DVD Find the Perfect Gift    Send a Gift Certificate
Search 
Home › Drama › Comedy
Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Oh What A Lovely War: Special Edition [1969]
Actors & Directors
  • John Gielgud
  • Vanessa Redgrave
  • Jean-Pierre Cassell
  • Laurence Olivier
  • Phyllis Calvert
  • Richard Attenborough
Release date: 2006-10-30
Run time: 138 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £17.98

Review Oh What A Lovely War: Special Edition [1969] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

It's a product of its Vietnam era just as surely as Robert Altman's M*A*S*H, and like that film Oh! What a Lovely War is ostensibly about a different war. Based on a celebrated anti-war stage piece produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, the film chronicles the various madnesses of the First World War. Along with vignettes involving the members of the fictional Smith family, the movie lands its punches with a two-pronged attack: by using the songs of the war, mostly patriotic; and by using the real-life words of various figures from WWI. You can see how this would have fit a stylised stage show; in the more literal, realistic realm of film, it mostly comes across as heavy-handed pretentiousness. Richard Attenborough, who would later explore the lives of Gandhi and Chaplin, first made his way to the director's chair here, and he enlisted a staggering who's who of his fellow British actors for roles in the large ensemble: Olivier, Gielgud, and Richardson among them. John Mills plays the most bull-headed of the generals, blithely measuring out yards of territory gained by the thousands of casualties involved. The songs are a historically fascinating lot, mostly given an ironic or sinister treatment in this incarnation, as jolly patriotic tunes that mask the utter carnage at the front. Among the high points is Maggie Smith singing (well, declaiming) an ode to recruitment, promising war as a grand adventure. The blending of arch content with Attenborough's realistic staging of trench warfare just doesn't take, but what does hit home are the actual quotes and the statistics of killing; World War I set a bloody standard for sheer, blind slaughter. -Robert Horton.

Review Warner Home Video / Tango and Cash [1989] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Andrei Konchalovsky
  • Albert Magnoli
  • Kurt Russell
  • Sylvester Stallone
  • Teri Hatcher
  • Brion James
  • Jack Palance
Release date: 1997-10-01
Run time: 104 min.
Price: £2.78

Review Tango and Cash [1989] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review 4dvd / Shameless - Series 4 - Complete [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Catherine Morshead
  • Joseph Furnace
  • Gerard Kearns
  • David Threlfall
Release date: 2008-04-21
Run time: 350 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £8.63

Review Shameless - Series 4 - Complete [2006] / 4dvd:


Review Ventura / Me And Mrs Jones [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Victor Williams
  • Kim Fields
  • Melvin Payne
  • Wanda Christine
  • Ed Laborde
  • Brian J. White
Release date: 2005-02-07
Run time: 105 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.47

Review Me And Mrs Jones [2001] / Ventura:


Review Legend Films / Almost an Angel [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Steven Brill
  • Parley Baer
  • Greg Barnett
  • Michael Alldredge
  • Sammy Lee Allen
Release date: 2008-06-03
Run time: 98 min.
Creator: Richard Yuricich
Price: £5.02

Review Almost an Angel [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Legend Films:


Review BBC Warner / The Buccaneers [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Philip Saville
  • Gwen Humble
  • Rya Kihlstedt
  • Alison Elliott
  • Mira Sorvino
  • Carla Gugino
Release date: 2006-04-18
Run time: 302 min.
Price: £5.47

Review The Buccaneers [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / BBC Warner:


Review Artificial Eye / The Aki Kaurismaki Collection Vol.2 [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Aki Kaurismaki
Release date: 2007-10-08
Run time: 229 min.
RRP: £29.99
Price: £18.48

Review The Aki Kaurismaki Collection Vol.2 [1994] / Artificial Eye:


Review Starz Home Entertainment / Mile High - Complete Box Set [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Jo-Anne Knowles
  • Naomi Ryan
  • Tom Wisdom
Release date: 2008-10-06
Run time: 1751 min.
RRP: £29.99
Price: £22.49

Review Mile High - Complete Box Set [2003] / Starz Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures Video / Catch Me If You Can [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Tom Hanks|Christopher Walken
Release date: 2003-07-28
Run time: 135 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.54

Review Catch Me If You Can [2003] / Universal Pictures Video:

A lot less momentous in subject matter than most recent Steven Spielberg films, Catch Me If You Can is the "inspired by a true story" tale of Frank Abagnale Jr (Leonardo di Caprio), a mature-looking teenager who spent the 1960s as an odd type of conman: passing himself off as an airline pilot to get free flights, holding down a job as supervisor of an ER team, and even passing a bar exam after only two weeks' study, all the while dealing in forged cheques. As his illicit earnings spiral up above four million dollars, Frank is dogged by FBI agent Hanratty (Tom Hanks), a plodder who begins to have a relationship with his quarry-the boy politely telephones him every Christmas to catch up. It may have a Spielbergian running time (two hours and 20 minutes) and boast big stars usually found only in thumping epics, but it's basically a breezy character piece with tactful shots of melancholy amid the high-flying, no-harm-done criminality. DiCaprio does his best screen work as the compulsive impersonator, turning his rather vague presence to his advantage as he slips into his various roles, and the typical Spielberg fathers-and-sons theme is delicately played in the kid's scenes with his real (Christopher Walken) and surrogate dads. It's a pleasure to find that Spielberg can play it light without sacrificing depth. Set in the pastel 1960s, with James Bond and vintage Flash comics for context, the film has smart patter, a terrific mod-look credits animation and John Williams' most finger-snappin' score in decades. -Kim Newman.

Review Palm Pictures / Countryman [1983]
Actors & Directors
  • Countryman
  • Basil Keane
  • Carl Bradshaw
  • Hiram Keller
  • Freshey Richardson
  • Dickie Jobson
Release date: 2006-02-06
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.50

Review Countryman [1983] / Palm Pictures:

A contemporary Jamaican fable with a remarkable, out-of-nowhere hero, Countryman is the story of a Rastafarian fisherman, Countryman (credited to "Himself"), who rescues a marijuana-smuggling, American couple from an airplane crash. The good deed doesn't end there, however. An ambitious and power-hungry, emerging despot, Colonel Sinclair (Basil Keane), hypes the significance of the crash to impress political leaders, maintaining the smugglers are, in fact, enemy agents plotting against the government. Thus Countryman's new friends are in great danger, and he keeps them out of harm's way between smoking spliffs and putting up a preternaturally agile fight against Sinclair's weapons-wielding thugs. The film exudes an infectious, contact-high energy, and Countryman's gravity-defying stunts should please fans of similarly spectacular martial-arts movies such as Hero. The soundtrack to this 1982 movie features some of the greats of Jamaican reggae, including Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals, and Steel Pulse. -Tom Keogh.

Review Metrodome Distribution / Pretty Persuasion [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Ron Livingston
  • Jaime King
  • David Wagner
  • Marcos Siega
  • Evan Rachel Wood
  • Josh Zuckerman
Release date: 2006-10-09
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £1.07

Review Pretty Persuasion [2005] / Metrodome Distribution:


Review Yash Raj Films / Kal Ho Naa Ho [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Jaya Bachchan
  • Preity Zinta
  • Saif Ali Khan
  • Sushma Seth
  • Shahrukh Khan
Release date: 2004-02-09
Run time: 187 min.
RRP: £21.99
Price: £5.69

Review Kal Ho Naa Ho [2003] / Yash Raj Films:


Review Tla Releasing / The Trip [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Steve Braun
  • Larry Sullivan
  • Miles Swain
  • Jill St. John
  • Ray Baker
  • Sirena Irwin
Release date: 2005-12-05
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.41

Review The Trip [2002] / Tla Releasing:


Review Universal Studios / Deliver Us From Eva [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Gary Hardwick
  • LL Cool J
  • Matt Winston
  • Meagan Good
  • Duane Martin
  • Mel Jackson
Release date: 2003-06-17
Run time: 106 min.
Creator: Marcus Miller
Price: £3.91

Review Deliver Us From Eva [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:


Review Warner Home Video / Wildcats [1986] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Robyn Lively
  • Michael Ritchie
  • Brandy Gold
  • James Keach
  • Swoosie Kurtz
  • Goldie Hawn
Release date: 2006-07-11
Run time: 107 min.
Price: £3.97

Review Wildcats [1986] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Sony Pictures Home Ent. UK / Art School Confidential [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Sophia Myles
  • John Malkovich
  • Ezra Buzzington
  • Jim Broadbent
  • Max Minghella
  • Terry Zwigoff
Release date: 2007-01-15
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.98

Review Art School Confidential [2006] / Sony Pictures Home Ent. UK:

Bitter, misanthropic, yet sometimes blisteringly funny, Art School Confidential is not a movie for everyone. Jerome (Max Minghella, Bee Season) goes to art school in the hopes of having his genuine ability recognized and cherished-but instead, finds his teachers to be self-obsessed has-beens, his peers jaded and floundering, and himself being investigated for a series of gruesome stranglings. He becomes obsessed with a lovely student named Audrey (Sophia Myles, Tristan and Isolde), but she's more interested in hunky Jonah (Matt Keeslar, Splendor ), whose crude yet acclaimed paintings of cars and tanks make Jerome want to tear his own eyes out. The crime-thriller plot of Art School Confidential, however, is merely a contrivance to string together a series of caustic digs at the shallow, narcissistic, talentless hacks who go to art school in the vain hope of achieving fame, wealth, and sexual abundance with little or no effort. For most viewers, who want to think that people are largely well-intentioned and decent, this will seem snide and cruel; but for some viewers, who believe people are foolish and blinkered, Art School Confidential will seem like an oasis in the arid desert of lies and propaganda about the good side of human nature. If this is your movie, you know who you are, and I encourage you to seek it out as soon as possible. Directed by Terry Zwigoff (Bad Santa) and based on the work of cartoonist Dan Clowes; their previous collaboration was the much warmer Ghost World. Also featuring sharp turns from John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich), Anjelica Huston (Prizzi's Honor), and Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!). -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. com.

Review Lionsgate / What's Done in the Dark... [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Chandra Currelley-Young
  • D'Atra Hicks
  • Terrell Carter
  • Chantell D. Christopher
  • Tyler Perry
  • Ryan Gentles
Release date: 2008-02-12
Run time: 140 min.
Creator: Cassandra R. McKibben
Price: £7.60

Review What's Done in the Dark... [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Lionsgate:


Review Legend Films / Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Mireille Darc
  • Lando Buzzanca
  • Walter Chiari
  • Marie Dubois
  • Bourvil
Release date: 2008-06-03
Run time: 125 min.
Creator: Ron Goodwin
Price: £4.97

Review Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Legend Films:


Review Second Sight Films Ltd. / Major Barbara [1941]
Actors & Directors
  • Wendy Hiller; Deborah Kerr; Rex Harrison; Robert Morley
  • Gabriel Pascal; David Lean
Release date: 2007-08-06
Run time: 116 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £7.90

Review Major Barbara [1941] / Second Sight Films Ltd.:


Review Universal Pictures UK / The Quiet Man [1952]
Actors & Directors
  • Ward Bond
  • John Wayne
  • John Ford
  • Barry Fitzgerald
  • Maureen O'Hara
  • Victor McLaglen
Release date: 2001-01-15
Run time: 129 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £7.99

Review The Quiet Man [1952] / Universal Pictures UK:

Blarney and bliss, mixed in equal proportions. John Wayne plays an American boxer who returns to the Emerald Isle, his native land. What he finds there is a fiery prospective spouse (Maureen O'Hara) and a country greener than any Ireland seen before or since-it's no surprise The Quiet Man won an Oscar for cinematography. It also won an Oscar for John Ford's direction, his fourth such award. The film was a deeply personal project for Ford (whose birth name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna), and he lavished all of his affection for the Irish landscape and Irish people on this film. He also stages perhaps the greatest donnybrook in the history of movies, an epic fistfight between Wayne and the truculent Victor McLaglen-that's Ford's brother, Francis, as the elderly man on his deathbed who miraculously revives when he hears word of the dustup. Barry Fitzgerald, the original Irish elf, gets the movie's biggest laugh when he walks into the newlyweds' bedroom the morning after their wedding and spots a broken bed. The look on his face says everything. The Quiet Man isn't the real Ireland but as a delicious never-never land of Ford's imagination, it will do very nicely. -Robert Horton Blarney and bliss, mixed in equal proportions. [+]
John Wayne plays an American boxer who returns to the Emerald Isle, his native land. What he finds there is a fiery prospective spouse (Maureen O'Hara) and a country greener than any Ireland seen before or since-it's no surprise The Quiet Man won an Oscar for cinematography. It also won an Oscar for John Ford's direction, his fourth such award. The film was a deeply personal project for Ford (whose birth name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna), and he lavished all of his affection for the Irish landscape and Irish people on this film. He also stages perhaps the greatest donnybrook in the history of movies, an epic fistfight between Wayne and the truculent Victor McLaglen-that's Ford's brother, Francis, as the elderly man on his deathbed who miraculously revives when he hears word of the dustup. Barry Fitzgerald, the original Irish elf, gets the movie's biggest laugh when he walks into the newlyweds' bedroom the morning after their wedding, and spots a broken bed. The look on his face says everything. The Quiet Man isn't the real Ireland, but as a delicious never-never land of Ford's imagination, it will do very nicely. -Robert Horton.

Models & Brands:
Oh What A Lovely War: Special Edition [1969], Tango and Cash [1989] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Shameless - Series 4 - Complete [2006], Me And Mrs Jones [2001], Almost an Angel [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Buccaneers [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Aki Kaurismaki Collection Vol.2 [1994], Mile High - Complete Box Set [2003], Catch Me If You Can [2003], Countryman [1983], Pretty Persuasion [2005], Kal Ho Naa Ho [2003], The Trip [2002], Deliver Us From Eva [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Wildcats [1986] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Art School Confidential [2006], What's Done in the Dark... [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Major Barbara [1941], The Quiet Man [1952]

Top headlines:
Search 
DVD Rental: try it for free