Review, buy Action & Adventure: Deadwood : Complete HBO Season 3 [2006], The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 2 Disc Special Edition [1966], Shooter [2007], Bonekickers - Complete BBC Series 1 [2008], The Mummy/The Mummy Returns [1998], The Last Of The Mohicans [1992], Casino Royale (2 Disc Collector's Edition) [2006], Star Wars Episode VI:Return Of The Jedi (Limited Edition, Includes Theatrical Version) [1983], Das Boot - The Mini Series (2 Disc Uncut Version) [1985], Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest [2006], 300 [2007], Hitman - Extreme Edition [2007], Spider-Man Trilogy [Blu-ray] [2002], Smallville: The Complete Second Season, Jarhead [2005], Spider-Man Trilogy [2007], Top Gun [1986], The Dam Busters [1954], Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles [Blu-ray], Batman Begins [HD DVD] [2005]

The final complete season of HBO's remarkable Deadwood series is full of surprises and devastating experiences as the nascent, dangerous town prepares to join Dakota territory in 1877. As in the previous two seasons, the question of who will control the town's resources, assets, and people drives much of the drama, affecting all manner of relationships and alliances, often between the most unlikely people. The dominant storyline in Deadwood Season 3 concerns upcoming elections for mayor and sheriff of the mucky, gold-mining town. The real juice, however, is not so much between the individuals running for office as between two power brokers each trying to steer the results toward their own purposes. Saloon owner and Deadwood's puppetmaster, Al Swearengen (Ian McShane sustaining his brilliant peformance in the previous two seasons), works closely with incumbent lawman Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) on retaining the latter's seat. But Bullock himself has difficulty surrendering his penchant for taking unambiguous action and relying on few words, especially when he has to act like a politician and deal with people such as George Hearst (Gerald McRaney, playing the real-life father of William Randolph Hearst). Swearengen's rival, Hearst-a self-made industrialist who gained his fortune through mining-has every intention of overtaking Deadwood, with his eye particularly on the lucrative mine owned by Bullock's former lover, Alma (Molly Parker). (The violence Hearst employs to get to Alma's claim will stun many Deadwood fans. ) Meanwhile, Bullock's old friend, Sol Starr (John Hawkes), runs for mayor against the feckless E. B. [+]

Farnum (William Sanderson), and tries to navigate through his difficult relationship with Trixie (Paula Malcomson) as she grows enraged by former lover Swearengen's manipulation of her and everyone else. Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert) is encouraged to become a public speaker, telling of her misadventures with General George Custer, and she commences a lesbian relationship with Joanie (Kim Dickens), the saloon owner who is becoming increasingly despondent and suicidal. Bullock's relationship with his wife, Martha (Anna Gunn) continues to deepen and become more of an influence on him, Wyatt Earp comes for a visit, and a newcomer to town, Jack Langrishe (Brian Cox), an old friend of Swearengen, attempts to open a theatre. As expected, the season finale concludes with the long-awaited election, but HBO's decision to bring Deadwood to an end required creator David Milch to wrap everything up in a pair of two-hour movies. Still, The Complete Third Season is very satisfying on every level, and will always be, along with the rest of the series, a television landmark. -Tom Keogh.

This two-disc Special Edition presents the restored, extended English-language version of Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, now clocking in at almost three hours (actually 171 minutes on this Region 2 DVD as a result of the faster frames-per-second ratio of the PAL format). It includes some 14 minutes of previously cut scenes, with both Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach returning to the editing suite in 2003 to add their voices to scenes that had never before been dubbed into English (Wallach's voice is noticeably that of a much older man in these additional sequences). The extra material contains nothing of vital importance, but it's good to have the movie returned to pretty much the way Leone originally wanted it. The anamorphic widescreen picture is now also accompanied by a handsome Dolby 5. 1 soundtrack, making this the most complete and satisfactory version so far released. Film historian Richard Schickel provides an authoritative and engaging commentary on Disc 1. On the second disc there are featurettes on Leone's West (20 mins), The Leone Style (24 mins), Reconstructing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (11 mins) and a documentary about the historical background of the Sibley campaign, The Man Who Lost the Civil War (15 mins). In addition, there's a two-part appreciation of composer Ennio Morricone, Il Maestro, by film-music expert John Burlinghame. Tuco's extended torture scene can be found here, along with a reconstruction of the fragmentary "Socorro Sequence". In short, exemplary bonus features that will satisfy every Leone aficionado. [+]

A movie that would not have been out of place in the run of paranoid-political thrillers of the 1970s, Shooter works an entertaining variation on the assassination picture. Mark Wahlberg, carrying over good mojo from The Departed, slides neatly into the character of Bob Lee Swagger, master marksman. Swagger has retreated from his duty as an off-the-books hired gun for the military, having become disillusioned with his government (switching on his TV at his remote mountain cabin, he mutters, "Let's see what kind of lies they're trying to sell us today. "). Ah, but the government needs Swagger to scope out the location of a rumored attempt on the life of the president, so a shadowy government operative (Danny Glover) begs Swagger to use his sniper's skills to out-fox the assassin. From there-well, spoilers are not fair, since the movie has a few legitimate shocks and a very nice wrong-man scenario about to unfold. A novel by the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Stephen Hunter gives the movie a logical spine, even if the premise itself is the stuff of conspiracy theorists. Wahlberg gets support from Michael Pena, as a skeptical FBI agent; Kate Mara, as a trustworthy widow; and Ned Beatty, trailing along memories of Network, as a supremely cynical Senator. Along with the well-executed action sequences (the previously unreliable director Antoine Fuqua gets it in gear here), the movie includes a few potshots at the Bush administration. No, that doesn't put Shooter at the level of The Parallax View or All the President's Men, but it provides some tang along with the flying bullets. [+]

Daft, summer-schedule-filling fun from the BBC, Bonekickers is a muddled drama series that brings a team of people together to try and solve some ancient mysteries with a bit of modern know-how. Naturally, the team have their conflicts along the way, and naturally there are twists and turns as they go about their work. But not much that you won?t see coming. For it doesn?t take long before Bonekickers starts hitting problems. It?s hard to know where to point the figure, although the early dismissal of any plausibility will do. We?re used to archaeology on the telly being presented as painstaking and intricate. Not here. Instead, it?s in with the diggers, there?s no time to waste. Throw in some clunky dialogue for good measure, and the predictability of much of what?s going on, and you?d think there?d be little reason to pick Bonekickers up. But here?s the thing: it?s all a bit of a hoot. [+]

The Mummy If you're expecting bandaged-wrapped corpses and a lurching Boris Karloff-type villain, then you've come to the wrong movie. But if outrageous effects, a hunky hero, and some hearty laughs are what you're looking for, the 1999 version of The Mummy is spectacularly good fun. Yes, the critics called it "hokey," "cheesy," and "pallid. " Well, the critics are unjust. Granted, the plot tends to stray, the acting is a bit of a stretch, and the characters occasionally slip into cliché, but who cares? When that action gets going, hold tight-those two hours just fly by. The premise of the movie isn't that far off from the original. Egyptologist and general mess Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) discovers a map to the lost city of Hamunaptra, and so she hires rogue Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) to lead her there. Once there, Evelyn accidentally unlocks the tomb of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a man who had been buried alive a couple of millennia ago with flesh-eating bugs as punishment for sleeping with the pharaoh's girlfriend. The ancient mummy is revived, and he is determined to bring his old love back to life, which of course means much mayhem (including the unleashing of the 10 plagues) and human sacrifice. Despite the rather gory premise, this movie is fairly tame in terms of violence; most of the magic and surprise come from the special effects, which are glorious to watch, although Imhotep, before being fully reconstituted, is, as one explorer puts it, rather "juicy. [+]

" Keep in mind this film is as much comedy as it is adventure-those looking for a straightforward horror pic will be disappointed. But for those who want good old-fashioned eye-candy kind of fun, The Mummy ranks as one of choicest flicks of 1999. -Jenny Brown The Mummy Returns Proving that bigger is rarely better, The Mummy Returns serves up so much action and so many computer-generated effects that it quickly grows exhausting. In his zeal to establish a lucrative franchise, writer-director Stephen Sommers dispenses with such trivial matters as character development and plot logic, and charges headlong into an almost random buffet of minimum story and maximum mayhem, beginning with a prologue establishing the ominous fate of the Scorpion King (played by World Wrestling Federation star the Rock, in a cameo teaser for his later starring role in-you guessed it-The Scorpion King). Dormant for 5,000 years, under control of the Egyptian god Anubis, the Scorpion King will rise again in 1933, which is where we find The Mummy's returning heroes Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, now married and scouring Egyptian ruins with their 8-year-old son, Alex (Freddie Boath). John Hannah (as Weisz's brother) and Oded Fehr (as mystical warrior Ardeth Bay) also return from The Mummy, and trouble begins when Alex dons the Scorpion King's ancient bracelet, coveted by the evil mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), who's been revived by. oh, but does any of this matter? With a plot so disposable that it's impossible to care about anything that happens, The Mummy Returns is best enjoyed as an intermittently amusing and physically impressive monument of Hollywood machinery, with gorgeous sets that scream for a better showcase, and digital trickery that tops its predecessor in ambition, if not in payoff. By the time our heroes encounter a hoard of ravenous pygmy mummies, you'll probably enjoy this movie in spite of itself. -Jeff Shannon.

The Last of the Mohicans is a large-scale adventure set during the colonial conflicts between Britain and France 20 years before the American War of Independence. Based loosely on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper, but actually inspired by director Michael (Manhunter, Heat) Mann's boyhood love of the 1936 film of the same name, this is rousing, romantic stuff. As "Hawkeye", a white raised by the last of the Mohican tribe, Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a performance which, had he followed it up, could have established him as an action hero for the 1990s and beyond. Despite an under-written role Madeline Stowe convinces as the heroine. The remaining cast are uniformly excellent. Filmed amid the spectacular mountains, rivers and forests of North Carolina by Mann's regular cinematographer, Dante Spinotti, the film is a visual joy, while Trevor Jones' majestic, spine-tingling score (with additional music by Randy Edleman) is one of the finest of the decade. Taking time to establish the motives of British and French colonists and the various native tribes, as well as the varying opinions and characters within these groupings, Mann offers much greater balance and complexity than The Patriot (2000), yet never looses sight of the object here: telling a stirring yarn laced with bold action set pieces and passionate romance. On the DVD: The anamorphically enhanced 2. 35:1 image is a massive improvement over VHS, but still shows considerable grain in many scenes, possibly a result of the film being shot in low, natural light and containing many very dark sequences. The Dolby Digital 5. [+]

1 soundtrack is very powerful, though little use is made of the rear channels, and in some scenes the sound effects all but drown out the dialogue. Isolated scores are usually only found on feature-packed special editions, so the inclusion here is a welcome surprise-and a testament to its popularity. The only other extra is an anamorphic 2. 35:1 presentation of the immensely stirring theatrical trailer. -Gary S Dalkin.

The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins, Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanising performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a "blunt instrument," reckless and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it) and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in! a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his armour by falling in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money. For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Aston Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini "shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?". There's no Moneypenny or "Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M who, one senses, admires Bond's "bloody cheek. [+]

" A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its romance, Casino Royale is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, 'makes you feel it', particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on, "have a short life expectancy". But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last ! line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, "now I know what I've been faking all these years". -Donald Liebenson.

This 282-minute version of Das Boot is the full-length TV series, originally shown in six parts but here edited into a seamless whole. Director Wolfgang Petersen has since graduated to mega-budget Hollywood productions (2004's Troy for example), but has never managed even to come close to this, his German-language masterpiece. Petersen and his sterling cast (including Jürgen Prochnow in his best role as the U-boat captain) went to great lengths to ensure that this claustrophobic depiction of life aboard the German sub U-97 while attacking British convoys in the Atlantic is thoroughly authentic and totally convincing. Even the set itself, which is a replica of a U-boat interior, had no false walls, so all camera angles are necessarily from within its horribly narrow, overcrowded and sweaty confines. The result is certainly the finest submarine drama ever made, and one of the most compelling depictions of the physical, psychological and emotional effects of warfare. This mini-series is rather longer than the movie version, which is also available on DVD in a Director's Cut version. The differences are not in matters of plot, but in the pacing: everything here takes longer to happen, while the crew must sit around, bicker, swear and sweat it out-the agonising searching for action, the tension of the attack, the terrible stress of hiding from enemy destroyers. Everything unfolds as if in real time, which is the great advantage a TV production has over a movie (contrast, for example, Band of Brothers with Saving Private Ryan). This, therefore, is the definitive presentation of a World War II classic. On the DVD: Das Boot is presented on two discs, with no breaks where the original TV episodes started and finished. [+]

The default language option is German with optional English subtitles. For those constitutionally allergic to subtitles there is also an alternative English-language dub, voiced by many of the original cast (including Prochnow). Sound is adequate stereo or Dolby 5. 1, and the anamorphic widescreen is good for the murky green underwater shots. Unlike the theatrical version, though, there is no commentary. -Mark Walker.

Like Sin City before it, 300 brings Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's graphic novel vividly to life. Gerard Butler (Beowulf and Grendel, The Phantom of the Opera) radiates pure power and charisma as Leonidas, the Grecian king who leads 300 of his fellow Spartans (including David Wenham of The Lord of the Rings, Michael Fassbender, and Andrew Pleavin) into a battle against the overwhelming force of Persian invaders. Their only hope is to neutralise the numerical advantage by confronting the Persians, led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), at the narrow strait of Thermopylae. More engaging than Troy, the tepid and somewhat similar epic of ancient Greece, 300 is also comparable to Sin City in that the actors were shot on green screen, then added to digitally created backgrounds. The effort pays off in a strikingly stylised look and huge, sweeping battle scenes. However, it's not as to-the-letter faithful to Miller's source material as Sin City was. The plot is the same, and many of the book's images are represented just about perfectly. But some extra material has been added, including new villains (who would be considered "bosses" if this were a video game, and it often feels like one) and a political subplot involving new characters and a significantly expanded role for the Queen of Sparta (Lena Headey). While this subplot by director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) and his fellow co-writers does break up the violence, most fans would probably dismiss it as filler if it didn't involve the sexy Headey. Other viewers, of course, will be turned off by the waves of spurting blood, flying body parts, and surging testosterone. [+]

It's hard not to feel like one has entered a certain dimension of video-game logic while watching Hitman, a lightly enjoyable action-suspense movie indeed based on a popular and bloody game about a mysterious hired gun with a bar-code tattoo on his bald head and a number (47) in lieu of a name. Living like a chaste monk while slipping past borders to kill his targets, 47 (Timothy Olyphant of Deadwood) moves like a determined shark and speaks softly to his contact at the enigmatic "the Organization," which raises cast-off children to become well-paid assassins. Fruitlessly pursued by an Interpol cop (Dougray Scott) who can never get sovereign governments to cooperate, 47 has no trouble slipping in and out of countries to ply his trade. Until, that is, he's set up to take a fall in Russia by shooting a national leader who is promptly replaced by a lookalike double. Suddenly on the run, 47 has to retrace his steps and formulate a lethal plan for extricating himself from a trap. Caught in the chaos is the lovely Nika (Olga Kurylenko), forced into sex slavery by 47's new enemies and the one person who seems uniquely qualified to break through 47's many personal barriers. Directed by France's Xavier Gens, Hitman features loads of bloody mayhem and unabashed moments of pulp absurdity, such as a scene in which 47 and three other Organization killers agree to fight one another respectfully, then proceed to pulverize each other with swords and fists. As fodder for gamers, however, Hitman is packed with visuals and dramatic moments that seem so odd on the big screen until one realizes they are basically placemarkers for the video-game edition. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

The case for the Blu-ray high definition format is considerably, and immediately, strengthened by the appearance of one of cinema's most lucrative franchises of recent times. Each of the Spider-man films have amassed extraordinary sums of money, and they're gathered here together in this glorious high-definition set. Ironically for a trilogy, it's the second film that's the strongest, although let's not jump ahead. The first Spider-man, for instance, introduces us to Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), and covers the genesis of the infamous superhero. Set against Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, it's a deft, impressive and entertaining blockbuster, albeit one that takes a little longer than you'd like to get motoring. Spider-man 2 is the business, though. This is the one with Alfred Molina's stunning Doctor Octopus, although he has to share the screen with the title character contending with his dual life, and the effect on his relationship with Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst). It could have gone wrong, but it's so tightly put together that it's one of the very best blockbusters of recent times. Spider-man 3, inevitably, can't quite match the standard set, but you can't fault it for ambitious. Mixing in Topher Grace as Venom, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman and James Franco as the new Green Goblin, it's a lot to fit into one film, and that's what bogs things down. [+]

However, when it does hit its stride, Spider-man 3 is a rip-roaring ride in its own right. Exclusive to the Blu-ray format in high definition, this is undoubtedly the cinematic purist's best way to enjoy the Spider-man films at home. And backed up by some incisive extra features, this is a boxset that not only demos the strengths of high definition home entertainment, it's also got three highly entertaining films at the core of it. -Jon Foster.

For many fans, the Superman revisionist series Smallville truly hit its stride in its second series, when it shifted focus from traditional comic book conflicts to one of self-discovery for its hero, a teenage Clark Kent (Tom Welling). Fans and first-timers can judge for themselves with this six-disc set, which collects all 23 episodes and a decent selection of supplemental features. Whereas series 1 focused on Clark using his powers to combat a host of menaces as in the WB's other big fantasy hit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, series 2 delved into Clark's past and the extent of his super powers, most notably in the back-to-back "Heat", in which he discovers his heat vision, and "Red," in which red kryptonite uncorks Clark's less-than-upstanding side. Other plot developments that pull the series in interesting directions include the arrival of Dr Helen Bryce (Emanuelle Vaugier), who becomes involved with Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), but the series' most significant moment comes during episode 17, "Rosetta", in which Clark learns of his Kryptonian origins courtesy of a scientist, who, in an effective bit of casting, is played by Superman star Christopher Reeve. The complexity of the writing and the issues dealt with in series 2 marked Smallville as a series with depth and drama worthy of its considerable fan following as well as a second boxed set; fittingly, the supplements in this set are more expansive than on the first one. Producers Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Greg Beeman and cast members Welling, Rosenbaum and Kristen Kreuk weigh in on commentary tracks for two episodes ("Red" and "Rosetta"), while a trio of short featurettes explore Christopher Reeves' appearance in "Rosetta", the show's visual effects and the amusing "Wall of Weird" web page maintained by Chloe (Allison Mack). The extras are rounded out by a handful of deleted scenes and a gag reel. -Paul Gaita.

Based on Anthony Swofford's excellent memoir about his experiences as a Marine Sniper in Gulf War I, Jarhead is a war movie in which the waiting is a far greater factor upon the characters than the war itself, and the build up to combat is more drama than what combat is depicted. To some viewers hoping for typical movie action, this will seem like a cruel joke. But it's not. It's just the story as it was written, and if you liked the book, you will probably like the movie. If you didn't, then the movie won't change your mind. The movie follows the trajectory of Swofford (played with thoughtful intensity by Jake Gyllenhaal) from wayward Marine recruit (he joined because he "got lost on the way to college") to skilled Marine sniper, and on into the desert in preparation for the attack on Iraq. No-nonsense, Marine-for-life Staff Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx), the man who recruited Swofford and his spotter Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) into the sniper team, leads them in training, and in waiting where their lives are dominated by endless tension, pointless exercises in absurdity (like playing football in the scorching heat of the desert in their gas masks so it will look better for the media's TV cameras), more training, and constant anticipation of the moment to come when they'll finally get to kill. When the war does come, it moves too fast for Swofford's sniper team, and the one chance they get at a kill-to do the one thing they've trained so hard and waited so long for-eludes them, leaving them to wonder what was the point of all they had endured. As directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), the movie remains very loyal to the language and vision of the book, but it doesn't entirely work as the film needs something more than a literal translation to bring out its full potential. [+]

Mendes' stark and, at times, apocalyptic visuals add a lot and strike the right tone: wide shots of inky-black oil raining down on the vast, empty desert from flaming oil wells contrasted with close-ups of crude-soaked faces struggling through the mire vividly bring to life the meaning of the tagline "welcome to the suck. " But much of the second half of the movie will probably leave some viewers feeling disappointed in the cinematic experience, while others might appreciate its microcosmic depiction of modern chaos and aimlessness. Jarhead is one of those examples where the book is better than the movie, but not for lack of trying. -Dan Vancini.

The first Spider-man introduces us to Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), and covers the genesis of the infamous superhero. Set against Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, it's a deft, impressive and entertaining blockbuster, albeit one that takes a little longer than you'd like to get motoring. Spider-man 2 is the business, though. This is the one with Alfred Molina's stunning Doctor Octopus, although he has to share the screen with the title character contending with his dual life, and the effect on his relationship with Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst). It could have gone wrong, but it's so tightly put together that it's one of the very best blockbusters of recent times. Spider-man 3, inevitably, can't quite match the standard set, but you can't fault it for ambitious. Mixing in Topher Grace as Venom, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman and James Franco as the new Green Goblin, it's a lot to fit into one film, and that's what bogs things down. However, when it does hit its stride, Spider-man 3 is a rip-roaring ride in its own right. -Jon Foster.

Jingoism, beefcake, military hardware, and a Giorgio Moroder rock score reign supreme over taste and logic in this Tony Scott film about a maverick trainee pilot (Tom Cruise) who can't follow the rules at a Navy aviation training facility. The dogfight sequences between American and Libyan jets at the end are absolutely mechanical, though audiences loved it at the time. The love story between Cruise's character and that of Kelly McGillis is like flipping through pages of advertising in a glossy magazine. This designer action movie from 1986 is made more palatable by the canny casting of good actors in dumb parts. Standouts include Anthony Edwards-who makes a nice impression as Cruise's average-Joe pal-and the relatively unknown Meg Ryan in a small but memorable appearance. -Tom Keogh.

The pressure was really on The Sarah Connor Chronicles right from the start. The first spin-off from the extraordinary Terminator franchise, it picks up after the events of the second film, and finds Lena Headey in the title role, who-along with her 15-year old son, John-sets about trying to save the world from the impending threat of Skynet. Along the way too, they encounter Summer Glau (whom there's a strong chance you'll know from Firefly), who steps into the shoes of Cameron, a bodyguard Terminator who helps fight off the many threats they face. She's some piece of work. Very deliberately paced, and intricately woven to make sure it safely fits within the Terminator universe, The Sarah Connor Chronicles works a great deal better than you'd have any right to expect. Tightly scripted, and with a terrific performance by Headey in the central role, the show packs plenty of action and narrative into the nine episodes of its maiden season, and it certainly whets the appetite for more. Perhaps the biggest compliment to be paid, though, is that The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a worthy companion and follow-up to the first two Terminator films, and one that genuinely expands and deepens the franchise. It'll be fascinating to see where the show goes next. -Jon Foster.

Review Deadwood : Complete HBO Season 3 [2006] / Paramount Home Entertainment (UK):

Review The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 2 Disc Special Edition [1966] / MGM Entertainment:

Review Shooter [2007] / Paramount Home Entertainment (UK):

Review Bonekickers - Complete BBC Series 1 [2008] / ITV DVD:

Review The Mummy/The Mummy Returns [1998] / Universal Pictures UK:

Review The Last Of The Mohicans [1992] / Warner Home Video:

Review Casino Royale (2 Disc Collector's Edition) [2006] / Sony Pictures Home Ent. UK:

Review Star Wars Episode VI:Return Of The Jedi (Limited Edition, Includes Theatrical Version) [1983] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Review Das Boot - The Mini Series (2 Disc Uncut Version) [1985] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Review Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest [2006] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:

Review 300 [2007] / Warner Home Video:

Review Hitman - Extreme Edition [2007] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Review Spider-Man Trilogy [Blu-ray] [2002] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Review Smallville: The Complete Second Season / Warner Home Video:

Review Jarhead [2005] / Universal Pictures Video:

Review Spider-Man Trilogy [2007] / Spider-Man:

Review Top Gun [1986] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Review The Dam Busters [1954] / Optimum Home Entertainment:

Review Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles [Blu-ray] / Warner Home Video:

Review Batman Begins [HD DVD] [2005] / Warner Home Video: