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Review ITV DVD / The Battle Of The River Plate (Digitally Remastered Edition) [1956]
Actors & Directors
  • Emeric Pressburger
  • Bernard Lee
  • Ian Hunter
  • John Gregson
  • Michael Powell
  • Jack Gwillim
  • Anthony Quayle
Release date: 2003-03-17
Run time: 114 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.59

Review The Battle Of The River Plate (Digitally Remastered Edition) [1956] / ITV DVD:

Something of a swan song for the legendary Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger partnership, 1956's The Battle of the River Plate is their penultimate film together (the following year's Ill Met By Moonlight was the last). Shot in a semi-documentary style that stands apart from the "magical realism" of much of their previous work-Canterbury Tales, A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes-the film tells the story of the pursuit of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee by three British cruisers off the River Plate in Uruguay during November 1939. Incorporating actual wartime footage adds to the authentic air, albeit one that sits uneasily with the obviously studio-bound look of the rest. Among the solid cast Peter Finch stands out as the beleaguered Captain Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, while John Gregson is his counterpart, the stalwart British hero type. Things get a bit odd when Christopher Lee pops up in the unlikely role of a Latin-American nightclub boss. It's an atypical Powell and Pressburger picture and not exactly their best, but still a fine World War II picture that documents an important incident in the opening salvos of the war. -Mark Walker.

Review Warner Home Video / Revolver [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Jason Statham
  • Terence Maynard
  • Ray Liotta
  • Guy Ritchie
  • Derek Mak
  • Mark Strong
Release date: 2006-03-06
Run time: 115 min.
RRP: £18.99
Price: £2.45

Review Revolver [2005] / Warner Home Video:


Review Warner Home Video / Sam Peckinpah - The Legendary Westerns Collection : Ride The High Country / The Wild Bunch Special Edition / The Ballad Of Cable Hogue / Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid Special Edition (6 Disc Box Set)
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Ryan
  • Warren Oates
  • Sam Peckinpah
  • Jason Robards
  • William Holden
  • Ernest Borgnine
Release date: 2006-08-14
RRP: £29.99
Price: £10.85

Review Sam Peckinpah - The Legendary Westerns Collection : Ride The High Country / The Wild Bunch Special Edition / The Ballad Of Cable Hogue / Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid Special Edition (6 Disc Box Set) / Warner Home Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Sink The Bismarck! [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • Carl Mohner
  • Karel Stepanek
  • Lewis Gilbert
  • Laurence Naismith
  • Kenneth More
  • Dana Wynter
Release date: 2005-07-04
Run time: 97 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.98

Review Sink The Bismarck! [1960] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / X-Men 1-3 Box Set (6 Disc) [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Ian McKellen
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Halle Berry
  • Hugh Jackman
Release date: 2006-10-02
Run time: 327 min.
RRP: £39.99
Price: £10.80

Review X-Men 1-3 Box Set (6 Disc) [2000] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / The Dirty Dozen [1967]
Actors & Directors
  • Charles Bronson
  • Ernest Borgnine
  • Lee Marvin
  • John Cassavetes
  • Robert Aldrich
  • Jim Brown
Release date: 2005-04-18
Run time: 143 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £2.80

Review The Dirty Dozen [1967] / Warner Home Video:

A model for dozens of action films to follow, this box-office hit from 1967 refined a die-hard formula that has become overly familiar, but it's rarely been handled better than it was in this action-packed World War II thriller. Lee Marvin is perfectly cast as a down-but-not-out army major who is offered a shot at personal and professional redemption. If he can successfully train and discipline a squad of army rejects, misfits, killers, prisoners, and psychopaths into a first-rate unit of specialised soldiers, they'll earn a second chance to make up for their woeful misdeeds. Of course, there's a catch: to obtain their pardons, Marvin's band of badmen must agree to a suicide mission that will parachute them into the danger zone of Nazi-occupied France. It's a hazardous path to glory, but the men have no other choice than to accept and regain their lost honor. What makes The Dirty Dozen special is its phenomenal cast including Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, George Kennedy, Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, Jim Brown, Clint Walker, Trini Lopez, Robert Ryan, and others. Cassavetes is the Oscar-nominated standout as one of Marvin's most rebellious yet heroic men, but it's the whole ensemble-combined with the hard-as-nails direction of Robert Aldrich-that makes this such a high-velocity crowd pleaser. The script by Nunnally Johnson and Lukas Heller (from the novel by E. M. Nathanson) is strong enough to support the all-star lineup with ample humour and military grit, so if you're in need of a mainline jolt of testosterone, The Dirty Dozen is the movie for you. [+]
-Jeff Shannon.

Review Robert De Niro / Midnight Run
Release date: 2003-07-21
Run time: 121 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.62

Review Midnight Run / Robert De Niro:

Director Martin Brest rocketed to the top of Hollywood's A list with the blockbuster success of Beverly Hills Cop, and this 1988 follow-up is even better. Midnight Run is a genuine rarity-an action comedy that's dramatically satisfying-thanks to a sharp script by George Gallo, the superb teaming of Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, and Brest's consummate skill in combining suspense and humour with well-developed characters. De Niro plays a maverick bounty hunter whose latest assignment is Grodin, an accountant accused of embezzling from the Mob. De Niro thinks he's in for an easy job, transporting Grodin (who's afraid to fly) from New York to Los Angeles, but soon discovers that both the FBI and the Mafia are hot on Grodin's trail. Equal parts road trip, action thriller, and a quirky character study, Midnight Run moves at a breakneck pace but still gives De Niro and Grodin time to create rich, memorable performances as two men who seem to be opposites, but gradually develop mutual respect and admiration. Mainstream entertainment at its best. -Jeff Shannon.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Tristan and Isolde
Release date: 2006-09-11
RRP: £17.99
Price: £2.98

Review Tristan and Isolde / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Luscious cinematography and even more luscious stars make Tristan & Isolde a feast for the eyes. Adapted from the medieval love story, the movie begins with with young Tristan (played as a child by Thomas Sangster, Love Actually) as he sees his parents killed by the tyrannical Irish, who ruled over a fractured Britain after the Roman occupation. Taken in by Marke (Rufus Sewell, Dark City), who rules one of the British tribes, Tristan (James Franco, Spider-Man) grows up to be a young prince and a mighty warrior-and when he's believed slain in battle, he's given a royal funeral, which sends him out sea in a burning boat. But the fire goes out and Tristan washes ashore on Ireland, where Isolde (Sophia Myles, Art School Confidential), the daughter of the Irish king, nurses him back to health. Being a lovely pair of young folk bursting with hormones, they fall madly in love. and set in motion a tragic tale that's lasted for centuries in many variations. Some reviewers have criticised Tristan & Isolde for deviating from the most common classical version, but the movie's storyline-though certainly altered to appeal to modern audiences-is fairly strong. Myles and especially Sewell turn in strong performances; Franco, however, though surprisingly persuasive as a warrior, never burns as a lover. [+]
Nonetheless, the loving shots of Franco's muscular physique will make this a must-have for his fans. -Bret Fetzer.

Review ITV DVD / All Quiet On The Western Front [1979]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Thomas
  • Ernest Borgnine
  • Donald Pleasence
  • Delbert Mann
  • Patricia Neal
  • Ian Holm
Release date: 2003-04-14
Run time: 123 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £2.88

Review All Quiet On The Western Front [1979] / ITV DVD:

Taken from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front is a devastating portrait of a small group of German soldiers during World War I. In this 1979 made-for-TV version the star-studded cast is lead by Richard Thomas (The Waltons) as Paul Baumer, strongly supported by screen veterans Ernest Borgnine, Ian Holm and Patricia Neal. As both narrator and star, Thomas occasionally seems to reincarnate his familiar John-Boy persona, but does at least succeed in creating a character that has more levels than his television alter ego. After watching all of his high school buddies loose their lives, Paul returns home a changed man, conflicted in his feelings about the Army and war, and altered from an idealistic schoolboy into a fearful and humble veteran. Although Lewis Milestone's 1930 films remains the cinema's definitive version, director Delbert Mann (Desire Under the Elms, Marty) has done a workmanlike job bringing the novel to the screen. The scenery and costuming in this period piece are well done, and surely contributed to its winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for TV. Also exceptional are the cinematography and special effects that, while realistically gruesome, truly emphasise the horrors of war. -Zachary Lively, Amazon. com.

Review Warner Home Video / Stanley Kubrick : Special Edition 10 Disc Box Set [1968]
Actors & Directors
  • Tom Cruise
  • Vincent DOnoforio
  • Malcolm McDowell
  • Nicole Kidman
  • Jack Nicholson
  • Stanley Kubrick
Release date: 2008-03-03
Run time: 647 min.
RRP: £50.99
Price: £28.98

Review Stanley Kubrick : Special Edition 10 Disc Box Set [1968] / Warner Home Video:

To date Stanley Kubrick remains one of cinema's most controversial film-maker. This box set highlights some of his greatest work, from the visionary 2001:A Space Odyssey, the violent and highly-debated A Clockwork Orange, the chilling adaptation of The Shining, the acclaimed war drama Full Metal Jacket, to his final piece, the controversial Eyes Wide Shut. And to top it off, the treat of this box set, the fascinating Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures. Stanley Kubrick was one of the most acclaimed and controversial filmmakers of his generation, but he was also an intensely private man who rarely gave interviews and produced most of his films under a shroud of secrecy, which tended to foster a great deal of rumour and speculation about his working methods. Jan Harlan, who worked as Kubrick's assistant and executive producer on several projects directed this feature-length documentary. Narrated by Tom Cruise, this offers a rare in-depth look into Kubrick's career as a filmmaker, structured around interviews with a number of actors, writers, technicians, composers, friends, and family who speak on the record about his relentless perfectionism, his creative vision, his life both on and off the set, his relationships with actors, his unrealised projects, and his importance and influence as an artist. Among those who share their thoughts in Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures are actors Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Malcolm McDowell, Peter Ustinov, and Keir Dullea; writers Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Herr; special effects artist Douglas Trumbull; composers Wendy Carlos and Gyorgy Ligeti; filmmakers Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Paul Mazursky, and Sydney Pollack; and Kubrick's spouse Christiane Kubrick. The choice of titles is undeniably spot on, and the extras really give a sense of who the man was, what his legacy is, and the privilege it was for the people who collaborated with him on his cinematic journey. - Jennifer Kilchenmann.

Review X-Men / X-Men - Season One Part One (Marvel Originals Series - 90s) [1992]
Release date: 2008-08-25
Run time: 154 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £6.98

Review X-Men - Season One Part One (Marvel Originals Series - 90s) [1992] / X-Men:


Review Warner Home Video / The Big Red One - The Reconstruction (2 Disc Special Edition) [1980]
Actors & Directors
  • Mark Hamill
  • Lee Marvin
  • Samuel Fuller
  • Robert Carradine
Release date: 2005-05-02
Run time: 156 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £4.37

Review The Big Red One - The Reconstruction (2 Disc Special Edition) [1980] / Warner Home Video:


Review Arnold Schwarzenegger / The Terminator - Definitive Edition [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Paul Winfield
  • Michael Biehn
  • Linda Hamilton
  • James Cameron
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger
Release date: 2007-03-05
Run time: 103 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.97

Review The Terminator - Definitive Edition [1984] / Arnold Schwarzenegger:

The Terminator was the film that cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger's place in the action-brawn firmament, and both his and the movie's subsequent iconic status are well deserved. He's chilling as the futuristic cyborg that kills without fear, without love, without mercy. James Cameron's story and direction are pared to the bone and are all the more chillingly effective for it. But don't overlook the contribution of Linda Hamilton, who more than holds her own as the Terminator's would-be victim, Sarah Connor, thus creating-along with Sigourney Weaver in Alien-a new generation of rugged, clear-thinking female action stars. The film's minimalist, malevolent violence is actually scarier than that of its far more expensive, more effects-laden sequel. -Anne Hurley, Amazon. com.

Review Boulevard Entertaiment / Lonesome Dove [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Dennis Weaver
  • Mark Sobel
  • Erin McCormack
  • Scott Bairstow
  • Christianne Hirt
  • George Mendeluk
  • Judge Reinhold
Release date: 2007-10-17
Run time: 945 min.
RRP: £3.99
Price: £3.97

Review Lonesome Dove [2007] / Boulevard Entertaiment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing [1941]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Powell
  • Bernard Miles
  • Hugh Burden
  • Emrys Jones
  • Emeric Pressburger
  • Eric Portman
  • Hugh Williams
Release date: 2006-05-15
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.58

Review One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing [1941] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Warner Home Video / The Negotiator [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • David Morse
  • Samuel L. Jackson
  • Kevin Spacey
  • John Spencer
  • F. Gary Gray
  • Ron Rifkin
Release date: 1999-06-14
Run time: 134 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £3.40

Review The Negotiator [1998] / Warner Home Video:

Although it eventually runs out of smart ideas and resorts to a typically explosive finale, this above-average thriller rises above its formulaic limitations on the strength of powerful performances by Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Both play Chicago police negotiators with hotshot reputations, but when Jackson's character finds himself falsely accused of embezzling funds from a police pension fund, he's so thoroughly framed that he must take extreme measures to prove his innocence. He takes hostages in police headquarters to buy time and plan his strategy, demanding that Spacey be brought in to mediate with him as an army of cops threatens to attack, and a media circus ensues. Both negotiators know how to get into the other man's thoughts, and this intellectual showdown allows both Spacey and Jackson to ignite the screen with a burst of volatile intensity. Director F Gary Gray is disadvantaged by an otherwise predictable screenplay, but he has a knack for building suspense and is generous to a fine supporting cast, including Paul Giamatti as one of Jackson's high-strung hostages, and the late JT Walsh in what would sadly be his final big-screen role. The Negotiator should have trusted its compelling characters a little more, probing their psyches more intensely to give the suspense a deeper dramatic foundation, but it's good enough to give two great actors a chance to strut their stuff. -Jeff Shannon.

Review ITV DVD / Ultimate Force - Series 1 [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Tom Clegg
  • Diarmuid Lawrence
  • Mark Roper
Release date: 2003-06-16
Run time: 318 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £1.19

Review Ultimate Force - Series 1 [2002] / ITV DVD:

Focusing on the adventures of an SAS unit, Ultimate Force was conceived around the character of new-man-on-the-team Jamie Dow, but realised as a star vehicle for Ross Kemp as the clichéd tough-but-caring leader Sgt "Henno" Garvie. Kemp essentially plays a legitimate version of his Eastenders hardman persona, Grant Mitchell, while Jamie-Billy Elliot-Draven wins a lot of hearts as the troubled but sensitive Dow. The two are the focus of this hit ITV series which, harking back to the thick-ear undercover shenanigans of The Professionals, echoes the macho camaraderie, soap opera character development and explosive action of London's Burning and Soldier, Soldier. By TV standards the set-pieces are bold and bloody, but the stories are routine, from rescuing hostages in the feature-length opener, to tracking a war criminal in the finale. Despite being cowritten by ex-SAS man Chris Ryan, the show regularly stretches credulity, and sometimes, as when demonising anti-globalisation protestors as would-be assassins, displays a tabloid sensibility quite out of step with reality. Ultimate Force is essentially an updated Who Dares Wins; a far better insight into the real SAS is Bravo Two Zero starring Sean Bean, which, not coincidentally, was also directed by Tom Clegg. On the DVD: Ultimate Force is presented with a near flawless anamorphically enhanced picture in the original TV broadcast ratio of 16:9, while for a modern action drama the sound is perfectly capable but less than spectacular stereo. Two DVDs contain the complete first season; a 74 minute introductory episode and five 48-minute regular shows. Other than subtitles for hard-of-hearing the only extra is a standard 17-minute behind-the-scenes featurette shot on location during the making of series 2. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Tokyo Godfathers [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Satoshi Kon
Release date: 2004-09-13
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.69

Review Tokyo Godfathers [2003] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Satoshi Kon's third feature (following Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress) confirms his status as one of the most interesting directors working in anime. Tokyo Godfathers centres on three homeless people: Hana, a flamboyant ex-drag entertainer; Gin, an alcoholic former bicycle racer; and Miyuki, a sullen teenage runaway. Their tenuous existence becomes more chaotic when they set out to find the parents of an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve. They scream insults as they confront the lies they've told each other-and themselves-about the past. Yet they remain curiously endearing and even noble. All three care passionately about the abandoned infant, and they love each other, although they're loath to admit it. Kon skillfully uses colour to suggest the bitter winter cold and the characters' alienation. Tokyo Godfathers shows that battling the inner demons that led these three characters to skid row can be a more daunting challenge than fighting aliens and cyborgs. (Rated PG-13: profanity, violence, tobacco and alcohol use) -Charles Solomon, Amazon. com.

Review Universal Pictures UK / Two-Lane Blacktop [1971]
Actors & Directors
  • Monte Hellman
  • Dennis Wilson
  • James Taylor
  • Warren Oates
  • Laurie Bird
  • Harry Dean Stanton
Release date: 2007-06-18
Run time: 103 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.79

Review Two-Lane Blacktop [1971] / Universal Pictures UK:

James Taylor is The Driver, a car-obsessed racer with stringy hair and a concentration that precludes conversation. He travels the backroads of rural America with his buddy, The Mechanic, (Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys), an equally obsessed lost soul at home only in the car or under the hood. They have no names, only designations, and no life outside of their gypsy existence, riding the unending highway in their souped-up '55 Chevy from race to race. After picking up a hitchhiking Girl (Laurie Bird), whose presence breaks the tunnel-vision focus of the two men, they challenge a middle-aged hotshot, the garrulous G. T. O. (Warren Oates) to a cross-country race. Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop is the most alienated evocation of modern America ever made, an almost abstract study in dislocation and obsession set against a vague landscape of roadside diners and rest stops. Taylor and Wilson deliver appropriately blank performances, only expressing emotion when The Girl sparks jealousy between them. Oates is a glib dynamo constructing a new persona in every scene, as if trying on characters to play as he ping-pongs between the coasts. [+]
"How fast does it go?" asks The Driver, admiring G. T. O. 's car. "Fast enough," he answers. The Driver snaps, "You can never go fast enough. " These are characters on the road to nowhere who can't work up enough speed to escape themselves. -Sean Axmaker.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Days Of Thunder [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Cary Elwes
  • Robert Duvall
  • Nicole Kidman
  • Randy Quaid
  • Tony Scott
  • Tom Cruise
Release date: 2000-07-31
Run time: 102 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £1.75

Review Days Of Thunder [1990] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

This loud and fast 1988 effort by director Tony Scott (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Top Gun) has much more style than substance but it does effectively depict the edgy and dangerous world of stock car racing. Tom Cruise plays yet another cocky loner trying to find success and happiness, this time as stock car racer Cole Trickle, a driver with raw talent but no discipline who is desperate for guidance and sponsorship. They both materialise in the visage of world-weary Robert Duvall, who despite his better instincts sees a second chance at victory in the young driver. Featuring supporting roles by Nicole Kidman, as Cruise's physician and love interest, and Randy Quaid, as a bombastic sponsor, and with a screenplay by Robert Towne (Chinatown), Days of Thunder is a slickly packaged entertainment best suited for die-hard Tom Cruise fans and those who want an intense visual experience. -Robert Lane.

Browse Action & Adventure:

Models & Brands:
The Battle Of The River Plate (Digitally Remastered Edition) [1956], Revolver [2005], Sam Peckinpah - The Legendary Westerns Collection : Ride The High Country / The Wild Bunch Special Edition / The Ballad Of Cable Hogue / Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid Special Edition (6 Disc Box Set), Sink The Bismarck! [1960], X-Men 1-3 Box Set (6 Disc) [2000], The Dirty Dozen [1967], Midnight Run, Tristan and Isolde, All Quiet On The Western Front [1979], Stanley Kubrick : Special Edition 10 Disc Box Set [1968], X-Men - Season One Part One (Marvel Originals Series - 90s) [1992], The Big Red One - The Reconstruction (2 Disc Special Edition) [1980], The Terminator - Definitive Edition [1984], Lonesome Dove [2007], One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing [1941], The Negotiator [1998], Ultimate Force - Series 1 [2002], Tokyo Godfathers [2003], Two-Lane Blacktop [1971], Days Of Thunder [1990]

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