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Review MGM Entertainment / Swamp Thing [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Adrienne Barbeau
  • Wes Craven
  • Louis Jourdan
  • Ray Wise
  • Don Knight
Release date: 2003-06-16
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.34

Review Swamp Thing [1981] / MGM Entertainment:


Review Mission: Impossible / Mission: Impossible - Season 3
Release date: 2007-10-29
Run time: 478 min.
RRP: £44.99
Price: £15.12

Review Mission: Impossible - Season 3 / Mission: Impossible:

Season 3, should you decide to accept it (and you definitely should), was Mission's most accomplished. It garnered six Emmy nominations, and an Emmy for Barbara Bain, her third consecutive win, probably for "The Exchange," one of her finest hours, in which, breaking series format, her character is captured and psychologically tortured to discover for whom she works. As always, the first five minutes of any Mission: Impossible episode are the coolest: the lit fuse signaling Lalo Schifrin's indelible theme song, the opening-credits montage teasing the action in the upcoming episode, and Jim Phelps (Peter Graves), in some nondescript location, receiving his covert mission (usually to some nonexistent, but real-sounding country as Povia or Costa Mateo), on that self-destructing tape. It always seemed a waste of time for Phelps to go through the dossiers of possible Impossible Missions Force agents for each mission (and he does that less this season) as he invariably chose the same ones: model beauty Cinnamon (Bain), master of disguise Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), electricians expert Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and strongman Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus). Mission: Impossible didn't delve into the team members' private lives: it was all about the mission, and together, the IMF foils any number of domestic and international villains. Some missions (foil a coup, rescue a dissident) have more at stake than others (restore boxing's good name), but there's that great moment in almost every episode when the team's target discovers that he or she has been royally IMF'd. "Don't you see?" the warden of a so-called escape-proof automated prison protests in "The Glass Cage," "they thought of everything!" He's not kidding. Not even "Q" on his best day would have come up with that faux briefcase that secretly dispenses exact replicas of the prison's towels. Mission: Impossible today does seem a little low-tech, especially when compared to the special effects-laden feature films. And for anyone who has seen Airplane, it may be difficult initially to keep a straight face whenever Peter "Do you like gladiator movies?" Graves is onscreen. [+]
But with its clever and complex stories, impeccable ensemble, and fun-to-spot guest stars (that's John "Dean Wormer" Vernon torturing Cinnamon in "The Exchange"), Mission is impossible to resist. -Donald Liebenson.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Die Hard/Die Hard 2/Die Hard With A Vengence
Actors & Directors
  • Samuel L. Jackson
  • William Atherton
  • Jeremy Irons
  • Bruce Willis
  • John McTiernan
  • Alan Rickman
  • Renny Harlin
Release date: 2006-10-16
Run time: 368 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £17.51

Review Die Hard/Die Hard 2/Die Hard With A Vengence / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / Roots: The Original Series 1 - 25th Anniversary Edition (3 Disc Box Set) [1977]
Actors & Directors
  • Gilbert Moses
  • Vic Morrow
  • Olivia Cole
  • Marvin J. Chomsky
  • Ben Vereen
  • John Erman
  • David Greene
  • LeVar Burton
  • Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Release date: 2002-09-30
Run time: 580 min.
Creator: William Blinn
RRP: £20.99
Price: £22.75

Review Roots: The Original Series 1 - 25th Anniversary Edition (3 Disc Box Set) [1977] / Warner Home Video:

Based on Alex Haley's bestseller, the 1977 TV mini-series Roots told the harrowing story of one man's ancestors, commencing with African warrior Kunta Kinte, captured, transported to America, stripped of his dignity, his rights, and even his name. He tries but fails to escape before accepting he can never return to Africa. He marries and bears a daughter, Kizzy, who is callously sold, then raped by her new "master". However, her son, Chicken George, a resourceful dab hand with gamecocks, lives long enough to see his own children attain a liberty of sorts following the Civil War. Roots is told in the same, accessible televisual language as The Waltons or Bonanza, yet it is never bland or evasive. It leaves no doubt as to the torment and abuse suffered by blacks, and although the series' conclusion is fictionally satisfying, for many of the black characters their only hope lies in generations yet unborn. It is sturdy enough drama but its greatest, most revolutionary effects were social. It persuaded American audiences to regard their history from a black perspective, and to see how-against odds far more desperate than those the pilgrims faced-Africans laid claim to their status as free African-Americans. Roots was massively popular, triggering a craze for genealogy and paving the way for series like 1979's Holocaust, which similarly raised the public's awareness of the slaughter of the Jews under Hitler. Most importantly, Roots changed forever the way black people were depicted on American TV. [+]
On the DVD: Roots is presented in 1:33:1 format and is visually extremely well-preserved. Extra features include a "Roots Family Tree", a copious, informative audio commentary featuring members of cast and crew, and a documentary, "Remembering Roots". Although this consists only of interviews, these convey the extraordinary emotional grip this project had on those who took part in it. -David Stubbs.

Review Contender Entertainment Group / The Protector [1985]
Actors & Directors
  • Jackie Chan
Release date: 2007-03-12
Run time: 91 min.
RRP: £16.99
Price: £4.98

Review The Protector [1985] / Contender Entertainment Group:


Review Warner Home Video / Batman - Mystery Of The Batwoman [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
  • Curtis Geda
  • Tara Strong
  • David Ogden Stiers
  • Tim Maltby
  • Bob Hastings
  • Kevin Conroy
Release date: 2004-01-26
Run time: 71 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.89

Review Batman - Mystery Of The Batwoman [2003] / Warner Home Video:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Knight Rider - Season 4
Actors & Directors
  • David Hasselhoff
Release date: 2006-09-18
Run time: 1020 min.
RRP: £34.99
Price: £14.89

Review Knight Rider - Season 4 / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Four Brothers [Blu-ray] [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Tyrese Gibson
  • Garrett Hedlund
  • André Benjamin
  • Terrence Howard
  • John Singleton
  • Mark Wahlberg
Release date: 2008-11-03
Run time: 104 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review Four Brothers [Blu-ray] [2005] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Planet Of The Apes [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • Charlton Heston
  • Roddy McDowall
  • James Whitmore
  • Kim Hunter
  • Maurice Evans
  • Franklin J. Schaffner
Release date: 2001-10-08
Run time: 108 min.
Creator: Rod Serling
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.25

Review Planet Of The Apes [1968] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

The original Planet of the Apes is that rarity of the genre: a science fiction film that has dated not one bit: its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (the fabulous Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of rational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissension, centred in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes-only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound-the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice-and the didactic finger prints of The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all of his own, helped along by Jerry Goldsmith's terrifyingly avant-garde score. And time has not dulled the monumental emotional imp act of the film's climactic payoff shot. -Miles Bethany, Amazon. com.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Die Hard Trilogy (6 Disc Collector's Edition) [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Jeremy Irons
  • William Sadler
  • John McTiernan
  • Bonnie Bedelia
  • Bruce Willis
  • Samuel L. Jackson
Release date: 2004-10-25
Run time: 367 min.
RRP: £34.99
Price: £28.53

Review Die Hard Trilogy (6 Disc Collector's Edition) [1988] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Back To The Future - Part 2 [1989]
Actors & Directors
  • Thomas F. Wilson
  • Lea Thompson
  • Robert Zemeckis
  • Michael J. Fox
  • Christopher Lloyd
Release date: 2005-12-26
Run time: 104 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £1.99

Review Back To The Future - Part 2 [1989] / Universal Pictures UK:

Critics and audiences didn't seem too happy with Back to the Future, Part II, the inventive, perhaps too clever sequel. Director Zemeckis and cast bent over backwards to add layers of time-travel complication, and while it surely exercises the brain it isn't necessarily funny in the same way that its predecessor was. It's well worth a visit, though, just to appreciate the imagination that went into it, particularly in a finale that has Marty watching his own actions from the first film. -Tom Keogh.

Review Zone of the Enders / Zone Of The Enders Collection
Release date: 2007-05-21
RRP: £59.99
Price: £12.97

Review Zone Of The Enders Collection / Zone of the Enders:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Demi Moore
  • McG
  • Drew Barrymore
  • Lucy Liu
  • Cameron Diaz
  • Bernie Mac
Release date: 2003-11-17
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.35

Review Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle [2003] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a big, fun, bubble-brained mess of a movie and that's exactly as it should be. Its popular 2000 predecessor got the formula right: gorgeous babes, throwaway plots and as many current pop-cultural trends as you could stuff into a candy-coated dollop of Hollywood mayhem. This sequel goes one "better": the plot is even more disposable (if that's possible), the babes, cars, and fashions are even more outlandish and the stuntwork (heavily digital, heavily absurd) reaches astonishing heights of cartoon silliness. Reprising their titular (and shamelessly titillating) roles, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu are having the time of their lives, especially when sparring with ultra-buff rogue angel Demi Moore (looking better at 40 than most women half her age) and Justin Theroux as a sleazy Irish mobster. Bernie Mac replaces Bill Murray as angel-sidekick Bosley (they're step-brothers, don'cha know), which is one more indication of McG's intentionally reckless stewardship of an intentionally reckless franchise. -Jeff Shannon.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Romancing The Stone [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Alfonso Arau
  • Michael Douglas
  • Robert Zemeckis
  • Danny De Vito
  • Kathleen Turner
Release date: 2005-07-18
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.80

Review Romancing The Stone [1984] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / Out For Justice [1991]
Actors & Directors
  • John Flynn
  • Shareen Mitchell
  • William Forsythe
  • Jerry Orbach
  • Steven Seagal
  • Jo Champa
Release date: 1999-11-22
Run time: 86 min.
Creator: David Lee Henry
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.47

Review Out For Justice [1991] / Warner Home Video:

Steven Seagal has always been an awkward action hero. Initially, he had a certain amount of credibility thanks to his nebulous association with secret government agencies and mastery of Aikido, which helped to excuse his bad acting. But as a self-righteous action hero in the vein of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, Seagal fell into unintentional self-parody faster and more dramatically than either of his two predecessors. In Out for Justice, Seagal plays Gino Felino, a Brooklyn-born cop known and respected by everyone-both good and bad-in his neighbourhood. The worst of the baddies is Richie Madano (William Forsythe), a crack-smoking killer who murders his partner and terrorises all. Technically, Felino is a terrible cop-touching evidence at murder scenes, stealing evidence, intimidating witnesses-but only by breaking those rules can he bring in this horrible criminal. As his soon-to-be-ex-wife discovers, he does everything because he cares too much. Julianna Margulies (ER) has a small but thankless role as Richie's hooker girlfriend, and Gina Gershon (Bound, Showgirls) has an equally thankless role as his foul-mouthed, bar-owning sister. -Andy Spletzer, Amazon. com.

Review Walt Disney Video / Power Rangers: Jungle Fury - Into the Jungle (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Anna Hutchison
  • Jason Smith
  • Holly Shanahan
  • Aljin Abella
  • David de Lautour
Release date: 2008-12-16
Run time: 135 min.
Price: £10.29

Review Power Rangers: Jungle Fury - Into the Jungle (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Walt Disney Video:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Salute Of The Jugger [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Rutger Hauer
  • David Webb Peoples
  • Joan Chen
  • Delroy Lindo
  • Vincent D'Onofrio
  • Anna Katerina
Release date: 2007-04-02
Run time: 99 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.16

Review Salute Of The Jugger [1988] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Van Helsing (Two Disc Collector's Edition) [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Hugh Jackman
  • Richard Roxburgh
  • Will Kemp
  • Stephen Sommers
  • Shuler Hensley
  • Kate Beckinsale
Release date: 2004-10-11
Run time: 126 min.
Creator: Sam Mercer
RRP: £24.99
Price: £9.18

Review Van Helsing (Two Disc Collector's Edition) [2004] / Universal Pictures UK:

Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, ever bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Universal Pictures UK / Fearless [HD DVD] [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Nathan Jones
  • Jet Li
  • Ronny Yu
Release date: 2007-11-26
Run time: 103 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.32

Review Fearless [HD DVD] [2006] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Naruto Unleashed / Naruto Unleashed - Series 3 Vol. 1
Release date: 2008-04-07
Run time: 306 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £12.55

Review Naruto Unleashed - Series 3 Vol. 1 / Naruto Unleashed:


Browse Action & Adventure:

Models & Brands:
Swamp Thing [1981], Mission: Impossible - Season 3, Die Hard/Die Hard 2/Die Hard With A Vengence, Roots: The Original Series 1 - 25th Anniversary Edition (3 Disc Box Set) [1977], The Protector [1985], Batman - Mystery Of The Batwoman [2003], Knight Rider - Season 4, Four Brothers [Blu-ray] [2005], Planet Of The Apes [1968], Die Hard Trilogy (6 Disc Collector's Edition) [1988], Back To The Future - Part 2 [1989], Zone Of The Enders Collection, Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle [2003], Romancing The Stone [1984], Out For Justice [1991], Power Rangers: Jungle Fury - Into the Jungle (REGION 1) (NTSC), Salute Of The Jugger [1988], Van Helsing (Two Disc Collector's Edition) [2004], Fearless [HD DVD] [2006], Naruto Unleashed - Series 3 Vol. 1

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