Actors & Directors
- David Schwimmer
- Dylan Moran
- Hank Azaria
- Thandie Newton
- Simon Pegg
- Stephen Merchant
Release date: 2008-02-18 Run time: 96 min. RRP: £19.99 Price: £3.12
Review Run, Fat Boy, Run [2007] / Entertainment in Video:Simon Pegg is clearly, right now, someone who can do little wrong at the box office. Run Fatboy Run follows hot on the heels of Hot Fuzz, and again finds its star delivering a quality comedy turn, in a film that boasts a good few laughs too. Directed by Friends star David Schwimmer, Run Fatboy Run casts Pegg as a security guard fed up of being outrun by the people he's supposed to catch. He's also determined to try and prove to his ex-fiancee (Thandie Newton) that he's a changed man, and thus decides to take on the London Marathon, where he'll be up against the new man in her life (Hank Azaria). Pegg is on good form in Run Fatboy Run, and genuinely delivers a character you want to root for. Yet it's the supporting players who walk off with the plaudits too. Dylan Moran in particular is in great form, as is Harish Patel, while the likes of Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria and David Walliams also turn in good work. Cleverly knowing not to outstay its welcome, and only occasionally stuttering under the weight of some laboured work behind the camera from Schwimmer, Run Fatboy Run is an easy, quite funny and light on the brain comedy, that helps cement Pegg's growing status as a quality leading actor. Worth checking out. -Jon Foster.
Release date: 2008-11-10 RRP: £39.99 Price: £26.79
Review Bill Bailey - The Collector's Edition / Bill Bailey:
Actors & Directors
- Larisa Oleynik
- David Krumholtz
- Gil Junger
- Julia Stiles
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
- Heath Ledger
Release date: 2001-01-08 Run time: 93 min. Creator: William Shakespeare RRP: £15.99 Price: £2.98
Review 10 Things I Hate About You [1999] / Touchstone Home Video:It's, like, Shakespeare, man! This good-natured and likeable update of The Taming of the Shrew takes the basics of Shakespeare's farce about a surly wench and the man who tries to win her and transfers it to modern-day Padua High School. Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is a sullen, forbidding riot grrrl who has a blistering word for everyone; her sunny younger sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) is poised for high school stardom. The problem: overprotective and paranoid Papa Stratford (a dryly funny Larry Miller) won't let Bianca date until boy-hating Kat does, which is to say never. When Bianca's pining suitor Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets wind of this, he hires the mysterious, brooding Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to loosen Kat up. Of course, what starts out as a paying gig turns to true love as Patrick discovers that underneath her brittle exterior, Kat is a regular babe. The script, by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is sitcom-funny with peppy one-liners and lots of smart teenspeak; however, its cleverness and imagination doesn't really extend beyond its characters' Renaissance names and occasional snippets of real Shakespearean dialogue. What makes the movie energetic and winning is the formula that helped make She's All That such a big hit: two high-wattage stars who look great and can really act. Ledger is a hunk of promise with a quick grin and charming Aussie accent and Stiles mines Kat's bitterness and anger to depths usually unknown in teen films; her recitation of her English class sonnet (from which the film takes its title) is funny, heartbreaking and hopelessly romantic. The imperious Allison Janney (Primary Colors) nearly steals the film as a no-nonsense guidance counsellor secretly writing a trashy romance novel. -Mark Englehart.
Actors & Directors
- Benny Hill
- Sally Ann Howes
- Ken Hughes
- Gert Fröbe
- Lionel Jeffries
- Dick Van Dyke
Release date: 2003-11-10 Run time: 136 min. Creator: Roald Dahl RRP: £19.99 Price: £3.54
Review Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2 Disc Special Edition) [1968] / MGM Entertainment:This re-mastered, pan-and-scan 30th-anniversary edition of that kiddie-car caper is flawed but solid family fare. It retains a quaint charm while some of the songs-including the title tune-are quite hummable. A huge plus is Dick Van Dyke, who is extremely appealing as an eccentric inventor around the turn of the century. With nimble fingers and a unique way of looking at the world, he invents for his children a magic car that floats and flies. Or does he? The special effects are tame by today's standards, and the film is about 20 minutes too long-but its enthusiasm charms. The script was cowritten by Roald Dahl and based on the novel by Ian Fleming, best known for his James Bond adventures. -Rochelle O'Gorman Chitty Chitty Bang Bang entranced and thrilled children and their parents when it puttered into the cinema in 1968. More than three decades later, and despite the eventual arrival of a stage version that throws the full weight of blockbuster effects at the story, the original remains the real thing for fans of all ages. The flying car is the star and it's impossible not to feel a surge of thrilling relief as the wings kick in when she plunges over the cliff and soars off on her great adventure. The songs might not be the greatest in musical history, but they are delivered with great charm by Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts (a toned-down version of his infamous Bert in Mary Poppins), Sally Ann Howes (Truly Scrumptious) and the children. [+]
And then there is Robert Helpmann's child catcher, a terrifyingly sinister figure who exudes a pungent whiff of undiluted evil unmatched by any character since Dorothy squared up to the witch in The Wizard of Oz. Cameos from British character actors abound: Benny Hill, Lionel Jeffries, Anna Quayle, James Robertson Justice and Max Wall all put in appearances that add some fibre to the overall sweetness of the story. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the ultimate nostalgic confection for family viewing. On the DVD: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Special Edition comes to DVD in widescreen format with a Dolby soundtrack to recreate the authentic cinematic experience for everyone who remembers it from the first time round. The picture quality is robust, revealing some rather homespun aspects to the special effects. Extras are dominated by Dick Van Dyke remembering his time on the film, plus a short item on the origins of the car itself and various trailers. -Piers Ford.
Actors & Directors
- Wendy Schaal
- Rachael MacFarlane
- Scott Grimes
- Joe Daniello
- Seth MacFarlane
- Mike Kim
Release date: 2008-05-12 Run time: 401 min. RRP: £29.99 Price: £10.98
Review American Dad! - Series 3 - Complete [2007] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:"I'm not beloved," CIA Agent Stan Smith is shocked to discover after eavesdropping on his mocking neighbours in the episode, "I Can't Stan You". With all the resolve this "pig-headed" Red State poster boy and George "The Dub" Bush devotee can muster, he vows, "I will make these people like me. " For those still on the fence about American Dad, this collection of 18 episodes ought to do the trick. These characters may not be as indelible as the Family Guy clan, but these episodes rarely flag. If the outrageous storylines don't grab you, the rapid-fire random gags will. Like King of the Hill's Hank Hill , Stan (voiced by series co-creator Seth McFarlane) is oft confounded by a world seemingly gone mad. Unlike Hank, he is the voice of un-reason. In "Surro-Gate," Stan's dizzy wife, Francine (Wendy Schaal) agrees to be the surrogate for the Smith's gay neighbors, prompting the disapproving Stan to kidnap the infant, as well as the brood of a lesbian couple. In "Black Mystery Month," Stan reveals a Da Vinci Code-like conspiracy involving George Washington Carver that's plain nuts. In another episode, "Bush Comes to Dinner" for a night of drunken debauchery; some easy-target Bush-bashing is redeemed when the President makes peace between Stan and his "lost cause" liberal daughter, Hayley (Rachael MacFarlane). [+]
Some of the best episodes focus more on the Smith family than politics. In "The Vacation Goo", Francine demands a real family getaway after discovering that all previous vacations were artificially created memories. In "Haylias," it is revealed that the unwitting Hayley is a brainwashed sleeper agent, who is activated by Stan to stop her from moving to France. "The 42-Year-Old Virgin" reveals another shocker: trigger-happy Stan has never actually killed anyone! American Dad revels in guy humour. As Stan tells an unamused Hayley at one point, "You don't get a willy, you don't get the silly. " American Dad brings the silly, but while the series is not above (or beneath) moth fart jokes, it is also smart enough to reference, say, "Equus" or the touching "When Somebody Loved Me" number from Toy Story 2. Stan's geeky son, Steve (Scott Grimes), bitchy alien Roger (MacFarlane), and talking fish Klaus (Dee Bradley Baker) are no Chris, Brian, or Stewie, but this set contains some of their more memorable outings. In "Frannie 911," it turns out that it actually would kill Roger to be nice. In "Surro-Gate," Klaus vows revenge on Roger and Stan following a waterslide prank. American Dad fans will salute this three-disc set's generous features, including a riotous Comic-Con cast table read of the episode, "The 42 Year-Old Virgin," nearly a half hour of deleted scenes (deleted jokes would be more accurate), unrated versions (with unbleeped profanities) of certain episodes, and freewheeling audio commentaries ("Hey, aren't we supposed to talk about the episode?" one participant tries to steer one digressive conversation). -Donald Liebenson.
Release date: 2004-05-03 Run time: 999 min. RRP: £199.99 Price: £49.11
Review Laurel & Hardy - The Collection (21-disc Box Set) [1918] / Universal Pictures UK:
Actors & Directors
- Danny Dyer
- Harry Enfield
- Nicholas Hoult
- April Pearson
Release date: 2008-05-05 Run time: 750 min. RRP: £39.99 Price: £14.16
Review Skins 1 & 2 Box Set [2006] / Channel 4 DVD:
Actors & Directors
- Zach Braff
- Donald Faison
- Ken Jenkins
- John C. McGinley
- Sarah Chalke
Release date: 2005-09-12 Run time: 461 min. RRP: £34.99 Price: £12.98
Review Scrubs: Complete Season 2 / Buena Vista Home Entertainment:The second series of hospital-based sitcom Scrubs sees young doctor J. D. with a bit more experience under his belt, but very little more common sense. Together with his best friend Turk, on-off girlfriend Elliot, and various other hospital dwellers (most notably John C. McGinley's grumpy Dr Cox) J. D. learns yet more lessons about life and love, all the while narrating his wacky adventures in a way that you'll either warm to or get really, really irritated by. Guest stars include Heather Locklear, Dick van Dyke and Ryan Reynolds, but Zach Braff is the real star of the show, and his wide-eyed puppy dog demeanour makes the inept J. D. endearing, in spite of his failings. [+]
Season 2 of Scrubs sees him juggling complications in both the personal and professional arenas as his career progresses, though this doesn't stop him indulging in frequently surreal and elaborate fantasies. Though Scrubs will never be E. R. , it doesn't try to be; Scrubs is warmer and sillier, though the laughs never get in the way of its several heartfelt moments. The overall package is a little too polished and round-cornered to ever be particularly edgy or hard-hitting, but if you're just after a warm-hearted comedy, you could do a lot worse. - Sarah Dobbs.
Actors & Directors
- Danny Elfman
- Glenn Shadix
- William Hickey
- Chris Sarandon
- Catherine O'Hara
- Tim Burton
Release date: 2006-10-02 Run time: 77 min. RRP: £11.99 Price: £4.45
Review The Nightmare Before Christmas (Special Edition) [1994] / Touchstone Home Video:For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is. The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called. Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen. " -Jim EmersonOn the DVD:This Special edition is a must for all Burton fans with the biggest gem to be found on a DVD release-"Tim Burtons Early Films" which holds his first two works. Vincent is clear predecessor of Nightmare before Christmas using the same stop-animation style and voiced superbly by Vincent Price himself; and Frankenweenie-a B&W live-action flick-takes you back to early B-movie territory seen through the eyes of a boy. [+]
Added to these films is a great special-features menu including a short documentary offering an interview with Burton, which exposes the inspiration for this magical animation and presents the three-year task of making the "Nightmare". On top of this is an in-depth commentary by director Henry Selick and Art director Pete Kozachik and layer upon layer of "character development" offering an insight into the intensity of thought that went into making these animated figures real. You also get a great selection of storyboards along with the sequences they manifest into, deleted storyboards and an animated sequence with a surprise alternative ending. The menu is beautifully animated in keeping with the style of artwork in the film. With a 1. 66:1 widescreen format and Dolby digital transfer this charming DVD is perfect for Halloween, Christmas and beyond! -Nikki Disney.
Actors & Directors
- Pete Docter
- Billy Crystal
- James Coburn
- David Silverman
- Lee Unkrich
- Mary Gibbs
- Steve Buscemi
- John Goodman
Release date: 2002-09-07 Run time: 88 min. Creator: Jonathan Roberts RRP: £17.99 Price: £5.69
Review Monsters Inc. [2002] / Buena Vista Home Entertainment:The monsters in Monsters, Inc. are just so incredibly cute-and they know it. Whereas Woody, Buzz and pals in the Toy Story saga were filled with self-doubt about just how much the children in their lives would continue to love them, here our heroic monsters and their impossibly lovable human ward Boo have no such worries, at least when it comes to the cinema audience. And that's why Monsters, Inc. , for all its wondrous computer-animated artistry, its smart humour and its family-friendly appeal, doesn't quite capture the naïve charm of its predecessors. Nevertheless, John Goodman and Billy Crystal, as scare-champions Sulley and Mike, are a great double-act whose comedy never goes over kids' heads but still reaches up to make their parents laugh. The film's central conceit-that monsters in the bedroom closet are just doing a night's work in order to generate power from screams for the city of Monstropolis-is funny and cleverly worked out; and kids will of course love the fact that the monsters are mortally afraid of the very children they are trying to frighten. The animation is extraordinarily detailed (Sulley's fur is a marvel in itself) and the set-piece action sequences top anything that has gone before for sheer audaciousness. But overall Pixar play things very safe, from the hissable villain to the end credit "outtakes". A bolder film might have taken inspiration from The Nightmare Before Christmas; instead, a little of that Disney disease of knowing cuteness seems to have crept into the formula. [+]
-Mark Walker.
Actors & Directors
- Rawle D. Lewis
- John Candy
- Malik Yoba
- Jon Turteltaub
- Doug E. Doug
- Leon
Release date: 2004-04-19 Run time: 95 min. Creator: Tommy Swerdlow RRP: £14.99 Price: £2.19
Review Cool Runnings [1994] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:Based on an improbable but true story, Cool Runnings concerns the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Director Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon) does a fine job with both the absurdity of the situation (the athletes had never even seen snow) and the passion behind it (their desire to compete and win). John Candy, in one of his last roles, is touching as a disgraced coach who seizes the opportunity to work with the Jamaicans as a chance for redemption. The bobsled scenes look good and the races are exciting. The climax, which is entirely unexpected, takes the film to a wholly different level, even if events in the story don't quite match the facts. -Tom Keogh.
Release date: 2008-04-28 Run time: 134 min. Creator: Derren Litten RRP: £19.99 Price: £6.97
Review Benidorm - Series 1 / 2 Entertain Video:The Solana resort, at the heart of Benidorm, sounds like quite a place to spend a holiday. It attracts a broad selection of characters, all sorts of antics, and fortunately for anyone picking this DVD up, a good few laughs too. A comedy programme that slipped under many people's radar, Benidorm puts an all-inclusive holiday destination at the heart of its setup, and then sets about filling it with a collection of fascinating characters. So you have the quiz kings for starters, along with a pair of mature swingers. There's a standard-ish stereotypical family, a gay couple on holiday to celebrate, and a squabbling married pair too. It's a broad ensemble, and this proves to be one of the many qualities of the programme. However, also in Benidorm's favour are some witty scripts, plenty of not-for-the-kids dialogue and a lot of belly laughs. All six episodes from the first series are collected here, and while the laughs don't always constantly flow throughout, the hit count is certainly high. And given the lack of quality fresh British sitcoms of late, Benidorm proves to be quite a collectors item. It might not, on the basis of this first series, be on the way to being a flat-out comedy classic, but there's so much enjoyment in the episodes here that a second series is hard to resist. [+]
-Jon Foster.
Actors & Directors
- Tristram Shapeero
- Steve Coogan
- Armando Iannucci
Release date: 2002-11-25 Run time: 180 min. RRP: £19.99 Price: £4.98
Review I'm Alan Partridge : Complete BBC Series 1 [1997] / 2 Entertain Video:I'm Alan Partridge finds Steve Coogan's media creation back in his native Norwich, having lost his beloved chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You, and now reduced to the pre-Breakfast slot playing old T'Pau and Soft Cell singles to an audience of farmers and all-night bakery workers. He's also lodged at the Linton Travel tavern, whose permanently smiling manageress, bland decor and themed buffets are redolent of what vast tracts of England have become. He's very much at home there. While there's much media satire in Partridge's pitiful pitches of programme ideas to the BBC ("Inner city sumo? Monkey tennis?"), I'm Alan Partridge is more a bleakly hilarious take on Modern Middle English Man, irascible and profoundly bored. Between innumerable moments of high, wild comedy, such as a disastrous video Partridge does for a boating agency and an encounter with his one (insane) fan, the most telling moments of the series come with his efforts to fill his dismally empty days, taking a trouser press to pieces, staring at the astro turf at an owl sanctuary or walking to a service station to buy windscreen cleaning fluid just for something to do. All this proved a little too darkly uncomfortable for mainstream audiences-yet Alan Partridge was probably the finest British comic creation of the 1990s. -David Stubbs.
Actors & Directors
- Will Ferrell
- James Caan
- Bob Newhart
- Mary Steenburgen
- Edward Asner
- Jon Favreau
Release date: 2005-11-07 Run time: 95 min. RRP: £9.99 Price: £2.68
Review Elf [2003] / Entertainment in Video:Elf is genuinely good. Not just Saturday Night Live-movie good, when the movie has some funny bits but is basically an insult to humanity; Elf is a smartly written, skillfully directed, and deftly acted story of a human being adopted by Christmas elves who returns to the human world to find his father. And because the writing, directing, and acting are all genuinely good, Elf is also genuinely funny. Will Ferrell, as Buddy the adopted elf, is hysterically sincere. James Caan, as his rediscovered father, executes his surly dumbfoundedness with perfect aplomb. Zooey Deschanel, as a department store worker with whom Buddy falls in love, is adorably sardonic. Director Jon Favreau (Swingers) shepherds the movie through all the obligatory Christmas cliches and focuses on material that's sometimes subtle and consistently surprising. Frankly, Elf feels miraculous. Also featuring Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Peter Dinklage, and Ed Asner as Santa Claus. -Bret Fetzer.
Release date: 2007-11-26 Run time: 77 min. RRP: £19.99 Price: £9.58
Review Omid Djalili : No Agenda - Live at the London Palladium [2007] / Omid Djalili:
Release date: 2008-11-03 RRP: £19.99 Price: £11.98
Review Gervase Phinn - Live Again - A School Inspector Calls! / Gervase Phinn:
Release date: 2008-11-17 Run time: 70 min. RRP: £17.99 Price: £11.98
Review Rowan Atkinson - Live / Rowan Atkinson:
Actors & Directors
- Timothy Spall
- Tim Healy
- Pat Roach
- Christopher Fairbank
- Roger Bamford
- Kevin Whately
Release date: 2008-09-01 Run time: 1260 min. RRP: £89.99 Price: £14.98
Review Auf Wiedersehen Pet - Series 1 And 2 - Complete [1983] / ITV DVD:
Actors & Directors
- Jack Lemmon
- George Raft
- Tony Curtis
- Marilyn Monroe
- Billy Wilder
- Pat O'Brien
Release date: 2001-11-26 Run time: 117 min. Creator: Robert Thoeren RRP: £19.99 Price: £3.49
Review Some Like It Hot - Special Edition [1959] / MGM Entertainment:Maybe "nobody's perfect", as one character in this masterpiece suggests. But some movies are perfect, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. In Chicago, during the Prohibition era, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida. They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" but remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player. (When Curtis courts her without his dress, he adopts the voice of Cary Grant-a spot-on impersonation. ) The script by director Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is beautifully measured; everything works, like a flawless clock. [+]
Aspiring screenwriters would be well advised to throw away the how-to books and simply study this film. The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy". Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behaviour. The results, however, are sublime. -Robert Horton.
Actors & Directors
- Jane Horrocks
- Bradley Raymond
- Mae Whitman
- Lucy Liu
- America Ferrera
- Raven-Symone
Release date: 2008-11-10 Run time: 149 min. RRP: £22.99 Price: £24.28
Review Tinker Bell/Peter Pan (Special Edition) - Double Pack [1953] / Disney:
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Models & Brands: Run, Fat Boy, Run [2007], Bill Bailey - The Collector's Edition, 10 Things I Hate About You [1999], Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2 Disc Special Edition) [1968], American Dad! - Series 3 - Complete [2007], Laurel & Hardy - The Collection (21-disc Box Set) [1918], Skins 1 & 2 Box Set [2006], Scrubs: Complete Season 2, The Nightmare Before Christmas (Special Edition) [1994], Monsters Inc. [2002], Cool Runnings [1994], Benidorm - Series 1, I'm Alan Partridge : Complete BBC Series 1 [1997], Elf [2003], Omid Djalili : No Agenda - Live at the London Palladium [2007], Gervase Phinn - Live Again - A School Inspector Calls!, Rowan Atkinson - Live, Auf Wiedersehen Pet - Series 1 And 2 - Complete [1983], Some Like It Hot - Special Edition [1959], Tinker Bell/Peter Pan (Special Edition) - Double Pack [1953] |