Actors & Directors
- Mark Cox
- Michael Hines
- Greg Hemphill
- Ford Kiernan
- Gavin Mitchell
- Jane McCarry
Release date: 2008-11-03 Run time: 1274 min. RRP: £49.99 Price: £37.97
Review Still Game: The Complete Series 1-6 Plus Christmas and Hogmanay Specials [2007] [2002] / 2 Entertain:
Actors & Directors
- Lauren Holly
- Jim Carrey
- Bobby Farrelly
- Jeff Daniels
- Karen Duffy
- Peter Farrelly
- Mike Starr
Release date: 2000-03-13 Run time: 107 min. Creator: Bennett Yellin RRP: £12.99 Price: £3.99
Review DUMB AND DUMBER [1995] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:Delivering exactly what its title promises, this celebration of stupidity was Jim Carrey's 1994 follow-up to Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. The film pairs the rubber-faced wacky man with Jeff Daniels as the not-so-dynamic duo of Lloyd and Harry, dunderheads who come into the possession of a briefcase containing ransom money that is intended for Mob-connected kidnappers. Lauren Holly co-stars as the woman who lost the briefcase, and with whom Carrey falls in love (both in real life and as his moronic on-screen character). As Lloyd and Harry make a mad dash to return the briefcase (never aware of its contents), the bumbling buddies attract Mobsters, cops, and trouble galore. This lowbrow laugh-a-thon scores some solid hits for hilarity, but with gags involving ill-fated parakeets, buxom bimbos, and an overdose of laxatives, be prepared to put your brain-and good taste-on hold. -Jeff Shannon.
Actors & Directors
- Roger Lloyd-Pack
- Buster Merryfield
- Nicholas Lyndhurst
- David Jason
- John Challis
Release date: 2000-11-06 Run time: 80 min. RRP: £15.99 Price: £6.97
Review Only Fools and Horses - The Jolly Boys' Outing [1981] / 2 Entertain Video:
Actors & Directors
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Freddie Highmore
- David Kelly
- Noah Taylor
- Tim Burton
- Johnny Depp
Release date: 2005-11-21 Run time: 110 min. Creator: Roald Dahl RRP: £24.99 Price: £3.17
Review Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) [2005] / Warner Home Video:Director Tim Burton's take on Roald Dahl's classic story is undeniably more faithful to the source material than the 1975 musical retelling of the same story. His Charlie & The Chocolate Factory is also a slightly darker, visually inventive film, and is ultimately a tasty treat that the whole family can enjoy. Filling the coat of Willy Wonka is frequent Burton collaborator Johnny Depp-the pair have previously worked together on the likes of Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow-and what fun he clearly had. His Wonka is a kooky, isolated figure, extremely distrusting and clearly uncomfortable around the children who win a golden ticket to look round his factory. Burton invests time in his main character, giving him a rounded back story that pays dividends, and while some will inevitably prefer Gene Wilder's edgier take on the same role all those years ago, Depp nonetheless is on strong form. The cast around him also perform well, particularly Freddie Highmore in the title role. The story is as you'll likely remember it, with five children given the chance to visit Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. And what a visual treat that factory is, bursting with colour and vibrancy. Along the way, they encounter chocolate lakes, industrious squirrels and the infamous oompa loompas, and truthfully, it's fun to be along for the ride. Is it better than that aforementioned 1975 version? Actually, it's just different. [+]
Each film will no doubt have its legion of fans, but the bottom line here is that Roald Dahl's classic has provided the source for an enjoyable, well pitched movie with plenty of rewatch value. Now if only they'd go and film Charlie & The Great Glass Elevator
-Simon Brew.
Actors & Directors
- Christina Ricci
- Terry Gilliam
- Cameron Diaz
- Gary Busey
- Benicio Del Toro
- Johnny Depp
Release date: 2005-09-05 Run time: 113 min. RRP: £15.99 Price: £3.00
Review Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas [1998] / Universal Pictures UK:The original cowriter and director of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was Alex Cox, whose earlier film Sid and Nancy suggests that Cox could have been a perfect match in filming Hunter S. Thompson's psychotropic masterpiece of "gonzo" journalism. Unfortunately Cox departed due to the usual "creative differences," and this ill-fated adaptation was thrust upon Terry Gilliam, whose formidable gifts as a visionary filmmaker were squandered on the seemingly unfilmable elements of Thompson's ether-fogged narrative. The result is a one-joke movie without the joke-an endless series of repetitive scenes involving rampant substance abuse and the hallucinogenic fallout of a road trip that's run crazily out of control. Johnny Depp plays Thompson's alter ego, "gonzo" journalist Raoul Duke, and Benicio Del Toro is his sidekick and so-called lawyer Dr. Gonzo. During the course of a trip to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, they ingest a veritable chemistry set of drugs, and Gilliam does his best to show us the hallucinatory state of their zonked-out minds. This allows for some dazzling imagery and the rampant humour of stumbling buffoons, and the mumbling performances of Depp and Del Toro wholeheartedly embrace the tripped-out, paranoid lunacy of Thompson's celebrated book. But over two hours of this insanity tends to grate on the nerves-like being the only sober guest at a party full of drunken idiots. So while Gilliam's film may achieve some modest cult status over the years, it's only because Fear and Loathing is best enjoyed by those who are just as stoned as the characters in the movie. [+]
-Jeff Shannon.
Actors & Directors
- Eric Lloyd
- John Pasquin
- Wendy Crewson
- Judge Reinhold
- David Krumholtz
- Tim Allen
Release date: 2002-11-18 Run time: 105 min. Creator: Steve Rudnick RRP: £11.99 Price: £2.49
Review The Santa Clause [1995] / Walt Disney Home Video:Tim Allen makes an impressive screen debut in Disney's well-written seasonal film The Santa Clause. Divorced toy company executive Scott Calvin is pleased to have his son Charlie for Christmas, though the boy himself isn't happy about it. But when Santa Claus accidentally topples off the roof of the house and falls with a thud in the snow, Scott finds himself taking the merry old elf's place and earning new respect in his son's eyes. When the night ends, the reindeer take them to the North Pole, and Scott discovers that by donning the fabled red suit, he's inadvertently agreed to become the next Santa Claus. The next morning he wakes up in his own bed and thinks it's all a dream-but Charlie remembers it with crystal clarity. Scott now has to deal with his suspicious ex-wife (Wendy Crewson) and her psychiatrist boyfriend (Judge Reinhold), who both think he's playing tricks with Charlie's mind, and also with his own out-of-control body, which is putting on weight and growing a prodigious beard. The Santa Clause probably won't supplant It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street as anyone's favourite Christmas viewing, but it's an enjoyable, straightforward family film, anchored by the affable charisma of Allen. -Bret Fetzer.
Actors & Directors
- Tom Shadyac
- Jimmy Bennett
- Jonah Hill
- Steve Carell
- John Michael Higgins
- Wanda Sykes
Release date: 2008-11-26 Run time: 91 min. RRP: £9.99 Price: £2.86
Review Evan Almighty [2007] / Universal Pictures UK:Giving Steve Carell a long-overdue leading role in a mainstream Hollywood comedy, Evan Almighty is the sequel to the huge Jim Carrey hit Bruce Almighty. And while Carrey isn't on the cast list this time round, director Tom Shadyac and Morgan Freeman are among the many returnees. The focus of Evan Almighty switches to Carell's Evan Baxter, last seen as a newsreader but now an elected official, who is chosen by God (Freeman) to build a new ark. And this ark needs, as you'd expect, to hold two of each species on the planet. Naturally, all the people around Evan think he's gone mad, and this proves a healthy comedy mine that's well exploited. Evan Almighty isn't without a few problems, though. The focus of the film isn't always tight enough on generating the laughs, and Carell is surprisingly under-used. He's on form when the material allows him to shine, but its often (admittedly impressive) special effects that end up taking centre stage, an odd road to choose for a comedy. That said, Evan Almighty is still an enjoyable family comedy, and it's not without rewatch value. It's a fun little movie, and one that deserves extra credit for promoting Carell to top billing-that's a move long overdue. [+]
-Jon Foster.
Actors & Directors
- Sid Caesar
- Stanley Kramer
- Milton Berle
- Mickey Rooney
- Ethel Merman
- Spencer Tracy
Release date: 2002-03-11 Run time: 148 min. Creator: William Rose RRP: £12.99 Price: £4.15
Review It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [1963] / MGM Entertainment:Stanley Kramer's 1963 It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a sprawling comedy about a search for buried treasure by at least a dozen people-all played by well-known entertainers of their day-is the kind of mass comedy that has recently come back to the for-front of Hollywood with the film Rat Race. After a number of strangers (including Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers and others) witness a dying stranger (Jimmy Durante) identify the location of hidden money, a conflict-ridden hunt begins, watched over carefully by a suspicious cop (Spencer Tracy). The ensuing two and a half hours of mayhem has its ups and downs-some sketches and performers are certainly funnier than others. But Kramer, who is better known for socially conscious, serious cinema (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), is in a mood for broad comic characterization, and some of his jokes are so intentionally obvious (Durante literally kicks a bucket when he dies), they could have derived from the Airplane! reject bin. Watch for lots of cameo appearances, including Jerry Lewis. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.
Release date: 2006-11-13 RRP: £19.99 Price: £9.98
Review Dinnerladies - The Complete Series [1998] / Universal Pictures UK:
Actors & Directors
- Martin Clunes
- Jamie Foreman
- Tchéky Karyo
- Brenda Blethyn
- Nigel Cole
- Craig Ferguson
Release date: 2002-01-14 Run time: 90 min. Creator: Sara Giles RRP: £17.99 Price: £4.87
Review Saving Grace [2000] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:A sweet, silly and sincere comedy, Saving Grace resembles a Cheech and Chong pothead comedy, only instead of two scruffy lowlifes the film is about an aimless Scottish gardener and a middle-aged widow with a green thumb. Grace (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies and Little Voice) has just discovered that her recently deceased husband has left her with an enormous debt when her gardener Matthew (Craig Ferguson, The Big Tease) asks her to help him tend to his small, personal-use marijuana crop. Grace soon realises that they can turn her greenhouse into a hydroponics laboratory and turn out a profitable crop-if only they can keep the local constables at bay and then find a dealer to sell the stuff. Saving Grace has well-developed characters, intelligent dialogue, a charming and capable cast and clean, clear direction. But at heart it's still a marijuana comedy, with most of its funniest moments coming from the silly, stoned behaviour of elderly ladies and others. Nothing wrong with that, and Blethyn and Ferguson give the film a strong anchor. The ending goes a little over the top, but most of the film is well-grounded in genuine human behaviour. A sub-plot about Matthew's girlfriend's pregnancy is treated with respect and integrity. -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. com.
Actors & Directors
- Hartley Power
- Audrey Hepburn
- Harcourt Williams
- William Wyler
- Gregory Peck
- Eddie Albert
Release date: 2003-04-07 Run time: 113 min. Creator: John Dighton RRP: £15.99 Price: £3.70
Review Roman Holiday [1953] / Paramount Home Entertainment:The three-way combination of ingénue Audrey Hepburn, admirable Gregory Peck and the Eternal City itself guarantees that Roman Holiday (1953) still knocks the socks off any modern rom-com you might care to name. Add to this stellar triumvirate the meticulous, loving direction of William Wyler and a warm-hearted original story by Dalton Trumbo (blacklisted and uncredited at the time) and the result is assuredly one of Hollywood's timeless classics. At the leading man's own suggestion, newcomer Hepburn was generously accorded equal above-the-title billing with Peck: he knew that the film belonged to her anyway and wasn't one to stand on ceremony. As the princess who chafes at stuffy responsibility Hepburn's appealing girlishness is suffused with a will and wilfulness that rubs delightfully against Peck's more earnest mannerisms (even playing light-hearted comedy, he's still Atticus Finch at heart). The then-unusual decision to shoot entirely on location provides the movie with its glorious travelogue backdrop, and stalwart character-actor Eddie Albert is a fine foil for the two leads. Although Wyler is best known now for the grander vistas of The Big Country and Ben-Hur, none of his epics have as much heart as this. On the DVD: Roman Holiday comes to DVD in a good digitally restored print-in itself a powerful reason to acquire the movie on disc. Sound is clean Dolby mono. Extras include a brief piece on the film restoration process, and a short documentary about costume designer Edith Head, which isn't specifically about this movie. The 25-minute making-of featurette has recent and archive interviews with cast members, including Peck and Eddie Albert, as well as William Wyler's daughter, plus Hepburn's screen test footage. [+]
Still-photo galleries and trailers complete a pleasant selection. -Mark Walker.
Actors & Directors
- Traylor Howard
- Tony Shalhoub
- Stanley Kamel
- Jason Gray-Stanford
- Ted Levine
Release date: 2008-10-13 Run time: 3883 min. RRP: £54.99 Price: £39.98
Review Monk Seasons 1-6 / Universal Pictures UK:
Actors & Directors
- Paul Whitehouse
- Sophie Winkleman
- Harry Enfield
- Catherine Shepherd
- Morwenna Banks
Release date: 2008-10-27 Run time: 180 min. Creator: George Jeffries RRP: £19.99 Price: £16.49
Review Harry And Paul - Series 2 [2008] / 2 Entertain Video:
Actors & Directors
- David Jason
- John Challis
- Buster Merryfield
- Nicholas Lyndhurst
- Roger Lloyd-Pack
Release date: 2003-09-22 Run time: 300 min. RRP: £19.99 Price: £6.94
Review Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 6 [1989] [1981] / 2 Entertain Video:You'll need no incentive to watch Series 6 of Only Fools and Horses beyond the knowledge that the very first episode of the six herein is the one in which Del takes that legendary pratfall when leaning against a non-existent bar counter. This is without doubt one of the greatest moments in British TV comedy. Other than that, what do we get? Well, this is the series in which Rodney first takes up with Cassandra. Gwyneth Strong's deftly underplayed, near-deadpan approach to the role of Rodney's soulmate is perhaps one of the most underrated elements in the show's entire run, even if the writers rather ran out of things to do with her almost at once. Ironically, then, despite her introduction, this isn't the strongest of Only Fools collections. Nevertheless, there are enough gems to remind you just why this show was such a success, among them the Spanish holiday episode in which Rodney has to pretend to be 14 and the propane-filled blow-up dolls episode, which really doesn't need a punchline. On the DVD: Only Fools and Horses, Series 6 two-disc set is presented in standard TV 4:3 ratio, with no special features-unless you count the injunctions on each disc's menu to insert the other disc if you want to watch the other episodes, ". you plonker!". [+]
-Roger Thomas.
Actors & Directors
- David Huddleston
- Joel Coen
- Ethan Coen
- Steve Buscemi
- Julianne Moore
- Jeff Bridges
- John Goodman
Release date: 2005-10-17 Run time: 113 min. Creator: John Cameron RRP: £15.99 Price: £3.20
Review The Big Lebowski [1998] / Universal Pictures UK:The Big Lebowski, a casually amusing follow-up from the prolifically inventive Coen brothers (Ethan and Joel), seems like a bit of a lark and the result was a box-office disappointment. It's lazy plot is part of its laidback charm. After all, how many movies can claim as their hero a pot-bellied, pot-smoking loser named Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who spends most of his time bowling and getting stoned? And where else could you find a hair-netted Latino bowler named Jesus (John Turturro) who sports dazzling purple footgear, or an erotic artist (Julianne Moore) whose creativity consists of covering her naked body in paint, flying through the air in a leather harness, and splatting herself against a giant canvas? Who else but the Coens would think of showing you a camera view from inside the holes of a bowling ball, or an elaborate Busby Berkely-styled musical dream sequence involving a Viking goddess and giant bowling pins? The plot-which finds Lebowski involved in a kidnapping scheme after he's mistaken for a rich guy with the same name-is almost beside the point. What counts here is a steady cascade of hilarious dialogue, great work from Coen regulars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, and the kind of cinematic ingenuity that puts the Coens in a class all their own. -Jeff Shannon.
Actors & Directors
- Natalie Portman
- Peter Sarsgaard
- Zach Braff
- Ian Holm
- Zach Braff
- Jean Smart
Release date: 2005-05-02 Run time: 109 min. RRP: £15.99 Price: £4.87
Review Garden State [2004] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:Zach Braff (from the TV show Scrubs) stars in his writing/directing debut, Garden State-normally a doomed act of hubris, but Braff pulls it off with unassuming charm. An emotionally numb actor in L. A. , Andrew (Braff) comes back to New Jersey after nine years away for his mother's funeral. Andrew avoids his bitter father (Ian Holm) and joins old friends (including the superb Peter Sarsgaard) in a round of parties. Along the way he meets a girl (Natalie Portman) with demons of her own; bit by bit the two offer each other a little healing. Plotwise, Garden State is familiar stuff, a cross between The Graduate and a Meg Ryan movie, but Braff has an eye for goofy but resonant visual images, an ear for lively dialogue, and a great cast. The result is surprisingly fresh and funny. -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. com.
Actors & Directors
- Nancy Meyers
- Frances McDormand
- Diane Keaton
- Jack Nicholson
- Amanda Peet
- Keanu Reeves
Release date: 2004-06-14 Run time: 123 min. RRP: £12.99 Price: £1.79
Review Something's Gotta Give [2004] / Warner Home Video:As upscale sitcoms go, Something's Gotta Give has more to offer than most romantic comedies. Obviously working through some semi-autobiographical issues regarding "women of a certain age", writer-director Nancy Meyers brings adequate credibility and above-average intelligence to what is essentially (but not exclusively) a fantasy premise, in which an ageing lothario who's always dated younger women (Jack Nicholson, more or less playing himself) falls for a successful middle-aged playwright (Diane Keaton) who's convinced she's past the age of romance, much less sexual reawakening. As long as old pals Nicholson and Keaton are on screen discussing their dilemma or discovering their mutual desire, Something's Gotta Give is terrific, proving (in case anyone had forgotten) that Hollywood can and should aim for an older demographic. Meyers falls short with the sitcom device of a younger lover (Keanu Reeves) who wants Keaton as much as Nicholson does; it's believable but shallow and too easily dismissed. She also skimps on supporting roles for Frances McDormand, Amanda Peet and Jon Favreau, but thankfully this is one romantic comedy that doesn't pander to youth. Mature viewers, rejoice! -Jeff Shannon.
Actors & Directors
- Isabella Rossellini
- Bruce Willis
- Meryl Streep
- Ian Ogilvy
- Goldie Hawn
- Robert Zemeckis
Release date: 2002-09-02 Run time: 99 min. Creator: Martin Donovan RRP: £9.99 Price: £3.63
Review Death Becomes Her [1992] / Universal Pictures UK:If Robert Zemeckis's mega-hit Forrest Gump was too sweet for your taste, you may enjoy the undiluted bitterness of his previous movie, a cynical black comedy that was ahead of its time. Death Becomes Her, an outlandish parable about America's obsession with youth and vanity, exposes the corrosive side of Zemeckis's comic sensibility, the sort of scathing satirical edge he gleefully flourished in his overlooked 1980 Used Cars, which has developed a cult following. Meryl Streep has a ball as the deliciously vicious Madeline Ashton, a flamboyantly mannered actress who makes Bette Davis's formidable Margo Channing in All About Eve look like a wallflower. Goldie Hawn is also in razor-sharp comedic form as Madeline's long-time "best friend," Helen. Sensing a bargain she just can't resist, Madeline steals Helen's meek, plastic-surgeon husband Ernest (Bruce Willis) for her own convenience, and the two women become sworn enemies. But the real complications arise when the two are introduced to a secret anti-aging formula by a mysterious and exotic woman (Isabella Rossellini, delightfully ridiculous) that not only smoothes away wrinkles but actually guarantees immortality. As their undying bodies are twisted and mutilated by violent attacks on each other, both women grow increasingly dependent on Ernest for cosmetic repair. The pioneering digital effects inflicted on Streep and Hawn are as grotesque as they are imaginative and hilarious. Like James Cameron (The Abyss, Titanic), Zemeckis loves a technical challenge, and the new visual tools developed for this movie made his later work (in Forrest Gump and Contact) possible. The digital video disc includes a short feature on the movie's production. [+]
-Jim Emerson, Amazon. com.
Actors & Directors
- Clea Duvall
- Melonie Diaz
- Carly Pope
- Nicole Vicius
- Jamie Babbit
Release date: 2008-12-08 Run time: 87 min. RRP: £14.99 Price: £9.89
Review Itty Bitty Titty Committee [2007] / Tla Releasing:
Actors & Directors
- Lisa Kudrow
- Courteney Cox
- Matt LeBlanc
- Matthew Perry
- Jennifer Aniston
Release date: 2004-10-25 Run time: 550 min. Creator: Marta Kauffman RRP: £49.99 Price: £5.99
Review Friends: Complete Season 3 - New Edition [1995] / Warner Home Video:Seemingly low-key but as wittily crafted as the first two series, this season develops minor characters-Gunther, Central Perk's proprietor, who is in love with Rachel; Phoebe's half-brother Frank (played by rising-star Giovanni Ribisi); the chick and duck-who will play key parts later on while the foundations for crucial story lines developed in Series 4 are laid down. The most momentous story arc covers Rachel and Ross splitting up when she suggests they take a "break" and he sleeps with the girl from the copy shop. Phoebe gets to know her little brother Frank who falls in love with the much-older Alice, for whom Phoebe will bear triplets in a later series. Monica pines after Richard and then starts dating the millionaire Pete, although towards the end Chandler is trying to persuade her he's good boyfriend material-clearly an omen of things to come. -Leslie Felperin.
| Models & Brands: Still Game: The Complete Series 1-6 Plus Christmas and Hogmanay Specials [2007] [2002], DUMB AND DUMBER [1995], Only Fools and Horses - The Jolly Boys' Outing [1981], Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) [2005], Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas [1998], The Santa Clause [1995], Evan Almighty [2007], It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [1963], Dinnerladies - The Complete Series [1998], Saving Grace [2000], Roman Holiday [1953], Monk Seasons 1-6, Harry And Paul - Series 2 [2008], Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 6 [1989] [1981], The Big Lebowski [1998], Garden State [2004], Something's Gotta Give [2004], Death Becomes Her [1992], Itty Bitty Titty Committee [2007], Friends: Complete Season 3 - New Edition [1995] |