregory's Two Girls
HDBill Forsyth returns to the romantic comedy of 'Gregory's Girl.' 20 years after his teenage crush on a football-mad schoolgirl, Gregory is back at his old school, teaching English. When two of his pupils uncover evil practices at a local factory they want their teacher to help them expose the wrong-doer, who happens to be Greg's old schoolfriend. Trapped between his idealism and breaking the law while trying to choose between two girls--a schoolgirl and a full-grown woman--Gregory still has some growing up to do.
Second Coming
HDA look at the life and struggles of a family living in London.immaculate conceptionunplanned pregnancyrain indoorsvisionunemployment office47 morePlot summaryAdd synopsis
The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer
HDIn Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.
Street of Crocodiles
HDAdapted from Polish writer Bruno Schulz's book, Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay's cornucopia of eerie enchantment portrays a dark underworld that envelops an emaciated puppet. More and more, a stringless marionette wanders deeper and deeper into this desolate realm of strange mechanical rituals, only to find itself devoured by carceral isolation. Now, a triplet of sinister female figures watches its every move from afar. Is there an escape from the horrible street of crocodiles?