The League of Gentlemen is a sardonic crime drama in which Jack Hawkins plays an embittered retired army officer who recruits seven fellow ex-soldiers to carry out a bank raid with military precision. The film presents an England between post-war austerity and the more liberated 1960s where traditional moral certainties were rapidly being discarded; a London where ex-officers left on the scrapheap at war's end could justify turning their military experience to armed robbery. Unfortunately the tale is neither particularly amusing or thrilling, with an overlong central detour via an army camp prefacing the exciting heist and a largely anti-climactic ending. Nevertheless Hawkins effectively subverts his heroic officer type from The Cruel Sea (1953) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and there's excellent support from a great cast including Nigel Patrick, Richard Attenborough and Roger Livesey. Bryan Forbes not only wrote the cynical screenplay but costarred with wife Nanette Newman in her first significant screen role. More influential than truly classic, The League of Gentlemen has lent its name to a modern BBC comedy, an "Extraordinary" comic strip-turned-movie, and proved the template for heist films ever since, including both versions of The Italian Job (1969 and 2003). On the DVD:The League of Gentlemen is presented in an anamorphically enhanced 16:9 transfer from an excellent condition print and mostly looks and sounds fine. There's minimal print damage, though sadly Philip Green's ironically patriotic main title music suffers from significant distortion. The only extra is the original trailer, which is now something of a period piece itself. -Gary S Dalkin.

Foursquare in the gritty-but-hearwarming tradition of Brassed Off and The Full Monty comes Billy Elliot, the first film of noted British theatrical director Stephen Daldry. The setting is County Durham in 1984, and things 'oop North are even grimmer than usual: the miners' strike is in full rancorous swing and 11-year-old Billy's dad and older brother, miners both, are staunch on the picket lines. Billy's got problems of his own. His dad's scraped together the fees to send him to boxing lessons, but Billy's discovered a different aptitude: a genius for ballet dancing. Since admitting to such an activity is tantamount, in this fiercely macho culture, to holding up a sign reading "I AM A RAVING POOF", Billy keeps it quiet. But his teacher, Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters, wearily undaunted) thinks he should audition for ballet school in London. Family ructions are inevitable. Daldry's film sidesteps some of the politics, both sexual and otherwise, but scores with its laconic dialogue (credit to screenwriter Lee Hall) and a cracking performance from newcomer Jamie Bell as Billy. His powerhouse dance routines, more Gene Kelly than Nureyev, carry an irresistible sense of exhilaration and self-discovery. Among a flawless supporting cast Stuart Wells stands out as Billy's sweet gay friend Michael. [+]

Get mindless for awhile with this 1997 disaster flick, starring the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles as a funky place for lava to spew, plus Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche as the brave souls who know how to shut off the spout. Director Mick Jackson (The Bodyguard) wastes no time getting to the good stuff-it's happening in Volcano even before opening credits are over-and neither should anyone in the mood for technical efficiency without the burden of art. -Tom Keogh.

Based on the only surviving record of the infamous 1942 Wannsee Conference, the BBC/HBO produced Conspiracy reconstructs the two-hour meeting during which leading members of the SS and the Nazi government made definitive plans for the genocide of Europe's Jews. Sixteen men sit around a table and politely discuss the mechanics and ramifications of murdering millions. As SS General Reinhard Heydrich, overall architect of the Final Solution, Kenneth Branagh is brilliant, charming, manipulative and threatening, a cultured man seemingly without a soul. As his aid, SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann, Stanley Tucci is the incarnation of the banality of evil, an efficient and self-effacing bureaucrat in a fine performance marred only by a hint of the actor's American accent. Colin Firth is a powerful foil for Branagh as Dr Wilhelm Stuckart, author of Nazi Germany's race laws and a stickler for the rule of law, no matter how insane the law may have become; while David Threlfall makes a striking impression as the one man who comes closest to taking a moral stand, Dr Wilhelm Kritzinger. Directed in an elegantly controlled style by Frank Pierson, Conspiracy is the Janus face of the 1957 classic 12 Angry Men and a chilling companion to the BBC/HBO Churchill drama The Gathering Storm (2002). On the DVD: Conspiracy comes to DVD with text profiles of the four leading actors and the director and two featurettes, one running two minutes, the other four, neither of which is any more than an electronic press-kit. Sound is clear, perfectly good Dolby Surround, while the picture, though anamorphically enhanced at 16:9, is no more than adequate. -Gary S Dalkin.

Flashdance was the aspirational feel-good movie of 1983, with its thudding Giorgio Moroder soundtrack, Fame-meets-An Officer and a Gentleman storyline and a doe-eyed but iron-willed heroine played by the promising Jennifer Beals. By day Alex (Beals) is a Pittsburgh welder. By night she dances self-choreographed pieces for beer swillers in a seedy nightclub. Then she goes home and dreams of entering the city's ballet school and a professional career. Adrian Lyne's film is full of compromises. It never really gets to grips with Alex's misfit status in a male-dominated world. And in the end, she is given the leg-up she needs by her boss (Michael Nouri) who won't take "no" for an answer. That's called stalking these days. But Flashdance also has some fascinating surreal moments. The infernal qualities of life on an industrial site are well described by good lighting and the dances take on a bizarre life of their own within the film. [+]

Hankies at the ready: the young and pretty ensemble cast of The Last Kiss are about to find out, all too realistically, that grown-up relationships are hard work. Based on an Italian film, The Last Kiss follows a young couple, their friends and their family as they each struggle to come to terms with their lives and relationships-a difficulty compounded by the realisation that they may already have enjoyed their final first kiss. Hence the title. The excellent soundtrack, hand selected by star Zach Braff, complements the drama perfectly. It also evokes 2004's Garden State, though fans looking for a recreation of that movie's naïve charm may be disappointed: The Last Kiss is rather more downbeat. It's also more adult; the sheen of youthful optimism has been rubbed off, replaced with a painful observation that sometimes, life just isn't easy. Zach Braff-completists should make sure their Scrubs collections are up to date before picking this up; his character in The Last Kiss isn't as cute and cuddly as his previous incarnations. And be warned if you're looking for a light and fluffy comedy: despite appearances, this is not the movie for you. It's worth a look, but only once you've had a chance to stock up on tissues. -Sarah Dobbs.

Dare you to keep your feet still while watching How She Move, a rip-roaring salute to Jamaican-influenced step-dancing with an infectious backbeat. The film will appeal to fans of other dance tributes like Stomp the Yard but also to fans of High School Musical, Bring It On and other teen let's-put-on-a-show empowerment films. The story is set in Toronto's thriving Caribbean-immigrant community, though there are nods to American 'hoods as well. While the drama is a bit short on plot, there's no shortage of action or star power. The film's lead, the dynamic Rutina Wesley, plays Raya Green, an honors student whose life is shattered by the death of her sister, and by her unwilling return from her private school to her urban neighborhood. But young Raya's spirit is indomitable, as shows the tough neighborhood boys she's every bit a dance force to be reckoned with as they are. Her dancing gives this film its sweet patina of girl power on top of its fabulous choreographed moves. Also don't miss the great soundtrack, featuring Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. How she move? Pretty darn great. -A. [+]

A truly epic saga of dynastic conflict at the heart of Imperial Rome, I Claudius was the landmark BBC drama series of the 1970s. Originally transmitted as 13 50-minute episodes, it is now available as two double video packs. After chronicling the foundations of the British Empire in Elizabeth R (1971), the BBC chose to dramatise the human face of ancient Rome as interpreted by Robert Graves in his two enormously complex novels, I Claudius and Claudius The God. Derek Jacobi gives one of the greatest television performances ever as Claudius, the appalled chronicler of the decadence, corruption, intrigue and carnage which comes with absolute power of his ruling family. Augustus (Brian Blessed) is Emperor and Sian Phillips, Livia, his scheming, ambitious wife, Claudius' aunt. By virtue of his stammer and uncontrollable twitches, Claudius passes for a fool, thus escaping the poisonous machinations of Livia, all the while recording the comings and goings of the Imperial household. Inevitably lacking the visual scale of cinematic features Ben-Hur (1959) and Spartacus (1960), and today looking more studio-bound than ever, I Claudius remains a television masterpiece of intelligently written and rivetingly intense character drama. The saga ends with I Claudius - Part 2. -Gary S. Dalkin A truly epic saga of dynastic conflict at the heart of Imperial Rome, I Claudius was the landmark BBC drama series of the 1970s. [+]

A small, finely crafted indie drama of true quality, Margot At The Wedding is the latest offering from Noam Baumbach. While his name may not yet cause very many flickers of recognition, anyone who saw his hugely humane, tragicomic masterpiece The Squid And The Whale, will be beating a path to see his latest film. And they won’t be disappointed. Margot At The Wedding tells the story of two estranged sisters. There’s Nicole Kidman’s acerbic Margot, a writer, and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s new-age Pauline. Margot is ostensibly taking her young son to Pauline's wedding, but she's really running from her disastrous marriage. Frosty and overly intellectual on the surface, the two sisters begin to grapple with their veiled feelings and hurtful memories from the past. The film provides the foundation for a deep and often painful exploration of the insecurities, idiosyncrasies and challenges of family life. Interspersing comedy with drama, Margot At The Wedding is a quiet yet highly notable achievement. Kidman is in terrific, neurotic, form in the titular role, and Jack Black pops up in a serious supporting role as the depressed groom to be. [+]

This likeable, feminist screwball comedy about several incidents of mistaken identity is remembered more as the film that made Madonna a movie star. She's flip, hip and energetic as Susan, the wild tramp with whom bored, suburban New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) becomes obsessed after reading of her sexual conquests in the personal ads. Of course, since Madonna essentially played herself, the role's hardly a stretch. Director Susan Seidelmen presents a series of zany incidents too complicated to recount, but the result is that Roberta swaps lifestyles with her fixation to explore New Wave culture on New York's Lower East Side. It's territory Seidelmen knew well as her more offbeat, indie debut, Smithereens, revelled in the same setting. But where Smithereens took a more edgy approach to its characters, Susan is a fairy tale romantic comedy, and eventually becomes as conventional as the suburban characters it mocks by settling conflicts with predictable Hollywood formulae. Still, there's much to be enjoyed. The film's at its funniest when juxtaposing New York hip and New Jersey suburbia, like when Arquette's straight, suit-and-tie husband dances with Madonna in a punk club. The performances, too, are engaging, especially Arquette and Aidan Quinn, playing a romantic film projectionist who becomes her grubby Prince Charming. -Dave McCoy, Amazon. [+]