Outsiders

Referring to the fear of spiders, Arachnophobia features a particularly deadly species of spider that manages to make its way from the Venezuelan rain forest to a small California town, thanks to the many oversights of entomologist Julian Sands. Yuppie doctor Jeff Daniels, fed up with the dangers inherent in big-city living, has resettled in this town on the assumption that nothing untoward could ever happen here to himself and his family. Before long, however, Daniels is trying to make sense of a series of sudden deaths-and to figure out why each of the corpses has been drained of blood. The audience, of course, knows that the culprits are those pesky South American spiders, which grow larger with each kill. To make matters worse, Jeff Daniels suffers from a profound case of arachnophobia. John Goodman supports the cast as a slovenly exterminator, and Frank Marshall, longtime producer of Steven Spielberg's films, makes his directorial debut in Arachnophobia.

Socialist-leaning British director Ken Loach kicked off a decade's worth of acclaimed cinema with this surprisingly comic tale of working class laborers at a North London building site, written by Bill Jesse, a real-life construction worker who died before the film's release. Scottish ex-con Stevie (Robert Carlyle) finds work on a non-union crew converting a hospital into luxury condos. Like most of his coworkers, Stevie is homeless and finds a place to live by squatting in an abandoned building. The crew is exploited by its supervisors and endures unsafe conditions, and pay is so low that the men use false names so that they won't have to pay taxes. Stevie discovers a lost handbag, and when he returns it to the owner, a spacey hopeful singer named Susan (Emer McCourt), he falls in love. He and Susan are soon living together – then Stevie discovers that his girlfriend is a habitual drug user. Meanwhile, the most outspoken worker, Larry (Ricky Tomlinson) loses his job when he questions authority once too often.

National Geographic - King of the Mountain (2014)
HDTV | 1280x720 | .MKV/AVC @ 4274 Kbps | 43mn 55s | Audio: English AC3 384 kbps, 6 channels | Subs: None | 1.46 GiB
Genre: Documentary

Hidden in the most remote reaches of Appalachia and secluded from the outside world is a fiercely independent culture wary of outsiders. And the king of this world is Billy Taylor. His trade? Digging and dealing indigenous medicinal roots and herbs. It is a fierce and competitive world where poachers are punished, digging spots are secret and allies aren't easy to find. But after Billy created an outlet for the diggers to buy and sell their roots, he became king.

Three intercut stories about outsiders, sex and violence. In "Hero," Richie, at age 7, kills his father and flies away. After the event, a documentary in cheesy lurid colors asks what Richie was like and what led up to the shooting. In the black and white "Horror," a scientist isolates the elixir of human sexuality, drinks it, and becomes a festering, contagious murderer; a female colleague who loves him tries to help, to her peril. In "Homo," a prisoner in Fontenal prison is drawn to an inmate whom he knew some years before, at Baton juvenile institute, and whose humiliations he witnessed. This story is told in dim light, except for the bright flashbacks.

BBC - Russia's Lost Princesses (2014)
HDTV | 1280x720 | .MKV/AVC @ 1914 Kbps | 2x~58min | Audio: English AAC 128 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: English | 1.7 GiB
Genre: Documentary | Drama | Family

Two-part series focusing on Tsar Nicholas II's four daughters - Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia - combining interviews with leading historians, stunning archive footage and dramatic reconstruction to reveal the real girls behind the fairy-tale images.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy affectionately covers the 25-year relationship between a wealthy, strong-willed Southern matron (Jessica Tandy) and her equally indomitable Black chauffeur, Hoke (Morgan Freeman). Both employer and employee are outsiders, Hoke because of the color of his skin, Miss Daisy because she is Jewish in a WASP-dominated society. At the same time, Hoke cannot fathom Miss Daisy's cloistered inability to grasp the social changes that are sweeping the South in the 1960s. Nor can Miss Daisy understand why Hoke's "people" are so indignant. It is only when Hoke is retired and Miss Daisy is confined to a home for the elderly that the two fully realize that they've been friends and kindred spirits all along. The supporting cast includes Esther Rolle as Miss Daisy's housekeeper and Dan Aykroyd as Miss Daisy's son, Boolie (reportedly, playwright Uhry based the character upon himself). Driving Miss Daisy won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Tandy), Best Screenplay (Uhry), and Best Makeup (Manlio Rochetti).

National Geographic - Secrets of Shangri-La: Quest for Sacred Caves (2009)
HDTV | 1280x720 | .MKV/AVC @ 5350 Kbps | 56mn 2s | Audio: English AC3 384 kbps, 6 channels | Subs: English | 2.29 GiB
Genre: Documentary

For years, adventurers from all over the world have searched for the mythic paradise of Shangri-La and have found little…until now. In the legendary kingdom of Mustang, a remote corner of the Himalaya previously off-limits to outsiders, a team of explorers and scientists climbs for the first time into human-carved caves thousands of years old. They find priceless 14th-century wall paintings, ancient human remains and a centuries-old hidden library of sacred texts that may reveal some secrets about the mythic paradise Shangri-la. Explore sacred Buddhist caves and witness as experts look back into time as they uncover centuries-old manuscripts and stunning wall paintings that have remained undisturbed for years. Why do they exist, and what can they reveal about the history of Tibetan Buddhism? Ancient human remains, magnificent wall paintings and a hand-inked library of over 10,000 manuscript pages are among the treasures that await them. Has the real Shangri-La finally been discovered? Will it survive the erosion and visitors that the future is bound to bring? National Geographic journeys deep into Nepal in search of the real Shangri-La.