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Review Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd / Inspector Morse - The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • John Thaw
  • Brian Parker
  • Kevin Whately
  • Michael Gough
  • Frederick Treves
  • Clive Swift
Release date: 1998-07-13
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £1.94

Review Inspector Morse - The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn [1987] / Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd:

When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world-and with his colleagues in the police force-most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to the next. And he is scarred-more deeply than he would ever admit-by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. [+]
It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! - Piers Ford.

Review Nouveaux Pictures / Fellini's 8.1/2 [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Marcello Mastroianni
  • Claudia Cardinale
  • Sandra Milo
  • Anouk Aimée
  • Federico Fellini
  • Rossella Falk
Release date: 2001-03-26
Run time: 138 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £11.95

Review Fellini's 8.1/2 [1962] / Nouveaux Pictures:

Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, his 1963 semi-autobiographical story about a worshipped filmmaker who has lost his inspiration, is still a mesmerising mystery tour that has been quoted (Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, Paul Mazursky's Alex in Wonderland) but never duplicated. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido, a director trying to relax a bit in the wake of his latest hit. Besieged by people eager to work with him, however, he also struggles to find his next idea for a film. The combined pressures draw him within himself, where his recollections of significant events in his life and the many lovers he has left behind begin to haunt him. The marriage of Fellini's hyper real imagery, dreamy sidebars and the gravity of Guido's increasing guilt and self-awareness make this as much a deeply moving, soulful film as it is an electrifying spectacle. Mastroianni is wonderful in the lead, his woozy sensitivity to Guido's freefall both touching and charming-all the more so as the character becomes increasingly divorced from the celebrity hype that ultimately outpaces him. -Tom Keogh Federico Fellini's 1963 semi-autobiographical story about a worshipped filmmaker who has lost his inspiration is still a mesmerising mystery tour that has been quoted (Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, Paul Mazursky's Alex in Wonderland) but never duplicated. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido, a director trying to relax a bit in the wake of his latest hit. Besieged by people eager to work with him, however, he also struggles to find his next idea for a film. The combined pressures draw him within himself, where his recollections of significant events in his life and the many lovers he has left behind begin to haunt him. [+]
The marriage of Fellini's hyper-real imagery, dreamy sidebars and the gravity of Guido's increasing guilt and self-awareness make this as much a deeply moving, soulful film as it is an electrifying spectacle. Mastroianni is wonderful in the lead, his woozy sensitivity to Guido's freefall both touching and charming-all the more so as the character becomes increasingly divorced from the celebrity hype that ultimately outpaces him. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Review MGM Entertainment / A Passage To India [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Alec Guinness
  • David Lean
  • Peggy Ashcroft
  • Victor Banerjee
  • James Fox
  • Judy Davis
Release date: 2000-09-11
Run time: 157 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.24

Review A Passage To India [1984] / MGM Entertainment:

A Passage to India, David Lean's adaptation of EM Forster's mysterious tale of racism in colonial India, turned out to be the master director's final film. Subtle and grand at the same time, Lean's adaptation is faithful to the book, rendering its blend of the mystical and the all-too human with exquisite precision. Judy Davis plays a young British woman travelling in India with her fiancé's mother. While visiting a tourist attraction, she has a frightening moment in a cave-one that she eventually spins from an instant of mental meltdown into a tale of a physical attack that ruins several lives. Lean captures Forster's sense of awe at the kind of ageless wisdom and inexplicable phenomena to be encountered in India, as well as the British tendency to dismiss it all as savage, rather than simply different. -Marshall Fine.

Review Second Sight Films Ltd. / Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Beeban Kidron
  • Ken Kitson
  • Charlotte Coleman
  • Tania Rodrigues
  • James Duggan
  • Margery Withers
Release date: 2003-03-24
Run time: 165 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £9.98

Review Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit [1990] / Second Sight Films Ltd.:

Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit transfers wonderfully to the screen in this BBC adaptation (with a screenplay by Winterson). Jess is the adopted daughter of evangelical Christians living in the northwest of England in the 1960s. Her mother wants Jess to be a missionary, but when she falls in love with Melanie, Jess begins to realise that there is more to life than church. When Jess' mother begins to suspect the girls of "unnatural passions" she tries to destroy their relationship with the help of Pastor Finch (Kenneth Cranham) and his congregation. But their efforts-including a terrifying attempt at exorcism-only push Jess further away. Jess eventually understands that the only way to survive is to escape, and she sets her sights on a place at Oxford. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is both a broad comedy and a moving coming-of-age story. Charlotte Coleman is perfect as the teenage Jess, attempting to reconcile her religious devotion and her adolescent passion, but the film belongs to Geraldine McEwan as Jess' mother. McEwan obviously relishes Winterson's script, and she creates a character both monstrous, ridiculous and surprisingly sympathetic. It's a difficult role to carry off, but McEwan succeeds. [+]
Her performance is the high-point of this award-winning, provocative film. -Simon Leake, Amazon. com.

Review Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd / Inspector Morse - The Settling Of The Sun / The Ghost In The Machine [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Amanda Hillwood
  • Kevin Whately
  • John Thaw
  • Patricia Hodge
  • Peter Hammond
  • Herbert Wise
  • Anna Calder-Marshall
Release date: 1999-10-01
Run time: 207 min.
Price: £19.99

Review Inspector Morse - The Settling Of The Sun / The Ghost In The Machine [1987] / Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd:

When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world-and with his colleagues in the police force-most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to the next. And he is scarred-more deeply than he would ever admit-by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. [+]
It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! - Piers Ford.

Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / 9.1/2 Weeks [1985]
Actors & Directors
  • Christine Baranski
  • Kim Basinger
  • David Margulies
  • Mickey Rourke
  • Adrian Lyne
  • Margaret Whitton
Release date: 1996-07-01
Run time: 112 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £7.89

Review 9.1/2 Weeks [1985] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

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.

Review Dd Home Entertainment / Next of Kin [1942]
Actors & Directors
  • Reginald Tate
  • John Chandos
  • Nova Pilbeam
  • Stephen Murray
  • Mervyn Johns
  • Thorold Dickinson
Release date: 2001-03-05
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £7.94

Review Next of Kin [1942] / Dd Home Entertainment:


Review Entertainment in Video / Tom And Viv [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Willem Dafoe
  • Nickolas Grace
  • Tim Dutton
  • Rosemary Harris
  • Brian Gilbert
  • Miranda Richardson
Release date: 1995-03-14
Run time: 122 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £16.99

Review Tom And Viv [1994] / Entertainment in Video:


Review 4 Front Video / Big Screen Epics - The Fall Of The Roman Empire / Julius Caesar / El Cid
Release date: 1999-10-18
Run time: 457 min.
Price: £13.99

Review Big Screen Epics - The Fall Of The Roman Empire / Julius Caesar / El Cid / 4 Front Video:


Review Granada Media / Bouquet Of Barbed Wire [1976]
Actors & Directors
  • Sheila Allen (III)
  • James Aubrey
  • Tony Wharmby
  • Roger Rees
  • Frank Finlay
  • Susan Penhaligon
Release date: 2000-08-21
Run time: 353 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £23.99

Review Bouquet Of Barbed Wire [1976] / Granada Media:


Review Art House Productions Ltd. / Sherlock Holmes - The Masks Of Death [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Roy Ward Baker
  • Peter Cushing
  • John Mills
  • Anne Baxter
  • Gordon Jackson
  • Ray Milland
Release date: 1995-10-23
Run time: 78 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Sherlock Holmes - The Masks Of Death [1984] / Art House Productions Ltd.:


Review Warner Home Video / Freaks [1932]
Actors & Directors
  • Tod Browning
  • Wallace Ford
  • Henry Victor
  • Olga Baclanova
  • Roscoe Ates
  • Leila Hyams
Release date: 2000-04-03
Run time: 62 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.50

Review Freaks [1932] / Warner Home Video:

One of the most famous, most shocking and, for much of its existence, most elusive of cult films, Tod Browning's Freaks remains worthy of its dubious top billing by literary critic Leslie Fiedler as the greatest of all Freak movies. At the centre of the story are two circus midgets, Hans and Frieda (already well known in the 1930s through film and advertising appearances as Harry and Daisy Earles), whose marriage plans are blasted when Hans becomes the target of the aerialist Cleopatra's plot to marry him then kill him off for his money. During what is certainly one of the most notorious scenes in cult film history, the wedding party of freaks ritually embrace Cleopatra as one of us. Through her undisguised horror at this and her gruesome punishment by the freaks, the film bluntly confronts viewers about our awkwardness about different bodies while simultaneously stirring up fear and alarm in familiar horror-movie style. Better known for the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula (1931), Brownings showmanship was equally a product of the circus (he was himself an adolescent contortionist in a travelling show). His meshing of circus and cinema-two dangerous entertainments-produces Freaks' uniquely disquieting effect. Startled and indignant preview audiences forced the producers to add an explanatory foreword to the film but even this crackles with sensationalism as it veers between sideshow-style sympathy and fright warning. None the less, protests and local censorship ensued and the film never reached the mass audience for which it was made. Still, some of the real stars of the midway Ten-in-One shows of the 1920s and 30s (Johnny Eck, Daisy and Violet Hilton the Siamese twins, Prince Randian, the Hindu Living Torso) are showcased here as themselves and it is their undeniably real presence in what is otherwise familiar fictional terrain which is still so provocative. -Helen Stoddart.

Review 4 Front Video / Crash [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Holly Hunter
  • Deborah Unger
  • James Spader
  • Rosanna Arquette
  • David Cronenberg
Release date: 2002-07-01
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.89

Review Crash [1996] / 4 Front Video:

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.

Review Warner Home Video / Six Feet Under: The Complete First Series [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Alan Ball
Release date: 2003-07-07
Run time: 700 min.
RRP: £44.99
Price: £13.99

Review Six Feet Under: The Complete First Series [2002] / Warner Home Video:

Six Feet Under is not just a smartly written, sublimely acted soap that happens to be set in a funeral home; it's a profound mixture of emotional truths and whimsical black comedy that uses its setting to comment upon the way we live, with the omnipresent spectre of death throwing life's problems into sharp relief. Creator Alan Ball (American Beauty) understands modern neuroses more than most, it seems, and his rich sense of the absurd is given added potency, not to say piquancy, by the sometimes comically ridiculous juxtaposition of life and death. The first series introduces the Fisher family, whose already weighty emotional baggage is bolstered by the sudden demise of their patriarch, who has willed the family funeral home to his two initially hostile sons, wayward Nate (Peter Krause) and in-the-closet David (Michael C Hall). Teenage younger sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose) and repressed mother Ruth (Frances Conroy) have their own problems, as does put-upon mortician Federico (Freddy Rodriguez). The first year's unfolding story arc includes the family's resistance to a hostile big corporation, Nate's budding romance with wild card Brenda (stunningly good Rachel Griffiths), David's attempts to reconcile his Christian faith with his homosexuality, Claire's self-destructive boyfriend trouble and Ruth's gradual realisation that, although she was a wife and is a mother, she's entitled to have a life too. On the DVD: Six Feet Under, Series 1 spreads 13 episodes across four discs. Care has been taken to reflect the show's stylish look in everything from the novel external packaging to the menu layouts. Picture is good, but only standard 4:3 ratio, though sound is vivid Dolby 5. 1. The bonus features include two episode commentaries from creator Alan Ball, who happily chats about the pilot and the season finale, both of which he wrote and directed. [+]
There's a 22-minute "Behind the Scenes" featurette-standard HBO fare with cast interviews. More interesting is "Under the Main Titles", which explores Digital Kitchen's creation of the fascinating opening title sequence and talks to genius composer Thomas Newman about his theme music. The music can also be heard in an audio-only track as well as in Kid Loco's "Graveyard" remix. Text biographies, episode synopses and Web links complete the extras. One minor niggle: there's no "Play All" facility, so you can't indulge the luxury of watching uninterrupted episodes back-to-back. -Mark Walker.

Review ITV DVD / Love Story [1944]
Actors & Directors
  • Stewart Granger
  • Tom Walls
  • Margaret Lockwood
  • Reginald Purdell
  • Leslie Arliss
  • Patricia Roc
Release date: 1995-04-13
Run time: 108 min.
RRP: £4.99
Price: £15.85

Review Love Story [1944] / ITV DVD:


Review Warner Home Video / Fearless [1993]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Weir
  • Tom Hulce
  • Isabella Rossellini
  • Rosie Perez
  • Jeff Bridges
  • John Turturro
Release date: 1996-08-26
Run time: 117 min.
Price: £5.99

Review Fearless [1993] / Warner Home Video:


Review Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd / Inspector Morse - The Wolvercote Tongue / Last Seen Wearing [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Kevin Whately
  • Peter McEnery
  • John Thaw
  • Alastair Reid
  • Edward Bennett
  • Kenneth Cranham
  • Simon Callow
Release date: 2000-01-26
Run time: 204 min.
Price: £19.99

Review Inspector Morse - The Wolvercote Tongue / Last Seen Wearing [1987] / Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd:

When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world-and with his colleagues in the police force-most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to the next. And he is scarred-more deeply than he would ever admit-by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. [+]
It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! - Piers Ford.

Review Second Sight Films Ltd. / Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence [1983]
Actors & Directors
  • Tom Conti
  • Jack Thompson
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto
  • Nagisa Oshima
  • David Bowie
  • Takeshi Kitano
Release date: 1999-06-21
Run time: 122 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.99

Review Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence [1983] / Second Sight Films Ltd.:

A highly unusual war movie with as many detractors as fans, this English-language feature directed by Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses) stars David Bowie as a silent, ethereal POW in a Japanese camp. Protesting-via his own enigmatic rebellion-the camp's brutal conditions and treatment of prisoners, Bowie's character earns the respect of the camp commandant (Ryuichi Sakamoto). While the two seem locked in an unspoken, spiritual understanding, another prisoner (Tom Conti) engages in a more conventional resistance against a monstrous sergeant (Takeshi). The film has a way of evoking as many questions as certainties and it is not always easy to understand the internal logic of the characters' actions. But that's generally true of Oshima's movies, in which the power of certain relationships is almost hallucinatory in self-referential intensity. The cast is outstanding, and Bowie is particularly fascinating in his alien way. -Tom Keogh.

Review 4 Front Video / Poison Ivy [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Sara Gilbert
  • Tom Skerritt
  • Alan Stock
  • Drew Barrymore
  • Cheryl Ladd
  • Katt Shea
Release date: 1996-08-19
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.70

Review Poison Ivy [1992] / 4 Front Video:


Review Windsong Video / Coronation Street - 1989 [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • Emily Walton
  • Amy Walton
  • Antony Cotton
  • Barbara Knox
  • Matthew Robinson
  • Tracey Rooney
  • John Black (IV)
  • Baz Taylor
  • Richard Signy
  • Helen Worth
Release date: 1990-11-05
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £7.99
Price: £1.70

Review Coronation Street - 1989 [1960] / Windsong Video:


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Models & Brands:
Inspector Morse - The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn [1987], Fellini's 8.1/2 [1962], A Passage To India [1984], Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit [1990], Inspector Morse - The Settling Of The Sun / The Ghost In The Machine [1987], 9.1/2 Weeks [1985], Next of Kin [1942], Tom And Viv [1994], Big Screen Epics - The Fall Of The Roman Empire / Julius Caesar / El Cid, Bouquet Of Barbed Wire [1976], Sherlock Holmes - The Masks Of Death [1984], Freaks [1932], Crash [1996], Six Feet Under: The Complete First Series [2002], Love Story [1944], Fearless [1993], Inspector Morse - The Wolvercote Tongue / Last Seen Wearing [1987], Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence [1983], Poison Ivy [1992], Coronation Street - 1989 [1960]

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