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Review Cinema Club / Michael [1997]
Actors & Directors
  • Bob Hoskins
  • Robert Pastorelli
  • William Hurt
  • Nora Ephron
  • John Travolta
  • Andie MacDowell
Release date: 2000-07-03
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.46

Review Michael [1997] / Cinema Club:

After the box-office success of Phenomenon, John Travolta continued to charm audiences with this 1996 comedy-fantasy in which he plays a grubby angel who's got one last good deed to do before heading back to heaven. Living peacefully in the rural Iowa home of an old, friendly motel owner (Jean Stapleton), the winged Michael (Travolta) is hardly the image of a perfect angel. He's scruffy, unshaven, eats sweetened cereal by the box-full and chain-smokes all day long. But when tabloid reporters (William Hurt, Robert Pastorelli) learn of Michael's alleged existence and head to Iowa to check him out, Michael soon realises that it's his task to see that Hurt falls in love with an "angel expert" (Andie MacDowell) and breaks free from his habitually cynical attitude. There's more to the story, of course (and Chasing Amy fans will recognise Joey Lauren Adams as a waitress who charms the angel), but Michael is more about the effect that this enchanting angel has on the earthbound humans around him. Whether he's chipping away at Hurt's scepticism or attracting a crowd of women on a truck-stop dance floor, Michael is an enchanting figure, and Travolta plays him with just the right tone of humour, reverence and effervescent charm. Sure, it's lightweight fluff, but director Nora Ephron specialises in lightweight fluff, and Michael is the kind of feel-good movie that never wears out its welcome. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Acorn Media / Pie In The Sky - Series 1 - Part 2
Actors & Directors
  • Malcolm Sinclair
  • Joe Duttine
  • Richard Griffiths
  • Maggie Steed
  • Gordon Case
  • Colin Gregg
  • Alison McKenna
  • Lawrence Gordon Clark
  • Martin Hutchings
Release date: 2005-02-07
Run time: 245 min.
RRP: £16.99
Price: £13.00

Review Pie In The Sky - Series 1 - Part 2 / Acorn Media:


Actors & Directors
  • Polly Bergen
  • Michael Gordon
  • Fred Clark
  • Doris Day
  • James Garner
  • Thelma Ritter
Run time: 99 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £16.99

Review Move Over Darling [1963] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Cold Feet Series 5
Actors & Directors
  • James Nesbitt
  • Helen Baxendale
  • John Thompson
  • Robert Bathurst
  • Hermione Norris
Release date: 2003-03-24
Run time: 292 min.
Price: £17.99

Review Cold Feet Series 5 / 2 Entertain Video:

The irresistible wit, comedy and drama we have come to expect from Cold Feet is again obvious in Series 5, but the lives of the ensemble of friends have changed almost beyond recognition. Adam (James Nesbitt) and Rachel (Helen Baxendale) are preoccupied with baby son Matthew, the stable Marsden family has disbanded and fall-guy Pete looks to have found true love at last. It seems wholly appropriate that Cold Feet should end at this juncture and it's all the more fitting that the show is given such a first-class send off. That's not to say that everything is conveniently tidied up in the final episode, nor that the series has run its course to the point of becoming dull. There's still much to enjoy in this fifth series, a triumph of scriptwriting, acting and production values that stands on a level with anything from the previous episodes, or indeed with anything else on television. Simply put, it's the astonishing twist in the tale that singles this series out as the right place to stop. Cold Feet devotees will be hard pushed to hold back the tears in what is an emotional rollercoaster ride. It's all the more credible for the way it's presented: there's no over-the-top dramatics, no over-long sentimentality and no over-acting to speak of. Writer Mike Bullen insists he penned his best script for the final episode of the final series. Few would disagree, for the conclusion soars above the inevitable difficulties in ending this long-running comedy-drama to deliver a highly memorable finale. [+]
Frankly it's impossible to imagine how this unique show could have ended any better. -David Thwaites.

Review Cinema Club / Ask A Policeman [1938]
Actors & Directors
  • Graham Moffatt
  • Marcel Varnel
  • Will Hay
  • Moore Marriott
  • Peter Gawthorne
  • Glennis Lorimer
Release date: 1997-11-03
Run time: 75 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.99

Review Ask A Policeman [1938] / Cinema Club:


Review Cinema Club / Raining Stones [1993]
Actors & Directors
  • Julie Brown (II)
  • Ken Loach
  • Tom Hickey
  • Ricky Tomlinson
  • Gemma Phoenix
  • Bruce Jones
Release date: 2001-07-16
Run time: 86 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £5.98

Review Raining Stones [1993] / Cinema Club:

Raining Stones is classic Ken Loach-an overtly bleak piece of drama shot through with defiant humour, a story of life beyond the edge of society. Bob (Bruce Jones in a role that foreshadows his more ludicrous Coronation Street character) is unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, especially with the added pressure of his young daughter's first communion and the expense involved. And that's it really-one man's struggle to maintain his dignity and provide for his family. Despite the film's frequent moments of comedy (more often than not provided by Loach regular Ricky Tomlinson), Raining Stones is ultimately more than a little disheartening. The film is in many ways similar to Loach's previous film, Riff Raff (1991), but here the examples of a community pulling together are countered with backstabbing and exploitation. In the end, there are no winners or losers in Loach's world, only those who survive and those who don't. -Phil Udell.

Review Cinema Club / Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead [1991]
Actors & Directors
  • John Getz
  • Keith Coogan
  • Christina Applegate
  • Josh Charles
  • Stephen Herek
  • Joanna Cassidy
Release date: 2002-10-07
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £12.99

Review Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead [1991] / Cinema Club:

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead aspires to be a cross between Home Alone and Risky Business, with Christina Applegate as an inadvertent scam artist who gets in over her head and somehow pulls it off. When her mother goes to Australia for two months, Sue Ellen (Applegate) thinks she's going to be in charge-until an elderly tyrant of a babysitter arrives. But on the very first night the old lady has a heart attack and keels over. Sue Ellen and her siblings leave the body at a mortuary, only to discover afterward that all the money their mother had left for the summer was in the babysitter's clothes. So Sue Ellen has to get a job. Thanks to a trumped-up resume, she ends up as an executive assistant at a clothing manufacturer. For a while she keeps her head above water by skilfully exploiting a friendly coworker, but her brothers and sisters are running amok at home and a venomous receptionist has it in for her at work. The role-reversal humour of Sue Ellen having to mother her siblings is unsurprising, but Applegate is unexpectedly appealing; her scenes with Josh Charles have a sweet chemistry. Joanna Cassidy plays Sue Ellen's boss and a young David Duchovny is a weaselly clerk. -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. [+]
com.

Review Contender Entertainment Group / Chums [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Ant McPartlin
  • Declan Donnelly
  • Cat Deeley
Release date: 2000-11-13
Run time: 80 min.
Price: £9.99

Review Chums [2000] / Contender Entertainment Group:

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly's got their big TV break acting in BBC1 children's soap Byker Grove and subsequently enjoyed a brief career as pop stars-under their character names PJ and Duncan-but it's as plain Ant and Dec, the irrepressible presenters of Saturday morning's kids programme SM:TV Live, that they are best known. Presiding over the usual mix of guest appearances by the latest boy bands, cartoons and quick sketches, their act is an endearing mix of amateurish slapstick, puns that are so bad they're good and infectious catchphrases, a bit like Reeves and Mortimer for pre-teens. This entertaining compilation tape takes its name from the regular sitcom the guys star in with their co-presenter Cat Deely. It's a parody of Friends ("Filmed before a live man and a live woman"), set in the flat the three share in Ant and Dec's native Newcastle. Guests on the show that week drop by, fluff their autocue readings and mostly get into the swing of things: Jerry Springer and Lorraine Kelly send themselves up brilliantly and Mel C seems to be having a good time when she makes an appearance. Only Jay from Jamiroquai looks out of place, as if he'd stumbled in looking for the rehearsals for Later with Jools Holland. Also on the tape are other sketches from the series, including flashbacks to Ant's nerdy childhood and the introductory link to a Pokémon cartoon, involving Ant, Dec and Cat dressed up as waiters in a Chinese restaurant and a bemused Jamie Oliver which to adult eyes, is almost as surreal as Pokémon itself. One quibble: the Chums opening sequence-which features a rip-off of the Rembrants' title track from Friends-is repeated so many times it feels like padding. -Edward Lawrenson.

Actors & Directors
  • Joan Sims
  • Douglas Argent (II)
  • Alfie Bass
  • Gretchen Franklin
  • Dandy Nichols
  • Patricia Hayes
Release date: 1991-07-01
Run time: 90 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Till Death Us Do Part [1965] / 2 Entertain Video:


Actors & Directors
  • Jasper Carrott
Release date: 1992-11-02
Run time: 65 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Jasper Carrott - Canned Carrott - All The Best Bits! [1992] / ITV DVD:


Review 4 Front Video / Casper [1995]
Actors & Directors
  • Brad Silberling|Bill Pullman|Christina Ricci|Cathy Moriarty
Release date: 2000-10-09
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.05

Review Casper [1995] / 4 Front Video:

The 1995 family film Casper tries to put a fun spin on the story of a paranormalist and widower (Bill Pullman) who moves into a new house with his daughter (Christina Ricci) and meets up with the ghost of a dead little boy. Based on the comic book about Casper the friendly ghost, the film is a dreary series of awkward interactions between live actors and computer effects, and you can almost see Pullman and Ricci reconsidering the project while on camera. A few cameo appearances from uncredited stars help things a bit. But there's no way, based on this film, that one could have guessed that its director, Brad Silberling, would go on to make the exceptional drama City of Angels. This special edition DVD release includes a director's commentary and exhaustive 47-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, plus games and DVD-ROM content for the kids. -Tom Keogh.

Review 4 Front Video / Steel Magnolias [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Daryl Hannah
  • Dolly Parton
  • Sally Field
  • Herbert Ross
  • Olympia Dukakis
  • Shirley MacLaine
Release date: 2002-07-01
Run time: 113 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.54

Review Steel Magnolias [1990] / 4 Front Video:

Based on Robert Harling's play and directed by Herbert Ross, Steel Magnolias is a comedy-drama that follows several years in the lives of women who regularly see one another at a beauty shop in their small Louisiana hometown. The story deepens as Julia Roberts, playing a serious diabetic and the daughter of Sally Field, goes downhill healthwise. But as an ensemble piece, this is one of those enjoyably lumpy tearjerkers with many years' worth of stored truths suddenly being shared between the characters, lots of grievances aired, that sort of thing. Daryl Hannah and Shirley MacLaine assume the most eccentric roles, Dolly Parton the most fun and Olympia Dukakis the most dignified, while Sally Field essentially provides the moral and emotional centre of the movie. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Review Braveworld Limited / The Best of the Big Breakfast [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Gaby Roslin
  • Chris Evans
Run time: 58 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £9.77

Review The Best of the Big Breakfast [1992] / Braveworld Limited:

As Stated On the Sleeve: Millions of Britons wake up every morning to the brightest breakfast show ever to come through the airwaves - The Big Breakfast. Hosted by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, and featuring the talents of such great artists as Zig and Zag, The Big Breakfast has become the television phenomenon of the nineties. This video capture the most eggcellent moments from the Big Breakfast's glittering history and is a toast to all the great people, fro celebs to the man in the street, that have appeared on the show.

Review Warner Home Video / Friends - The One With The Whole London Wedding
Actors & Directors
  • Sarah Ferguson
  • Jennifer Aniston
  • David Schwimmer
  • Matthew Perry
  • Richard Branson
Release date: 1999-10-18
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.64

Review Friends - The One With The Whole London Wedding / Warner Home Video:


Review Tartan Video / Drifting Clouds [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Aki Kaurismäki
  • Elina Salo
  • Markku Peltola
  • Sakari Kuosmanen
  • Kati Outinen
  • Kari Väänänen
Release date: 1998-01-26
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £17.50

Review Drifting Clouds [1996] / Tartan Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Rab C. Nesbitt - Live [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • John Kazek
  • David McKay (II)
  • Nicola Park
  • Colin Gilbert (II)
  • Ron Bain
Release date: 1996-02-26
Run time: 117 min.
Price: £5.99

Review Rab C. Nesbitt - Live [1990] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Only Fools And Horses - Mother Nature's Son [1981]
Actors & Directors
  • Patrick McManus
  • Grant Stevens
  • Roger Liddement
  • Mandie Fletcher
  • Pete Chesterfield
Release date: 1999-11-01
Run time: 65 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £0.42

Review Only Fools And Horses - Mother Nature's Son [1981] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Universal / The Clandestine Marriage [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Paul Nicholls
  • Timothy Spall
  • Nigel Hawthorne
  • Tom Hollander
  • Joan Collins
  • Christopher Miles
Release date: 2000-10-16
Price: £12.99

Review The Clandestine Marriage [1999] / Universal:


Release date: 1993-11-15
Run time: 102 min.
Price: £9.99

Review You've Been Framed - The Best of Series 4 [1993] / ITV DVD:


Review 4 Front Video / Whisky Galore [1949]
Actors & Directors
  • Wylie Watson
  • Catherine Lacey
  • Bruce Seton
  • Basil Radford
  • Alexander Mackendrick
  • Joan Greenwood
Release date: 2001-01-08
Run time: 79 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.95

Review Whisky Galore [1949] / 4 Front Video:


Models & Brands:
Michael [1997], Pie In The Sky - Series 1 - Part 2, Move Over Darling [1963], Cold Feet Series 5, Ask A Policeman [1938], Raining Stones [1993], Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead [1991], Chums [2000], Till Death Us Do Part [1965], Jasper Carrott - Canned Carrott - All The Best Bits! [1992], Casper [1995], Steel Magnolias [1990], The Best of the Big Breakfast [1992], Friends - The One With The Whole London Wedding, Drifting Clouds [1996], Rab C. Nesbitt - Live [1990], Only Fools And Horses - Mother Nature's Son [1981], The Clandestine Marriage [1999], You've Been Framed - The Best of Series 4 [1993], Whisky Galore [1949]

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