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Review First Independent Video / G.I. Jane [1997]
Actors & Directors
  • Daniel von Bargen
  • Anne Bancroft
  • Ridley Scott
  • Demi Moore
  • Jason Beghe
  • Viggo Mortensen
Release date: 2001-03-26
Run time: 120 min.
Creator: David Twohy
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.82

Review G.I. Jane [1997] / First Independent Video:

It seemed like a pretty good career move, and for the most part it was. Demi Moore will never top any rational list of great actresses, but as her career stalled in the mid-1990s she had enough internal fire and external physicality to be just right for her title role in G. I. Jane. Her character's name isn't Jane-it's Jordan O'Neil-but the fact that she lacks a penis makes her an immediate standout in her elite training squad of Navy SEALs. She's been recruited as the first female SEAL trainee through a series of backroom political manoeuvres, and must prove her military staying power against formidable odds-not the least of which is the abuse of a tyrannical master chief (Viggo Mortensen) who puts her through hell to improve her chances of success. Within the limitations of a glossy star vehicle, director Ridley Scott manages to incorporate the women-in-military issue with considerable impact, and Moore-along with her conspicuous breast enhancements and that memorable head-shaving scene-jumps into the role with everything she's got. Not a great movie by any means, but definitely a rousing crowd pleaser, and it's worth watching just to hear Moore shout the words "Suck my dick!" -Jeff Shannon It seemed like a pretty good career move, and for the most part it was. Demi Moore will never top any rational list of great actresses, but as her career stalled in the mid-1990s she had enough internal fire and external physicality to be just right for her title role in G. I. [+]
Jane. Her character's name isn't Jane-it's Jordan O'Neil-but the fact that she lacks a penis makes her an immediate standout in her elite training squad of Navy SEALs. She's been recruited as the first female SEAL trainee through a series of backroom political manoeuvres and must prove her military staying power against formidable odds-not the least of which is the abuse of a tyrannical master chief (Viggo Mortensen) who puts her through hell to improve her chances of success. Within the limitations of a glossy star vehicle, director Ridley Scott manages to incorporate the women-in-military issue with considerable impact, and Moore-along with her conspicuous breast enhancements and that memorable head-shaving scene-jumps into the role with everything she's got. Not a great movie by any means, but definitely a rousing crowd pleaser and it's worth watching just to hear Demi shout the words "Suck my -!!" (rhymes with "chick"). -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

Review Parasol Pictures Releasing Ltd. / Le Grand Voyage [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Ismael Ferroukhi
Release date: 2006-02-27
Run time: 105 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.46

Review Le Grand Voyage [2004] / Parasol Pictures Releasing Ltd.:


Review Universal Pictures Video / Uncle Buck
Actors & Directors
  • Amy Madigan
  • John Hughes
  • Macaulay Culkin
  • John Candy
  • Jean Louisa Kelly
  • Gaby Hoffmann
Release date: 2003-04-14
Run time: 100 min.
Creator: Tom Jacobson
RRP: £9.99
Price: £2.44

Review Uncle Buck / Universal Pictures Video:

John Candy has one of his finest opportunities in this film by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) about a perpetual screw-up (Candy) who gets his act together enough to watch over his brother's kids effectively. The late actor scores big points resurrecting elements of his more decadent persona from SCTV days, but he also has some persuasively touching, sentimental moments. Hughes's direction is not as focused as it was only a few years before, but there's no mistaking his touch. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, biographies, Dolby sound, optional Spanish and French soundtracks. -Tom Keogh.

Review The Unbearable Lightness of Being / Unbearable Lightness Of Being - 2 Disc Special Edition
Release date: 2006-03-27
RRP: £20.99
Price: £4.47

Review Unbearable Lightness Of Being - 2 Disc Special Edition / The Unbearable Lightness of Being:

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Tomas, the happily irresponsible Czech lover of Milan Kundera's novel, which is set in Prague just before and during the Soviet invasion in 1968. Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche are the two vastly different women who occupy his attention and to some extent represent different sides of his values and personality. In any case, the character's decision to flee Russian tanks with one of them-and then return-has profound consequences on his life. Directed by Philip Kaufman, this rich, erotic, fascinating character study with allegorical overtones is a touchstone for many filmgoers. Several key sequences-such as Olin wearing a bowler hat and writhing most attractively-linger in the memory, while Kaufman's assured sense of the story inspires superb performances all around. -Tom Keogh.

Review Touchstone Home Video / When A Man Loves A Woman [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Mae Whitman
  • Tina Majorino
  • Ellen Burstyn
  • Meg Ryan
  • Luis Mandoki
  • Andy Garcia
Release date: 2005-08-01
Run time: 121 min.
Creator: Ronald Bass
RRP: £14.99
Price: £3.33

Review When A Man Loves A Woman [1994] / Touchstone Home Video:

When a Man Loves a Woman is a dumb title (not another classic pop song, please) for a very smart movie. A kind of gender-switch take on The Lost Weekend, it's about a woman (Meg Ryan) whose alcoholism almost destroys her family. That may sound like just another TV movie, but When a Man Loves a Woman is so authentic in detail and emotion, that everything about it seems fresh, urgent, and engrossing. That's because the film is grounded in the actual experience of co-writer Al Franken (assisted by Rain Man scripter Ronald Bass). Franken is best known for his affiliation with Saturday Night Live and Politically Incorrect, and as the author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and Other Observations. You may recall that Franken is the creator of Stuart Smalley, 12-step programmer extraordinaire. Well, if you want to know how Stuart was born, you can start here. This is no comedy, however. In fact, one of the most painful realisations comes when attractive, "good-time girl" Alice Green (Ryan) and her husband (Andy Garcia) begin to realise how much of a role alcohol played in their marriage and in bringing them together in the first place. The issues and experiences confronted in this movie go far beyond the stuff you see on daytime TV. [+]
-Jim Emerson.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Egypt : Rediscovering A Lost World (3 Disc Box Set) [2005]
Release date: 2006-02-06
Run time: 360 min.
Creator: Jonathan Rich
RRP: £19.99
Price: £8.44

Review Egypt : Rediscovering A Lost World (3 Disc Box Set) [2005] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Nouveaux Pictures / La Dolce Vita [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • Marcello Mastroianni
  • Anita Ekberg
  • Yvonne Furneaux
  • Federico Fellini
  • Anouk Aimée
  • Magali Noël
Release date: 2004-09-27
Run time: 174 min.
Creator: Tullio Pinelli
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.15

Review La Dolce Vita [1960] / Nouveaux Pictures:

At three brief hours, Fellini's cynical, engrossing social commentary, La Dolce Vita, stands as his timeless masterpiece. A rich, detailed panorama of Rome's modern decadence and sophisticated immorality, the film is episodic in structure but held tightly in focus by the wandering protagonist through whom we witness the sordid action. Marcello Rubini is a tabloid reporter trapped in a shallow high-society existence, as extraordinarily played by Marcello Mastroianni, a man of paradoxical, emotional juxtapositions: cool but tortured, sexy but impotent. He dreams about writing something important but remains seduced by the money and prestige that accompany his shallow position. He romanticises about finding true love but acts unfazed upon finding that his girlfriend has taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Instead, he engages in a ménage à trois, then frolics in a fountain with a giggling American starlet (bombshell Anita Ekberg), and in the film's unforgettably inspired finale, attends a wild orgy that ends, symbolically with its participants finding a rotting sea animal while wandering the beach at dawn. Fellini saw his film as life affirming (thus its title, "The Sweet Life"), but it's impossible to take him seriously. While Mastroianni drifts from one worldly pleasure to another, be it sex, drink, glamorous parties or rich foods, they are presented, through his detached eyes, as merely momentary distractions. His existence, an endless series of wild evenings and lonely mornings, is ultimately soulless and facile. Because he lacks the courage to change, Mastroianni is left with no alternative but to wearily accept and enjoy this "sweet" life. [+]
-Dave McCoy, Amazon. com.

Review Warner Home Video / A Very Long Engagement - 1 Disc Edition [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Jean-Pierre Jeunet
  • Jean-Pierre Becker
  • Gaspard Ulliel
  • Clovis Cornillac
  • Audrey Tautou
  • Dominique Bettenfeld
Release date: 2006-01-02
Run time: 134 min.
RRP: £18.99
Price: £1.95

Review A Very Long Engagement - 1 Disc Edition [2004] / Warner Home Video:


Review Momentum Pictures / CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Las Vegas - Season 4 Part 1
Actors & Directors
  • Jorja Fox
  • Marg Helgenberger
  • Gary Dourdan
  • George Eads
  • William L. Petersen
Release date: 2005-05-09
Run time: 495 min.
RRP: £39.99
Price: £8.98

Review CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Las Vegas - Season 4 Part 1 / Momentum Pictures:


Review ITV DVD / A Touch Of Frost - Series 11 And 12
Actors & Directors
  • Roger Bamford
  • Bruce Alexander
  • Paul Harrison
  • Sally Dexter
  • Roy Battersby
  • Amanda Root
  • David Jason
  • Mick Ford
Release date: 2005-11-21
Run time: 238 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £6.12

Review A Touch Of Frost - Series 11 And 12 / ITV DVD:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Auf Wiedersehen Pet: The Special [1983]
Actors & Directors
  • Timothy Spall
  • Tim Healy
  • Anthony Garner
  • Sandy Johnson
  • Baz Taylor
  • Noel Clarke
  • Jimmy Nail
  • Christopher Fairbank
Release date: 2005-01-10
Run time: 114 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £7.49

Review Auf Wiedersehen Pet: The Special [1983] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Universal Pictures UK 0534563 / It's A Wonderful Life [1946]
Actors & Directors
  • James Stewart
  • Frank Capra
  • Thomas Mitchell
  • Lionel Barrymore
  • Henry Travers
  • Donna Reed
Release date: 2006-11-27
Run time: 130 min.
Creator: Philip Van Doren Stern
RRP: £17.99
Price: £11.00

Review It's A Wonderful Life [1946] / Universal Pictures UK 0534563:

Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming-in the teary-eyed final reel-his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. -Robert Horton.

Review Nouveaux Pictures / The Voyeur [1993]
Actors & Directors
  • Francesco Casale
  • Tinto Brass
  • Antonio Salines
  • Katarina Vasilissa
  • Cristina Garavaglia
  • Raffaella Offidani
Release date: 2000-02-07
Run time: 90 min.
Creator: Marco Valsania
RRP: £17.99
Price: £4.69

Review The Voyeur [1993] / Nouveaux Pictures:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / The X Files: Season 3 [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Gillian Anderson
  • David Duchovny
Release date: 2004-10-11
Run time: 45 min.
Creator: Chris Carter
RRP: £34.99
Price: £14.98

Review The X Files: Season 3 [1994] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Focused lightning bolts, stigmata, possession, and ancient curses become secondary in Season 3 of The X-Files as more episodes are devoted to pursuing the increasingly complex story threads. "The Blessing Way" is an explosive start, introducing the Syndicate's well-manicured man (John Neville), while Scully's sister Melissa is shot and Mulder experiences Twin Peaks-like prophetic visions. We learn of medical records of millions, including Scully, who have been experimented upon ("Paper Clip"): the fast-paced train-bound two-parter "Nisei" and "731" suggests the experiments are about alien hybridisation. Krycek turns out to be hosting an alien in the next double-act, "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha", in which Skinner is shot by Melissa's killer. Two great one-offs outside the arc are "Clyde Bruckman's "Final Repose", a bittersweet tale of foreseeing death (featuring an Emmy-winning performance from Peter Boyle) and Jose Chung's "From Outer Space", a spoof of alien conspiracy theories through an author's investigations into abductees. -Paul Tonks.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7 (New Edition) [2006] [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Nick Marck
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar
  • Danny Strong
  • James Marsters
  • Nicholas Brendon
Release date: 2006-05-08
Run time: 899 min.
RRP: £34.99
Price: £14.95

Review Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7 (New Edition) [2006] [2002] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review MTV / The Hills: The Complete Third Season (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Stephanie Pratt
  • Jason Sands
  • Lauren Conrad
  • Elodie Otto
  • Kelly Cutrone
  • Sujata Day
Release date: 2008-07-29
Run time: 570 min.
Creator: Liz Gateley
Price: £19.12

Review The Hills: The Complete Third Season (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MTV:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / Castle Of Cagliostro
Actors & Directors
  • Hayao Miyazaki
Release date: 2005-10-17
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.07

Review Castle Of Cagliostro / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Unfaithful [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Adrian Lyne
  • Richard Gere
  • Myra Lucretia Taylor
  • Olivier Martinez
  • Diane Lane
  • Erik Per Sullivan
Release date: 2003-04-28
Run time: 118 min.
Creator: William Broyles Jr.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.07

Review Unfaithful [2002] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Although the premise of infidelity and its devastating consequences on all involved may not be a new one, Unfaithful still manages to emerge as a stylish, involving thriller. Based on an obscure 1970s French offering, director Adrian Lynne's version is pure Hollywood, from its casting of Richard Gere and Diane Lane in the lead roles, to its graceful visual style and even its somewhat unsatisfactory denouement. It's impossible not to watch the film without thinking of Lynne's own Fatal Attraction, although here the gender roles have been reversed to focus on the affair between bored suburban housewife Connie and exotic French book dealer Paul. The obsessive relationship between the two provides the film with its only real frisson. Gere is given very little to work with as the dull cuckolded husband Edward and delivers even less. The film moves rather slowly towards its key plot twist which never really lives up to its promise. On the DVD: Unfaithful may be lacking a little as a film, but this DVD is an impressive package. The film has a rich visual element and the digital picture quality brings out the best in Adrian Lynne's unique eye for detail. The reams of extras include commentaries from director Lynne and the cast, a well put together documentary, interviews, features, deleted scenes and a (superior) alternative ending. Lynne is always good interview value, coming across as a slightly less eccentric Ken Russell, and Lane and Olivier Martinez are both engaging and charismatic. [+]
A shame, then, that the movie itself isn't quite so impressive. -Phil Udell.

Review Universal Pictures UK / Spartacus [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • Kirk Douglas
  • Jean Simmons
  • Tony Curtis
  • Stanley Kubrick
  • Peter Ustinov
  • Laurence Olivier
Release date: 2006-12-04
Run time: 186 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.22

Review Spartacus [1960] / Universal Pictures UK:

Stanley Kubrick was only 31 years old when Kirk Douglas (star of Kubrick's classic Paths of Glory) recruited the young director to pilot this epic saga, in which the rebellious slave Spartacus (played by Douglas) leads a freedom revolt against the decadent Roman Empire. Kubrick would later disown the film because it was not a personal project-he was merely a director-for-hire-but Spartacus remains one of the best of Hollywood's grand historical epics. With an intelligent screenplay by then-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (from a novel by Howard Fast), its message of moral integrity and courageous conviction is still quite powerful, and the all-star cast (including Charles Laughton in full toga) is full of entertaining surprises. Fully restored in 1991 to include scenes deleted from the original 1960 release, the full-length Spartacus is a grand-scale cinematic marvel, offering some of the most awesome battles ever filmed and a central performance by Douglas that's as sensitively emotional as it is intensely heroic. Jean Simmons plays the slave woman who becomes Spartacus's wife, and Peter Ustinov steals the show with his frequently hilarious, Oscar-winning performance as a slave trader who shamelessly curries favor with his Roman superiors. The restored version also includes a formerly deleted bathhouse scene in which Laurence Olivier plays a bisexual Roman senator (with restored dialogue dubbed by Anthony Hopkins) who gets hot and bothered over a slave servant played by Tony Curtis. These and other restored scenes expand the film to just over three hours in length. Despite some forgivable lulls, this is a rousing and substantial drama that grabs and holds your attention. Breaking tradition with sophisticated themes and a downbeat (yet eminently noble) conclusion, Spartacus is a thinking person's epic, rising above mere spectacle with a story as impressive as its widescreen action and Oscar-winning sets. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Pathe Distribution / La Reine Margot [1993]
Actors & Directors
  • Daniel Auteuil
  • Jean-Hugues Anglade
  • Vincent Perez
  • Patrice Chéreau
  • Virna Lisi
  • Isabelle Adjani
Release date: 2000-03-27
Run time: 138 min.
Creator: Danièle Thompson
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.69

Review La Reine Margot [1993] / Pathe Distribution:

Based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, La Reine Margot concerns the events behind infamous Massacre of St Bartholomew in sixth-century France. Isabelle Adjani plays Margot, betrothed for political reasons to one man (Daniel Auteuil) by her mother (Virna Lisi), while she is, in fact, in love with another (Vincent Pérez). Despite the bond that grows between the reluctant couple, plots are hatching all over the castle against the royals. Adventurous, exciting, erotic and given strong artistic credibility through its outstanding cast, the film is enthralling and visually sumptuous. Directed by Patrice Chereau, less known outside of France than is the film's producer, Claude Berri (director of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources). -Tom Keogh.

Browse Drama:

Models & Brands:
G.I. Jane [1997], Le Grand Voyage [2004], Uncle Buck, Unbearable Lightness Of Being - 2 Disc Special Edition, When A Man Loves A Woman [1994], Egypt : Rediscovering A Lost World (3 Disc Box Set) [2005], La Dolce Vita [1960], A Very Long Engagement - 1 Disc Edition [2004], CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Las Vegas - Season 4 Part 1, A Touch Of Frost - Series 11 And 12, Auf Wiedersehen Pet: The Special [1983], It's A Wonderful Life [1946], The Voyeur [1993], The X Files: Season 3 [1994], Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7 (New Edition) [2006] [2002], The Hills: The Complete Third Season (REGION 1) (NTSC), Castle Of Cagliostro, Unfaithful [2002], Spartacus [1960], La Reine Margot [1993]

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