Twilight Time has just released the first Blu-ray edition of the 1990 film The Russia House. Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this screen adaptation of the John le Carre novel. Tom Stoppard wrote the screenplay.

Connery plays Barley, a British publisher with a love of Russia. He travels to Russia frequently on business and has an affinity for the Russian people. On one trip he meets a man named Dante (Klaus Maria Brandauer) who is intent on listening to Barley espouse ideas about countries, patriotism, and the new Détente between Russia and the west.

When Katya, (Pfeiffer), a Russian woman gives a manuscript to a friend of his to be delivered directly to him, it isn’t. Instead it is given to the intelligence community who read the notebooks, which are filled with information about the state of Russian warfare. Namely, they learn that Russia isn’t as advanced as they say they are.

But who wrote books and why was it sent to Barley? Barley is immediately picked up and brought in for questioning. He is then asked to help them determine the authenticity of the claims made in the notebooks. Reluctantly, he agrees to be a “spy” for them.

Upon returning to Russia he meets Katya and they form a bond. They actually form more than a simple bond. As time goes by they fall in love. This presents a difficult situation for Barley as he knows Katya is stuck in the middle between Dante, the scientist who betrayed his country, and the Russian government.

The Russia House is a slow-moving drama that is only elevated by the marvelous music by Jerry Goldsmith. Carre penned wonderful novels like “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,” “The Little Drummer Girl,” “The Tailor of Panama,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and many more. The movie was shot on location and the outside scenes in Moscow, St. Petersburg (Leningrad), and Lisbon add greatly to the story. The crew was allowed unprecedented access to film around the cities and as they describe in the bonus feature, they often just went out on the streets to film since it was easier than setting up a shot with extras and cameras. They simply went out and acted while being surrounded by average Russians.

The movie is an interesting story of love, country, and espionage. It isn’t Carre’s best film adapted story, however Connery increases its enjoyment, and the scenery in Russia is a memorable aspect of the film.

The Russia House is rated R for language.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for 20 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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1880’s Kansas was a lawless region. Traded is a film set in that time and produced in the style of the old westerns, with plenty of blood and shoot-em-ups. Michael Pare stars in this gritty story of a man’s love for his family and determination to get revenge.

Clay Travis (Pare) is a former gunslinger with a checkered past. He is now a loving husband and father, and rancher. His family means everything to him, so when his 17-year-old daughter Lily (Brittany Elizabeth Williams) is abducted, he sets out to find her and bring her home.

This is a time when women were thought of as property and used as sex slaves for the raucous men who were living in the wild region. These underground sex rings were part of life in the towns. Lily was taken for this purpose however Clay learns she was “traded” to another man for a bell. Is your blood pressure rising yet? It should be. This story is a haunting one.

Clay continues to put the clues together in his hunt for his daughter. Along the way he meets a sensitive bartender (Kris Kristofferson) who tells him everyone has two wolves inside of them – a loving and forgiving one and an evil and revengeful one. The one that survives is the one that is fed.

Country Music Hall of Famer Trace Adkins plays the creepy man who traded Lily for a bell for his truck. Martin Kove and Tom Sizemore play some of the other lawless and uncaring men who cross paths with Clay.

This is truly a gritty western in the old Sergio Leone style. It’s interesting to see Pare in this role and he pulls of the character of a tough sharpshooter with a heart. He never flinches when he shoots someone, and he does shoot a lot of men. He is convincing as a father who will do anything to get his daughter back, which he just about does.

Kristofferson is downright loveable, if you can say that about a hard-nosed man with feelings, as he watches what unravels before him then finally takes a stand.

The bonus feature on the Blu-ray is a look at the cast and the making of the film. The actors discuss working with each other and especially working with icon Kristofferson. The filmmakers discuss the story and the location shoots. There are also two deleted scenes.

Traded is not rated however it is not for young viewers. It is bloody, gruesome at times, has plenty of unsuitable language, sex, a little nudity, and an adult theme.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for 20 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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His birth was a national event. From the moment he was conceived John F. Kennedy Jr. was a public figure. I Am JFK Jr. is an insightful look at the man who went through his entire life in the public eye having every move he made scrutinized in the press and always hunted by paparazzi and Kennedy-fans.

He was a man who knew he had a responsibility to his family, his country, and more importantly, to himself. Having been born into America’s most famous family and having the name of a beloved slain president was something that never left his mind. He knew he was expected to do something great. The country looked up to him. But JFK Jr. also knew he had a responsibility to be himself at the same time.

So, how did he manage to balance expectations with his inner drives and desires? Thanks to his mother, Jacqueline, he and his sister were given the tools and self-confidence they needed to live their lives as their own people as well as “Kennedys.”

This documentary includes clips from the life of John Kennedy Jr. as well as interviews with those who new him. College roommates, family friends, colleagues, and personal friends talk about his life and his interactions as well as his inner turmoil. He said being who he was wasn’t really a “burden,” but he did have a weight he lived with and always had to run the gauntlet of paparazzi and fans throughout his life, and after chosen People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” he had a personal persona as well as a public one to balance.

He didn’t follow many of his family members by going to Harvard. Instead he chose Brown. But he did bring his father’s presidential chair to his fraternity. He was indeed his father’s son, but also very much his mother’s son. Jacqueline was responsible for his upbringing and she protected him as much as possible.

This documentary is not a movie about the Kennedys. It is a film that is meant to educate viewers about the man who was considered “America’s Prince.” His loyalty to his friends, his closeness between his mother, sister, and himself, his interest in others are what made him who he was.

John Kennedy Jr. went into publishing, which was his father’s second choice for a profession. Would he have used that as a launching pad for politics? We’ll never know. But because of the in-depth interviews in this film, the public knows more about the man who touched the world as a three-year-old by his farewell to his father with one salute. Who was he? What was he like? What did he have to endure being John F. Kennedy Jr.? These are addressed in this film.

I Am JFK Jr. comes to Digital HD on August 2, 2016. The DVD will be released On August 12.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for 20 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

Follow her on Twitter

Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon were two of the most famous men in the world in 1970. One was a president and one was a king. When the President of the United States met the King of Rock and Roll, history was made. The photograph of the two together is the most requested photograph in the National Archives. Elvis and Nixon is the untold story that resulted in that historic photo.

Michael Shannon stars as Elvis and Kevin Spacey is Nixon in this story about two very different and equally quirky men. According to this, Elvis decided he wanted to work undercover for the United States after realizing the country he loved was heading down a perilous path with drugs and rock and roll. He wanted to infiltrate the youth culture as an undercover agent-at-large.

So what did this guy do? He wrote a letter to the president and hand delivered it to the White House asking for a meeting with Nixon. For the White House staff who were used to seeing the rich and famous, Elvis presented them with a difficult situation. And they were all agog about meeting him –all except the president. He turned down the request for a meeting. His advisor Krogh (Colin Hanks) thought it would be good PR for the two to get together.

Through some manipulation with the president’s staff and Elvis’ friends/staff (namely Jerry played by Alex Pettyfer), and the insistence of Julie Nixon, the meeting was scheduled. While Nixon only wanted to spend a maximum of five minutes with Elvis, he ended up spending a lot more time after hearing Elvis expound on the ideals that were important to his own ways of thinking. Outwardly it would seem that these two men had nothing in common, but when it came down to it, they held many of the same positions.

What viewers see in this movie are an excellent portrayal of Nixon by Academy-award winner Spacey and an inside look at the strangeness and self-confidence of Elvis presented convincingly by Shannon. The filmmakers could have gone with an actor who looked more like Presley, but the performance by Shannon is worth noting. The quirkiness and weirdness of Elvis is front and center. We all know how unusual Elvis was, but this film emphasizes that to the hilt.

The result of their meeting on December 21, 1970 is the photograph that merges two completely different men into one historic event. The bonus feature on the Blu-ray, titled “Crazy but True,” focuses on the actual Oval office event with the actors and filmmakers. Yes, it was crazy but as the photo shows, it was true.

Elvis & Nixon is rated R for some language.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for 20 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

Follow her on Twitter