Actors & Directors
- Joel Coen
- Jon Polito
- Gabriel Byrne
- John Turturro
- Marcia Gay Harden
- Ethan Coen
- Albert Finney
Release date: 2003-10-13 Run time: 110 min. Creator: Dashiell Hammett RRP: £19.99 Price: £3.37
Review Miller's Crossing [1990] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:Arguably the best film by Joel and Ethan Coen, the 1990 Miller's Crossing stars Gabriel Byrne as Tom, a loyal lieutenant of a crime boss named Leo (Albert Finney) who is in a Prohibition-era turf war with his major rival, Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). A man of principle, Tom nevertheless is romantically involved with Leo's lover (Marcia Gay Harden), whose screwy brother (John Turturro) escapes a hit ordered by Caspar only to become Tom's problem. Making matters worse, Tom has outstanding gambling debts he can't pay, which keeps him in regular touch with a punishing enforcer. With all the energy the Coens put into their films, and all their focused appreciation of genre conventions and rules, and all their efforts to turn their movies into ironic appreciations of archetypes in American fiction, they never got their formula so right as with Miller's Crossing. With its Hammett-like dialogue and Byzantine plot and moral chaos mitigated by one hero's personal code, the film so transcends its self-scrutiny as a retro-crime thriller that it is a deserved classic in its own right. -Tom Keogh.
Actors & Directors
- David Caruso
- Emily Procter
- Adam Rodriguez
Release date: 2004-09-06 Creator: Carol Mendelsohn RRP: £40.99 Price: £7.87
Review CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Miami - Season 1 Part 1 / Momentum Pictures:CSI: Miami follows the same super-successful formula as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Fortunately, this instantly popular spin-off established its own unique identity from the start. Like Gil Grissom's motley crew, the Dade County criminalists of CSI: Miami solve murders using forensic science. Unlike the Vegas crew, however, they're cops with the power to arrest, their coroner talks to dead people, and almost everybody speaks Spanish. Sometimes their crime scene is a swamp, sometimes a resort hotel. Either way, the skies are always sunny, the gators always biting. Real-life Florida resident David Caruso-playing Lt Horatio Caine, the head honcho-is joined by Khandi Alexander (NewsRadio) as coroner Alexx Woods, Emily Procter (The West Wing) as ballistics expert Calleigh Duquesne, Adam Rodriguez (Roswell) as underwater recovery expert Eric Delko, and featured player Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused) as Tim "Speed" Speedle-though Cochrane wouldn't become a full-fledged cast member until the 12th episode ("Entrance Wound"). Kim Delaney (Caruso's former NYPD Blue cast mate) features in the first few episodes, but left after the tenth, reportedly due to a lack of chemistry with Caruso. Just as CSI has made the most of its location with stories about showgirls and casino owners, so has CSI: Miami exploited its surroundings for all they're worth. Like its parent show, CSI: Miami quickly became a US ratings powerhouse and was followed by CSI: New York in 2004. [+]
-Kathleen C. Fennessy.
Actors & Directors
- Michael Taliferro
- Will Smith
- Michael Bay
- Martin Lawrence
- Lisa Boyle
- Gabrielle Union
Release date: 2004-02-23 Run time: 155 min. Creator: Michael Barrie RRP: £29.99 Price: £3.18
Review Bad Boys / Bad Boys 2 [2003] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Rod Taylor
- Alan Young
- Sebastian Cabot
- George Pal
- Tom Helmore
- Yvette Mimieux
Release date: 2002-05-27 Run time: 98 min. RRP: £13.99 Price: £2.46
Review The Time Machine [1960] / Warner Home Video:In 1960 producer-director George Pal's The Time Machine reshaped HG Wells' thoughtful, ironic novel into a two-fisted action movie, but one that still appeals to children and adults immensely and deserves its classic status. Wells' themes of biological and social evolution are played down, but there is a surprisingly melancholy thread as Rod Taylor's Time Traveller keeps stopping off at future wars to find that human stupidity still persists. In the first week of 1900 a group of fussy Victorians gather in Taylor's chintzy, overstuffed parlour to hear him tell of his expedition to the future, where the world is divided between the surface-dwelling, childish, beautiful Eloi and the hideous, underground, cannibal Morlocks. Wells intended both factions to seem degenerate, the logical final evolution of the class system, but Pal has Taylor pull a Captain Kirk and side with the Eloi and teach them to fight against their oppressors. The time travel sequence remains a tour de force, with a shop window mannequin demonstrating a parade of fashions as the years fly by in seconds and charming but still-effective stop-motion effects. The future is a wonderfully coloured landscape with properly gruesome cave-dwelling monsters and a winning Eloi heroine in Yvette Mimieux. It may not be totally Wells, but it's a treat. On the DVD: The Time Machine arrives on disc in a lovely widescreen print which makes the film seem new all over again. The featurette "Time Machine: The Journey Back" combines some mild behind-the-scenes stuff about the film (and its star prop) with a moving mini-sequel reuniting stars Rod Taylor and Alan Young in a scene that actually addresses a plot point skipped over in the original. -Kim Newman.
Actors & Directors
- Carrie Fisher
- Kenny Baker
- Harrison Ford
- Irvin Kershner
- David Prowse
- Mark Hamill
Release date: 2006-09-11 Run time: 127 min. RRP: £22.99 Price: £4.50
Review Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Limited Edition, Includes Theatrical Version) [1980] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Dominic Sena
- Christopher Eccleston
- Nicolas Cage
- Delroy Lindo
- Robert Duvall
- Angelina Jolie
Release date: 2005-08-01 Run time: 117 min. RRP: £17.99 Price: £3.98
Review Gone In 60 Seconds - Director's Cut [2000] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:
Actors & Directors
- Ernest Borgnine
- Tony Curtis
- Janet Leigh
- James Donald
- Richard Fleischer
- Kirk Douglas
Release date: 2003-03-31 Run time: 111 min. Creator: Edison Marshall RRP: £15.99 Price: £3.55
Review The Vikings [1958] / MGM Entertainment:Kirk Douglas produced the trendsetting barbarian epic The Vikings and took the showiest, most aggressive role: lusty Viking Prince Einar, the "only son in wedlock" of King Ragnar (a cackling, wild-eyed Ernest Borgnine). With jagged scars down his face and a milky-white blind eye that almost glows in his skull, Douglas has a rowdy time battling defiant slave Tony Curtis (the long-lost heir to the British throne) for the hand of the beautiful princess Janet Leigh. It's pure Hollywood hokum, sure, but spectacular hokum: the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff turns his Norway locations into a lush Valhalla on earth. Faced with an absurd story, journeyman director Richard Fleischer goes for the gusto in brawling Viking parties, furious sieges, and clanging broadsword battles. An enormous hit, the film spawned a huge wave of Viking movies, some perhaps smarter but none as much fun. -Sean Axmaker.
Actors & Directors
- Jody Racicot
- T.J. Scott
- Pat Williams
- Gina Holden
- Paul Shapiro
- John Ralston
- Eric Johnson
- Karen Cliche
Release date: 2008-07-28 Run time: 1012 min. RRP: £39.99 Price: £5.70
Review Flash Gordon - Complete Series 1 [2007] / Contender Home Entertainment Group:
Release date: 2004-09-13 Run time: 660 min. Creator: Tom Blomquist RRP: £34.99 Price: £11.95
Review The A-Team - Series 1 / Playback:Guilty pleasures don't come more guilty than The A-Team, television's only tongue-in-cheek drama about the exploits of renegade Vietnam vets. The primetime series' 1983 debut season, gathered here was intentionally ludicrous, encouraging viewers to enjoy sundry talents of a colourful cast and laugh off storylines perhaps sillier than those on Charlie's Angels. Co-created by Stephen J. Cannell (Wiseguy) and Frank Lupo (Hunter), The A-Team introduced Lt. Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard), the cocksure leader of a band of fugitive American soldiers framed for a crime in Vietnam and now thriving in Los Angeles. Hiring themselves out as soldiers of fortune, Hannibal's crew-including Lt. Templeton "Face" Peck (baby-faced Tim Dunigan in the pilot, Dirk Benedict thereafter), Sgt. Bosco Albert "B. A. [+]
(for 'Bad Attitude')" Baracus (Mr. T, outfitted with his trademark gold), and, most comically, Capt. H. M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Dwight Schultz)-assist (mostly) ordinary people having a problem with bad guys. The A-Team ostensibly charges large fees, but much of the time the guys seem to be doing pro bono work for the helpless. Season One highlights include "Children of Jamestown," starring John Saxon as a Jim Jones-like religious cult leader who captures Hannibal, Face, B. A. , and first-season sidekick Amy "Triple A" Allen (Melinda Culea). While the resourceful group invents a super-weapon out of farm equipment, crazy Murdock commandeers a helicopter and dynamite. Also good is "A Small and Deadly War," featuring Dean Stockwell as one of several uncontrolled L. A. cops committing murder-for-hire. "The Out-of-Towners" takes a page from the Death Wish movie series with a story about New York City shop owners harassed by a protection racketeer (Yaphet Kotto). Hannibal and company retaliate with machine guns (no one is ever seen killed in this series) and, more effectively, public humiliation of the villain. The best thing about The A-Team is the relationship between the four offbeat heroes, who may not always like each other (B. A. usually looks as if he'd like to leave Murdock in a shallow grave) but get the job done expertly. -Tom Keogh.
Actors & Directors
- Alicia Silverstone
- Bill Nighy
- Sophie Okonedo
- Ewan McGregor
- Mickey Rourke
- Geoffrey Sax
Release date: 2006-11-13 Run time: 93 min. RRP: £19.99 Price: £1.67
Review Stormbreaker [2006] / Entertainment In Video:
Actors & Directors
- Kathleen Turner
- Lewis Teague
- Michael Douglas
- Robert Zemeckis
- Zack Norman
- Danny DeVito
- Alfonso Arau
Release date: 2001-08-13 Run time: 202 min. Creator: Treva Silverman RRP: £14.99 Price: £3.34
Review Romancing The Stone / The Jewel Of The Nile [1986] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:In 1984 Romancing the Stone was a huge hit for director Robert Zemeckis (who later went on to make Forrest Gump, Contact and Castaway among others) thanks in no small part to the winning team of Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito. The chemistry between all three stars is infectious, but Turner steals the show from the guys, playing a pushy romance novelist who gets stuck among some dangerous figures in Colombia and has only a rumpled guide (Michael Douglas) as an ally. Zemeckis-whose specialty at the time was creating set pieces of raucous action (as in his Back to the Future trilogy)-keeps things hopping with lots of kinetic material. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com The Jewel of the Nile is a moderately entertaining sequel that pales by comparison to its predecessor. Romance novelist Kathleen Turner and retired soldier-of-fortune Michael Douglas return as a now-complacent couple. Bored with life on a yacht, they find excitement thrust upon them when she accepts a speaking engagement in the Middle East. Once there, she is abducted and finds herself involved with the "jewel" everyone is chasing. Douglas teams up once more with Danny DeVito to rescue his love. Less charming and more predictable than the original, this suffers for one simple reason: the characters have nowhere to go. [+]
In the original story we watched Turner blossom from timid storyteller to lusty adventuress. In this flick she is too much like all the other action adventure babes we've seen before. The same trio of stars reunited to better effect in DeVito's dark comedy The War of the Roses. -Rochelle O'Gorman, Amazon. com.
Actors & Directors
- Carroll Baker
- Charlton Heston
- Jean Simmons
- Burl Ives
- Gregory Peck
- William Wyler
Release date: 2001-06-11 Run time: 95 min. Creator: Sy Bartlett RRP: £12.99 Price: £2.62
Review The Big Country [1958] / MGM Entertainment:William Wyler directed this epic Western, about the clash of East and West, intellect and action. Gregory Peck stars as a sea captain who moves way out West to marry Carroll Baker and become part of the ranch owned by her father (Charles Bickford). But he discovers that daddy's top hand (Charlton Heston) carries a torch for Baker and doesn't particularly like Peck stepping into his place. Peck also finds himself caught in the midst of a power struggle between Bickford and his surly neighbour, Burl Ives (and his reprehensibly bullying son, Chuck Connors). The Big Country is a long, sprawling tale that works because its characters are played by movie stars who know how to command the big screen in a big story. -Marshall Fine.
Actors & Directors
- David Morse
- Jena Malone
- Jodie Foster
- Matthew McConaughey
- Robert Zemeckis
- Geoffrey Blake
Release date: 1998-09-25 Run time: 144 min. Creator: Michael Goldenberg RRP: £13.99 Price: £2.48
Review Contact (Special Edition) [1997] / Warner Home Video:The opening and closing moments of Robert (Forrest Gump) Zemeckis's Contact astonish viewers with the sort of breathtaking conceptual imagery one hardly ever sees in movies these day-each is an expression of the heroine's lifelong quest (both spiritual and scientific) to explore the meaning of human existence through contact with extraterrestrial life. The movie begins by soaring far out into space, then returns dizzyingly to earth until all the stars in the heavens condense into the sparkle in one little girl's eye. It ends with that same girl as an adult (Jodie Foster)-her search having taken her to places beyond her imagination-turning her gaze inward and seeing the universe in a handful of sand. Contact traces the journey between those two visual epiphanies. Based on Carl Sagan's novel, Contact is exceptionally thoughtful and provocative for a big-budget Hollywood science fiction picture, with elements that recall everything from 2001 to The Right Stuff. Foster's solid performance (and some really incredible alien hardware) keep viewers interested, even when the story skips and meanders, or when the halo around the golden locks of rising-star-of-a-different-kind Matthew McConaughey (as the pure-Hollywood-hokum love interest)reaches Milky Way-level wattage. Ambitious, ambiguous, pretentious, unpredictable-Contact is all of these things and more. Much of it remains open to speculation and interpretation but whatever conclusions one eventually draws, Contactdeserves recognition as a rare piece of big-budget studio film making on a personal scale. -Jim Emerson.
Actors & Directors
- Geoffrey Rush
- Orlando Bloom
- Keira Knightly
- Jerry Bruckheimer
- Johnny Depp
Release date: 2007-06-11 Run time: 137 min. RRP: £23.99 Price: £12.00
Review Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl [Blu-ray] [2003] / Buena Vista Home Entertainment:Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush The movie that helped breathe new life into the summer blockbuster, the success of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl is remarkable for several reasons. Firstly, there's the unlikely source material. There's no previous history of theme park rides inspiring major hit movies, yet that's just what's happened here. Secondly, there's the patchy performance of pirate-related movies over the years (does anyone remember seeing Cutthroat Island in a cinema?). And then there's that performance from Johnny Depp, the one that had Disney executives in a flap prior to the release of the movie. His Captain Jack Sparrow is a fantastic, unlikely creation, proving to be both unpredictable yet utterly compelling. Such is his impact on the film that it's hardly surprising Depp snared an Oscar nomination for the role. Yet Depp's performance shouldn't blind anyone to the film's many other qualities. The supporting cast, particularly the likes of Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport and Jonathan Pryce are all clearly having a whale of a time, while Gore Verbinski's pacey yet controlled direction rarely lets the momentum slow. And with all their work grounded by a quality script and worthwhile story, the end result is a film that clicks in many, many different ways. [+]
Of course, it's now proved the inspiration for a pair of sequels, yet no matter how they turn out, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl will always stand as a quite brilliant example of what happens on those rare occasions when Hollywood blockbusters get it absolutely right. And it's a treat that can easily be enjoyed time after time. -Simon Brew.
Actors & Directors
- Alima Ashton-Sheibu
- Helmut Bakaitis
- Andy Arness
- Keanu Reeves
- Christine Anu
Release date: 2004-12-06 RRP: £61.99 Price: £17.98
Review The Ultimate Matrix Collection (10 Disc Box Set) [2003] / Warner Home Video:
Release date: 2008-11-03 Run time: 92 min. RRP: £19.99 Price: £12.98
Review Chocolate [Blu-ray] [2008] / Showbox:
Actors & Directors
- Richard Jordan
- Peter Ustinov
- Michael York
- Jenny Agutter
- Michael Anderson
- Farrah Fawcett
Release date: 2008-09-22 Run time: 114 min. RRP: £12.99 Price: £7.98
Review Logan's Run [1976] / Warner Home Video:
Actors & Directors
- Deanna Dozier
- Val Kilmer
- Corbin Bernsen
- Michelle Monaghan
- Shane Black
- Robert Downey Jr
Release date: 2006-03-13 Run time: 99 min. RRP: £18.99 Price: £1.19
Review Kiss Kiss Bang Bang [2005] / Warner Home Video:With smart scribe Shane Black both penning the script and behind the camera, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was never going to be ordinary. Yet it's far better than you could have hoped for, marrying in comedy, action, a bit of a detective work and a constant, knowing wink to the audience. Cruelly underperforming at the box office, the film finds Robert Downey Jr as a small time thief, who quite literally finds himself stumbling into the world of acting. With a potential role as a private detective in the offing, his agent arranges for him to spend his time with private investigator Val Kilmer. All is fairly light, until a dead body crosses their paths and a genuine mystery presents itself. And that then sets the scene for a pacey, energetic film spearheaded by a trio of strong performances. The main plaudits should go to the interplay between Kilmer and Downey Jr, who both eat up their respective best roles in years. Meeting them head on though is Michelle Monaghan, who plays a wannabe actress with a talent for fast talking, and looks that Downey Jr's Harry can't help but resist. Now it's fair to argue that the setup itself doesn't feel particularly fresh. Yet the execution most certainly is, with Black savvy enough to know when to avoid the genre clichés, and when to drive his script right through the middle of them with a great big grin on his face. [+]
Grounded by a splendidly witty narration from Downey Jr, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is, at the point this review is being written, an underappreciated gem. Hopefully time, and DVD, will see it right. -Simon Brew.
Actors & Directors
- Robert Forster
- Quentin Tarantino
- Pam Grier
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Bridget Fonda
- Michael Keaton
Release date: 2002-09-16 Run time: 148 min. Creator: Paul Hellerman RRP: £17.99 Price: £2.25
Review Jackie Brown - 2 Disc Collector's Edition [1998] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. The Academy Awards saw it the same way, giving Forster the film's only nomination. The film is more "rum" than "punch" and will certainly disappoint those who are looking for Tarantino's trademark style. This movie is a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell (Samuel L Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend-a loose term with Ordell-Louis (Robert De Niro) is just taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties are in question between his old partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Fed Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a late-40-ish flight-attendant (Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing she's working for them. The end result is rarely in doubt, and what is left is two hours of Tarantino's expert dialogue as he moves his characters around town. [+]
Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little except that it allows Tarantino to heap on black culture and language, something he has a gift and passion for. He said this film is for an older audience although the language and drug use may put them off. The film is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the musical score. Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film after decades of work. -Doug Thomas The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. The film is more "rum" than "punch", though, with a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell (Samuel L Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend Louis (Robert De Niro) is just taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties are in question between his old partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Federal Agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a late-40-ish flight-attendant (Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing she's working for them. Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little except that it allows him to heap on black culture and language, something he has a gift and passion for, though the film is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the soundtrack. Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film after decades of work. -Doug Thomas.
Actors & Directors
- Uli Edel
- Julian Sands
- Alicia Witt
- Samuel West
- Benno Furmann
- Kristinna Loken
Release date: 2005-12-26 Run time: 190 min. RRP: £15.99 Price: £3.36
Review Sword Of Xanten [2004] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:
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Models & Brands: Miller's Crossing [1990], CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Miami - Season 1 Part 1, Bad Boys / Bad Boys 2 [2003], The Time Machine [1960], Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Limited Edition, Includes Theatrical Version) [1980], Gone In 60 Seconds - Director's Cut [2000], The Vikings [1958], Flash Gordon - Complete Series 1 [2007], The A-Team - Series 1, Stormbreaker [2006], Romancing The Stone / The Jewel Of The Nile [1986], The Big Country [1958], Contact (Special Edition) [1997], Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl [Blu-ray] [2003], The Ultimate Matrix Collection (10 Disc Box Set) [2003], Chocolate [Blu-ray] [2008], Logan's Run [1976], Kiss Kiss Bang Bang [2005], Jackie Brown - 2 Disc Collector's Edition [1998], Sword Of Xanten [2004] |