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Review Prism Leisure / Hurly Burly [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Garry Shandling
  • Anthony Drazan
  • Sean Penn
  • Chazz Palminteri
  • Kevin Spacey
  • Robin Wright Penn
Release date: 2002-10-14
Run time: 117 min.
Creator: David Rabe
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.99

Review Hurly Burly [2000] / Prism Leisure:


Review Cinema Club / East Is East [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Om Puri
  • Emil Marwa
  • Linda Bassett
  • Jordan Routledge
  • Damien O'Donnell
  • Archie Panjabi
Release date: 2002-01-14
Run time: 92 min.
Creator: Ayub Khan-Din
RRP: £5.99
Price: £8.71

Review East Is East [1999] / Cinema Club:

A surprise hit internationally, Damien O'Donnell's feature debut is a warm, richly funny portrait of the cultural and emotional collisions of a multiracial family in 1971 Salford, where curry meets fish-and-chips and the threat of a spacehopper lurks around every corner. Adapted by Ayub Khan-Din from his own stage play, the film centres on Pakistani immigrant George Khan (huge Bollywood star Om Puri) still deeply attached to the moral and political mores of his homeland, but married to Englishwoman Ella (Linda Bassett). Despite her protestations, Khan is adamant their six sons and daughter, raised to respect traditional Muslim values, must enter into arranged marriages. Meanwhile, the children are more intent on pursuing the secret pleasures of interracial dating, bacon sandwiches and midnight forays to the nearest club. O'Donnell's direction fully exploits the often bawdy humour in the family's everyday struggles, while bringing an unexpected emotional punch to the scenes of violent confrontation which erupt as Khan becomes ever more dictatorial. The film also maintains comic momentum and dramatic intensity throughout thanks to excellent performances by Puri, Bassett and the remaining cast, including soap stars Chris Bisson (Coronation Street) and Jimi Mistry (EastEnders). Against a backdrop of 1970s pop culture, the many highlights include an oversexed dog and a giant sculpted pudenda.

Review Umbrella Entertainment / Black Orpheus
Actors & Directors
  • Léa Garcia
  • Marpessa Dawn
  • Breno Mello
  • Marcel Camus
  • Lourdes de Oliveira
  • Marcel Camus
Release date: 2004-04-21
Run time: 107 min.
Creator: Vinicius de Moraes
RRP: £10.60
Price: £3.54

Review Black Orpheus / Umbrella Entertainment:

Marcel Camus's 1959 update of the Greek myth features an all-black cast and a story set in the frenetic energy of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Orpheus, a trolley car conductor and superb samba dancer, is engaged to Mira but in love with Eurydice. For his change of heart, Orpheus and his new doomed lover are pursued by a vengeful Mira and a determined Death through the feverish Carnival night. Camus at once demystifies and remystifies the old story, shifting not only its location but its tone and context, forcing a re-evaluation of the legend as a more passionate, pulsing, sensual experience. The film is really one-of-a-kind, an absolute whirl that barely needs words. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Review Universal Studios / Isn't She Great [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • David Hyde Pierce
  • Bette Midler
  • John Cleese
  • Nathan Lane
  • Andrew Bergman
  • Stockard Channing
Release date: 2000-07-18
Run time: 96 min.
Price: £3.01

Review Isn't She Great [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:


Review ITV DVD / Cold Feet - Series 3 [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Jon Jones
  • James Nesbitt
  • Hermione Norris
  • Helen Baxendale
  • Tim Whitby
  • Fay Ripley
  • John Thomson
  • Simon Delaney
Release date: 2006-03-20
Run time: 383 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £16.95

Review Cold Feet - Series 3 [2000] / ITV DVD:


Review Boulevard Entertaiment / Earth Girls are Easy [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Jim Carrey
  • Damon Wayans
  • Julie Brown
  • Geena Davis
  • Jeff Goldblum
Release date: 2007-05-15
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: £3.99
Price: £2.57

Review Earth Girls are Easy [2007] / Boulevard Entertaiment:


Actors & Directors
  • Angela Lansbury
  • Anthony Page
  • Cybill Shepherd
  • Arthur Lowe
  • Elliott Gould
  • Herbert Lom
Run time: 96 min.
Creator: Sidney Gilliat
RRP: £5.99
Price: £10.74

Review The Lady Vanishes [1979] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review New Line Home Video / For Roseanna [1997] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Mark Frankel
  • Polly Walker
  • Paul Weiland
  • Trevor Peacock
  • Jean Reno
  • Mercedes Ruehl
Release date: 2005-06-14
Run time: 98 min.
Creator: Miles Donnelly
Price: £5.99

Review For Roseanna [1997] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / New Line Home Video:


Review Entertainment in Video / Knockaround Guys [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Vin Diesel
  • Dennis Hopper
  • David Levien
  • Jennifer Baxter
  • Barry Pepper
  • Brian Koppelman
  • Andy Davoli
Release date: 2003-05-26
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Julie Kirkham
RRP: £19.99
Price: £9.99

Review Knockaround Guys [2001] / Entertainment in Video:


Review Millivres Multimedia / Chutney Popcorn [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Sakina Jaffrey
  • Nisha Ganatra
  • Madhur Jaffrey
  • Nisha Ganatra
  • Jill Hennessy
  • Nick Chinlund
Release date: 2002-10-21
Run time: 90 min.
Creator: Susan Carnival
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.00

Review Chutney Popcorn [1999] / Millivres Multimedia:

Chutney Popcorn is an amusing exploration of surrogate motherhood that never lets cross-cultural or lesbian issues overrun what is essentially a family drama. Nisha Ganatra directs, writes and takes the lead role as Reena, a New York artist and lesbian with Indian roots that include an over-indulgent mother and newlywed perfect sister, Sarita. On finding that Sarita is infertile, Reena proposes becoming a surrogate mother, not just to help out her sister but to prove to her mother that she is capable of living up to the traditional values of womanhood. The pregnancy puts obvious strain on Sarita's marriage and she begins to distance herself from Reena and the unborn baby. At the same time, Reena's live-in girlfriend Lisa (Jill Hennessy) has commitment issues; babies never being part of her life equation. For her first feature film, Ganatra shows much promise with her ability to blend the various issues at the film's heart without becoming over-sentimental about them. Madhur Jaffrey offers a surprisingly sparky comic turn as the doting mother trying to hold on to the values of her homeland. The script is loaded towards the inevitable happy ending, which feels far too easy and upbeat, leaving the audience with unanswered questions about the future of the child. Despite such reservations, Chutney Popcorn is a spicy look into the alternative family that's more substantial than just a simple side dish. -Nikki Disney.

Review Buena Vista / Life Is Beautiful [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Giustino Durano
  • Roberto Benigni
  • Sergio Bini Bustric
  • Giorgio Cantarini
  • Nicoletta Braschi
  • Roberto Benigni
Run time: 111 min.
Creator: Vincenzo Cerami
RRP: £10.60
Price: £19.99

Review Life Is Beautiful [1999] / Buena Vista:

Italy's rubber-faced funnyman Roberto Benigni accomplishes the impossible in his World War II comedy Life Is Beautiful: he shapes a simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy out of the tragedy of the Holocaust. An international sensation and the most successful foreign language film in US history, the picture also earned director-cowriter-star Benigni Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor. He plays the Jewish country boy Guido, a madcap romantic in Mussolini's Italy who wins the heart of his sweetheart (Benigni's real-life sweetie, Nicoletta Braschi) and raises a darling son (the adorable Giorgio Cantarini) in the shadow of fascism. When the Nazis ship the men off to a concentration camp in the waning days of the war, Guido is determined to shelter his son from the evils around them and convinces him they're in an elaborate contest to win (of all things) a tank. Guido tirelessly maintains the ruse with comic ingenuity, even as the horrors escalate and the camp's population continues to dwindle-all the more impetus to keep his son safe, secure and, most of all, hidden. Benigni walks a fine line mining comedy from tragedy and his efforts are pure fantasy-he accomplishes feats no man could realistically pull off-both of which have drawn fire from a few critics. Yet for all its wacky humour and inventive gags, Life Is Beautiful is a moving and poignant tale of one father's sacrifice to save not just his young son's life but his innocence in the face of one of the most evil acts ever perpetrated by the human race. -Sean Axmaker.

Review Warner Home Video / The Super/With Honors (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Moira Kelly
  • Joe Pesci
  • Rod Daniel
  • Vincent Gardenia
  • Alek Keshishian
  • Patrick Dempsey
  • Brendan Fraser
Release date: 2006-08-22
Run time: 187 min.
Creator: William Mastrosimone
Price: £5.98

Review The Super/With Honors (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Entertainment in Video / The Tao Of Steve [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • John Hines
  • Ayelet Kaznelson
  • Jenniphr Goodman
  • Donal Logue
  • Jessica Gormley
  • John Harrington Bland
Release date: 2001-08-13
Run time: 87 min.
Creator: Duncan North
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.98

Review The Tao Of Steve [2001] / Entertainment in Video:

The Tao of Steve is an American indie take on the slacker lothario and falls into the old familiar story: eternally adolescent man meets grown-up woman and is forced to face up to a life in which he has never taken an emotional risk or a life-changing plunge. In his college days, Dex (Donal Logue) was a slim, cool, smooth-talking ladies' man. A decade later, he's an overweight, underachieving kindergarten teacher, but he's honed his pick-up technique into a fine art-a mix of zen, tough-guy cool, and college philosophy he and his buddies call "the Tao of Steve", named after the manly triad of Steve Austin (aka the Six Million Dollar Man), Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord's unflappable cop on Hawaii Five-0), and the king of all Steves: Steve McQueen. Santa Fe is populated with his one-night stands, but then he runs into Syd (Greer Goodman), a smart, sexy ex-classmate with an arsenal of sharp retorts, at a college reunion. Logue's easy charm and low-key confidence makes Dex an easy guy to like, and director Jenniphr Goodman (who co-wrote the script with Greer, her sister and star of the film) invests his lifestyle of leisure (mostly guys chatting about girls and trading pop culture references) with an offhanded naturalness. But neither is she oblivious to the holding pattern his life has taken. Sure, there's inevitability to this shaggy romance, but there's an undeniable pleasure in seeing the change in landscape of a familiar road. -Sean Axmaker, Amazon. com.

Review Warner Home Video / Brother Orchid [1940] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Granville Bates
  • Harlan Briggs
  • Ralph Bellamy
  • Joan Blondell
  • Lloyd Bacon
  • Humphrey Bogart
Release date: 2008-03-25
Run time: 87 min.
Creator: Heinz Roemheld
Price: £8.90

Review Brother Orchid [1940] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Warner Home Video / Camelot [1967]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Harris
  • Franco Nero
  • David Hemmings
  • Lionel Jeffries
  • Joshua Logan
  • Vanessa Redgrave
Release date: 2000-03-27
Run time: 175 min.
Creator: T.H. White
Price: £10.99

Review Camelot [1967] / Warner Home Video:

Joshua Logan's 1967 film of the hit Broadway musical about the love triangle between King Arthur (Richard Harris), Guenevere (Vanessa Redgrave), and Sir Lancelot (Franco Nero) is strong on star emphasis and weak on such fundamentals as story and sets. Except for a handful of solidly dramatic scenes-such as Guenevere grieving, late in the film, for the ruination she and Lancelot have caused-there's not a lot to get excited about. (The story's theme of a lost, great society, however, certainly struck a chord in the 1960s. )The Lerner-Loewe songs ("If Ever I Would Leave You", "Camelot") pretty much sell themselves, even if they are, at best, only proficiently performed in this movie. -Tom Keogh.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Cold Feet: Complete Series 1-5
Actors & Directors
  • Declan Lowney
  • Simon Delaney
  • Helen Baxendale
  • Jon Jones
  • Mark Mylod
  • James Nesbitt
  • Nigel Cole
  • Fay Ripley
  • Hermione Norris
  • John Thomson
Release date: 2003-11-10
Run time: 999 min.
RRP: £49.99
Price: £89.99

Review Cold Feet: Complete Series 1-5 / 2 Entertain Video:

Before Cold Feet, there was sitcom and there was drama. This 1997 newcomer straddled both worlds effortlessly and single-handedly seemed to create a new genre. The programme introduced three Manchester couples at different stages of the relationship development continuum: Adam and Rachel, in the early throws of new-found love; Pete and Jenny, making their first foray into parenthood; and David and Karen, the immediately recognisable modern-day parents. Over the course of five series, creator Mike Bullen drags these hugely appealing characters through virtually the entire range of emotions, using intense and often sensitive storylines but never forgetting that Cold Feet is also a comedy: one of Bullen's greatest triumphs is in making events from everyday life appear totally familiar yet achingly funny. James Nesbitt all but steals the show with his highly accomplished portrayal of Adam Williams, the laddish, loveable rogue, ever ready with a witty remark, blunt observation or hilarious put-down. His stop-start relationship with the lovely Rachel (Helen Baxendale) settles into married bliss in Series 3 … for a time. The culmination of their relationship in the final series is an absolute heartbreaker. Adam's best mate Pete (John Thomson) is a genuine, down-to-earth guy, usually down on his luck. Thomson excels in his role as he stumbles through fatherhood, careers into an affair, then struggles with a long-drawn out separation from childhood sweetheart Jenny (Faye Ripley at her brilliant best). In true Pete style, he reaches rock bottom before Aussie stunner Jo (Kimberley Joseph) walks into his life with the tantalising offer of true happiness. [+]
In the third household, David and Karen have possibly the most turbulent relationship. Hermione Norris as Karen is the long-suffering wife of a snobbish middle manager (Robert Bathhurst), delivering a particularly powerful performance in the fourth series as her world crumbles around her. From Series 1 until the end, husband and wife are torn between their comfortable home and family life on one hand and their search for extra-marital excitement on the other-a fascinating, comical and sometimes brutal take on modern matrimony. By the end of the fifth series, the protagonists have each gone though several lifetimes' worth of emotion, but the conclusion doesn't seek to tie up the numerous loose ends; life just isn't like that. Soaring above the inevitable difficulties in ending such a popular, long-running comedy-drama, the final episodes provide a memorable and fitting finale. -David Thwaites.

Review Warner Home Video / P.S. I Love You [Blu-ray] [2008] [US Import] [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Gina Gershon
  • Lisa Kudrow
  • Richard LaGravenese
  • Kathy Bates
  • Anne Kent
  • Michael Countryman
Release date: 2008-05-06
Run time: 127 min.
Creator: Brett Weymark
Price: £19.55

Review P.S. I Love You [Blu-ray] [2008] [US Import] [2007] / Warner Home Video:

Based on the best-selling novel from Cecelia Ahern, P. S. I Love You is far more than the standard chick flick that it may first appear to be. Relocating the novel from Ireland to America, multiple Oscar-winner Hilary Swank stars as the young woman who has recently lost her husband. And yet amidst her grief, she discovers a series of letters that he's written to help. These letters give her certain things she has to do, to help her move on with her life. It's not a completely clean adaptation of the book, and yet P. S. I Love You has more than enough in its tank to qualify as a good, quality bona fide weepy. Swank in particular is a terrific actress, and delivers another worthy performance here. [+]
Credit too to Gerard Butler (Phantom Of The Opera, 300) for his work as her late husband. The film does have a few problems. It meanders a little, and its running time could use a little pruning. Yet nonetheless P. S. I Love You is a well made, engaging drama, and likely to be responsible for a fair bit of blubbing among its target audience by the time the credits roll. Worth a look. -Jon Foster.

Review Odyssey Video / The Romantic Englishwoman [1975]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Caine
  • Michael Lonsdale
  • Joseph Losey
  • Glenda Jackson
  • Béatrice Romand
  • Helmut Berger
Release date: 2004-07-19
Run time: 111 min.
Creator: Tom Stoppard
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.99

Review The Romantic Englishwoman [1975] / Odyssey Video:


Review Miramax / The Advocate [1994] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Donald Pleasence
  • Colin Firth
  • Amina Annabi
  • Leslie Megahey
  • Ian Holm
  • Jim Carter
Release date: 2003-07-01
Run time: 102 min.
Creator: Michael Wearing
Price: £3.51

Review The Advocate [1994] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Miramax:


Review Arrow Films / Cinema Paradiso - The Director's Cut [1989]
Actors & Directors
  • Philippe Noiret
  • Giuseppe Tornatore
  • Antonella Attili
  • Enzo Cannavale
  • Leo Gullotta
  • Isa Danieli
Release date: 2001-05-21
Run time: 170 min.
Creator: Vanna Paoli
RRP: £12.99
Price: £13.82

Review Cinema Paradiso - The Director's Cut [1989] / Arrow Films:

Giuseppe Tornatore's beautiful 1988 film about a little boy's love affair with the movies deservedly won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Philippe Noiret plays a grizzled old projectionist who takes pride in his presentation of screen dreams for a town still recovering from World War II. When a child (Jacques Perrin) demonstrates fascination not only for movies but also for the process of showing them to an audience, a lifelong friendship is struck. This isn't just one of those films for people who are already in love with the cinema. But if you are one of those folks, the emotional resonance between the action in Tornatore's world and the images on Noiret's screen will seem all the greater-and the finale all the more powerful. -Tom Keogh.

Models & Brands:
Hurly Burly [2000], East Is East [1999], Black Orpheus, Isn't She Great [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Cold Feet - Series 3 [2000], Earth Girls are Easy [2007], The Lady Vanishes [1979], For Roseanna [1997] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Knockaround Guys [2001], Chutney Popcorn [1999], Life Is Beautiful [1999], The Super/With Honors (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Tao Of Steve [2001], Brother Orchid [1940] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Camelot [1967], Cold Feet: Complete Series 1-5, P.S. I Love You [Blu-ray] [2008] [US Import] [2007], The Romantic Englishwoman [1975], The Advocate [1994] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Cinema Paradiso - The Director's Cut [1989]

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