In a remote woodland cabin, a small-town doctor discovers Nell – a beautiful young hermit-woman with many secrets.

Nell.1994.DVDrip.x264.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 52mn
Size:	2.02 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
Minimum settings:	Met
Video
Codec:	x264
Resolution:	720x364 ~> 855x364
Aspect ratio:	2.35:1
Frame rate:	23.976 fps
Bit rate:	1 916 kb/s
Audio
#1:	English 5.1ch AC-3 @ 448 kb/s (English)
#2:	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 96.0 kb/s (Commentary by director Michael Apted)
#3:	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 96.0 kb/s (Commentary by Jodie Foster)

https://nitro.download/view/C7F8B4132610487/Nell.1994.DVDrip.x264.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English, French, Spanish

The post Michael Apted – Nell (1994) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Starting in 1964 with Seven Up, renowned director Michael Apted has explored this Jesuit maxim. The original concept was to interview 14 children from diverse backgrounds from all over England, asking them about their lives and their dreams for the future. Every seven years, Apted has been back to talk to the same subjects, examining the progression of their lives. From cab driver Tony to East End schoolmates Jackie, Lynn, and Susan and the heart-breaking Neil, we see, as they enter their 40’s, how close these subjects are to realizing their ambitions. An extraordinary look at the structure of life in the 20th century, The Up Series is, according to Roger Ebert, “an inspired, almost noble use of the film medium. Apted penetrates to the central mystery of life.”

The premise behind the Up series is deceptively simple: take a cross-section of children at age 7, ask them about their hopes for the future, and then return every seven years to mark their progress. However, the results of these experiments, launched in 1963 by Britain’s Granada Television, are anything but mundane, and their revelations about society, maturation, and the human condition were compiled into six extraordinary films, packaged together for the first time in this five-disc set. We meet the 14 children whose lives we will follow for the next 36 years in Seven Up, a episode of the television series The World in Action and directed by Paul Almond. What becomes evident almost immediately is that class and background will have an indelible effect on the kids for the rest of their lives; the upper-class boys and girls seem confident to the point of boorishness, while the middle- and working-class children seem resigned to a life of hard work or inevitable failure due to their backgrounds.

Fascinated by the footage, Almond’s assistant, Michael Apted (later the director of The World Is Not Enough, among others, and president of the Directors’ Guild), proposed to revisit the subjects every seven years, and in 1970, 7 Plus Seven was released, followed by 21 Up in ’77, 28 Up in ’84, 35 Up in ’91, and the most recent entry, 42 Up, in ’99 (Apted plans to continue the project). And the changes that occur to the original 14 (some of whom drop out of the project) are among the most fascinating and often tragic ever recorded on film. Success, failure, marriage and childbirth, poverty, illness–almost every possible element of the human experience passes before Apted’s camera. And while each of the children’s stories is riveting, the viewer will undoubtedly be gripped by that of Neil, a shy boy who endures incredible hardships. A one-of-a-kind series and sociological experiment, The Up Series is required viewing for not only documentary fans but any viewer with a curiosity about and concern for their fellow humans. The DVD set includes commentary by Apted on 42 Up. –Paul Gaita

7.plus.seven.1970.720p.bluray.x264-usury.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	51mn 58s
Size: 	2.18 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	960x720 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	5 486 Kbps
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#1:  	English 2.0ch FLAC

https://nitro.download/view/B138D2D09CE6EE1/7.plus.seven.1970.720p.bluray.x264-usury.mkv

https://rapidgator.net/file/88cd9a6ba41e3f121585223e62fe02ff/7.plus.seven.1970.720p.bluray.x264-usury.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English, English SDH

The post Michael Apted – 7 Plus Seven (1970) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Gorky Park, in both the original novel by Martin Cruz Smith and the movie adaptation scripted by the legendary Dennis Potter (Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective), introduced one of the most intriguing fictional detectives of the last half century: Chief Investigator Arkady Renko of the Moscow police force in the former Soviet Union. Like all great detectives, Renko is committed to truth and justice, but he has to pursue them in a system that owes its very existence to secrecy, lies and concealment. This fundamental conflict runs through all of Renko’s cases, along with a conflict-ridden family history, including a famous general of a father who disapproved of his son’s choice to pursue a career in law enforcement.

The first of eight Renko novels, Gorky Park, became an international bestseller in 1981. The film was released two years later by the now-defunct Orion Pictures. Director Michael Apted may have directed a Bond film (The World Is Not Enough), but, as he says in the 2014 interview included on this Blu-ray edition, he is a documentary filmmaker at heart, whose most enduring work may turn out to be the Up Series biographies begun in 1964, of which the most recent installment is 56 Up. When Apted was denied permission to film in the Soviet Union (which claimed that no crime existed in its perfect society), he and his production designer did their best to recreate Russia in Finland and Moscow in Helsinki, but Apted always felt frustrated that he wasn’t able to show the “real” Moscow.

Still, those limitations may have worked in Gorky Park’s favor over the long run. Later films from The Russia House (1990) to Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol have shown us such sights as the Kremlin and Red Square often enough that the cinematic novelty has worn off. Gorky Park is about the work of a meticulous, thoughtful cop, who pores over files and follows leads into parts of town that are not featured in the guidebook. The generic quality of the film’s locations suits both the subject matter and the film’s hero, who describes himself as “a plodding investigator, no style”. Of course, the same was true of Lieutenant Columbo, and criminals never got past him either.

Renko (William Hurt) and his reliable lieutenant, Pasha (Michael Elphick), have a case that they really don’t want. In fact, Renko’s friend, the chief pathologist (Henry Woolf) tells him so, while performing a post mortem the next morning. Three bodies have been found buried in the snow in Moscow’s Gorky Park with all identifying features removed, including their faces. Everything about the case reeks of professional intrigue, including the fact that the KGB arrive on the scene almost as quickly as the police, led by Renko’s personal nemesis, Major Pribluda (Rikki Fulton). It’s as if Pribluda knew the bodies were there, and Renko would be all too happy to let Pribluda and his goons have the case so they can bury it again.

But Renko’s boss and patron, Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy (Ian Bannen), urges him to continue investigating. Things are changing, says Iamskoy. The KGB is getting weaker, while the civilian authorities are gaining power. Iamskoy will back the Chief Investigator, wherever his inquiry may lead.

And Renko’s inquiry does indeed lead to unexpected and perilous places. One of the victims wore ice skates belonging to a Siberian university student, Irina Asanova (Joanna Pacula), who was expelled for radical activities and now works as a seamstress for the movies. Not surprisingly, she is unwilling to talk to the police. But Irina can also be found in the company of a wealthy American businessman, Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin, who was ailing at the time, but you’d never know it from his confidently focused performance). Osborne is involved in the fur trade for prized Russian sables, and he is so well connected that he seems to glide easily through the highest levels of Soviet society. He’s clearly a villain, but are his crimes purely economic? (He barely meets Renko before he’s offering the policeman a bribe.)

Other mysterious characters hover around the edges of the investigation. One furtive figure turns out to be an American of Russian extraction named Kirwill (Brian Dennehy), who tails Renko for reasons unknown. Another is a used car dealer named Golodkin (British comedian Alexei Sayle), who has a few other businesses on the side. And there’s the eccentric Prof. Andreev (Ian McDiarmid, best known as Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars prequels), who is strictly an academic but has a gift for reconstructing the faces of historical figures from archaeological evidence. Despite the professor’s reluctance, Renko persuades him to undertake a painstaking facial reconstruction of two of the Gorky Park victims, with startling results. Meanwhile, shadowy assassins do their best to add to the body count, as someone tries to tie up loose ends. From the methods, Renko is certain the KGB is involved, but what are they covering up?

Apted effectively creates the paranoid atmosphere of a society in which anyone may be a spy or an informer. In groups of people, he will pick out someone who is staring at Renko, his men or anyone appearing to cooperate. Perhaps the person is curious; perhaps they are momentarily distracted; or perhaps they are preparing a report for a KGB handler. In this world, you never know, and much of the “plodding” investigator’s success results from his ability to size up people, to separate the dissemblers from the trustworthy. The latter include Pasha and Renko’s close friend, a lawyer named Anton (played by the late Richard Griffiths, best known as Harry Potter’s unpleasant Uncle Vernon). If Renko doesn’t always get it exactly right, it’s because he has learned the hard way that sometimes one must make deals with the devil in order to achieve as much justice as possible in a system that routinely deducts justice from the equation.

Gorky Park.1983.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 8 min
Size: 	2.91 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x554 
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
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https://nitro.download/view/066BEA89516A16F/Gorky_Park.1983.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Michael Apted – Gorky Park (1983) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Kate works in the nuclear industry. She is concerned about the way things are being run. So she smuggles out some Plutonium to prove how easy it is. She tries to pass it on to protest groups, but nobody is interested as they have their own agendas.

Written by Stephen Poliakoff. Cast includes Francesca Annis, Tom Bell, Clive Merrison, Gerald James, Hugh Thomas, and Mark Wing-Davey.

1.40GB | 1h 34m | 768×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/37ACC9FC6EA0DCF/Play_for_Today_S08E01_Stronger_Than_the_Sun__576p__(18_Oct_1977)__WebRip_x264_.mkv
or
https://fikper.com/hq7hQvrdMJ/Play_for_Today_S08E01_Stronger_Than_the_Sun_[576p]_(18_Oct_1977)_[WebRip_x264].mkv.html

Language:English
Subtitles:None

The post Michael Apted – Play for Today: Stronger Than the Sun (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Firstborn (1984)

A teen must protect his family when his mother’s sinister new boyfriend begins exerting his authority in their home.

Letterboxd reviews
★★★½ Rewatched by Tim Daugherty 16 Sep 2019

I’ve always thought this was an under-rated gem from the 80’s. Firstborn certainly had 80’s flair (not least of all the music), but it also had its own style about it. Mostly understated – and not as exuberant as its peers.

Of course Peter Weller is fantastic, and Terri Garr is believable as both a good mom and a “Coke head”. Is it weird to say this might be Corey Haim’s best performance? The fact Robert Downey Jr. is in this, it’s 1984, and he is NOT the coke addict is hilarious.

What I don’t love is the cheesy action sequence and all-to-clean ending. It’s the stuff of Hallmark Drama TV. Forgivable. It came with the territory back then. Less forgivable, and what prevents this from flirting with being really special, is that I hate the character of Jake. Not the actor, but the character. He just isn’t likable, and comes off as a know-it-all jerk. Everyone around him is made to seem like an obstacle to his magnificent moral compass. His mom, Dad, the new boyfriend, his brother, girlfriend, the teacher, coach, etc…..no one is quite as enlightened as Jake. Even the films title and movie poster reinforces this for some reason. I kind of think this should’ve been “Second-born”

I cheered a little when Weller gives him a right hook to the head. I suspect that wasn’t the intent.

2.50GB | 1h 40m | 1022×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/EBC0D7407ED26DA/Firstborn.AKA.Moving.In.1984.576p.BluRay.AAC.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:None

The post Michael Apted – Firstborn AKA Moving In (1984) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
An adaptation of an HE Bates story, set in an isolated Wiltshire farm in 1942. With her husband a prisoner-of-war, lonely wife (Jackson) strikes up an intimate relationship with a young soldier (Deacon), a farmer’s boy who hates the army. When he impulsively deserts, she hides him, disguised in drag as her sister. The inevitable tensions of their life are increased when two soldiers from the nearby camp discover ‘the girls’, and the lecherous sergeant (Reed) takes a fancy to the one in drag. The relationship between the wife and the deserter is built carefully and convincingly, but in going for laughs as the bullish sergeant, Oliver Reed lets some of the potential tension slip away. As with many of Bates’ stories, the plot is in any case resolved suddenly and melodramatically.

2.56B | 1h 23m | 1024×552 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/2851FA3EC9CB6A3/Michael_Apted_-_(1972)_The_Triple_Echo.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:English

The post Michael Apted – The Triple Echo (1972) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
Scotland Yard’s Jim Naboth (Stacy Keach) battled the bottle instead of London’s seedy underworld and lost. But he finds one chance to get out of life’s gutter when the mob kidnaps his ex-wife in a ruthless $1-million ransom scheme. Director Michael Apted tightens The Squeeze into a penetrating study of people under stress – and a walloping bloody, sexy detective caper in the mold of great British gangland thrillers like Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. He packs it with on-edge performances, starting with Keach (TV’s Mike Hammer) as the hard-drinking cop who’s no match for both booze and sadistic hoods – but is determined to free his ex. Co-starring are Edward Fox (The Day of the Jackal), David Hemmings (Blow-Up), Stephen Boyd (Ben Hur’s chariot-racing villain) and, as the desperate kidnap victim who uses her sexuality as a weapon against her captors, lovely Carol White

1.55GB | 1h 46mn | 835×470 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/99BA488E4D24F6D/The.Squeeze.1977.DVDRip.AC3.x264.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:None

The post Michael Apted – The Squeeze (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.