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Home › Drama
Actors & Directors
  • James Faulkner
  • Tom Wilkinson
  • David Robb
  • Jeremy Child
Release date: 1994-02-14
Run time: 142 min.
Price: £6.99

Review First Among Equals Part 2 / Castle Pictures:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Shooting The Past [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Timothy Spall
  • Billie Whitelaw
  • Emilia Fox
  • Lindsay Duncan
  • Stephen Poliakoff
  • Liam Cunningham
Release date: 2000-01-24
Run time: 195 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £18.90

Review Shooting The Past [1999] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Pump Up the Volume [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Jeff Chamberlain
  • Allan Moyle
  • Andy Romano
  • Anthony Lucero
  • Cheryl Pollak
  • Keith Stuart Thayer
Release date: 1999-02-08
Run time: 97 min.
RRP: £4.99
Price: £3.70

Review Pump Up the Volume [1990] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd / Inspector Morse - The Wolvercote Tongue / Last Seen Wearing [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Kenneth Cranham
  • Peter McEnery
  • Kevin Whately
  • Edward Bennett
  • John Thaw
  • Alastair Reid
  • 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 4 Front Video / Crash [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • James Spader
  • David Cronenberg
  • Holly Hunter
  • Rosanna Arquette
  • Deborah Unger
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.

Actors & Directors
  • Shu Ken
  • Hiroshi Mikami
  • Sanshi Katsura
  • Moe Kamura
  • Michiru Akiyoshi
  • Kaizo Hayashi
Release date: 1994-06-13
Run time: 102 min.
Price: £13.99

Review Circus Boys [1989] / Ica Projects Ltd.:


Review Nouveaux Pictures / Fellini's 8.1/2 [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Claudia Cardinale
  • Anouk Aimée
  • Sandra Milo
  • Federico Fellini
  • Rossella Falk
  • Marcello Mastroianni
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 Bfi Video / Stray Dog [1949]
Actors & Directors
  • Lindsay Felton
  • Tank the Bear
  • Kim Landry
  • Shawn Levy
  • Patrick Fugit
Release date: 2002-03-25
Run time: 117 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £19.99

Review Stray Dog [1949] / Bfi 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 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 MGM Entertainment / A Passage To India [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Alec Guinness
  • Judy Davis
  • Victor Banerjee
  • David Lean
  • Peggy Ashcroft
  • James Fox
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.

Actors & Directors
  • Anouk Aimee
  • Jacques Demy
  • Jacques Harden
  • Alan Scott
  • Marc Michel
Release date: 1993-02-08
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £15.99

Review Lola [1960] / Electric Pictures:


Review 2 Entertain Video / The Onedin Line - Series 2 - Part 3 [1972]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Gilmore
  • Jane Seymour
  • Anne Stallybrass
  • David Cunliffe
  • Gerald Blake
  • Cyril Coke
Release date: 1995-05-01
Run time: 139 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £11.35

Review The Onedin Line - Series 2 - Part 3 [1972] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Stanley Tucci
  • Kevin Kline
  • Calista Flockhart
  • Rupert Everett
  • Michelle Pfeiffer
  • Michael Hoffman
Release date: 2000-09-11
Run time: 116 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £13.24

Review William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream [1999] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

By far the best thing about director Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream is the extraordinary all-star cast, which follows the precedent created by Kenneth Branagh's Italian-set romantic Shakespeare comedy, Much Ado About Nothing (1993), of mixing major Hollywood stars, here Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer, with top British talent, in this instance Christian Bale, Rupert Everett, Roger Rees, David Strathairn and Dominic West. Kline makes a fine Nick Bottom, with Pfeiffer equally good as the fairy queen Titania and Everett brooding effectively as Oberon. Unfortunately, while both look ravishing, it is hard to tell which actress between Anna Friel (Brookside) and Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal) gives the most wretched performance. Both are completely out of their depth the moment they begin to speak, and utterly outclassed by the excellent Sophie Marceau. Shot in Tuscany and set in the 19th century, parts of the film are extraordinarily beautiful, while other sections could have benefited from some judicious special effects magic. This is not a bad movie, but it is rather uninspired, lacking any real imaginative grasp of the play. In contrast, the much less well known and lower budget Royal Shakespeare Company version of 1996 positively revels in the fantastically surreal possibilities this timeless text. -Gary S. Dalkin.

Review Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd / Inspector Morse - The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Gough
  • John Thaw
  • Brian Parker
  • Clive Swift
  • Kevin Whately
  • Frederick Treves
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 Dd Home Entertainment / Next of Kin [1942]
Actors & Directors
  • John Chandos
  • Mervyn Johns
  • Stephen Murray
  • Reginald Tate
  • Nova Pilbeam
  • 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 Odyssey Video / Always Remember I Love You [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Patty Duke
  • Jarred Blancard
  • Sam Wanamaker
  • David Birney
  • Stephen Dorff
  • Michael Miller
Release date: 1993-05-10
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £13.00

Review Always Remember I Love You [1990] / Odyssey Video:


Review Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd / Inspector Morse - The Settling Of The Sun / The Ghost In The Machine [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Anna Calder-Marshall
  • Patricia Hodge
  • Amanda Hillwood
  • Peter Hammond
  • John Thaw
  • Herbert Wise
  • Kevin Whately
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 Imc Vision / Ruth Rendell Mysteries - The Veiled One [1989]
Actors & Directors
  • George Baker
  • Christopher Ravenscroft
Release date: 1996-06-24
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £1.89

Review Ruth Rendell Mysteries - The Veiled One [1989] / Imc Vision:


Review CHANNEL 4 VIDEO CH 40023 / The Politician's Wife [1995] (Tv-Drama )
Actors & Directors
  • Ian Bannen
  • Anton Lesser
  • Trevor Eve
  • Graham Theakston
  • Minnie Driver
  • Juliet Stevenson
Run time: 186 min.

Review The Politician's Wife [1995] (Tv-Drama ) / CHANNEL 4 VIDEO CH 40023:

Flora Matlock appears to be the perfect politiician's wife, running her husband's constituency and country home with ease while he pursues his career as Minister for the Family at Westminster. But she faces every politician's wife's nightmare when a sex scandal surrounding her husband, Government Minister Duncan Matlock, is exposed by the press. As Minister for the Family, his adultery is even more accutely embarrassing for the Government, and the Party machine swings into action. Matlock assures the Prime Minister that his wife is standing by him, and Flora finds herself caught up in a damage limitation exercise, smiling loyally at her husband's side. Behind the closed doors lies a different story, one of political intrigue, obsessive sexual passion and betrayal. As she starts to uncover the extent of the lies, Flora vows to take her revenge.

Browse Drama:

Models & Brands:
First Among Equals Part 2, Shooting The Past [1999], Pump Up the Volume [1990], Inspector Morse - The Wolvercote Tongue / Last Seen Wearing [1987], Crash [1996], Circus Boys [1989], Fellini's 8.1/2 [1962], Stray Dog [1949], Big Screen Epics - The Fall Of The Roman Empire / Julius Caesar / El Cid, Six Feet Under: The Complete First Series [2002], A Passage To India [1984], Lola [1960], The Onedin Line - Series 2 - Part 3 [1972], William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream [1999], Inspector Morse - The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn [1987], Next of Kin [1942], Always Remember I Love You [1990], Inspector Morse - The Settling Of The Sun / The Ghost In The Machine [1987], Ruth Rendell Mysteries - The Veiled One [1989], The Politician's Wife [1995] (Tv-Drama )

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