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Review Universal Pictures Video / Miami Vice (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Naomie Harris
  • Li Gong
  • Michael Mann
  • Ciarán Hinds
  • Colin Farrell
  • Jamie Foxx
Release date: 2006-11-27
Run time: 127 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £0.99

Review Miami Vice (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) [2006] / Universal Pictures Video:

Bearing absolutely no resemblance to the 1980s TV series that helped to propel Michael Mann into big-time filmmaking, Miami Vice is the kind of serious, and seriously stylish, crime drama that Mann does better than anyone else. As written by Mann himself, this undercover sting thriller doesn't reach the peak intensity of Mann's 1995 classic Heat, and it lacks the tight, nail-biting suspense of Collateral, but that doesn't mean it doesn't occasionally pack a wallop. As Miami detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs (respectively), Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx don't have to do much but mumble their plot-thickening dialogue and look ultra-cool in the casual cop attire, and their partnership is rather lifeless on screen (perhaps owing to the fact that this was a troubled production, with an actual shooting that occurred during filming, and Foxx's refusal to risk his life on dangerous locations in South America). But once Mann shifts into high gear with a plot to foil a powerful drug kingpin (Luis Tosar) and his ruthless middle-man (John Ortiz), Vice pays off with the kind of smart, realistic action that Mann's fans have come to expect. With Chinese superstar Gong Li as Crockett's love interest on the wrong side of the law, Miami Vice covers territory that's a little too familiar, and one suspects Mann's screenplay might've been punched up with a polish or two. Still, this is an above-average crime thriller that demands and rewards close attention, with a climactic shoot-out that's pure Mann, worthy of the brooding drama that precedes it. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Metro Goldwyn Mayer DY 17249.1 / The Charge Of The Light Brigade [1968] [Dutch Import]
Actors & Directors
  • Harry Andrews
  • Tony Richardson
  • Jill Bennett
  • John Gielgud
  • Vanessa Redgrave
  • Trevor Howard
Run time: 133 min.
Price: £4.99

Review The Charge Of The Light Brigade [1968] [Dutch Import] / Metro Goldwyn Mayer DY 17249.1:

PLOT SUMMARY: A chronicle of events that led to the British involvement in the Crimean War against Russia and which led to the siege of Sevastopol and the fierce Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 which climaxed with the heroic, but near-disastrous calvary charge made by the British Light Brigade against a Russian artillery battery in a small valley which resulted in the near-destruction of the brigade due to error of judgement and rash planning on part by the inept British commanders (written by Matthew Patay). ABOUT THE DVD: This is a MGM release of the film for the NETHERLANDS market (Region 2 PAL format, same as the UK, so will play on all standard DVD players in this country without problem). Some of the text on the rear of the packaging is in Dutch. The audio is the original English (there are also Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian and German options), and subtitles are available in English, Dutch, German, Spanish and French. The film is presented in 2. 35:1 widescreen and runs for a total of 133 minutes.

Review Entertainment in Video / Rush Hour 2 [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • John Lone
  • Brett Ratner
  • Ziyi Zhang
  • Chris Tucker
  • Roselyn Sanchez
  • Jackie Chan
Release date: 2001-12-31
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.34

Review Rush Hour 2 [2001] / Entertainment in Video:

Rush Hour 2 retains the appeal of its popular predecessor, so fans will enjoy the antics of the returning stars, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. The action-and there's plenty of it-starts in Hong Kong, where Detective Lee (Chan) and his LA counterpart Detective Carter (Tucker) are attempting a vacation, only to get assigned to sleuth a counterfeiting scheme involving a Triad kingpin (John Lone), his lethal henchwoman (Zhang Ziyi, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and an American billionaire (Alan King). Director Brett Ratner simply lets his stars strut their stuff, so it hardly matters that the plot is disposable, or that his direction is so bland he may well have directed the film from a phone in a Jacuzzi. At its best, Rush Hour 2 compares favourably to Chan's glossiest Hong Kong hits, and when the action moves to Las Vegas (where Don Cheadle makes an unbilled cameo), the film goes into high-pitched hyper-drive, riding an easy wave of ambitious stunt-work and broad, derivative humour. However, echoes of Beverly Hills Cop are easy to see and stale ideas (including a comedic highlight for Jeremy Piven as a gay clothier) are made even more aggravating by dialogue that's almost Neanderthal in its embrace of retro-racial stereotypes. Of course, that's what makes Rush Hour 2 a palatable dish of mainstream comedy: it insults and comforts the viewer at the same time, and while some may find Tucker's relentless hamming unbearable, those who enjoyed Rush Hour are sure to appreciate another dose of Chan-Tucker lunacy. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Shottas [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Kymani Marley
  • Tyson Beckford
  • Wyclef Jean
  • Cess Silvera
  • Paul Campbell
  • Lennox Lewis
Release date: 2007-03-26
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.97

Review Shottas [2006] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

In Jamaican patois, a gangster is a "shotta" or "shot-caller. " Like The Harder They Come and Third World Cop, Cess Silvera choreographs his crime drama Shottas to a reggae beat. Bob Marley's son Stephen provides the music, while Wyclef Jean drops by as a dealer. The saga begins in late-1970s Kingston. Teenagers Biggs (J. R. Silvera) and Wayne (Carlton Grant Jr. ) have had their fill of poverty, so they get a gun and start looting and shooting like the shottas they idolise. Flash forward 20 years and Biggs (Stephen's actor/musician brother, Kymani Marley) has just been deported from the States. He picks up where he left off, joining Wayne (DJ Spragga Benz) and the psychopathic Mad Max (Paul Campbell, Dancehall Queen) in the thug life. [+]
As with Pacino's Tony Montana, Miami is their ultimate port of call. Silvera acknowledges the debt to Brian De Palma's Scarface, but there isn't as much drama here-just a lot of violence (spurting blood is a running motif). Cinematographer Cliff Charles uses all manner of visual trickery to lively up the joint, like grainy black and white, slow motion, and jump cuts. The soundtrack also helps to keep things moving, but it's hard to feel sympathy for those who feel no sympathy for anyone but themselves. Vicious as he was, Montana still had a smidgen of sensitivity. As with The Harder They Come, this English-language production is subtitled due to strong accents and pervasive slang. -Kathleen C. Fennessy.

Review Walt Disney Home Video / White Fang [1991]
Actors & Directors
  • Seymour Cassel
  • Klaus Maria Brandauer
  • James Remar
  • Randal Kleiser
  • Ethan Hawke
Release date: 2002-10-14
Run time: 104 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £3.45

Review White Fang [1991] / Walt Disney Home Video:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / The Professionals [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Woody Strode
  • Burt Lancaster
  • Robert Ryan
  • Jack Palance
  • Richard Brooks
  • Lee Marvin
Release date: 2003-06-16
Run time: 112 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.07

Review The Professionals [1966] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Director Richard Brooks' marvellous ode to friendship, loyalty and disillusionment The Professionals may not have the stylistic bravado or fatalistic doom of Sam Peckinpah's more famous The Wild Bunch, but Brooks' storytelling is simple and steady and just as insightful. The difference is that Brooks is a lot more optimistic. Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster are buddies who have drifted into oblivion after fighting together in the Mexican Revolution. Marvin, the principled loyalist and munitions expert, lost his wife and his heart. Lancaster, the dynamite expert and unprincipled adventurer, keeps losing his pants. They team up with wrangler Robert Ryan and archer Woody Strode to rescue the beguiling Claudia Cardinale, who has been kidnapped by their old revolutionary buddie Jack Palance. So it's back into bloody Mexico they go on a "mission of mercy" for railroad tycoon Ralph Bellamy, who's paying handsomely for the return of his wife. But nothing is what it seems in this exciting, existential adventure, which was beautifully shot by Conrad Hall. Sarcastic quips, philosophical musings and heart-rending reversals underlie Brooks' humanistic sentiments. These are tired, world-weary men who somehow find the strength and the will to pull together for the sake of love and commitment. [+]
Through it all, Brooks seems to be lamenting a decline in professionalism much deeper than his story. He's decrying Hollywood and the society at large, anticipating Peckinpah's later strategy. -Bill Desowitz.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / The Big Blue [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Andreas Voutsinas
  • Jean-Marc Barr
  • Rosanna Arquette
  • Luc Besson
  • David Brisbin
  • Marc Duret
Release date: 2003-06-30
Run time: 163 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £39.99

Review The Big Blue [1988] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

A hit in Europe but a flop in the US-where it was trimmed, rescored, and given a new ending-Luc Besson's The Big Blue has endured as a minor cult classic for its gorgeous photography (both on land and underwater) and dreamy ambiance. Jean-Marc Barr is a sweet and sensitive but passive presence as Jacques, a diver with a unique connection to the sea. He has the astounding ability to slow his heartbeat and his circulation on deep dives, "a phenomenon that's only been observed in whales and dolphins until now," remarks one scientist. Kooky New York insurance adjuster Joanna (Rosanna Arquette at her most delightfully flustered and endearingly sexy best) melts after falling into his innocent baby blues, and she follows him to Italy, where he's continuing a lifelong competition with boyhood rival Enzo (Jean Reno in a performance both comic and touching). Besson's first English-language production looks more European than Hollywood, and it suffers from a tin ear for the language. At times it feels more like an IMAX undersea documentary than a drama about free divers, but the lush and lovely images create a fairy tale dimension to Jacques's story, a veritable Little Merman. More dolphin than man, he's so torn between earthly love and aquatic paradise that even his dreams call him to the sea (in a sequence more eloquent than any speech). Besson has expanded the film by 50 minutes for his director's cut, which adds little story but slows the contemplative pace until it practically floats in time, and has restored Eric Serra's synthesizer-heavy score, a slice of 1980s pop that at times borders on disco kitsch. Most importantly, he has restored his original ending, which echoes the fairy tale he tells Joanna earlier in the film and leaves the story floating in the inky blackness of ambiguity. -Sean Axmaker, Amazon. [+]
com.

Review Starz / Beowulf and Grendel [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Stellan Skarsgard
  • Gerard Butler
  • Sturla Gunnarsson
  • Sarah Polley
Release date: 2007-12-24
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.00

Review Beowulf and Grendel [2005] / Starz:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Sweeney! Movie Collection (Sweeney!/Sweeney 2) [1976]
Actors & Directors
  • John Thaw
  • Colin Welland
  • Barry Foster
  • David Wickes
  • Dennis Waterman
  • Ian Bannen
  • Tom Clegg
Release date: 2007-02-12
Run time: 198 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £17.08

Review Sweeney! Movie Collection (Sweeney!/Sweeney 2) [1976] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / Executive Decision [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Stuart Baird
  • Halle Berry
  • John Leguizamo
  • Oliver Platt
  • Steven Seagal
  • Kurt Russell
Release date: 1999-05-24
Run time: 127 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £2.24

Review Executive Decision [1996] / Warner Home Video:

Steven Seagal gets killed during the first 20 minutes of this enjoyable thriller, so Executive Decision scores points for ingenuity because it immediately improves when you realise that Seagal's role is just a heroic cameo. That leaves Kurt Russell to star as an American intelligence expert who (due to Seagal's untimely demise) finds himself leading a strike force against Islamic terrorists who have seized in-flight control of a 747 jetliner with 400 passengers. It's not all that different from Air Force One, but the formula story perks right along with considerable suspense as Russell's cohorts (Oliver Platt, Joe Morton) try to defuse a chemical bomb that could wipe out (you guessed it) the entire Eastern seaboard. John Leguizamo plays one of the US commandos attempting to stop the violent hijackers and Halle Berry co-stars as a flight attendant who risks her life to assist Russell's rescue team. As action movies go, Executive Decision marked an impressive directorial debut for veteran film editor Stuart Baird. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut [1979]
Actors & Directors
  • Dorsey Wright
  • Michael Beck
  • David Harris
  • Walter Hill
  • James Remar
Release date: 2005-10-17
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £3.69

Review The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut [1979] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review MGM Entertainment / Robocop [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Weller
  • Nancy Allen
  • Ronny Cox
  • Kurtwood Smith
  • Paul Verhoeven
  • Dan O'Herlihy
Release date: 2003-07-28
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.09

Review Robocop [1988] / MGM Entertainment:

When it arrived on the big screen in 1987, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop was like a high-voltage jolt of electricity, blending satire, thrills, and abundant violence with such energized gusto that audiences couldn't help feeling stunned and amazed. The movie was a huge hit, and has since earned enduring cult status as one of the seminal science fiction films of the 1980s. Followed by two sequels, a TV series, and countless novels and comic books, this original RoboCop is still the best by far, largely due to the audacity and unbridled bloodlust of director Verhoeven. However, the reasons many enjoyed the film are also the reasons some will surely wish to avoid it. Critic Pauline Kael called the movie a dubious example of "gallows pulp," and there's no denying that its view of mankind is bleak, depraved, and graphically violent. In the Detroit of the near future, a policeman (Peter Weller) is brutally gunned down by drug-dealing thugs and left for dead, but he survives (half of him, at least) and is integrated with state-of-the-art technology to become a half-robotic cop of the future, designed to revolutionize law enforcement. As RoboCop holds tight to his last remaining shred of humanity, he relentlessly pursues the criminals who "killed" him. All the while, Verhoeven (from a script by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner) injects this high-intensity tale with wickedly pointed humour and satire aimed at the men and media who cover a city out of control. -Jeff Shannon, amazon. com.

Review Ioan Gruffudd / Fantastic Four/Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Chris Evans
  • Ioan Gruffudd
  • Tim Story
  • Jessica Alba
  • Michael Chiklis
  • Julian McMahon
Release date: 2007-10-08
Run time: 209 min.
RRP: £29.99
Price: £7.47

Review Fantastic Four/Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer [2005] / Ioan Gruffudd:


Review Warner Home Video / The Lord of the Rings (Animated Version) [1978]
Actors & Directors
  • John Hurt
  • Simon Chandler
  • Christopher Guard
  • Michael Scholes
  • Ralph Bakshi
  • William Squire
Release date: 2001-11-26
Run time: 127 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £1.00

Review The Lord of the Rings (Animated Version) [1978] / Warner Home Video:

Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is a bold, colourful, ambitious failure. Severely truncated, this two-hour version tackles only about half the story, climaxing with the battle of Helm's Deep and leaving poor Frodo and Sam still stuck on the borders of Mordor with Gollum. Allegedly, the director ran out of money and was unable to complete the project. As far as the film does go, however, it is a generally successful attempt at rendering Tolkien's landscapes of the imagination. Bakshi's animation uses a blend of conventional drawing and rotoscoped (traced) animated movements from live-action footage. The latter is at least in part a money-saving device, but it does succeed in lending some depth and a sense of otherworldly menace to the Black Riders and hordes of Orcs: Frodo's encounter at the ford of Rivendell, for example, is one of the movie's best scenes thanks to this mixture of animation techniques. Backdrops are detailed and well-conceived, and all the main characters are strongly drawn. Among a good cast, John Hurt (Aragorn) and C3PO himself, Anthony Daniels (Legolas), provide sterling voice characterisation, while Peter Woodthorpe gives what is surely the definitive Gollum (he revived his portrayal a couple of years later for BBC Radio's exhaustive 13-hour dramatisation). The film's other outstanding virtue is avant-garde composer Leonard Rosenman's magnificent score in which chaotic musical fragments gradually coalesce to produce the triumphant march theme that closes the picture. None of which makes up for the incompleteness of the movie, nor the severe abridging of the story actually filmed. [+]
Add to that some oddities-such as intermittently referring to Saruman as "Aruman"-and the final verdict must be that this is a brave yet ultimately unsatisfying work, noteworthy as the first attempt at transferring Tolkien to the big screen but one whose virtues are overshadowed by incompleteness. -Mark Walker.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Lake Placid [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Bill Pullman
  • Oliver Platt
  • Bridget Fonda
  • Steve Miner
  • Betty White
  • Brendan Gleeson
Release date: 2004-08-02
Run time: 78 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.56

Review Lake Placid [2000] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Lake Placid is total trash-and, as a result, pretty entertaining. Yet another entry in the horror sub-genre of giant animals running amok, the movie features a giant crocodile that has somehow found its way to an isolated lake in Maine. The absurdity of crocodiles in Maine sets the tone for the entire movie, which has no ambitions beyond mixing a little fright with a little humour (Curiously, this concoction was put together by David E Kelley, better known as the creator of TV's Ally McBeal and The Practice). Bridget Fonda plays a palaeontologist sent to investigate a large tooth; Bill Pullman is a fish and game warden just trying to keep the peace; Oliver Platt plays a loose-cannon mythology professor who swims with crocodiles for sport; and Brendan Gleeson is a local sheriff with a short temper and a big gun. Add a few gruesome dismemberments, Betty White as a cantankerous old broad who may have murdered her husband, and a cow hanging from a helicopter, and there you have it: Lake Placid. -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. com.

Review starz home entertainment uk ltd / Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Hayato Date
Release date: 2007-12-24
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £4.97

Review Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow [2007] / starz home entertainment uk ltd:


Review Universal Pictures UK / The Incredible Hulk - Series 5 - Complete
Actors & Directors
  • Bernard McEveety
  • Michael Preece
  • Lou Ferrigno
  • Michael Vejar
  • Jack Colvin
  • Bill Bixby
Release date: 2008-09-29
Run time: 325 min.
RRP: £34.99
Price: £25.98

Review The Incredible Hulk - Series 5 - Complete / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Bfi Video / Sanjuro [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Tatsuya Nakadai
  • Keiju Kobayashi
  • Yuzo Kayama
  • Akihiko Hirata
  • Toshirô Mifune
  • Akira Kurosawa
Release date: 2003-10-06
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £8.98

Review Sanjuro [1962] / Bfi Video:


Review Universal Pictures Video / Stagecoach (John Wayne) [1939]
Actors & Directors
  • Andy Devine
  • Claire Trevor
  • George Bancroft
  • Thomas Mitchell
  • John Ford
  • John Wayne
Release date: 2006-06-05
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £2.95

Review Stagecoach (John Wayne) [1939] / Universal Pictures Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Conan the Barbarian [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Cassandra Gaviola
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Sven-Ole Thorsen
  • John Milius
  • Sandahl Bergman
  • James Earl Jones
Release date: 2003-08-25
Run time: 123 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.50

Review Conan the Barbarian [1981] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

The film that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's international career, Conan the Barbarian is still regarded by many as his finest hour. Limited to a mere handful of lines and expertly directed to play up the Nietzschean strength of the character by John Milius, the Austrian Oak has never looked more suited to a role, his muscle flexing and sword twirling apparently effortless. The extraordinarily finely detailed production design ensures that the barren Spanish countryside perfectly suits the Hyborean-era backdrop envisioned by author Robert E Howard. Whether dressed in rags or riches, Schwarzenegger and companions Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) look believably born to their surroundings. Backing their own very fine performances are brilliant supporting roles from James Earl Jones as serpentine baddie Thulsa Doom and Max Von Sydow as doomed King Osric. Plot-wise the film is simply the transformation of a wild barbarian into a worldly-wise king who, via a quest for revenge, finally learns the riddle of steel. The script is highly regarded for its dazzling set-pieces (the opening village raid, the orgy of body parts) and quotable dialogue ("They shall all drown in lakes of blood"), and it comes complete with an anti-peace movement reactionary subtext for anyone who cares to look close enough. One other element deserving mention is the extraordinary score by Basil Poledouris, which inspires the film with a sense of operatic grandeur. On the DVD: Conan the Barbarian appears as a suitably mythic special edition DVD. Sadly the magnificent score can only be heard in a mono mix, but the very fine picture is presented in 2. [+]
35:1. The extras package is phenomenal, too. Several deleted scenes have been re-edited into the film, but are available to view independently as well. There's a quick split-screen special effects feature showing how the ghostly spirits were added to Conan's resurrection. "The Conan Archives" is an 11-minute slide show of drawings, costumes and advertising. Best of all is the fantastic 53-minute "Conan Unchained" documentary interviewing every conceivable contributor who all reminisce with great fondness. It's slightly better seeing Schwarzenegger and Milius than hearing them talk in their commentary, which inevitably re-tells many of the same anecdotes in between puffs of Arnie's stogies. -Paul Tonks.

Browse Action & Adventure:

Models & Brands:
Miami Vice (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) [2006], The Charge Of The Light Brigade [1968] [Dutch Import], Rush Hour 2 [2001], Shottas [2006], White Fang [1991], The Professionals [1966], The Big Blue [1988], Beowulf and Grendel [2005], Sweeney! Movie Collection (Sweeney!/Sweeney 2) [1976], Executive Decision [1996], The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut [1979], Robocop [1988], Fantastic Four/Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer [2005], The Lord of the Rings (Animated Version) [1978], Lake Placid [2000], Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow [2007], The Incredible Hulk - Series 5 - Complete, Sanjuro [1962], Stagecoach (John Wayne) [1939], Conan the Barbarian [1981]

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