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Review TLA Releasing / The Silly Age [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Mercedes Sampietro
  • Susana Tejera
  • José Ángel Egido
  • Iván Carreira
  • Carla Paneca
  • Pavel Giroud
Release date: 2008-03-18
Run time: 90 min.
Creator: Ulises Hernandez
Price: £7.98

Review The Silly Age [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / TLA Releasing:


Review New Line Home Video / Gracie [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Christopher Shand
  • Jesse Lee Soffer
  • Andrew Shue
  • Davis Guggenheim
  • Carly Schroeder
  • Elisabeth Shue
Release date: 2007-09-18
Run time: 95 min.
Creator: Lisa Marie Petersen
Price: £4.92

Review Gracie [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / New Line Home Video:


Review Hallmark / Cleopatra [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Timothy Dalton
  • Leonor Varela
  • Rupert Graves
  • Franc Roddam
  • John Bowe
  • Billy Zane
Release date: 2001-10-04
Run time: 177 min.
Creator: Stephen Harrigan
Price: £3.60

Review Cleopatra [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Hallmark:


Review New Yorker Video / The Stationmaster's Wife [1976] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Karl-Heinz von Hassel
  • Elisabeth Trissenaar
  • Volker Spengler
  • Bernhard Helfrich
  • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Kurt Raab
Release date: 2005-09-27
Run time: 111 min.
Creator: Oskar Maria Graf
Price: £13.18

Review The Stationmaster's Wife [1976] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / New Yorker Video:


Review Image Entertainment / Passion in the Desert [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Ben Daniels
  • Nadia Odeh
  • Kenneth Collard
  • Paul Meston
  • Michel Piccoli
  • Lavinia Currier
Release date: 2005-12-06
Run time: 91 min.
Creator: Martin Edmunds
Price: £6.99

Review Passion in the Desert [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Image Entertainment:


Review Columbia TriStar / The Patriot [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Heath Ledger
  • Mel Gibson
  • Roland Emmerich
  • Joely Richardson
  • Jason Isaacs
  • Chris Cooper
Release date: 2002-05-28
Run time: 165 min.
Creator: Peter Winther
Price: £14.88

Review The Patriot [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Columbia TriStar:

Aimed directly at a mainstream audience, The Patriot qualifies as respectable entertainment, but anyone expecting a definitive drama about the American Revolution should look elsewhere. Rising above the blatant crowd pleasing of Stargate, Independence Day and Godzilla, director Roland Emmerich crafts a marvellous re-creation of South Carolina in the late 1770s (aided immeasurably by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel), and Robert Rodat's screenplay offers the same balance of epic scale and emotional urgency that elevated his earlier script for Saving Private Ryan. Unfortunately, Emmerich embraces clichés and hackneyed melodrama that a more gifted director would have avoided. Instead of attempting a truly great film about the most pivotal years of American history, Emmerich settles for a standard revenge plot with the Revolutionary War as an incidental backdrop. On those terms, the film is engrossing and sufficiently intelligent, especially when militia leader Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) cagily negotiates with British General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) in one of the most rewarding scenes. For the most part, the story concerns Martin's anguished quest for revenge against ruthless redcoat Colonel Tavington (played with snide relish by Jason Isaacs), and the rise to manhood of Martin's eldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), whose battlefield honour exceeds even that of his brutally volatile father. At its best, The Patriot conveys the horror of war among innocent civilians, and the epic battle scenes, while by no means masterful, are graphically intense and impressive. And although Ledger's love interest (Lisa Brenner) is too bland to register much emotion, the focus on family (which frequently relegates the war to background history) provides a suitable vehicle for Gibson, who matches his achievement in Braveheart with an effectively brooding performance. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Image Entertainment / Nest of the Gentry [1969]
Actors & Directors
  • Vasily Merkuryev
  • Nikolai Gubenko
  • Andrei Konchalovsky
  • Irina Kupchenko
  • Yelena Tyapkina
  • Sergei Nikonenko
Release date: 2004-11-09
Run time: 111 min.
Creator: Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov
Price: £13.98

Review Nest of the Gentry [1969] / Image Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / The Last Samurai [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Tom Cruise
  • Chad Lindberg
  • William Atherton
  • Edward Zwick
  • Ken Watanabe
  • Billy Connolly
Release date: 2004-05-04
Run time: 154 min.
Creator: John Logan
Price: £4.86

Review The Last Samurai [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:

The Last Samurai gives epic sweep to an intimate story of cultures at a crossroads as Japan undergoes tumultuous transition to a more Westernised society in 1876-77. In America, tormented Civil War veteran Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is coerced by a mercenary officer (Tony Goldwyn) to train the Japanese Emperor's troops in the use of modern weaponry. Opposing this "progress" is a rebellion of samurai warriors, holding fast to their traditions of honour despite strategic disadvantage. As a captive of the samurai leader (Ken Watanabe), Algren learns, appreciates, and adopts the Samurai code, switching sides for a climactic battle that will put everyone's honour to the ultimate test. All of which makes director Edward Zwick's noble epic eminently worthwhile, even if its Hollywood trappings (including an all-too-conventional ending) prevent it from being the masterpiece that Zwick and screenwriter John Logan clearly wanted it to be. Instead, The Last Samurai is an elegant mainstream adventure, impressive in all aspects of its production. It may not engage the emotions as effectively as Logan's script for Gladiator, but like Cruise's character, it finds its own quality of honour. -Jeff Shannon.

Review DreamWorks / Road to Perdition [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Sam Mendes
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh
  • Rob Maxey
  • Tyler Hoechlin
  • Liam Aiken
  • Tom Hanks
Release date: 2003-02-25
Run time: 117 min.
Creator: David Self
Price: £3.70

Review Road to Perdition [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / DreamWorks:

A movie with an impeccable pedigree, Road to Perdition is director Sam Mendes' impressive follow-up to American Beauty, and features remarkable contributions from veteran cinematographer Conrad Hall, composer Thomas Newman and a cast of thespian brilliance led by Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law. Unfortunately, all their fine efforts have been lavished on an essentially predictable story, adapted from the graphic novel, which here unfolds in an overly leisurely fashion. The result is a movie that looks wonderful but feels a little too much like a contrived morality play. Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, a family man but also a hit man in the employ of mob boss John Rooney (Newman). A surrogate father-figure to Sullivan, Rooney also has a wayward real son, Connor (Daniel Craig), whose duplicity leads to a deadly alienation between the Rooney family and Sullivan. Forced to go on the run with his own 12-year-old son, Michael junior (Tyler Hoechlin), Sullivan seeks both revenge and a way to prevent his boy from one day taking the same dark road as himself. Thus the Road to Perdition becomes both a literal and metaphorical journey for the protagonists. It wouldn't matter that there's little tension or doubt about the outcome, except that Hanks' character is all too clearly a decent chap at heart, thus undermining from the outset any sense of a real "journey" towards redemption. It remains a delight to see all the principals acting at their peak and so capably directed, but ultimately Road to Perdition seems like a series of magnificently staged set-pieces that doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts. On the DVD: Road to Perdition is presented in an anamorphic version of its original theatrical 2. [+]
35:1 ratio with accompanying Dolby 5. 1 or DTS sound options. Both picture and sound make the most of the impeccable photography and production design. Extras are a feature commentary from Mendes, a series of deleted scenes also with optional commentary, a standard HBO making of featurette, plus photos, text notes and a trailer for the CD soundtrack. -Mark Walker.

Review 20th Century Fox / Sweet Land [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Tim Guinee
  • Patrick Heusinger
  • Elizabeth Reaser
  • Lois Smith
  • Stephen Pelinski
  • Ali Selim
Release date: 2007-07-10
Run time: 110 min.
Creator: Will Weaver
Price: £8.49

Review Sweet Land [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review MCA Home Video / Pride and Prejudice [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Matthew Macfadyen
  • Keira Knightley
  • Joe Wright
  • Talulah Riley
  • Donald Sutherland
  • Brenda Blethyn
Release date: 2006-02-28
Run time: 129 min.
Creator: Jane Austen
Price: £5.64

Review Pride and Prejudice [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MCA Home Video:


Review 20th Century Fox / Beyond the Gates [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • John Hurt
  • Louis Mahoney
  • Dominique Horwitz
  • Nicola Walker
  • Michael Caton-Jones
  • Hugh Dancy
Release date: 2007-09-18
Run time: 115 min.
Creator: Richard Alwyn
Price: £12.74

Review Beyond the Gates [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review Columbia TriStar / Legends of the Fall [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Brad Pitt
  • Anthony Hopkins
  • Edward Zwick
  • Julia Ormond
  • Henry Thomas
  • Aidan Quinn
Release date: 2003-03-04
Run time: 133 min.
Creator: Jim Harrison
Price: £12.46

Review Legends of the Fall [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Columbia TriStar:

A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedly flattering star vehicle for Brad Pitt as Tristan-the rebellious middle son of a fiercely independent Montana rancher and military veteran (Anthony Hopkins)-who is routinely at odds with his more responsible older brother, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and younger brother, Samuel (Henry Thomas). From the battlefields of World War I to his adventures as an oceangoing sailor, Tristan's life is full of personal torment, especially when he returns to Montana and finds himself competing with Alfred over Samuel's beautiful widow (Julia Ormond), whose passion for Tristan disrupts the already turbulent Ludlow clan. Under the wide-open canopy of Big Sky country, this operatic tale unfolds with all the bloodlust, tragedy, and scenery-chewing performances you'd expect to find in a hokey bestselling novel (in fact, it's based on the acclaimed novella by Jim Harrison), but it's a potent mix that's highly entertaining. Not surprisingly, John Toll won an Academy Award for his breathtaking outdoor cinematography. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Blue Underground / My Brilliant Career [1979]
Actors & Directors
  • Judy Davis
  • Wendy Hughes
  • Robert Grubb
  • Gillian Armstrong
  • Sam Neill
  • Max Cullen
Release date: 2005-05-31
Run time: 100 min.
Creator: Margaret Fink
Price: £11.79

Review My Brilliant Career [1979] / Blue Underground:


Review Columbia TriStar / The Gene Krupa Story [1959] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Susan Oliver
  • Susan Kohner
  • Don Weis
  • James Darren
  • Sal Mineo
  • Yvonne Craig
Release date: 2004-05-18
Run time: 101 min.
Creator: Philip A. Waxman
Price: £47.95

Review The Gene Krupa Story [1959] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Columbia TriStar:


Review BFS Entertainment Entertainment / Shadows of the Heart [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Jason Donovan
  • Sherrie Krenn
  • Jerome Ehlers
  • Marcus Graham
  • Rod Hardy
  • Josephine Byrnes
Release date: 2003-07-29
Run time: 240 min.
Creator: Joy Seager
Price: £14.50

Review Shadows of the Heart [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / BFS Entertainment Entertainment:


Review Miramax / The Hoax [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • John Carter
  • Alfred Molina
  • Richard Gere
  • David Aaron Baker
  • Lasse Hallström
  • Judi Barton
Release date: 2007-10-16
Run time: 116 min.
Creator: William Wheeler
Price: £7.70

Review The Hoax [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Miramax:


Review MGM / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Sarrazin
  • Gig Young
  • Sydney Pollack
  • Susannah York
  • Red Buttons
  • Jane Fonda
Release date: 2004-10-19
Run time: 120 min.
Creator: Theodore B. Sills
Price: £5.66

Review They Shoot Horses, Don't They? [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MGM:

They Shoot Horses Don't They? is set in the dark years of the l930s, when dance marathons became popular as a way for desperate people to compete for prize money. Sometimes the events would drag on for weeks as contestants pushed themselves far beyond the point of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, the dancers shambling around the floor in a half-dead stupor. People would then pay to sit in the bleachers, watch the event and cheer on their favourites. Taken from hard-boiled pulp writer Horace McCoy's novel of the same name, Jane Fonda plays a bitter young woman paired up with Michael Sarrazin for the ordeal. Gig Young portrays the unctuous MC of the event, bringing equal parts compassion and sleaze to his role. Many of the film's images are unforgettable, such as "the derby", a heel-and-toe race around the dance floor with bouncy, light-hearted music to accompany the miserable spectacle. It's a powerful, tragic period piece that reminds us of the privations of the Great Depression. In the largest sense, the film has existential overtones that go far beyond the story of enervated dancers staying on their feet for a month or more. This film brought home a string of Academy Award nominations for the cast and director Sydney Pollack and a win for Young. -Jerry Renshaw, Amazon. [+]
com On the DVD: The disc offers film trivia and notes on the main cast and director, along with a short slide show and original publicity notes in an attempt to furnish valuable information about the film. However the layout is visually unimpressive and the information is merely standard film trivia offering little insight into the film itself-the quotes from Jane Fonda are surely aimed at hardcore fans of the actress only. It all feels like a selection put together in a bit of a rush. -Nikki Disney.

Review Acorn Media / A Woman of Substance [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • George Baker
  • Deborah Kerr
  • Jenny Seagrove
  • Diane Baker
  • Barry Bostwick
  • Don Sharp
Release date: 2002-04-09
Run time: 300 min.
Creator: Tom Blomquist
Price: £11.04

Review A Woman of Substance [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Acorn Media:


Review Warner Home Video / The Betsy [1978] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Daniel Petrie
  • Jane Alexander
  • Laurence Olivier
  • Tommy Lee Jones
  • Katharine Ross
  • Robert Duvall
Release date: 1999-03-30
Run time: 125 min.
Price: £4.06

Review The Betsy [1978] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Models & Brands:
The Silly Age [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Gracie [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Cleopatra [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Stationmaster's Wife [1976] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Passion in the Desert [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Patriot [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Nest of the Gentry [1969], The Last Samurai [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Road to Perdition [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Sweet Land [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Pride and Prejudice [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Beyond the Gates [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Legends of the Fall [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC), My Brilliant Career [1979], The Gene Krupa Story [1959] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Shadows of the Heart [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Hoax [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC), A Woman of Substance [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Betsy [1978] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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