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Review MGM Entertainment / Mannequin [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • G.W. Bailey
  • Andrew McCarthy
  • Michael Gottlieb
  • Kim Cattrall
  • Estelle Getty
  • James Spader
Release date: 2003-01-06
Run time: 86 min.
Creator: Joseph Farrell
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.23

Review Mannequin [1987] / MGM Entertainment:

This terrible 1987 film stars Kim Cattrall as an ancient spirit from Egypt who occupies the form of a department-store mannequin. A store employee (Andrew McCarthy) is the only one who sees the woman within, and they fall for one another. Mannequin is great idea that might have made a nifty romantic comedy in the late 1930s-when Hollywood knew how to make these things-is bungled here. Meshach Taylor (of TV's Designing Women) is embarrassing as a flamboyant follower of fashion. You want comedies about spirits mingling with mortals? Try Topper or The Bishop's Wife. -Tom Keogh Made in 1987, Mannequin represents everything that was naff about late-80s Hollywood: from its bland, boxy, electro-rock soundtrack to its sub-Sarah Ferguson fashion sense to its tawdry sets, flimsy characterisation and cheap slapstick humour (including the mandatory amusing dog). It might be centuries before its radioactive awfulness dies down enough to make it watchable, even as kitsch. Mannequin is notionally a romantic comedy in which Andrew McCarthy plays a luckless department store employee and Kim (Sex and the City) Cattrall is an Egyptian Princess reincarnated as a shop window dummy, who comes to life when she encounters McCarthy, only to revert to mannequin status when anyone but McCarthy is watching her. With her encouragement, he becomes emboldened in his career as a window decorator as well as falling in love with the Princess. James Spader's oily, stammery executive is just one of the many examples of a film that tries way too hard to be funny, the sort of characterisation that would be barely adequate for a comic TV ad, let alone a 90-minute movie. [+]
Still, for fans of Sex and the City who might want to feast upon the spectacle of a younger Kim Cattrall, Mannequin might offer a measure of relief. On DVD: Mannequin on disc has just the original trailer as an extra, while no amount of DVD enhancement can conceal the tawdry feel of this movie. -David Stubbs.

Review Warner Home Video / No Reservations [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Aaron Eckhart
  • Abigail Breslin
  • Catherine Zeta-Jones
  • Jenny Wade
  • Patricia Clarkson
  • Scott Hicks
Release date: 2008-01-28
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.49

Review No Reservations [2007] / Warner Home Video:

Achieving balance in one's life can be a difficult process, but master chef Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) leads a regimented, very ordered existence running the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant and revels in the sense of power and control her career affords. When Kate's sister is unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident and her 9-year old niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin) moves in with her, Kate's life is turned completely upside down and she is suddenly forced to split her focus between work and family. Enter a newly hired, fun-loving, opera-singing sous-chef Nick Palmer (Aaron Eckhart), whom Kate perceives as a serious rival, and thus begins an impassioned struggle on Kate's part to rein in Nick's exuberance and maintain control over her kitchen staff. Even as they clash, Kate is inexplicably drawn towards Nick, eventually coming to the realisation that Nick offers something that she needs both in her restaurant kitchen and her new life with Zoe. Based on the screenplay for Mostly Martha, Catherine Zeta-Jones carries the lead well in this romantic comedy and there's a nice chemistry between herself and Aaron Eckhart, as well as a poignant performance by Abigail Breslin. And, of course, and the food looks simply scrumptious. -Tami Horiuchi.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / The Gods Must Be Crazy / Gods Must Be Crazy 2 [1980 / 1989)
Actors & Directors
  • Hans Strydom
  • N!xau
  • Sandra Prinsloo
  • Marius Weyers
  • Lena Farugia
Release date: 2004-09-06
Run time: 200 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £6.35

Review The Gods Must Be Crazy / Gods Must Be Crazy 2 [1980 / 1989) / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Not Going Out - Series 2 - Complete
Actors & Directors
  • Lee Mack
Release date: 2009-02-02
Run time: 160 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review Not Going Out - Series 2 - Complete / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Men In Black Collector's Edition (1997)
Actors & Directors
  • Will Smith
  • Rip Torn
  • Vincent D'Onofrio
  • Barry Sonnenfeld
  • Tommy Lee Jones
  • Linda Fiorentino
Release date: 2002-07-29
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Lowell Cunningham
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.84

Review Men In Black Collector's Edition (1997) / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

This imaginative comedy from director Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty) is a lot of fun, largely on the strength of Will Smith's engaging performance as the rookie partner of a secret agent (Tommy Lee Jones) assigned to keep tabs on Earth-dwelling extra-terrestrials. There's lots of comedy to spare in this bright film, some of the funniest stuff found in the margins of the major action (a scene with Smith's character being trounced in the distance by a huge alien while Jones questions a witness is a riot. ) The inventiveness never lets up, and the cast-including Vincent D'Onofrio doing frighteningly convincing work as an alien occupying a decaying human-hold up their end splendidly. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com On the DVD: This Collector's Edition disc contains a "Visual Commentary" that features director Barry Sonenfeld and actor Tommy Lee Jones in an anecdotal conversation, but with the unique twist that they are displayed as silhouettes on your TV screen (imagine you're sitting in the back row of the cinema and they are up front) using a pointer to highlight particular events on screen. If you have a widescreen TV, the menu prompts you to switch to 4:3 mode to see this. There is also a "Visual Effects Scene Deconstruction" in which the tunnel scene and the Edgar Bug fight scene are dissected into their constituent parts; an in-depth documentary, "Metamorphosis of MIB", which charts the progress of the concept from comic book to screen; five "Extended and Alternate" scenes; trailers, including a teaser for MIB II; and Will Smith's "Men in Black" music video. -Mark Walker.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Jam and Jerusalem: Complete BBC Series One
Actors & Directors
  • Sue Johnston
  • Tip Haddem
  • Pauline McLynn
  • Delilah Stagg
  • Joanna Lumley
Release date: 2008-01-21
Run time: 216 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £8.24

Review Jam and Jerusalem: Complete BBC Series One / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Warner Home Video / The Doris Day Anthology : The Pajama Game, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Lucky Me, On Moonlight Bay, Tea for Two, Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris.
Actors & Directors
  • Doris Day
  • George Abbott
  • Stanley Donen
Release date: 2007-01-01
Run time: 652 min.
RRP: £50.99
Price: £17.97

Review The Doris Day Anthology : The Pajama Game, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Lucky Me, On Moonlight Bay, Tea for Two, Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris. / Warner Home Video:


Review 4dvd / East Is East [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Om Puri
  • Jordan Routledge
  • Jimi Mistry
  • Damien O'Donnell
  • Linda Bassett
  • Chris Bisson
Release date: 2007-09-17
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.93

Review East Is East [1999] / 4dvd:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Monty Python's Life Of Brian [Blu-ray] [1979]
Actors & Directors
  • Terence Bayler
  • Charles McKeown
  • Graham Chapman
  • John Cleese
  • Terry Gilliam
  • Terry Jones
Release date: 2007-12-03
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £7.99

Review Monty Python's Life Of Brian [Blu-ray] [1979] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / The American President [1995]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael J. Fox
  • Annette Bening
  • Anna Deavere Smith
  • Michael Douglas
  • Martin Sheen
  • Rob Reiner
Release date: 2002-09-02
Run time: 109 min.
Creator: Aaron Sorkin
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.28

Review The American President [1995] / Universal Pictures UK:

What sounds like a high-concept romantic comedy pitch from hell-widower president falls for smart lobbyist while the world watches-is actually intelligent, charming, touching and quite funny. Granted, it's wish fulfilment all the way (when was the last time you saw a president who was truly presidential?) but in the capable hands of writer Aaron Sorkin (TV's Sports Night) and director Rob Reiner, TheAmerican President is incredibly enjoyable entertainment with quite a few ideas about both romance and the government. Michael Douglas stars as the president, who after three years in office starts thinking about the possibility of dating. When he auspiciously encounters cutthroat environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), sparks begin to crackle and the two begin a tentative but heartfelt romance. Of course, his job gets in the way-their first kiss is interrupted by a Libyan bombing-but darn it if these two kids aren't going to try and make it work! However, they hadn't counted on the president's Republican antagonist (Richard Dreyfuss), who starts carping about family values. The predictable plot-Douglas finally goes to bat for his lady and his country-is leavened by Sorkin's wonderful, snappy dialogue and a light touch from the usually subtle-as-a-sledgehammer Reiner. Both manage to create a believable White House-office atmosphere (with a crack staff including Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Anna Deavere Smith and Samantha Mathis) as well as a plausible and funny dating scenario. The true success of the movie, though, rides squarely on Douglas and Bening; this is unequivocally Douglas's best comedic performance (ergo his best performance, period) and Bening, usually such a good bad girl, takes a standard career-woman role and fleshes it out magnificently. You can see in an instant why Douglas would fall for her. [+]
One of the best unsung romantic comedies of the 90s. -Mark Englehart.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 2 [1982] [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Nicholas Lyndhurst
  • John Challis
  • David Jason
  • Roger Lloyd-Pack
Release date: 2001-04-02
Run time: 231 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.98

Review Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 2 [1982] [1981] / 2 Entertain Video:

Although at first glance a series about a family of lovable spivs who get into endless scrapes as they duck and dive their way through life must have sounded like a complete non-starter, but John Sullivan's quickfire scripts for Only Fools and Horses and the spot-on performances by Jason (Del), Lyndhurst (Rodney) and Pierce (Grandad) combine to perfection in this beautifully crafted classic comedy. As there's no padding at all in OFAH it's almost essential to own it in recorded form just to pick up on all the brilliant detail, so having an entire eight-episode series in a single package is even better. This second series both begins and ends with complications involving women, opening with Rodney's dangerous liaison with a policewoman and closing with Del's infatuation with Heather, who has ambitions as an actress. Along the way, there's a bit of trouble with the Spanish police, some North Korean (sic) porcelain, a rather eventful painting job in a Chinese restaurant and generally more laughs than you can shake a Pringle sweater at. On the DVD: the DVD comes in at a whopping 231 minutes-the whole series on one disc, which is handy-and has an episode/scene index. -Roger Thomas.

Review Disney / Scrubs Seasons 1 - 7 Complete Box Set [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Ken Jenkins
  • Zach Braff
  • Sarah Chalke
  • Bill Lawrence
  • Judy Reyes
Release date: 2008-12-01
Run time: 3243 min.
RRP: £129.99
Price: £100.97

Review Scrubs Seasons 1 - 7 Complete Box Set [2001] / Disney:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / The Longest Yard [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Adam Sandler
  • Chris Rock
  • Peter Segal
  • Nelly
  • William Fichtner
  • James Cromwell
Release date: 2006-01-16
Run time: 109 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £1.79

Review The Longest Yard [2005] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

The latest remake of Burt Reynold's 1974 flick, Adam Sandler's take on The Longest Yard, is unlikely to win him many new fans. But it has merits as a good, solid, enjoyable comedy, and it finds Sandler himself in very strong form. The plot sets him as an ex-American footballer, who is sent to prison following a car accident. There, he finds himself putting together a team of convicts to face off against the prison guards, an opportunity that many of the prisoners simply don't want to pass up. And that pretty much sets the stage for a fast-paced, frequently-funny comedy that doesn't eclipse the original by any means, but is a worthy testament to it. Its main strength is its cast. Alongside Sandler himself are a collection of names from the American Football scene, but British audiences are more likely to warm to Chris Rock. He pretty much steals good chunks of the movie from under Sandler's nose, and some of the film's finest moments are down to him. Granted, The Longest Yard hardly sets new ground for comedies, and neither is it the finest laugh-fest of the last few years. But it is fun, it is funny, and for Adam Sandler and Chris Rock fans in particular, it's a fine way to spend a couple of hours. [+]
Worth a spin. -Simon Brew.

Review Vision Video Ltd. / Harry Hill - First Class Scamp - Live [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Burt Kwouk
  • Harry Hill
  • Charlie Hanson
Release date: 2000-11-27
Run time: 62 min.
Creator: Richard Allen-Turner
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.48

Review Harry Hill - First Class Scamp - Live [1998] / Vision Video Ltd.:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Absolutely Fabulous - Series 1 - Complete [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Joanna Lumley
  • Julia Sawalha
  • Jane Horrocks
  • Jennifer Saunders
  • June Whitfield
Release date: 2000-11-20
Run time: 195 min.
Creator: Andy Hollis
RRP: £15.99
Price: £9.07

Review Absolutely Fabulous - Series 1 - Complete [1992] / 2 Entertain Video:

Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and became an instant hit. Originally a sketch on the French and Saunders Show, Jennifer Saunders saw its potential and created one of the most ground-breaking and debauched comedies on British TV. Centred around the hip London fashion scene the series follows Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), two women who refuse to grow up and are constantly on a mission to lose weight, gorging themselves with cocaine and/or champagne, endlessly throwing parties (or throwing up at parties), and sporting outrageous outfits which were the height of fashion at the time-honestly sweetie! The superb comic performances offered star status to Julia Sawalha as Edina's straight-laced daughter and Jane Horrocks as the sublimely dippy Bubble, and re-invented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of the top female comedians Britain has ever produced. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever. Ab Fab remains a landmark in TV since it was the first time that female comedians and writers had had the freedom and exposure to satirise problems close to their own heart, from their own perspective. With Feminist writers claiming that the ideals of feminism were dead in the 1990s and that female concerns were moving in the wrong direction-towards the "Laddette Culture"-and reports claiming that careers were taking a central role, forcing motherhood onto the back-burner, the series sought to embody and satirise these new supposedly "female" characteristics. As the show continued to grow in popularity both in Britain and the States, plans were made to transfer the formula to America. However, as with many other great British series, the content was considered too risky for American audiences due to the amount of sex and drug references. Thus domestic audiences breathed a sigh of release that their beloved Ab Fab would forever stay British to the core. [+]
-Nikki Disney.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 7 [1990] [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Nicholas Lyndhurst
  • Buster Merryfield
  • David Jason
  • Roger Lloyd-Pack
  • John Challis
Release date: 2004-09-06
Run time: 300 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.16

Review Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 7 [1990] [1981] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Al Murray - The Pub Landlord LIVE - Giving It Both Barrels [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Al Murray
Release date: 2006-05-29
Run time: 68 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.39

Review Al Murray - The Pub Landlord LIVE - Giving It Both Barrels [2006] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Touchstone Home Video / Ruthless People [1986]
Actors & Directors
  • David Zucker
  • Danny DeVito
  • Judge Reinhold
  • Jim Abrahams
  • Helen Slater
  • Anita Morris
  • Bette Midler
  • Jerry Zucker
Release date: 2004-08-23
Run time: 91 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £3.13

Review Ruthless People [1986] / Touchstone Home Video:


Review Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Casanova [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephen Greif
  • Heath Ledger
  • Lasse Hallstrom
  • Oliver Platt
  • Jeremy Irons
  • Sienna Miller
Release date: 2006-06-19
Run time: 112 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £5.18

Review Casanova [2005] / Buena Vista Home Entertainment:

A light farce dressed up as a lush 18th century costume drama, Casanova gives a fictional spin to the exploits of history's most rakish seducer of women. As played by Heath Ledger, this Casanova bears no resemblance to Donald Sutherland's unrepentant portrayal in Fellini's Casanova, filmed 30 years earlier. Instead, the great ladies' man of Venice is just biding time by bedding women, waiting for true love (and the return his long-absent mother) to settle down into blissful monogamy. He finds true love in Francesca (Sienna Miller), a feminist who initially resists Casanova's affections while director Lasse Hallström serves up a variety of lightweight subplots including Casanova's flight from the Vatican's inquisitor (Jeremy Irons); a host of mistaken identities involving, among others, the portly "Lard King of Genoa" (played with scene-stealing perfection by Oliver Platt in a blubbery fat suit); and the romantic negotiations of Francesca's mother (played by Hallström's wife, Lena Olin) and a young bumbler named Giovanni with his own promising future as a lover of women. It all adds up to a good-looking and harmless diversion that barely warrants an R-rating, and it makes a fine double-bill with the more enjoyable Dangerous Beauty, another Venetian lover's tale that was also blessed by the presence of Platt, who gives this Casanova the majority of its entertainment value. -Jeff Shannon.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Only Fools and Horses - A Royal Flush [1986]
Actors & Directors
  • Roger Lloyd-Pack
  • Nicholas Lyndhurst
  • David Jason
  • Paul McDowell
  • Buster Merryfield
Release date: 2005-05-09
Run time: 58 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £8.84

Review Only Fools and Horses - A Royal Flush [1986] / 2 Entertain Video:


Models & Brands:
Mannequin [1987], No Reservations [2007], The Gods Must Be Crazy / Gods Must Be Crazy 2 [1980 / 1989), Not Going Out - Series 2 - Complete, Men In Black Collector's Edition (1997), Jam and Jerusalem: Complete BBC Series One, The Doris Day Anthology : The Pajama Game, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Lucky Me, On Moonlight Bay, Tea for Two, Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris., East Is East [1999], Monty Python's Life Of Brian [Blu-ray] [1979], The American President [1995], Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 2 [1982] [1981], Scrubs Seasons 1 - 7 Complete Box Set [2001], The Longest Yard [2005], Harry Hill - First Class Scamp - Live [1998], Absolutely Fabulous - Series 1 - Complete [1992], Only Fools and Horses - The Complete Series 7 [1990] [1981], Al Murray - The Pub Landlord LIVE - Giving It Both Barrels [2006], Ruthless People [1986], Casanova [2005], Only Fools and Horses - A Royal Flush [1986]

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