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Review Arnold Schwarzenegger / Conan The Barbarian - Definitive Edition [DVD] [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • James Earl Jones
  • Sandahl Bergman
  • Gerry Lopez
  • Max Von Sydow
  • John Milius
Release date: 2007-09-24
Run time: 125 min.
Creator: James Earl Jones
RRP: £9.99
Price: £7.27

Review Conan The Barbarian - Definitive Edition [DVD] [1981] / Arnold Schwarzenegger:

The film that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's international career, Conan the Barbarian is still regarded by many as his finest hour. Limited to a mere handful of lines and expertly directed by John Milius to play up the Nietzschean strength of the character, the Austrian Oak has never looked more suited to a role, his muscle flexing and sword twirling apparently effortless. The extraordinarily finely detailed production design ensures that the barren Spanish countryside perfectly suits the Hyborean-era backdrop envisioned by author Robert E Howard. Whether dressed in rags or riches, Schwarzenegger and companions Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) look believably born to their surroundings. Backing their own very fine performances are brilliant supporting roles from James Earl Jones as serpentine baddie Thulsa Doom and Max Von Sydow as doomed King Osric. Plot-wise the film is simply the transformation of a wild barbarian into a worldly-wise king who, via a quest for revenge, finally learns the riddle of steel. The script is highly regarded for its dazzling set-pieces (the opening village raid, the orgy of body parts) and quotable dialogue ("They shall all drown in lakes of blood"), and it comes complete with an anti-peace movement reactionary subtext for anyone who cares to look closely enough. One other element deserving mention is the extraordinary score by Basil Poledouris, which inspires the film with a sense of operatic grandeur. -Paul Tonks.

Review MGM Entertainment / James Bond - The World Is Not Enough (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Denise Richards
  • Goldie
  • Sophie Marceau
  • Michael Apted
  • Pierce Brosnan
  • Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Release date: 2006-07-17
Run time: 123 min.
Creator: Maria Grazia Cucinotta
RRP: £16.99
Price: £1.72

Review James Bond - The World Is Not Enough (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1999] / MGM Entertainment:


Review Hollywood Pictures Home Video / Deception [DVD] [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • James Frain
  • Charlize Theron
  • John Frankenheimer
  • Ben Affleck
  • Gary Sinise
  • Dana Stubblefield
Release date: 2005-08-01
Run time: 100 min.
Creator: Ehren Kruger
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.12

Review Deception [DVD] [2000] / Hollywood Pictures Home Video:

A solid enough thriller held together by some somewhat implausible plot devices, Deception stars Ben Affleck as Rudy, whose cellmate Nick is lucky enough to be pen-pal to the beautiful Ashley (Charlize Theron) who in turn has pledged herself, body and soul to the man inside whom she has never set eyes upon. Upon his release, Rudy decides to pose as Nick in order to take up with this luscious and adoring female. Unfortunately, the scheme backfires on Rudy when he discovers that Ashley was apparently a pawn in her ruthless brother Monster's game to coerce him into helping him and his gang of gun-runners rob a casino that Nick used to work in. Deception rumbles along at a pretty seedy, violent pace for a long time, with Rudy's efforts to escape resulting in Monster (a menacing Gary Sinise) using him as a dartboard in one memorably brutal scene. Following their raid on the casino, however (clad in Santa outfits), the plot takes a couple of devilish twists and turns which reward the viewer prepared to come this far down the road with these people. The lack of empathy may be redeemed by some viewers with a scene featuring Charlize Theron naked in a pool. -David Stubbs.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / The Anderson Tapes [DVD] [1971]
Actors & Directors
  • Sidney Lumet
  • Martin Balsam
  • Ralph Meeker
  • Dyan Cannon
  • Sean Connery
  • Alan King
Release date: 2003-01-06
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Lawrence Sanders
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.82

Review The Anderson Tapes [DVD] [1971] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

An early example of the techno-thriller, The Anderson Tapes-sharply directed by Sidney Lumet from the novel by Lawrence Sanders-follows just-out-of-stir Duke Anderson (a balding Sean Connery) as he plots the heist of an entire New York apartment building, enlisting a crew that includes Martin Balsam as a vintage 1971 gay stereotype and a very young Christopher Walken in perhaps the first of his jittery crook roles. The gimmick is that Anderson has been out of circulation so long that he doesn't realise his mafia backers are only supporting him because they feel nostalgic for the days before they were boring businessmen and that the whole setup is monitored by a criss-crossing selection of government and private agencies who don't care enough to thwart the robbery, which instead becomes unglued thanks to a gutsy young radio ham. With a cool Quincy Jones score, very tight editing, a lot of spot-on cameo performances from the likes of Ralph Meeker as a patient cop, this hasn't dated a bit: it's wry without being jokey and suspenseful without undue contrivance. On the DVD The Anderson Tapes offers a nice anamorphic transfer, a few trailers and various foreign language options. -Kim Newman.

Review 20th Century Fox / The Pagemaster [DVD] [1994] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actors & Directors
  • Jessica Kirschner
  • Pixote Hunt
  • Joe Johnston
  • Alexis Kirschner
  • Canan J. Howell
  • Christopher Lloyd
  • Macaulay Culkin
Release date: 2002-05-28
Run time: 80 min.
Creator: Ernie Contreras
Price: £3.91

Review The Pagemaster [DVD] [1994] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] / 20th Century Fox:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Man On Fire (Two Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Marc Anthony
  • Dakota Fanning
  • Denzel Washington
  • Tony Scott
Release date: 2005-02-14
Run time: 140 min.
Creator: Dakota Fanning
RRP: £22.99
Price: £3.83

Review Man On Fire (Two Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [2004] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Style trumps substance in Man on Fire, a slick, brooding reunion of Crimson Tide star Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott. The ominous, crime-ridden setting is Mexico City, where a dour, alcoholic warrior with a mysterious Black Ops past (Washington) seeks redemption as the devoted bodyguard of a lovable 9-year-old girl (the precociously gifted Dakota Fanning), then responds with predictable fury when she is kidnapped and presumably killed. Prolific screenwriter Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, L. A. Confidential) sets a solid emotional foundation for Washington's tormented character, and Scott's stylistic excess compensates for a distended plot that's both repellently violent and viscerally absorbing. Among Scott's more distracting techniques is the use of free-roaming, comic-bookish subtitles. even when they're unnecessary! Adapted from a novel by A. J. [+]
Quinnell and previously filmed as a 1987 vehicle for Scott Glenn, Man on Fire is roughly on par with Scott's similar 1990 film Revenge, efficiently satisfying Washington's incendiary bloodlust under a heavy blanket of humid, doom-laden atmosphere. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Wake Of Death [DVD] [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Valerie Tian
  • Jean-Claude Van Damme
  • Tony Schiena
  • Philip Tan
  • Simon Yam
  • Philipe Martinez
Release date: 2005-08-08
Run time: 87 min.
Creator: Simon Yam
RRP: £19.99
Price: £0.74

Review Wake Of Death [DVD] [2004] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Sniper 2 [DVD] [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Craig R. Baxley
  • Erika Marozsán
  • Bokeem Woodbine
  • Tamás Puskás
  • Dan Butler
  • Tom Berenger
Release date: 2003-03-10
Run time: 87 min.
Creator: Ron Mita
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.04

Review Sniper 2 [DVD] [2002] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:


Review MGM / Leviathan [DVD] [1989] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actors & Directors
  • Amanda Pays
  • Ernie Hudson
  • Richard Crenna
  • Peter Weller
  • George P. Cosmatos
  • Daniel Stern
Release date: 1998-09-29
Run time: 98 min.
Creator: Richard Crenna
Price: £4.21

Review Leviathan [DVD] [1989] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] / MGM:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Pitch Black [DVD] [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Radha Mitchell
  • Keith David
  • Lewis Fitz-Gerald
  • David Twohy
  • Vin Diesel
  • Cole Hauser
Release date: 2001-05-28
Run time: 104 min.
Creator: Ken Wheat
RRP: £12.99
Price: £1.47

Review Pitch Black [DVD] [2000] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Pitch Black is a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations, even though it owes a major debt to Alien and its cinematic spawn. As he did with The Arrival, director David Twohy revitalises a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit to its visceral thrills. Under casual scrutiny, the plot's logic crumbles like a stale cookie, but it's definitely fun while it lasts. A spaceship crashes on a desert planet scorched under three suns. The mostly doomed survivors include a resourceful captain (Radha Mitchell), a drug-addled cop (Cole Hauser) and a deadly prisoner (Vin Diesel) who quickly escapes. These clashing personalities discover that the planet is plunging into the darkness of an extended eclipse, and it's populated by hordes of ravenous, razor-fanged beasties that only come out at night. The body count rises, and Pitch Black settles into familiar sci-fi territory. What sets the movie apart is Twohy's developing visual style, suggesting that this veteran of straight-to-video schlock may advance to the big leagues. Like the makers of The Blair Witch Project, Twohy understands the frightening power of suggestion; his hungry monsters are better heard than seen (although once seen, they're chillingly effective), and Pitch Black gets full value from moments of genuine panic. Best of all, Twohy's got a well-matched cast, with Mitchell (so memorable with Ally Sheedy in High Art) and Diesel (Pvt. [+]
Caparzo from Saving Private Ryan) being the standouts. The latter makes the most of his muscle-man role, and his character's development is one more reason this film works better than it should. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

Review Warner Home Video / Escape From Fort Bravo [DVD] [1953] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actors & Directors
  • John Sturges
  • William Holden
  • William Demarest
  • John Forsythe
  • Eleanor Parker
  • William Campbell
Release date: 2008-08-26
Run time: 99 min.
Creator: Phillip Rock
Price: £3.97

Review Escape From Fort Bravo [DVD] [1953] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] / Warner Home Video:


Release date: 2009-09-28
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.88

Review IP Man [Blu-ray] / Showbox Media Group Ltd:


Review Blue Underground / Mountain of the Cannibal God [1978] [DVD] [US Import]
Actors & Directors
  • Ursula Andress
  • Franco Fantasia
  • Sergio Martino
  • Antonio Marsina
  • Claudio Cassinelli
  • Stacy Keach
Release date: 2007-11-13
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Stacy Keach
Price: £3.51

Review Mountain of the Cannibal God [1978] [DVD] [US Import] / Blue Underground:


Review Warner Home Video / Lethal Weapon 3 [DVD] [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Donner
  • Rene Russo
  • Danny Glover
  • Mel Gibson
  • Stuart Wilson
  • Joe Pesci
Release date: 1999-03-22
Run time: 113 min.
Creator: Shane Black
RRP: £13.99
Price: £1.65

Review Lethal Weapon 3 [DVD] [1992] / Warner Home Video:

The lightest of the first three films, Lethal Weapon 3 finds everyone occupying comfortable positions like students who always choose to sit in the same classroom seats. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return as LAPD partners whose working method consists of the former diving into danger and the latter holding back. (The sequence set in the parking garage of a building, in which Gibson inadvertently trips a switch that makes a timed explosive device speed up, is priceless. ) Joe Pesci once again plays a motor-mouth pest, and while the story is pretty much forgettable, it does introduce the best new dynamic in the series, a romance between Gibson and Rene Russo's equally tough but attractive cop. -Tom Keogh.

Review Warner Home Video / Troy (1-Disc Edition) [DVD] [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Orlando Bloom
  • Wolfgang Petersen
  • Brian Cox
  • Brad Pitt
  • Brendan Gleeson
  • Sean Bean
Release date: 2005-08-01
Run time: 156 min.
Creator: Orlando Bloom
RRP: £13.99
Price: £1.90

Review Troy (1-Disc Edition) [DVD] [2004] / Warner Home Video:


Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm / Terminal Velocity [DVD] [1995]
Actors & Directors
  • Nastassja Kinski
  • Christopher McDonald
  • Gary Bullock
  • James Gandolfini
  • Charlie Sheen
  • Deran Sarafian
Release date: 2006-06-15
Run time: 97 min.
Creator: Scott Kroopf
RRP: £14.99
Price: £1.84

Review Terminal Velocity [DVD] [1995] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:

While investigating the mysterious circumstances of a beautiful student's demise, a maverick skydiving instructor finds himself entangled in a murderous conspiracy involving Soviet spies and a lost shipment of gold. Logical it ain't, but this entertainingly daft thriller does offer some good-natured satiric riffs on standard action star conventions. Charlie Sheen (throughout most of the film, this not-especially-heroic hero displays the approximate intelligence of a bag of doorknobs) stars along with Nastassja Kinski in a welcome return after a long absence from the screen. Terminal Velocity is good fun for adrenaline junkies, with a boffo climax involving a midair escape attempt from a free-falling convertible. Writer David Twohy went on to direct Sheen in the considerably more accomplished The Arrival. -Andrew Wright.

Review Paramount / Prime Cut [DVD] [1972] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actors & Directors
  • Gregory Walcott
  • Lee Marvin
  • Angel Tompkins
  • Sissy Spacek
  • Michael Ritchie
  • Gene Hackman
Release date: 2005-06-14
Run time: 86 min.
Creator: Gene Hackman
Price: £5.36

Review Prime Cut [DVD] [1972] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] / Paramount:


Review Warner Home Video / Man in the Wilderness/The Deadly Trackers [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actors & Directors
  • Neville Brand
  • Al Lettieri
  • William Smith
  • Richard C. Sarafian
  • Barry Shear
  • Samuel Fuller
  • Richard Harris
  • Rod Taylor
Release date: 2008-05-20
Run time: 210 min.
Creator: Lukas Heller
Price: £4.01

Review Man in the Wilderness/The Deadly Trackers [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] / Warner Home Video:


Review Platinum Disc / The Colt [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephen Spender
  • Ryan Merriman
  • Peter Lacroix
  • Megan Leitch
  • William MacDonald
  • Yelena Lanskaya
Release date: 2005-08-30
Run time: 83 min.
Creator: Misha Segal
Price: £2.62

Review The Colt [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] / Platinum Disc:


Review Prism Leisure Corporation / Supercop [DVD]
Release date: 2003-04-14
RRP: £5.99
Price: £4.99

Review Supercop [DVD] / Prism Leisure Corporation:


Models & Brands:
Conan The Barbarian - Definitive Edition [DVD] [1981], James Bond - The World Is Not Enough (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1999], Deception [DVD] [2000], The Anderson Tapes [DVD] [1971], The Pagemaster [DVD] [1994] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC], Man On Fire (Two Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [2004], Wake Of Death [DVD] [2004], Sniper 2 [DVD] [2002], Leviathan [DVD] [1989] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC], Pitch Black [DVD] [2000], Escape From Fort Bravo [DVD] [1953] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC], IP Man [Blu-ray], Mountain of the Cannibal God [1978] [DVD] [US Import], Lethal Weapon 3 [DVD] [1992], Troy (1-Disc Edition) [DVD] [2004], Terminal Velocity [DVD] [1995], Prime Cut [DVD] [1972] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC], Man in the Wilderness/The Deadly Trackers [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC], The Colt [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC], Supercop [DVD]

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