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Review Pathe Distribution / Read My Lips [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Vincent Cassel
  • Emmanuelle Devos
  • Jacques Audiard
Release date: 2003-03-10
Run time: 113 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.98

Review Read My Lips [2002] / Pathe Distribution:

Workplace dramas seem to have become a French speciality, and Jacques Audiard's Read My Lips ("Sur mes levres") proves a worthy follow-up to such notable predecessors in the genre as Human Resources and Time Out ("L'Emploi du temps"). The film also nods towards Neil LaBute's In the Company of Men and Hitchcock's Rear Window, but it's none the worse for that. Carla, our anti-heroine (Emmanuelle Devos), is an ugly duckling working as a secretary for a construction company in suburban Paris. Dowdy and all-but deaf, she's exploited and put upon by her male coworkers. When her boss lets her hire an assistant she bizarrely chooses Paul (Vincent Cassel), a scruffy and none-too-bright ex-con. But an odd symbiosis grows up between this pair of losers; the combination of his petty-criminal skills and her lip-reading abilities has certain potentials. As A Self-Made Hero, his previous movie, showed, Audiard doesn't go in for lovable characters. Carla is no long-suffering saint and Paul is frankly sleazy, but this just makes their interaction all the more intriguing. Devos, glowering malevolently beneath her dark brows, and Cassel with his greasy hair and ratty moustache, turn in relishably truculent and un-starry performances, and Audiard deftly manages the transition from office comedy to gangland heist thriller with no grinding of gears. By the end the plot starts to strain belief, but it scarcely matters. [+]
The noir-ish lighting and potent use of hand-held close-ups enhance the film's sense of nervous unease, and there's ingenious use of sound to convey Carla's hearing-impaired world. Downbeat and unblinkingly amoral, Read My Lips offers pleasures that a glossier treatment would have missed entirely. On the DVD: Read My Lips has no extras on the disc beyond the trailer. But the transfer is clean and crisp, offering the full-width original ratio, and the Dolby sound captures the all-important subtleties of the soundtrack flawlessly. -Philip Kemp.

Review MPI Home Video / A Touch of Frost: Season 13 (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Arthur White
  • James McKenna
  • Tristan Maguire
  • Nigel Harrison
Release date: 2008-04-29
Run time: 105 min.
Creator: Lars MacFarlane
Price: £12.35

Review A Touch of Frost: Season 13 (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MPI Home Video:


Review Universal Pictures Video / The Chronicles of Riddick [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Judi Dench
  • David Twohy
  • Thandie Newton
  • Colm Feore
  • Vin Diesel
  • Karl Urban
Release date: 2005-01-03
Run time: 114 min.
Creator: Ken Wheat
RRP: £19.99
Price: £1.37

Review The Chronicles of Riddick [2004] / Universal Pictures Video:

Bigger isn't always better, but for anyone who enjoyed Pitch Black, a nominal sequel like The Chronicles of Riddick should prove adequately entertaining. Writer-director David Twohy returns with expansive sets, detailed costumes, an army of CGI effects artists, and the star he helped launch-Vin Diesel-bearing his franchise burden quite nicely as he reprises his title role. The Furian renegade Riddick has another bounty on his head, but when he escapes from his mercenary captors, he's plunged into an epic-scale war waged by the Necromongers. A fascist master race led by Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), they're determined to conquer all enemies in their quest for the Underverse, the appeal of which is largely unexplained (since Twohy is presumably reserving details for subsequent "chronicles"). With tissue-thin plotting, scant character development, and skimpy roles that waste the talents of Thandie Newton (as a Necromonger conspirator) and Judi Dench (as a wispy "Elemental" priestess), Twohy's back in the B-movie territory he started in (with The Arrival), brought to vivid life on a vast digital landscape with the conceptual allure of a lavish graphic novel. But does Riddick have leadership skills on his resumé? To get an answer to that question, sci-fi fans will welcome another sequel. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / In The Line Of Fire [1993]
Actors & Directors
  • Clint Eastwood
  • Wolfgang Petersen
  • Rene Russo
  • Dylan McDermott
  • John Malkovich
  • Gary Cole
Release date: 2002-02-18
Run time: 123 min.
Creator: Jeff Maguire
RRP: £19.99
Price: £1.98

Review In The Line Of Fire [1993] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

This smart, tautly directed thriller from Wolfgang Petersen is about the cat-and-mouse games between a Secret Service agent named Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) and the brilliant, psychopathic assassin (John Malkovich) who's itching to get the President in his cross hairs. In the Line of Fire's back-story-Horrigan is haunted by his inability to prevent John Kennedy's assassination (Eastwood is computer-generated into archival footage)-is more than a little hokey, but the plotting itself is smartly, even ingeniously, constructed. Petersen manages a vice-like grip on the tension and Eastwood even gets to deliver an ever-more-timely lecture on the diminished nature of the office of President. Eastwood's as gruff and as infuriating to the by-the-book Powers That Be as ever and Malkovich oozes delightful menace. Rene Russo capably co-stars as a colleague with whom Horrigan gets friendly. -David Kronke.

Review Warner Home Video / Young Adam [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Ewan McGregor
  • Jack McElhone
  • David Mackenzie
  • Tilda Swinton
  • Peter Mullan
  • Emily Mortimer
Release date: 2004-03-29
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Alexander Trocchi
RRP: £13.99
Price: £2.63

Review Young Adam [2003] / Warner Home Video:

David Mackenzie's Young Adam, based on Alexander Trocchi's existentialist novel, demonstrates that Ewan McGregor means what he says about using high-paying Hollywood roles to finance appearances in intelligent low-budget movies. As Joe, an aspiring 1950s writer whose alienated selfishness destroys everyone around him, he is quietly authoritative. Tilda Swinton and Emily Mortimer are hardly less good as the two women in his life, and Peter Mullen as Les, the older friend whom he betrays, is touching and macho in the same breath. Les's canal barge is as much of a character as any of the people-this is a film in which the characters' occupations matter. Similarly the 1950s period detail is stunning, as is the gloomy cinematography: the high relief shadows and occasional visual distortions give the film a real visual style of its own that works well with its literary subject matter. On the DVD: Young Adam is presented in 2. 35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5. 1 sound. Special features include an informative making-of featurette in which the cast members talk about their passionate commitment to the project, the theatrical trailer, an audio track of David Byrne's original score, and a sequence of Ewan McGregor narrative voice-overs that runs with stills on screen. -Roz Kaveney.

Review Playback / Columbo - Series 3 - Complete
Actors & Directors
  • Jackie Cooper
  • Robert Butler
  • Jeannot Szwarc
  • Richard Quine
  • Robert Culp
  • Donald Pleasence
  • Peter Falk
  • Vera Miles
  • Boris Sagal
  • Leo Penn
Release date: 2005-11-14
Run time: 657 min.
RRP: £28.99
Price: £13.57

Review Columbo - Series 3 - Complete / Playback:

Oh, just one more thing, mystery mavens-get ready to be mystified and entertained by the award-winning third season of Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled but unbeatable Lieutenant. Having taken home Emmys for outstanding limited drama and lead actor in its '71-'72 debut season, Columbo was again named best drama for its third season ('73-'74). The reason for the repeat success? The formula remained the same: intelligent, engaging scripts and direction, guest performances by top actors, and, of course, Falk at center stage as Columbo, the most unlikely of supersleuths, but unquestionably one of the sharpest (the role would later earn Falk three more Emmys between 1975 and 1990). The 10 episodes compiled in this two-disc set again feature top talent from film and television: directors include veterans Jeannot Swarc and Boris Sagal, as well as actors Nicholas Colasanto (better known as Coach from Cheers) and Ben Gazzara (Falk's frequent co-star in the films of John Cassavetes), while the season's scripts feature contributions from Stephen J. Cannell, Steven Bochco, and Larry Cohen. And in regard to co-stars, Falk matched wits with the likes of Donald Pleasance, Martin Sheen, Vincent Price, Robert Culp (in one of four turns on the series), Jose Ferrer, Ida Lupino, and in two novel but effective casting choices, Johnny Cash and hard-boiled mystery scribe Mickey Spillane. And there's even a bonus feature in the form of an episode of the spinoff series Mrs. Columbo, starring Kate Mulgrew as the Lieutenant's oft-mentioned better half. In short, it's 11 hours of solid sleuthing for armchair detectives. -Paul Gaita, Amazon. [+]
com.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Courage Under Fire [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Meg Ryan
  • Edward Zwick
  • Michael Moriarty
  • Denzel Washington
  • Lou Diamond Phillips
  • Matt Damon
Release date: 2004-06-07
Run time: 112 min.
Creator: Patrick Sheane Duncan
RRP: £12.99
Price: £1.37

Review Courage Under Fire [1996] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / Stephen King's Storm Of The Century [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Debrah Farentino
  • Timothy Daly
  • Colm Feore
  • Craig R. Baxley
  • Casey Siemaszko
  • Jeffrey DeMunn
Release date: 2006-09-04
Run time: 255 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £32.58

Review Stephen King's Storm Of The Century [1999] / Warner Home Video:


Actors & Directors
  • Michael Keaton
  • Tim Burton
  • Jack Palance
  • Tracey Walter
  • Kim Basinger
  • Jack Nicholson
Release date: 2008-12-22
Run time: 121 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review Batman [Blu-ray] [1989] / Warner Home Video:


Review Fremantle Media / Spellbound [1945]
Actors & Directors
  • Leo G. Carroll
  • Rhonda Fleming
  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Michael Chekhov
  • Ingrid Bergman
  • Gregory Peck
Release date: 2007-10-15
Run time: 97 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £4.24

Review Spellbound [1945] / Fremantle Media:


Review Odyssey Video / Scum [1979] (Ray Winstone)
Actors & Directors
  • Mick Ford
  • Ray Winstone
  • Julian Firth
  • John Blundell
  • Phil Daniels
  • Alan Clarke
Release date: 2003-02-24
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.00

Review Scum [1979] (Ray Winstone) / Odyssey Video:


Review Universal Studios / House: Season Four (REGION 1)
Release date: 2008-08-19
Run time: 660 min.
Creator: David Shore
Price: £26.54

Review House: Season Four (REGION 1) / Universal Studios:


Review Warner Home Video / Space Cowboys [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Donald Sutherland
  • Clint Eastwood
  • Tommy Lee Jones
  • James Cromwell
  • James Garner
  • Clint Eastwood
Release date: 2001-05-14
Run time: 125 min.
Creator: Ken Kaufman
RRP: £13.99
Price: £1.99

Review Space Cowboys [2000] / Warner Home Video:

Space Cowboys is a slice of cornball Americana that's so much fun you'll be tempted to stand up and salute. Director and co-star Clint Eastwood manages to turn what might have been ludicrous into a jubilant tribute to age and experience, and Space Cowboys succeeds as two movies in one-a comedy about retired pilots given one last shot at glory and an Apollo 13-like thriller with all the requisite heroics. With a dream cast of Hollywood vets playing old farts described in tabloids as "The Ripe Stuff", the movie jumps from a 1958 prologue (establishing their lost bid for space travel) to 40-plus years later, when the retired Air Force aces (Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones) volunteer to rescue a falling Russian satellite that only Eastwood's character can repair. It turns out that Russkie bird is a Cold War leftover equipped with live nuclear warheads, and the movie revs up to a rousing climax in which our heroes prove their mettle. But first the comedy: watching these codgers struggle to pass NASA's physical tests is a total hoot, with running gags about wrinkles, dentures, and oysters for sagging libidos. (Sutherland is the scene-stealer, but they're all having a blast. ) Once in space, the movie gets down to business, and the visual-effects wizards at Industrial Light and Magic provide stunning vistas from Earth's orbit; a shot looking down at the boot of Italy is particularly beautiful. A sub-plot involving a weasely NASA administrator (James Cromwell) is rather perfunctory, but it hardly matters. Space Cowboys earns its wings, once again demonstrating Eastwood's comfort with any genre he chooses. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. [+]
com On the DVD: Even though it boasts no sub-title like "Special Edition," this DVD has some of the nicest extras you'll want to see. There's nearly an hour of behind-the-footage material, all of it superior made-for-cable featurettes so often included on DVDs. The technicians divulge little tricks of the trade, revealing more computer effects in the film than you think. Longtime Eastwood editor Joel Cox provides insight into the director's work routine. The highlight, though, is an extended version of the four principle's appearance on The Tonight Show with Leno providing some interesting comments on how he chooses what films will "appear" on his show. -Doug Thomas, Amazon. com.

Review Universal Pictures UK / The Hitcher [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Neal McDonough
  • Travis Schuldt
  • Skip O'Brien
  • Sean Bean
  • Dave Meyers
  • Sophia Bush
Release date: 2007-10-01
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.94

Review The Hitcher [2007] / Universal Pictures UK:

20 years is a long time in the lifeline of movie plot-arc necessities. It's also a pretty big generational stretch in the lives of audience demographics, which may be part of the reason the producers of this remake of the 1986 cult horror classic felt the need to update the original spare mano-a-mano backbone into a girl-and-mano-a-mano. The Twilight Zone-ish setup is still a pretty neat idea: regular guy on a lonely highway picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be a psychopathic killer with some very unsettling supernatural might. Fans of the original could hardly hope for a demon villain with such creepy charisma as Rutger Hauer. But Sean Bean makes a respectable replacement, with his understated stare and stewing rage that brings a new brand of hair-raising devilry to the role of hitcher John Ryder. The lone "good guy" originated by a boyish C. Thomas Howell has been upgraded to a lovesick couple. In a twisty touch, Jim (Zachary Knighton) and Grace (Sophia Bush, of One Tree Hill fame) trade gender roles, with Jim turning wimpy and feminine and Grace becoming a shotgun-toting testoster-ette. The body count's a little higher and the gore factor increased by the power of 20 (years), but some of the original film's set pieces remain much the same- body-snapping case in point being an 18-wheeler being put to use as a old-fashioned torture rack. While the original might have placed a bit more emphasis on the philosophical and existential elements of evil passing from soul to soul, it wasn't exactly an intellectual thrill ride. [+]
Likewise, 2007's The Hitcher is no art film, and it can't be faulted for choosing fright and might for audiences that are always looking for bigger and more elaborate splats for their horror entertainment buck. And if you stick out your thumb for this one, expect plenty of splat. -Ted Fry.

Review FUNimation Entertainment / DragonBall Z: Season Four (REGION 1)(NTSC) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Sean Schemmel
  • Eric Vale
  • Daisuke Nishio
  • Chuck Huber
  • Chris R Sabat
  • Meredith McCoy
Release date: 2008-02-19
Run time: 800 min.
Price: £21.61

Review DragonBall Z: Season Four (REGION 1)(NTSC) (NTSC) / FUNimation Entertainment:


Review Verve Pictures / Red Road [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Tony Curran
  • Natalie Press
  • Martin Compston
  • Kate Dickie
  • Andrea Arnold
Release date: 2007-02-19
Run time: 110 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.28

Review Red Road [2006] / Verve Pictures:


Review 4dvd / Gangster No.1 [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Paul Bettany
  • Kenneth Cranham
  • Saffron Burrows
  • David Thewlis
  • Paul McGuigan
  • Malcolm McDowell
Release date: 2008-03-17
Run time: 99 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.56

Review Gangster No.1 [2000] / 4dvd:


Review ITV DVD / A Touch of Frost: Series 6 [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • David Jason
  • Alan Dossor
  • Cheryl Campbell
  • Sandy Johnson
  • Adrian Shergold
  • Robert Knights
  • David Reynolds
Release date: 2004-09-06
Run time: 405 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £5.75

Review A Touch of Frost: Series 6 [2003] / ITV DVD:


Review Vision Video Ltd. / Session 9 [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Mullan
  • Brad Anderson
  • David Caruso
  • Paul Guilfoyle
  • Josh Lucas
  • Stephen Gevedon
Release date: 2003-02-17
Run time: 96 min.
Creator: Michael Williams
RRP: £15.99
Price: £4.29

Review Session 9 [2001] / Vision Video Ltd.:

Few things are more sure-fire creepy than huge abandoned buildings, and Session 9 has one of the eeriest buildings you've ever seen. A hazardous-materials-cleanup company has been hired to eliminate asbestos tiles and other toxic material from a gigantic mental hospital that had been shut down in the 1980s. But as one member of the team starts to nose into old files in the office, he uncovers a series of tape recordings of psychiatric sessions-nine of them-related to a notorious sexual abuse case. Soon, toxic materials and dark spirits start to merge. Like The Blair Witch Project (and most horror movies, really), Session 9 is longer on atmosphere and dream logic than story-but the atmosphere is effectively unsettling. A strong cast (including Peter Mullan, David Caruso, and Brendan Sexton III) do an effective job of slowly cracking under stress and evil influences. -Bret Fetzer.

Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Seven Days To Noon [1950]
Actors & Directors
  • Barry Jones
  • Roy Boulting
  • Audre Morell
  • Hugh Cross
  • John Boulting
Release date: 2008-07-14
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.17

Review Seven Days To Noon [1950] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Browse Crime, Thrillers & Mystery:

Models & Brands:
Read My Lips [2002], A Touch of Frost: Season 13 (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Chronicles of Riddick [2004], In The Line Of Fire [1993], Young Adam [2003], Columbo - Series 3 - Complete, Courage Under Fire [1996], Stephen King's Storm Of The Century [1999], Batman [Blu-ray] [1989], Spellbound [1945], Scum [1979] (Ray Winstone), House: Season Four (REGION 1), Space Cowboys [2000], The Hitcher [2007], DragonBall Z: Season Four (REGION 1)(NTSC) (NTSC), Red Road [2006], Gangster No.1 [2000], A Touch of Frost: Series 6 [2003], Session 9 [2001], Seven Days To Noon [1950]

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