![Review Connoisseur Video / The Ascent [1976]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419BRXEVC0L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Larisa Shepitko
- Oby Obyeridhiabo
Run time: 104 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £59.90
Review The Ascent [1976] / Connoisseur Video:The Ascent is Russian director Larisa Schepitko's adaptation of Vassil Bykov's novella Sotnikov, a controversial story of Russian "collaborators" in World War II. Two partisan soldiers, Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostiukhin), trudge into the wilderness in search of food for their stranded regiment. They're captured by Germans and later tortured by a Russian traitor, Portnov. Sotnikov's unflinching refusal to reveal the whereabouts of his countrymen and his subsequent martyrdom establish the narrative as a powerful religious allegory, his messianic strength thrown into relief by the cowardice of those around him. Typical of the latter are Rybak's fatalistic visions of escape, his willing confession and subsequent collaboration with the Nazi police (a peasant woman calls him "Judas") and the final indignity of his attempts to commit suicide in an outhouse. Visually striking throughout-everything from dense forest to wintry landscapes (often black-on-white) to the hypnotic face of Plotnikov himself is imbued with a surreal, unearthly poetry-The Ascent has an authentic, almost documentary feel (enhanced by the use of bleak exterior locations and hand-held cameras) and an ominous tension that builds towards its climax. In a gripping finale, Portnov's interrogatory threats-"You'll learn things about yourself, your stoicism will vanish…so will the fanatical glitter in your eyes"-become haunting prophecy as Sotnikov's heroic courage survives him, transmuted to a peasant boy in a single look. -Paul Philpott.
![Review Eureka Entertainment / Arch Of Triumph [1948]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SV09FP5SL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Ruth Warrick
- Lewis Milestone
- Louis Calhern
- Ingrid Bergman
- Charles Laughton
- Charles Boyer
Run time: 127 min.
Creator: Irwin Shaw
Price: £5.99
Review Arch Of Triumph [1948] / Eureka Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Robert Davi
- Catherine Zeta Jones
- Rachel Ward
- Marlon Brando
- Tom Selleck
- John Glen
Run time: 115 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £9.24
Review Christopher Columbus - The Discovery [1992] / Universal Pictures UK:
![Review MGM Entertainment / Forced Vengeance [1982]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AB036TEPL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Camila Griggs
- Chuck Norris
- David Opatoshu
- Mary Louise Weller
- James Fargo
- Michael Cavanaugh
Run time: 86 min.
Creator: Franklin Thompson
RRP: £6.99
Price: £4.99
Review Forced Vengeance [1982] / MGM Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- D'Urville Martin
- D'Urville Martin
- Jerry Jones
- Rudy Ray Moore
- Brenda DeLong
- Lady Reed
Run time: 90 min.
Creator: Rex Lipton
Price: £12.99
Review Dolemite / Mia Video Entertainment Ltd:
![Review Touchstone Home Video / Face/Off [1997]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411PR48SDAL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Joan Allen
- Gina Gershon
- Nicolas Cage
- Alessandro Nivola
- John Woo
- John Travolta
Run time: 133 min.
Creator: Mike Werb
RRP: £14.99
Price: £9.19
Review Face/Off [1997] / Touchstone Home Video: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.
![Review 4 Front Video / Waterworld [1995]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417R55F736L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Kevin Costner
- Kevin Costner
- Kevin Reynolds
- Jeanne Tripplehorn
- Chaim Girafi
- Tina Majorino
- Dennis Hopper
Run time: 130 min.
Creator: Peter Rader
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.96
Review Waterworld [1995] / 4 Front Video: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.
Actors & Directors
- Sean Patrick Flanery
- Simon Wincer
- Bryan Pringle
- Ronny Coutteure
- Michel Duchaussoy
Run time: 85 min.
Price: £5.99
Review The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones - Oganga, The Giver and Taker of Life / Paramount Home Entertainment:
![Review Mia Video Entertainment Ltd / Under Threat [1993]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WQ7AWKAXL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Louis Giambalvo
- Rod Holcomb
- Xander Berkeley
- Jenette Goldstein
- Dana Delany
- Charles Bronson
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: Robert Roy Pool
Price: £10.99
Review Under Threat [1993] / Mia Video Entertainment Ltd:
Actors & Directors
- John Ashley
- Dwight Schultz
- Mr. T
- George Peppard
- Dirk Benedict
Run time: 140 min.
Creator: Tom Blomquist
RRP: £9.99
Price: £1.08
Review The A-Team - Volume 1 - Mexican Slayride (Feature-length pilot) / Pros and Cons / Playback:Initially one of NBC network's most successful series, The A-Team ran for 90 one-hour episodes (with a few feature-length specials thrown in) from 1983 to 1987. The premise of the series was certainly different. A group of US operatives is sent to rob the Bank of Hanoi during the Vietnam War in an attempt to destabilise the country's economy, but the bigwig who organises the raid is killed, leaving no indication that the mission was officially sanctioned. Returning home, Smith (George Peppard), BA (it stood for "Bad Attitude") Baracus (Mr T), Face (Dirk Benedict) and that "crazy foo" Murdoch (Dwight Schultz) suddenly find themselves accused of criminal activity, obliging them to set up as benevolent mercenaries. They tear around the country in what looks like a delivery van, generally do-gooding while keeping one step ahead of the inept military police. Snappy, witty and fast paced, the series began as a spoof of the action-thriller genre. It wasn't until the later episodes that an element of seriousness crept in, which may have caused the decline in audience figures eventually resulting in the show's cancellation. On video and DVD though, it remains a feast for fans of classic cult TV. -Roger Thomas.
Actors & Directors
- Christopher Lee
- Simon Wincer
- Matthew Wait
- Sean Patrick Flanery
- Vic Armstrong
- Patrick Ryecart
- Benedict Taylor
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: Gavin Scott
Price: £5.99
Review Young Indiana Jones - Adventures Of The Secret Service / Paramount Home Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Conan Lee
- Andrew Prine
- Peter Manoogian
- Roy Dotrice
- Denise Crosby
- Patrick Reynolds
Creator: Paul De Meo
Price: £5.99
Review Eliminators [1986] / Ilc Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Roy Thinnes
- Charlton Heston
- Nancy Olson
- Jack Smight
- Ed Nelson
- Dana Andrews
Price: £10.99
Review Airport 1975 [1974] / Paramount Home Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Deana Enoches
- Pamela Sutch
- Laura Giglio
- Gary Whitson
- Cristie Clark
- Tina Krause
Run time: 81 min.
Price: £12.99
Review Zombie Holocaust / Stonevision Entertainment:
Actors & Directors
- Dennis Quaid
- Jeb Stuart
- Brent Hinkley
- Ian Blake Nelson
- Danny Glover
- Claudia Stedelin
Creator: Mel Efros
Review Switchback:
Actors & Directors
- Tatsuo Sato
- Spike Spencer
- Nobuyoshi Habara
- John Swasey
- Rob Mungle
- Mark Laskowski
- Phil Ross
Run time: 60 min.
Creator: Michitaka Kikuchi
Price: £12.99
Review Martian Successor Nadesico - Vol. 2 / Adv Films:
Actors & Directors
- Tony Leung Ka Fai
- Yun-Fat Chow
- Jing Wong
- Chingmy Yau
- Chien-lien Wu
- Charles Heung
Run time: 125 min.
RRP: £13.99
Price: £0.84
Review The Return Of The God Of Gamblers / Mia Video Entertainment Ltd:
![Review Walt Disney Home Video / Digimon - Vol. 2 - Episodes 4-6 [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516TA18DGML._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Joshua Seth
- Michael Sorich
- R. Martin Klein
- Laura Summer
- Wendee Lee
- Jeff Nimoy
- Derek Stephen Prince
- Mona Marshall
Run time: 60 min.
Creator: Michael McConnohie
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.30
Review Digimon - Vol. 2 - Episodes 4-6 [1999] / Walt Disney Home Video:
![Review Universal Pictures UK / Lock, Stock ....The TV Series [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4101ASZ67AL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Daniel Caltagirone
- Shaun Parkes
- Nick Jones
- Scott Maslen
- Rudolf Mestdagh
- Ralph Brown
- Del Synnott
- David Thacker
Run time: 302 min.
RRP: £21.99
Price: £9.99
Review Lock, Stock ....The TV Series [2000] / Universal Pictures UK:
![Review 4 Front Video / Reap The Wild Wind [1942]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZBREQGYQL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- John Wayne
- Cecil B. De Mille
- Paulette Goddard
- Ray Milland
- Raymond Massey
Run time: 118 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £12.99
Review Reap The Wild Wind [1942] / 4 Front Video:
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Models & Brands:
The Ascent [1976], Arch Of Triumph [1948], Christopher Columbus - The Discovery [1992], Forced Vengeance [1982], Dolemite, Face/Off [1997], Waterworld [1995], The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones - Oganga, The Giver and Taker of Life, Under Threat [1993], The A-Team - Volume 1 - Mexican Slayride (Feature-length pilot) / Pros and Cons, Young Indiana Jones - Adventures Of The Secret Service, Eliminators [1986], Airport 1975 [1974], Zombie Holocaust, Switchback, Martian Successor Nadesico - Vol. 2, The Return Of The God Of Gamblers, Digimon - Vol. 2 - Episodes 4-6 [1999], Lock, Stock ....The TV Series [2000], Reap The Wild Wind [1942] |
