If you were watching TV in the mid-1970s chances are The Sweeney was one of the weekly highlights and these re-mastered collections will have you pining for a time when the only choice was brown or beige, and a monkey would buy you a lot more than a nice whistle. If, however, these episodes are your first taste of Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman) of the Flying Squad, be warned that you will soon be telling friends to "Shut it!" and scouring the pages of Exchange and Mart for a mint-condition Ford Granada in "Tawny Metallic". (Ironically the choice ride for slags in the show was the Jaguar MK2 later to become so closely associated with Thaw's more cerebral take on police work, Inspector Morse. ) First aired as 1974's pilot Regan, the show was produced by Thames Television subsidiary Euston Films and ran over four series and 53 episodes. Despite being given strict guidelines on speaking parts, locations and structure, writers were expected to produce scripts very quickly and individual episodes were filmed within 10 working days. Based on this frenetic schedule, the result was a choice parade of slags, blags and assorted lowlife, played out across fantastic London locations with a gritty humour that set the agenda for many of the small-screen cop shows to follow. Regan and Carter manage to fit up a few collars between pints, and even occasionally shed their nylon shirts and flares for a distinctly unromantic interlude between the sheets-brown of course. In "Stoppo Driver", when a gang of villains lose their own driver in a high-speed chase the logical replacement for their next blag is Cooney (Billy Murray), the squad's latest chauffeur who learnt everything he knew from Evel Knievel. Led by Barney ("a tough monkey, plenty of form") the thieves kidnap Cooney's bride on their honeymoon night and blackmail him to help them rob a bent card game. Colin Welland provides the hired muscle in the second episode, "Faces", as renegade ex-marine Tober, visiting the Smoke from Manchester to help a terrorist gang take down four quickfire scores to fund their operations. [+]

Director Fraser Heston captures the danger and beauty of Alaska in this adventurous family film about two kids who embark on a very personal rescue mission. Former 747 pilot Jake Barnes (Dirk Benedict) moved away from a fast-paced Chicago lifestyle with his two children, Jessie and Sean, after the death of his wife. While daughter Jessie thoroughly enjoys and excels in her new surroundings, son Sean's moodiness and homesickness escalates. One stormy night Jake's small plane crashes during an emergency flight, leaving him stuck on a treacherous cliff with a broken leg and no radio. The local search and rescue team soon gives up, prompting Sean and Jessie to kayak, hike, canoe, and rappel their way over many lush and snowy miles to save their dad. Younger kids will enjoy the antics of Cubby, the baby polar bear who befriends the youthful trekkers and eventually leads them to their father. They'll also enjoy the good-natured sibling rivalry between the tough but tender-hearted Jessie (Thora Birch of Now and Then) and Sean (Vincent Kartheiser of The Indian in the Cupboard) and a chance to hiss at the two evil poachers (including the director's father, Charlton Heston). Parents, on the other hand, may feel compelled to explain etiquette around wild animals, the dangers of hypothermia, and how to pack for a long hike. But the scenic Cook's tour of Alaska and British Columbia makes some of these otherwise corny elements tolerable to grown-ups. -Liane Thomas.

Not even close to his best work, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou-far from a favourite of Chinese authorities, and frequently harassed and stymied in his career-creates an impressive-looking period piece in this gangland story set in the 1930s. Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) gives a colourful performance as a night-club diva who is the mistress of a mob boss. Told from the point of view of a boy (Wang Xiaoxiao) sent by the gangster to wait on the arrogant singer, the story follows these characters over several days as they flee Shanghai to hide out in the countryside. A supreme stylist, Zhang in his best work (Ju Dou, The Story of Qui Ju) is not dependent on conventional story structures or expensive sets. But Shanghai Triad leans heavily on both, and while it is an interesting and enjoyable film-and not without subtle allusions to the political climate and culture in modern China-it is finally an unsatisfying experience. The saving graces are the performances, most of all that of the masterful, chameleon-like Gong Li. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

If you were watching TV in the mid-1970s chances are The Sweeney was one of the weekly highlights and these re-mastered collections will have you pining for a time when the only choice was brown or beige, and a monkey would buy you a lot more than a nice whistle. If, however, these episodes are your first taste of Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman) of the Flying Squad, be warned that you will soon be telling friends to "Shut it!" and scouring the pages of Exchange and Mart for a mint-condition Ford Granada in Tawny Metallic (ironically the choice ride for slags in the show was the Jaguar MK2, later to become so closely associated with Thaw's more cerebral take on policework, Inspector Morse). First aired as 1974's pilot Regan, the show was produced by Thames Television subsidiary Euston Films and ran over four series and 53 episodes. Despite being given strict guidelines on speaking parts, locations and structure, writers were expected to produce scripts very quickly and individual episodes were filmed within 10 working days. Based on this frenetic schedule, the result was a choice parade of slags, blags and assorted lowlife, played out across fantastic London locations with a gritty humour that set the agenda for many of the small-screen cop shows to follow. Regan and Carter manage to fit up a few collars between pints, and even occasionally shed their nylon shirts and flares for a distinctly unromantic interlude between the sheets-brown of course. This first volume of Sweeney highlights starts in relatively sedate style with "Contact Breaker", written by Robert-Banks Stewart and featuring Warren Clarke (when he only had one chin) as wire-specialist Danny Keever. When parolee Keever seems bang-to-rights for a bank job Regan smells a rat and decides to have a closer look at other possibilities, including the ex-con's missus, Brenda (Coral Atkins). The second episode, "Night Out", is a much more feisty affair, despite nearly all the action being confined to the pub inhabited by Iris (Mitzi Rogers), an old flame of Regan's under suspicion for aiding and abetting the break-in going on in the bank next door. Troy Kennedy Martin's script throws in an Old West-style saloon fight, backstreet beatings and even one for old time's sake when Regan and Iris are forced play the waiting game together. [+]

When his mother sends Jack off with money to buy groceries, he comes home with a magic supercharged dirt bike instead. His mother is furious, but when Jack uses the magic bike to save the local hot dog stand from the clutches of corrupt big business, he becomes the town hero.

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.

Funeral in Berlin (1967) is the sequel to 1965's The Ipcress File, again featuring Michael Caine as reluctant spy Harry Palmer. It was clearly the filmmakers' intention to make Palmer a harder-nosed James Bond, and director Guy Hamilton was brought to this project in between Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever for that purpose. There's espionage intrigue, easy women (Eva Renzi as Samantha Steel), and gunplay. But without the gadgetry, one-liners, or even the John Barry score of the first movie, the Bond comparison runs dry. Against the backdrop of a bombed-out industrial wasteland that was Berlin in the mid-Sixties, Palmer is sent to facilitate the defection of Col. Stock (Oscar Homolka). Numerous sub-plots weave together involving indifferent chief Ross (Guy Doleman from IPCRESS), mission aide Johnnie Volkon (Paul Hubschmid), and the untrustworthy Kreutzman (Günter Meisner, who was more memorable as Slugworth in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory). It all comes down to revealing who's working for whom and who's really defecting in the set-piece funeral of the title. The main reason the series continued (Ken Russell's OTT Billion Dollar Brain came next) was the commanding presence of Caine. It's fun to hear him try German, and he manages a few subtle comic gems, such as when a waiter asks "Bitte mein heir?" and he replies, "No. [+]

A truly international production, Wheels on Meals teams up Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao in a comedic-action-crime caper that includes what some consider one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed. Directed by Hung, the movie takes place in Spain, marking the first Jackie Chan vehicle set in a non-Asian location. Chan and Biao play two lunch-truck restaurateurs who are trying to make a living selling egg rolls and hamburgers in the busy squares of Barcelona. Hung is a novice private investigator searching for a beautiful pickpocket named Sylvia (Lola Ferner) whose thieving teams her up with Chan and Yuen. Sylvia is kidnapped after she discovers she is actually a wealthy heiress, and that's when Chan, Yuen and Hung join forces to free her and kick some bad guys' butts. Wheels on Meals is light-hearted fun with stunts and action scenes (including skateboarding tricks and a scene in which Chan and Yuen face off against a motorbike gang) that simply reaffirm the stars' physical and comic talents. The celebrated fight scene is a match between Chan and international kickboxing champion Benny "the Jet" Urquidez. The intensity of their scenes together spurred rumours of a rivalry beyond the film. Whether or not this was true, the two paired up again four years later in Dragons Forever. As for the nonsensical title, one theory claims the film's distributor (Golden Harvest) had little success with films whose titles started with "m" so they simply switched the two words around. [+]