3 Tenors I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.

Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Adrian Lyne Frequently given short shrift as soft porn (which it is) and as mindless (which it isn't), director Adrian Lyne's follow-up to Flashdance (insert own joke here) is a thoughtful, smutty film about a bad sexual relationship. It follows the two-month affair between Elizabeth, an art-gallery dealer, and John, a Wall Street executive. The relationship spirals downward into raunchier sex (filmed, by the way, quite nicely) but principally is about two adults doing adult things but not acting anything like real adults. Attempts at actual human connection, about the longing to be "good", are present here and make this an above-average erotic film. Rourke is just honing his scumbag, bad-boy persona; but it doesn't overwhelm. At least there's lots and lots of Kim Basinger. —Keith Simanton, Amazon.com

Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Colin Higgins

Joseph Melito, Bruce Willis Inspired by Chris Marker's acclaimed short film La Jetée, 12 Monkeys combines intricate, intelligent storytelling with the uniquely imaginative vision of director Terry Gilliam. The story opens in the wintry wasteland of the year 2035, where a virulent plague has forced humans to live in a squalid, oppressively regimented underground. Bruce Willis plays a societal outcast who is given the opportunity to erase his criminal record by "volunteering" to time-travel into the past to obtain a pure sample of the deadly virus that will help future scientists to develop a cure. But in bouncing from 1918 to the early and mid-1990s, he undergoes an ordeal that forces him to question his own perceptions of reality. Caught between the dangers of the past and the devastation of the future, he encounters a psychiatrist (Madeleine Stowe) who is initially convinced he's insane, and a wacky mental patient (Brad Pitt in a twitchy Oscar-nominated role) with links to a radical group that may have unleashed the deadly virus. Equal parts mystery, tragedy, psychological thriller, and apocalyptic drama, 12 Monkeys ranks as one of the best science fiction films of the 1990s, boosted by Gilliam's visual ingenuity and one of the finest performances of Willis's career. —Jeff Shannon

Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Walter Hill

Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Alfonso Arau Keanu Reeves is completely wooden in this romantic misfire by Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate). Reeves plays a World War II vet who hits the road as a travelling salesman and agrees to help a desperate, pregnant woman (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon)—who is afraid to let her father (Giancarlo Giannini) see her condition—by pretending to be her husband. Most of the story takes place in the old man's vineyard, and Arau makes a life of swollen fruit, grape-stomping, sunlight and tan flesh that looks amazingly erotic. But there are plenty of sillier distractions, such as the sight of farm hands chasing insects with flapping gossamer wings attached to their arms. Reeves is terribly self-conscious, while stalwart Anthony Quinn is memorable as the damsel's benevolent grandfather. —Tom Keogh

Stig Anderson

Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Edward Zwick For better or worse, David Mamet's hit play Sexual Perversity in Chicago is watered down into this romantic comedy about a couple (played by Rob Lowe and Demi Moore) who get together and then fall apart due to Lowe's character's inability to commit. Jim Belushi is on hand as the gratuitously swinish best friend who looks at women as meat, and Elizabeth Perkins is entertainingly arch as Moore's gal pal and Belushi's nemesis. There is nothing about this 1986 film by Edward Zwick (co-creator of TV's thirtysomething and director of Glory and Courage Under Fire) that is at all reminiscent of Mamet, but that doesn't make it bad or dull. While one can feel the script straining to fill in gaps where chunks of the original play have disappeared, Zwick often successfully tells the story without words at all, relying on the actors to convey pure emotion. Lowe is good, and the then-willowy Moore's understated performance reminds one of the actress she might have been before she became a spectacle. —Tom Keogh

Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Tom Shadyac The 1994 box-office hit that turned comedy maniac Jim Carrey into Hollywood's first $20-million man, this gag-filled no-brainer stars Carrey as the titular rubber-faced gumshoe who tracks down lost pets for his heartbroken clients. Ace's latest case involves the apparent kidnapping of the Miami Dolphins' team mascot, Snowflake the dolphin. His investigation is a source of constant aggravation for Miami police lieutenant Lois Einhorn (Sean Young), who turns out to be packing more than a pistol under her skirt. Friends fans will appreciate the presence of Courtney Cox, who remains admirably straight-faced as the Dolphins' publicist and Ace's would-be girlfriend, but of course it's Carrey who steals the show with shameless abandon. One viewing may suffice for a lot of people, but Carrey's hyper antics made Ace Ventura: Pet Detective one of the bestselling videos of the 1990s. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Bryan Adams

Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Arthur Schmidt, Barry Sonnenfeld Anjelica Huston Addams Family Values

Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Stephan Elliott

Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Wolfgang Petersen If you can manage to suspend your disbelief for the duration, you won't be disappointed with Air Force One. Harrison Ford plays a US president who single-handedly employs his rigid anti-terrorism policy when a band of Russian thugs hatch a mid-flight takeover of Air Force One. Gary Oldman, who chews the scenery as the lead terrorist, will shoot a hostage at the slightest provocation. Glenn Close plays the sternly pragmatic vice president who negotiates with Oldman from her Washington seat of power. If you can believe that the aircraft's pressurized cabin can sustain hundreds of rounds of machine-gun fire, you'll buy anything in this entertaining potboiler, especially thanks to Ford's stalwart heroics and some nifty special effects. Director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot) keeps the action moving so fast you won't be sweating the details.—Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Stephen Semel, Michael Lehmann Spinal Tap it ain't, but Michael Lehmann's good-natured comedy of errors, about a garage band whose unannounced visit to a local radio station escalates into a hostage situation, is pleasant diversion with a fair share of laughs. Brendan Fraser plays the singer-songwriter of the unknown heavy metal band the Lone Rangers, a trio of socially challenged musicians rounded out by dimwitted but sweet bass player Adam Sandler and aging drummer/toy-store employee Steve Buscemi—who just happens to be packing a lifelike toy machine gun from work. Needless to say, the friendly visit is misinterpreted as a hostile takeover, but all the Lone Rangers want is to play their music on the air—and they sabotage themselves again by destroying their own demo tape! Joe Mantegna plays a burned-out deejay who tries to help the muddled metalheads as the media surrounds the building and asks the question on everyone's lips: "How can you be the Lone Rangers if you're always together?" —Sean Axmaker

Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Thelma Connell, Lewis Gilbert Alfie (Michael Caine in his first starring role) is a streetwise womaniser in swinging Sixties London. His conquests are numerous, from common-law wife Gilda (Julia Foster) to frustrated housewife Lily (Vivien Merchant), but the chirpy cockney's sexual antics catch up with him faster than he had counted on. The film is now seen as a period piece of Sixties British Cinema and to show the consequences of the sexual revolution that began in that era (Alfie is not repentent about his harsh treatment of the women in his life and so never quite finds fulfilment), was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and has a soundtrack by jazz musician Sonny Rollins.

Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Jean-Pierre Jeunet Perhaps these films are like the Star Trek movies: the even-numbered episodes are the best ones. Certainly Alien Resurrection film (directed by French stylist Jean-Pierre Jeunet) is an improvement on Alien 3, with a script that breathes exciting new life into the franchise. This chapter is set even further in the future, where scientists on a space colony have cloned both the alien and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who died in Alien 3; in doing so, however, they've mixed alien DNA with Ripley's human chromosomes, which gives Ripley surprising power (and a bad attitude). A band of smugglers comes aboard only to discover the new race of aliens—and when the multi-mouthed melonheads get loose, no place is safe. But, on the plus side, they have Ripley as a guide to help them get out. Winona Ryder is on hand as the smugglers' most unlikely crew-member (with a secret of her own), but this one is Sigourney's all the way. —Marshall Fine

David Crowther, Ridley Scott The terror begins when the crew of a spaceship investigates a transmission from a desolate planet, and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. One by one, each crew member is slain until only Ripley is left, leading to an explosive conclusion that sets the stage for its stunning sequel, "Aliens."

Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, James Cameron James Cameron's Aliens digests all the virtues of Alien and regurgitates them bigger, louder and brasher than before. By the simple expedient of turning the singular beast of the original into a plural, Cameron transforms the franchise's focus from horror to all-out action. Sigourney Weaver's Ripley—one of the strongest roles for a female lead in mainstream cinema—is centre-stage throughout, more than able to hold her own either among the butch Marines and insectoid aliens. Although the director later revealed that there were only ever six alien costumes in any one shot, rapid-fire editing makes it seem like hundreds. Aliens is one of the most dynamic, viscerally exciting movies of the decade and, as a bug-fest, remained unsurpassed until the glorious Starship Troopers in 1997.

On the DVD: The Director's Cut reinstates 17 crucial minutes of footage deleted from the theatrical release. It reveals how the colony on LV-426 encountered the aliens, and more importantly why Ripley's maternal bond with Newt is so strong, which adds an extra dimension to the film's climax. Also included is a short, fairly bland interview with James Cameron, recorded at the time of the cinema release, as well as some background explanation on how specific special effects were created. Unlike the Alien disc, there is no directorial commentary. —Mark Walker

Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Michael Kahn, Frank Marshall Alive [DVD] [1993]

John Landis Re-discover one of the most gripping horror films of all-time with the cult classic An American Werewolf in London. Blending the macabre with a wicked sense of humor, director John Landis (National Lampoon’s Animal House) delivers a contemporary take on the classic werewolf tale in this story of two American tourists who, while traveling in London, find their lives changed forever when a viscious wolf attacks them during a full moon. Featuring groundbreaking, Academy Award-winning make-up by Rick Baker (The Wolfman), this digitally remastered Full Moon Edition also includes the new feature-length documentary Beware the Moon.

Stuart Gilmore, John W. Holmes, Robert Wise Directed with clinical precision by Academy Award winner Robert Wise, this compelling account of the earth’s first biological crisis is perhaps the most chillingly realistic science fiction thriller ever made. After an errant satellite crashes to earth near a remote New Mexico village, the recovery team discovers that almost everyone in the town are victims of a horrible death, with the mysterious exception of an infant and an old homeless man. The survivors are brought to a state-of-the-art laboratory descending five stories beneath the ground where the puzzled scientists race against time to determine the nature of the deadly microbe before it wreaks worldwide havoc. A trailblazer in the areas of special effects and inventive sets, The Andromeda Strain is based on Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel that created national paranoia for its topical relevance to the first moon landing.

Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney, John Huston Charmless and dull, this adaptation of the Broadway hit stars Aileen Quinn as the depression-era moppet, Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks, Carol Burnett as the cruel headmistress at an orphanage, and Tim Curry as a villain. The film never gets its legs, and there is no sense of setting; its almost as if the whole thing is happening in a void. John Huston nominally directed—no doubt to make money between his smaller, cheaper masterpieces—but one would have thought he would invest something of himself in here. —Tom Keogh

Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Francis Ford Coppola • The Timeless Epic from Francis Ford Coppola
• In a pristine new transfer supervised by Francis Ford Coppola
• Presented in the original (2.35:1) theatrical aspect ratio

In 1979 renowned director Francis Ford Coppola changed cinema history with his mesmerising epic Apocalypse Now, one of the most unforgettable, authentic and harrowing depictions of the Vietnam War. In 2001 he re-approached his hallucinatory masterpiece to create a definitive version, reinstating 49 minutes of previously unseen material. The result is Apocalypse Now Redux. Tormented army captain Benjamin L. Willard is sent on a secret mission into warring Cambodia to eliminate the mysterious and psychotic renegade Colonel Kurtz. But it’s a hazardous journey that will take him into the heart of savage conflict and to the edge of sanity.

Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris NASA's worst nightmare turned into one of the space agency's most heroic moments in 1970, when the Apollo 13 crew was forced to hobble home in a disabled capsule after an explosion seriously damaged the moon-bound spacecraft. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton play (respectively) astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise in director Ron Howard's intense, painstakingly authentic docudrama. The Apollo 13 crew and Houston-based mission controllers race against time and heavy odds to return the damaged spacecraft safely to Earth from a distance of 205,500 miles. Using state-of-the-art special effects and ingenious film-making techniques, Howard and his stellar cast and crew build nail-biting tension while maintaining close fidelity to the facts. The result is a fitting tribute to the Apollo 13 mission and one of the biggest box-office hits of 1995. —Jeff Shannon

Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Bay This 1998 testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continued Hollywood's millennium-fuelled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understand what mainstream audiences want in their blockbuster movies—loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid-fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists—the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but, of course, lovable) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth—are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishising of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also try to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable to populate the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humour and charisma.

When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddon tackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burning have racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly—African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable female characters—four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a "bitch that needs drillin'". Sadly, she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than all the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? —Dave McCoy

David N. Twohy Radio astronomer Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen) believes he's picked up a cosmic noise that signals extraterrestrial intelligence. His desperate search for answers leads him to Mexico and a mysterious power plant, where is arrested for the murder of a scientist. Zane must escape with his proof of the world-shattering alien invasion in this intense sci-fi thriller.

Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, John Carpenter

Mike Myers, Charles Napier, Jay Roach

James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski, Chris Noonan The surprise hit of 1995, this splendidly entertaining family film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture, director, and screenplay, and deservedly won the Oscar for its subtly ingenious visual effects. Babe is all about the title character, a heroic little pig who's been taken in by the friendly farmer Hoggett (Oscar nominee James Cromwell), who senses that he and the pig share "a common destiny." Babe, a popular mischief-maker the Australian farm, is adopted by the resident border collie and raised as a puppy, befriended by Ferdinand the duck (who thinks he's a cockerel), and saves the day as a champion "sheep-pig." Filled with a supporting cast of talking barnyard animals and a chorus of singing mice (courtesy of computer enhancements and clever animatronics), this frequently hilarious, visually imaginative movie has already taken its place as a family classic with timeless appeal. —Jeff Shannon

John Goodman, Kelly McGillis, Arthur Hiller

Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard, Lynzee Klingman, Charles Shyer The writing-directing team of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers (Father of the Bride) made this sweet satire about a high-powered yuppie executive (Diane Keaton) who unexpectedly becomes a mom and finds she can't successfully integrate the role into her busy life. Typical of the Shyer-Meyers films prior to Myers taking the director's reins on the wonderful Parent Trap, Baby Boom is a little wooden and more sentimental than genuine. But there are entertaining moments, for sure, and Keaton is a delight. —Tom Keogh

Michael J. Fox, Crispin Glover, Robert Zemeckis Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis topped his breakaway hit Romancing the Stone with this joyous comedy with a dazzling hook: what would it be like to meet your parents in their youth? Billed as a special-effects comedy, the imaginative film (the top box-office smash of 1985) has staying power because of the heart behind Zemeckis and Bob Gale's script. High schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox, during the height of his TV success) is catapulted back to the '50s where he sees his parents in their teens, and accidentally changes the history of how Mom and Dad met. Filled with the humourous ideology of the '50s, filtered through the knowledge of the '80s (actor Ronald Reagan is president, ha!), the film comes off as a Twilight Zone episode written by Preston Sturges. Filled with memorable effects and two wonderfully off-key, perfectly cast performances: Christopher Lloyd as the crazy scientist who builds the time machine (a DeLorean luxury car) and Crispin Glover as Marty's geeky dad. Followed by two sequels. —Doug Thomas

Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Ron Howard Backdraft [DVD] [1991]

Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Michael Bay Slick to a fault, this glossy action flick takes place in sunny Florida, where Martin Lawrence and Will Smith play two cops—one married with kids, the other a swinging bachelor. The two are forced to trade places to foil criminal mastermind Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) who has stolen $100 million worth of heroin from a police lockup. Violent, illogical and filled with wall-to-wall profanity, Bad Boys was the last film produced by the hit-making team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer before Simpson's untimely death and marked the directorial debut of Michael Bay who followed up with The Rock. Bad Boys will be of interest to action buffs and fans of Téa Leoni, who makes one of her early screen appearances in the central supporting role. —Jeff Shannon

Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes

With more than a decade of cinema in Basic Instinct's wake it's fascinating to look back at just how influential Paul Verhoeven's "erotic thriller" has been. The director's endless fight with censorship and unwillingness to kowtow to social mores meant his movies became notorious for graphically depicting sex and violence while pushing contemporary boundaries of taste. This whodunit about a bisexual femme fatale (Sharon Stone in a career-best performance) caused an enormous furore on its release; but after years of generally inferior imitations there's not much in it that seems quite so shocking now. It's perhaps best appreciated in retrospect more for its Hitchcockian style than the steamy sex.

On the DVD: one of the most welcome elements of the disc is an acknowledgement of the film's own influences—from Hitchcock's Vertigo to Verhoeven's own The Fourth Man. The print is far superior to the previous release, looking magnificent in 1:78.1. Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score sounds terrific in either 5.1 or DTS, as does Verhoeven's thick accent on the first commentary track alongside then Director of Photography Jan De Bont (Speed), who together reminisce on locations and manipulating their actors' performances. A second commentary from feminist critic Camille Paglia is a brave way of putting paid to the gay/feminist community uproar. There are some standard inclusions (trailer, production notes, photo gallery etc) but far more interesting are two mini-documentaries; "Cleaning Up Basic Instinct" shows how and why the TV version was so dull, while "Blonde Poison" focuses on the film's making and marketing. Finally, there are three storyboard comparisons and nine minutes of screen tests for Stone and Tripplehorn. This is the definitive release of an oft-cited modern classic. —Paul Tonks

Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Joel Schumacher When Tim Burton and Michael Keaton announced that they'd had enough of the Batman franchise, director JoelSchumacher stepped in (with Burton as coproducer) to make this action-packed extravaganza starring Val Kilmer as the capedcrusader. Batman is up against two of Gotham City's most colourful criminals, the Riddler (a role tailor-made for funnyman Jim Carrey) and the diabolical Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), who join forces to conquer Gotham's population with a brain-draining device. Nicole Kidman plays the seductive psychologist who wants to know what makes Batman tick. Boasting a redesigned Batmobile and plenty of new Bat hardware, Batman Forever also introduces Robin the Boy Wonder (Chris O'Donnell) whose close alliance with Batman led more than afew critics to ponder the series' homoerotic subtext. No matter how you interpret it, Schumacher's take on the Batman legacy is simultaneously amusing, lavishly epic and prone to chronic sensory overload. —Jeff Shannon

Malcolm Leo

The Beatles, Paul McCartney THE BEATLES Anthology (2003 UK 5-disc Region 0 PAL DVD box set featuring all the original material from the video box release including performances revelations interviews plus original liner notes. Disc 5 features over 80 minutes of previouslyunseen material including exclusive interviews with Paul George and Ringo plus studio footage videos and much more. Housed in hype stickered picture slipcase)

The Beatles, Paul McCartney THE BEATLES Anthology (2003 UK 5-disc Region 0 PAL DVD box set featuring all the original material from the video box release including performances revelations interviews plus original liner notes. Disc 5 features over 80 minutes of previouslyunseen material including exclusive interviews with Paul George and Ringo plus studio footage videos and much more. Housed in hype stickered picture slipcase)

Mike Judge

Beavis & Butthead

no name

Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt, Rod Daniel il san bernardo della famiglia newton ha trovato moglie e i due hanno allargato la famiglia con una cucciolata di scatenati cagnolini. beethoven adesso e' impegnato a difendere i propri cuccioli da due banditi che vorrebbero venderli. il tutto con una serie interminabile di situazioni comiche e spericolate. seguito di beethoven 1992.

James Woods, Brian Dennehy, David Rosenbloom, John Flynn John Flynn has directed some good, tough, pacy thrillers and Best Seller, along with the 1973 The Outfit, can claim to be the best of them. It kicks off with not one but two slam-bang action sequences and then, having grabbed our attention, pitches us straight into its twisty plot premise. Brian Dennehy, reliably watchable as ever, plays an ageing cop-turned-novelist who has hit a writer's block since his wife died. James Woods at his most suavely sinister is a hitman with dirt to dish on the head of a big corporation. Woods proposes a Faustian pact. He provides Dennehy with the full crooked story on the mobster-turned-corporate boss and the cop writes it up. Dennehy gets a best seller; Woods gets his revenge and comes out looking like a hero.

The dialogue, courtesy of screenwriter and horror-movie director Larry Cohen (It's Alive; Q—The Winged Serpent), is satisfyingly hard-boiled and slips in plenty of subversive sideswipes at rampant capitalism. ("It's the American Way, Dennis," says Woods, detailing how he helped his boss rise via robbery and murder. "I'm a businessman, an executive.") This certainly isn't the only movie to get mileage out of the symbiotic relationship between cop and crook (see Michael Mann's Heat), but it works several neat variations on the theme, with Dennehy and Woods both at the top of their respective forms. If the film never quite lives up to its potential—the required final confrontation between the two principals doesn't materialise and Victoria Tennant is thrown away as Dennehy's love-interest—it remains a way better than average thriller with its roots deep in the best B-movie traditions.

On the DVD: Best Seller on disc has no extras apart from the theatrical trailer. The transfer is good and clean, and preserves the original's full-width framing. —Philip Kemp

Jim Varney, Cloris Leachman, Penelope Spheeris Rob Schneider Beverly Hillbillies

Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Martin Brest While its sequels were formulaic and safe, the first Beverly Hills Cop set out to explore some uncharted territory and succeeded. A blend of violent action picture and sharp comedy, the film has an excellent director, Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman), who finds some original perspectives on stock scenes (highway chases, police rousts) and hits a gleeful note with Murphy while skewering LA culture. Good support from Judge Reinhold and John Ashton as local cops not used to doing things the Detroit way (Murphy's character hails from the Motor City). Paul Reiser has a funny, brief moment at the beginning and Bronson Pinchot makes an hilarious impression in a great, never-to-be-duplicated scene with the star. —Tom Keogh

Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Landis Eddie Murphy Beverly Hills Cop 3

Michael Boydstun

Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Peter Hewitt Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is ample proof that not all sequels suck. Sometimes they're even better than the original. It is the future. Society has at last solved all its major problems, thanks to amiable lunkheads Bill and Ted and the inspiring music of their band, Wyld Stallyns. Only one man is dissatisfied with the way things have turned out, the evil De Nomolos (Joss Ackland). In an effort to change the future, De Nomolos sends evil Bill and Ted robots back in time to prevent the real Bill and Ted from winning a pivotal Battle of the Bands. What follows is a spirited journey through the afterlife as Bill and Ted try to rescue their girlfriends, save the future, and, oh, yeah, learn how to play the guitar.

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey swings easily between childish and clever humour, and is good at both: a Bergman reference is quickly followed by an equally funny bit about Death's stinky feet. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter seem happy to be reprising their roles and even manage to add funny spins on Evil Robot Bill and Ted. William Sadler very nearly steals the movie as Death, playing both his wounded dignity and budding desire to be funky to a T. As if that weren't enough, George Carlin returns as Rufus and Pam Grier does a cameo just for the hell of it. —Ali Davis, Amazon.com

Adam Sandler, Bradley Whitford For Adam Sandler fans only, this dopey comedy features the former Saturday Night Live star as an overindulged rich guy whose father insists he repeat grades 1 through 12 before taking over the family business. The scenario is perfect for Sandler's infantile leanings (which he has fortunately outgrown in more recent movies), and for the most part the jokes about being too old and too big for the experiment are obvious. Chris Farley and Steve Buscemi turn up in uncredited cameo appearances, but otherwise the film is pretty dismissible, except for those diehards who can't get enough of Sandler. —Tom Keogh

Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ridley Scott A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who—along with his partner (Andy Garcia)—goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. — Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Ashley Peldon, Rick Rossovich, Gwyneth Gibby, Thomas Petersen, Jonathan Winfrey

Whip Hubley, Joan Severance, Jonathan A. Winfrey

Rowan Atkinson, Brian Blessed The classic first series of BlackAdder was slightly different to its successors—Ben Elton was not yet part of the writing team, and Shakespearean parody featured prominently. Rowan Atkinson was at his best as a would-be Machiavellian medieval intriguer while Brian Blessed plays his gloriously over the top blustering militarist father.

The episodes collected here are: "The Foretelling", in which Richard III, played by Peter Cook in a brilliant parody of Olivier, wins Bosworth only to get in an unseemly argument about a horse; "Born to be King" in which Edmund, lumbered with providing bearded ladies, morris dancers and eunuchs for a festival, discovers some indiscreet love letters; "The Archbishop" in which after his father has the Archbishop of Canterbury killed, Edmund starts his intrigues again; "The Queen of Spain's Beard" in which Blackadder's father's international schemes call for Edmund to make a dynastic marriage to Miriam Margolyes as the Infanta of Spain, and Jim Broadbent plays a peculiarly irritating interpreter; "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" in which Edmund falls foul of the demonic witchsmeller, played with more gusto than is quite credible by Frank Finlay; and "The Black Seal", wherein Edmund assembles a group of villains as his personal retinue (Rik Mayall plays a mad prisoner).

On the DVD: No extras here at all, aside from subtitles in English, SDH, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, and chapter points within each episode. —Roz Kaveney

Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson Although now regarded as the opening salvo of a classic series, the original Blackadder series was not considered a great success, either among critics or many viewers, so a major rethink took place when it was recommissioned. On the writing front, future-Four Weddings And A Funeral scribe Richard Curtis was joined by Ben Elton, while the expensive War of the Roses-era sets were replaced by cosier Elizabethan ones. The most important change, however, was with Rowan Atkinson's eponymous character who, in the first series, had been a fairly weak-willed idiot but now emerged as the familiar Machiavellian fiend which would cement Atkinson's place in the pantheon of great British sitcom actors. Moreover, even if so many of the script's lines have been subsequently ripped off by lesser hands that it can't help but occasionally sound dated, the central performances of Atkinson, Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Tim McInnery (Lord Percy), Stephen Fry (Lord Melchett) and, of course, Miranda Richardson as the childishly psychotic Queen Elizabeth ("I love it when you get cross. Sometimes I think about having you executed just to see the expression on your face") remain note perfect. Yet the real pleasure for viewers may be in rediscovering the raft of excellent guest star performances—not least Tom "Doctor Who" Baker's berserk turn as a literally legless old sea dog given to guzzling his own urine long before the drinking water has run out. —Clark Collis

Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson Rowan Atkinson's irredeemably wicked Edmund Blackadder has moved forward in time from the court of Queen Elizabeth but a little down the social ladder. He's now butler to Hugh Laurie's congenitally stupid Prince Regent on the cusp of the 18th and 19th centuries, and if that wasn't bad enough he's still accompanied by Tony Robinson's dim-witted Baldrick, whose cunning plans never fail to make an impossible situation worse. Blackadder's desperate scheming and utter contempt for all he surveys hasn't changed, nor have the baroque complexities of the situations in which he becomes embroiled: from an anachronistic war of words with Dr Johnson (Robbie Coltrane relishing every syllable) to taking on the Scarlet Pimpernel at his own game, to fighting a duel with a psychopathic Duke of Wellington, Edmund's luck never seems to change.

Richard Curtis and Ben Elton's sharp scripts have more fun with the period setting than ever before, as contemporary literary archetypes from Samuel Johnson to Jane Austen are ripe for lampooning. Howard Goodall's theme tune is updated to a glorious classical pastiche, while the extravagant costumes of the times hardly need altering to achieve the desired effect. The comedy is so good it seemed this could never be bettered, until Blackadder Goes Forth that is. —Mark Walker

Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson The final Blackadder series, which first appeared in 1990, was the most highly evolved of all of the Richard Curtis/Ben Elton-scripted excursions. Having contrived to attain the Crown at the end of the third series, Rowan Atkinson's Edmund Blackadder is now reduced to a mere Captaincy in the trenches during World War I, with these episodes finding him shooting messenger pigeons, grumbling about Charlie Chaplin and unscrupulously evading his patriotic duty to pile over the top and be slaughtered pointlessly. Hugh Laurie plays the upper class silly arse to the hilt while Baldrick, who has grown progressively more stupid throughout the four series, can barely muster the intelligence to move from the spot. Blackadder Goes Forth stoutly refused to the end to abandon its relish for broad, puerile scatological puns: "Captain Darling will pump you thoroughly in the debriefing room," growls Stephen Fry's General Melchett. However, Blackadder's cynicism is laced with genuine despair at the recent madness of World War I. The closing moments of the final episode, as Blackadder and co. finally receive their orders, are handled with sober poignancy and became a frequent fixture in Remembrance Day TV scheduling. —David Stubbs

Bronson Pinchot, Dudley Moore, Michael Ellis, Mark Herman

Rutger Hauer, Terry O'Quinn, Phillip Noyce

Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, John Badham

The Wachowski Brothers Corky (Gina Gershon), a tough ex-con and her lover Violet (Jennifer Tilly) concoct a scheme to steal $2 million of mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend, Caesar (Joe Pantoliano) in this neo-noir thriller from the writers and directors of The Matrix Trilogy. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times called it "Scary, Funny, Sexy and Exiting!" and Liz Smith of the New York Post declared it as "One of the Best Movies in 1996". The Stellar cast includes John P. Ryan (Runaway Train), Christopher Meloni (TV's Law & Order and Oz) and legendary director Richard C. Sarafian (Vanishing Point) as the mob boss. Beautifully shot by Bill Pope (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World).

Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Jim Sheridan Director Jim Sheridan links up once more with Daniel Day-Lewis for 1997's The Boxer, a study of a violent Belfast's uneasy crossover into the peace process (they had previously worked on My Left Foot among other films). Day-Lewis stars as Danny Flynn, imprisoned in his late teens for terrorism, now out after 14 years. A once promising boxer, he's initially looking to resume what's left of his career. However, his rekindled love for Maggie (Emily Watson), daughter of local IRA boss (Brian Cox), is coupled with a need to be a part of the healing process in Northern Ireland. With the help of his former trainer (Ken Stott), he reopens a non-sectarian gym. However, the non-pacific wing of the IRA, personified by Gerard McSorley, resents Flynn, not least for consorting with Maggie, who is another IRA prisoner's wife. Day-Lewis plays Flynn as an almost spiritual figure, still caught in the introspection that enshrouded him during his years in jail. Ironically, the well-executed boxing scenes provide a respite from the air of serious violence that pervades the rest of the film, symbolised by the ominous rotorblades of the ever-present helicopters, from which much of the action of this sad, yet gripping and ultimately uplifting movie, is shot.

On the DVD: Generous extras include commentaries from producer Arthur Lappin, who offers a tourist's guide to various locations, as well as one from director Jim Sheridan, who offers technical info and remarks drily of a brief, tart exchange between Maggie and Flynn, "This is an Irish love scene". There's also an alternative (though not that alternative) ending, extra scenes which probably deserved to stay on the cutting room floor and, most illuminatingly, a featurette on the movie. This reveals that the career of Barry McGuigan (boxing advisor here) provided Sheridan with the impetus to make The Boxer, inspired by the courage and grace he showed in the ring to rise above partisanship. —David Stubbs

Tommy Cannon, Bobby Ball, Val Guest

Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Francis Ford Coppola Brand new factory sealed, great DVD, fast dispatch, UK SELLER

Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau A stupendous historical saga, Braveheart won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for star Mel Gibson. He plays William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish commoner who unites the various clans against a cruel English King, Edward the Longshanks (Patrick McGoohan). The scenes of hand-to-hand combat are brutally violent, but they never glorify the bloodshed. There is such enormous scope to this story that it works on a smaller, more personal scale as well, essaying love and loss, patriotism and passion. Extremely moving, it reveals Gibson as a multitalented performer and remarkable director with an eye for detail and an understanding of human emotion. (His first directorial effort was 1993's Man Without a Face.) The film is nearly three hours long and includes several plot tangents, yet is never dull. This movie resonates long after you have seen it, both for its visual beauty and for its powerful story. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Jonathan Mostow Tautly directed and superbly photographed, this crowd-pleasing thriller from 1997 is indebted to Steven Spielberg's Duel but more closely resembles Dead Calm in its strengths and weaknesses. Kurt Russell plays a stressed-out husband whose wife (Kathleen Quinlan) disappears after their car breaks down in the desert. Tracking down her whereabouts leads to an interstate theft and kidnapping ring, and as Russell pursues—and is pursued by—a vicious redneck played to perfection by J T Walsh (in one of his final film roles), the movie succumbs to several tense but utterly conventional action sequences. That doesn't stop the movie from being an above-average nail-biter. It is so effectively directed by co-writer Jonathan Mostow that even the more surreal situations seem plausible and altogether unsettling. Russell's performance is key to the film's success—he's smart enough to be admirable and we can readily identify with his frustration, confusion and torment. Through him, Breakdown takes on the edgy quality of a wide-awake nightmare. —Jeff Shannon

William Hurt, Albert Brooks, James L. Brooks Holly Hunter plays a network news producer who, much to her chagrin, finds herself falling for pretty-boy anchorman William Hurt. He is all glamour without substance and represents a hated shift from hard news toward packaged "infotainment", which Hunter despises. Completing the triangle is Albert Brooks, who provides contrast as the gifted reporter with almost no presence on camera. He carries a torch for Hunter; she sees merely a friend. Written and directed by James L. Brooks, Broadcast News shows remarkable insight into the people who make television. On the surface the film is about that love triangle. If you look a little deeper, however, you will see that this behind-the-scenes comedy is a very revealing look at obsessive behaviour and the heightened emotions that accompany adrenaline addiction. It is for good reason this was nominated for seven Academy Awards (though it did not win any). There are scenes in this movie you cannot shake, such as Hunter's scheduled mini-breakdowns, or Brooks' furious "flop sweat" during his tryout as a national anchor. Watch for an uncredited Jack Nicholson as a senior newscaster. —Rochelle O'Gorman

John Travolta, Christian Slater, John Woo John Travolta is Vic Deakins, a bomber pilot who launches a devilish plan to hijack two nuclear missiles for big-time extortion. Vic never sweats, spews out great one-liners, knocks off money men with glee, toys with killing half a million people ... he even smokes!

If you giggled at his "Ain't it cool" line from the trailer, you're in the right frame of mind for this comedic action film. Never as gritty or semi-realistic—or for that matter as heart-thumping—as the original DieHard, Broken Arrow still delivers. If Travolta is cast against type, everyone else is by the numbers; Christian Slater as Hale, the earnest copilot looking to foil the plot, Samantha Mathis as the brave park ranger caught in the middle, Frank Whaley as an eager diplomat and Delroy Lindo as a right-minded colonel. As with his previous script (the superior Speed), writer Graham Yost moves everything quickly along as Hale and the ranger try to cut off Deakins's plan over a variety of terrains. There are plane crashes, car chases, a pursuit through an abandoned mine, a helicopter-train shootout and lots of fighting between boys. Each time Hale finds himself perfectly in place to foil Deakins, you're suppose to laugh at the unbelievable situations. That's where Broken Arrow is deceptive: its tone is right for the laughter compared to the mean-spirited Schwarzenegger and Stallone action films with laboured jokes. Hong Kong master director John Woo (TheKiller and Hard Target) pulls out all the stops—slow motion of Hale and Deakins' gymnastic gun play, nifty stunts, countdowns to doomsday. Woo may know action but he needs more guidance in creating unique and stunning special effects. This is action entertainment at its cheesiest. Travolta and Woolater reteamed for Face/Off. —Doug Thomas

Clint Eastwood An heiress flees from her ill-advised wedding and joins a ragtag Wild West show run by a self-made matinee cowboy hero.

Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri Polish & english language

Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Barry Levinson Bugsy represents an almost miraculous combination of director, writer and star on a project that represents a career highlight for everyone involved. It's one of the best American gangster movies ever made—as good in its own way as any of the Godfather films—and it's impossible to imagine anyone better than Beatty in the movie's flashy title role. As notorious mobster and Las Vegas visionary "Bugsy" Siegel, Beatty is perfectly cast as a man whose dreams are greater than his ability to realise them—or at least, greater than his ability to stay alive while making those dreams come true. With a glamorous Hollywood mistress (Annette Bening) who shares Bugsy's dream while pursuing her own upwardly mobile agenda, Bugsy seems oblivious to threats when he begins to spend too much of the mob's money on the creation of the Flamingo casino. Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) and Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel) will support Bugsy's wild ambition to a point, after which all bets are off, and Bugsy's life hangs in the balance. From the obvious chemistry of Beatty and Bening (who met and later married off-screen) to the sumptuous reproduction of 1940s Hollywood, every detail in this movie feels impeccably right. Beatty is simply mesmerising as the man who invented Las Vegas but never saw it thrive, moving from infectious idealism to brutal violence in the blink of an eye. Director Barry Levinson is also in peak form here, guiding the stylish story with a subtle balance of admiration and horror; we can catch Bugsy's Vegas fever and root for the gangster's success, but we know he'll get what he deserves. We might wish that Bugsy had lived to see his dream turn into a booming oasis, but the movie doesn't suggest that we should shed any tears. —Jeff Shannon

Damon Wayans, Adam Sandler, Ernest R. Dickerson Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler actually work together pretty well as action-flick buddies on opposite sides of the law. The storyline is familiar, to put it mildly, as car-thief and drug-courier Sandler is set up and busted by Wayans' undercover cop, a man he's come to trust with his life. Dozens of movies, including Quentin Tarantino's great Reservoir Dogs, have tilled this fallow field before. But for once we can actually feel the bonds connecting the two tough guys, and the pain of their falling out, even when the movie dawdles over repetitious squabbling scenes. Cinematographer-turned-director Ernest Dickers

Demi Moore, Jeff Daniels, Terry Hughes Marina (Demi Moore), a blonde Southern belle with a clairvoyant streak, sees signs—a shooting star with two tails, a snowglobe that washes up on the beach, a wedding band inside of a fish—telling her that her true love is about to come ashore. And soon enough, a boat lands on the beach in front of her home; only the guy inside is a stout butcher from New York City named Leo (George Dzundza). Still, portents are portents, and the next thing you know she's married and running barefoot around a butcher's shop in Greenwich Village, where she inspires various residents with her predictions. Leo, however, is frightened by his wife's abilities and encourages her to see Alex (Jeff Daniels), a psychiatrist who works across the street. To placate him, she does—and soon begins to suspect that she's misread her signs and married the wrong man. The Butcher's Wife could use a little more humour about Marina's powers (her pronouncements are dizzyingly earnest) but the movie is buoyed up by a fantastic supporting cast, particularly Margaret Colin as a soap opera actress, Frances McDormand as a lesbian dress shop owner and Mary Steenburgen as a dowdy church choir leader who just wants to sing the blues. Like Marina, you know what's going to happen but the cast manages to make getting there charming. —Bret Fetzer

Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey Cabaret is one of those film musicals whose cultural and stylistic influence extend well beyond the cinema. It confirmed Bob Fosse's status as one of the boldest choreographers of the 20th century and gave Liza Minnelli an early peak in a film career which would never scale such heights again. Minnelli is both the film's strength—on its own merits her performance is an Oscar-winning tour de force—and weakness. The real Sally Bowles was a third-rate performer and just one of a rich gallery of characters; here, the constant allowances for Minnelli's star turns and mannerisms ultimately throw the story off balance. But the source material is impeccable: Kander and Ebb's stage show, based on the autobiographical stories of Christopher Isherwood, has long since been acknowledged a classic. The songs, augmented by some new numbers in the film, are ageless.

Joel Grey from the original Broadway production is the Emcee, the master of ceremonies who, with his Kit Kat Klub girls, provides a depraved Greek chorus satirising the rise of the Nazi regime and the lazy complacency of the 1930s Berlin cabaret-goers. The "divine decadence" tag is only part of the story, though. Cabaret still works a sinister, uncomfortable magic which sets it apart as a uniquely powerful film musical.

On the DVD: Cabaret's 30th Anniversary Special Edition is packed with extras which include a scratchy "making of" documentary from 1972 and a retrospective from 1997, the latter featuring reminiscences from the cast. There’s also the original theatrical trailer, though in the absence of the late director Fosse the lack of some kind of commentary is a disappointment. The picture itself, presented in widescreen 16:9 letterbox format with a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack, gleams as sharply, visually and aurally, as it did on its first release. —Piers Ford

Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Ben Stiller

John Stocker, Melleny Brown The Care Bears Movie was essentially a 75-minute commercial to introduce a new toy range, the Care Bear Cousins, disguised as a smarmy story about sharing feelings. The film ushered in a spate of cheap animated films created solely to sell merchandise to children. The plot interweaves the stories of Kim and Jason, two lonely orphans who have given up caring, and of Nicholas, a friendless magician's assistant who is seduced by an evil spirit. The Care Bears resolve everyone's problems, naturally. Years later, the Care Bears' popularity has waned and the film stands as a reminder of one of the less admirable uses of animation. The stars, hearts, rainbows and saccharine songs can't disguise the barefaced commercialism behind the threadbare story. —Charles Solomon

Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Brian De Palma Al Pacino Carlito's Way

Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Henry King The 1956 screen adaptation of Carousel, like its immediate predecessor Oklahoma!, boasted then state-of-the-art widescreen cinematography, stereophonic sound, a starring romantic duo with on-screen chemistry, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein imprimatur. Adding to its promise was a source (the venerable Ferenc Molnar play Liliom) that had already been filmed three times. Contributing to the lustre are the coastal Maine locations where 20th Century Fox filmed principal photography. Yet unlike the original Broadway production, and despite evident craft, Carousel proved a box-office disappointment. Why? Hindsight argues that movie-goers of the 1950s may have been unprepared for its tragic narrative, the sometimes unsympathetic protagonist, and a spiritual subtext addressing life after death.

Whatever the obstacle, Carousel may well be a revelation to first-time viewers. The score is among the composers' most affecting, from the glorious instrumental "Carousel Waltz" to a succession of exquisite love songs ("If I Loved You"), a heart-rending secular hymn ("You'll Never Walk Alone"), and the expectant father's poignant reverie, "Soliloquy". Top-line stars Shirley Jones (as factory worker Julie Jordan) and Gordon MacRae (as Billy Bigelow, the carnival barker who woos and weds her) achieve greater dramatic urgency here than in the more successful Oklahoma!. MacRae in particular attains a personal best as the conflicted Billy, whose anxiety and wounded pride after losing his job are crucial to the plot. It's Billy's impatience to support his new family that drives him to an ill-fated decision, which transforms the fable into a ghost story. —Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Michael Curtiz

Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese, one of America's most influential filmmakers, returns to the world of mobsters, greed, and excess that he explored so compellingly in 1990's Goodfellas. Set in the 1970s and revelling in the minute details of how Las Vegas casinos operate, the film chronicles the rise and fall of casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro). As the king of his domain, Ace efficiently runs the business and regularly sends lots of cold cash to his bosses. Helping him keep the casino's employees and customers honest is his best friend, Nicky (Joe Pesci), a violent sociopath. Although Ace aims to run a relatively respectable casino, the volatile Nicky wants to take over the entire gambling mecca, and when Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), a seasoned Vegas hustler, enters the picture, Ace and Nicky's friendship is complicated even further. As drugs and alcohol become a bigger part of Ginger's life, all three are eventually brought down by their own greed and blind ambition. Casino shares many similarities with Goodfellas, beginning with a script that was cowritten by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi. Regulars De Niro and Pesci are first rate once again as the dissimilar companions, but it is Stone who steals the show with her gruelling, intense performance.

Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci, Brad Silberling This 1995 family film tries to put a fun spin on the story of a paranormalist and widower (Bill Pullman) who moves into a new house with his daughter (Christina Ricci) and meets up with the ghost of a dead little boy. Based on the comic book about Casper the friendly ghost, the film is a dreary series of awkward interactions between live actors and computer effects, and you can almost see Pullman and Ricci reconsidering the project while on camera. A few cameo appearances from uncredited stars help things a bit. But theres no way, based on this film, that one could have guessed that its director, Brad Silberling, would go on to make the exceptional drama City of Angels. —Tom Keogh

Céline Dion, Peabo Bryson, Mark Keys, Tony Greco Filmed in Quebec in 1995, this concert souvenir captures Celine Dion as she turned the corner from pop contender to platinum princess. Long a star in Canada, and a major draw throughout the Francophone world, the Québecois vocalist was still a relatively new, if increasingly successful, commodity stateside. A clutch of single hits, augmented by two big soundtrack themes, hadn't entirely erased the suspicion that Dion's career was being bolted together on an assembly line not far from Mariah Carey's—apart from frequent overlaps in production support, both singers relied on similar mixtures of sweeping ballads and crisp, uptempo dance workouts, and both were notorious for their vocal gymnastics.

The Colour of My Love works hard, as does Dion, to convince us she's already a major diva, and the approving crowd of hometown fans obviously agrees. Dion, her hair cropped in a shorter, curly "do", is equally chic in black suit or blue gown, a troupe of dancers invades for strategic uptempo pieces, and her studio duet partners for both "When I Fall in Love"(Clive Griffin) and "Beauty and the Beast" (Peabo Bryson) pop up to repeat their roles. The star attacks each song with laser-like focus, and she radiates a sense of theatrical drama.

Technically, however, the special suffers from the kind of direction that mistakes swooping camera movement, sudden zoom shots, tilted frames and other concert video clichés for real drama. More problematic is abundant evidence of considerable post-production sweetening in the star's vocals—like other post-rock divas with arena-sized ambitions, Dion (or perhaps her producer) is apparently determined to reproduce the surreal sonic precision and scale of the records. It's a slippery slope that tempts perfectionists to leave less and less of the actual performance on the soundtrack, even though Dion's huge voice would still be impressive (and possibly more exciting) if rendered without such editorial tweaks. —Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman, James Foley A gritty adaptation of John Grisham's best-selling novel. Former Ku Klux Klan member Sam Cayhall (Gene Hackman) has been on death row for nearly thirty years after pleading guilty to bombing a civil rights leader and killing his children. With just 28 day

Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Lou Adler

Julie Lee, Siu-Kei Lee, Kun-Sing Chan, Bosco Lam

Eric Clapton, Nathan East, Chris Lovett, Judy Minot, Steve Purcell, Milton Lage

Jacqueline Bisset, Rob Lowe, Lewis John Carlino As rites-of-passage films featuring a young man's sexual initiation in the arms of a beautiful woman go, Class (1983) has plenty going for it, not least its attractive cast: Andrew McCarthy as Jonathan, Rob Lowe as Gatsby-ish best friend Skip and Jacqueline Bisset as the beautiful woman who is old enough to know better and just happens to be Skip's mother.

Lewis John Carlino's film has moments of insight, taking a few well-aimed shots at the vaguely sinister network of American public school life. In the first reel it neatly subverts the bullying scenario that threatens when the geekish Jonathan arrives at the school, while offering the briefly intriguing sight of Lowe in scarlet bra and pants. And there's a subplot of deceit and complicity that both strengthens and threatens the friendship that rapidly forms between Skip and Jonathan. In many ways, though, the most interesting element of the picture—Skip's relationship with his dysfunctional family—is left unexplored. Jonathan's deflowering and subsequent interludes are merely titillating. And Bisset's Ellen, a desperately sad character, becomes superfluous once the revelation that she is the "teacher" sets the boys' friendship on the path to fraternal solidarity.

On the DVD: Class is presented in widescreen anamorphic format and looks as good as its leading players, although the Dolby Digital mono soundtrack has odd moments of flatness that detract from the cinematic experience. Extras are limited to the cinema trailer that now looks like a red rag to the puritanical objectors who were appalled by the graphic scenes in which Jonathan loses his virginity to the predatory Ellen. —Piers Ford

Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Joel Schumacher

Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick's controversial film triggered copycat violence on its initial release and as a result the director withdrew the film from circulation in Britain, keeping it suppressed right up to his death in 1999. The film follows sadistic punk Alex (Ma

Steven Spielberg Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who along with several other stunned bystanders experience a close encounter of the first kind - witnessing UFOs soaring across the sky. After this life-changing event, the inexplicable vision of a strange, mountain-like formation haunts him. He becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences are happening around the world. Government agents have close encounters of the second kind - discovering physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost fighter aircraft from World War II and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to suddenly reappear in unusual places. Roy continues to chase his vision to a remote area where he and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind - contact.

Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Ron Howard DVD 20th Century Fox, 5039036009140, 1985 Region 2 PAL

Ron Howard Don Ameche (1985 Academy Award®, Best Supporting Actor), Hume Cronyn, Jack Gilford, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Wilford Brimley and Steve Guttenberg star in this charming fantasy adventure.

Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese Martin Scorcese handles directing duties in this 1986 sequel to the classic 1961 film The Hustler, which marks the return of Paul Newman to the role of pool shark Fast Eddie Felson. Anxious to break into the big time again, Eddie finds a talented protégé (Tom Cruise) to groom; but with the addition of the latter's manipulative girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and the wild streak in Cruise's character, the trio make for a fascinating portrait in group psychology. The cast is brilliant, the script by Richard Price (Clockers) is a paragon of tightly controlled character study and drama (at least in the film's first half), and Scorcese and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus make an ornate show of the collision and flight of pool balls through space—something of a metaphor for the dynamics among the three principals. The film is generally regarded as weaker in its second half, and rightly so, as everything that was interesting in the first place disappears. Still, Newman won a deserved Oscar for his performance. —Tom Keogh

Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Alan Parker An irresistible, comic drama from director Alan Parker (Evita, Mississippi Burning), overflowing and alive with passion, humor and music, The Commitments showcases some old R&B standards in a new light. A headstrong, fast-talking, ambitious young Dubliner (Robert Arkins) fancies himself a promoter of talent, and sets about assembling and packaging a local Irish R&B band. His group of self-absorbed, backbiting, but stunningly talented individuals begin to succeed beyond his wildest dreams, until petty jealousies and recrimination threaten to scuttle the whole deal. A moody, vivid and soulful exploration of the Dublin club scene as well as a showcase for some wonderful unknown actors, the film (and its wonderful soundtrack) also features the actual band covering classic soul tunes from the likes of Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. It's that combination of soul and soul music that makes The Commitments a special little film. —Robert Lane, Amazon.com —This text refers to the VHS edition of this video

Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Simon West Con Air is proof that the slick, absurdly overblown action formula of Hollywood mega-producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Rock) lives on, even after Simpson's druggy death. (Read Charles Fleming's exposé, High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, for more about that). Nicolas Cage, sporting a disconcerting mane of hair, is a wrongly convicted prisoner on a transport plane with a bunch of infamously psychopathic criminals, including head creep Cyrus the Virus (John Malkovich), black militant Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), and serial killer Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi, making the most of his pallid, rodent-like qualities). Naturally, the convicts take over the plane; meanwhile, on the ground, a US marshal (John Cusack)and a DEA agent (Colm Meaney), try to figure out what to do. As is the postmodern way, the movie displays a self-consciously ironic awareness that its story and characters are really just excuses for a high-tech cinematic thrill ride. Best idea: the filmmakers persuaded the owners of the legendary Sands Hotel in Las Vegas to let them help out with the structure's demolition by crashing their plane into it. —Jim Emerson

Arthur Schmidt, Robert Zemeckis

John Candy, Leon, Jon Turteltaub dvd import parlato italianodai tropici alla neve. la pazza ,incredibile avventura di quattro atleti giamaicani con l'unica aspirazione: vincere una medaglia d'oro olimpica nello sport piu' esotico che si possa immaginare : il bob.

Ralph Bakshi This smart blend of live-action and animation was director Ralph Bakshi's answer to WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. > > > > > . When ex-con cartoonist Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) was behind bars, he found escape by creating "Cool World", a cartoon series featuring a voluptuous vixen named Holli would. But the 'toonsmith becomes a prisoner of his own fantasies when Holli pulls Jack into Cool World with a scheme to seduce him and bring herself to life. A hard-boiled detective (Brad Pitt) - the only other human in Cool World - cautions Jack with the law: Noids (humans) don't have sex with Doodles (cartoons). Unfortunately however, the flesh proves weaker than the ink, and Holli takes human form (Kim Basinger) in Las Vegas, starting a trans-universal chase that threatens the destruction of both worlds... With a splashy mix of animation and live-action sequences, and with a thumping techno score that includes tracks from Moby and David Bowie and such goofy touches as Holli singing "Let's Make Love" with Frank Sinatra Jr., COOL WORLD is definitely a freaky place to visit...

Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, James Mangold

Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Jon Amiel Copycat [DVD] [1995]

Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Edward Zwick

John Wayne, Bruce Dern, Mark Rydell

Fairuza Balk, Skeet Ulrich, Andrew Fleming

James Spader, Holly Hunter, David Cronenberg Adapted from the controversial novel by J.G. Ballard, Crash will either repel or amaze you, with little or no room for a neutral reaction. The film is perfectly matched to the artistic and intellectual proclivities of director David Cronenberg, who has used the inspiration of Ballard's novel to create what critic Roger Ebert has described as "a dissection of the mechanics of pornography". Filmed with a metallic colour scheme and a dominant tone of emotional detachment, the story focuses on a close-knit group of people who have developed a sexual fetish around the collision of automobiles. They use cars as a tool of arousal, in which orgasm is directly connected to death-defying temptations of fate at high speeds. Ballard wrote his book to illustrate the connections between sex and technology—the ultimate postmodern melding of flesh and machine—and Cronenberg takes this theme to the final frontier of sexual expression. Holly Hunter, James Spader and Deborah Unger are utterly fearless in roles that few actors would dare to play, and their surrender to Cronenberg's vision makes Crash an utterly unique and challenging film experience. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, Christopher Lee, Tony Scott In the typical Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer mould(the partnership yielded Top Gun and Days of Thunder, among many other films), this 1995 drama is a combination of one-dimensional but enjoyable performances, lots of high-tech nonsense taking place onscreen, and mechanistic movie-making at its loudest and most seizure-inducing. Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington play nuclear submarine officers squaring off over the former's apparent intention to do some unauthorized damage to an enemy. Tony Scott (Top Gun) directed, bringing his lustre and pop commercial sense to go with all that Simpson-Bruckheimer eye candy. —Tom Keogh

Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, Peter Faiman

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Sean Penn Sean Penn wrote and directed The Crossing Guard, a character-driven drama about a divorced couple (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) whose relationship never recovered following the death of their daughter at the hands of a drunk driver (David Morse). When the latter's character, a deeply regretful and changed man, gets out of jail, Nicholson, as the vengeful dad, decides to go after him. As a director, Penn is not so good with fluid storytelling and camera clichés, but he is amazing as an actor's director. The onscreen re-teaming of former real-life lovers Nicholson and Huston is more than just a voyeuristic exercise: Penn ingeniously uses the duo's palpable friction to bring a horrifying reality to the pain of a dead relationship. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Alex Proyas The Crow set the standard for dark and violent comic-book movies (like Spawn or director Alex Proyas's superior follow-up, Dark City), but it will forever be remembered as the film during which star Brandon Lee (son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee) was accidentally killed on the set by a loaded gun. The filmmakers were able to digitally sample what they'd captured of Lee's performance and piece together enough footage to make the film releasable. Indeed, it is probably more fascinating for that post-production story than for the tale on the screen. The Crow is appropriately cloaked in ominous expressionistic shadows, oozing urban dread and occult menace from every dank, concrete crack, but it really adds up to a simple and perfunctory tale of ritual revenge. Guided by a portentous crow (standing in for Poe's raven), Lee plays a deceased rock musician who returns from the grave to systematically torture and kill the outlandishly violent gang of hoodlums who murdered him and his fiancée the year before. The film is worth watching for its compelling visuals and genuinely nightmarish, otherworldly ambience. —Jim Emerson

Renny Harlin Geena Davis (THELMA & LOUISE, BEETLEJUICE) and Matthew Modine (MARRIED TO THE MOB, FULL METAL JACKET) deliver a tidal wave of nonstop action and adventure in this swashbuckling saga of ruthless pirates, buried treasure and bloodthirsty betrayal.

D.B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly, Paul Michael Glaser The Cutting Edge is a 1991 romantic sports comedy-drama set in the allegedly exciting world of Olympic-level figure-skating. Ice maiden Moira Kelly has been reared from birth by her driving father (Stepfather star Terry O'Quinn adding a creepy touch) to be a champion, but is constantly let down because she's so unpleasant that no one wants to be her partner. On the other side of the tracks, macho jock DB Sweeney is invalided out of ice hockey and recruited by Kelly's Russian coach (Roy Dotrice) to team up with her. They hate each other on sight but develop into a potential winning team, and, in between being nasty to each other, fall in nauseating lurve. The tension builds up as to who is going to win that Olympic gold medal in the finale (guess!) and whether the leads will be able to hold off strangling each other in time for the big last-minute clinch.

The whole thing is a stew of mismatched couple and underdog-triumphs-in-sport clichés, directed by ex-Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser, but it really falls down because Sweeney and Kelly obviously can't skate for toffee. The on-ice sequences, choreographed by medal-winning Robin Cousins in an only-job-he's-fit-for turn, employ doubles and tricky editing, which means the climactic struggle has to be quite literally skated over.

On the DVD: The Cutting Edge comes to DVD in an anamorphic widescreen print that’s in good shape but with that slightly feathery colour common in pre-digital transfers. There are English, German, French and Italian tracks; plus a single measly trailer.—Kim Newman

Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Louis Malle

Dances with Wolves is the film that sent director-producer-actor Kevin Costner on his hubristic way; yet it is such a resonant and powerful film that we can almost forgive him for inflicting upon us his later "epic" The Postman. Here Costner plays a Union solder stationed at the far edges of the West, and left there to rot at his post. He finally sees the wisdom of the Lakota Sioux and finds peace within their community. But his decision to "go native" is greatly frowned upon by his military commanders, and the subsequent culture clash forms the backbone of the narrative. The story is told simply, and wastes not one word of dialogue, while the South Dakota locations provide a magnificent backdrop. Costner is sympathetic and accessible as an American Everyman who awakens to himself and the world around him... —Rochelle O'Gorman, Amazon.com

Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Roger Donaldson The first of 1997's volcano disaster movies (the second being Volcano) was arguably the better of the two but both of them made for passable entertainment with some spectacular special effects to serve as icing on the stale cake. After all, Dante's Peak doesn't pretend to be anything more than an updated variation on a whole catalogue of disaster movie clichés. Despite all that, it's reasonably enjoyable. It's an added bonus that the script is just smart enough to allow Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton to play their roles with straight faces, never condescending to the audience of the formulaic story. He's a volcano expert from the US Geological Survey, and she's the mayor of a cosy Washington State town perched beneath a volcano that's about to blow. Tell-tale signs are everywhere, so evacuation must be carried out immediately. Of course, not everybody's eager to leave and even some of Brosnan's colleagues think his alarm is premature. This sets the stage for massive ash clouds, rivers of raging mud and molten rock, flattened forests and death-defying escapes by Brosnan, Hamilton and some (but not all) of her family, friends and townsfolk. So what if it's all pretty flaky ... and can a four-wheel-drive vehicle travel over fire and molten lava without bursting its tires? Don't ask too many questions and you'll find Dante's Peak to be (if you'll pardon the pun) a total blast. —Jeff Shannon

Paul Mercurio, Harley Jane Kozak, Albert Magnoli

Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Ivan Reitman

Robert Wise The Day The Earth Stood Still depicts the arrival of an alien dignitary, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), who has come to earth with his deadly robot, Gort (Lock Martin), to deliver the message that earthlings must stop warring among themselves—or else. After being shot at by military guards, Klaatu is brought to a Washington, D.C. hospital, where he begs a sympathetic but frank Major White (Robert Osterloh) to gather all the world's leaders so he can tell them more specifically what he has come to warn them about. Losing patience, Klaatu slips into the human world, adapting a false identity and living at a boarding house where he meets a smart woman with a conscience and her inquisitive son. Both mother and son soon find themselves embroiled in the complex mystery of Klaatu, his message and the government's witch hunt for the alien.

DISC INFORMATION
It is a double-sided disc:

Side 1:
*Commentary by Robert Wise and Nicolas Meyer
*Movie Tone news of the premiere events of 1951
*Theatrical trailer

Side 2:
*Making The Earth Stand Still documentary
*Restoration comparison
*6 Still galleries
*Trailers: Journey to the Center of the Earth, & One Million Years B.C.

Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, Rob Cohen This echo of 1970s disaster films stars Sylvester Stallone as the disgraced former head of New York City's Emergency Medical Services, a loser who is nevertheless a compulsive rescuer of people in danger. When the Holland Tunnel is sealed off after a fiery explosion and car passengers are trapped within, he goes inside and leads a group of survivors (a mixed group allegorically representing America's diversity) through all manner of pestilence toward safety. Directed by the imaginative Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Daylight finds Stallone outrageously (and to almost campy effect) pushing the envelope of his martyr persona to near-religious levels. He throws himself, quite literally, into this part and between that entertainment factor and the unnervingly convincing effects, this is a pretty watchable film.—Tom Keogh

Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Bert Lovitt, Tony Scott Paramount Pictures, Region 2 1990 107 mins sealed

Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Sandra Adair, Richard Linklater E' l'anno 1976, ultimo giorno di scuola nel quale si celebra il rito di passaggio fra gli "anziani", che terminano gli studi e i nuovi arrivati.

Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins DEAD MAN WALKING

Larenz Tate, Keith David, Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes Larenze Tate Dead Presidents

Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Arthur Schmidt, Robert Zemeckis Bruce Willis Death Becomes Her

This controversial, 1974 drama exploits urban paranoia and presents vigilantism as cathartic release. But it is also a captivating, Everyman-ish story of a New Yorker who goes through a sea change after crime depletes his family and who runs foul of the law while taking it into his own hands. Charles Bronson stars as the vengeance-seeking urban warrior who goes on a punk-killing spree after his wife and daughter are attacked by intruders. Director Michael Winner (TheWicked Lady) shamelessly builds upon audience identification with Bronson's rage but he also makes an interesting story out of the latter's tug-of-war with disapproving police. It's an unpleasant film all around but not nearly as bad as its horrifying, numerous sequels. Watch for a very young Jeff Goldblum—in this, his second movie—as one of the assailants of Bronson's loved ones. —Tom Keogh

Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Duke

Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Mimi Leder

Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Marco Brambilla Searching for new directions, Sylvester Stallone starred in this farcical, 1993 SF piece about an ex-cop (Stallone) freed from 36 years of forced hibernation to help catch a criminal (Wesley Snipes) who released himself from a similar incarceration. The futuristic story finds Los Angeles a sea of Taco Bells and enforced peace and within that satiric overview Stallone's character becomes a gun-toting fish out of water. The film plays like a live-action cartoon and while there is nothing particularly wrong with that, Demolition Man is a rather flat experience. The irony of a peaceable society that both requires and despises its bloody saviours has been captured far more profoundly in movies like Dirty Harry. Sandra Bullock costars. —Tom Keogh

Antonio Banderas, Joaquim De Almeida, Robert Rodriguez

Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Alan J. Pakula Harrison Ford As Tom OMeara; Brad Pitt As Rory Devaney; Margaret Colin As Sheila OMeara; Treat Williams As Billy Burke; George Hearn As Peter Fitzsimmons - The Devils Own - [DVD]

Bruce Willi stars as New York City Detective John McClane, newly arrived in Los Angeles to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia). But as Mclane waits for his wife's office party to break up, terrorist take control of the building. While the terrorist leader, Hans gruber (Alexander Godunov) round up hostages, McClane slips away unnoticed. Armed with only a service revolver and his cunning, McClane launches his own one-man war. A crackling thriller from beginning to end, Die Hard explodes with heart-stopping suspense.

Bruce Willis, William Atherton, Renny Harlin Director Renny Harlin (Cutthroat Island) took the reins of this 1990 sequel, which places Bruce Willis's New York City cop character in harm's way again with a gaggle of terrorists. This time, Willis awaits his wife's arrival at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, when he gets wind of a plot to blow up the facility. Noisy, overbearing and forgettable, the film has none of the purity of its predecessor's simple story; and it makes a huge miscalculation in allowing a terrible tragedy to occur rather than stretch out the tension. Where Die Hard set new precedents in action movies, Die Hard 2 is just an anything-goes spectacle. — Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, John McTiernan The second sequel to the mould-making action film Die Hard brings Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) to New York City to face a better villain than in Die Hard 2. Played by Jeremy Irons, he's the brother of the Germanic terrorist-thief Alan Rickman played in the original film. But this bad guy has his sights set higher: on the Federal Reserve's cache of gold. As a distraction, he sets McClane running fool's errands all over New York—and eventually, McClane attracts an unintentional partner, a Harlem dry cleaner (Samuel L Jackson) with a chip on his shoulder. Some great action sequences, though they can't obscure the rather large plot holes in the film's final 45 minutes. —Marshall Fine

Patrick Swayze, Garry Goodrow, Emile Ardolino

Clint Eastwood, Reni Santoni, Don Siegel

Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, Barry Levinson Disclosure [1995] [DVD] [1994] [DVD] (1998) Michael Douglas; Demi Moore

Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Jeremy Leven Don Juan De Marco [DVD]

Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Mike Newell Original Owner DVD's...Not The Recycled £0.01p Versions Available Online From Zoverstocks "Music Magpie" Recyclables! Our DVD's Are Collectible to Like New. Please View All Photos Before Deciding To Buy.

Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Richard Fleischer NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles. After the animal communicating veterinarian goes too far for his client?le, he and his friends escape their hometown to sea in search of the Gre...

Jason Scott Lee, Lara Flynn Boyle, Robert Wagner, Michael Learned, Nancy Kwan This enjoyable and touching biography of martial-arts film star Bruce Lee stars Jason Scott Lee (no relation), an actor with a lively face and natural intensity, who makes every moment of this film compelling. Directed by Rob Cohen, Dragon traces Bruce Lee's slow rise over myriad obstacles—most of them race-based—to become an international superstar in films. Lee's origins are oddly set in San Francisco instead of his real home in Seattle, but then again there is plenty of artistic license going on as Cohen explores the actor's psyche through some powerful fantasy sequences. Lauren Holly is good as Lee's wife, Linda (whose book about her late husband inspired this movie). A scene involving Bruce's rescue of son Brandon (who died in a film-making accident in 1993) from a murderous spirit is plain spooky. The special-edition DVD release has a widescreen presentation, director interview, featurette, screen tests, closed captioning, optional French soundtrack and Spanish subtitles. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com —This text refers to the VHS edition of this video

Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery, Rob Cohen

Joseph Ruben The President of the United States is about to be assassinated in a dream where there is no morning after. Only one man can save him—a man who must plunge himself into the President's horrendous nightmare. Dennis Quaid stars as Alex Gardner, a psychically gifted young man recruited to help Dr. Paul Novotny (Max Von Sydow) and the beautiful Dr. Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw) in an experiment to help patients disturbed by menacing nocturnal illusions. But corrupt high-ranking government official Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) has darker plans for Alex's unusual powers. Soon Alex is propelled inside the President's nightmare, a frightening wasteland of nuclear holocaust, and locked in a fantastic battle that could only happen in a dream. This action-packed science fiction adventure will excite and thrill you with its unusual journey through the mind's most terrifying recesses.

Audio Commentary by the Producer, Writer and Special Effects Artist - Special Effects Make-Up Making Of - Production Stills 16X9 - 1.85:1 - Color - English - 5.1 Dolby Digital, 5.1 DTS

Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly 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

Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Antony Gibbs, David Lynch David Lynch's Dune is the brilliant but fatally flawed would-be epic feature film version of Frank Herbert's novel of the same name, the bestselling science fiction novel ever written. It is a complex but too heavily simplified version of a far more elaborate book, a darkly Gothic far future space opera revolving around an imperial, dynastic power struggle on the desert planet of Arrakis. With what was in 1984 an enormous $40 million budget, Lynch retained a surprising amount of the industrial/Victorian feel of his previous features, Eraserhead (1976) and The Elephant Man (1980), and was able to bring to the screen some of the most imaginative and awe-inspiring production designs, costumes and action then seen. Indeed, as a spectacularly atmospheric vision of the future Dune has as much to recommend it as the far more celebrated Blade Runner (1982), with which it even shares the female romantic lead, Sean Young—here just one star in a superb cast. The problem, which an unauthorised extended TV version failed to fix, is that Lynch's original vision of Dune was massively cut for length, and as such the final third is so rapidly paced as to undermine the superb first two thirds. A director's cut is sorely needed, the cinema version playing like a butchered masterpiece. Also available is an entirely unconnected four-and-a-half-hour mini-series, Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), which is less visionary but more coherent.

On the DVD: The 2.35:1 image suffers from not being anamorphically enhanced. There are minor flecks of dirt and scratches, but generally the print used is in good condition although there is a considerable amount of grain in some scenes and the image could be more detailed. The packaging claims the sound is Dolby Digital 5.1, but it is actually three-channel sound (stereo plus centre speaker), with the main stereo feed being duplicated in the rear channels. A full 5.1 remastering would improve matters considerably. Special features consist of the original trailer and a pointless gallery of seven badly cropped stills. There is a very basic animated and scored menu using the portentous main theme music from the film. —Gary S Dalkin

Duran Duran

Dee Wallace Stone, Henry Thomas, Steven Spielberg E.T. - THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL A STEVEN SPIELBERG FILM SPECIAL 2 DISC EDITION starring HENRY THOMAS & DREW BARRYMORE with UNSEEN FOOTAGE /REMASTERED SOUNDTRACK/ENHANCED EFFECTS 5.1.DTS SOUND 16.9 WIDESCREEN

Elia Kazan Based on John Steinbeck's novel and directed by Elia Kazan, EAST OF EDEN is the first of three major films that make up James Dean's movie legacy. The 24-year-old idol-to-be plays Cal, a wayward Salinas Valley youth who vies for the affection of his hardened father (Raymond Massey) with his favoured brother Aron (Richard Davalos). Playing off the haunting sensitivity of Julie Harris, Dean's performance earned of the film's four Academy Award nominations. Among the movie's stellar performances, Jo Van Fleet won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.

Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Tim Burton The significance of Ed Wood, both man and movie, on the career of Tim Burton cannot be emphasised enough. Here Burton regurgitates and pays homage to the influences of his youth, just as he would continue to do with Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow. Everything is just right, from the decision to shoot in black and white, the performances of Johnny Depp (as Ed) and Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi), the re-creation of 1950s Hollywood and the evocative score by Howard (Lord of the Rings) Shore. The plot struck a poignant familiar chord with Burton, who saw the relationship between the Ed and Lugosi mirroring his own with Vincent Price. Most importantly Burton responded to the story of the struggling, misunderstood artist. For all Burton's big-budget blockbusters (Batman, Planet of the Apes), he still somehow retains the mantle of the kooky niche director. And in the mid-90s, this film actually represented the last vestiges of his independent film production. Fans can only hope he'll soon return to those roots soon.

On the DVD: Ed Wood on disc has a good group commentary in which Burton is interviewed rather than expected to hold forth on his own, making his insights alongside the screenwriters, Landau, and various production heads very worthwhile. Also worthy are the featurettes on Landau's Oscar-winning make-up, the FX and the Theremin instrument employed in the score. Best of all is an extremely exotic Music Video based on that score. This doesn't seem to be a new transfer of the film, but in black and white you're less likely to notice. —Paul Tonks

Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, Neil Travis, Lee Tamahori

Gwyneth Paltrow, Toni Collette, Douglas McGrath

In this visually stunning sci-fi adventure, two warriors engaged in a savage, futuristic war between Earth and the planet Dracon. Crash-land on a desolate, fiery planet. At first, the human, (Dennis Quaid) and his reptilian, alien opponent (Louis Gossett, JR) are intent on destroying each other, the two stranded pilots gradually realize that the only way either of them will survive is to overcome their undying hatred.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, Chuck Russell DVD Warner Bros., 7321900142021, 1996, Region 2 PAL DIGI

Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, John Carpenter Escape From L.A. [1996] [DVD]

John Carpenter A thrilling landmark film that jolts along at a breakneck pace, Escape From New York leapt to cult status with high-octane action, edge-of-your-seat suspense and the mind-blowing vision of lone warrior Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) battling his way out of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan!

In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam. But when the US president (Donald Pleasence) crash-lands inside, only one man can bring him back: notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero Snake Plissken (Russell). But time is short. In 24 hours, an explosive device implanted in his neck will end Snake’s mission, and his life, unless he succeeds!

Event Horizon Disc 1: Film with commentary by Director Paul WS Anderson and Producer Jeremy Bolt. Disc 2: 5 Part documentary : The Making of Event Horizon. Deleated & extended scenes. The unflimed rescue scene storyboard montage with director's commentary. Conceptual art montage with director's comments. The Point Of No Return featurette.

Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidis, Sam Raimi It's hard not to feel there's something wrong when Army of Darkness, the third entry in Sam Raimi's lively Evil Dead series, opens with a 15 certificate. And indeed, this is not quite the non-stop rollercoaster of splat we're entitled to expect.

Like Evil Dead II, it opens with a digest-cum-remake of the original movie, taking geeky Ash (Bruce Campbell) back out to that cabin in the woods where he is beset by demons who do away with his girlfriend (blink and you'll miss Bridget Fonda). Blasted back in time to 12th century England, Ash finds himself still battling the Deadites and his own ineptitude in a quest to save the day and get back home.

Though it starts zippily, with Campbell's grimly funny clod of a hero commanding the screen, a sort of monotony sets in as magical events pile up. Ash is attacked by Lilliputian versions of himself, one of whom incubates in his stomach and grows out of his shoulder to be his evil twin. After being dismembered and buried, Evil Ash rises from the dead to command a zombie army and at least half the film is a big battle scene in which rotted warriors (nine mouldy extras in masks for every one Harryhausen-style impressive animated skeleton) besiege a cardboard castle. There are lots of action jokes, MAD Magazine-like marginal doodles and a few funny lines, but it lacks the authentic scares of The Evil Dead and the authentic sick comedy of Evil Dead II.

On the DVD: Army of Darkness may be the least of the trilogy, but Anchor Bay's super two-disc set is worthy of shelving beside their outstanding editions of the earlier films. Disc 1 contains the 81-minute US theatrical version in widescreen or fullscreen, plus the original "Planet of the Apes" ending, the trailer and a making-of featurette. Disc 2 has the 96-minute director's cut, with extra slapstick and a lively, irreverent commentary track from Raimi, Campbell and co-writer Ivan Raimi, plus yet more deleted scenes and some storyboards. The fact that the film exists in so many versions suggests that none of them satisfied everybody, but fans will want every scrap of Army in this one package. —Kim Newman

Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, John Boorman A lush retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur is a dark and engrossing tale. Director John Boorman (Deliverance) masterfully handles the tale of the mythical sword Excalibur, and its passing from the wizard Merlin to the future king of England. Arthur pulls the famed sword from a stone and is destined to be crowned king. As the king embarks on a passionate love affair with Guenevere, an illegitimate son, and Merlin's designs on power, threaten Arthur's reign. The film is visually stunning and unflinching in its scenes of combat and black magic. Featuring an impressive supporting cast, including early work from the likes of Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne, Excalibur is an adaptation of the legend both faithful and bold. —Robert Lane

Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, Stuart Baird Steven Seagal gets killed during the first 20 minutes of this enjoyable thriller, so Executive Decision scores points for ingenuity because it immediately improves when you realise that Seagal's role is just a heroic cameo. That leaves Kurt Russell to star as an American intelligence expert who (due to Seagal's untimely demise) finds himself leading a strike force against Islamic terrorists who have seized in-flight control of a 747 jetliner with 400 passengers. It's not all that different from Air Force One, but the formula story perks right along with considerable suspense as Russell's cohorts (Oliver Platt, Joe Morton) try to defuse a chemical bomb that could wipe out (you guessed it) the entire Eastern seaboard. John Leguizamo plays one of the US commandos attempting to stop the violent hijackers and Halle Berry co-stars as a flight attendant who risks her life to assist Russell's rescue team. As action movies go, Executive Decision marked an impressive directorial debut for veteran film editor Stuart Baird. —Jeff Shannon

Dana Delany, Dan Aykroyd, Garry Marshall

Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Evan A. Lottman, Norman Gay, William Friedkin Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success of The French Connection, and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to make The Exorcist as his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controversial best-seller, this shocking 1973 thriller set an intense and often-copied milestone for screen terror with its unflinching depiction of a young girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by an evil spirit. Jason Miller and Max von Sydow are perfectly cast as the priests who risk their sanity and their lives to administer the rites of demonic exorcism, and Ellen Burstyn plays Blair's mother, who can only stand by in horror as her daughter's body is wracked by satanic disfiguration. One of the most frightening films ever made, The Exorcist was mysteriously plagued by troubles during production, and the years have not diminished its capacity to disturb even the most stoical viewers. —Jeff Shannon

William Peter Blatty NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles.

John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, John Woo At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise—hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery—and creates a double-barrelled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man, while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set-piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. —Sean Axmaker

Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Joel Schumacher Falling Down, about a downsized engineer (Michael Douglas) who goes ballistic, triggered a media avalanche of stories in the USA about middle-class white rage when it was released in 1993. In fact, it's nothing more than a manipulative, violent melodrama about one geek's meltdown. Douglas, complete with pocket protector, nerd glasses, crewcut and short-sleeved white shirt, gets stuck in traffic one day near downtown LA and proceeds to just walk away from his car—and then lose it emotionally. Everyone he encounters rubs him the wrong way—and a fine lot of stereotypes they are, from threatening ghetto punks to rude convenience store owners to a creepy white supremacist—and he reacts violently in every case. As he walks across LA (now there's a concept), cutting a bloody swath, he's being tracked by a cop on the verge of retirement (Robert Duvall). He also spends time on the phone with his frightened ex-wife (Barbara Hershey). Though Douglas and Duvall give stellar performances, they can't disguise the fact that, as usual, this is another film from director Joel Schumacher that is about surface and sensation, rather than actual substance. —Marshall Fine

Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, Tony Scott Robert De Niro Fan

Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Fargo [Region 2]

Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Charles Shyer I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.

Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Charles Shyer audio in italianogeorge banks si e' ormai acquietato. la figlia si e' ormai sposata, il figlio matty e' un adolescente, il tempo della pensione si avvicina e tutto sembra andare per il meglio. finche' un giorno suoceri e consuoceri vengono riuniti per un lieto annuncio: la giovane coppia attende un figlio. george deve fare buon viso a cattiva (dal suo punto di vista) sorte. perche' la parola nonno gli fa orrore. cerca allora di sfuggire alla sua sorte vendendo la casa in cui la famiglia ha sempre abitato e andando dallestetista per sembrare piu' giovane. ma proprio questo ringiovanimento risvegliera' in lui e in sua moglie nina un eros ormai sopito. il risultato? nina resta incinta e george si deve preparare ad essere nuovamente padre e, al contempo, nonno.

Harley Jane Kozak, Elizabeth McGovern, Donald Petrie

John Cleese Starring: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs. Directed by: John Howard-Davies. First broadcast in 1975, Fawlty Towers has remained a timeless example of comic writing, acting, and characterisation at its very best. This DVD features all six memorable episodes from the first series: A Touch of Class - Lord Melbury arrives and Basil is only too pleased to cash his Lordship's cheque... The Builders - The lobby is in need of a face-life, so when Sybil's back is turned, Basil goes for the lowest quote job. The Wedding Party - Basil is outraged by an outbreak of promiscuity at Fawlty Towers. The Hotel Inspectors - Basil hears that hotel inspectors are in the area, just after he has been exceptionally rude to a guest. Gourmet Night - The cream of Torquay society is present for a special gourmet night at Fawlty Towers. The Germans - While Sybil is in hospital Basil tells some German tourists the "truth" about their fatherland... DVD Extras: Director commentary. Digitally remastered.

John Cleese, Prunella Scales Often hailed as the greatest ever British sitcom, Fawlty Towers is closer to the more elaborate tradition of farce. Comprising two series made in 1975 and 1979, the total of just 12 episodes were painstakingly constructed by writers John Cleese and Connie Booth. Unlike most British farce, however, Fawlty Towers deals with the big themes—death, psychology, xenophobia and even sex-o-phobia (Basil's marriage to Sybil is the most sterile ever depicted in a sitcom).Basil's contempt for his guests is, of course, legendary. It takes little from patrons to unleash his sledgehammer sarcasm: "Rosewood, mahogany, teak? Sorry, I was wondering what you'd like your breakfast tray made out of," he sneers at a guest who dares request breakfast in bed. Like every Englishman, he wants to be king of his own castle and resents having to take in lodgers to maintain the place, especially the open-necked younger generation, whom he regards as sub-human. Mostly, though, Fawlty Towers is comedy of exasperation—who can forget the "damn good thrashing" Basil gives his clapped-out car, or the nervous breakdowns he almost suffers trying to make himself understood to Manuel? It's also comedy of embarrassment. The very fear of losing his dignity generally leads Basil into the most spectacularly undignified of predicaments. His inevitable misery is our sheer delight.—David Stubbs

Series 2:
Communication Problems
The Psychiatrist
Waldorf Salad
The Kipper and the Corpse
The Anniversary
Basil the Rat

Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Paul Hirsch, John Hughes Like a soda pop left open all night, Ferris Bueller's Day Off seems to have lost its effervescence over time. Sure, Matthew Broderick is still appealing as the perennial truant, Ferris, who takes one memorable day off from school. Jeffrey Jones is nasty and scheming as the principal who's out to catch him. Jennifer Grey is winning as Ferris' sister (who ends up making out in the police station with a prophetic vision of Charlie Sheen). But there's a definite sense that this film was of a particular time frame: the 80s. It's still fun, though. There's Ferris singing "Twist and Shout" during a Chicago parade, and a lovely sequence in the Art Institute. But don't get it and expect your kids to love it the way you did. Like it or not, it's yours alone. —Keith Simanton, Amazon.com

Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, Scott Thomas, David Evans In Fever Pitch rumpled, amiable Colin Firth plays a rumpled, amiable English teacher named Paul. He's also an obsessive football fan who's been avidly following Arsenal for 18 years. When he falls into a relationship with a new teacher named Sarah (Ruth Gemmel), his deep attachment to Arsenal proves an obstacle. This sounds like some cheap men-and-women-don't-understand-each-other setup, but instead Fever Pitch not only explores the origins of Paul's football fandom, it actually communicates an infectious sense of what that kind of sports enthusiasm can mean, how it can provide an almost tribal identity. Even better, the movie takes this devotion seriously without ever losing sight of how it can be completely ridiculous at the same time, resulting in some amazing, funny scenes. Gemmel is charming, and Firth is simply superb. He's a great actor who, despite his memorable turn as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, never quite fits into conventional leading man roles and so has tended to play oddballs and redeemable villains, as in Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient. He's a perfect fit for this script, written by Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity and About a Boy) from his novel of the same name. The humour of Fever Pitch is all the more engaging because it's grounded in richly developed characters and emotions. —Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Phil Alden Robinson A phenomenal hit when it was released in 1989, Field of Dreams has become a modern classic and a uniquely American slice of cinema. It functions effectively as a moving drama about the power of dreams, a fantasy ode to the national pastime of the US, and a brilliant adaptation of W.P. Kinsella's exquisite baseball novel Shoeless Joe. Kinsella himself found the film a delightful surprise, differing greatly from his novel but benefiting from its own creative variations. It is the film that cemented Kevin Costner's status as an all-American screen star, but the story resonates far beyond Costner's handsome appeal. As just about everyone knows by now, Costner stars as Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who hears the mysterious words "If you build it, he will come," and is compelled to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. His wife (Amy Madigan) supports the wild idea, but a reclusive novelist (modelled after JD Salinger and played by James Earl Jones) is not so easily persuaded. The idealistic farmer is either a visionary or a deluded fool, but his persistence is rewarded when spirits from baseball's past begin appearing on the ball field. Past and present intermingle in the person of "Moonlight Graham" (superbly played by Burt Lancaster), an unknown player who sacrificed his dreams of baseball glory for a dignified life as a small-town physician. What all of this means is unclear until the film's memorably heartfelt conclusion. A meditation on family, memory, and faith, the film balances humour and magic to strike just the right chord of thoughtful emotion, affecting audiences so deeply that the baseball field created for the production has now become a Mecca of sorts for dreamers around the world. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Robert Young, Fred Schepisi Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Academy Award winner Kevin Kline follow their smash hit A Fish Called Wanda with another hilarious farce which Jeffrey Lyons of WNBC-TV, New York, calls "a very funny picture." A quaint English zoo is the setting for a riotous revolt after the zoo director attempts to rid the park of its cute, cuddly animals and display only "fierce creatures."

Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Sylvie Landra, Luc Besson Ancient curses, all-powerful monsters, shape-changing assassins, scantily-clad stewardesses, laser battles, huge explosions, a perfect woman, a malcontent hero—what more can you ask of a big-budget science fiction movie? Luc Besson's high-octane film The Fifth Element incorporates presidents, rock stars and cab drivers into its peculiar plot, traversing worlds and encountering some pretty wild aliens. Bruce Willis stars as a down-and-out cabbie who must win the love of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save Earth from destruction by Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) and a dark, unearthly force that makes Darth Vader look like an Ewok. —Geoff Riley

Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Phil Joanou This film, which again pairs Richard Gere and Kim Basinger (who starred in 1986's No Mercy), offers up elements of classic noir: a hapless man becomes intimately involved with a beautiful blonde who may or may not be who or what she appears to be. Dedicated psychiatrist Isaac Barr (Gere) reluctantly, and then more obsessively, becomes involved with Heather Evans (Basinger), the sister of his patient, Diana Baylor (Uma Thurman). Evans is unhappily married to a gangster (appropriately played by a muscular and menacing Eric Roberts in a trademark role). Gere and Basinger make a credible, if dangerous couple, and Thurman delivers a subtle, understated performance and demonstrates her range and potential.

The thriller is appropriately shot in gorgeous San Francisco, where the literal and figurative curving and hilly roads wind throughout. Credit legendary art director Dean Tavoularis for some amazing sets and scenes, notably the elegantly cavernous restaurant where Evans and her husband have a fateful dinner.

This film is, in a way, glossy director Phil Joanou's Hitchcockian tribute—as a climactic lighthouse scene best demonstrates. Final Analysis doesn't offer an intimate look at its characters, but a beautifully stylized one, moody and gloomy. The intricate plot experiments with the device of "pathological intoxication," in which the subject completely loses control after drinking alcohol. And this doesn't mean a conventional ugly drunk; it means a frightening psychotic. Good and evil, hope and despair, beauty and repulsion are often juxtaposed in the film's complex world. —NF Mendoza

Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sydney Pollack This first film adaptation of a John Grisham novel is a crackerjack popcorn movie that satisfies even though it radically changes the last half of the book. The novel's dynamic setup is intact: Mitch McDeere, a hot law graduate (a well-suited Tom Cruise), finds a dream job in a luxurious Memphis law firm. His superiors (Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook) provide Mitch and his young wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), with a house and plenty of money in exchange for lots of work, and maybe something more. Soon FBI agents (including a bald Ed Harris) encircle Mitch, telling him his firm has a sinister secret, forcing Mitch into a heck of a pickle. How Mitch deals with his situation is where the book and movie differ, yet by the time Mitch is running from bad guys with suitcase in hand, the movie delivers Grisham's goods. For Sydney Pollack's film, Mitch is more confrontational and heroic. Plot aside, the care Pollack put into this fair-weather thriller is unimpeachable, as is his cast. There is hardly a better all-star cast in any 1990s thriller, from Hackman and Harris in key roles to actors in smaller parts, sometimes with only a scene or two. Standouts include David Strathairn as Mitch's wayward brother, Wilford Brimley as the head of security, film producer Jerry Weintraub as an angry client, Gary Busey as a private investigator and Holly Hunter in a delicious, Oscar-nominated supporting role as Busey's most loyal of secretaries. The cast seems to have had as much fun making the film as we do watching it. It's slick Hollywood product, but first-rate all the way. —Doug Thomas

Sam Jones III, Ornella Muti, Mike Hodges

Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Baldwin, Joseph Gutowski, Richard Nord, Kevin Hooks

John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Brian Levant

Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Paul Hirsch, Herbert Ross First released in 1984, Footloose now enjoys the same sort of semi-ironic nostalgic cachet as John Hughes' contemporary schlock-fests about angst-ridden teens with silly hair. This is partly due to the fact that, as breathtakingly predictable kids-against-the-squares romps go, it's really pretty tolerable, but it's mostly because of the soundtrack. The songs that appear in the film—notably Kenny Loggins' infectiously vapid title track, and gale-force screecher Bonnie Tyler's excruciating "Holding Out for a Hero"—are possessed of an awfulness so monolithic that they have transcended their era and become reliable floor-fillers at 80s nostalgia discos all over the western world.

The plot, such as it is, sees the eerily androidal Kevin Bacon playing a hip rock & roll youth from the big city rebelling against the strictures of the conservative small town in which he finds himself living. Inevitably, he falls for the daughter of his nemesis, the local preacher (the latter, it has to be said, is played with some aplomb by John Lithgow, who very nearly wrings depth from a character otherwise straight out of the colour-by-numbers guide to movie-making). Inevitably, there are some dance sequences. Inevitably, the kids win out, and the grown-ups realise that maybe they aren't so bad after all.

On the DVD: Footloose can be watched on disc, should you so desire, dubbed in German, Spanish, French or Italian. There also subtitles available in pretty well every European language, as well as Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Turkish. Other than that there are no extras. —Andrew Mueller

Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jon Poll, Steve Miner daniel (mel gibson) e' un pilota dell'aviazione usa che, nel 1939, gia' anno di guerra in europa ma non ancora per gli americani, vive spensierato tra le acrobazie dei voli di collaudo e il profondo amore per la fidanzata helen (isabel glasser.) ma, proprio il giorno in cui sta per chiederla in sposa, il suo cuore viene spezzato per sempre dall'incidente stradale che precipita la ragazza in un coma irreversibile. il miglior amico di daniel, harry, e' uno scienziato che sta sperimentando in gran segreto per conto delle forze armate la possibilita' di ibernare esseri viventi. ha provato la sua macchina sugli animali e ora sta per andare oltre. daniel disperato e senza piu' niente da perdere, si offre come cavia umana pur di non dover assistere alla morte dell'amata.

Billy Crystal, Debra Winger

Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robert Zemeckis If you read the label on a box of chocolates you'll know exactly what you're gonna get. Life isn't like that in Forrest Gump, however, which is one of the reasons why this movie divided appreciative audiences from hard-hearted critics like few others before it. Audiences responded to the Frank Capra-style sentimentality of this warm-hearted tale of a good ol' American boy making his way in the world without ever losing his pure and simple innocence. Critics, however, were made uneasy by the apparently reactionary subtext to the parallel lives of Forrest and his girlfriend Jenny. Her fate, contrasted with his, suggests a triumph for plain ol' American values over dangerous freethinking hippies and liberals. Whether the movie is just unadulterated sentiment or right-wing propaganda, one thing at least was acknowledged by all: that Forrest Gump displays all the craftsmanship of one of Hollywood's most inventive directors and features a central performance from an actor renowned for his total commitment to every role. Thanks to Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks, even the most cynical critic will find it hard not to shed at least one tear by the end of this undeniably engrossing movie. The soundtrack is great, too.

Christopher Lambert, Loryn Locklin, Stuart Gordon The story of Fortress takes place in drastically overpopulated America of the year 2017, where each woman is allowed only one pregnancy. John Brennick (Christopher Lambert) and his wife Karen (Loryn Locklin) flee to Mexico when she becomes pregnant after the death of their first child. They are captured by border police and sent to the Fortress, a subterranean high-security prison owned by the Men-Tel corporation and operated by "Zed-10", an omnipotent computer system, and a sadistic, genetically "enhanced" warden (Kurtwood Smith) who has nefarious plans involving Brennick's wife and unborn child. Along with his cellmates (including Jeffrey Combs, a favourite of director Stuart Gordon), Brennick plots a breakout and Fortress shifts into auto-pilot action mode.

After making his reputation with such audacious horror films as From Beyond and Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon graduated to a bigger budget with Fortress but his penchant for exploitation remains deliriously intact. While borrowing elements from a variety of better sci-fi movies, Fortress indulges every prison-flick cliché, but does it with such enjoyable B-movie vigour that it qualifies as a bona-fide guilty pleasure (indeed, it deserves to be ranked with James Cameron's original Terminator in terms of its budgetary ingenuity). Featuring such giddy (and gory) devices as "intestinators" (deadly obedience devices implanted in prisoners' bodies) and a torturous "Mind Wipe Chamber", this is really just a drive-in action movie with lofty ambitions and the schlocky script hasn't a prayer of rising above the level of juvenile popcorn fodder. But there's no denying the energy and enthusiasm that Gordon brings to the film, which understandably became a global box-office hit and spawned a 1999 sequel starring Lambert and Pam Grier. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Jon Gregory, Mike Newell When it was released in 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral quickly became a huge international success, pulling in the kind of audiences most British films only dream of. It's proof that sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. In terms of plot, the title pretty much says it all. Revolving around… well, four weddings and a funeral (though not in that order), the film follows Hugh Grant's confirmed bachelor Charles as he falls for visiting American Carrie (Andy McDowell), whom he keeps bumping into at various functions.

But with this most basic of premises, screenwriter Richard Curtis has crafted a moving and thoughtful comedy about the perils of singledom and that ever-elusive search for true love. In the wrong hands, it could have been a horribly schmaltzy affair, but Curtis' script—crammed with great one-liners and beautifully judged characterisations—keeps things sharp and snappy, harking back to the sparkling Hollywood romantic comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. The supporting cast, including Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow and Rowan Atkinson (who starred in the Curtis-scripted television show Blackadder) is first rate, at times almost too good—John Hannah's rendition of WH Auden's poem "Funeral Blues" over the coffin of his lover is so moving you think the film will struggle to re-establish its ineffably buoyant mood. But it does, thanks in no small part to Hugh Grant as the bumbling Charles (whose star-making performance compensates for a less-than-dazzling Andie MacDowell). Though it's hardly the fault of Curtis and his team, the success of the Four Weddings did have its downside, triggering a rash of inferior British romantic comedies. In fact, we had to wait until 1999's Notting Hill for another UK film to match its winning charm (scripted, again, by Curtis and also starring Grant). —Edward Lawrenson

John Deacon, Brian May, David Mallet

Jason James Richter, Lori Petty, Simon Wincer audio in italianotrovato lavoro in un acquario, un ragazzino fa amicizia con un'orca, sfruttata da un avido impresario e le restituisce la liberta'. il film ha avuto vari seguiti

Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Robert Rodriguez, Sarah Kelly Original Owner DVD's...Not The Recycled £0.01p Versions Available Online From Zoverstocks "Music Magpie" Recyclables! Our DVD's Are Collectible to Like New. Please View All Photos Before Deciding To Buy.

Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Andrew Davis al rientro a casa, dopo un'operazione di emergenza, il chirurgo richard kimble trova la moglie helen ferita a morte. comincia l'incubo che rovinera' la sua vita: richard sara' infatti accusato dell'omicidio, nonostante fin dall'inizio si proclami innocente, e condannato alla pena capitale, ma durante il trasporto al penitenziario riconquistera' la liberta' e iniziera' la sua fuga.

Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, David Freeman, Peter Cattaneo Overtaking Jurassic Park as the UK's biggest box office attraction of 1998, and winning one of its four Academy Award nominations, The Full Monty was the surprise world-wide smash of the year, it's unexpected success reflecting the underdog inspiring message of the film itself. Leading a strong cast, it was Robert Carlyle's appearance here which propelled him to sex-symbol superstardom and brought him high-profile Hollywood roles in Angela's Ashes, The World is Not Enough and The Beach among others. The story revolves around the attempts of five unemployed grafters from the recession-hit industrial North to reclaim some of their dignity, which they attempt to do by the unlikely expedient of becoming male strippers. The film follows their struggle to become The Chippendales for real women, from their shambolic beginnings to their euphoric debut appearance in front of 300 hungry lasses! Saucy and spicy with a rocking soundtrack, The Full Monty tells of the triumph of spirit over adversity, reminding us that everyone can be special, no matter what their shape ... or size. This is British independent film making at its very best, exhibiting the heart-warming truthfulness captured by many UK directors, yet eschewing their often gloomy negativity for an altogether more optimistic outlook: it's a modern fairy tale in which all five Cinderellas get to go to the ball. —Paul Eisinger

Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Ridley Scott It seemed like a pretty good career move, and for the most part it was. Demi Moore will never top any rational list of great actresses, but as her career stalled in the mid-1990s she had enough internal fire and external physicality to be just right for her title role in G.I. Jane. Her character's name isn't Jane—it's Jordan O'Neil—but the fact that she lacks a penis makes her an immediate standout in her elite training squad of Navy SEALs. She's been recruited as the first female SEAL trainee through a series of backroom political manoeuvres and must prove her military staying power against formidable odds—not the least of which is the abuse of a tyrannical master chief (Viggo Mortensen) who puts her through hell to improve her chances of success. Within the limitations of a glossy star vehicle, director Ridley Scott manages to incorporate the women-in-military issue with considerable impact, and Moore—along with her conspicuous breast enhancements and that memorable head-shaving scene—jumps into the role with everything she's got. Not a great movie by any means, but definitely a rousing crowd pleaser and it's worth watching just to hear Demi shout the words "Suck my ——!!" (rhymes with "chick"). —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Michael Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, David Fincher It's not quite as clever as it tries to be, but The Game does a tremendous job of presenting the story of a rigid control freak trapped in circumstances that are increasingly beyond his control. Michael Douglas plays a rich, divorced, and dreadful investment banker whose 48th birthday reminds him of his father's suicide at the same age. He's locked in the cage of his own misery until his rebellious younger brother (Sean Penn) presents him with a birthday invitation to play "The Game" (described as "an experiential Book of the Month Club")—a mysterious offering from a company called Consumer Recreation Services. Before he knows the game has even begun, Douglas is caught up in a series of unexplained events designed to strip him of his tenuous security and cast him into a maelstrom of chaos. How do you play a game that hasn't any rules? That's what Douglas has to figure out, and he can't always rely on his intelligence to form logic out of what's happening to him. Seemingly cast as the fall guy in a conspiracy thriller, he encounters a waitress (Deborah Unger) who may or may not be trustworthy, and nothing can be taken at face value in a world turned upside down. Douglas is great at conveying the sheer panic of his character's dilemma, and despite some lapses in credibility and an anticlimactic ending, The Game remains a thinking person's thriller that grabs and holds your attention. Thematic resonance abounds between this and Seven and Fight Club, two of the other films by The Game 's director David Fincher. — Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Alan Carter, James Yukich For Genesis fans old and new, The Way We Walk—Live in Concert has definitely been worth the wait. Recorded at London's Earl's Court in November 1992 as part of the group's 56-date world tour, the footage recreates one of their most lavish live tours ever. With a back-stage crew of over a 100, giant video screens and state-of-the-art lighting this was a massive event. The DVD is an equally colossal affair, incorporating over eight hours of concert footage on two discs (a two-hour concert recorded from four separate camera angles). The multi-camera presentation is amazing, providing a unique front-row perspective of all the stage action. The star of the concert is undoubtedly Phil Collins who leaps around, and batters his drum kit like a hormonal teenager. His evangelical introduction to "Jesus He Knows Me" is particularly fitting and amusing. There are also performances of some of Genesis' greatest hits, including "Dance on a Volcano", "Home By the Sea" and! "Invisible Touch". The re-mastered introduction to "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" sounds tremendous, with the flashing video screens creating an Armageddon-style atmosphere. Audience favourite "Turn It On Again" provides the ultimate ending to the show.

On the DVD: The remixed, surround sound audio track is excellent but despite the multi-camera options the quality of the visual material fails to withstand the rigours of digital presentation. The uninterrupted group commentary is also disappointing, with too many lengthy silences, unnecessary disturbances (mobile phones ringing, unrelated discussions) and little new information about the tour given. The other extras are far more sophisticated such as the comprehensive interviews with Banks, Rutherford and Collins. The original tour programme (including text and photographs) can also be flicked through on screen. The "full-motion" menus are fun and easy to use.—John Galilee

John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Barry Sonnenfeld John Travolta is the standout in this somewhat cartoonish adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel about a smalltime Miami enforcer (Travolta) who decides to get into the movie business in LA. The cast sparkles—Gene Hackman as a failing cut-rate-movie producer, Rene Russo as a failed actress, Danny DeVito as a vain thespian, Delroy Lindo as a mobster who wants a cut of Travolta's film action—and the script is clever. But not clever enough: this isn't Robert Altman's The Player, as far as satires about Hollywood go. But director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) keeps Get Shorty cute and brisk and that makes for an enjoyable experience. Travolta is great as a vaguely dangerous, supremely self-confident man whose love of movies makes him almost cuddly. —Tom Keogh

Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Jerry Zucker The biggest hit of 1990, Ghost is part comedy, part romance, part supernatural thriller. Patrick Swayze, previously best known for Dirty Dancing, stars as Sam, the banker who is killed following a mugging. Caught in a limbo between here and the afterlife, he uses Whoopi Goldberg's fake psychic as an intermediary to warn wife Molly (Demi Moore) that his death was no accident but a murder and that she is in danger too.

Ghost's original popularity and notoriety originally arose not from its dealings with the supernatural but the scene involving Moore fondly astride her potter's wheel fashioning a somewhat phallic-shaped vase, with Swayze fondly astride her. So infamous did this scene become that it's now more likely to raise a chuckle than a sultry sigh. As for the rest of the movie, it still somehow manages to engage despite the awkward juxtaposition of lachrymose melodrama and zaniness. Demi Moore, whose massive Hollywood success was always a mystery to some, is a little flat as the tomboy-coiffed Molly, her tears occasionally seeming onion-induced. Swayze, however, delivers as Sam while Whoopi Goldberg turns in the best performance of her career, delivering the requisite zip and sass to what otherwise might have been a morose movie.

On the DVD: Though well restored, DVD enhancement has only served to emphasise the slightly quaint feel of the special effects here—Ghost was made just prior to the digital era. Otherwise, this is a good package and an essential purchase for fans. There's a 22-minute featurette, "Remembering the Magic", in which scriptwriter Bruce Joel Rubin explains that the film was inspired by the scene in Hamlet in which the Prince meets his Father, and how initially appalled he was that his masterpiece of the supernatural was to be directed by Jerry Zucker, previously responsible for Airplane!. They also reveal that Tina Turner was originally cast for the Goldberg role. Zucker and Rubin team up for a funny commentary track. —David Stubbs

Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Robert Lawrence, George Stevens The American domestic epic endured long into the post-war era, with Giant (1956) one of its last real manifestations. Director George Stevens gets real panoramic sweep in his adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel of social and economic change in rural Texas from the 1920s to the 1950s. Rock Hudson is imposing if uninvolving as rancher Vernon Reata II, constantly torn between his image and his humanity. As his wife Lesley, Elizabeth Taylor gives one of her most rounded performances as the Maryland girl whose liberal outlook causes friction within the social (and racial) mindset of the insular community as it lurches from rigid conservatism to mindless materialism over three decades.

The film is best remembered for James Dean in what was his third and last screen appearance. He cuts a distinctive figure as Jet Rink, social outcast turned oil tycoon. The bravura of his inebriated speech before an empty banqueting hall would be no less memorable had his career not been curtailed days after shooting ended. The secondary roles are decently taken: look out for a teenage Denis Hopper, sallow but likeable as the gauche Vernon Reata III.

On the DVD: Giant is evenly divided over two discs. Widescreen picture quality is excellent and the remastered soundtrack gives Dimitri Tiomkin's score a new lease of life. A laudable 56 chapter points are provided, with dubbing in English, French and Italian and subtitles in eight languages. A running commentary, though informative, is really for aficionados only, but the 45 minutes (on the second disc) of George Stevens recollections from heavyweights such as Herman J. Mankiewicz, Alan J Pakula and Fred Zinnemann ideally complements this sprawling but often compulsive old-school American movie. —Richard Whitehouse

Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Altman When released in 1997, The Gingerbread Man was the only John Grisham movie that did not use one of the popular novelist's bestsellers as its inspiration. Rather, it's based on an original screenplay by Grisham that displays the author's familiar flair for Southern characters and settings within a labyrinthine plot propelled by his trademark narrative twists and turns. Sporting a spot-on Georgian accent, Kenneth Branagh plays a Savannah attorney who comes to the assistance of a troubled woman (Embeth Davidtz) and finds himself enmeshed in a scenario involving the woman's father (Robert Duvall) that grows increasingly complex and dangerous, where nothing, of course, is really as it seems. It's a totally absorbing movie made in the modern film noir tradition; what's most interesting here (and most underrated by critics at the time) is the combination of Grisham's mainstream mystery and the offbeat style of maverick director Robert Altman. Despite a battle with executives that nearly caused Altman to disown the film, The Gingerbread Man demonstrates the director's skill in bringing a fresh, characteristically offbeat approach to conventional material, especially in the use of a threatening hurricane to hold the plot in a state of dangerous urgency. Unfortunately overlooked during its theatrical release, this intelligent thriller provides a fine double bill with Francis Coppola's film of Grisham's The Rainmaker. —Jeff Shannon

Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Stu Linder, Barry Levinson Good Morning Vietnam is a more than usually human take on America’s most controversial war, an often poignant and always entertaining fictionalisation of the Vietnam years of DJ Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams). Cronauer is employed as the voice of the US Armed Forces radio in South East Asia, but it soon emerges that his idea of entertaining the troops and the Army’s are poles apart. This isn’t a biopic—director Barry Levinson doesn’t give any detail of Cronauer’s life before Vietnam—instead it’s about Cronauer discovering a better understanding of the war, the people and himself. Interspersed with the radio sequences is a gentle plot which follows Cronauer as he teaches English to some Vietnamese kids, falls for a local girl and narrowly misses being killed in a terrorist attack. However, it is the sheer frenetic genius of Williams’ largely improvised radio monologues that account for the film’s box office success.

On the DVD: Good Morning Vietnam gets the special edition DVD with digitally remastered audio and picture. Extras include a couple of previews—both the theatrical and a teaser trailer—as well as a production diary which contains interviews with director Levinson, crew and the real Cronauer. But the best feature by far is the "Raw Monologues": introduced by Levinson, this featurette shows the process that Robin Williams went through to improvise the radio slots and is a valuable insight into the comedic talents of the film’s star.—Kristen Bowditch

Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, Joseph Ruben

Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Gus van Sant Robin Williams won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck nabbed one for Best Original Screenplay, but the feel-good hit Good Will Hunting triumphs because of its gifted director, Gus Van Sant. The unconventional director (My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy) saves a script marred by vanity and clunky character development by yanking soulful, touching performances out of his entire cast (amazingly, even one by Williams that's relatively schtick-free). Van Sant pulls off the equivalent of what George Cukor accomplished for women's melodrama in the 1930s and 40s: He's crafted an intelligent, unabashedly emotional male weepie about men trying to find inner-wisdom.

Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting, a closet maths genius who ignores his gift in favour of nightly boozing and fighting with South Boston buddies (co-writer Ben Affleck among them). While working as a university janitor, he solves an impossible calculus problem scribbled on a hallway blackboard and reluctantly becomes the prodigy of an arrogant MIT professor (Stellan Skarsgård). Damon only avoids prison by agreeing to see psychiatrists, all of whom he mocks or psychologically destroys until he meets his match in the professor's former childhood friend, played by Williams. Both doctor and patient are haunted by the past and, as mutual respect develops, the healing process begins. The film's beauty lies not with grand climaxes, but with small, quiet moments. Scenes such as Affleck's clumsy pep talk to Damon while they drink beer after work, or any number of therapy session between Williams and Damon offer poignant looks at the awkward ways men show affection and feeling for one another. —Dave McCoy

Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Martin Scorsese Actors: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino
Director: Martin Scorsese
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video

Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Weisberg, Alfonso Cuarón The key ingredient in this modern-day version of Charles Dickens's classic is director Alfonso Cuarón, who made the glowing, estimable A Little Princess. If you saw that (and you should), understand that Expectations has those ingredients (great sense of time, place, and timing) but adds modern music and sex appeal; the latter personified by the long-legged Gwyneth Paltrow. Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke as an adult, Jeremy James Kissner at age 10) is the new version of Dickens's Pip. He's a child wise beyond his years, befriending an escaped convict (Robert De Niro) in the warm waters of Florida's Gulf Coast. Finn is also the plaything for Estella (Paltrow as an adult, Raquel Beaudene at age 10), the niece of the coast's richest and most eccentric lady, Ms. Dinsmoor (a fun and flamboyant Anne Bancroft). The prudish Estella likes Finn (catch the best first kiss scene in many a moon) but has been brought up to disdain men; she'll break hearts. As the object of Finn's desires, Estella unfortunately is a one-dimensional character, yet what a dimension! Clad in Donna Karan dresses and her long, sun-kissed hair, Paltrow is luminous. She and Hawke make a very sexy couple. Mitch Glazer's script does better by Finn. He's a blue-collar worker with a gift for drawing (artwork by Francesco Clemente). Following his Uncle Joe's (Chris Cooper) honest ways, Finn grows up as a fisherman, thoughts of Estella and art drifting away in the hard work. When a mysterious benefactor allows him to follow his dream, Finn finds himself in New York, preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime art exhibit—and in the arms of the engaged Estella. Filled with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's golden-drenched light, the film has an irresistible, wildly romantic look. Dinsmoor's place is certainly gothic, Estella and Finn's longing encounters glamorous. Cuarón uses an MTV-friendly soundtrack with a confident touch. Songs by Tori Amos and the band Pulp—along with Patrick Doyle's silky score—create passionate scenes. It all ends far too swiftly with a seemingly tacked-on ending (reflecting the book, as it happens) but the film is splendid storytelling. It's a stylish, sweet valentine. —Doug Thomas

Blake Edwards Region 2 German import, plays in English without subtitles. Spectacular action-comedy story of the first New York to Paris car race in 1908. Also stars Natalie Wood.

Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Joe Dante When his absent-minded father gives young Billy Pelzer (Zach Galligan) a new pet, he warns him to abide by three rules. The rules get broken, of course, and the pet—a cute Mogwai named Gizmo—unwittingly gives birth to the vicious Gremlins who proceed to terrorise the town.

Although the long shadow of Producer Steven Spielberg hangs over Joe Dante's 1984 comedy Gremlins almost as much as it did over Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982), Dante doesn't allow it to overwhelm his own quirky style too much. Glimpses of Robbie the Robot and The Time Machine (which promptly disappears) at an inventors' convention reveal his passion for old-movie references (which culminated with Matinee, 1993). Aided and abetted by Spielberg's guidance and a script by Chris Columbus (who would go on to direct and produce the Home Alone franchise) and a music score by Jerry Goldsmith, Dante had all the help he needed to make the biggest hit of his career.

Much of the humour derives from Dante's playful handling of the setting in Smallsville, USA, whose inhabitants are as much the target of his satire as they are of the Gremlins' unwanted solicitations. The xenophobic neighbour who warns prophetically of "gremlins" in foreign cars and machinery provides a subtext for the attack on homely American values, as does showing Invasion of the Body Snatchers on TV while the wicked Gremlins hatch. The sight of the little tykes cavorting in a bar, getting drunk and even dancing in pink leggings looks suspiciously like a satirical dig at the whole 1980's culture of selfishness: with their destructive impulses and overindulgences the Gremlins are the ultimate egotistical yuppies. As with many Spielberg projects, the bland hero saves the day for nostalgic, old-fashioned values, but there are plenty of laughs along the way—for example in the now-classic scene when the hero's mother fights off Gremlins in the kitchen by stuffing them in the blender and microwave. Dante's 1990 sequel is even more satirically pointed, and he effectively remade the original with Small Soldiers (1998), replacing Gremlins with toys.

On the DVD: Disappointingly, there are no extra features at all here, aside from subtitles and "interactive menus"—which simply means there is an onscreen menu and it works. —Mark Walker

Matthew Modine, Daphne Zuniga, Thom Eberhardt Matthew Modine (ANY GIVEN SUNDAY) stars as Joe Slovak, a brilliant first-year med student whose casual, nonconforming approach to life gets tested when he enrolls in Gross Anatomy, the toughest course in med school. Joe's freewheeling, independent style creates funny moments in the classroom, but puts him at odds with his demanding professor (Christina Lahti, HIDEAWAY), who questions whether her class "rebel" has what it takes to be a doctor. On top of that, Joe falls in love with his no-nonsense lab partner (Daphne Zuniga — THE SURE THING, TV's MELROSE PLACE), who won't let anything, especially romance, interfere with her plans. And while Joe's never done anything by the book, he proves he does have what it takes to succeed — without changing his ways!

John Cusack, Minnie Driver, George Armitage Hit man Martin Q Blank (John Cusack) is in an awkward situation. Several of them, actually. He's attending his high school reunion on an assignment; he's got a rival hit man (Dan Aykroyd) on his tail; and he's going to have to explain to his old girlfriend (Minnie Driver) why he stood her up on prom night. Grosse Pointe Blank is an amiable black comedy, cowritten by Cusack and directed by Jonathan Demme protégé George Armitage (Miami Blues), has the feel of Demme's Something Wild and Married to the Mob—which is to say its humour is dark and brightly coloured at the same time. Cusack and Driver are utterly charming—as is the leading man's sister, Joan, who plays his secretary. (Cusack received an Oscar nomination for her next role, in In & Out.) Alan Arkin is also very funny as Martin's psychiatrist. —Jim Emerson

Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Harold Ramis Decent, lighthearted and fully amusing slapstick is hard to come by these days, and 1993's Groundhog Day manages to also be genuinely wise about the human condition. All this and belly laughs too! Bill Murray stars as Phil, a bored, petulant news reporter, who is ordered to give his annual live report from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 2. Though desperate to get out of the one-horse town and the appallingly sentimental assignment, Phil finds himself reliving the same day over and over again until he finally mends his ways. The film takes an absurd situation and explores its every imaginable comic possibility. Because none of the other characters are aware that Groundhog Day is continually repeating itself, Phil goes through a repertoire of responses, from conniving lust for Rita (Andie MacDowell) to gleeful nihilism to a Zen resignation worthy of Buster Keaton. Murray is reliably good, and this flick gives him a chance to be warm (though never fuzzy).

Dutch Release - Audio : English / French / italian - Subtitles : English /Dutch / French / Italian /Arabic /Bulgarian / Russian ( optional ) hearing impaired : English / italian

Although the details do not match IMDb exactly, this is almost certainly a version of 'Magkasangga Sa Batas' aka Lethal Panther 2. In original Cantonese or German dubbed audio only. No English language options.

Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Iain Softley As a depiction of the computer-hacker underground, Hackers is bogus to the bone. As a thriller, it's cartoonish and conventional. The premise (computer-happy kids hack into the wrong system, and the Forces of Repression come after them) is recycled from John Badham's 1983 War Games. And the corporate-creep bad guy, played by Fisher Stevens, steeples his fingers and growls mossy villainous clichés. ("By the time they realise the truth, we'll be long gone with all the money.") For all its postmodern trappings the movie is working with sub-prehistoric storytelling tools. But it does succeed on one level, as a movie about adolescent bonding and alienation. The director, Iain Softley, helmed the Beatles-in-Hamburg biopic Backbeat, and he seems to have an instinct for the emotions that pull kids together around common interests and the insecurities that drive them apart. The familiar crises of loyalty and betrayal have an ache of real loneliness. It doesn't hurt that the two stars, Jonny Lee Miller (Sick Boy Williamson in Trainspotting) and Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted), are just about equally gorgeous and charismatic; their longing glances steam up the screen. —David Chute, Amazon.com

Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, Steve Miner Halloween is one of the great modern horror films, but as a franchise its track record has been spotty at best, painfully bad at worst. Halloween H2O: Twenty Years Later, directed by horror vet Steve Miner (Friday the 13th parts 2 and 3, House), won't displace John Carpenter's original but it might help you forget the films in between. Miner certainly has: the film begins as if sequels 3 through 6 never happened. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role for the first time in almost two decades) faked her death and is now a single mom and headmistress of an exclusive California private school. She's also a secret alcoholic who lives in fear of her homicidal brother-bogeyman Michael Myers. Guess who decides to show up for a family reunion? The film begins with classic horror-movie exposition (the deserted college campus, Michael's escape, Laurie's waking nightmares) accomplished with some humour and style, but it's all set up for the second half, a driving roller coaster of stalk-and-slash thrills. There's little of the self-conscious genre referencing of Scream and at times the film is a little far-fetched—it is a slasher movie about a knife-wielding homicidal maniac who won't stay dead, after all—but Curtis transforms Laurie from a shrieking victim into an empowered, determined horror-movie heroine who's learned a thing or two from the previous films. Adam Arkin, Josh Hartnett, and TV cutie Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek) co-star, and the script received uncredited polish from Scream writer Kevin Williamson; Curtis's mom, Janet Leigh, pops up in a cameo. —Sean Axmaker

Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, Volker Schlondorff

Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Dennis Dugan Adam Sandler fans are sure to enjoy this no-brainer comedy, but everyone else is strongly advised to proceed with caution. Before scoring a more enjoyable hit with his 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer, the former Saturday Night Live goofball played Happy Gilmore, a hot-tempered guy whose dreams of hockey stardom elude him. But when he discovers his gift for driving golf balls hundreds of yards, he joins a pro tour to win the prize money needed to rescue his beloved grandma's home from repossession. The trouble is, Happy's not so happy. He's got a temper that frequently flares on the golf course (he even dukes it out with celebrity golfer Bob Barker), but a retired golf pro (Carl Weathers) and a compassionate publicist (Julie Bowen) help him to perfect his putting game and adjust his confrontational attitude. How much you enjoy this lunacy depends on your tolerance for Sandler's loudmouthed schtick and a shocking number of blatant product-placement endorsements, but if you're looking for broad comedy you've come to the right tee-off spot. —Jeff Shannon

Michael J. Fox, James Woods, John Badham

Warner Bros

Jack Palance, Annette Crosbie, Terence Marcel

Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, Joel Cox

Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Michael Mann Having developed his skill as a master of contemporary crime drama, writer-director Michael Mann displayed every aspect of that mastery in Heat, an intelligent, character-driven thriller from 1995, which also marked the first onscreen pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two great actors had played father and son in the separate time periods of The Godfather, Part II, but this was the first film in which the pair appeared together, and although their only scene together is brief, it's the riveting fulcrum of this high-tech cops-and-robbers scenario. De Niro plays a master thief with highly skilled partners (Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore) whose latest heist draws the attention of Pacino, playing a seasoned Los Angeles detective whose investigation reveals that cop and criminal lead similar lives. Both are so devoted to their professions that their personal lives are a disaster. Pacino's with a wife (Diane Venora) who cheats to avoid the reality of their desolate marriage; De Niro pays the price for a life with no outside connections; and Kilmer's wife (Ashley Judd) has all but given up hope that her husband will quit his criminal career. These are men obsessed, and as De Niro and Pacino know, they'll both do whatever's necessary to bring the other down.

Mann's brilliant screenplay explores these personal obsessions and sacrifices with absorbing insight, and the tension mounts with some of the most riveting action sequences ever filmed—most notably a daylight siege that turns downtown Los Angeles into a virtual war zone of automatic gunfire. At nearly three hours, Heat qualifies as a kind of intimate epic, certain to leave some viewers impatiently waiting for more action, but it's all part of Mann's compelling strategy. Heat is a true rarity: a crime thriller with equal measures of intense excitement and dramatic depth, giving De Niro and Pacino a prime showcase for their finely matched talents. —Jeff Shannon

Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Michael Lehmann

Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Gene Kelly Twenty-seven-year-old Barbra Streisand seemed an inappropriate choice for middle-aged, match-making widow Dolly Levi, but her energy carries her right through the role and dominates the lackluster movie around her. The plot, drawn from Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (itself based on a 19th-century British farce), is set in motion when Yonkers feed store clerk Cornelius Hackl (Michael Crawford) celebrates his promotion by taking his pal Barnaby Tucker (Danny Lockin) to New York City for a "corking good time." But Cornelius and Barnaby can't avoid crossing paths with their boss Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau), who'd give them Holy Ned if he saw them in a fancy restaurant with two fancy girls instead of tending the store. Mr. Vandergelder himself is the object of Dolly's affections, though she pretends to have only a professional interest in the widowed merchant, going through the motions of finding him a new wife when in fact she'd like to be the lucky bride herself.

Sean Connery, Christopher Lambert, Russell Mulcahy

Burt Reynolds, Jan-Michael Vincent, Hal Needham

Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Jim Abrahams

Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Jim Abrahams

Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Jocelyn Moorhouse

Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, James Lapine There are Victorian country-house shenanigans aplenty in Impromptu: novelist George Sand (Judy Davis, affected but pretty charming) has eyes for Franz Liszt's young protégé Chopin (Hugh Grant, solid as always, but burdened by a silly Polish accent and a script that never lets him stretch out), but various lovers, jealous rivals, and Chopin's own overdeveloped sense of propriety conspire to confound her. Impromptu is witty but overlong—probably 20 minutes of hijinks and repartee, not to mention several completely gratuitous and redundant characters, could have been sliced from the film.

Davis plays Sand as an impetuous, overgrown tomboy, outraging her genteel hosts by wearing pants, chomping cigars, and falling off horses; her coterie of artist-friends assure us, in a series of naked plot devices, that she nonetheless has a heart of gold. It's all good silly fun, and about as feminist as your average Def Leppard video—the other two developed female characters are ugly stereotypes: a featherbrained, feckless social climber (Emma Thompson, who once again proves she's up for anything) and a spiteful, back-stabbing shrew (the ever-capable Bernadette Peters). Director James Lapine clearly belongs to the Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman school of historical accuracy, so don't expect to learn anything about the period or the artists themselves. —Miles Bethany

Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Jim Sheridan processati come terroristi dell'ira e autori della strage di un pub, quattro proletari irlandesi patiscono quindici anni di carcere prima che sia scoperta la loro innocenza. con loro sono condannati a pene minori parenti e amici, tra cui il padre di uno di loro, che muore in carcere. ma alla fine la verita' trionfa e tutti vengono scagionati agli occhi della popolazione.premi e riconoscimenti1994 - orso d'oro - miglior film festival di berlino1994 - miglior film straniero david di donatello1993 - miglior film candidature [academy awards]

Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Adrian Lyne

Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Roland Emmerich In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Day is the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesnt even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day is a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the films heroes—played by Will Smith—just happens to run across the presidents injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smiths character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. —Tom Keogh

Hal Scardino, Litefoot, Frank Oz Young Hal Scardino stars as a sensitive boy who discovers a way to bring plastic toys to life in a locked cupboard. One of those toys, a 19th-century Iroquois warrior (played by actor Litefoot), was actually a real warrior now only several inches tall. A bond eventually develops between boy and warrior, and a six-shooting toy cowboy (David Keith). As with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Indian in the Cupboard (which is written by E.T. scribe Melissa Mathison) is about a magical visitor connecting with a lonely child. But director Frank Oz (In & Out) has made the film far too stiff and dramatically flat to get across the enchantment necessary to make the fantasy work. Watching this is like listening to someone who can't tell a good story to save his life, yet who is trying to captivate your attention and heart. —Tom Keogh

George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Steven Spielberg As with George Lucas's other movie franchise, there's a vein of mysticism running through the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Watching all three back-to-back it's possible to unravel the chronology and chart the spiritual journey of our hero: the idealistic Young Indy ("It belongs in a museum", implores River Phoenix in the opening escapade of The Last Crusade) grows up to become a cynical fortune-hunter seen trading archaeological treasures with Chinese gangsters at club "Obi-Wan" in The Temple of Doom. From there we follow his path to redemption via three mystical religious objects: respectively Hindu (the Shankara stones in Temple of Doom), Jewish (the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders), and Christian (the Holy Grail itself in Last Crusade).

But that's just the subtext. Along the way, this knight-errant archaeologist undertakes improbable adventures (featuring spiders, snakes, rats, insects and Nazis galore), rescues damsels in distress (even when they really don't want to be rescued, such as Kate Capshaw in Temple of Doom), and still finds time to bond with his dad (Sean Connery, in one of cinema's great cameo roles as Dr Jones Sr.)

Steven Spielberg revels in Lucas's recreation of 1930s cliff-hanger serials, infusing every scene with kinetic energy and infectious enthusiasm and creating any number of iconic sequences that have become touchstones of cinematic history. Director and producer are more than ably assisted by regular composer John Williams, whose swashbuckling Korngold-inspired "Raiders" theme casts Harrison Ford as a modern-day Errol Flynn. Although a fourth movie is promised, this trilogy plays like a self-contained whole that leaves nothing wanting: from the witty dialogue and breathtaking action choreography to the near-perfect casting, this is popular movie-making at its very peak.

On the DVD: The Indiana Jones Trilogy four-disc box set, as has been widely noted, contains the slightly edited version of The Temple of Doom—1 min 6 seconds of cuts according to the BBFC—though this is exactly the same version that was originally shown in UK cinemas and released on video (missing is a bit of extra blood and gore during the heart-ripping scene). By way of compensation, the digitally remastered anamorphic 2.35:1 picture and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound for all three movies are joyfully impressive, the screen crammed full of colour and rich detail accompanied by one of Hollywood's most glorious soundtracks. The fourth bonus disc contains about three hours of additional material, most of which can be found in the new 127-minute documentary that takes the viewer chronologically through the making of the series and includes plenty of interviews and fascinating nuggets of background information. There are also independent featurettes "From the Lucasfilm Archives" on John Williams's music, the sound design, stuntwork and the special effects. There are subtitles in various European languages. —Mark Walker

Anne Parillaud, Anthony LaPaglia, Dale Beldin, John Landis John Landis was the perfect director for Innocent Blood, a horror-comedy hybrid that does for French vampires in Pittsburgh what Landis's An American Werewolf in London did for hungry lycanthropes in Picadilly Square. Anne Parillaud, the sexy star of La Femme Nikita, is perfectly cast as a beguiling vampire who must feed regularly on human blood, and when she spots a local Mafia kingpin (Robert Loggia), she says to herself, "I think I'll try Italian!" But once the Mafioso realizes he's now an undead vampire, he goes on a rampant crusade of bloodthirsty vengeance, biting his soldiers and consigliere (Don Rickles, no less!) to recruit an army of undead henchmen. Pretty soon Parillaud's teamed up with an undercover cop (Anthony LaPaglia) in an attempt to stop her victims from proliferating throughout the Pittsburgh underworld. (Disconnecting the central nervous system will kill a bloodsucker, and the powerful Parillaud can snap necks as efficiently as she bites them.)

Landis keeps it all moving at a raucous pace, favouring humour without sacrificing intelligent plotting and interesting characters. Parillaud evokes sympathy even when her eyes glow fiery red and she's ripping the throats out of her victims—hey, she's only trying to survive, right? And Loggia takes one of his best-ever roles and runs with it, spouting lines of Mafioso dialogue made hilarious by the fact that he's a walking, blood-soaked corpse. Morbid humour and gruesome makeup are abundant here, as well as Landis's trademark inclusion of cameos by such horror-movie icons as Dario Argento, Sam Raimi, and monster-fan extraordinaire Forrest J. Ackerman. With tenderness, toughness, a dash of kink, and plenty of laughs, this is the kind of guilty pleasure that includes "I've Got You Under My Skin" on the soundtrack, just for the sheer enjoyment of a campy double-entendre. How can you resist? —Jeff Shannon

Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Joke van Wijk, Mick Audsley, Neil Jordan When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in Interview with a Vampire, the film adaptation of Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicised objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she saw Cruise's excellent performance, which perceptively addresses the pain and chronic melancholy that plagues anyone cursed with immortal blood lust. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst are equally good at maintaining the dark and brooding tone of Rice's novel. And in this rare mainstream project for a major studio, director Neil Jordan compensates for a lumbering plot by honouring the literate, Romantic qualities of Rice's screenplay. Considered a disappointment while being embraced by Rice's loyal followers, Interview is too slow to be a satisfying thriller, but it is definitely one of the most lavish, intelligent horror films ever made. —Jeff Shannon

James Stewart, Donna Reed, Frank Capra James Stewart (VERTIGO) stars as George; a noble man who takes the blame for a crime he did not commit. After attempting to kill himself, George is visited by a guardian angel and given a glimpse of a world without him in it, and the repercussions his absence has on his nearest and dearest. Director Frank Capra (MR. DEED'S GOES TO TOWN) created a poignant and feel-good film that has stood the test of time and is rightly considered to be the quintessential Christmas classic.

Phillip Noyce In CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, Harrison Ford returns as intrepid CIA agent Jack Ryan. When his mentor, Admiral Greer (Jones), becomes gravely ill, Ryan is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. His first assignment: investigate the murder of one of the President's friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels. Unbeknownst to Ryan, the CIA has already dispatched a deadly field operative (Dafoe) to lead a paramilitary force against the Colombian drug lords. Caught in the crossfire, Ryan takes matters into his own hands, risking his career and life for the only cause he still believes in — the truth.

Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Michael Caton-Jones The Jackal is filmmaking by numbers: take two huge stars, Richard Gere and Bruce Willis, and pit them opposite each other in a plot that's already been audience tested. That director Michael Caton Jones' film is based not on Frederick Forsyth's novel but on the script for the 1973 original starring James Fox is the first clue that something here is amiss. Fred Zinneman's The Day of the Jackal was a genuinely taut and claustrophobic thriller; the remake is like a Rocky & Bullwinkle take on international terrorism disguised as an action movie. Dashing IRA terrorist, Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere), is sprung from jail to help the FBI Deputy Director Carton Preston (Sidney Poitier) track down The Jackal, an amoral international terrorist who is a master of disguise. The FBI believes he is about to assassinate a US political bigwig and is engaged in a race against time to discover exactly who the target is and where they will be felled. Throughout the film Gere sports an Irish accent as ill-fitting and phoney as the bushy lip-wig that Willis adopts at one point as a disguise. The usually warm-hearted Willis plays the steel-jawed terrorist with a cool reserve, but he doesn't have much character development to work with (apart from a misguided attempt to introduce a gay subtext). At over two hours of running time with plenty of exposition and precious few action sequences, this film is a test of will for the audience as well as the protagonists.

On the DVD: The DVD includes a lengthy "making of" featurette, several deleted scenes and an alternate ending with some small dialogue changes. There is also an exceedingly dry director's commentary by Michael Caton Jones which muses on such mind-numbingly dull details as the colour of the subway platform in the film's climactic sequence. The film is presented in a clear print in 2.35:1 anamorphic format with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. —Chris Campion

Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Quentin Tarantino New in original packaging, Free Delivery, JACKIE BROWN 2-DISC COLLECTIORS EDITION DVD NEW FACTORY SEALED

David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, William Friedkin

James Bond willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE.

Terence Young The thrills never let up as James Bond dives into this riveting adventure filled with explosive confrontations and amazing underwater action sequences! Sean Connery brings his characteristic style, humor and magnetism to Agent 007 as he travels to Nassau

Agent 007 and the Japanese secret service ninja force must find and stop the true culprit of a series of spacejackings before nuclear war is provoked.

A diamond smuggling investigation leads James Bond to Las Vegas, where he uncovers an extortion plot headed by his nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

John Glen James Bond is thrust into one of his most riveting adventures in this jam-packed free-for-all of outrageous stunts, passionate encounters and exciting confrontations. Roger Moore portrays Agent 007 with lethal determination in a plot that finds him racing

Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Dominique Fortin, Roger Spottiswoode Pierce Brosnan returns for his second stint as James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies and he's doing it in high style with an invigorating cast of co-stars. It's only appropriate that a Bond film from 1997 would find Agent 007 pitted against a media mogul (Jonathan Pryce) who's going to start a global war—beginning with stolen nuclear missiles aimed at China—to create attention-grabbing headlines for his latest multimedia news channel. It's the information age run amok and Bond must team up with a lovely and lethal agent from the Chinese External Security Force (played by Hong Kong action star Michelle Yeoh) to foil the madman's plot of global domination. Luckily for Bond, the villain's wife (Teri Hatcher) is one of his former lovers and, at the behest of his superior "M" (Judi Dench), 007 finds ample opportunity to exploit the connection. Although it bears some nagging similarities to many formulaic action films from the 90s, Tomorrow Never Dies (with a title song performed by Sheryl Crow) boasts enough grand-scale action and sufficiently intelligent plotting to suggest the Bond series has plenty of potential to survive into the next millennium. Armed with the usual array of gadgets (including a remote-controlled BMW), Brosnan settles into his role with acceptable flair and the dynamic Yeoh provides a perfect balance to the sexism that once threatened to turn Bond into a politically incorrect anachronism. He's still Bond, to be sure but he's saving the world with a bit more sophisticated finesse. —Jeff Shannon —This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

On the DVD: Somewhat disappointingly there is no specific "making-of" documentary for Tomorrow Never Dies: instead we get a generic "Secrets of 007" made-for-US-television feature, a promotional piece that does however include footage from the set of TND. There is also a very brief special effects reel, which highlights the novel (for a Bond movie) use of CGI, as well as a breakdown of key sequences with their storyboards. Elsewhere, composer David Arnold enthuses about writing Bond music from a fan's perspective and Sheryl Crow's music video is included as are theatrical trailers and a text piece on some of the gadgets. There are two commentaries: the first from producer Michael Wilson and stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong; the second has director Roger Spottiswoode in conversation with "friend and colleague" Dan Petrie Jr. Only die-hard fans would have wanted both, the rest may find themselves switching between the two. The film, of course, looks and sounds stunning. —Mark Walker

William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Peter Yates

Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Lou Lombardo, Pat O'Connor The January Man is an odd comedy-thriller about the hunt for a serial killer that could just be a case of too many stars spoil the movie. The screenplay is by John Patrick Shanley, who won an Oscar for Moonstruck. The plot goes like this: a serial killer is terrorising Manhattan, targeting one woman a month, much to the horror of the mayor (a rabid Rod Steiger, more foam than substance) and the police commissioner Frank Starkey (Harvey Keitel). There's only one man to save their bacon: enter Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline), brother of Frank, who had been a cop but was kicked out of the force for his unorthodox ways. Being a heroic kind of guy, his next career move was as a firefighter and we first see him leaping out of a burning building, carrying a child under his arm. Kline agrees to go back on one condition: that he cooks dinner for his brother's wife (the fantastically haughty Susan Sarandon), a former girlfriend for whom he still holds a candle. The pace hots up, Nick finds himself a new girlfriend, the mayor's daughter Bernadette (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), whose main claim to fame is that her best friend was murdered by the serial killer. Oh, and of course he gets the guy, in the nick of time (literally).

Confused? You won't be. The plot is an improbable potion of coincidences and divine inspiration but it's not complicated. Kline overcomes the shortcomings of the script with a charmer of a performance, but the real star is the funny, sly Alan Rickman. The January Man is worth seeing for some very fine individual turns (Sarandon is terrific), but in all honesty, it doesn't add up to a great movie, mainly because it can't quite decide what it wants to be, genre-wise, settling on an uneasy compromise of comedy and thriller.

On the DVD: The January Man disc has absolutely no-frills. Picture and sound are perfectly adequate without being anything to write home about. And if you're looking for extra goodies, you'll be disappointed: there's the original theatrical trailer and a wide array of subtitle languages, but that's it. —Harriet Smith

Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Steven Spielberg In the vastly overrated 1998 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, author Peter Biskind puts the blame for Hollywood's blockbuster mentality at least partially on Steven Spielberg's box-office success with this adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestselling novel. But you can't blame Spielberg for making a terrific film, which Jaws definitely is. The story of a Long Island town whose summer tourist business is suddenly threatened by great white shark attacks on humans bypasses the potboiler trappings of Benchley's book and goes straight for the jugular with beautifully crafted, crowd-pleasing sequences of action and suspense. This is supported by a trio of terrific performances by Roy Scheider (as the local sheriff), Richard Dreyfuss (as a shark specialist), and particularly Robert Shaw (as the old fisherman who offers to hunt the shark down). The sequences on Shaw's boat—as the three of them realise that in fact the shark is hunting them—are what entertaining moviemaking is all about. —Marshall Fine —This text refers to another version of this video.

Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Cameron Crowe Jerry Maguire, the film that launched the careers of writer-director Cameron Crowe and actress Renée Zellwenger, is accurately regarded as one of the best romantic comedies of the 1990s. It's an unconventional tale about the paradoxical nature of success in which a top sports agent (Tom Cruise) is forced to reassess his life when he is unceremoniously dumped by his employer. After falling in love with single mother Dorothy Boyd (Zellwenger), and supported by loyal client and second-rate football star Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Maguire attempts to rebuild his fractured life.

At times the film's lightweight, pop-sociology view of the hungry nature of the modern day workplace is clichéd to say the least. However, because Crowe is able to develop meaningful characters, his contradictory lunges against capitalism are submerged by the excellent performances of Cruise and company. There are also top notch supporting roles from Zellwenger's screen son Ray (child star Jonathan Lipnicki) and dictatorial older sister Laurel (Bonnie Hunt).

On the DVD: Jerry Maguire's animated menus are created in the style of a messy desk with Post-It-Note selection icons but these don't function as anticipated. As well as the audio commentary over the main feature, the bonus disc unnecessarily includes live action visual footage of Cruise, Crowe, Gooding and Zellwenger providing the same remarks. Unfortunately, the visuals only add to irritability of the exclusive banter between the four. There's also a short "making-of" featurette along with Cameron Crow's documentary Drew Rosenhaus: Sports Agent, which highlights the inspiration behind the film's character Bob Sugar. The "Mission Statement", reproduced in its entirety, isn't a quick and easy read. The music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Secret Garden" adds a mellow, atmospheric twist to the bonus disc. There are also exclusive DVD-ROM extras tucked away, including the screenplay and photo gallery. —John Galilee

Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Lewis Teague

Tim Curry, Kermit the Frog, Brian Henson Muppet Treasure Island [DVD] [DVD] (2006) Muppets Treasure Island

Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Robert Longo

Eric Brevig

Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Danny Cannon Judge Dredd is one of those movies that doesn't have a brain of its own, so it can only rip off a lot of ingredients from other, better movies. It's a mishmash of Blade Runner, Total Recall, and The Road Warrior, with a dash of Star Wars tossed in for good measure. As if that weren't enough, it's got Sylvester Stallone, who seems to be the only one in the movie who's in on the game and knows it's all a sci-fi scam. Like The Fifth Element a few years later, Judge Dredd depicts a futuristic megalopolis packed with crowded vertical overgrowth and rampant commerce, where anarchy reigns supreme. Violent "block wars" are fought by lawless citizens with machine guns, and Judge Dredd (Stallone) is one of the city's heavily armed policemen, given free rein to judge and execute the perpetrators of violence. But Dredd himself is subjected to judgement and swift justice when his own gun is identified in the murder of a prominent TV reporter, forcing him to do whatever he can to clear his name. Diane Lane plays his partner in crime-fighting and romance, and Rob Schneider provides juvenile comic relief as Dredd's streetwise sidekick. Impressive special effects are on vivid display, and the movie's fun for what it's worth. Lower your expectations and you just might enjoy it. —Jeff Shannon

Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Joe Johnston

Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Jason Durr On remote Isla Nuba entrepreneur John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has built the ultimate theme-park, populated by genetically engineered dinosaurs painstakingly reconstructed from DNA extracted from prehistoric amber... and, of course, frogs! Adapted from Michael Crichton's novels, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park blockbusters became a cultural and commercial phenomenon thanks in part to the enduring appeal of all things prehistoric. But the films' extraordinarily realistic digital dinosaurs also showcased the spectacular computer-generated effects that have since become ubiquitous in Hollywood filmmaking. Indeed, in the years since 1993 it is debatable whether any films have revolutionised special effects to such an extent, and this DVD box set offers the perfect opportunity to relive both movies' visual and aural splendour (the original film was also the first to be released with a DTS soundtrack).

Given their rather insipid human prey (including Dickie Attenborough and Jeff Goldblum) there is little doubt that the dinosaurs are the real stars, from the benign majesty of the towering brachiosaurus to the reptilian menace of the velociraptors. Most memorable of all is the T-rex, displaying a spine-chilling combination of physical ferocity and child-like bewilderment in the face of its reincarnation in the modern world. While Jurassic Park still retains a unique power and a seminal place in film history, Spielberg's The Lost World sequel exceeds its predecessor in almost every respect: the digital dinos are more populous, faster and meaner, the set-pieces have more bravura, and the special effects raise the benchmark even higher in blending CGI and live action spectacle. Overall, the first film's sense of awe and almost stately contemplation of its own visual splendour are replaced with a more visceral style and darker tone, as the raptors and rexes attack with a predatory ferociousness more reminiscent of Aliens than Godzilla. Highlights include the T-rexes' cliff-top assault on a trailer van, the trails of attacking raptors as they move silently through a field of tall grass, and the safari-style dinosaur round-up by the marauding hunters, led by a grizzled Pete Postlethwaite. —Steve Napleton

Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Steven Spielberg In the low tradition of knockoff horror flicks best seen (or not seen) on a drive-in movie screen, Steven Spielberg's sequel to Jurassic Park is a poorly conceived, ill-organised film that lacks story and logic. Screenwriter David Koepp strings along a number of loose ideas while Jeff Goldblum returns as Ian Malcolm, the quirky chaos theoretician who now reluctantly agrees to go to another island where cloned dinosaurs are roaming freely. Along with his girlfriend (Julianne Moore) and daughter, Malcolm has to deal with hunters, environmentalists, and corporate swine who stupidly bring back a big dino to Southern California, where it runs amok, of course. Spielberg doesn't seem to care that the pieces of this project don't add up to a real movie, so he hams it up with big, scary moments (with none of the artfulness of those in Jurassic Park) and smart-aleck visual gags (a yapping dog in a suburb mysteriously disappears when a hungry T-rex stomps by). A complete bust.—Tom Keogh

Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, Brian Gibson DVD COLUMBIA, C823 9631, PAL 2

Kuan Tai Chen, Kang-Yeh Cheng, John Woo, Ma Wu

Julie Walters, Adrian Pasdar, Christopher Monger

James Belushi, Mel Harris, Rod Daniel

Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, Dominic Sena Directed with a cool remove by Dominic Sena, Kalifornia falls somewhere between Badlands and Natural Born Killers. David Duchovny is a blocked author with a fascination for outlaw killers who hatches a plan to road trip through America's mass-murder landmarks to finish his book. He enlists the help of his frustrated photographer girlfriend Michelle Forbes, who desperately wants to leave the East Coast for LA, and they advertise for riding partners. Luckily for them, they wind up with a veteran killer, the greasy trailer-park ex-con Brad Pitt, who decides to skip parole with his cowering child-woman girlfriend Juliette Lewis. Duchovny is enamoured by gun-toting Pitt's recklessness and lawless disregard for, well, everything—simultaneously terrified and thrilled by Pitt's brutal beating of a barfly. Meanwhile, Pitt's leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.

Pitt brings a ferocious magnetism to his part, but it's still hard to buy genial Duchovny's odd attraction; Juliette Lewis conveys a terrifying sense of victimization with her poor dumb creature. Despite the film's best efforts, it never really plumbs the psyche of Pitt's simmering psycho—he's just plain bad, you know—but it does fashion an effective little thriller out of the tensions brewing in the restless quartet. —Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

Kate Bush

Kate Bush, Lindsay Kemp, Julian Rodd

Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, John Jympson, Brian G. Hutton Kelly's Heroes reunited Clint Eastwood with his Where Eagles Dare director Brian G Hutton, then added The Dirty Dozen star Telly Savalas in MGM's quest to turn WWII movie celluloid into box office gold three times running. The result, a sprawling adventure about a group of soldiers led by Kelly (Eastwood) on a private mission behind enemy lines to recover a cache of Nazi treasure, echoed its predecessors but wasn't as successful. While Where Eagle's Dare was somewhat tongue in cheek, Kelly's Heroes went for a cynical comic amorality with many plot parallels to 1969's The Italian Job, written by screenwriter Troy Kennedy-Martin the year before. Donald Sutherland, who also starred in the big-screen M*A*S*H (1970), plays a hippie tank commander decades before his time, and it's hard not to see both movies as more commentaries on Vietnam than on the wars in which they were ostensibly set. Though it is intermittently very funny, and despite some expertly staged action, Kelly's Heroes never really convinces as satire or adventure.

On the DVD: Kelly's Heroes is presented on disc in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer which is immaculate and taken from a virtually perfect master. The images are so clean and sharp they look brand new, outclassing many current theatrical prints. The three-channel sound concentrates most of the action to the centre speaker but does an excellent job of capturing the often turbulent soundtrack. The only real extra is the original trailer, presented anamorphically at 1.77:1.—Gary S Dalkin

Eric Stoltz, Julie Delpy, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Krisha Fairchild, Daryl Hannah

Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Gary Fleder Kiss the Girls

Christian Slater, Milla Jovovich, Bruce A. Evans

Steve Martin, Iman, Mick Jackson

David Lemke, Gary Rowley, Roger Lemke, David Hobson, Baz Luhrmann

Anne Parillaud, Marc Duret, Luc Besson French director Luc Besson broke the commercial taboo against female-driven action movies with Nikita, his seminal, seductively slick film about a violent street punk (Anne Parillaud) trained to become a smooth, stylish assassin. Though it amounts, in the end, to little more than disposable pop, the film has a cohesiveness in style and tone—akin to the early James Bond films—that gives it a sense of integrity. Parillaud is compelling both as a wild child and chic-but-lethal pro (trained in good manners by none other than Jeanne Moreau). Tchéky Karyo is also good as the cop mentor who develops feelings for her. —Tom Keogh

Carlo Cecchi, Enrico Lo Verso, Damiano Damiani, Ricky Tognazzi

Sidney J. Furie

Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Richard Donner This lushly produced fantasy has gained a loyal following since its release in 1985, and it gave a welcome boost to the careers of Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer. You have to ignore the overly aggressive music score by Andrew Powell, music director of the Alan Parsons Project (critic Pauline Kael aptly dubbed it "disco-medieval") and director Richard Donner's reckless allowance of anachronistic dialogue and uninspired storytelling, but there's a certain charm to the movie's combination of romance and heroism. Broderick plays a young thief who comes to the aid of tragic lovers Isabeau (Pfeiffer), who is cursed to become a hawk every day at sunrise and Navarre (Hauer) who turns into a wolf at sunset. The curse was cast by an evil sorcerer-bishop (John Wood), and as Broderick eludes the bishop's henchmen, Navarre struggles to conquer the villain, lift the curse and be reunited with his love in human form. The tragedy of this lovers' dilemma keeps the movie going, and Broderick is well cast as a young, medieval variation of Woody Allen. —Jeff Shannon

Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Ken Russell

Billy Zane, Joan Severance, Rafael Eisenman

Gabriel Damon, Judith Barsi, Don Bluth Young dinosaur Littlefoot is orphaned and so he sets off with a gang of fellow baby dinosaurs in search of a legendary green valley that offers safety from the plague that is sweeping the world.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, John McTiernan John McTiernan (The Hunt for Red October) imaginatively directs this action comedy, which is an interesting failure with some fascinating ironies that make it well worth seeing. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays both a character named Jack Slater—a fictional cop hero who exists only in the movies (ie, the movies seen by the characters in this movie) and the actor who plays Jack Slater in the real world (ie, in the movie we're actually watching). McTiernan's hall-of-mirrors effect is fun, though Last Action Hero never quite identifies itself as a pure action movie, science fiction, a kid's movie, or anything else. (The expensive film suffered at the box office as a result and was roundly criticised for this ambivalence.) What lingers in the memory, however, is Schwarzenegger, playing himself, being confronted by Slater for having created an alter ego for film in the first place. It's a provocative moment: how often have we seen a major star blatantly wrestle with his actor's legacy in this way? —Tom Keogh

Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Tony Scott In giving 1991's The Last Boy Scout a three-star review, critic Roger Ebert was properly performing his duty as an objective reporter, praising the filmmakers' professional skill while observing that "the only consistent theme of the film is its hatred of women". For the purposes of this capsule review, there's no such obligation to level-headed fairness; the simple truth is, this ultraviolent, action-packed vehicle for Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans is disgustingly rotten to the core. Not only is it fuelled by a bitter and spiteful attitude toward women, it's also the kind of profanely vulgar movie that doesn't hesitate to put foul-mouthed children in the path of vicious thugs and potentially deadly situations. Willis plays an ex-secret service agent turned private detective who is hired to protect a stripper (Halle Berry) and then teams up with the stripper's boyfriend (Wayans), a disgraced NFL star who was kicked out of football for gambling. They catch on to a criminal plot leading all the way up to a corrupt football team owner who wants to legalise gambling on pro football. Willis and Wayans get in and out of all sorts of trouble along the way, and naturally there are plenty of explosions to go along with the brutal beatings, gunfire and constant cussing. Shane Black (of Lethal Weapon infamy) set a Hollywood record (since broken, several times) for the sale price of his slick but vile screenplay and Top Gun director Tony Scott handles the action with his trademark gloss and high-impact style. But, seriously, is this a movie that anyone could bear to watch twice? —Jeff Shannon

Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern, Walter Hill Best known for making movies about men and violence, director Walter Hill scored a misfire with this ambitious but ultimately dreary remake of Akira Kurosawa's samurai classic Yojimbo. The story's essentially the same but the setting has been switched to a dusty, almost ghostly Texas town in the 1930s, where two rival Chicago gangs are locked in an uneasy truce. Bruce Willis plays the lone drifter who allies himself with both gangs to his own advantage, working both sides against each other according to his own hidden agenda. The violence escalates to a bloody climax, of course, with Christopher Walken, David Patrick Kelly and Michael Imperioli as trigger-happy lieutenants in a lonely, desolate war. Fans of gangster movies will want to see this, and, if nothing else, Hill has brought his polished style to a vaguely mythic story. It's far from being a classic, however, and although its action is at times masterfully choreographed, the movie's humourless attitude is unexpectedly oppressive. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Tab Murphy Despite an irritating, tacked-on voice-over narration that somebody must have thought necessary to make sense of the story (it isn't), Last of the Dogmen is actually a very moving and magical film. Tom Berenger plays a Montana bounty hunter who helps an anthropologist (Barbara Hershey) search for the descendants of a Cheyenne tribe who disappeared in the 1870s. What the two find in a remote mountain stretch is an entire community of Cheyenne who have kept themselves cut off from the modern world. A Dances with Wolves parallel emerges as the white outsiders gradually fit in, but Last of the Dogmen stands up just fine without comparison to any other films. As in Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning movie, however, there are ways in which this film captures a similar sense of yearning, mystery and loss—not least being David Arnold's fine John Barry-esque score. —Tom Keogh

Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, John Dahl Whew. Linda Fiorentino is like a home-grown apocalyptic nightmare as the sizzling, sexy dame who thinks "sharing" is a dirty word. Fiorentino, a master of the double-cross, hooks up with naive Peter Berg, a nice guy desperate for a little adventure. There are endless twists to this cleverly vicious story, but the real draw is Fiorentino, whose performance is brilliant. She is the Everywoman you never want to meet: cool as ice, passionate, tough, self-satisfied, smart, and amoral. Bill Pullman is a surprise as a Machiavellian doctor who is almost her match. Definitely not a date flick, as this represents one vicious battle in the sexual wars. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Patrick Bergin, Matt Frewer, Farhad Mann

Pierce Brosnan, Jeff Fahey, Brett Leonard In 1992, The Lawnmower Man was hailed as a CGI (Computer Generated Image) breakthrough. It's fascinating to consider the effects in a historical context, knowing it came just a year after T2: Judgment Day and was followed by Jurassic Park a year later. Written and directed by Bill Leonard, this was intended to showcase how realistic digital likenesses and landscapes had become. Little did they know that Toy Story was already in pre-production! The story hangs on the concept that a scientist gain (Pierce Brosnan) is drafted in to utilise the technology for governmental. As with all top-secret government projects in the movies, it all goes horribly wrong. Forced to progress from a chimp to a human subject, Brosnan secretly recruits local backwards boy and lawnmower pusher Jobe (Jeff Fahey). The increases in intelligence are alarming. He learns Latin in two hours, becomes an object of sexual desire (all it takes is cowboy boots apparently), and then develops telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Some very overt religious analogy is in evidence. Jobe's beatings by a priest give way to an eventual crucifixion on the spinning wheel that allows him to enter Virtual Reality. Will he be resurrected for a sequel? Such questions were what Stephen King took extreme exception to when his name was placed before the title. A lawsuit took care of that. What the film ought to be remembered and appreciated for though are the visuals, which undoubtedly advanced the arcade and home computer game industry. —Paul Tonks

Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan, Brett Leonard In 1992, The Lawnmower Man was hailed as a CGI (Computer Generated Image) breakthrough. It's fascinating to consider the effects in a historical context, knowing it came just a year after T2: Judgment Day and was followed by Jurassic Park a year later. Written and directed by Bill Leonard, this was intended to showcase how realistic digital likenesses and landscapes had become. Little did they know that Toy Story was already in pre-production! The story hangs on the concept that a scientist gain (Pierce Brosnan) is drafted in to utilise the technology for governmental. As with all top-secret government projects in the movies, it all goes horribly wrong. Forced to progress from a chimp to a human subject, Brosnan secretly recruits local backwards boy and lawnmower pusher Jobe (Jeff Fahey). The increases in intelligence are alarming. He learns Latin in two hours, becomes an object of sexual desire (all it takes is cowboy boots apparently), and then develops telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Some very overt religious analogy is in evidence. Jobe's beatings by a priest give way to an eventual crucifixion on the spinning wheel that allows him to enter Virtual Reality. Will he be resurrected for a sequel? Such questions were what Stephen King took extreme exception to when his name was placed before the title. A lawsuit took care of that. What the film ought to be remembered and appreciated for though are the visuals, which undoubtedly advanced the arcade and home computer game industry. —Paul Tonks

Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Mike Figgis region 2 dvd

Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Luc Besson Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with Leon, a stylised thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman). Oldman is a little more unhinged than he should be, but there is something genuinely irresistible about the story line and the relationship between Reno and Portman. Rather than cave in to the cookie-cutter look and feel of American action pictures, Besson brings a bit of his glossy style from French hits La Femme Nikita and Subway to the production of The Professional, and the results are refreshing even if the bullets and explosions are awfully familiar.—Tom Keogh

Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Michael Tronick, Marek Kanievska Less Than Zero is adapted from the dreary, pointless late-80s novel by literary poseur Bret Easton Ellis, which focused on listless, shiftless, drug-sniffing, sex-swapping, dead-end California teens with too much money and time on their hands—though the movie is not nearly as interesting as that. This is mostly due to the ridiculously cleaned-up script and lifeless direction, which whitewashes the baser depravity and replaces it with perversion-lite and fashion shows. It doesn't help that director Marek Kanievska is saddled with Brat Pack lesser (make that least) lights Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz. The only things that lift this film above the muck are the performances by James Spader as a particularly heinous drug dealer and Robert Downey Jr as a rich-kid addict with no self-control. —Marshall Fine

Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Stuart Baird, Richard Donner Mel Gibson set aside his art-house credentials to star as a crazy cop paired with a stable one (Danny Glover) in this full-blown 1987 Richard Donner action picture. The most violent film in the series (which includes three sequels), Lethal Weapon is also the edgiest and most interesting. After Gibson's character jumps off a building handcuffed to a man, and Gary Busey (as a cold, efficient enforcer) lets his hand get burned without flinching, there is a sense that anything can happen, and it usually does. Donner's strangely messy visual and audio style doesn't make a lot of aesthetic sense, but it stuck with all four movies. —Tom Keogh

Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Richard Donner Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play.

 

  Pure dynamite! The Lethal Weapon team has done it again, putting the match to the fuse and putting the wow! back on screen for 'Lethal Weapon 4'.   Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return as buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh, with Joe Pesci riding comedy shotgun as chatterbox Leo. Murtaugh is still the family man. Riggs is still the gonzo loose cannon and - what's this? - family man. His will he/won't he marriage to Cole (Rene Russo) is one of the new wrinkles in this powerhouse crowd-pleaser that also stars comedy favourite Chris Rock and international action star Jet Li. Wedding bells, ammo shells, explosive laughter - this one's fully loaded!    Actors Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li, Darlene Love, Ebonie Smith, Darlene Love, Steve Kahan, Traci Wolfe, Eddy Ko & Mary Ellen TrainorDirector Richard DonnerCertificate 15 years and overYear 1998Screen Widescreen 2.35:1Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1)Subtitles English ; Arabic ; English for the hearing impairedDuration 2 hours and 1 minute (approx)

Universal

Cameron Diaz, Ewan McGregor, Masahiro Hirakubo, Danny Boyle This is a surprising disappointment, considering it is the third film from director Danny Boyle, writer John Hodge and actor Ewan McGregor. This disjointed and strained romantic comedy is not even near the same league as Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. Cameron Diaz is a spoiled heiress and McGregor an aimless janitor brought together by two angels (Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo) hoping to hang onto their wings. McGregor kidnaps Diaz, the boss's daughter, after being fired from his crummy job. She is not all that averse to being snatched. Most of the laughs are lost to a scattershot story that feels preposterous instead of magical. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Tobe Hooper Lifeforce(Br+Dv)

Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Michael Anderson

Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Renny Harlin Geena Davis and her former husband, director Renny Harlin, attempted to pick up the pieces after the debacle of their box-office disaster, Cutthroat Island. What they came up with was this repulsive ode to American Film Noir, based on a script by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) about an amnesiac schoolteacher (Davis) who searches for her true identity and finds she is actually a secret agent immersed in a deadly plot to topple the government. Mechanistic in its violence, obnoxious in its attitude, the film makes Davis, a once-promising actress, nothing more than a special effect. She tosses one to sadists in the audience by allowing her character to be beaten, punched unconscious, and tortured. —Tom Keogh

Various

Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, George Miller

Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Joel Schumacher This 1987 thriller was a predictable hit with the teen audience it worked overtime to attract. Like most of director Joel Schumacher's films, it's conspicuously designed to push the right marketing and demographic buttons and, granted, there's some pretty cool stuff going on here and there. Take Kiefer Sutherland, for instance. In Stand by Me he played a memorable bully, but here he goes one step further as a memorable bully vampire who leads a tribe of teenage vampires on their nocturnal spree of bloodsucking havoc. Jason Patric plays the new guy in town, who quickly attracts a lovely girlfriend (Jami Gertz), only to find that she might be recruiting him into the vampire fold. The movie gets sillier as it goes along, and resorts to a routine action-movie showdown, but it's a visual knockout (featuring great cinematography by Michael Chapman) and boasts a cast that's eminently able (pardon the pun) to sink their teeth into the best parts of an uneven screenplay. —Jeff Shannon

Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Hytner Nigel Hawthorne Madness Of King George

Madonna, Jai Winding, Candace Brown, Mark Aldo Miceli

Madonna, Danny Aiello, Arthur Pierson, Bruce Logan, David Fincher, Herb Ritts, James Foley

UK Seller: This is an American Region One import and you MUST have a multi-region player in order to watch - will NOT work on standard UK players

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, David S. Ward, John Warren Major League 2/Major League: Ba

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, David S. Ward, John Warren Major League 2/Major League: Ba

Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Kevin Smith The "sophmore jinx" hit hard for this second film by Kevin Smith, whose debut Clerks transcended the limits of its setting and budget to become memorably funny and a cult classic. (Smith followed Mallrats with the wonderful Chasing Amy, only to be cursed again with the appalling Dogma. Clearly he's settling into the same one-off rhythm that afflicts the Star Trek movies.) A ramshackle comedy set in a mall, Mallrats follows several storylines involving lovers, enemies, friends, goofballs, and Smith's own character "Silent Bob", who also appeared in all the other Smith films. A heavy self-consciousness weighs on everything, as if Smith forgot how to make obscenity funny instead of tedious. Still, it's nice to see some of the director's film family on screen, among them Ben Affleck before he was famous, Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams. —Sally Chatsworth

Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Tim Burton MARS ATTACKS!

Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, Chuck Russell Praised at the time for Jim Carrey's facial acrobatics as the titular hero, The Mask also had real charm in its use of period-ambiguous settings and intelligent use of its heroine, Cameron Diaz in her first screen role. Carrey is as interesting when he's the put-upon Stanley Ipkiss as he is when he transforms into an amoral cartoon character (thanks to chance discovery of an ancient mask). When a sweet woman reporter tells him that he is the nicest man in town, it does not strike us as odd. The plot is a pretty standard one—the hero comes to realise that he can do everything for himself and does not need magical assistance—but outstanding performances by Peter Green as the gangster heavy and Peter Riegret as the irascible cop who has to make sense of things offers the film a bit more dramatic oomph. Add to this a couple of splendid song-and-dance routines and one of the most charming dogs in modern movies, and you have something moderately special.

On the DVD: The DVD comes with a very enthusiastic director's commentary, a moderately interesting making-of documentary and interviews with the cast as well as the theatrical trailer. —Roz Kaveney

James Wilby, Hugh Grant, James Ivory United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Set against the stifling conformity of pre-World War I English society, E.M. Forster's Maurice is a story of coming to terms with one's sexuality and identity in the face of disapproval and misunderstanding. Maurice Hall and Clive Durham find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. In a time when homosexuality was punishable by imprisonment, the two must keep their feelings for one another a complete secret. After a friend is arrested and disgraced for 'the unspeakable vice of the Greeks', Clive abandons his forbidden love and marries a young woman. Maurice however, struggles with questions of his identity and self-confidence, seeking the help of a hypnotist to rid himself of his undeniable urges. But while staying with Clive and his shallow wife, Anne, Maurice is seduced by the affectionate and yearning servant Alec Scudder, an event that brings about profound changes in Maurice's life and outlook. Sparkling direction by James Ivory, distinguished performances from the ensemble cast, and a charged score by Richard Robbins all combine to create a film of immense power, one that is romantic, moving, and a story of love and self-discovery for all audiences. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Oscar Academy Awards, Venice Film Festival, ...Maurice

Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Richard Donner Big-budget Western feature based on the successful TV series and starring Mel Gibson as the eponymous gambling hero. The convoluted plot has Brett Maverick struggling to raise the $25,000 entrance stake for a poker game by ripping off as many people as he

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, Ringo Lam When a kickboxing police inspector is murdered, his kickboxing twin brother infiltrates the Russian mob in order to see justice meted out—as painfully as possible. A slimmed-down Jean-Claude Van Damme is surprisingly effective as the lead(s), but the real star here is gritty Hong Kong director Ringo Lam (probably best known for City on Fire, the film that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs), who makes a lethal American debut with this hard-edged, convoluted film, which uses the identical-sibling gimmick to considerably darker effect than the goofball Double Impact. Some incredible stunt work and a terrifically ruthless final reel make this underrated action film a winner, although fans of Species may be somewhat disappointed that costar Natasha Henstridge never fully displays the assets that made her famous. —Andrew Wright

Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Julian Caidan, Bob Smeaton

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Sonnenfeld Men in Black I & II (DVD)

Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, J. Patrick Duffner, Tony Lawson, Neil Jordan NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles. Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a...

Michael Jackson, Sean Lennon

Gordon Bombay, a hotshot lawyer, is haunted by memories of his childhood, when he lost the winning goal in a shootout, thereby losing the game. When the court orders him to coach a peewee hockey team, the worst in the league, Gordon is at first very reluctant. However, he eventually gains the respect of the kids and teaches them how to win, eventually facing Gordon's old team and his past.

Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Guillermo del Toro

A Computer Animation Odyssey

Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Les Mayfield

Julie Strain, Nels Van Patten, Alexander Gregory Hippolyte

Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Brian De Palma Mission: Impossible was one of the best action blockbusters of the 1990s, deriving a quality unique amongst its peers from the tension between Brian De Palma's directorial stylisation and the overriding presence of its star and producer, Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Special Forces agent Ethan Hunt, disavowed as a traitor by his own superiors and forced to uncover the true mole to prove his innocence. The original 1960s television series provides not only the wonderful musical motif, but also the layered complexity of false realities and masked identities, which are revealed with the playful conjuring of a Russian doll.

This was Cruise's last movie as an angst-ridden youth (next stop was Jerry Maguire and the trials of family life) and he presents Ethan Hunt as caught between his heroic physical prowess and a trusting emotional naïvety that is painfully punctured by the treachery of those around him. Hollywood heavyweights Jon Voight (Heat) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) are both excellent in support, while the remaining cast reads like an identikit of European cinema, including Emanuelle Beart, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jean Reno (Leon).

De Palma's trademark set-pieces include a giant exploding fishtank in Prague, a helicopter chase through the Channel Tunnel, and, most notably, a break-in to steal a vital disc from CIA headquarters in Langley. The moment in the latter when, in almost complete silence, Cruise dangles precariously from a cable and just catches a bead of sweat before it triggers the floor alarm is as sublimely exhilarating as any in American movies of the last 10 years.

On the DVD: Aside from basic language and chapter selection the disc is devoid of any extras, leaving us to wait for the behind-the-scenes story of the numerous rewrites and wrangling that reportedly beset production. On a more positive note, the picture and sound quality fully realise the film's highly stylised surface beauty and effects-laden kinetic energy. —Steve Napleton

Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones There is not a single joke, sight-gag or one-liner in Monty Python's Life of Brian that will not forever burn itself into the viewer's memory as being just as funny as it is possible to be, but—extraordinarily—almost every indestructibly hilarious scene also serves a dual purpose, making this one of the most consistently sustained film satires ever made. Like all great satire, the Pythons not only attack and vilify their targets (the bigotry and hypocrisy of organised religion and politics) supremely well, they also propose an alternative: be an individual, think for yourself, don't be led by others. "You've all got to work it out for yourselves", cries Brian in a key moment. "Yes, we've all got to work it our for ourselves", the crowd reply en masse. Two thousand years later, in a world still blighted by religious zealots, Brian's is still a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Aside from being a neat spoof on the Hollywood epic, it's also almost incidentally one of the most realistic on-screen depictions of the ancient world—instead of treating their characters as posturing historical stereotypes, the Pythons realised what no sword 'n' sandal epic ever has: that people are all the same, no matter what period of history they live in. People always have and always will bicker, lie, cheat, swear, conceal cowardice with bravado (like Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea), abuse power (like Pontius Pilate), blindly follow the latest fads and giggle at silly things ("Biggus Dickus"). In the end, Life of Brian teaches us that the only way for a despairing individual to cope in a world of idiocy and hypocrisy is to always look on the bright side of life.

On the DVD: Life of Brian returns to Region 2 DVD in a decent widescreen anamorphic print with Dolby 5.1 sound—neither are exactly revelatory, but at least it's an improvement on the previous release, which was, shockingly, pan & scan. The 50-minute BBC documentary, "The Pythons", was filmed mainly on location in 1979 and isn't especially remarkable or insightful (a new retrospective would have been appreciated). There are trailers for this movie, as well as Holy Grail plus three other non-Python movies. There's no commentary track, sadly. —Mark Walker

Elizabeth Perkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, David Anspaugh Moonlight And Valentino

Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou, Paul W.S. Anderson

Robin Shou, Talisa Soto, John R. Leonetti

Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Stephen Herek Mr Holland s Opus

Robin Williams, Sally Field, Chris Columbus This huge 1993 hit for Robin Williams and director Chris Columbus (Home Alone), based on a novel called Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine, stars Williams as a loving but flaky father estranged from his frustrated wife (Sally Field). Devastated by a court order limiting his time with the children, Williams's character disguises himself as a warm, old British nanny who becomes the kids' best friend. As with Dustin Hoffman's performance in Tootsie, Williams's drag act—buried under layers of latex and padding—is the show, and everything and everyone else on screen serves his sometimes frantic role. Since that's the case, it's fortunate that Williams is Williams, and his performance is terribly funny at times and exceptionally believable in those scenes where his character misses his children. Playing Williams's brother, a professional makeup artist, Harvey Fierstein has a good support role in a bright sequence where he tries a number of feminine looks on Williams before settling on Mrs Doubtfire's visage. —Tom Keogh

Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andrew Marcus Kenneth Branagh's 1993 production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a vigorous and imaginative work, cheerful and accessible for everyone. Largely the story of Benedick (Branagh) and Beatrice (Emma Thompson)—adversaries who come to believe each is trying to woo the other—the film veers from arched wit to ironic romps, and the two leads don't mind looking a little silly at times. But the plot is also layered with darker matters that concern the ease with which men and women fall into mutual distrust. Branagh has rounded up a mixed cast of stage vets and Hollywood stars, among the latter Denzel Washington and Michael Keaton, the latter playing a rather seedy, Beetlejuice-like version of Dogberry, king of malapropisms.—Tom Keogh

Sally Menke, Lee Tamahori In the brutal war against murder and corruption, there's one place where the battles are won. Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Treat Williams, Jennifer Connelly, Andrew McCarthy and John Malkovich star in Mulholland Falls, a brilliant, high-powered crime thriller electrified by hard-hitting action, forbidden passion and shocking intrigue. In 1950s Los Angeles, Max Hoover (Nolte) leads an elite squad of four detectives who play by their own rules, dealing with criminals the only way they know howwith deadly force. But when they investigate the murder of a beautiful young woman (Connelly), the detectives find themselves embroiled in a high-level conspiracy and faced with a terrifying secret that the US government is determined to keep hiddenat any price.

Tim Curry, Kermit the Frog, Brian Henson Muppet Treasure Island [DVD] [DVD] (2006) Muppets Treasure Island

Michael Caine, Dave Goelz, Brian Henson Michael Caine Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, James Frawley Edgar Bergen Muppet Movie

Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Dwight H. Little The discovery of a dead female staffer in a White House restroom galvanizes a D.C. homicide cop (Wesley Snipes), but the results aren't hard to predict: the crime implicates the Oval Office, the presidential bureaucracy impedes the investigation, and so on. What isn't so predictable is that the whole thing leads to an improbable climax involving secret tunnels created by Abraham Lincoln. (Snipes's character, by the way, is a Civil War buff.) The creaky mystery feels a little anachronistic from the get-go, with some particularly corny and laughable dialogue. —Tom Keogh

Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, P.J. Hogan Julia Roberts My Best Friend's Wedding

Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Herbert Ross

Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Stephen E. Rivkin, Tony Lombardo, Jonathan Lynn 1992's My Cousin Vinny is a delightful comedy-cum-courtroom drama set in Alabama. Joe Pesci stars as Vinny, the garage mechanic recently turned lawyer, who finds himself straight in at the deep end when his young cousin is unjustly arrested, along with his buddy, for the murder of a store clerk. From the opening scenes in which the hapless arrestees labour under the impression they've been booked for stealing a can of tuna, My Cousin Vinny's comedic pace never slackens, even as the drama builds. Much of the fun derives from raw, Brooklyn native Vinny's coping with the cultural backwaters of the Deep South, from its lardy grits to the 5.30 am "alarm call" of the factory horn. There's a good running gag involving retrieving $200 from a recalcitrant local redneck, while his clashes with the court judge, played by the late Fred Gwynne are priceless. Pesci goads this stickler for procedures by mumbling expletives in court, turning up in a leather jacket, then a mauve frock coat and arousing the judge's suspicions as to his bona fides. However, it's Marisa Tomei who surprisingly, but justly, took an Academy Award for her performance as tomboyish Lisa, Vinny's girlfriend. Tart rather than tarty, she more than matches Pesci for Noo Yoik sass and mechanical knowledge, delivering a court lecture on limited slip differential and independent rear suspension that oozes improbable sexiness.

On the DVD: a decent presentation in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, though it's only Tomei's bizarrely eye-catching costumes which especially merit DVD enhancement. There's also a commentary by director (and co-creator of Yes Minister) Jonathan Lynn, in which—though at times seeming to struggle for interesting things to say—he reminisces on the fear in shooting the film's prison scenes adjacent to Death Row in a maximum security prison. —David Stubbs

Angel Aviles, Seidy Lopez, Alison Anders

Peter Segal

John Belushi, Karen Allen, George Folsey Jr., John Landis A groundbreaking screwball caper, 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House was in its own way a rite of passage for Hollywood. Set in 1962 at Faber College, it follows the riotous carryings-on of the Delta Fraternity, into which are initiated freshmen Tom Hulce and Stephen Furst. Among the established house members are Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert and the late John Belushi as Bluto, a belching, lecherous, Jack Daniels guzzling maniac. A debauched house of pranksters (culminating in the famous Deathmobile sequence), Delta stands as a fun alternative to the more strait-laced, crew-cut, unpleasantly repressive norm personified by Omega House. As cowriter the late Doug Kenney puts it, "better to be an animal than a vegetable".

Animal House is deliberately set in the pre-JFK assassination, pre-Vietnam era, something not made much of here, but which would have been implicitly understood by its American audience. The film was an enormous success, a rude, liberating catharsis for the latter-day frathousers who watched it. However, decades on, a lot of the humour seems broad, predictable, boorish, oafishly sexist and less witty than Airplane!, made two years later in the same anarchic spirit. Indeed, although it launched the Hollywood careers of several of its players and makers, including Kevin Bacon, director John Landis, Harold Ramis and Tom Hulce, who went on to do fine things, it might well have been inadvertently responsible for the infantilisation of much subsequent Hollywood comedy. Still, there's an undeniable energy that gusts throughout the film and Belushi, whether eating garbage or trying to reinvoke the spirit of America "After the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour" is a joy.

On the DVD: Animal House comes to disc in a good transfer, presented in 1.85:1. The main extra is a featurette in which director John Landis, writer Chris Miller and some of the actors talk about the making of the movie. Interestingly, 23 years on, most of those interviewed look better than they did back in 1978, especially Stephen "Flounder" Furst. —David Stubbs

Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Oliver Stone

Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Lewis Teague I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.

Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, Jimmy Giritlian, Richard Halsey, Irwin Winkler The Net, the first of Hollywood's big cyber-thrillers of the mid-1990s, was also the most successful, thanks in large part to the natural appeal of star Sandra Bullock. Still riding high from Speed and While You Were Sleeping, Bullock plays a computer expert victimised by sinister cyber-forces who steal her identity for reasons unknown. It's a clever combination of high-tech paranoia and Hitchcockian references (including Jeremy Northam as a romantic stranger named Devlin, after Cary Grant in Notorious). Film historians may look back someday on films like this—Roger Ebert calls them "hacksploitation"—to see what they reveal about our society's reaction to the increasing role of technology in our lives, just as we now study the fears of Communism and the atom bomb reflected in films of the 1950s. Dennis Miller and Diane Baker co-star. —Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles Some pundits called it a flawed, exploitative action film that glamorised drug dealing and the luxury of a lucrative criminal lifestyle, spawning a trend of films that attracted youth gangs and provoked violence in cinemas. Others hailed it as a breakthrough movie that depicted drug dealers as ruthless, corrupt, and evil, leading dead-end lives that no rational youth would want to emulate. However you interpret it, New Jack City is still one of the first and best films of the 1990s to crack open the underworld of cocaine and peer inside with its eyes wide open. It's also the film that established Wesley Snipes as an actor to watch, with enough charisma to bring an insidious quality of seduction to his role as coke-lord Nino Brown, and enough intelligence to portray a character deluded by his own sense of indestructible power. Director Mario Van Peebles stretched his otherwise-limited talent to bring vivid authenticity and urgency to this crime story, and subplots involving a pair of tenacious cops (Ice-T, Judd Nelson) and a recovering coke addict (Chris Rock) provide additional dramatic tension. Although some critics may hesitate to admit it, New Jack City deserves mention in any serious discussion about African American filmmakers and influential films. —Jeff Shannon

Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater The Newton Boys were the most successful bank robbers in the history of the United States. They never killed anyone, never snitched and only robbed banks (just bigger thieves, in their opinion), until their final deal, which was a botched train robbery for $3 million. Engagingly played by Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich and Vincent D'Onofrio, the Boys don't have the kind of flaws of more brutal criminals that make for more volatile dramas. The film ambles along in a leisurely way to tell its story of the Newtons' bank-robbing career, with an ever-present air of reverent Americana. This may make some viewers impatient and cause a glow in others. It seems like a departure for director Richard Linklater (Slacker and Dazed and Confused)—a costumer to be sure but Linklater's deliberately amiable pace perfectly balances the Boys' personalities. You may wander into this movie and feel right at home. The golden-hued cinematography of Peter James (Driving Miss Daisy) adds a level of comfort that makes everything warm-like. The end credits intercut archival footage of two of the real-life Newton boys toward the end of their lives, one from a 1980 appearance with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. —Jim Gay

Frank Morriss, Kevin Stitt, John Badham The clock is ticking for Johnny Depp in Nick of Time, a twist-filled, race-against-time thriller directed by John Badham (Drop Zone, Saturday Night Fever). And indeed it is a race, filmed in "real time" so that onscreen events unfold minute by nail-biting minute as they would in real life. No sooner does accountant Gene Watson (Depp) arrive at L.A.'s Union station with his six-year-old daughter than he's plunged into a nightmare. Two shadowy strangers (Christopher Walken, Roma Maffia) separate Watson from his little girl, slap a gun into his hand and present a devil's bargain: kill a top government official before she leaves a nearby political rally... or never again see his beloved child.

Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Irwin Winkler Producer-turned-director Irwin Winkler crafted this 1992 remake of Jules Dassin's 1950 film noir Night and the City, the tale of a small-time hustler in London who gets in over his head. Winkler's version is set in New York and stars Robert De Niro as a shyster lawyer who decides to get even with a boxing promoter (Alan King) who bests him in court. A couple of innocents are talked into helping the cause, notably the brother (Jack Warden) of De Niro's enemy and a barmaid (Jessica Lange) who agrees to finance the operation. Everything goes south, plunging the hero into prospects of real disaster. The film is far from an exemplary, contemporary noir, but its outstanding cast, with no shortage of charisma and dynamics, keeps things terribly interesting. So does the funny but terse script by Richard Price (Clockers), who also has a cameo as a doctor. Winkler's sensibilities as a tasteful and intelligent producer still get in the way of his daring as a director, but he does leave us with much to be satisfied about.—Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Tim Burton Nightmare Before Christmas - Artist: Danny Elfman

Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Roger Donaldson This implausible, but effective 1987 film stars Kevin Costner (Bull Durham, Wyatt Earp) as a naval officer and CIA agent who may not be what he seems. This sexy thriller is an espionage mystery and an enigmatic character study of two men trying to be faithful to the loyalties they hold. Costner begins a torrid love affair with the mistress (Sean Young) of the Secretary of Defense, but when she turns up dead, Costner is implicated in a web of intrigue that threatens national security and exposes personal secrets at the highest levels. The Secretary and his men try to cover up the affair while simultaneously searching for a Soviet mole in their ranks. Featuring an exciting chase sequence through the Washington, D.C., subways, No Way Out is a standard issue thriller that nonetheless keeps the action coming. —Robert Lane

Join eight of Hollywood's hottest and most talented stars in this heartwarming comedy about four best friends who reunite after twenty years to relive the greatest summer of their lives.

Eric Idle, Robbie Coltrane, Jonathan Lynn

Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tom Shadyac Artist: Eddie Murphy
Manufacturer: Uca Catalogue
Genre: video_C

Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Fred Zinnemann The hit Broadway musical from the 1940s gets a lavish if not always exciting workout in this 1955 film version directed by old lion Fred Zinnemann (High Noon). Gordon MacRae brings his sterling voice to the role of cowboy Curly and Shirley Jones plays Laurie, the object of his affection. The Rodgers and Hammerstein score includes "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top", "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "People Will Say We're in Love", and Agnes DeMille provides the buoyant choreography. Among the supporting cast, Gloria Grahame is memorable as Ado Annie, the "girl who cain't say no", and Rod Steiger overdoes it as the villainous Jud. —Tom Keogh

Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Ralph Kemplen, Carol Reed Directed by Carol Reed, Oliver! brought to the big screen a tremendous adaptation of Lionel Bart's hit Broadway musical. A brilliant cast and stunning choreography earned Oliver! Best Picture in the Academy Awards and The Golden Globe Awards and has since then proved itself as one of the best loved family movies of all time.
Dickens' classic tale of innocence in peril follows the adventures of an orphan boy through the darker corners of Victorian London where he finds friendship as well as danger.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a Region 2 DVD playable in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Japan only, unless you have an All Region DVD player. Please check before ordering.

Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi, Graham Baker The Omen series concludes with this second sequel, starring Sam Neill as the adult Damien—a.k.a. the son of Satan—in a battle with the heavens for control of mankind. The Final Conflict ends up depending more heavily on effects and spectacle than on the kind of basic horrors that made the first movie in the series so unsettling, but at least this one gives some closure to the seemingly endless saga. —Tom Keogh

Michelle Pfeiffer, George Clooney, Michael Hoffman ONE FINE DAY

Don Chaffey In this vivid view of prehistoric life, a man from the mean-spirited Rock People (John Richardson) is banished from his home. He soon finds himself among the kind, gentle Shell People and falls in love with one of their loving tribeswomen (Raquel Welch). The twosome decide to face the world together, cut off from all tribal support, alone in a deadly world of hideous beast and earthshattering volcanic eruptions. The film's pioneering special effects have made it a true science-fiction classic.

Lewis Teague in ucraina, lo spietato colonnello yuri primakov s'impadronisce di tre testate termonucleari che mette in vendita al miglior offerente al mercato nero. nello stesso momento il presidente degli stati uniti ha riunito, sotto il comando di paul hood, un team speciale formato da agenti della cia, politici, ufficiali e psicologi per affontare quest'emergenza che potrebbe mettere in serio pericolo il mondo.

Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Wolfgang Petersen Outbreak [DVD] [1995] [DVD] (1998) Dustin Hoffman; Rene Russo; Morgan Freeman

Wesley Snipes, Bruce Payne, Kevin Hooks DVD Warner Home Video, 7321900125697, 1992, PAL Region 2

Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Phillip Noyce Let's see—he has been Han Solo in three films and Indiana Jones in three more. So why shouldn't Harrison Ford take on a new continuing character in Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan? In this film, directed by Phillip Noyce, Ford picked up the baton when Alec Baldwin, who played Ryan in The Hunt for Red October, opted for a Broadway role instead. In this film, Ryan and his family are on vacation when Ryan saves a member of the British royal family from attack by Irish terrorists. The next thing he knows, the Ryan clan has been targeted by the same terrorists, who invade his Maryland home. The film can't shed all of Clancy's lumbering prose, or his techno-dweeb fascination with spy satellites and the like. But no one is better than Ford at righteous heroism—and Sean Bean makes a suitably snakey villain. —Marshall Fine

Paul Simon

Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Barry Malkin, Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola's passable 1986 comedy stars Kathleen Turner as an unhappy, middle-aged woman who goes back in time to her high school years and meets her future husband (Nicolas Cage) all over again. A lightweight entry from Coppola, the film has some clever, backward-looking jokes; and the lead actress does bring intelligence and searching emotions to her role. Cage (Coppola's nephew)—who specialised in these dumb-guy roles back then (see Raising Arizona)—is in sharp, raw form. Worth a visit, but don't expect to be bowled over this time by the legendary director.—Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Milos Forman Woody Harrelson People Vs Larry Flynt

Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys

RealWorld

Peter Gabriel, Manu Katché, Glenn Berman, François Girard PETER GABRIEL ist ohne Zweifel einer der innovativsten Künstler überhaupt. Ohne ihn wäre die Rockmusikgeschichte um gleich einige Highlights ärmer. Zuerst sorgte er mit Genesis für superben Progressive Rock und Maskeraden, wie sie die populäre Musik zuvor und auch später nicht gesehen hat. Danach kreierte er ein Solowerk, wie es seinesgleichen sucht Grandiose Alben, darunter zwei, die er alternativ auch in deutscher Sprache aufnahm, und jede Menge Song-Klassiker wie etwa das gerade von Erasure gecoverte "Solsbury Hill", die Hymne auf den ermordeten Freiheitskämpfer Stephen "Biko" oder "Sledgehammer" mit dem außergewöhnlichen Video. Er startete die "Realworld"-Studios und dazu das gleichnamige Label, das längst die erste Adresse in Sachen World Music ist. Er legte als einer der ersten Multimedia-Arbeiten wie "Eve" und "Xplora" vor und ist Mitbegründer von OD2 On Demand Distribution, Europas führendem Serviceanbieter für digitale Musikdistribution. Und zuletzt, im September 2002, gabs mit "Up" nach 10 Jahren endlich wieder ein neues Studioalbum, das die Brücke in beide Richtungen schlägt, hin zu den letzten beiden Soloalben "So" und "Us" ebenso wie in die Zukunft. Im April und Mai kommt er für 7 Termine nach Deutschland, mit einem Live-Programm, das die US-Fans im letzten Herbst bereits zu Begeisterungsstürmen hinriss. Die Finger mit im Spiel bei der dramaturgisch ausgefeilten Live-Performance hat der namhafte Theater-Regisseur Robert Lepage - genau wie vor zehn Jahren bei der "Secret World Live"-Tour. Der Mitschnitt dieses legendären Konzert-Ereignisses von 1993 wird jetzt endlich auf DVD vorgelegt.

Various

John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Bruce Green, Jon Turteltaub DVD TOUCHSTONE, 5017188882446, REGION 2 PAL

Jennifer Aniston, Jay Mohr, Glenn Gordon Caron

Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, David Mallet At long last Pink Floyd: Pulse has arrived on DVD, and Floyd fans already know it's a major cause to celebrate. The original VHS release was a milestone bestseller, but it seemed to take forever for the DVD to arrive, with numerous delays while Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and long-time Floyd producer James Guthrie labored to restore, re-edit, and remix this legendary concert video in 5.1-channel Dolby Surround Sound. The resulting two-disc set was well worth the wait: While the limitations of the original video source are still evident in the sometimes-hazy image quality (Gilmour would later admit the concert should have been captured on film), Floyd fans will unanimously agree that Pulse has never looked or sounded better, and only the absence of group co-founder Roger Waters prevents this from being the ultimate document of Pink Floyd in performance. (Even without Waters, it's easily one of the group's most impressive stage productions.) Gracefully directed with minimal intrusion by veteran music video and concert director David Mallet, and shot on video during Pink Floyd's two-week stint at London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre in October 1994, this 145-minute performance (from Floyd's Division Bell tour) is a sonic marvel to behold. Under a massive arch festooned with then-state-of-the-art laser, lighting, and projection systems, the 1987 incarnation of Pink Floyd (Gilmour, keyboardist Richard Wright, and drummer Nick Mason) and their stellar supporting band kicks off with "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" (a loving tribute to Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett), followed by four tracks from The Division Bell, two from 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" from 1979's magnum opus The Wall, and leading into intermission with absolutely stunning performance of "One of These Days," the timeless opening track from 1971's Meddle.

The centerpiece of Disc 2 is a near-perfect performance of 1974's Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety—reason enough to make this a must-have DVD for even the most casual Floyd admirers. And while no one will ever re-create the sheer magnificence of Clare Torry's original tour de force vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky," it's safe to say that backup singers Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine, and Durga McBroom deliver the next best thing, in addition to seamless contributions throughout the concert. After the closing heartbeat of "Eclipse," the concert ends with encore performances of "Wish You Were Here," "Comfortably Numb," and a no-holds-barred, pyrotechnically explosive rendition of The Wall's "Run Like Hell," all showcasing Gilmour's guitar mastery with frequent close-ups of his picking and fret-work as seen throughout the concert. (Like Gilmour, Mason and Wright were never dynamic onstage, and that's true here as well, but their technical precision is fully evident, and while guitarist Tim Renwick and saxophonist Dick Parry are each given moments to shine, bassist Guy Pratt is a worthy substitution for Waters, especially when vocally sparring with Gilmour on "Run Like Hell.")

With beautiful packaging, an 8-page booklet, and menu designs by long-time Floyd associate Storm Thorgerson, the DVDs offer an abundance of bonus features including "Bootlegging the Bootleggers," featuring surprisingly good-quality "boot" video performances of "What Do You Want From Me?," "On the Turning Away," "Poles Apart," and "Marooned." The surreal round-ratio screen films seen throughout the concert can all be viewed independently (still in round format, and several offered in both original and alternate versions). Music videos for "Learning to Fly" and "Take It Back" are included on Disc 1, along with "Tour Stuff" including maps, itineraries, and stage plans for the 1994 tour. "Say Goodbye to Life as We Know It" is a playful backstage video (mostly involving the production staff's ongoing quest for a good pint of beer), and after delivering a heartfelt introduction to Pink Floyd's 1996 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with Roger Waters and Syd Barrett acknowledged by Gilmour), Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan joins Gilmour and Wright for a moving acoustic performance of "Wish You Were Here" (directed at Waters, perhaps?). Additional features include album cover art, a photo gallery, and the concert-only audio choice between a 448kbps audio bitstream or a higher-quality 640kbps stream for higher-quality DVD players. The system set-up feature ensures that audiophiles will achieve optimum speaker performance in keeping with Pink Floyd's exacting technical standards. In tandem with the superior concert presentation, these features make Pulse one of the best—if not the best—music DVDs of 2006, guaranteed to satisfy Floyd fans for many years to come. —Jeff Shannon

Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, Gerry Hambling, Alan Parker By any rational measure, Alan Parker's cinematic interpretation of Pink Floyd's The Wall is a glorious failure. Glorious because its imagery is hypnotically striking, frequently resonant and superbly photographed by the gifted cinematographer Peter Biziou. And a failure because the entire exercise is hopelessly dour, loyal to the bleak themes and psychological torment of Roger Waters' great musical opus, and yet utterly devoid of the humour that Waters certainly found in his own material. Any attempt to visualise The Wall would be fraught with artistic danger, and Parker succumbs to his own self-importance, creating a film that's as fascinating as it is flawed. The film is, for better and worse, the fruit of three artists in conflict—Parker indulging himself, and Waters in league with designer Gerald Scarfe, whose brilliant animated sequences suggest that he should have directed and animated this film in its entirety. Fortunately, this clash of talent and ego does not prevent The Wall from being a mesmerising film. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof (in his screen debut) is a fine choice to play Waters's alter ego—an alienated, "comfortably numb" rock star whose psychosis manifests itself as an emotional (and symbolically physical) wall between himself and the cold, cruel world. Weaving Waters's autobiographical details into his own jumbled vision, Parker ultimately fails to combine a narrative thread with experimental structure. It's a rich, bizarre, and often astonishing film that will continue to draw a following, but the real source of genius remains the music of Roger Waters. —Jeff Shannon

Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Kathryn Bigelow A rash of daring bank robberies erupt in which the bad guys all wear the masks of worse guys—former presidents (nice touch). Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), an impossibly named former football star who blew out his knee and became a studly crime-busting fed instead, figures out that none of the heists occur during surfing season and all of them occur when, so to speak, surf's down. So obviously, he reasons, we're dealing with some surfer-dude bank robbers. He goes undercover with just such a group, led by a very spiritual, very guru-type guy played by Patrick Swayze, who has some muddled philosophies when it comes to materialism. If you can buy all that, this efficiently directed (by Kathryn Bigelow) action flick has some diverting moments (credit it, for example, for anticipating the extreme-sports fad). But Reeves' intelligent-sounding lines don't make him seem remotely intelligent and that plot makes him look positively brilliant. —David Kronke

Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, John Badham This is one of those Hollywood remakes of a European hit in which one can visualize a committee of studio executives sitting around and saying, "Okay, we know what made the original film unique and different and fun. How can we make that same movie and do exactly the opposite?" For-hire director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) took La Femme Nikita, Luc Besson's undeniably sexy, original, and kitschy French film about a female assassin, and translated it into The Assassin, a calculating, mechanistic American thriller with no distinctive style. Bridget Fonda gamely plays the willowy street punk who becomes a high-society killer, but once that provocative irony is in place, the movie is pretty much a series of by-the-numbers action set pieces. Until, that is, Dermot Mulroney shows up as a love interest; but even that twist can't save this film. You're much better off with the original, subtitles and all. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, production notes, theatrical trailer, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, and optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Robert Brown, Zach Staenberg, Hugh Wilson Astoundingly silly but incredibly popular, Police Academy is the first film in a seemingly endless franchise that takes aim at the men in blue. After a police academy drops all of its entrance requirements, all manner of misfits flood in, hoping to make it onto the force. One of these misfits, a lazy, aimless cadet played by Steve Guttenberg (Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby), was forced to enlist and tries whatever he can to get kicked out. But once he decides to stay, he tries anything and everything to finish his training, even as his drill instructor tries to shove him out. Featuring a wild bunch of strange supporting characters, from a female trainee who speaks below a whisper to a dominatrix instructor to a human sound-effects machine, Police Academy is mindless but fun. —Robert Lane, Amazon.com

Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Jerry Paris

Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Jerry Paris

Gil Kenan From legendary filmmaker Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, The Grudge) and director Gil Kenan (Monster House) comes this visionary take on a spine-chilling classic. After the Bowen family moves to a new suburban home, sinister spirits begin to haunt them. And when the terrifying apparitions abduct their youngest daughter, the Bowens must find a way to rescue her or they ll lose her forever. With suspenseful storytelling and jaw-dropping visuals, this thrilling (Justin Lowe, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) film starring Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt will haunt you again and again!

Bonus Features:
**Theatrical Feature Blu-ray

**Extended Cut
**Alternate Ending
**Gallery
**Theatrical Trailers

**Digital HD

Mario Van Peebles, Stephen Baldwin

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, John McTiernan Although it was only made in 1987, Predator is already the kind of film that has action fans sighing, "They don't make 'em like that any more". Few later films can equal its testosterone-fuelled scenario, its graphic violence or its genuinely unnerving sense of danger. An alien big-game hunter comes to Earth to hunt the meanest, most dangerous creatures on the planet. Naturally, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his astonishingly muscle-bound team of marines are prime targets. The premise has a compelling Zen-like simplicity and the correspondingly minimalist script consists, for the most part, of the statuesque soldiers snarling one-liners at each other ("I ain't got time to bleed", "If it bleeds we can kill it") in between firing unfeasibly large weapons.

Director John McTiernan emphasises the claustrophobic confines of the jungle setting, allowing tension to build for the film's first two thirds by keeping the titular hunter concealed from both its prey and the audience. Composer Alan Silvestri's nerve-jangling percussive score racks up the tension yet further. When the creature does show its handiwork the results are horrifically gory, and, thanks to the film's insistently realistic tone, all the more terrifying. By the final act, a memorably mud-caked Arnie must discard all his high-tech weaponry and fight hand-to-hand against creature effects wizard Stan Winston's classic monster; McTiernan's action choreography ensures that the outcome of this hard-fought duel is never a foregone conclusion.

On the DVD: Predator at last gets the DVD release it deserves. Its previous incarnations used the bowdlerised TV edit; but this two-disc set restores the full theatrical cut, with skinned corpses aplenty and Carl Weathers' lopped-off arm among other messy delights. Not only that, but the sound options are now ultra-vivid Dolby 5.1 or DTS 5.1, though the anamorphic picture is still grainy in some of the darker scenes. John McTiernan provides a decent director's commentary, but much more fascinating information can be had from a text commentary option.

On the generously filled second disc there are seven short behind-the-scenes featurettes (including one dedicated to "Old Painless" the Gatling gun) plus a retrospective documentary, "If It Bleeds We Can Kill It", which includes both old and new interviews with many of the cast and crew. There are also outtakes and a deleted scene, special effects segments, camouflage tests and a text profile of the creature and its weaponry, plus a photo gallery. —Mark Walker

Richard Gere, Tom Nolan Like a pumpkin that transforms into a carriage, some very shrewd casting (and the charisma of Julia Roberts, in particular) morphed this story of a Hollywood whore into a Disneyfied Cinderella story—and a mainstream megahit. This is the movie that made Roberts a star, her charms helping tremendously to carry viewers over the rough spots in the script (which was originally to be a cynical tale about prostitution called 3000—after the amount of money Richard Gere's character pays the prostitute to stay with him for the week). Gere is the silver-haired Wall Street knight who sweeps streetwalker Roberts into a fantasy world of room service at the Regent Beverly Wiltshire Hotel and fashion boutique shopping on Rodeo Drive. The supporting cast is also appealing, including Laura San Giacomo as Roberts's hooker pal, Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager, Jason Alexander, Ralph Bellamy and Hank Azaria. —Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

On the DVD: With a beautiful bubble effect offering a touch of fantasy to the special features menu, the viewer might expect a disc packed with lavish offerings. Unfortunately the extras are a little more spartan than the menu would have us believe, consisting of a theatrical trailer and a cringe-worthy pop video of "Wild Women Do", complete with a bouncing camera and "arty" black-and-white shots. The worst of these features comes in the form of the "production trailer", a useless addition which attempts to briefly summarise the film's underlying themes with inter-cut comments from the actors and directors on the original trailer (already featured in its pure form on the disc) and which offers little additional information of any merit. The disc does, however, come into its own when Gary Marshall takes the helm for the director's commentary: he has an entertaining and amusing narrative style, which is upbeat and direct like his film, and his comments really bring to life the fairy-tale narrative. Add to this a widescreen 1.85:1 presentation, which will make you feel as if Richard Gere has just swept you off your feet. —Nikki Disney

Antonia Bird Import from The Netherlands with English soundtrack
The young idealistic Greg serves as a parish priest in his inaugural Liverpool. Its traditional setting is almost immediately put to the test when he discovers that his colleague Matthew celibacy does not approve and shares his bed with the housekeeper. Although Greg Matthews affair deprecating, he visits himself secretly gay bars, oblivious to his own hypocrisy. When he meets Graham and goes home with him, begins to gnaw his conscience. Greg gets into a fight with himself and his interpretation of the priesthood. If the young Lisa tells during a confession that she abused by her father, Greg gets all smothered in his role as a priest ... The controversial film received Priest led to many boycotts during the theatrical release.

The Princess Bride Screenwriter William Goldman's novel The Princess Bride earned its own loyal audience on the strength of its narrative voice and its gently satirical, hyperbolic spin on swashbuckled adventure that seemed almost purely literary. For all its derring-do and vivid over-the-top characters, the book's joy was dictated as much by the deadpan tone of its narrator and a winking acknowledgement of the clichés being sent up. Miraculously, director Rob Reiner and Goldman himself managed to visualize this romantic fable while keeping that external voice largely intact: using a storytelling framework, avuncular Grandpa (Peter Falk) gradually seduces his sceptical grandson (Fred Savage) into the absurd, irresistible melodrama of the title story. And what a story: a lowly stable boy, Westley (Cary Elwes), pledges his love to the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright), only to be abducted and reportedly killed by pirates while Buttercup is betrothed to the evil Prince Humperdinck. Even as Buttercup herself is kidnapped by a giant, a scheming criminal mastermind, and a master Spanish swordsman, a mysterious masked pirate (could it be Westley?) follows in pursuit. As they sail toward the Cliffs of Insanity... The wild and woolly arcs of the story, the sudden twists of fate, and, above all, the cartoon-scaled characters all work because of Goldman's very funny script, Reiner's confident direction, and a terrific cast. Elwes and Wright, both sporting their best English accents, juggle romantic fervor and physical slapstick effortlessly, while supporting roles boast Mandy Patinkin (the swordsman Inigo Montoya), Wallace Shawn (the incredulous schemer Vizzini), and Christopher Guest (evil Count Rugen) with brief but funny cameos from Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, and Peter Cook. —Sam Sutherland

Moon Lee, Michiko Nishiwaki, Godfrey Ho

John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Quentin Tarantino With the knockout one-two punch of 1992's Reservoir Dogs and 1994's Pulp Fiction writer-director Quentin Tarantino stunned the filmmaking world, exploding into prominence as a cinematic heavyweight contender. But Pulp Fiction was more than just the follow-up to an impressive first feature, or the winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival, or a script stuffed with the sort of juicy bubblegum dialogue actors just love to chew, or the vehicle that re-established John Travolta on the A-list, or the relatively low-budget ($8 million) independent showcase for an ultrahip mixture of established marquee names and rising stars from the indie scene (among them Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Julia Sweeney, Kathy Griffin and Phil Lamar). It was more, even, than an unprecedented $100-million-plus hit for indie distributor Miramax. Pulp Fiction was a sensation. No, it was not the Second Coming (I actually think Reservoir Dogs is a more substantial film; and PT Anderson outdid Tarantino in 1997 by making his directorial debut with two even more mature and accomplished pictures, Hard Eight and Boogie Nights). But Pulp Fiction packs so much energy and invention into telling its nonchronologically interwoven short stories (all about temptation, corruption, and redemption amongst modern criminals, large and small) it leaves viewers both exhilarated and exhausted—hearts racing and knuckles white from the ride. (Oh, and the infectious, surf-guitar-based soundtrack is tastier than a Royale with Cheese.) —Jim Emerson

Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Allan Moyle

Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Sam Raimi Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) tries gamely to recapture the exotic mysteries of spaghetti Westerns in this stylish but empty film, which stars Sharon Stone as a stranger who comes to the town of Redemption in time for an annual shooting contest. Her real motivations for being there are the stuff that might have found their way into a film by Sergio Leone—in fact, much of this film is a pastiche of Leone's greatest hits, including A Fistful of Dollars and Once upon a Time in America—but one can't quite believe Stone in the role. Gene Hackman gives a predictably solid performance as the town tyrant, and Leonardo DiCaprio is good as a lucky young gunslinger who gets to kiss the heroine. But not even the cast can help this failed project. Raimi brings a lot of razzle-dazzle to his camera work, but it doesn't make the film any more substantial. —Tom Keogh

Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Francis Ford Coppola

Mel Gibson, Gary Sinise, Ron Howard The disturbed mind of a psychopath plans the perfect revenge against his weathy ex-partner, he kidnaps a three Year old child and demands five thousand ounces of gold...but he wants more that that, he wants blood. Taunted by an impossible delivery Schedule an ex-racing driver is brought in to deliver the gold and recover the victim. At speeds of in excess of 150 miles per hour, the crucial deliveries are made on time and a vicious duel develops between the abductors and the 'Driver', who matches his fists, his shotgun and his turbo-charged Porche against them.

Robert Altman, Marcello Mastroianni Robert Altman's much-anticipated broadside at the world of fashion, Pret A Porter is a disappointment. The film's crazy-quilt Nashville-like narrative structure and ensemble casting (Julia Roberts, Tim Robbins, Lauren Bacall, Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren) are a thing to behold, but the story's many interlocking pieces lack overall depth and resonating emotion. There is a grand, satiric statement about fashion and society at the end of the film, and there are hints of an aging, nostalgic filmmaker's scepticism about our post-modern world of short-lived attachments and meanings. But watching this film is a long, long uphill climb, with a lot of thin air to endure before arriving at a destination. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

James Belushi, John Ritter, Glenn Farr, Malcolm Campbell, Dennis Feldman

Zalman King|Rafael Eisenman|Matt Le Blanc|David Duchovny

Zalman King
Tibor Takacs
David Duchovny
Joan Severance

Emma Suárez, Nancho Novo, María Elena Sáinz de Rozas, Julio Medem The Red Squirrel sees Jota, an ex-pop star with a penchant for doing nothing very much, standing on a bridge contemplating suicide. He’s pulled back to reality by a dramatic motorcycle accident and goes to help the victim, an attractive young woman apparently physically unscathed but with severe amnesia. At the hospital he is assumed to be her boyfriend, and so the deception begins, as he invents everything from her name (Lisa) through to the details of their imaginary four-year relationship. Though based on a lie, it gradually becomes real but is Lisa really an amnesiac or is she deceiving the deceiver? Who is the mysterious Felix, leaving pleas on a late-night radio programme to his missing, mentally disturbed 25-year-old wife, Sofia? As an array of incidental characters get drawn in, each seems to be practising their own deceit.

This is a beautifully wrought, endlessly thought-provoking film, complemented by Alberto Iglesias's fabulous score. The two leads are superb: as Jota, Nancho Nova is both fey and hypnotic while Elisa (Emma Suárez) is wonderfully whimsical. Not surprisingly, it garnered a whole heap of awards, from Best Foreign Film at Cannes to Best Score at the Goya Awards. And the significance of the title? Red squirrels are, apparently, quick and cunning creatures; just like human beings.

On the DVD: The Red Squirrel is presented in Dolby Digital original Spanish soundtrack with option of English subtitles and anamorphic widescreen print. The usual stuff is on offer as special features, including trailers for other world cinema films, filmographies of the director and two leading characters, and a concise but considered analysis of the plot.—Harriet Smith

Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Peter Hyams The Relic is the story of a monster that runs amok in a Chicago museum on the very day the institution is holding a glitzy reception. Naturally, the museum bosses want to go ahead with their public relations even as the creature is decapitating victims. Penelope Ann Miller plays a scientist on the run from the critter (which is at times computer generated and reminiscent of the raptors in Jurassic Park), and Tom Sizemore is a cop looking for his cold-blooded (in every sense) killer. Peter Hyams (Timecop) directs, and as always he excels at managing the plastic action at the cost of real feeling and logic. (Much of the story is pretty laughable.) —Tom Keogh

Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Ivory The Remains of the Day

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Quentin Tarantino Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere (i.e. a video store in Manhattan Beach, California) and turned Hollywood on its ear in 1992 with his explosive first feature, Reservoir Dogs. Like Tarantino's mainstream breakthrough Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs has an unconventional structure, cleverly shuffling back and forth in time to reveal details about the characters, experienced criminals who know next to nothing about each other. Joe (Lawrence Tierney) has assembled them to pull off a simple heist, and has gruffly assigned them colour-coded aliases (Mr Orange, Mr Pink, Mr White) to conceal their identities even from each other. But something has gone wrong, and the plan has blown up in their faces. One by one, the surviving robbers find their way back to their prearranged warehouse hideout. There, they try to piece together the chronology of this bloody fiasco—and to identify the traitor among them who tipped off the police. Pressure mounts, blood flows, accusations and bullets fly. In the combustible atmosphere these men are forced to confront life-and-death questions of trust, loyalty, professionalism, deception and betrayal.

As many critics have observed, it is a movie about "honor among thieves" (just as Pulp Fiction is about redemption, and Jackie Brown is about survival). Along with everything else, the movie provides a showcase for a terrific ensemble of actors: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Christopher Penn and Tarantino himself, offering a fervent dissection of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" over breakfast. Reservoir Dogs is violent (though the violence is implied rather than explicit), clever, gabby, harrowing, funny, suspenseful and even—in the end—unexpectedly moving. (Don't forget that "Super Sounds of the Seventies" soundtrack, either.) Reservoir Dogs deserves just as much acclaim and attention as its follow-up, Pulp Fiction, would receive two years later. —Jim Emerson

Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud The third and final entry in Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare triptych, Richard III is an audacious portrait of a man determined to prove himself a villain. A pure master of the political stage, Richard deploys a barrage of odious, unscrupulous traps in an attempt to exercise complete control over his rivals. As the personification of evil impudence, Olivier portrays the Duke of Gloucester with such aplomb that he even lures the audience on to his side. This is true even as Richard engineers plots to murder his brother Clarence (John Gielgud), betray his cousin Buckingham (Ralph Richardson) and seduce his niece Lady Anne (Claire Bloom). From the play's famous opening lines ("Now is the winter of our discontent"), Olivier delivers every speech with truly Machiavellian splendour. As usual, his voice is a force of nature—a full-bodied coloratura at one moment, an earthy baritone cello a few beats later. As a director, Olivier fully realises but underplays the corners of the script that most directors would hinge their dramatisation on. But he can also play it large: Olivier's superb staging of the climactic battle rivals his work on Henry V. Though Richard is finally brought down by the whispered curses of Queen Margaret, the audience exits feeling that the journey has been both entertaining and complete. Regrettably, this would be Olivier's last Shakespeare film, as a planned adaptation of Macbeth was abandoned for financial reasons. Olivier justly received an Oscar nomination for his performance; and believe it or not, this film was the inspiration for the original Blackadder! —Kevin Mulhall

Cliff Richard

Tom Cruise, Joe Pantoliano, Paul Brickman

Jean Butler, Colin Dunne, Gareth Young, John McColgan, Ruan Magan

Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, Peter Honess, Michael Caton-Jones One of the most invigorating period adventures to hit the big screen in decades, this lavish, brilliantly directed film drew critical and audience raves when it was released in 1995. Inspired by historical fact and larger-than-life legend, the intelligently scripted story takes place in Scotland in 1713, when Highland farmer and clan leader Rob Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson) is forced to borrow money from the duplicitous aristocrat Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) to help his clan survive a harsh winter. When Montrose's vile henchman (Tim Roth) schemes to dishonour MacGregor and his wife (Jessica Lange) and take the money for himself, the rugged Highlander must take courageous action to preserve his integrity. What follows—along with some of the finest sword-fighting ever filmed—is a tale of courage and valour destined to become an enduring movie classic. Tim Roth received a well-deserved Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor) for his indelible performance as the foppish but deadly villain Cunningham, and both Neeson and Lange bring an earthy, sensual quality to their passionate roles. Boasting a wealth of breathtaking scenery and high-intensity action, Rob Roy is further blessed by a splendid supporting cast (including Brian Cox and Eric Stoltz), and the lush soundtrack by Carter Burwell strikes a perfect balance of romanticism and vigorous dramatic energy. —Jeff Shannon

Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Michael Bay DVD Buena Vista, 5017188884273, 1996, Region 2 PAL Collector's Edition

Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Graeme Clifford, Jim Sharman

Rolling in the Sky

Red Arrows

Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Robert Zemeckis

Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Peter Medak Romeo Is Bleeding is the flawed black comedy from director Peter Medak (The Krays) about a bad cop who slowly gets his due. Gary Oldman plays yet another quirky character, this time a New York detective on the take. His life goes haywire as he squares off with a Russian hit woman. Despite an intriguing cast and great dialogue, the movie becomes a bit too eccentric for its own good as several actors have nothing to do. The high point is Lena Olin, who finally has a role she can sink her teeth into: her zesty, monstrous assassin, Mona Demarkov, is one of the great movie villains. —Doug Thomas

Peter Falk, D.B. Sweeney, Peter Yates

Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Mark Rydell Bette Midler plays a Janis Joplin-like singer overwhelmed by stardom and its excesses. Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) directs what is a kind of hybrid showcase for Midler's concert talents and a standard pop biopic, with the usual rhythms of desire, success, betrayal, failure, and such. Alan Bates is the best thing about the movie as the Rose's ruthless manager, and Harry Dean Stanton and Frederic Forrest add some interesting seasoning. But as a whole, the film can't rise above its mixed purposes or clichés. —Tom Keogh

Kyle MacLachlan, Martin Sheen, Jeremy Kagan

Tom Selleck, Cynthia Rhodes, Glenn Farr, James Coblentz, Michael Crichton

Peter Riegert, Joan Severance, Willard Carroll

Blake Edwards Region 2 european import, rare Blake Edwards dvd.

Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Sydney Pollack Julia Ormond faced one of the great challenges of her career when she tried to re-create Audrey Hepburn's title role in the 1995 remake of 1954's Sabrina. Happily, Ormond performed admirably, and while she may not have the same gamine charm of Hepburn, she makes the role her own. In fact, her transformation from mousy girl to sophisticated young woman is actually more dramatic in this updated version. The basic plot is the same—chauffeur's daughter falls in love with the son of the rich household, only to be wooed away by the older brother for business purposes—but it has been entertainingly modernised: The head of the Larrabee household is the strong matriarch (Nancy Marchand); Sabrina goes to Paris to work with a photographer instead of going to cooking school (although that means the wonderful "new egg" scene of the original had to be ditched); David's (Greg Kinnear) character has been toned down and made more sympathetic; and Humphrey Bogart's revolutionary plastic has become the flattest TV screen ever made. Lauren Holly does a fine job playing Elizabeth Tyson, David's fiancée. If you watch this for its own worth—instead of comparing it to the original—this will prove to be a terrific light-hearted romantic comedy. —Jenny Brown

Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, Phillip Noyce

Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Brian De Palma This sprawling epic of bloodshed and excess, Brian De Palma's update of the classic 1932 crime drama by Howard Hawks, sparked controversy over its outrageous violence when released in 1983. Scarface is a wretched, fascinating car wreck of a movie, starring Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who rises to the top of Miami's cocaine-driven underworld, only to fall hard into his own deadly trap of addiction and inevitable assassination. Scripted by Oliver Stone and running nearly three hours, it's the kind of film that can simultaneously disgust and amaze you (critic Pauline Kael wrote "this may be the only action picture that turns into an allegory of impotence"), with vivid supporting roles for Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia. — Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, Martin Brest Hoo-ah! After seven Oscar nominations for his outstanding work in films such as The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, it's ironic that Al Pacino finally won the Oscar for his grandstanding lead performance in this 1992 crowd pleaser. As the blind, blunt, and ultimately benevolent retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, Pacino is both hammy and compelling, simultaneously subtle and grandly over-the-top when defending his new assistant and prep school student Charlie (Chris O'Donnell) at a disciplinary hearing. While the subplot involving Charlie's prep-school crisis plays like a sequel to Dead Poets Society, Pacino's adventurous escapades in New York City provide comic relief, rich character development, and a memorable supporting role for Gabrielle Anwar as the young woman who accepts the colonel's invitation to dance the tango. Scent of a Woman is a remake of the 1972 Italian film Profumo di donna. In addition to Pacino's award, Scent of Woman garnered Oscar nominations for director Martin Brest and for screenwriter Bo Goldman. —Jeff Shannon

Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Steven Spielberg Original Owner DVD's...Not The Recycled £0.01p Versions Available Online From Zoverstocks "Music Magpie" Recyclables! Our DVD's Are Collectible to Like New. Please View All Photos Before Deciding To Buy.

Hanna Barbera

Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Wes Craven With the smash hit Scream, novice screenwriter Kevin Williamson and veteran horror director Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street) revived the mouldering corpse of the teen horror picture, both creatively and commercially, by playfully acknowledging the exhausted clichés and then turning them inside out. Scream is a postmodern slasher movie, a horror film that cleverly deconstructs horror films, then reassembles the dead tissue, and (like Frankenstein's monster) creates new life. When a serial killer starts hacking up their fellow teens, the media-savvy youngsters of Scream realise that the smartest way of sticking around for the sequel is to avoid the terminal behaviours that inevitably doom supporting players in the movies. They've seen all the movies, and the rules of the genre are like second nature to them. One of the scariest and funniest setups features a kid watching John Carpenter's seminal Halloween on video. As Jamie Lee Curtis is shadowed by Michael Meyers and the kid on the couch yells at her to turn around, Craven reverses his camera and we see that the kid should be taking his own advice. The fresh-faced young cast (including Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette) is fun to watch, and their tart dialogue is sprinkled with enough archly self-conscious pop-culture references to make Quentin Tarantino blush. —Jim Emerson

Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Christian Duguay

Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Jon Gregory, Mike Leigh If a film fan had never heard of director Mike Leigh, one might explain him as a British Woody Allen. Not that Leigh's films are whimsical or neurotic; they are tough-love examinations of British life—funny, outlandish and biting. His films share a real immediacy with Allen's work: they feel as if they are happening now. Leigh works with actors—real actors—on ideas and language. There is no script at the start (and sometimes not at the end). Secrets and Lies involves Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an elegant black woman wanting to learn her birth mother's identity. She will find it's Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), who is one of the saddest creatures we've seen in film. She's also one of the most real and, ultimately, one of the most loveable. Timothy Spall is Cynthia's brother, a giant man full of love who is being slowly defeated by his fastidious wife (Phyllis Logan).

There is a great exuberance of life in Secrets & Lies, winner of the Palme D'Or and best actress (Blethyn) at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival—not Zorba-type life but the little battles fought and won every day. Leigh's honest interpretation of daily life is usually found only on the stage. Secrets & Lies is more realistic than a stage production, however, especially when Leigh shows us uninterrupted scenes. Critic David Denby states that Leigh has "made an Ingmar Bergman film without an instant of heaviness or pretension." If that sounds like your cup of tea, see Secrets & Lies. —Doug Thomas

Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Ang Lee Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, John Waters In Serial Mom director John Waters creates a wickedly funny—and nasty—comedy starring Kathleen Turner as the ultimate suburbanite: a woman so obsessed with suburban perfection that she kills a neighbour for not separating her recyclables. Hubby Sam Waterston and kids Matthew Lillard and Ricki Lake don't have a clue that in fact it is squeaky-clean mom who is the killer at large in their Baltimore neighbourhood and who has murdered, among others, the guy who dumped her daughter. The final courtroom scene is a riot, turning her into a celebrity defendant (long before OJ Simpson) and featuring a terrific cameo by Patty Hearst (yes, that Patty Hearst). Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, Waters' fans will find him in classic form. —Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, David Fincher The most viscerally frightening and disturbing homicidal maniac picture since The Silence of the Lambs, Seven is based on an idea that's both gruesome and ingenious. A serial killer forces each of his victims to die by acting out one of the seven deadly sins. The murder scene is then artfully arranged into a grotesque tableau, a graphic illustration of each mortal vice. From the jittery opening credits to the horrifying (and seemingly inescapable) concluding twist, director David Fincher immerses us in a murky urban twilight where everything seems to be rotting, rusting, or molding. The air is cold and heavy with dread. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are the detectives who skillfully track down the killer, all the while unaware that he has been closing in on them, as well. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey are also featured, but it is director Fincher and the ominous, overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere of doom that he creates that are the real stars of the film. It's a terrific date movie, for vampires. —Jim Emerson

Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Russell Mulcahy Another masked avenger is reincarnated as a big budget movie. Idle playboy Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin), schooled in Tibetan mysticism, fights crime in late '30s New York while wearing a natty hat and false beak. He finds time to romance telepathic sweetie Margo Lane (Penelope Miller), whose crusty old scientist Dad (Ian McKellen) has just invented an atom bomb which is in danger of falling into the hands of Shiwan Khan (John Lone), conquest-happy last descendent of Genghis Khan.

Director Russell Mulcahy turns out the regulation death traps (a locked chamber filling with water, a bomb timer which ticks away during the climax) and the Shadow breezes through via nifty "invisible" effects. It evokes the conventions and charms of 1930s' pulp fiction in rather more nostalgic mode than Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and adds little of its own attitude, although a sly camp sensibility (notably in the extremely chi-chi Tim Curry and John Lone as the villains) goes for snickering at the expense of tension. A pleasant, eye-pleasing movie but, after the super-heroic likes of Batman, The Crow and The Mask, the merely mysterious Shadow seems somewhat grandfatherly and remote. —Kim Newman

Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Masahiro Hirakubo, Danny Boyle Possessed of startlingly fresh performances and a visual style of genuine panache, Shallow Grave was deservedly a BAFTA Best Film winner in 1994. This was clearly a film that deserved attention. Sure enough, the principal talents involved (Director Danny Boyle, Producer Andrew Macdonald, Writer John Hodge and actors Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor) have gone on to huge successes both together (Trainspotting) and apart. The thriller's plot is simple enough: three flatmates take on a fourth (Keith Allen) who unexpectedly dies, leaving a mountain of cash behind. Who are your friends? Who can you trust? How far would you go for money? These are the questions facing Juliet (Kerry Fox), David (Eccleston) and Alex (McGregor) as the scenario spirals out of control around them. Somehow no matter what they do, the decisions seem to lead to one gruesome event after another. The film's often breakneck pace—backed by tunes from Leftfield—quickly became a much-copied style. Most agree that the copies pale beside the original, and this ice-cold morality poser remains the best view of post-80s greed on screen.

On the DVD: Although presented in widescreen anamorphic format, both picture and sound are not much better than an average video playback. Add a static menu and just one trailer and this release will probably disappoint today's DVD collector. —Paul Tonks

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Richard Francis-Bruce, Frank Darabont When The Shawshank Redemption was released in 1994, some critics complained that this popular prison drama was too long to sustain its plot. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace.

Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who is sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we soon realise his claims of innocence are credible. We also realise that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film (which movie lovers count among their all-time favourites) that signalled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker.

On the DVD: The Shawshank Redemption limited-edition release contains the complete 48-minute documentary "Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature", including interviews with all the principal cast and crew; plus more interview material and the theatrical trailer. —Jeff Shannon

Edward Burns, Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston She's The One

Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg, John Badham John Badham's family-orientated adventure comedy Short Circuit, though obviously hatched in the wake of E.T. and Star Wars, manages to create its own identity through a sweet tone and an affectionate sense of fun. Military robot Number 5, a well-armed killing machine, is zapped by lightning during a test and emerges with a wacky sense of humour and a new peace-loving philosophy. Ally Sheedy (who debuted in Badham's hit WarGames) is the animal-lover whose home is sanctuary for a zoo-full of strays and who adopts the adolescent robot. Steve Guttenberg is the goofy but reclusive robotics designer who goes off in search of his creation to save him from the gun-happy army.

The mix of gentle slapstick and innocent romance makes for a harmless family comedy. It veers toward the terminally cute, what with Number 5's hyperactive antics and E.T.-ish voice, and the mangled grammar of Guttenberg's East Indian sidekick (Fisher Stevens) threatens to become offensive, but Badham's breezy direction keeps the film on track. Sheedy and Guttenberg deliver spirited and engaging performances, but most importantly the robot emerges as a real person. Give credit to designer Syd Mead, an army of puppeteers and robotics operators, and the cartoony voice of Tim Blaney: Number 5 is alive. —Sean Axmaker

Andie MacDowell, Christopher Penn, Robert Altman

Steve Martin, Gabriel Byrne, Humphrey Dixon, Gillies MacKinnon

Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Stanley Donen Classic musical comedy starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. In 1927, Don Lockwood (Kelly, who co-directs) has worked his way up from being a song-and-dance man with partner Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) to become a top movie star. His on-screen partner, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who believes that Don loves her for real, needs to have her awful voice dubbed with the arrival of talkies.
The girl selected is 'serious' actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), for whom Don soon falls. Musical numbers include the famous title song and 'Make 'Em Laugh', 'Good Morning' and 'You Were Meant for Me'.

Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barbet Schroeder You can take this 1992 thriller one of two ways: it's either a highly suspenseful movie about an unfortunate young woman's psychological breakdown, or it's a glossy slasher movie starring two of Hollywood's best young actresses. Or maybe it's both at the same time-or perhaps it's the clever and well-acted thriller for its first hour before resorting to the routine shocks of a cheap horror flick. However you look at it, there's no denying that this is a dynamite showcase for Jennifer Jason Leigh as the flatmate from hell who becomes the bane of Bridget Fonda's existence. First she picks up Fonda's mannerisms, then starts to borrow her wardrobe, cuts her hair to resemble Fonda's, and even "borrows" her roommate's boyfriend for a deceitful night of lovemaking. By that point Fonda's totally freaking out (wouldn't you?), and, well, that's when the whole thing gets a little too silly. Still, this is a nifty little shocker, and director Barbet Schroeder brings more intelligence and style to the material than it really deserves. Add that to the fine performances by the battling roommates and you've got a movie that will make you think twice before inviting total strangers to live with you. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, John Duigan Sirens is an affectionate, semi-fictional comedy of manners set in 1930s Australia. In an audacious stroke of casting Hugh Grant plays a stereotypically awkward and diffident Englishman, in this case a Church of England priest. The priest is despatched into the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in an effort to press the Good Word upon Norman Lindsay, an artist whose lurid works are scandalising the upright citizenry. Lindsay—capably played here by Sam Neill—really existed and though he fancied himself as a dashing Bohemian artist, his paintings were dreadful.

Sirens sees Grant's rigidly decent young priest and his equally prim wife (Tara Fitzgerald) gradually tempted further and further into the rustic bacchanalia that Lindsay has founded up in the bush. This sensual world is represented by Lindsay's young muses, played by supermodel Elle MacPherson, a pre-Ally McBeal Portia De Rossi and Kate Fischer. The three are more or less unclothed for most of the film, and spend what seems an unnecessary amount of time washing each other in rock-pools. This may or may not reflect awareness on the part of the producers that the film's predictable plot and overwrought dialogue weren't going to fill a lot of seats without some help.

On the DVD: Sirens is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, but there are no extra features.—Andrew Mueller

Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Barry Levinson The first thing you need to know about Sleepers is that its based on a novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing this, Sleepers becomes problematic because its too neat, too clean, too manipulative in terms of legal justice and dramatic impact to be truly convincing. And yet, with its stellar cast directed by Barry Levinson, it succeeds as gripping entertainment, and its tale of complex morality—despite a dubious emphasis on homophobic revenge—is sufficiently provocative. Its about four boys in New Yorks Hells Kitchen district who are sent to reform school, where they must endure routine sexual assaults by the sadistic guards. Years after their release, the opportunity for revenge proves irresistible for two of the young men, who must then rely on the other pair of friends (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), a loyal priest (Robert De Niro), and a shabby lawyer (Dustin Hoffman) to defend them in court. Despite the compelling ambiguities of the story, theres never any doubt about how were supposed to feel, and the screenplay glosses over the storys most difficult moral dilemmas. At its best, Sleepers grabs your attention and pulls you into its intense story of friendship and the price of loyalty under extreme conditions. The movies New York settings are vividly authentic, and Minnie Driver makes a strong impression as a long-time friend of the loyal group of guys. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Nora Ephron Meg Ryan Sleepless In Seattle

Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, Peter Howitt Nice concept, shaky execution—that about sums up the mixed blessings of British actor Peter Howitt's intelligent but forgivably flawed debut as a writer-director. It's got more emotional depth than most frothy romantic comedies and its central idea—the parallel tracking of two possible destinies for a young London professional played by Gwyneth Paltrow—is full of involving possibilities. It's essentially a what-if scenario with Helen (Paltrow) at the centre of two slightly but significantly different romantic trajectories, one involving her two-timing boyfriend (John Lynch)and the other with an amiable chap (John Hannah) who represents a happier outcome. That's the film's basic problem, however: the two scenarios are so romantically unbalanced (one guy's a total cad, the other charmingly sincere) that Helen inadvertently comes off looking foolish and needlessly confused. Still, this remains a pleasant experiment and Howitt's dialogue is witty enough to keep things entertaining. It's also a treat for Paltrow fans; not only does the svelte actress handle a British accent without embarrassing herself but she gets to play two subtle variations of the same character, sporting different wardrobes and hairstyles in a role that plays into her glamorous off-screen persona. —Jeff Shannon

Sharon Stone, Tom Berenger, Phillip Noyce A guilty pleasure but nothing more, Sliver is a tame thriller, made at the height of Sharon Stone’s fame as she rode high off the back of Basic Instinct. Where Sliver goes wrong though is in effectively trying to transpose the elements that made Stone’s name into the film (right down to getting Basic Instinct scribe Joe Ezterhas to pen the script) It doesn’t work, but you can’t deny that the mess it all ends up as isn’t strangely entertaining.

The plot follows Stone’s character as she rents a room in an elegant block of flats. So far so good. But then there’s the small matter that someone is using an extensive surveillance system to watch Stone and the other inhabitants of the flats. Could it be Alec Baldwin? Could it be Tom Berenger? As the two of them fight for Stone’s affections—replete with obligatory sex scenes—there's a high chance you won’t actually be that bothered, as the film desperately tries to grasp what made Basic Instinct a major hit, yet fairly brutally fails.

But still, there’s fun to be had. The acting is evenly under par, and Phillip Noyce’s direction is far from his best, yet thanks to a series of unintentional giggles and a fairly snappy pace, Sliver does has its moments. Just not that many of them…—Simon Brew

Various

Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Alden Robinson This enjoyable thriller, written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson (the screenwriter of Field of Dreams), follows a raggedy group of corporate security experts who get in over their heads when they accept an assignment poaching some hot hardware for the National Security Agency. Robert Redford plays the group's guru, an ageing techno-anarchist who has been hiding from the feds since the early 1970s; his companionable gang of freaks includes Dan Aykroyd, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, the late River Phoenix, and Sidney Poitier, as a veteran CIA operative turned "sneaker." The technological black box that everybody is after, an array of computer chips that can decode any encrypted message, isn't a very plausible invention, but it's a serviceable McGuffin, and the megalomania of the master plotter played by Ben Kingsley has more resonance than most. Modest inferences can be drawn about the very latest high-tech threats to civil liberties. —David Chute, Amazon.com

Mike Myers, Nancy Travis, Thomas Schlamme Enjoyable on many levels ... OK, it's enjoyable on only one level—if you're a big fan of Mike Myers's screwball idea of funny. That this script had been through a lot of hands in Hollywood before Myers agreed to star in it (using his Wayne's World clout) seems amazing as most of the truly funny bits here seem to be straight from Myers. Most memorable is his role as his own irascible Scottish father, screaming at his youngest son and talking about the Bay City Rollers. But Myers also plays Charlie, a bookshop owner/poet who falls in love with a "hardhearted harbinger of haggis", the local butcher (Nancy Travis), who may also be a serial killer. Mostly enjoyable, but there's also some weird stuff here. Try as you might, you may never rid yourself of the image of Brenda Fricker and Anthony LaPaglia making out. Also features a great soundtrack with Soul Asylum and Toad the Wet Sprocket. —Keith Simanton

Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Mia Goldman, Lasse Hallström Something to Talk About is a well-intentioned but strangely cold tale that concerns an emotionally repressed Southern belle (Julia Roberts) who separates from her husband (Dennis Quaid) after discovering he is an unabashed philanderer. Pressed by her dominating father (Robert Duvall) into reconciling with her spouse, Roberts's character chafes against so much male control over her destiny. Defended by a fiercely independent sister (a catchy performance by Kyra Sedgwick), the heroine develops the nerve to plot her own course in life while her mother (Gena Rowlands) finds the gumption to throw her own mate out of the house. The script by Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) is intelligent but hardly clear, and direction by Lasse Hallström (Once Around) can't keep Khouri's unfocused scenes and uncertain purpose from dissolving like sand castles in the rain. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, Joshua Logan The dazzling Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, brought to lush life by the director of the original stage version, Joshua Logan. Set on a remote island during the Second World War, South Pacific tracks two parallel romances: one between a Navy nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) "as corny as Kansas in August" and a wealthy French plantation owner (Rossano Brazzi), the other between a young American officer (John Kerr) and a native girl (France Nuyen).
PLEASE NOTE: This is a Region 2 DVD playable in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Japan only, unless you have an All Region DVD player. Please check before ordering.

Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Luis Llosa Just awful enough to qualify as someone's guilty pleasure, this convoluted thriller was supposed to cash in on the supposedly sexy teaming of Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone (then hot from her ample exposure in Basic Instinct), but their naked groping in a shower provides one of the film's unintentionally funny highlights. Ray Quick (Stallone) is a former CIA bomb expert whose former colleague (James Woods) is now in cahoots with a Miami drug cartel led by kingpin Joe Leon (Rod Steiger), who chews the scenery while his son Tomas (Eric Roberts) proceeds with a greedy hidden agenda. May Munro (Stone) hires Quick to kill off Roberts. The Specialist, featuring lots of explosions and redeemed by a dandy role for James Woods, is best suited for ardent Stallone and Stone fans. —Jeff Shannon

Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, John Wright, Jan de Bont DVD 20th Century Fox, Region 2, 1994 116 mins SEALED

Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Jan de Bont Anybody seen Keanu? The action star of Speed opted out of this overbearing sequel, which finds co-star Sandra Bullock in love with another guy (Jason Patric) and in trouble aboard a cruise ship under the control of a mad extortionist (Willem Dafoe). Speed director Jan de Bont is back at the helm for part 2, but even he seems to have forgotten that what made the first film work was the simplicity of its hook (the bomb, the bus that can't drive below 50 mph, the handful of sympathetic passengers, etc.). Speed 2 is all about hugeness: big ship, lots of places to get into trouble and so on. Even with an eye-popping, endless finale of the vessel crashing into port (and causing mondo destruction), there is nothing about this movie that is remotely as involving as its predecessor. —Tom Keogh

Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, David Carson There were only two ways for "classic Trek" cast members to appear in a movie with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation: either Captain Kirk and his contemporaries would have to be very, very old, or there would be some time travel involved in the plot. Since geriatric heroes aren't very exciting (despite a welcomed cameo appearance by the aged Dr McCoy), Star Trek: Generations unites Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in a time-jumping race to stop a madman's quest for heavenly contentment. When a mysterious energy coil called the Nexus nearly destroys the newly christened USS Enterprise-B, the just-retired Kirk is lost and presumed dead. But he's actually been happily trapped in the timeless purgatory of the Nexus—an idyllic state of being described by the mystical Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) as "pure joy". Picard must convince Kirk to leave this artificial comfort zone and confront Dr Soran (Malcolm McDowell), the madman who will threaten billions of lives to be reunited with the addictive pleasure of the Nexus. With subplots involving the android Data's unpredictable "emotion chip" and the spectacular crash-landing of the starship Enterprise, this crossover movie not only satisfied Trek fans, but it also gave them something they'd never had to confront before: the heroic and truly final death of a beloved Star Trek character. Passing the torch to the Next Generation with dignity and entertaining adventure, the movie isn't going to please everyone with its somewhat hokey plot, but it still ranks as a worthy big-screen launch for Picard and his stalwart crew. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes Even-numbered Star Trek movies tend to be better, and this one (number eight in the popular series) is no exception—an intelligently handled plot involving the galaxy-conquering Borg and their attempt to invade Earth's past, alter history, and "assimilate" the entire human race. Time travel, a dazzling new Enterprise, and capable direction by Next Generation alumnus Jonathan Frakes makes this one rank with the best of the bunch. Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his able crew travel back in time to Earth in the year 2063, where they hope to ensure that the inventor of warp drive (played by James Cromwell) will successfully carry out his pioneering warp-drive flight and precipitate Earth's "first contact" with an alien race. A seductive Borg queen (Alice Krige) holds Lt. Data (Brent Spiner) hostage in an effort to sabotage the Federation's preservation of history, and the captive android finds himself tempted by the queen's tantalising sins of the flesh. Sharply conceived to fit snugly into the burgeoning Star Trek chronology, First Contact leads to a surprise revelation that marks an important historical chapter in the ongoing mission "to boldly go where no one has gone before". —Jeff Shannon

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Irvin Kershner

Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Robert Wise

Kurt Russell, Djimon Hounsou, Roland Emmerich

Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Paul Verhoeven DVD Columbia TriStar, 5017188883177, 1997, Region 2 PAL

Tommyknockers, The - Stephen Kings (DVD)

Brian Bosworth, Lance Henriksen, Craig R. Baxley

Kathryn Bigelow It's the eve of the millennium in Los Angeles, December 31, 1999. Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is an ex-cop turned street hustler who preys on human nature by dealing the drug of the future. It's an environment that will lead him deep into the danger zone when he falls into a maze filled with intrigue and betrayal, murder and conspiracy. Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis co-star in this provocative, action-packed thriller written by James Cameron (Titanic, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day).

Barbra Streisand, Robert Scheerer Barbra Streisand's fourth and best television special, A Happening in Central Park (September 15, 1968) is refreshingly free of gimmicks and concepts. It's just Streisand with an orchestra in front of a live New York audience. "The Nearness of You," "Cry Me a River," "I Can See It," "Second Hand Rose" (the audience enjoys singing along)," "People," and "Happy Days Are Here Again." —David Horiuchi

Barbra Streisand, Dwight Hemion, Joe Layton Barbra Streisand's first television special was My Name Is Barbra (April 14, 1965), shot shortly after she played in Funny Girl. Shot in black and white, it's a little different from the other variety shows of the day (e.g., The Judy Garland Show) in that there's no parade of guest stars or dancing girls. That's a good thing, as those are the numbers that get dated very quickly. Instead, we have all Barbra, even if she's more comfortable singing than doing comedy monologues. The show winds its way through an Alice in Wonderland sequence which ends in a plain but magnificent rendition of "People," then has Streisand in a store's fur department. Last is a simple concert setting that includes a Funny Girl medley with "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "The Music that Makes Me Dance." The closing concert segment would become a staple, and the peak, of all her shows. —David Horiuchi

Barbra Streisand, Jim Cox, Dwight Hemion

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand, Philip Austin, Bruce Motyer, Kelly D. Hommon, Dwight Hemion

Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Baz Luhrmann While the plot of this Australian film may seem a bit familiar (the Ugly Duckling meets Dirty Dancing), the humourous tone and superb dance sequences will make you forget the movie's predictability. Scott (Paul Mercurio) is a champion ballroom dancer who wants to dance "his own steps". Fran is the homely, beginning dancer who convinces Scott that he should dance his own steps...with her. Complicating matters are Scott's domineering mother (Pat Thompson), a former dancer herself, who wants her son to win the Australian Pan-Pacific Championship (the same contest she lost years ago), and a conniving dance committee that is determined that "there are no new steps!" The dancing is enjoyable, yet not overwhelming, and the movie strives hard not to take itself too seriously (the beginning of the film is even styled as a pseudo-documentary). Strictly Ballroom, while not so subtly imparting its moral ("A life lived in fear is a life half-lived"), is a funny romp that's sure to be a crowd pleaser. —Jenny Brown, Amazon.com

Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rowdy Herrington

Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Carmen Argenziano, Bradford Dillman, Michael Gazzo, Pat Hingle Director: Clint Eastwood

Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper

Joe Pesci, Vincent Gardenia, Rod Daniel

Richard Donner

Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham, Doug Liman Jon Favreau Swingers

Blake Edwards

T'Pau

Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, Steve Barron

Elias Koteas, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Gillard

Timothy Hutton, Lara Flynn Boyle, Scott Conrad, Tom Holland

Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski, Deran Sarafian While investigating the mysterious circumstances of a beautiful student's demise, a maverick skydiving instructor finds himself entangled in a murderous conspiracy involving Soviet spies and a lost shipment of gold. Logical it ain't, but this entertainingly daft thriller does offer some good-natured satiric riffs on standard action star conventions. Charlie Sheen (throughout most of the film, this not-especially-heroic hero displays the approximate intelligence of a bag of doorknobs) stars along with Nastassja Kinski in a welcome return after a long absence from the screen. Terminal Velocity is good fun for adrenaline junkies, with a boffo climax involving a midair escape attempt from a free-falling convertible. Writer David Twohy went on to direct Sheen in the considerably more accomplished The Arrival. —Andrew Wright

Arguably the finest movie of its kind, Terminator 2: Judgment Day captured Arnold Schwarzenegger at the very apex of his Hollywood celebrity and James Cameron at the peak of his perfectionist directorial powers. Nothing the star did subsequently measured up to his iconic performance here, spouting legendary catchphrases and wielding weaponry with unparalleled cool; and while the director had an even bigger hit with the bloated and sentimental Titanic, few followers of his career would deny that Cameron's true forte has always been sci-fi action. With an incomparably bigger budget than its 1984 precursor, T2 essentially reworks the original scenario with envelope-stretching special effects and simply more, more, more of everything. Yet, for all its scale, T2 remains at heart a classic sci-fi tale: robots running amok, time travel paradoxes and dystopian future worlds are recurrent genre themes, which are here simply revitalised by Cameron's glorious celebration of the mechanistic. From the V-twin roar of a Harley Fat Boy to the metal-crunching Steel Mill finale, the director's fascination with machines is this movie's strongest motif: it's no coincidence that the character with whom the audience identifies most strongly is a robot. Now that impressive but unengaging CGI effects have come to over-dominate sci-fi movies (think of The Phantom Menace), T2's pivotal blending of extraordinary live-action stuntwork and FX looks more and more like it will never be equalled.

On the DVD: Oh, if only every DVD could be like this. Here is a DVD package worthy of this monumental movie, with so many extra features the viewer will spend hours simply trying to find them all (the animated menus alone are worth watching over and over again.) On the second disc there are three extensive documentaries (all good, all relatively straightforward), but things get more complicated as you burrow down through the menu layers of Cyberdyne Systems into the "Data Hub": the entire screenplay, storyboards, text features, dozens and dozens of video clips, deleted scenes, and thousands of stills.

The movie disc itself will cause even hardened surround-sound enthusiasts to gasp with joy as these explosive soundscapes come alive in Dolby 5.1 or DTS (hear that Harley roar!), while the anamorphic widescreen picture of the original theatrical 2.35:1 ratio is jaw-droppingly impressive. The exhaustive commentary is a patchwork of interviews with various key cast and crew members. The only disappointment here is that, unlike the almost identical Region 1 version, this Region 2 package does not include the DVD-ROM features nor the option to play the original theatrical release and the hidden "Ultimate Edition"—the only version here is the Director's Cut Special Edition, although the few extra scenes that make up the "Ultimate" edit can still be found in the "Data Core" section of the second disc. —Mark Walker

Jack Haley Jr. The movies, the magic, the memories. The greatest moments, the brightest stars. The incomparable Golden Era of MGM Musicals shines forever in a timeless production that wowed critics and public alike, became a surprise box-office smash, and remains today the best compilation movie ever made. The studio was home to "more stars than there are in the heavens" and some 125 of them in scenes from nearly 100 films enliven this joyfest. Judy, Ol' Blue Eyes (and James Stewart!) sing Astaire, Kelly (and Gable!) dance. from 'Anchors Aweigh' to 'Ziegfeld Follies', from splashy razzmatazz to splashing in puddles, filmmaker Jack Haley Jr.'s affectionate celebration more than lives up to its name. If you had to choose one movie musical to take with you for a long stay on a deserted isle, you couldn't go wrong with this one.

Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Thom Noble, Ridley Scott Thelma & Louise is a feminist manifesto writ large on the big screen, a smart and funny gender reversal of the standard Hollywood buddy formula, a road movie extraordinaire, with characters who became instant cultural icons. No matter how you define it, Ridley Scott's 1991 box-office hit pinched a nerve and made the cover of national news magazines for tweaking gender politics like no movie before or since. Callie Khouri's screenplay overhauls the buddy formula with its story about two best friends (Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis) who embark on a liberating adventure that turns into an interstate police chase after a traumatic incident makes both women into fugitives; they are en route to a destiny they could never have imagined. The perfect casting of Sarandon and Davis makes Thelma & Louise a movie for the ages and Brad Pitt became an overnight star after his appearance as the con-artist cowboy who gives Davis a memorable (but costly) night in a roadside motel. —Jeff Shannon

Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, John Carpenter John Carpenter's apocalyptic The Thing was released in cinemas just two weeks after E.T. in 1982. The two movies could hardly have presented more contrasting ideas about extra-terrestrial life, and it was Carpenter's uncompromisingly bleak vision that lost out at the box-office. But his audacious remake of the Howard Hawks 1951 B-movie The Thing from Another World has since been acknowledged as a classic in its own right, not only for its pioneering makeup and special effects techniques, but also for its bold treatment of an alien "infection" that eerily foreshadow s AIDS-inspired blood contamination scares. Whizzkid Rob Bottin was responsible for the surreal and stomach-churning make-up effects that are so crucial a part of the film's success—without his utterly convincing creations Carpenter would never have been able to make a monster movie without a "man in a suit"—and filming on a glacier in British Columbia ensured the complete authenticity of the Antarctic setting. Kurt Russell leads a strong all-male cast who powerfully convey their isolation and distrust of one another—in more ways than one this is a film about alienation. The uneasy atmosphere is enhanced by an icily monochrome score from Ennio Morricone, as a series of unforgettable horror set-pieces lead to a wonderfully downbeat finale.

On the DVD:: The bonus features are exemplary, notably the excellent 80-minute documentary, "Terror Takes Shape", which covers all aspects of the production; and the relaxed, friendly, informative commentary by director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell—a model for how all commentaries should be. There's also an outtakes reel with some tantalising stills of unused footage. Text and stills-based montages illustrate the location design, conceptual artwork and various other aspects of the production. The sound mix is Dolby 5.1, although the non-anamorphic widescreen picture is not all it could be. —Mark Walker

Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, Gary Fleder Import from the Netherlands which plays in English language - Dutch subtitles are optional on/off.

Joseph Newman Prepare to blast off from planet Earth in one of the most popular classic sci-fi films of all time! When atomic scientist Dr. Meacham (Rex Reason) is chosen to take part in a top-secret research experiment in a remote lab, he quickly discovers that he is really involved in an evil scheme by alien Metalunans to take over Earth. After he and the gorgeous Dr. Adams (Faith Domergue) make their escape shortly before the lab explodes, they are whisked away in a flying saucer to Metaluna, where they are blamed for the destruction. Will interstellar negotiation save the day or will the scientists be forced to take part in a treacherous battle to the death? Featuring incredible special effects that were 2 1/2 years in the making, this is one adventure that you have to see to believe!

Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Ken Annakin

Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Herek

Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Joel Schumacher On a hot Brooklyn afternoon, two optimistic losers set out to rob a bank. Sonny Al Pacino is the mastermind, Sal John Cazale is the follower, and disaster is the result. Because the cops, crowds, TV cameras and even the pizza man have arrived. The well-planned heist is now a circus.brbrPacino and director Sidney Lumet, collaborators on Serpico, reteam for this boisterous thriller than earned six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and won an Oscar for Frank Piersons streetwise screenplay. Based on a true incident, Dog Day Afternoon is one of the big ones, swarming with energy, excitement and drama Gene Shalit, NBC-TV.

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ron Silver, Peter Hyams

Kevin Costner, Rene Russo, Ron Shelton One of the better romantic comedies of the 1990s, this quirky love story stars Kevin Costner as washed-up golf pro, Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy, who has the singular misfortune of falling in love with the girlfriend (Rene Russo) of his arch rival (Don Johnson). Although he is inspired to re-ignite his golf career, challenge his opponent in the US Open, and win the affection of the woman of his dreams, McAvoy has just one flaw: he's a show off when he should just focus on playing the game. Reunited with his Bull Durham writer-director Ron Shelton, Costner fits into his Tin Cup role like a favourite pair of shoes and costar Cheech Marin scores a memorable scene-stealing comeback as McAvoy's best buddy, Romeo Posar. Mixing his love of sports with his flair for fresh, comedic dialogue, Shelton takes this enjoyable movie down unexpected detours (although some may find it a bit too long), and his characters are delightfully unpredictable. —Jeff Shannon

Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, James Cameron When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the bestselling movie soundtrack of all time and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story and, although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others—such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull—are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and, like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. —Jeff Shannon

Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Peter Thornton, James Clavell Novelist James Clavell wrote, produced and directed this 1967 British film (based on the novel by E. R. Braithwaite) about a rookie teacher who throws out stock lesson plans and really takes command of his unruly, adolescent students in a London school. Sidney Poitier is very good as a man struggling with the extent of his commitment to the job, and even more as a teacher whose commitment is to proffering life lessons instead of just academic ones. The spirit of this movie can also be found in more recent films such as Dangerous Minds and Mr. Holland's Opus, but none are as moving as this. Besides, the others don't have a title song performed by Lulu, who also stars. —Tom Keogh

Dustin Hoffman, Teri Garr, Sydney Pollack One of the touchstone movies of the 1980s, Tootsie stars Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who disguises himself as a dowdy, middle-aged woman to get a part on a hit soap opera. The scheme works, but while he/she keeps up the charade, Hoffman's character comes to see life through the eyes of the opposite sex. The script by Larry Gelbart (with Murray Schisgal) is a winner, and director Sydney Pollack brings taut proficiency to the comedy and sensitivity to the relationship nuances that emerge from Hoffman's drag act. Great supporting work from Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, and pre-stardom Geena Davis. But the film finally belongs to Hoffman, who seems to connect with the character at a very deep and abiding level. —Tom Keogh

Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt, Val Kilmer, Michael Ironside

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside

Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Landis

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis

Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Tony Scott DVD Warner Bros., 7321900131582, 1993, Region 2 PAL Director's Cut

Uma Thurman, Janeane Garofalo, Stephen Semel, Michael Lehmann Uma Thurman Truth About Cats And Dogs

Ray Liotta, Lauren Holly Ray Liotta Turbulence

Sheryl Lee, Moira Kelly, David Lynch

David Lynch

David Lynch

Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jan de Bont DVD Warner Bros., 5035822000841, 1996, Region 2 PAL

Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Stuart Baird U.S. Marshals

U2

Steven Seagal, Gary Busey, Andrew Davis Actors: Steven Seagal, Gary Busey, Tommy Lee Jones, Erika Eleniak, Colm Meaney
Director: Andrew Davis
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video

Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman DVD Unforgiven Warner Bros., 7321900125314, 1992, Region 2 PAL DIGI

Christian Slater, Marisa Tomei, Tony Bill

William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Wim Wenders Shot on location in numerous countries, this ambitious Wim Wenders fantasy takes Sam Neill, Solveig Dommartin, William Hurt and a ragtag group in pursuit around the world and back again. Though set in 1999 under the shadow of impending disaster as a wobbly nuclear satellite threatens to Chernobyl the planet, the leisurely gait of their worldwide escapades has a distinctly 1940s-era decadence. The ultimate object of their quest is a machine that records visual information from one person and reconstructs it in the brains of others—granting the miraculous power of sight to the blind for one thing, but even more mystically, enabling a person's dreams to be recorded. When the film seeks resolutions on the most intimate questions of the human soul which dovetail with the possibility of a destroyed world, the film is hampered by the VHS running time, which subtracts several hours from other versions. But numerous joys, not least among them Jeanne Moreau and Max von Sydow as Hurt's parents, inhabit this thought-provoking film. —Alan E. Rapp, Amazon.com

Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Bill Pankow, Brian De Palma The DVD extras follow the adage that if one has lemons, make lemonade. This "special" edition has no commentary track, and no new input from stars Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Andy Garcia or writer David Mamet. Yet DVD director Laurent Bouzereau has an ace up his sleeve that makes the four new featurettes (about 50 minutes of content) worth listening to: candid talk. The usual, stiff promotional take is jettisoned as producer Art Linson and director Brian De Palma honestly talk about the film's origins, the tricks of shooting, and the casting of Robert De Niro. These refreshing comments (plus insight from the cinematographer Stephen H. Burum and actor Charles Martin Smith), and better-than-average vintage interviews makes for valuable watching—even if the footage is intercut too often with film clips. To top it all off, there's a new Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack. —Doug Thomas

Kathleen Turner, Jay O. Sanders, Jeff Kanew

Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Mark Robson

Like a good claret laid down for a couple of decades, Victor Victoria (1982) just improves with age. Based on a 1930s German screenplay, Blake Edwards' cross-dressing musical tackles sexuality and gender with a sweet generosity of spirit and endearing warmth. To Edwards' credit and that of his wife Julie Andrews in the title role it is far more than a star vehicle, with James Garner, Lesley Ann Warren and, particularly, Robert Preston (as worldly gay Toddy) contributing quick-fire performances that brim with brilliant timing. Andrews, too, is wonderful in a deceptively complex part.

It shouldn't have worked at all. Victor Victoria was made at a time when the Hollywood musical's currency was at its lowest and Andrews might have been deemed a rather old-fashioned sort of star. But by keeping Henry Mancini's songs in context as stage numbers, the traditional values of the musical are subverted. And the whole thing is bathed in a soft, intimate light; this is a film of considerable artistry on every level.

On the DVD: Victor Victoriais presented in widescreen with a sharp Dolby Digital soundtrack; the picture quality is splendid. Extras include lists of cast, crew and awards as well as the original theatrical trailer. Best of all is a touching—if occasionally repetitive—commentary from Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews, who clearly remember the project with great pride and affection. Somewhat belatedly they resurrected it as a Broadway show in the 1990s, in which Andrews again scored a considerable personal triumph. —Piers Ford

James Woods, Deborah Harry, Ronald Sanders, David Cronenberg

Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, B.J. Sears, Brett Leonard

Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Mick Jackson

The Seaview is an atomic submarine designed by Admiral Harriman Nelson. On its initial launch some politicians are visiting it to see if all the money they poured into it is worth it. It is while they are at sea that they learn that the belt of radiation covering the Earth is on fire. Nelson is asked to attend some kind of international conference to determine what to do. It is while on route that Nelson comes up with a plan which he presents at the conference. Nelson proposes that if an atomic missile is launched from the Seaview at a precise moment, it will cause it to blow up. Another scientist claims that the belt will burn itself out when it reaches a certain temperature. But Nelson says that if they wait for his proposal, they will miss the window of opportunity that he told them of. Nelson leaves, boards the Seaview, and heads off to make his rendezvous with radiation belt. However, Nelson's driven manner, causes friction between him and Captain Crane, whose relationship with him is more paternal. As they push on, some of the crew members don't want to follow the admiral, and if that wasn't enough, there appears to be saboteur on board.

Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, John Musker, Ron Clements Disney's 1992 animated feature Aladdin is a triumph of wit and skill. The high-tech artwork and graphics look great, the characters are strong, the familiar story is nicely augmented with an interesting villain (Jafar, voiced by Jonathan Freeman), and there's an incredible hook atop the whole thing: Robin Williams's frantically hilarious vocal performance as Aladdin's genie. Even if one isn't particularly moved by the love story between the title character (Scott Weinger) and his girlfriend Jasmine (Linda Larkin), you can easily get lost in Williams's improvisational energy and the equally entertaining performances of Freeman and Gilbert Gottfried (as Jafar's parrot). —Tom Keogh

Tad Stones Aladdin, Disney's 1992 animated feature is a triumph of wit and skill. The high-tech artwork and graphics look great, the characters are strong, the familiar story is nicely augmented with an interesting villain (Jafar, voiced by Jonathan Freeman), and there's an incredible hook atop the whole thing: Robin Williams's frantically hilarious vocal performance as Aladdin's genie. Even if one isn't particularly moved by the love story between the title character (Scott Weinger) and his girlfriend Jasmine (Linda Larkin), or the songs you can easily get lost in Williams' improvisational energy and the equally entertaining performances of Freeman and Gilbert Gottfried (as Jafar's parrot). —Tom Keogh

Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise The film that officially signalled Disney's animation renaissance and the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast remains the yardstick by which all other animated films should be measured. It relates the story of Belle, a bookworm with a dotty inventor for a father; when he inadvertently offends the Beast (a prince whose heart is too hard to love anyone besides himself), Belle boldly takes her father's place, imprisoned in the Beast's gloomy mansion. Naturally, Belle teaches the Beast to love. What makes this such a dazzler, besides the amazingly accomplished animation and the winning coterie of supporting characters (the Beast's mansion is overrun by quipping, dancing household items) is the array of beautiful and hilarious songs by composer Alan Menken and the late, lamented lyricist Howard Ashman, (winning the 1991 Oscar for Best Song and Menken's score won a trophy as well). The downright funniest song is "Gaston", a lout's paean to himself (including the immortal line, "I use antlers in all of my de-co-ra-ting"). "Be Our Guest" is transformed into an inspired Busby Berkeley homage. Since Ashman's passing, animated musicals haven't quite reached the same exhilarating level of wit, sophistication and pure joy. —David Kronke, Amazon.com

On the DVD: Beauty and the Beast's regular DVD release still offers some special features, but doesn't hold a candle to the Collector's Edition. The "making-of" featurette is informative charting the production from Walt Disney's original idea to the final musical version. "The Story Behind the Story" shows the origins of many of Disney's adapted fairy tales. The two games are fun, if a little slow to load. Celine Dion's original video is slightly on the dull side, but Jump 5's remixed version of "Tale as Old as Time" is just ridiculous. As always the sing-along track is great fun for all budding Belles or Beasts in the house. The transfer is as pristine as could be expected from a 1991 release.

On the DVD: Beauty and the Beast's two-disc Collector's Edition really is the stuff of fairy tales. Disc 1 has three versions of the movie, the best being the "Work in Progress" edition which offers the unfinished film, sketch lines and all. The theatrical cut has a pristine transfer and the sound is immaculate. The director's commentary relies on a lot on name-dropping and you'll find more interesting insight in the "making-of" feature on the second disc. The sing-a-long track (as with all Disney releases) is fantastic, particularly for such a well-loved score.

Disc 2 is packed full of information, fun and games. The best of the informative features is "Animation Magic", an intelligent look into the production of Disney cartoons. In the games section you'll need to head straight for the West Wing to continue an adventure with Chip (Tip: finish the game "Maurice's Workshop" first), but get your fingers warmed up as it needs a little remote control action. This disc only really falls down on the slowness of some of its games and the appalling remix video of "Tale as Old as Time". —Nikki Disney

Walt Disney

Cinderella Worry not, Disney fans—this special edition DVD of the beloved Cinderella won't turn into a pumpkin at the strike of midnight. One of the most enduring animated films of all time, the Disney-fied adaptation of the gory Brothers Grimm fairy tale became a classic in its own right, thanks to some memorable tunes (including "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," and the title song) and some endearingly cute comic relief.

We all know the story—the wicked stepmother and stepsisters simply won't have it, this uppity Cinderella thinking she's going to a ball designed to find the handsome prince an appropriate sweetheart, but perseverance, animal buddies, and a well-timed entrance by a fairy godmother make sure things turn out all right. There are a few striking sequences of pure animation—for example, Cinderella is reflected in bubbles drifting through the air—and the design is rich and evocative throughout. It's a simple story padded here agreeably with comic business, particularly Cinderella's rodent pals (dressed up conspicuously like the dwarf sidekicks of another famous Disney heroine) and their misadventures with a wretched cat named Lucifer. There's also much harrumphing and exposition spouting by the King and the Grand Duke. It's a much simpler and more graceful work than the more frenetically paced animated films of today, which makes it simultaneously quaint and highly gratifying. —David Kronke, Amazon.com

Ben Sharpsteen

Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Ford Beebe, Hamilton Luske, James Algar Groundbreaking on several counts, not the least of which was an innovative use of animation and stereophonic sound, this ambitious Disney feature has lost nothing to time since its release in 1940. Classical music was interpreted by Disney animators, resulting in surreal fantasy and playful escapism. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra provided the music for eight segments by the composers Tchaikovsky, Moussorgsky, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ponchielli, Bach, Dukas and Schubert. Not all the sequences were created equally, but a few are simply glorious, such as "Night on Bald Mountain", "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The Nutcracker Suite". The animation ranges from subtly delicate to fiercely bold. The screen bursts with colour and action as creatures transmute and convention is thrust aside. The painstaking detail and saturated hues are unique to this film, unmatched even by more advanced technology. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are also available together in the 3-disc DVD Fantasia Collection.

Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Les Mayfield Disney couldn't resist the temptation to remake 1961's popular comedy The Absent Minded Professor, so they cast Robin Williams as Professor Philip Brainard (a role vaguely related to the character originated by Fred MacMurray), and the result is a comedy that, frankly, doesn't fully deserve its modest success. It's admittedly clever to a point, and certainly the digitally "flubberized" special effects provide the kind of movie magic that's entertaining for kids and parents alike. The professor can't even remember his own wedding day (much to the chagrin of his fiancée, played by Marcia Gay Harden), and now his academic rival (Christopher McDonald) is trying to steal his latest and purely accidental invention—flying rubber, or ... Flubber. The green goo magnifies energy and can be used as an amazing source of power, but in the hands of screenwriter John Hughes it becomes just another excuse to recycle a lot of Home Alone-style slapstick humor involving a pair of bumbling would-be flubber thieves. There's also a floating robot named Weebo and some catchy music by Danny Elfman to accompany dancing globs of flubber, but the story's too thin to add up to anything special. Lightweight fun, but, given the title, it lacks a certain bounce. Of course, that didn't stop Disney's marketing wizards from turning it into a home-video hit.

Michael J. Fox, Sally Field, David R. Ellis Homeward Bound 2 - Lost In San Francisco - Artist: Michael J. Fox

Demi Moore, Jason Alexander, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise

Wolfgang Reitherman Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book seems even more entertaining now than it did upon first release, with a hall-of-fame vocal performance by Phil Harris as Baloo, the genial bear friend of feral child Mowgli. Loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's original, the film goes its own way as Disney animation will, but the strong characters and smart casting (George Sanders as the villainous tiger, Shere Khan) make it one of the studio's stronger feature-length cartoons. Songs include "The Bare Necessities" and "Trust in Me". —Tom Keogh

Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers Disney's 1994 animated feature, The Lion King, was a huge smash in cinemas and continues to enjoy life in an acclaimed stage production. The story finds a lion cub, son of a king, sent into exile after his father is deposed by a jealous uncle. The little hero finds his way into the "circle of life" with some new friends and eventually comes back to reclaim his proper place. Characters are very strong, vocal performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific, the jokes are aimed as much (if not more) at adults than kids, the animation is sometimes breathtaking and the songs from Tim Rice and Elton John, accompanied by a colourful score, are more palatable than in many recent Disney features. —Tom Keogh

On the DVD: The Lion King Special Edition is a superb restoration: take a look at the serviceable but dull film clips incorporated in the plethora of extras and compare them to the vivid gorgeousness of the film presentation. This special edition also adds a 90-second song ("Morning Report") that originated in the lavish stage musical. To Disney's credit, the original theatrical version is also included, both restored and featuring two 5.1 soundtracks: Dolby Digital and a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, which does sound brighter. As with the Disney Platinum line, everything is thrown into the discs, except an outsider's voice (the rah-rahs of Disney grow tiresome at times). The excellent commentary from the directors and producer, originally on the laser disc, is hidden under the audio set-up menu.

The second disc is organised by 20-minute-ish "journeys" tackling the elements of story, music and so on, including good background on the awkward Shakespearean origins at Disney where it was referred as "Bamlet". The most interesting journey follows the landmark stage production, and the kids should be transfixed by shots of the real African wildlife in the animal journey. Three deleted segments are real curios, including an opening lyric for "Hakuna Matata". Most set-top DVD games are usually pretty thin (DVD-ROM is where it's at), but the Safari game is an exception—the kids should love the roaring animals (in 5.1 Surround, no less). One serious demerit is the needless and complicated second navigation system that is listed by continent but just shows the same features reordered. —Doug Thomas

Winnie The Pooh

Julie Andrews, Dick van Dyke, Robert Stevenson A pioneering film within Animation, Musicals and Fantasy, Walt Disney's Mary Poppins is possibly one of the warmest and dearest films ever made. Based on a story by PL Travers we find Julie Andrews on fine form in her debut lead role (for which she would win the "Best Actress" Oscar). She is practically perfectly teamed with Dick Van Dyke as the lovable chimney sweep Burt, whose cockney accent is endearingly inaccurate. Along with a fine supporting cast, where even the child actors hold their own without appearing like stage school wannabes, Poppins and her crew take you on a magical ride through chalk pictures, the roof tops of London and show you that laughter is not always the best medicine (even with a spoon full of sugar) when you can't get down. In total Mary Poppins clocked up five Academy Awards including Best Song and Best Visual Effects and has made it into the staple diet of family viewing across the world.

On the DVD: Mary Poppins has certainly cleaned up a treat, restoring her to 1.85:1 widescreen glory and 5.1 Dolby digital sound—which is guaranteed to be music to your ears. The special features are "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" with the "Sing Along with the Movie" subtitles for all your favourite songs when they appear in the movie and the "I Love to Laugh" game offering Uncle Albert flying high in his parlour once more. "The Movie Magic of Mary Poppins" lets you look behind the scenes at how the magic was done and is fun, informative and easily understandable—pity the same cannot be said about the narrator. "Hollywood goes to a World Premiere" is a warm and amusing reminder about how premieres and stars used to be in 1964. The only disappointment is the lack of commentary—Dick Van Dyke would surely have offered a gem of a cockney voice-over! —Nikki Disney

Wolfgang Reitherman

Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was nicknamed "Disney's Folly" by contemporary observers; they doubted that the short cartoons shown before the main film could ever successfully make the transition from filler to feature presentation. Surely, no one would sit still for over an hour to watch an animated film, their eyes smarting from the bright colours on screen? Fortunately, Walt Disney and his army of artists persisted and the world's first full-length animated feature was finally released in 1937 to widespread acclaim.

Adapted from the Grimm fairytale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is chillingly dark in places, reflecting its roots in European folklore, but the deft Disney touch ensures that the overall tone remains light and the story develops apace, swept along on the perfect musical score. Any lingering gloom is quickly dispelled by the superbly characterised dwarfs and by the humorous antics of the various irresistible fauna that threaten to steal the show in several scenes. The pioneering animation is breathtaking and songs such as "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho" and "Whistle While You Work", now firmly embedded in popular culture, are seamlessly interwoven with the action.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs happens to be an interesting technological milestone in cinema history—it is also an enduring masterpiece of family entertainment. To the millions who have fallen under its spell over the years, this magical fairy tale remains one of Disney's most enchanting and best-loved films. Only Grumpy could resist. —Helen Baker

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Lasseter There is greatness in a film that can be discussed, dissected, and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that is right in front of our faces—you smile at the spell it puts you into and are refreshed, and not a word needs to be spoken. This kind of entertainment is what they used to call "movie magic" and there is loads of it in this irresistible computer animation feature. Just a picture of these bright toys on the cover of Toy Story looks intriguing as it reawakens the kid in us. Filmmaker John Lasseter's shorts illustrate not only a technical brilliance but also a great sense of humour—one in which the pun is always intended. Lasseter thinks of himself as a storyteller first and an animator second, much like another film innovator, Walt Disney. Lasseter's story is universal and magical: what do toys do when they're not played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favourite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys (some original, some classic) during a wrenching time of year—the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though—he believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Bright and cheerful, Toy Story is much more than a 90-minute commercial for the inevitable bonanza of Woody and Buzz toys. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar "For the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film". In other words, this movie is great. —Doug Thomas

Byron Haskin

Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Badham Cute but silly, this 1983 cautionary fantasy stars Matthew Broderick as a teenage computer genius who hacks into the Pentagon's defence system and sets World War III into motion. All the fun is in the film's set-up, as Broderick befriends Ally Sheedy and starts the international crisis by pretending while online to be the Soviet Union. After that, it's not hard to predict what's going to happen: government agents swoop in, but the story ends up in the "hands" of machines talking to one another. Thus we're stuck with flashing lights, etc. John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) directs in strict potboiler mode. Children still like this movie, though. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kevin Reynolds Let's be honest: this 1995 epic isn't nearly as bad as its negative publicity led us to expect. At the time, Waterworld was the most expensive Hollywood production in history (it had a Titanic-sized 200 million US dollars budget), and the film arrived in cinemas with so much controversy and negative gossip that it was an easy target for ridicule. The movie itself, a flawed but enjoyable post-apocalypse thriller, deserves better. Waterworld stars Kevin Costner as the Mariner, a lone maverick with gills and webbed feet who navigates the endless seas of Earth after the complete melting of the polar ice caps. The Mariner has been caged like a criminal when he's freed by Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and enlisted to help her and a young girl (Tina Majorino) escape from the Smokers, a group of renegade terrorists led by Dennis Hopper in yet another memorably villainous role. It is too bad the predictable script isn't more intelligent, but as a companion piece to The Road Warrior, this seafaring stunt-fest is adequately impressive. —Jeff Shannon

Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Penelope Spheeris Thanks to Mike Myers' wonderfully rude, lowbrow humour and his full-bodied understanding of who his character is, Wayne's World proved to be that rare thing: a successful transition of a Saturday Night Live sketch to the big screen. Wayne Campbell (Myers) and his nerdy pal Garth (Dana Carvey) are teens who live at home and have their own low-rent cable-access show in Aurora, Illinios, in which they celebrate their favourite female film stars and heavy-metal bands. When a Chicago TV station smells a potential youth-audience ratings hit, the station's weasely executive (Rob Lowe) tries to co-opt the show—and steal Wayne's new rock 'n' roll girlfriend (Tia Carrere) at the same time. Like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure before it (and the later Detroit Rock City), this is a film that affectionately parodies and celebrates slacker teenage culture. It's also filled with all kinds of knowing spoofs of film conventions, from Wayne talking to the camera (while forbidding other characters to do so) and hilariously self-conscious product placements, to labelling a moment a "Gratuitous Sex Scene". Dumb yet clever—and very funny. —Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Stephen Surjik Wayne's World 2 was a successful follow-up for Wayne and Garth's Adventures, full of the same madcap humour from their TV characters and previous film. Somewhere in the world, there are probably people who don't understand why Mike Myers' eponymous Wayne's World character is funny—feel sorry for them. Granted, the laughs are often cheap and silly, but there's no one who can embody a comic character and riff within that character the way Myers does. Wayne and his pal Garth (Dana Carvey) were fixtures on Saturday Night Live before the unexpected success of Wayne' s World, a movie about what happened when they tried to take their local cable-access citywide. This time, they want to stage Waynestock, a mammoth rock festival in their little Chicago suburb, even as Wayne copes with girlfriend Tia Carrere's interest in record-company exec Christopher Walken. For extra fun, Garth gets involved with the babelicious Kim Basinger. Yes, the humour is scattershot and the plot is lame—but you'll find yourself laughing none the less. —Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, John Hughes Yes, that is Bill Paxton as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's militaristic big brother. And that's Robert Downey Jr. as one of the in-crowd jerks who makes nerds Mitchell-Smith and Hall's lives miserable. Fortunately, this is a John Hughes comedy and our smart nerds create the perfect woman, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), using a computer and voodoo. Lisa is a willing sex toy, has magical powers, and just wants to help the boys get even and meet nice babes. She even cleans up. The fantasy ebullience of Hughes is given full rein here and that's good and bad (mostly good). It's all aimed at a certain kind of hormone-addled, 16-year-old sensibility; but who doesn't have a little bit of that in them? —Keith Simanton

Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins from Ernest Lehman's spectacular screenplay, the film combines the unforgettable score of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with Robbins' exuberant choreography to create a transcendent fusion of realism and fantasy that will forever be a feast for the eye, the ear, and ultimately, the heart. A triumph on every level, this electrifying musical sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in the slums of 1950's New York.
Special Features

Original film intermission.
'West Side Memories' retrospective documentary.
4 original theatrical trailer.
Production design and storyboard gallery montage.
Behind the scenes photo gallery.
Production design and storyboard gallery.

Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Gibson audio in italiano.e' la vera tormentata storia della cantante rock tina turner. tratto dalla sua autobiografia, il film prende le mosse da quando tina comincia a cantare nel coro della chiesa. il suo spirito originale e ribelle la rende ben presto una cantante di successo al fianco di ike, che diventa suo marito. la vita coniugale pero' non e' delle migliori. la colonna sonora contiene il meglio della discografia del duo ike & tina e anche molte canzoni della carriera solista della turner. la regia e' diligente, ottimi i due interpreti principali: angela bassett e laurence fishburne, candidati entrambi all'oscar.

Meg Ryan, Andy Garcia, Luis Mandoki audio in italianoun marito, pilota di linea, che l'ama; due figliette deliziose; un impiego: non manca niente ad alice che, invece, si da' all'alcol, liquido rivelatore di un'immaturita'. 2 ore per smontare e ricostruire un matrimonio con l'aiuto degli alcolisti anonimi: un vero e proprio manuale. il titolo inglese e' una citazione nostalgica di una famosa canzone degli anni '60, produce la touchstone (w. disney), copione di ronald bass (rain man), confezione lussuosa, meg ryan carina sino alla carineria.

Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Leon Gast Muhammad Ali's 1974 knockout of George Foreman to regain the heavyweight championship of the world at the age of 32 was probably the greatest sporting moment of the 20th century. Leon Gast's documentary on the "Rumble In The Jungle", When We Were Kings, eventually released in 1996, is probably the finest ever boxing film. The background to the contest was almost as dramatic as the fight itself. It was the first major coup for promoter Don King, a character described in this film as "very clever but completely amoral"—yet this was his finest hour. President Mobutu, unsavoury dictator of Zaire and a more frightening figure than either boxer, had spent millions of his country's money to host the event. George Foreman, like Sonny Liston before him and Mike Tyson after him, was considered unbeatable, expected to slaughter Ali. Seeing him pounding a dent the size of a grapefruit into a heavy bag during training, you can understand why. Ringside American journalists George Plimpton and in particular Norman Mailer offer exceptionally shrewd insights. As we stare into Ali's face during the minute interval at the end of round one, Mailer talks us through his probable thought processes. "That was the only time I ever saw fear in his eyes." Ali, of course, is the star, besting the sullen Foreman in the build-up with his freewheeling, hilarious braggadocio then outfoxing him in the fight with his "rope-a-dope" technique. Like Ali, the "Rumble In The Jungle" transcended sports in its inspirational significance. —David Stubbs

Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Jon Turteltaub If you don't mind a heavy dose of schmaltz and sentiment, this romantic comedy has a gentle way of seducing you with its charms. While You Were Sleeping was the first starring role for Sandra Bullock after her blockbuster success in Speed. In a role that nicely emphasises her easygoing appeal, Bullock is the reason the movie works at all. She plays Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, a Chicago Transit tollbooth clerk who's hopelessly smitten with a daily commuter, Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher). She saves the object of her affection from certain death after he's mugged and falls onto the train tracks. While Peter is in a coma, she lets his family believe that she is his fiancée, and surprisingly finds herself drawn to his brother (Bill Pullman), for whom the attraction is definitely mutual. How Lucy gets out of this amorous predicament is what makes this pleasant movie less predictable than its familiar ingredients would initially indicate. It's feel-good fluff, with characters and performances that keep you smiling through the drippy plot mechanics. —Jeff Shannon

Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Roger Donaldson

Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, Ridley Scott It's a pity this ocean-going adventure wasn't fully appreciated during its theatrical release in 1996, if only because its climactic storm sequence (hence the movie's title) was awesome on the big screen and inevitably less impressive on video. Mixed reviews also curtailed its box-office potential, but as you might expect from Ridley Scott—the director of Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise—this is a beautifully photographed movie that will thrill anyone who is drawn to the romance and danger of the open sea. The story is a rite-of-passage adventure for a group of high school boys, who spend their senior year as the crew-in-training on the Albatross, a sailing vessel skippered by an experienced sailor and schoolmaster (Jeff Bridges) who teaches hard lessons of teamwork and individual responsibility. As they sail to the tip of South America and back, the young men face many challenges that will shape their character, in addition to the carnal pleasures of shore leave in exotic ports of call. It's a traditional story, and Scott doesn't bring anything particularly new to this sailboat variation of Dead Poets Society and Scent of a Woman. But as a coming-of-age drama White Squall is professionally crafted and filled with vital energy, featuring a talented cast of newcomers (led by Scott Wolf of TV's Party of Five) who rise to the demands of this rousing and life-changing adventure. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Lewis Collins; Judy Davis; Richard Widmark; Edward Woodward; Robert Webber; Tony Doyle; John Duttine; Kenneth Griffith; Rosalind Lloyd; Ingrid Pitt; Norman Rodway; Maurice Roëves; Bob Sherman; Albert Fortell; Mark Ryan, Ian Sharp In an uncanny piece of art imitating life, Who Dares Wins came out in 1982 just after the infamous storming of the Iranian Embassy by the legendary British Special Air Services (SAS) unit. The plot builds up to that unshakeable image of black-clad troops abseiling the front of a stately home and smashing through the windows, and pays off expectations with a thrilling finale. Anyone expecting two hours of military instruction will be disappointed however. After the opening 10 minutes with the troops, the almost James-Bond-like story follows Lewis Collins (riding high in those days after TV's The Professionals) as he infiltrates a radical anti-Nuclear society. Operation: Destroy requires him to go undercover with their potentially insane leader Frankie (Judy Davis), ignoring his wife and child. The period detail is often the film's most entertaining feature as Collins tours across 1980s London constantly eluding spies on his tail. Apart from the endless permed hairdos and the fact that the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament hasn't got much to demonstrate about these days, there's the fashions and low-tech gadgetry to enjoy. In the US the film was called The Final Option.

The DVD includes a photo gallery, and a history of the SAS. —Paul Tonks

Who, The

William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Lou Lombardo, Sam Peckinpah

Jean Rochefort, Guillaume Depardieu, Pierre Salvadorie United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Into the solitary life of middle-aged hitman, Victor Meynard, come two people: Antoine, a youth who becomes Victor's apprentice, and Renée, a bold thief Victor's been hired to kill because she cheated a mobster. When circumstances prevent Victor from killing her, the gangster sends two more teams to do it (and to dispatch Victor and Antoine). Victor decides to help Renée, and the unlikely trio ends up at his house with his temperamental mother; there, as they hide out, Victor's attraction to Renée grows, she discovers his vocation and fears he's going to kill her, and an ultimate showdown with their hunters is inevitable. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Ceasar Awards, ...Wild Target ( Cible émouvante )

Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, David Saxon, Mel Stuart Having proven itself as a favourite film of children around the world, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is every bit as entertaining now as it was when originally released in 1971. There's a timeless appeal to Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, which was playfully preserved in this charming musical, from the colourful carnival-like splendour of its production design to the infectious melody of the "Oompah-Loompah" songs that punctuate the story. Who can forget those diminutive Oompah-loompah workers who recite rhyming parental warnings ("Oompah-loompah, doopity do...") whenever some mischievous child has disobeyed Willy Wonka's orders to remain orderly?

Oh, but we're getting ahead of ourselves ... it's really the story of the impoverished Charlie Bucket, who, along with four other kids and their parental guests, wins a coveted golden ticket to enter the fantastic realm of Wonka's mysterious confectionery. After the other kids have proven themselves to be irresponsible brats, it's Charlie who impresses Wonka and wins a reward beyond his wildest dreams. But before that, the tour of Wonka's factory provides a dazzling parade of delights, and with Gene Wilder giving a brilliant performance as the eccentric candyman, Wonka gains an edge of menace and madness that nicely counterbalances the movie's sentimental sweetness. It's that willingness to risk a darker tone—to show that even a wonderland like Wonka's can be a weird and dangerous place if you're a bad kid—that makes this an enduring family classic. —Jeff Shannon

Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Peter Weir When Samuel (Lukas Haas), a young Amish boy travelling with his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis), witnesses the murder of a police officer in a public restroom, he and his mother become the temporary wards of John Book (Harrison Ford), a detective who's been assigned to solve the crime. After suspect line-ups and mug-shot books yield nothing, Samuel, in the most memorable scene of the film, recognizes the murderer as a narcotics agent whose picture he sees in the precinct. Once Book realizes that the police chief is in on it, too, he whisks Samuel and Rachel back home to Amish country, where he himself goes into hiding as a plain Amish man. Witness' juxtaposition of the life of the Amish and the violence of inner-city police corruption work surprisingly well for the story, and Kelly McGillis as the falling in love widow gives an almost perfect performance. Directed by Peter Weir, the film is extremely successful in drawing the viewer into its world and, accordingly, is immensely entertaining. The only thing that mars its polish is the one-dimensional, almost cartoonish handling of the upper-echelon police corruption—a subtler, more realistic treatment of this aspect of the story would have rendered the film near perfect. —James McGrath, Amazon.com

Fred Savage, Luke Edwards, Tom Finan, Todd Holland Less raunchy than Tommy and more conventional than Tron, The Wizard also revolves around gaming. There's even a Bridges on board. In Tron it was Jeff, in The Wizard it's Beau. As opposed to the rock opera's pinball-playing "deaf, dumb, and blind kid," however, quasi-catatonic Jimmy (Luke Edwards) is a video game wiz. While the nine-year-old lives with his mother, half-brothers Corey (Fred Savage, circa The Wonder Years) and Nick (Christian Slater, fresh from Heathers) live with their father, Sam (Bridges). When Jimmy, who recently lost his sister, is placed in a home, Corey busts him out for a trip to California. (Today, Jimmy's condition would be labeled post-traumatic stress disorder.) As they're leaving Utah, they join forces with gaming enthusiast Haley (Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis), who suggests LA's National Video Game Championships. So, off they go by foot, skateboard, and the kindness of strangers. Sam, Nick, and obnoxious bounty hunter Putnam (Will Seltzer) are close behind. The outcome may be a foregone conclusion - the fractured family makes their peace - but The Wizard still offers a nostalgic, Nintendo-laden look at 1980s gamer culture (Power Glove, Super Mario Bros. 3 and so on). Plus, sharp-eyed viewers will spot Toby Maguire milling around before the showdown at Universal Studios Theme Park. If not for the hitchhiking, gambling, and reckless automotive destruction - after Putnam takes a knife to Sam's tires, Sam smashes his headlights with a shovel - the movie would be appropriate for all ages. In other words, it earns its PG rating. —Kathleen C. Fennessy

Chris Carter

Chris Carter

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson

Chris Carter

Steven Williams, David Duchovny, David Nutter, Rob Bowman

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, R.W. Goodwin

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Rob Bowman The definitive American television series of the 1990s. The X-Files comes to the big screen with an anticlimactic whimper. And how could it be otherwise? Why should material so perfectly realised in one medium necessarily translate well into another? The series is crisply and thoughtfully executed in just about every detail, but the heart of its appeal lies in the elegant handling of complicated and evolving ongoing story lines, which is not something movies are especially good at. The big-screen drive for closure cramps the creative style, though it may also help nonfans get a grip on the proceedings. We do get some invigorating thrills and chills, however, and a more satisfying sense of the scale of an all-enveloping human-alien conspiracy than ever before, but there's no more plot development here than in an average two-part season-ending. FBI black sheep Mulder and Scully have been temporarily transferred from the X-Files project to an anti-terrorist unit to investigate an Oklahoma City-style bombing. They uncover a new wrinkle in the Syndicate/Cancer Man conspiracy—basically an attempt to help one bunch of (benign?) aliens fight off another bunch who want to colonise Earth. A spectacular, ice-bound finale thrillingly staged by series-veteran director Rob Bowman offers Mulder (but not a conveniently unconscious Scully) his first clear look at a You Know What, which in some quarters qualifies as an epochal event. Martin Landau offers the agents some crucial clues, and several familiar TV faces (including the Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's indispensable Assistant Director Skinner) turn up briefly to wink knowingly at faithful fans. —David Chute

Harvey Keitel, Iain Glen, Danny Cannon

Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Geoff Murphy

Rob Lowe, Cynthia Gibb, Peter Markle Handsome young men whack each other in the face with sticks and learn about life in Youngblood, an enjoyably silly hockey movie. Rob Lowe stars as Dean Youngblood, an American rookie who's been given a shot on a Canadian Junior League hockey team. Sure, he can skate, but can he take a punch? This coming-of-age story is about learning the beauty of vicious hockey fights. No, really. Containing both young-bucks-in-the-locker-room shots and plenty of hockey violence, Youngblood is a surprisingly entertaining cupcake of a movie—there's not much nourishment, but it sure tastes good. Watch for Patrick Swayze as the team's leader and Keanu Reeves in his first film role as the French-Canadian goalie. —Ali Davis