Kennedy: The Complete Series

• KENNEDY: THE COMPLETE SERIES (DVD MOVIE)

In this poetic tale, acclaimed playwright and director David Hare explores the eternal enigmas of love and desire. An American doctor living in Britain, Lillian (Blair Brown), who is almost 40 and newly single, is romanced by a charming entrepreneur named Raymond (Bruno Ganz) during a European vacation. What seems to be an unlikely coupling blossoms into love as the seductive, spontaneous Raymond teaches guarded Lillian about the joys of pure passion. But is the cryptic Raymond all that he seems to be? Is their whirlwind, fairy-tale courtship simply based on a desire to escape the banality of everyday life? And can independent Lillian truly commit to him with the reality of a looming doctors' strike and her single, freewheeling sister's (Bridget Fonda) pregnancy? Exquisitely photographed by Andrew Dunn, Hare's intelligent film uses subtle flourishes to! explore Lillian's fear of commitment, Raymond's obsession with everlasting romantic love, and how his deceptions ultimately transform both their lives. --Bryan ReesmanBeating the Odds is the improbable, inspiring autobiography of financial guru Eddie C. Brown, one of the nation's top stock pickers and money managers. It details how Brown skillfully kept Brown Capital Management afloat through the dot-com bust, 9/11 and the Great Recession. Born to a 13-year-old unwed mother in the rural South, this African-American investment whiz created a Baltimore-based financial firm that amassed more than $6 Billion under management.

Brown delves into the profound heartbreak and disorientation upon the death of his beloved grandmother â€" who was his surrogate mother -- and recounts how Brown's moonshine-running Uncle Jake subsequently became the dominant adult figure in Brown's life. His unflinchingly honest, easy-to-read memoir details how intellectual curiosity, abi! ding self-belief, hard work and divine providence helped Brown! earn an electrical engineering degree, become an Army officer, and later a civilian IBM engineer. Readers will learn of the strife that ensued when Brown quit IBM to earn an MBA, leading to investment jobs that prepared him to start his own money management company in 1983.Martin Sheen (The West Wing, JFK) stars in the title role in this landmark mini-series which centres on the momentous presidential years and the loves, lives, triumphs and tragedies of one of the most controversial families of this century.

KENNEDY covers momentous events including the abortive invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, the turmoil of violent racial conflict, the escalation of America s involvement in Vietnam and the Missile Crisis. It also explores the private life of the man - the tragic death of his son aged only 39 hours, and his chronic womanising, scrutinised by the FBI under the leadership of the sinister and obsessive J. Edgar Hoover.

Nominated for three Golden Globes
Top-ra! ted NBC mini-series starring a young Martin SheenMartin Sheen played president well before his stint on television's The West Wing in this affecting miniseries about John F. Kennedy. All of the momentous events of JFK's remarkable term are covered (with actual news footage used to excellent effect), but it is the portrayal of the entire Kennedy family as real, flawed people that gives Kennedy its power. The Kennedys gossip, snipe, joke, and bother each other like a real family rather than rigid historical figures or threadbare caricatures. Sheen plays Kennedy as a man with lofty ideals who is more than willing to dirty his hands to serve his greater purpose. Blair Brown plays Jacqueline Kennedy with a shrewd understanding of politics, but also a whiff of vanity. In addition to the strong performances by both leads, Vincent Gardenia gives a brilliant performance as J. Edgar Hoover: stiff, quirky and strange, prurient and moralistic at the same time, and boiling! with hatred. The DVD includes 75 minutes of documentary foota! ge from the Kennedy library. --Ali Davis