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Review Walt Disney Home Video  / Stitch - The Movie [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Tony Craig
  • Daveigh Chase
  • David Ogden Stiers
  • Tia Carrere
  • Kevin McDonald
  • Roberts Gannaway
  • Chris Sanders
Release date: 2003-09-22
Run time: 58 min.
Creator: Natasha Kopp
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.45

Review Stitch - The Movie [2003] / Walt Disney Home Video:

Disney sets a record for bringing out a direct-to-video sequel after the initial film. Stitch: The Movie arrives only a year after the enjoyable Lilo & Stitch and reunites the title character (otherwise known as Experiment 626) with his earth-bound family in the warm Hawaiian sun. The story has a nice set-up: since Stitch is Experiment 626, where are the first 625 invented by Dr Jumba Jookiba? Odds are the island paradise will soon be spaceport central for many more aliens. As with other made-for-video Disney titles, the animation is not as complex or rich. This hurts this sequel even more since the original film had such a unique, pastel beauty. Unfortunately, the other elements of the film are just as flat. Even though most of the original voice cast returns, the entire production lacks the same spirit and charm, and the story's theme is recycled (get ready for more "Ohana means family"). On the plus side, the film starts with an Elvis Presley song ("Slicin' Sand") and is only 64 minutes long. The movie sets up the Disney TV series The Adventures of Lilo & Stitch. -Doug Thomas.

Review MGM Entertainment  / Beauty Shop
Actors & Directors
  • Djimon Hounsou
  • Billie Woodruff
  • Alicia Silverstone
  • Kevin Bacon
  • Queen Latifah
  • Mena Suvari
Release date: 2005-09-19
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £1.98

Review Beauty Shop / MGM Entertainment:


Review MGM Entertainment  / La Cage Aux Folles 2 [1980]
Actors & Directors
  • Michel Serrault
  • Marcel Bozzuffi
  • Edouard Molinaro
  • Ugo Tognazzi
Release date: 2002-07-01
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £4.15

Review La Cage Aux Folles 2 [1980] / MGM Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment  / Out Of Towners [1970]
Actors & Directors
  • Glenn Ford
  • Angela Lansbury
  • Delbert Mann
  • Jack Lemmon
  • Geraldine Page
  • Sandy Dennis
Release date: 2003-12-01
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.79

Review Out Of Towners [1970] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Neil Simon's curious comedy The Out-of-Towners concerns a pair of non-New Yorkers (Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis) having a hellish visit to the Big Apple on the eve of a job interview for Lemmon's character. Made in 1970 and directed by Arthur (Love Story) Hiller, this hectic film almost seems ahead of its time when compared to more recent misery-piled-on-misery comedies such as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The couple in this film endure everything that can go wrong on a trip, including being forced to spend the night in a mugger-happy Central Park. The strange element in Simon's script, though, is that Lemmon's character is so unpleasant. A middle-class, uptight guy who can't believe that New Yorkers in the service profession don't perform their jobs slavishly, he's kind of a one-note joke that quickly wears thin. It was remade with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in 1999. -Tom Keogh.

Review Network  / At Home With The Braithwaites - Series 1-4 - Complete
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Davidson
  • Julie Graham
  • Amanda Redman
  • Roger Golby
  • Ishia Bennison
Release date: 2008-10-27
Run time: 1330 min.
RRP: £49.99
Price: £49.86

Review At Home With The Braithwaites - Series 1-4 - Complete / Network:


Review Pathe Distribution  / Love Etc. [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Élodie Navarre
  • Marion Vernoux
  • Charlotte Gainsbourg
  • Charles Berling
  • Yvan Attal
  • Thibault de Montalembert
Release date: 2005-09-26
Run time: 105 min.
Creator: Julian Barnes
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.28

Review Love Etc. [1998] / Pathe Distribution:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment  / Seven Year Itch [1955]
Actors & Directors
  • Billy Wilder
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Oscar Homolka
  • Marguerite Chapman
  • Tom Ewell
  • Robert Strauss
Release date: 2006-05-22
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.99

Review Seven Year Itch [1955] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK  / The Cosby Show - Series 1 - Complete [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Alicia Keys
  • Jay Sandrich
  • Malcolm Jamal Warner
  • Phylicia Rashad
  • Bill Cosby
  • Iman
Release date: 2008-05-19
Run time: 552 min.
RRP: £27.99
Price: £12.00

Review The Cosby Show - Series 1 - Complete [1984] / Universal Pictures UK:

Looking back at Series 1 of The Cosby Show, it's easy to forget that momentous history was being made. Not only did this immensely popular sitcom hold the #1 spot among all network TV shows for five consecutive seasons (a record that still stands), but it promoted an evolutionary progression that influenced the entire TV industry from that point forward. African Americans had enjoyed sitcom success in the past (on Julia, The Jeffersons, and Good Times), but the idealised family of Cliff and Clair Huxtable (Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad) represented a new and quietly revolutionary perspective; married for 21 years with five children (one in college, a detail unmentioned in the pilot episode), the Huxtables were happy and successful (he's a doctor, she's a lawyer), and issues of race were almost entirely irrelevant to the show's universal appeal. More to the point, The Cosby Show was eminently respectable family entertainment, perhaps too squeaky-clean for some tastes, but immediately popular at a time when Eddie Murphy (in Beverly Hills Cop) was honing a more profane image that Cosby disapproved of. The show was also perfectly cast for mass appeal, from the irresistible precociousness of Keshia Knight Pulliam (as the youngest and most charming Huxtable daughter, Rudy) to the stylish adolescence of Lisa Bonet (years before her controversial role in Angel Heart) as 16-year-old Denise; Malcolm-Jamal Warner as outspoken teenager Theo; Tempestt Bledsoe as sensible younger daughter Vanessa; and Sabrina LaBeauf as college student and eventual mother of twins, Sondra. Combined with the effortless chemistry of Cosby and Rashad (credited in Season 1 as Phylicia Ayers Allen), the entire cast forged an easygoing, loosely-rehearsed dynamic that was genuinely familial. -Jeff Shannon.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment  / High Anxiety
Actors & Directors
  • Madeline Kahn
  • Mel Brooks
  • Mel Brooks
  • Harvey Korman
  • Cloris Leachman
Release date: 2005-12-26
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.52

Review High Anxiety / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review 4dvd  / Wish You Were Here [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • David Leland
  • Geoffry Durham
  • Jesse Birdsall
  • Tom Bell
  • Emily Lloyd
  • Pat Heywood
Release date: 2007-09-17
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.60

Review Wish You Were Here [1987] / 4dvd:


Review 2 Entertain Video  / Steptoe & Son - Series Eight [1974]
Actors & Directors
  • Wilfred Brambell
  • Harry H. Corbett
Release date: 2007-05-14
Run time: 177 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.85

Review Steptoe & Son - Series Eight [1974] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Jennifer Aniston  / The Jennifer Aniston Collection: The Object Of My Affection / Picture Perfect / She's The One / Office Space / The Good Girl
Actors & Directors
  • Nicholas Hytner
  • Jay Mohr
  • Jennifer Aniston
  • Kevin Bacon
  • Glenn Gordon Caron
  • Mike Judge
  • Paul Rudd
  • Edward Burns
  • Ron Livingston
  • Miguel Arteta
Release date: 2006-09-04
RRP: £34.99
Price: £13.98

Review The Jennifer Aniston Collection: The Object Of My Affection / Picture Perfect / She's The One / Office Space / The Good Girl / Jennifer Aniston:

The Object Of My Affection - In this ultra-hip, multilayered comedy, triangles and emotional imbroglios take on a new meaning. Well, at least they try. Jennifer Aniston plays a straight woman who falls in love with a gay man (Paul Rudd). She invites him to move in with her just hours after they meet. As their friendship progresses, she learns she is pregnant, and wants Rudd to act as daddy to her newborn, much to the consternation of her overbearing boyfriend (John Pankow). The film takes itself too seriously, although there is some genuine emotion buried in Wendy Wasserstein's clunky script. It is not that the relationships are unbelievable; it is that the story lurches forward from one stilted setup to another. And unfortunately, characters are motivated by unknown forces to take on major life changes without explanation. More fortunate are two very likable performances by Rudd, who wisely plays this without cute, homosexual tics, and a most perky and appealing Aniston. Supporting actor Nigel Hawthorne walks away with the film as a gay drama critic who imparts a few important life lessons as he learns one of his own. [+]
-Rochelle O'Gorman Picture Perfect - If you can get past Jennifer Aniston's form-fitting wardrobe in a movie about a woman struggling to advance in her profession, this romantic comedy is a fair match with My Best Friend's Wedding. Both films feature conniving, self-centered heroines who undergo a transformation-Aniston presents a bogus fiancé (Jerry Maguire's Jay Mohr) to impress her advertising agency boss and gradually discovers a mutual attraction with the imposter. Both movies go off in delightfully unpredictable directions. Picture Perfect falls prey to occasional sitcom fluff, but it's a fine showcase for Aniston's comedic and dramatic attributes. Critics were mixed-to-harsh in reviews for this movie, perhaps because it's a bit derivative and poses slight challenge to Aniston, who proved her skill with light comedy as a principal cast member of TV's Friends sitcom. It's clear that Aniston is a fine comedian, and she shows that talent to advantage in Picture Perfect. -Jeff Shannon She's the One is actor-writer-director Edward Burns' second film, following the widely acclaimed The Brothers McMullen. Given a slightly larger budget to play with ($3m as against his debut project's $25,000), Burns revisits much the same territory-love and sibling rivalry within a New York Irish-American family-but rather more expansively. This time, too, he can run to a few stars-in-the-making (Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, and John Mahoney from Frasier) to jazz up his cast of relative unknowns. Burns himself plays Mickey, a cab-driver in the Big Apple, with Mike McGlone as his yuppie stockbroker brother, and Maxine Bahns as Hope, the girl Mickey falls for and impulsively marries, much to the romantic delight of Francis's neglected wife Renee (Aniston). Francis, meanwhile, is having a clandestine affair with Heather (Diaz), Mike's former girlfriend-something Mike has yet to learn. Dispensing flawed wisdom and generally muddying the waters yet further is the lads' blunt-spoken father (Mahoney). Plotwise that's about it. Burns relies on his appealing cast and some amiably barbed repartee to hold our interest in what's essentially a dialogue-driven movie. He makes shrewd and sometimes unexpected use of his New York locations, too-it's a fair bet most people's mental image of Brooklyn wouldn't include a waterfront fishing community. This is a good-natured, slightly old-fashioned movie whose benevolent view of the battle of the sexes (where the women are invariably smarter than the men) never digs too deep or hits too hard. -Philip Kemp Office Space - Office Space is a movie for anyone who's ever spent eight hours in a "Productivity Bin", had to endure a smarmy, condescending boss, had worries about layoffs, or just had the urge to demolish a temperamental printer or fax machine. Peter (Ron Livingston) spends the day doing stupefyingly dull computer work in a cubicle. He goes home to an apartment sparsely furnished by IKEA and Target, then starts for a maddening commute to work again in the morning. His co-workers in the cube farm are an annoying lot, his boss is a snide, patronising jerk, and his days are consumed with tedium. In desperation, he turns to career hypnotherapy, but when his hypno-induced relaxation takes hold, there's no shutting it off. Layoffs are in the air at his corporation and with two colleagues (both of whom are slated for the chute) he devises a scheme to skim funds from company accounts. The scam soon snowballs, however, throwing the three into a panic until the unexpected happens and saves the day. A little bit like a US version of The Office before it was actually made, director Mike (King of the Hill) Judge's debut movie is a spot-on look at work in corporate America circa 1999. With well-drawn characters and situations instantly familiar to the white-collar milieu, he captures the joylessness of many a cube denizen's work life perfectly. Jennifer Aniston, a waitress at Chotchkie's, a generic beer-and-burger joint, plays Peter's love interest and Diedrich Bader has a minor but hilarious turn as Peter's moustached, long-haired, drywall-installin' neighbour. -Jerry Renshaw The Good Girl - In The Good Girl Jennifer Aniston gets a make-under that would make her Friends character weep, but she finally proves her acting mettle away from the ditzy-but-glamorous Rachel type. A low-key drama from the writer and director duo behind Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl places Aniston's bored shop-girl Justine at the centre of a soul-destroying life in a sleepy Texan town. Like a modern Madame Bovary, Justine's life is stuck in a rut-her marriage is dull and her job at the Retail Rodeo even duller-when a new colleague Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal) offers her an escape. A tortured soul who's obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye and thinks nobody understands him, Holden is a typical, angst-ridden young man. But to Justine he's intriguing and romantic and their shared sense of dejection soon leads to an affair and a short-lived liberation from their daily lives. Aniston could never pass as dowdy but she does a very convincing turn as the crestfallen Justine, using subtlety and dry humour rather than melodrama to convey her quiet desperation. John C Reilly as her permanently stoned husband and Tim Blake Nelson as his creepy chum are both superb alongside her. Even the smaller roles are furnished with some memorable moments: Justine's colleague makes outrageous tannoy announcements to zombie-like customers at the Retail Rodeo. Funny, strange and touching by turns The Good Girl, has its awkward moments but as a quirky slice of life it gets most things right. -Laura Bushell.

Review 2 Entertain Video  / Sensitive Skin Series 2 [2007] Release date: 2008-05-12
Run time: 180 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £9.97

Review Sensitive Skin Series 2 [2007] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Warner Home Video (Icon)  / Blackball [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Mel Smith
  • Paul Kaye|James Cromwell|Alice Evans
Release date: 2004-02-16
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.34

Review Blackball [2003] / Warner Home Video (Icon):

Blackball marks the feature debut of Paul Kaye, who spins a somewhat more likeable variation on his arrogant Perfect World TV persona in this underdog-triumphs-over-adversity comedy. Set, like Fawlty Towers, in the holiday resort of Torquay, and echoing the small-town seaside pettiness of Tony Hancock's The Punch and Judy Man (1963), Blackball is as bitterly class conscious as either, with Kaye as a working-class, potentially world-champion bowler with an enormous chip on his shoulder. Written by Tim Firth (the man also responsible for 2003's Calendar Girls), the film seems unsure what it wants to be, aiming potshots at the corrupting influence of big money TV deals and commercial tie-ins on traditional values, while simultaneously trampling on those very values by celebrating the repugnant antics of Kaye's MTV-generation angry young sportsman. Director Mel Smith eventually swamps any satiric intent under a full slate of feel-good comedy clichés, though he does win fine performances from James Cromwell and Bernard Cribbins as Kaye's proud nemesis and kindly uncle respectively. While parts of the script involving their back stories seems to have been left on the cutting room floor, the restrained dignity these two elder statesmen bring to their roles speaks volumes about changes in attitudes between the generations. Consistently amusing, though too predictable to be hilarious, Blackball features strong support from Vince Vaughn, Johnny Vegas, Imelda Staunton and Alice Evans. Stephen Warbeck's score really elevates proceedings once the product-placed rock soundtrack stands aside. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Optimum Home Entertainment  / Mostly Martha [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Sergio Castellitto
  • Martina Gedeck
  • August Zirner
  • Sibylle Canonica
  • Maxime Foerste
  • Sandra Nettelbeck
Release date: 2003-09-29
Run time: 105 min.
Creator: Karl Baumgartner
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.93

Review Mostly Martha [2003] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK  / Marlene Dietrich
Actors & Directors
  • George Marshall
  • James Stewart
  • Charles Winninger
  • Clive Brook
  • Mischa Auer
  • Josef von Sternberg
  • Marlene Dietrich
Release date: 2006-08-28
Creator: Max Brand
RRP: £49.99
Price: £9.94

Review Marlene Dietrich / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Momentum Pictures  / Puppetry Of The Penis [2001] Release date: 2001-11-19
Run time: 51 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.00

Review Puppetry Of The Penis [2001] / Momentum Pictures:

There is nothing more entertaining than a grown man putting his arm up something furry and talking to it on daytime television, but nothing comes close to the entertainment factor of Puppetry of the Penis, the two-member show that wowed the Edinburgh festival and probably the strangest 50 minutes of entertainment you will ever experience. The creators of this strange puppetry are two lads hailing from Melbourne-David Friend and Simon Morley-who use an altogether different kind of marionette: their penises. This small-screen version of the Puppetry of the Penis (subtitled "The Ancient Art of Genital Origami") is filmed live at Melbourne's Forum theatre. Basically the guys do exactly what it says on the box, strip down to their socks and shoes and then manipulate their members into all manner of objects. Highlights include the Lock Ness monster (obviously added for the festival), the hamburger and their "penis de resistance", the windsurfer, which with the aid of a skateboard and fan signals their final exit. Funny and original as the concept is, this is the kind of show that definitely loses something on screen. Although it tries to capture some of the hilarity ensuing from the predominantly female hen-night audience by panning over the crowd, you can't help feeling that you are missing part of the joke. But some of the "dick tricks" are eye-wateringly funny, and if nothing else it's not every show where you get a quick tutorial into how to make your penis look like Ronald MacDonald's fave food. On the DVD: Although the show itself is only 50-min long, you also get a brilliant "Cockstars", a 45-min "Fly on the Wall" mockumentary, which details the twosome's rise to fame. And what about the disc itself? Well, you can cop a load of the boys in dramatic full-frame transfer and titter along with the Dolby Surround soundtrack; there is even a "Dick Trick" book, so that you can really can try these at home. [+]
-Kristen Bowditch.

Review Universal Pictures UK  / The Man Who Sued God [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Colin Friels
  • Billy Connolly
  • Wendy Hughes
  • Mark Joffe
  • Judy Davis
  • Bille Brown
Release date: 2003-12-01
Run time: 96 min.
Creator: Patrick McCarville
RRP: £17.99
Price: £5.00

Review The Man Who Sued God [2003] / Universal Pictures UK:

The Man Who Sued God defies simple definition, managing to be several types of movie all at the same time. As a theological-romantic-comedy-drama, it's in a somewhat unique category all of its own. Perhaps only Billy Connolly could carry off a central role that combines slapstick with raging anger, puppy-dog disappointment and strong language delivered in his distinctive accent. These facets of performance are used and abused in a tale that feels like it really ought to be based on a true story, but isn't. Connolly's life as a fisherman is sunk by the destruction of his boat by a bolt of lightning. The insurance company won't pay up because it falls under that age-old excuse of being an "Act of God". So Connolly decides to sue the deity. The premise raises issues about how the law and the church have apparently conspired together. But at heart the film is a simple character study, so any pondering on legal or theological implications will have to be done on your own time; the screen is occupied with family issues, underhand dealings and a maybe-maybe romance with Judy Davis. Big Yin fans at least will enjoy the Connolly's composite character. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review Pathe Distribution  / Twenty Four Hour Party People [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Steve Coogan|James Cartwright
  • Michael Winterbottom
Release date: 2003-01-27
Run time: 117 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.57

Review Twenty Four Hour Party People [2002] / Pathe Distribution:

Beginning during the dawn of Factory Records-as Tony Wilson throws himself off a cliff for Granada TV-24 Hour Party People attempts to capture the essence of the ill-fated label which spawned Joy Division/New Order, The Happy Mondays and the venue that started modern Club Culture, the Hacienda in Manchester. Director Michael Winterbottom takes a very different approach to most music biographies, by making the film self-aware that it is a film and ironically looking at its own role within the history of the "Mad-chester" scene. Inspired by Wilson's autobiographical musings, the film is narrated in character by Steve Coogan as Wilson. He offers sporadic moments from his life-his "career" as a presenter at Granada and his several marriages-which in turn influence the destructive nature of the label he founded. Coogan's Wilson gives monologues to camera which remind the audience that what they are watching is only his perspective. Yet with Coogan in the title role it's impossible to ignore the similarities between Wilson and Alan Partridge; and although this adds instant humour to the film it also instantly pins Wilson with the comic "Partridge" tag of fated fool. The cinematography, on the other hand, tries faithfully to embody the feeling of the times, from grainy celluloid for the punk-like Joy Division gigs to bright, clean-cut images for the birth of the Hacienda. The film also benefits from an amazing soundtrack and strong supporting characters. It all adds up to a picture that's purely British in character: imbued with irony, down-and-out inspiration, and a touch of the surreal. On the DVD: 24 Hour Party People comes as a two-disc set, but there really is little need. [+]
Disc 1 is loaded with great extras, such as the deleted scenes, commentaries and Mad-chester musings, but the second disc is a little on the dull side. This really could have been just a single great DVD. There's an excellent screen and audio transfer that brings both the music and the lurid colours to life and the disc also offers that all-important function for hardcore clubbers: a hard of hearing option. -Nikki Disney.

Review 2 Entertain Video  / Bottom - The Complete Bottom - Series 2 [1991]
Actors & Directors
  • Steven O'Donnell
  • Christopher Ryan
  • Adrian Edmondson
  • Lee Cornes
  • Rik Mayall
Release date: 2004-08-30
Run time: 180 min.
Creator: Roger Fenna
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.72

Review Bottom - The Complete Bottom - Series 2 [1991] / 2 Entertain Video:


Models & Brands:
Stitch - The Movie [2003], Beauty Shop, La Cage Aux Folles 2 [1980], Out Of Towners [1970], At Home With The Braithwaites - Series 1-4 - Complete, Love Etc. [1998], Seven Year Itch [1955], The Cosby Show - Series 1 - Complete [1984], High Anxiety, Wish You Were Here [1987], Steptoe & Son - Series Eight [1974], The Jennifer Aniston Collection: The Object Of My Affection / Picture Perfect / She's The One / Office Space / The Good Girl, Sensitive Skin Series 2 [2007], Blackball [2003], Mostly Martha [2003], Marlene Dietrich, Puppetry Of The Penis [2001], The Man Who Sued God [2003], Twenty Four Hour Party People [2002], Bottom - The Complete Bottom - Series 2 [1991]

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