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Review Simply Media / David Copperfield
Actors & Directors
  • Arthur Lowe
  • David Yelland
  • Anthony Andrews
  • Patricia Routledge
  • David Troughton
Release date: 2005-09-19
Run time: 325 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £8.61

Review David Copperfield / Simply Media:


Review Momentum Pictures Home Ent / Virgin Territory [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • David Leland
  • Tim Roth
  • Mischa Barton
  • Rupert Friend
  • Hayden Christensen
Release date: 2008-08-25
Run time: 97 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £4.46

Review Virgin Territory [2007] / Momentum Pictures Home Ent:


Review Uca / Pride And Prejudice/Sense And Sensibility/Shakespeare In Love
Actors & Directors
  • Keira Knightley
  • Joseph Fiennes
  • Geoffrey Rush
  • Kate Winslet
  • Emma Thompson
Release date: 2007-10-01
Run time: 371 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £10.85

Review Pride And Prejudice/Sense And Sensibility/Shakespeare In Love / Uca:


Review MGM / Richard III [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Nigel Hawthorne
  • Robert Downey Jr.
  • Richard Loncraine
  • Ian McKellen
  • Jim Broadbent
  • Annette Bening
Release date: 2000-03-28
Run time: 104 min.
Creator: William Shakespeare
Price: £3.48

Review Richard III [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MGM:

This film adaptation of a critically acclaimed stage production of Shakespeare's historical drama stars Ian McKellen in the title role. The setting is a comic-book vision of 1930s London: part art deco, part Third Reich, part industrial-age rust and rot. The play's force is turned into a synthetic high by art directors and storyboard sketchers, all of whom have a field day condensing the material into disposable pop imagery. Richard III is a fun film, more than anything, so infatuated with its own monstrous stitchery that even the most awkward casting (Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr. ) seems a part of the ridiculous design. McKellen is the best thing about the movie, his mesmerising portrayal of freakish despotism and poisoned desire a thing to behold. Directed by Richard Loncraine (Bellman and True). -Tom Keogh.

Review Warner Home Video / The Affair Of The Necklace [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Simon Baker
  • Adrien Brody
  • Hilary Swank
  • Jonathan Pryce
  • Brian Cox
Release date: 2002-07-08
Run time: 113 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £1.19

Review The Affair Of The Necklace [2002] / Warner Home Video:

Widely ridiculed on its cinematic release, The Affair of the Necklace is a fascinating mixture of the spectacular, the romantic and the simply dreadful. Director Charles Shyer-best-known for mediocre comedies like Father of the Bride-leaps perhaps unwisely into the bodice-ripping palace intrigue genre. Admittedly Shyer does have an eye for spectacle-many of the Versailles scenes were shot there and Prague does its usual excellent service as pre-Revolutionary Paris-but he fumbles when it comes to telling the complicated story. The real-life scandal of Jeanne de la Motte-Valois, whose machinations crippled the French monarchy, was complicated enough, but Shyer manages to make it incomprehensible. Even the excellent Brian Cox cannot make the leaden narrative work successfully and some complicated, misleading games with time simply fail to do anything other than irritate. Hilary Swank-excellent in Boys Don't Cry and Insomnia-is weirdly doll-like and passive as the con-woman La Motte-Valois and only excels in her role when she is pulling pistols on people. As her husband and lover, Adrian Brody and Simon Baker respectively have rather more chemistry, and Jonathan Pryce sweeps around as a depraved gullible cardinal. But the scene-stealers are Christopher Walken, who hams it up spookily as the psychic crook Cagliostro, and Joely Richardson, who plays Marie-Antoinette as an icy, charismatic bitch. The score is an irritating pot-pourri that avoids French music in favour of Bach, Handel and the just-about contemporary Mozart. The gorgeous frocks appear to be where most of the budget was blown-if only a little more was invested into making sense of the script. [+]
On the DVD: The Affair of the Necklace is presented in a 2. 35:1 widescreen visual aspect and has sumptuous Dolby 5. 1 sound that does full justice to both dialogue and score. The film has generous extras, including a "making of" documentary and an intelligent piece on the show's design, as well as a director's commentary and deleted scenes which reveal more than we wanted to know about the hesitation and changes that mar the story-telling. -Roz Kaveney.

Review Arrow Films / Mahabharat [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Ravi Chopra
  • Girja Shankar
  • Harish Bhimani
  • B.R. Chopra
  • Mukesh Khanna
  • Nitish Bharadwaj
  • Puneet Issar
Release date: 2004-08-09
Run time: 999 min.
Creator: Vedavyas
RRP: £99.99
Price: £51.96

Review Mahabharat [1988] / Arrow Films:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Bleak House (BBC) [Blu-ray] [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Natalie Press
  • Susanna White
  • Justin Chadwick
  • Gillian Anderson
  • Denis Lawson
  • Patrick Kennedy
  • Liza Tarbuck
Release date: 2008-02-11
Run time: 480 min.
RRP: £34.99
Price: £23.90

Review Bleak House (BBC) [Blu-ray] [2005] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Simply Media / The Old Curiosity Shop
Actors & Directors
  • Colin Jeavons
  • Natalie Ogle
  • Patsy Byrne
  • Trevor Peacock
  • Sebastian Shaw
Release date: 2005-09-19
Run time: 290 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £10.42

Review The Old Curiosity Shop / Simply Media:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Actors & Directors
  • Crispin Bonham-Carter
  • David Bamber
  • Simon Langton
  • Jennifer Ehle
  • Colin Firth
Release date: 1995-10-16
Run time: 301 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.99

Review Pride and Prejudice (1995) / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Prism Leisure / Rebecca [1940]
Actors & Directors
  • Judith Anderson
  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Nigel Bruce
  • Laurence Olivier
  • Joan Fontaine
  • George Sanders
Release date: 2004-10-04
Run time: 126 min.
Creator: Robert E. Sherwood
RRP: £5.99
Price: £16.99

Review Rebecca [1940] / Prism Leisure:

"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again. " From the first classic line of this unforgettable film, Rebecca casts its spell. David O. Selznick brought Alfred Hitchcock to the United States in order to give this adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel the proper atmosphere. The resulting film is a stunning marriage of their sensibilities. It paid off critically and financially as well. Like Gone with the Wind, which Selznick released a year earlier, Rebecca won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Laurence Olivier stars as Maxim de Winter, who, reeling from the recent and unexpected death of his glamorous wife Rebecca, impulsively marries a young and adoring governess (Joan Fontaine). [+]
The new Mrs de Winter tries to fit into her role as mistress of the great house Manderley, but every step she takes is haunted by Rebecca's spirit. The ghost's brooding presence is personified by the insanely meticulous Mrs Danvers, brilliantly portrayed by Judith Anderson. As Fontaine's character begins to uncover the dark secrets of the de Winter clan, the house seems to take on a life of its own. Passionate love and romance blend seamlessly with typically Hitchcockian emphases on guilt, sexuality and Gothic horror. The production values are stunning and the cast is excellent, down to the least of the supporting players. While Rebecca has enough surprises to captivate even the most jaded of moviegoers, it is also one of those rare films that improves with each viewing. -Raphael Shargel.

Review 20th Century Fox / The Man From Snowy River [1982] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Kirk Douglas
  • Bruce Kerr
  • Terence Donovan
  • George Miller
  • Tom Burlinson
  • Tommy Dysart
Release date: 2002-05-28
Run time: 102 min.
Creator: Simon Wincer
Price: £5.62

Review The Man From Snowy River [1982] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review Bluebell Films / Mon Pere Ce Heros [1997]
Actors & Directors
  • Marie Gillian
  • Gerard Lauzier
  • Gerard Depardieu
  • Chatherine Jacob
Release date: 2007-05-28
Run time: 105 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £7.97

Review Mon Pere Ce Heros [1997] / Bluebell Films:


Review Weinstein Company / The Great Debaters [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Nate Parker
  • Denzel Washington
  • Kimberly Elise
  • Jurnee Smollett
  • Denzel Washington
  • Forest Whitaker
Release date: 2008-05-13
Run time: 126 min.
Creator: Robert Eisele
Price: £8.82

Review The Great Debaters [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Weinstein Company:


Review MGM Entertainment / Miss Julie [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Mullan
  • Mike Figgis
  • Tam Dean Burn
  • Heathcote Williams
  • Maria Doyle Kennedy
  • Saffron Burrows
Release date: 2001-04-23
Run time: 97 min.
Creator: Helen Cooper
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.49

Review Miss Julie [2000] / MGM Entertainment:

Miss Julie is a claustrophobic class study set within a 19th-century Count's kitchen. It chronicles the events of one midsummer night when the housemistress-an obstinate and confused Julie (Saffron Burrows)-is beaten in a round of sexual gaming with footman Peter Mullan. Based on the play by August Strindberg, the film maintains a constant sense of theatre by only having three speaking parts (the other coming from Maria Doyle Kennedy as Christine, the long-suffering cook and fiancée), just one set and a penchant for hand-held camerawork by director Mike Figgis. Known for his experimental approach to storytelling, this is technically a predecessor to Figgis' Timecode, since the all-important rape scene is conveyed through a disorientating split-screen technique. He'd worked with fellow Brit Burrows before on The Loss of Sexual Innocence and One Night Stand, but gives the gal with the outsized cheekbones top billing here and is rewarded with a thoroughly rounded performance. Backed by the director's own musical score, this melodrama has a very personal feel to it. -Paul Tonks.

Review Universal Pictures UK / The Other Boleyn Girl - with Free Bookmark (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [2008]
Actors & Directors
  • Juno Temple
  • Justin Chadwick
  • Natalie Portman
  • Jim Sturgess
  • Eric Bana
  • Scarlett Johansson
Release date: 2008-06-30
Run time: 111 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £10.48

Review The Other Boleyn Girl - with Free Bookmark (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [2008] / Universal Pictures UK:

A tale of two sisters competing for the same king, The Other Boleyn Girl uses historical facts as window dressing for this work of fiction that is entertaining, if not wholly believable. Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) is the doe-eyed vixen ordered by her power-hungry uncle to bewitch King Henry VIII (Eric Bana). Her shy sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) has always been in Anne's shadow; Anne is prettier, more accomplished, and desired by many men. So when the King picks Mary-the "other Boleyn girl"-as his mistress, Anne turns on her sister and schemes to become not only the King's consort, but his new queen. With a pair of American actresses in the lead roles and an Aussie portraying their hunky object of desire, the English accents are all over the place in this period piece with a modern feel. Though the Boleyn girls' mother points out that her "daughters are being traded like cattle for the advancement of men," it is Anne who ultimately throws her slight weight around to bully Henry into doing her bidding. When he begs her to give herself to him, Anne-wearing a Carrie Bradshaw-esque "B" pendant on her neck-counters, "Make me your Queen. " Is the audience really supposed to believe that Henry the VIII-the most powerful man in the land-would divorce Catherine of Aragon, separate from the Catholic church, and put England in upheaval simply because Anne refused to sleep with him until he jumped through all her hoops? "I have torn this country apart for you," he hisses at her before finally getting his way. Based on Philippa Gregory's bestselling novel of the same name, The Other Boleyn Girl features an attractive cast and a familiar plot with some icky twists. Kieran McGuigan's cinematography is breathtaking and is as crucial to setting the film's tone as the dialogue. [+]
Actually, it fares better: Lines such as "Well? Did he have you?!" sound almost comical. But the sweeping shots of Henry's kingdom and the carefully framed close-ups of Portman and Johansson are breathtaking in their beauty and say what words simply cannot. -Jae-Ha Kim.

Review C'est La Vie / Les Grandes Manoeuvres [1956]
Actors & Directors
  • Gérard Philipe
  • Pierre Dux
  • Jean Desailly
  • Jacques Fabbri
  • René Clair
  • Michèle Morgan
Release date: 2004-04-26
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Jérôme Géronimi
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.97

Review Les Grandes Manoeuvres [1956] / C'est La Vie:


Review 20th Century Fox / Jane Eyre [1944] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Orson Welles
  • John Cork
  • Joan Fontaine
  • Margaret O'Brien
  • Peggy Ann Garner
  • Robert Stevenson
  • John Sutton
Release date: 2007-04-24
Run time: 96 min.
Creator: Henry Koster
Price: £8.67

Review Jane Eyre [1944] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:

This 1943 version of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was made just two years after Citizen Kane, and it certainly looks like star Orson Welles muscled his way behind the camera much of the time. (In fact, co-star Joan Fontaine-who plays the title character-has maintained that Welles methodically did just that every day on the set. ) Not that the film's official director was a hack: Robert Stevenson gets the credit, a man who later had a busy career at Disney making numerous live-action hits such as Mary Poppins. But there's no mistaking Welles' masterful hand in this film's bold and creative look, and there's no getting away from his enigmatic charisma as Rochester, the widower who takes in Jane as a governess to his daughter. An engrossing, gorgeous film, there's even a small role for Elizabeth Taylor at the beginning as Jane's unlucky, doomed friend at a cruel boarding school. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Review 2 Entertain Video / Bleak House [2005]
Actors & Directors
  • Susanna White
  • Patrick Kennedy
  • Gillian Anderson
  • John Lynch
  • Denis Lawson
  • Matthew Kelly
  • Justin Chadwick
Release date: 2006-02-20
Run time: 465 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £9.00

Review Bleak House [2005] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Wuthering Heights - BBC
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Hammond
  • Richard Kay
  • Cathryn Harrison
  • David Wilkinson
  • Ken Hutchison
Release date: 2006-03-13
Run time: 250 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.98

Review Wuthering Heights - BBC / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Yash Raj Films / The Rising - Ballad Of Mangal Pandey [2005] (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Toby Stephens
  • Rani Mukherjee
  • Ketan Mehta
  • Amisha Patel
  • Aamir Khan
Release date: 2005-10-07
Run time: 150 min.
RRP: £21.99
Price: £4.24

Review The Rising - Ballad Of Mangal Pandey [2005] (NTSC) / Yash Raj Films:


Models & Brands:
David Copperfield, Virgin Territory [2007], Pride And Prejudice/Sense And Sensibility/Shakespeare In Love, Richard III [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Affair Of The Necklace [2002], Mahabharat [1988], Bleak House (BBC) [Blu-ray] [2005], The Old Curiosity Shop, Pride and Prejudice (1995), Rebecca [1940], The Man From Snowy River [1982] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Mon Pere Ce Heros [1997], The Great Debaters [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Miss Julie [2000], The Other Boleyn Girl - with Free Bookmark (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [2008], Les Grandes Manoeuvres [1956], Jane Eyre [1944] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Bleak House [2005], Wuthering Heights - BBC, The Rising - Ballad Of Mangal Pandey [2005] (NTSC)

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