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“NCIS” (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it’s a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations.http://www.buydvdhere.com/60-years-cannes-films-festival-collection-60-dvds-boxset-p-2733.html

Leading this troupe of colorful personalities is NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a former Marine gunnery sergeant, whose skills as an investigator are unmatched. Gibbs is a man of few words, who only needs a look to explain it all. Working under Gibbs is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, an ex-homicide detective who may come off as the world’s oldest frat boy, but whose instincts in the field are unparalleled.

Joining them are forensic specialist Abby Sciuto, a talented scientist whose dark wit matches her Goth style and eclectic tastes, and NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee, an MIT graduate whose brilliance with computers far overshadows his insecurities in the field. Assisting the team is medical examiner Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, who knows it all because he’s seen it all, and he’s not afraid to let you know.

Internally, the NCIS team will have to band together and recover after suffering the devastating loss of Special Agent Kate Todd at the hands of a terrorist. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.http://www.buydvdhere.com/60-years-cannes-films-festival-collection-60-dvds-boxset-p-2733.html

NCIS: Season 01

Running Time: 60 min.

Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service was the somewhat redundant official title of this popular “procedural” series during its first season on the air. Mark Harmon tops the cast as the rule-bending, intensely private Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the head of an elite NCI team specializing in solving baffling crimes related to US Navy personnel. Gibbs’ cohorts during this season include tough, outspoken Caitlin”Kate” Todd (Shana Alexander), former Baltimore homicide detective (and flagrant womanizer) Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), caffeine-addicted, goth-girl technogeek Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette); and all-knowing, long-winded chief lab technician Donald “Ducky” Mallard ({David McCallum). Though the two-part pilot episode was filmed for the military-legal series JAG, it was not shown until several weeks after NCIs proper premiered with its debut episode “Yankee White” (in the pilot, Robyn Lively is seen as Viv Blackadder, the character that eventually morphed into Abby Sciuto). Its plot involving a mysterious death during a flight of Air Force One, “Yankee White” introduces several recurring characters: Alan Dale as NCIs director Tom Morrow, Joe Spano as FBI agent Fornell and Pancho Demmings as Ducky’s assistant Gerald Jackson. Another frequently seen character, Special Agent Paula Cassidy, first shows up in “Minimum Security”, while Gerald Jackson’s ultimate replacement Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen makes his bow in “Split Decision”. Finally, “Sub Rosa” marks the initial appearance of MIT-educated lab tech Tim McGee (Sean Murray), who would join the cast as a regular in Season Two. The series’ second episode, “Hung Out to Dry”, is something of a crossover, with Patrick Labyorteaux appearing in his JAG characterization of Lt. Bud Roberts. “My Other Left Foot” is a reunion of sorts for onetime St. Elsewhere regulars Mark Harmon and Bonnie Bartlett. And “Bete Noire” introduces the series’ most vicious antagonist, Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin–Hamad/Mossad double agent, terrorist, master of disguise, and ultimate assassin of one of the show’s best-loved characters. Hal

Erickson, All Movie Guide.

NCIS: Season 02

Running Time: 60 min.

With the inauguration of its second season, this popular “procedural” series streamlines its title, forsaking the cumbersome Navy NCIs: Naval Criminal Investigative Service for the more familiar NCIs. Joining series regulars Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs), Shana Alexander (Kate Todd), Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo), Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto) and David McCallum (“Ducky” Mallard} is former guest actor Sean Murray as MIT-educated lab tech Tim McGee, who is invited to join the NCI team by head man Gibbs himself. Amidst such story elements as kidnappings, serial killers, serial rapists, crop circles, mob hits, transsexuals, disembodied eyeballs and bikini contests, this season permits the viewer to learn just a tiny bit more about the clouded past lives of Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard; we also meet for the first time Ducky’s 96-year-old mother, played by Nina Foch (actually 80 years old at the time, and only nine years older than her “son” David McCallum!) And given the world climate, it isn’t surprising that the Season Two episodes would make numerous pointed references to the Iraq War and the general unrest in the Middle East. Episodes of note include “Call of Silence”, with Charles Durning in the Emmy-nominated role of a highly decorated marine who confesses to committing murder in the heat of battle–60 years earlier; “Doppelganger”, which per its title amusingly featutres a team of Virginia law-enforcement officers who are virtual clones of the familier NCI-ers; and “SWAK”, wherein team member Tony is among the victims of a bio-terrorist attack. The devastating season finale “Twilight” marks the return of the team’s most formidable adversary, Hamad/Mossad double agent and terrorist Ari (Rudolf Martin), who among other acts of villainy coldbloodedly murders one of NCI’s most popular leading characters! Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

NCIS: Season 03

Running Time: 60 min.

Season Three of NCIs opens on a melancholy note, as the Naval Criminal Investigate Service team headed by the iconoclastic Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) mourns the death of team member Caitlin “Kate” Todd (Shana Alexander) at the hands of ruthless terrorist Ari (Rudolf Martin) (though actress Alexander had left the series, she would return in “ghostly” form once or twice). Gibbs’ response to the loss is encapsulated in the title of the two-part season opener, “Kill Ari”, which introduces Cote de Pablo as new NCI member Ziva David, a former Mossad officer who also has a score to settle with Ari. Another new regular is introduced in the episode “Silver War”: Lauren Holly as NCIs director Jenny Shepard, who replaces former director Tom Morrow (Alan Dale) when the latter joins the Homeland Security department. Jenny’s arrival adds a whole new dimension to the series, inasmuch as she had previously been the partner–and lover–of Leroy Gibbs. In addition to these newcomers, together with longtime series stalwarts Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo), Pauley Perrette (Abigail Sciuto), Sean Murray (Tim McGee) and David McCallum (Donald “Ducky” Mallard), the third season also marks the debut appearances of recurring characters Stephanie Mello as Cynthia Summer and Muse Watson as Michael Franks. Throughout the season, the viewer is offered seconds-lasting flashbacks to the jealously guarded past of NCI team head Gibbs, culminating in the revelation that the first of his three wives was murdered, along with his daughter. This information comes to surface during the two-part finale “Hiatus”, wherein Tony DiNozzo is put in charge of the team while Gibbs is recovering from a serious injury which may rob him of his memory–a tragedy that could not happen at a worse time, inasmuch as Gibbs is the only person who knows the modus operandi of a vicious terrorist group which threatens the lives of everyone whom the viewer cares about! Incidentally, there’s a bit of benevolent nepotism afoot during NCI’s third season. Appearing in key roles as Michael Bellisario and Troian Bellisario–the real-life offspring of series producer/creator Donald P. Bellisario. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

NCIS: Season 04

Running Time: 60 min.

Still not completely recovered from t
he serious injuries incurred during the near-apocalyptic Season Three finale of NCIs, Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) has at the outset of Season Four retired from his position as head of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service comprised of Ziva David (Cote de Pablo, Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly, Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), Tim McGee ({Sean Murray) and Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard ({David McCallum). Now the team is under the command of hotheaded DiNozzo–but not for long. Emerging from his self-imposed exile when his coworker Ziva is placed in jeopardy in the season opener “Shalom”, Gibbs has assumed command of the team by the next episode “Escape”, and within a few weeks he’s working at full throttle. However, despite the tantalizing revelations throughout Season Three, the intensely private Gibbs still remains something of an enigma to the other NCI-ers–a fact that proves most frustrating to the unit’s director Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly, who also happens to be Gibbs’ former lover. (Among the “clues” to Gibbs’ former life this time around is the unexpected appearance of his sister Sarah, played by Troian Bellisario, daughter of series producer Donald P. Bellisario). Newcomers to the recurring-character roster this year included Scottie Thompson as Tony’s girlfriend Jeanne Benoit, a DC-based doctor; and Susanna Thompson as Lt. Col. Hollis Mann, Gibbs’ counterpart in the Army CID, with whom Gibbs implicitly begins a romance as the season winds down. Season Four concludes with the cliffhanging “Angel of Death”, in which all the team members are ordered to take a Homeland Security polygraph tests. Can it be that the many secrets long withheld by Gibbs and his cohorts are at last to be exposed for the world to see? Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

NCIS: Season 05

NCIS: Season 06http://www.buydvdhere.com/60-years-cannes-films-festival-collection-60-dvds-boxset-p-2733.html

If you have a good story to tell there is no reason why you should not make it into an independent film. With the right film production techniques, the right script, the right people working with you and a relatively small amount of money you can make a low budget movie that can compete with the best of them on the festival circuit at places like Cannes, Toronto, Telluride and the Sundance Film Festival. If your story is compelling enough people will forget that the production value is a bit challenged.

There are people all over this world who never gave up on their dreams to make films, despite the difficulties that came with working outside of the mainstream film industry. They are passionate filmmakers who believe that anyone with a compelling story to tell has a right to make a movie. Through their struggles these diehard filmmakers have created cheaper ways to make movies. This revolution was born out of frustration due to decades of having their creative voices shunned by the big film studios who favored commercialism over creativity.

The commercialism associated with the films that are being released by the major Hollywood film studios these days is very frustrating for any filmmaker who considers their work to be art. Nowadays movies are tested extensively beforehand to ensure that the studio committing hundreds of millions of dollars to it will not lose money. This kind of testing tends to narrow the field down to only a few kinds of movies that they will invest in which means there is no room for new ideas. True artists can never be happy when there are constraints imposed on their methods and subject matter.

Although the film industry is a merging of story telling and commerce, the story telling part has always been the most important half of the equation for the audience. The big movie studio executives seem to have forgotten this fact as they continue to produce movies that have more style than substance. People would much rather see a good movie with a low production value than they would a bad movie with a high production value.

Talent and a good storyline are generally worth more to movie audiences than an expensive look. If you can just get a good story committed to film and submitted to film festivals, then people will take notice. If a buzz is created about your movie, it can lead to a distribution deal that is worth many times more than the money you invested.

After you have finished with all phases of the film production process you need to find places that will show your film to the public. There is a thing called the film festival circuit and it is the last bastion of hope for people who want to make independent films. Sure, the celebrities and big studios have recently invaded the larger events like Toronto, Cannes and the Sundance Film Festival, but they still make room for the little guys. Independent filmmakers are still the focus of film festivals no matter how much publicity they receive.

Films like The Blair Witch Project are a perfect example of how a film with a very small budget but a very clever story can make it to the big time.

This very independent film was a big hit at The Sundance Film Festival in the late nineties and it was all because of the storyline. The Film was shot and edited on video and transferred to 16mm film only for the print that was needed for screenings at the festival. The independent filmmakers that made this film only spent about 40,000 dollars to make it and get it ready for Sundance. The production value was very poor but people could not stop talking about how the story ended. It received a lot of publicity and was subsequently sold to a major film studio for one and a half million dollars. The studio made 150 million dollars on the film when they blew it up to 35 millimeter and distributed it to theaters nationwide.

Film festivals are places where the playing field is leveled for all the players in the film industry. It is a strange nexus between people who are hungry to get into the film industry and people who have had too much of it and just want to be a little less full of it. They long for the days when filmmaking was more of an art form and less commercialized. The result is that they embrace independent filmmakers in their raw form. When this happens there is always a chance that one of the little guys could be suddenly held up to the spotlight by the big players and glorified. If this does occur it is always because the storyline of the film created a buzz, not the production value.