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Review 20th Century Fox / The Boondock Saints [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Billy Connolly
  • David Della Rocco
  • Willem Dafoe
  • Troy Duffy
  • Sean Patrick Flanery
  • Norman Reedus
Release date: 2002-05-21
Run time: 110 min.
Creator: Lloyd Segan
Price: £6.46

Review The Boondock Saints [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:

With the advent of satellite broadcasting resurrecting the art of the TV movie, films like the invigorating The Boondock Saints are becoming more frequent. Made for Sky, the movie eschews big-screen production values but is still good value for money. Although the story of two Irish-American brothers who set out on a believed divine mission to wipe out the worst of the criminal element of Boston at times seems like an imitation of the superb Dogma, both films were actually made in the same year. The film is not without its faults, notably the poor performances of Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the two brothers-both of whom adopt ludicrous Irish accents. Far better is Willem Dafoe, who steals the show as FBI agent Smecker, and the manic David Della Rocco. Still, The Boondock Saints is highly watchable and keeps the viewer interested throughout with a strong story, frequent black humour and arresting visuals. And there aren't many places where you will come across Billy Connolly as a Mafia contract killer. -Phil Udell.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Planet Of The Apes - The Television Series [1974]
Actors & Directors
  • Roddy McDowall
  • James Naughton
  • Ron Stein
  • Ron Harper
  • Mark Lenard
Release date: 2003-08-18
Run time: 700 min.
Creator: Jim Byrnes
RRP: £24.99
Price: £21.03

Review Planet Of The Apes - The Television Series [1974] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Set around a dozen years after the 1967 Charlton Heston-starring Oscar winner of the same name, this Planet of the Apes is a 1974 TV spin-off that attempts to recapture the appeal of the original apes films. A second spaceship arrives on the planet, the basic plot being the same as in 67, as two surviving humans go on the run with a renegade chimpanzee, Galen (Roddy McDowell essentially reprising his Cornelius character under another name). The actor provides the strongest lead, while Booth Colman as Zaius (replacing Maurice Evans from the original film), offers fine support. The humans Ron Harper and James Naughton are relatively bland, a buddy duo very much anticipating Starsky and Hutch, while the stories, in which our heroes have a new adventure each week and then move on, fall very much into the formula that dominated earlier shows such as The Fugitive, Star Trek and Alias Smith and Jones. This is a post-apocalyptic world where everyone has perfect hair and make-up. But if the action and effects are limited, at least that gives the stories room to concentrate on some moral debates about the nature of human violence. A show finally hamstrung by the tight limitations of its formula, Planet of the Apes: The Television Series lasted only 14 episodes and was cancelled so abruptly it lacks any resolution. Nevertheless its reappearance offers a welcome chance to reassess it in context with the classic movies it apes. On the DVD: Planet of the Apes: The Television Series is presented on four discs, including all 14 episodes. The sound is good mono and the 4:3 colour picture is excellent considering the show's age. [+]
Print damage is minor though occasionally quite noticeable, and there is some fading in a few shots. Otherwise this is the best these shows have ever looked. The only extras are trailers for the movie box set and for Tim Burton's 2001 cinema "reimagining". -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Universal Studios / Heroes: Season 2 (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Sendhil Ramamurthy
  • Jack Coleman
  • James Kyson Lee
  • Hayden Panettiere
  • Masi Oka
Release date: 2008-08-26
Run time: 45 min.
Creator: Tim Kring
Price: £20.65

Review Heroes: Season 2 (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:


Review High Fliers / Shoot on Sight [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Om Puri
  • Brian Cox
  • Jag Mundhra
  • Sadie Frost
  • Naseeruddin Shah
Release date: 2008-12-29
Run time: 105 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £11.93

Review Shoot on Sight [2007] / High Fliers:


Review Ilc Prime / The Panic In Needle Park [1971]
Actors & Directors
  • Kitty Winn
  • Jerry Schatzberg
  • Richard Bright
  • Kiel Martin
  • Alan Vint
  • Al Pacino
Release date: 2002-09-30
Run time: 105 min.
Creator: John Gregory Dunne
RRP: £15.99
Price: £4.99

Review The Panic In Needle Park [1971] / Ilc Prime:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Narrow Margin [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • M. Emmet Walsh
  • James B. Sikking
  • J.T. Walsh
  • Gene Hackman
  • Anne Archer
  • Peter Hyams
Release date: 2007-02-12
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.16

Review Narrow Margin [1990] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Killing Zoe [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Julie Delpy
  • Gary Kemp
  • Eric Stoltz
  • Jean-Hugues Anglade
  • Kario Salem
  • Roger Avary
Release date: 2004-08-16
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £0.99

Review Killing Zoe [1994] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Tla Releasing / Third Man Out
Release date: 2008-02-04
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £8.96

Review Third Man Out / Tla Releasing:


Review ITV DVD / Inspector Morse - Disc 27 And 28 - Day Of The Devil / Twilight Of The Gods [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Kevin Whately
  • Peter Woodthorpe
  • James Grout
  • John Thaw
  • Colin Dexter
Release date: 2002-09-09
Run time: 208 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £2.49

Review Inspector Morse - Disc 27 And 28 - Day Of The Devil / Twilight Of The Gods [1987] / ITV DVD:

When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world-and with his colleagues in the police force-most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred-more deeply than he would ever admit-by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. [+]
It's a testament to Kevin Whately's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter said he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! -Piers Ford.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Starsky And Hutch - Series 3 - Complete [1977]
Actors & Directors
  • Paul Michael Glaser
  • Bernie Hamilton
  • David Soul
  • Antonio Fargas
Release date: 2005-02-28
RRP: £34.99
Price: £10.35

Review Starsky And Hutch - Series 3 - Complete [1977] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:


Review ITV DVD / Agatha Christie : Miss Marple - A Murder Is Announced
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Pugh
  • Geraldine McEwan
  • Cherie Lunghi
  • Keeley Hawes
  • Christian Coulson
  • John Strickland
Release date: 2006-03-20
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £1.42

Review Agatha Christie : Miss Marple - A Murder Is Announced / ITV DVD:


Review Eros International / Dil Se [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Preity Zinta
  • Mani Ratnam
  • Manisha Koirala
  • Shahrukh Khan
  • Raghuvir Yadav
  • Sabyasachi Chakravarthy
Release date: 2003-03-24
Run time: 160 min.
Creator: Tigmanshu Dhulia
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.60

Review Dil Se [1998] / Eros International:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Red Dragon - 2 disc edition [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Brett Ratner
  • Anthony Hopkins
  • Ralph Fien
Release date: 2003-05-19
Run time: 119 min.
RRP: £22.99
Price: £8.99

Review Red Dragon - 2 disc edition [2002] / Universal Pictures UK:

Anthony Hopkins returns as Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon, a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs and a remake of 1986's Manhunter, Michael Mann's fine film of Thomas Harris's terrific book, in which Brian Cox carved the ham thinner as a more menacing, less hokey cannibal. This film beefs up Lecter's role, opening with a prologue that finds him annoyed by a sour note in his favourite symphony orchestra and then serving the offending flautist at a dinner party before FBI profiler Will Graham (Edward Norton) drops by to apprehend him. Then, we pick up with Lecter in his asylum cell and Graham retired with trauma, only to be brought back together by the crimes of a new madman, the Tooth Fairy. Graham consults Lecter on the case, which means some pointed and familiar conversations, and the film shifts focus from the investigation to the life and troubles of the mad and murderous but also abused and sympathetic Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes, with a major tattoo and a harelip). Director Brett Ratner is more like a job-of-work man than the geniuses who have made the earlier movies, and he doesn't quite restrain Hopkins enough. It's also hard not to compare the current cast with Mann's excellent players. Still, Red Dragon is a solid film of great material, with all the sudden shocks and disturbing whispers in places. Also with Harvey Keitel as the FBI boss, Emily Watson as Dolarhyde's blind love interest, Philip Seymour Hoffman as a tabloid sleaze and Mary-Louise Parker in the thankless role of imperilled wife. -Kim Newman.

Review Uca / Christine [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • John Carpenter
  • John Stockwell
  • Alexandra Paul
  • Keith Gordon
  • Harry Dean Stanton
  • Robert Prosky
Release date: 2005-10-03
Run time: 105 min.
Creator: Stephen King
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.24

Review Christine [1984] / Uca:

She can't (and won't) drive 55. Stephen King's novel about the twisted love affair between a boy and his car gets transferred to the screen, courtesy of suspense master John Carpenter. Although lacking some of the more outré supernatural elements of the source material, this high-octane cinematic tune-up more than delivers the goods, horror-wise (Christine's midnight rampages will never be forgotten)-as well as being a sly exposé of the random cruelties within the high-school pecking order. Keith Gordon (who has gone on to become a stellar director in his own right, with films such as A Midnight Clear and Mother Night to his credit) gives a wonderfully controlled central performance. Carpenter's atmospheric original score is backed up by a well-chosen collection of rock classics, including George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (the titular character's all-too-apt theme song). -Andrew Wright, Amazon. com.

Review Warner Home Video / Robin and the 7 Hoods [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Phil Arnold
  • Robert Carricart
  • Linda Brent
  • Barbara Rush
  • Victor Buono
Release date: 2008-05-13
Run time: 123 min.
Creator: Sammy Cahn
Price: £5.26

Review Robin and the 7 Hoods [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review / A TOUCH OF FROST: Complete Series 1 and 2
Actors & Directors
  • Susannah Doyle
  • Tricia Thorns
  • James McKenna
  • Tristan Maguire
  • Arthur White (II)
Run time: 726 min.
Price: £26.00

Review A TOUCH OF FROST: Complete Series 1 and 2:

Imprt from the Netherlands, which plays in English. Based on the crime novels of R. D. Wingfield, the long-running television series A TOUCH OF FROST stars award-winning actor David Jason as scruffy police detective Jack Frost. Tracking down wrongdoers in the fictitious town of Denton, England, Frost solves cases with a healthy dose of humour and an unconventional style that places him at odds with both criminals and his own colleagues. SERIES 1: Care and Protection, Not with Kindness and Conclusions. SERIES 2: A Minority of One, Widows and Orphans, Nothing to Hide and Stranger in the House.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Alien 3 [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Paul McGann
  • Charles S. Dutton
  • David Fincher
  • Charles Dance
  • Sigourney Weaver
  • Brian Glover
Release date: 2000-05-15
Run time: 110 min.
Creator: Walter Hill
RRP: £17.99
Price: £3.00

Review Alien 3 [1992] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Directed by stylemaster David Fincher, who went on to greater things with Seven and Fight Club, Alien 3 was the least successful of the Alien series at the box-office. Ripley, the only survivor of her past mission, awakens on a prison planet in the far corners of the solar system. As she tries to recover, she realises that not only has an alien got loose on the planet, the alien has implanted one of its own within her. As she battles the prison authorities (and is aided by the prisoners) in trying to kill the alien, she must also cope with a distinctly shortened life span that awaits her. But the striking imagery makes for muddled action and the script confuses it further. The ending looks startling but it takes a long time-and a not particularly satisfying journey-to get there. -Marshall Fine, Amazon. com On the DVD: The clarity of the digital picture throws light into some of Fincher's darker recesses, but is unkind to the primitive computer animation (the CGI alien is never convincing). Compared to the Alien DVD there are few extras, although a "making of" featurette that covers all three movies is included.

Review Universal Pictures UK / The Bourne Identity/The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum [HD DVD] [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Albert Finney
  • Matt Damon
  • Clive Owen
  • Paul Greengrass
  • Doug Liman
  • Brian Cox
  • Franka Potente
Release date: 2007-12-10
Run time: 327 min.
Price: £49.99

Review The Bourne Identity/The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum [HD DVD] [2002] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review 4 Front Video / Trainspotting [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Ewen Bremner
  • Ewan McGregor
  • Jonny Lee Miller
  • Danny Boyle
  • Kevin McKidd
  • Robert Carlyle
Release date: 2004-07-12
Run time: 90 min.
Creator: John Hodge
Price: £5.99

Review Trainspotting [1996] / 4 Front Video:

The film that effectively launched the star careers of Robert Carlyle, Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller is a hard, barbed picaresque, culled from the bestseller by Irvine Welsh and thrown down against the heroin hinterlands of Edinburgh. Directed with abandon by Danny Boyle, Trainspotting conspires to be at once a hip youth flick and a grim cautionary fable. Released on an unsuspecting public in 1996, the picture struck a chord with audiences worldwide and became adopted as an instant symbol of a booming British rave culture (an irony, given the characters' main drug of choice is heroin not ecstasy). McGregor, Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner play a slouching trio of Scottish junkies; Carlyle their narcotic-eschewing but hard-drinking and generally psychotic mate Begbie. In Boyle's hands, their lives unfold in a rush of euphoric highs, blow-out overdoses and agonising withdrawals (all cued to a vogueish pop soundtrack). Throughout it all, John Hodge's screenplay strikes a delicate balance between acknowledging the inherent pleasures of drug use and spotlighting its eventual consequences. In Trainspotting's world view, it all comes down to a question of choices-between the dangerous Day-Glo highs of the addict and the grey, grinding consumerism of the everyday Joe. "Choose life", quips the film's narrator (McGregor) in a monologue that was to become a mantra. "Choose a job, choose a starter home. [+]
But why would anyone want to do a thing like that?" Ultimately, Trainspotting's wised-up, dead-beat inhabitants reject mainstream society in favour of a headlong rush to destruction. It makes for an exhilarating, energised and frequently terrifying trip that blazes with more energy and passion than a thousand more ostensibly life-embracing movies. -Xan Brooks.

Review Acorn Media / The Last Detective [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Douglas Mackinnon
  • Pip Broughton
  • Mathew Evans
  • Peter Davison
  • Sean Hughes
Release date: 2004-02-09
Run time: 307 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £17.44

Review The Last Detective [2003] / Acorn Media:


Browse Crime, Thrillers & Mystery:

Models & Brands:
The Boondock Saints [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Planet Of The Apes - The Television Series [1974], Heroes: Season 2 (REGION 1) (NTSC), Shoot on Sight [2007], The Panic In Needle Park [1971], Narrow Margin [1990], Killing Zoe [1994], Third Man Out, Inspector Morse - Disc 27 And 28 - Day Of The Devil / Twilight Of The Gods [1987], Starsky And Hutch - Series 3 - Complete [1977], Agatha Christie : Miss Marple - A Murder Is Announced, Dil Se [1998], Red Dragon - 2 disc edition [2002], Christine [1984], Robin and the 7 Hoods [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC), A TOUCH OF FROST: Complete Series 1 and 2, Alien 3 [1992], The Bourne Identity/The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum [HD DVD] [2002], Trainspotting [1996], The Last Detective [2003]

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