Mars Attacks [DVD] [1997]

Mars Attacks! [DVD] [1997]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's enlightening to view Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! as his twisted satire of the blockbuster film Independence Day, which was released earlier the same year, although the movies were in production simultaneously. Burton's eye-popping, schlock tribute to 1950s UFO movies actually plays better on video than it did in cinemas. The idea of invading aliens ray-gunning the big-name movie stars in the cast is a cleverly subversive one, and the bulb-headed, funny-sounding animated Martians are pretty nifty, but it all seemed to be spread thin on the big screen. On video, however, the movie's kooky humour seems a bit more concentrated. The Earth actors (most of whom get zapped or kidnapped for alien science experiments) include Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, Michael J Fox, Lukas Haas, Jim Brown, Tom Jones and Pam Grier. --Jim Emerson

Special Features
Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Surround 5.1 English
Dolby Surround 5.1
Interactive Menu
Production Notes
Scene Access
Arabic\Croatian\Czech\English\Greek\Hungarian\Icelandic\Polish\Turkish

Synopsis
Director Tim Burton unleashes MARS ATTACKS!, a vicious, affectionate, brightly-colored homage to 1950s alien invasion movies. When a shiny silver flying saucer lands in the Nevada desert, a group of skull-faced Martians exit the gleaming craft. Although they claim to be peaceful, they promptly "vaporize" a gathering of unfortunate Earthlings, kicking off a bizarre high-tech war with wild special effects. This studiously campy sci-fi spoof, based on a series of Topps bubble-gum cards, gleefully parodies not only schlock B-horror movies, but also overblown blockbusters such as INDEPENDENCE DAY. This subversive film is helped along by an all-star cast including Jack Nicholson in dual roles as both a clueless U.S. President (with First Lady Glenn Close) and a Las Vegas sleazebag. The film follows the wacky WAR OF THE WORLD--like proceedings from the points of view of numerous colorful characters, from the inane U.S. Press Secretary (Martin Short) to a trailer-park family (Lukas Haas and Sylvia Sidney), singer Tom Jones (as himself).

Mars Attacks! [DVD] [1997] Directed by Tim Burton Price: £3.59 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 54 new or used available from £1.34 Average customer review:

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North By Northwest [Blu-ray] [1959]

North By Northwest [Blu-ray] [1959]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
A strong candidate for possibly the most entertaining and enjoyable film ever made by a Hollywood studio, North by Northwest is positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo (1958) and the stark horror of Psycho (1960). In the corpus of Alfred Hitchcock films it shows the director at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. Which is not to say that this is just "Hitchcock Lite". It's a classic Hitchcock Wrong Man scenario: Grant is Roger O Thornhill (initials ROT), an advertising executive who is mistaken by enemy spies for a US undercover agent named George Kaplan. Convinced these sinister fellows (James Mason as the boss and Martin Landau as his henchman) are trying to kill him, Roger flees and meets a sexy Stranger on a Train (Eva Marie Saint), with whom he engages in one of the longest, most convolutedly choreographed kisses in screen history. And of course there are the famous set pieces: the stabbing at the United Nations, the crop-duster plane attack in the cornfield (where a pedestrian has no place to hide) and the cliffhanger finale atop the stone faces of Mount Rushmore. With its sparkling Ernest Lehman script and that pulse-quickening Bernard Herrmann score, what more could a filmgoer possibly desire? --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

On the DVD: This wide-screen print of the movie looks remarkably fresh, preserving the vivid depth of the original's VistaVision cinematography. The main extra feature is a new and entertaining 40-minute documentary hosted by Eva Marie Saint in which most of the surviving cast and crew give their insights into the making of the picture (we learn for example that canny Cary Grant charged 15 cents per autograph). Screenwriter Ernest Lehman provides an audio commentary and on a separate audio-only track Bernard Herrmann's masterful score can be heard in its entirety. There's also a stills gallery and trailers. --Mark Walker

Synopsis
NORTH BY NORTHWEST is a suspense thriller that finds Cary Grant in the role of Roger Thornhill, a Manhattan advertising executive mistaken for a spy. Considered by many to be the prototypical pure action movie (creating the template for later James Bond and Indiana Jones films), the film is a cross-country roller-coaster ride with Alfred Hitchcock at the helm. The film is duly famous for several classic and indelible scenes, including the desert biplane encounter and the Mt. Rushmore climax. The original title was THE MAN IN LINCOLN'S NOSE, which was replaced by a reference to a line from William Shakespeare's HAMLET (in which Hamlet says, "I am but mad north-north-west."). The magical combination of Hitchcock and the debonair Grant--who made four wonderful films together--makes NORTH BY NORTHWEST a suspense-filled standout.
When Thornhill finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, the world as he knows it comes to an end. Suddenly danger threatens as the hapless businessman is targeted as an American intelligence agent and set up as a killer. All of Thornhill's attempts to straighten things out only make matters worse--and soon the desperate man is on the run from murderous foreign operatives, the CIA, and the police. The supporting cast, including Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, and Martin Landau, is uniformly excellent.

From the Back Cover

Audio:

Dolby TrueHD English 5.1, Dolby Digital English 5.1, Mono Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish 1.0

Subtitles:

English, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Latin Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish

North By Northwest [Blu-ray] [1959] Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Price: £8.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 19 new or used available from £7.50 Average customer review:

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Film Noir Collection [DVD]

Film Noir Collection [DVD]

Synopsis
Features the film noir titles The Killers (1946), Double Indemnity, The Big Steal, Crossfire, Out of the Past, The Blue Dahlia, The Glass Key, This Gun For Hire, and Farewell My Lovely.

Synopsis
This 9 disc film noir collection includes legendary titles: The Killers; Double Indemnity; The Big Steal; Crossfire; Out of the Past; The Blue Dahlia; The Glass Key; This Gun For Hire; and Murder, My Sweet. A truly memorable box set.

An unbeatable collection of classic Film Noir
Inside the big black cigarette box (a fair indication of the dangerously addictive quality of its contents), each film comes in its own case; and there isn't much apart from the films on the disks. Fortunately, special features and other such padding are not required to make these films great value for money and excellent entertainment. There is no filler in this set. All the films included are superb, and make an ideal introduction to the genre, at an ideal price.

With top writers like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Grahame Greene and Ernest Hemingway, directors like Billy Wilder, Edward Dmytryk, and Don Siegel, and featuring early starring roles for Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Alan Ladd and top-notch femme-fatale turns by Veronica Lake, Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, and Gloria Grahame (among others), you will not be disappointed.

Film Noir Collection [DVD] Film Noir Price: £14.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 24 new or used available from £14.75 Average customer review:

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The Time Traveler's Wife [Blu-ray]

The Time Traveler's Wife [Blu-ray] [2009]

Ron Livingston, Michelle Nolden, Maggie Castle, Tatum McCann, Eric BanaDirector: Robert Schwentke

Film of the Year
I read the book a year or so ago and it was such a good read, my favourite book of last year. I have generally been very dissapointed in film versions of books so I approached this with caution but it was probably the best film of a book I have seen. First I should say there is loads missing. There is bound to be, it just can't all be fitted into a film. The film had a different feel to the book but that was okay it was a good feel. I thought the pace was rather quick, the book was much slower and deeper but my wife (who had not read the book) thought the pace was fine. The portrayals in the film are very close to how I imagined Henry and Claire - how did they do that?!! That never happens when I see film versions! I will definitely be getting the DVD I want to see it again.

If you have seen the film, please read the book - you wont regret it. If you have read the book, go see the film and then read the book again. There is no way to get this wrong. I read the book first and my wife saw the film film first. She said the film helped her get her head around the concept of what was happeining and set her up for the book which she loved. The film made me want to read to book again.

Either way enjoy this imaginative and beautifully crafted tale.

The Time Travelers Wife
I had my reservations about seeing this film, as I haven't read the book and thought that this wouldn't help my overall understanding of a potentially complicated storyline. But don't let this hold you back!!

The Time Traveler's Wife [Blu-ray] [2009] Directed by Robert Schwentke Price: £7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 40 new or used available from £5.63 Average customer review:

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Skin

Skin [DVD] [2008] review

SKIN is one of the most extraordinary stories to emerge from apartheid South Africa: Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners (Sam Neill and Alice Krige), unaware of their black ancestry, who raise their child as a "white girl". But from the age of ten Sandra is shunned by white society, thus begins Sandra's thirty-year struggle to reconcile her heritage and find acceptance in a society torn by race and politics.

Skin [DVD] [2008] Directed by Anthony Fabian Price: £7.66 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 20 new or used available from £6.38 Average customer review:

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The Village

The Village [DVD] [2004]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even when his trademark twist-ending formula wears worrisomely thin as it does in The Village, M. Night Shyamalan is a true showman who knows how to serve up a spookfest. He's derailed this time by a howler of a "surprise" lifted almost directly from "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim," an episode of The Twilight Zone starring Cliff Robertson that originally aired in 1961. Even if you're unfamiliar with that Rod Serling scenario, you'll have a good chance of guessing the surprise, which ranks well below The Sixth Sense and Signs on Shyamalan's shock-o-meter. That leaves you to appreciate Shyamalan's proven strengths, including a sharp eye for fear-laden compositions, a general sense of unease, delicate handling of fine actors (alas, most of them wasted here, save for Bryce Dallas Howard in a promising debut), and the cautious concealment of his ruse, which in this case involves a 19th-century village that maintains an anxious truce with dreadful creatures that live in the forbidden woods nearby. Will any of this take anyone by genuine surprise? That seems unlikely, since Emperor Shyamalan has clearly lost his clothes in The Village, but it's nice to have him around to scare us, even if he doesn't always succeed. --Jeff Shannon

Special Features
BONUS MATERIAL: DECONSTRUCTING THE VILLAGE REAL ESTATE: The Release of "The Village" (3:30) SECRET PASSAGE: The Ending of "The Village" (5:30) LANDSCAPING: Mixing, Sound Design, Music and Editing for "The Village" (11:00) BRICK BY BRICK: The making of "The Village" (24:00) CORNERSTONES: Writing "The Village" (6:30) FOUNDATION: The Cast of "The Village" (10:30) DELETED SCENES (11:30) Introduced by M. Night Shyamalan Drill August’s Story Pre-Wedding Pipes NIGHT HOME MOVIE (3:15) PRODUCTION PHOTO GALLERY

Synopsis
M. Night Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE finds the renowned writer-director crafting a suspenseful story of a small community whose inhabitants are plagued by fear of the unknown forest that surrounds them. For years, they have kept a truce with mysterious creatures in the woods by vowing never to breach a clearly defined border. However, when a young man (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes determined to explore the nearby towns, his actions are met with menacing consequences. Shyamalan continues his remarkable streak of entrancing and entertaining thrillers (THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE, SIGNS) with THE VILLAGE. A meticulous filmmaker, Shyamalan displays his penchant for setting up a fascinating atmosphere in every aspect of the movie, from its distinctive color scheme to its intentionally genteel dialogue to its outstanding cinematography, courtesy of Roger Deakins. Renowned cast members Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Adrien Brody are excellent, but the true standout is Bryce Dallas Howard (daughter of director Ron Howard), who embodies the heart of the film with her vulnerable but fiercely vital performance. Like Shyamalan's other movies, THE VILLAGE has a distinct twist that offers shocking revelations, but this film's overwhelming sense of menace is what is sure to resonate with viewers long after it's over.

The Village [DVD] [2004] Directed by M. Night Shyamalan Price: £3.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 132 new or used available from £0.11 Average customer review:

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Sweeney Movie Collection (Sweeney Sweeney 2)

Sweeney! Movie Collection (Sweeney!/Sweeney 2) [1976] [DVD]

Editorial Reviews

Synopsis
Much imitated but rarely bettered, this disc features both spin off movies from the hugely popular 1970s detective series THE SWEENEY. In the first film, DI Regan (John Thaw) is asked to investigate the mysterious death of a friend's girlfriend. But as he is suspended, he can't ask his partner, DC Carter (Dennis Waterman) for any help. With no support, he must go alone to find the killer.
In THE SWEENEY 2, Regan and Carter are reunited and on the trail of gang of robbers who only ever steal exactly 100,000. The trail leads them as far as Beirut and Malta but the answer may lie closer to home in the shape of a corrupt ex-policeman played by Denholm Elliot.

Sweeney! Movie Collection (Sweeney!/Sweeney 2) [1976] [DVD] Directed by David Wickes, Tom Clegg Price: £4.49 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 29 new or used available from £3.20 Average customer review:

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