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Review BBC / Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - The Body In The Library [1984]
Actors & Directors
  • Moray Watson
  • Valentine Dyall
  • Joan Hickson
  • Karin Foley
  • Silvio Narizzano
  • Gwen Watford
Release date: 1998-03-23
Run time: 150 min.
Creator: T.R. Bowen
Price: £10.99

Review Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - The Body In The Library [1984] / BBC:

The suspense of Miss Marple: The Body in the Library isn't the edge-of-your-seat variety; it's simply a perplexing puzzle that keeps niggling at the back of your mind. Just as one piece of the puzzle falls into place, another gap opens up, thanks to one of Agatha Christie's most intricate plots. Considering what a long film this is (150 minutes, lengthier than most Christie adaptations), it's impressive how tightly the mystery grips the viewer's attention. And not a second of Joan Hickson's marvellous performance as Miss Marple should be missed (the other performances, alas, fall short, except for Gwen Watford as Dolly Bantry, in whose library the body is found). To people meeting her for the first time, Jane Marple appears to be a sweet old dear, whose comments on the murder investigation are more likely to involve an obscure recollection of a frog jumping out of someone's coat than to have any direct bearing on the case. But as Christie fans know, beneath that dithery exterior lies one of the shrewdest minds in England. Hickson's understated portrayal reveals the humour in her character without ever making a mockery of Miss Marple and the results are delightful to watch. -Larisa Lomacky Moore, Amazon. com.

Review Entertainment in Video / Saw [2004]
Actors & Directors
  • Danny Glover
  • Cary Elwes
  • Ken Leung
  • Michael Emerson
  • Monica Potter
  • James Wan
Release date: 2005-02-21
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.98

Review Saw [2004] / Entertainment in Video:


Review Curzon Video / Doctor M. [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Claude Chabrol
  • Alan Bates
  • Jennifer Beals
Release date: 1993-04-05
Run time: 111 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Doctor M. [1990] / Curzon Video:


Actors & Directors
  • Trevor Howard
  • Raymond Huntley
  • Frank Launder
  • Norman Shelley
  • Deborah Kerr
  • Brenda Bruce
Run time: 107 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £16.50

Review I See A Dark Stranger [1946] / Connoisseur Video:


Review Pathe Distribution / Deathwatch [2002]
Actors & Directors
  • Rúaidhrí Conroy
  • Mike Downey
  • Roman Horak
  • Laurence Fox
  • Jamie Bell
  • Michael J. Bassett
Release date: 2003-06-16
Run time: 95 min.
Creator: Michael Bischoff
Price: £9.99

Review Deathwatch [2002] / Pathe Distribution:

A small group of English soldiers find themselves in a labyrinth of abandoned German trenches in Deathwatch, a reworking of the classic British supernatural horror tale as a redemptive allegory amid the wider horror of the Great War. The very earth has had its fill of blood and this lost company may already be in hell: imagine the BBC TV film All the Kings Men (1999) crossed with Cube (1997), as realised by a young Ridley Scott. Only Charlie Shakespeare, an impressive Jamie Bell, is sufficiently innocent to realise the evil of the trenches is turning comrade against comrade, resulting in the gradually escalating carnage. Director Michael J Bassett effectively wracks the tension, aided greatly by a wonderfully decayed set design and story, which may meander, but builds to a chillingly surreal finale. Bell is given strong support from Matthew Rhys and a psychotic Andy Serkis, while Bassett has a fine eye for lighting and composition, as well as the ability to deliver some horrifically effective set-pieces. Taking itself much more seriously than its comparable contemporary, Dog Soldiers (2002), Deathwatch was shamefully overlooked in the cinemas but is surely a future cult classic just awaiting discovery. On the DVD:Deathwatch is presented anamorphically enhanced at 2. 35-1, and bar some compression artifacting in a few scenes looks fine. Likewise the Dolby Digital 5. 1 soundtrack is both atmospheric and powerful. [+]
The feature includes optional subtitles for hard of hearing. Extras begin with 15 minutes of interviews with six main cast members and Michael J Bassett. Also included are 14 minutes of filming footage and 16 minutes of alternate/extended/deleted scenes with text explanations as to why the material was changed or cut. There are three commentaries, with writer/director Bassett giving a serious account of realising his debut feature, then joining Jamie Bell and Lawrence Fox on a second commentary for more light hearted reflections. Finally Andy Serkis demonstrates his commitment to the project with an enjoyable reminiscence of his own. -Gary S Dalkin.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 8 : 11001001 / Too Short A Season [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Paul Lynch
  • Michael Dorn
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Michael Vejar
  • Marina Sirtis
  • Gates McFadden
Release date: 1991-01-07
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.00

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 8 : 11001001 / Too Short A Season [1987] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 5 : The Battle / Hide And Q [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Marina Sirtis
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Gates McFadden
  • Wil Wheaton
  • Cliff Bole
  • Rob Bowman
Release date: 1990-09-03
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £4.98

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 5 : The Battle / Hide And Q [1987] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 42 : Final Mission / The Loss [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Mary Kohnert
  • Whoopi Goldberg
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Wil Wheaton
  • Corey Allen
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Chip Chalmers
Release date: 1992-03-09
Run time: 87 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.00

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 42 : Final Mission / The Loss [1990] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Actors & Directors
  • John Cassini
  • Powers Boothe
  • Rita Moreno
  • Jennifer Beals
  • Garry Chalk
Run time: 98 min.

Review The Spree (1996) (NTSC) / ORION HOME VIDEO 2110020:

Action Thriller starring Jennifer Beals (Flashdance, The Bride, Devil In A Blue Dress) as Xinia, a sexy and briliant jewel thief. Hot on her trail is Police detective Bram Hatcher (Powers Boothe - Extreme Prejudice, Southern Comfort, Red Dawn). When he finally meets her the attraction is obvious, but can two such different worlds really mix for long ?. Also look out for veteran star Rita Moreno (West Side Story) as Xinia's strong-willed mother.

Review 4 Front Video / Godzilla-Son of Godzilla
Actors & Directors
  • Jun Fukuda
Release date: 1998-06-15
Run time: 86 min.
Price: £5.99

Review Godzilla-Son of Godzilla / 4 Front Video:


Review / Beowulf
Actors & Directors
  • Oliver Cotton
  • Rhona Mitra
  • Götz Otto
  • Christopher Lambert
  • Graham Baker
  • Vincent Hammond
Run time: 95 min.
Creator: Mark Leahy

Review Beowulf:


Review Warner Home Video / The Last Boy Scout [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Bruce Willis
  • Tony Scott
  • Damon Wayans
  • Noble Willingham
  • Taylor Negron
  • Chelsea Field
Release date: 1996-02-19
Run time: 101 min.
Creator: Greg Hicks
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.47

Review The Last Boy Scout [1992] / Warner Home Video:

In giving 1991's The Last Boy Scout a three-star review, critic Roger Ebert was properly performing his duty as an objective reporter, praising the filmmakers' professional skill while observing that "the only consistent theme of the film is its hatred of women". For the purposes of this capsule review, there's no such obligation to level-headed fairness; the simple truth is, this ultraviolent, action-packed vehicle for Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans is disgustingly rotten to the core. Not only is it fuelled by a bitter and spiteful attitude toward women, it's also the kind of profanely vulgar movie that doesn't hesitate to put foul-mouthed children in the path of vicious thugs and potentially deadly situations. Willis plays an ex-secret service agent turned private detective who is hired to protect a stripper (Halle Berry) and then teams up with the stripper's boyfriend (Wayans), a disgraced NFL star who was kicked out of football for gambling. They catch on to a criminal plot leading all the way up to a corrupt football team owner who wants to legalise gambling on pro football. Willis and Wayans get in and out of all sorts of trouble along the way, and naturally there are plenty of explosions to go along with the brutal beatings, gunfire and constant cussing. Shane Black (of Lethal Weapon infamy) set a Hollywood record (since broken, several times) for the sale price of his slick but vile screenplay and Top Gun director Tony Scott handles the action with his trademark gloss and high-impact style. But, seriously, is this a movie that anyone could bear to watch twice? -Jeff Shannon.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 16 : Loud As A Whisper / The Schizoid Man [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Larry Shaw
  • Howie Seago
  • Suzie Plakson
  • Les Landau
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Leo Damian
  • Barbara Alyn Woods
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.00

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 16 : Loud As A Whisper / The Schizoid Man [1988] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Contender Entertainment Group / The Avengers - The M. Appeal Collection - Mission 5 [1961]
Actors & Directors
  • Ian Hendry
  • Linda Thorson
  • Honor Blackman
  • Patrick Macnee
  • Diana Rigg
Release date: 1998-10-12
Run time: 150 min.
Creator: Sydney Newman
RRP: £12.99
Price: £10.00

Review The Avengers - The M. Appeal Collection - Mission 5 [1961] / Contender Entertainment Group:


Review Mass Production / Plan 9 from Outer Space
Actors & Directors
  • Edward D. Wood Jr.
  • Tom Keene
  • Mona McKinnon
  • Duke Moore
  • Gregory Walcott
  • Carl Anthony
Release date: 2003-09-01
Run time: 79 min.
Creator: J. Edward Reynolds
RRP: £15.99
Price: £15.68

Review Plan 9 from Outer Space / Mass Production:

Sometimes a movie achieves such legendary status that it can't quite live up to its reputation. Plan 9 from Outer Space is not one of these movies. It is just as magnificently terrible as you've heard. Plan 9 is the story of space aliens who try to conquer the Earth through resurrection of the dead. Psychic Criswell narrates ("Future events such as these will affect you in the future!") as police rush through the cemetery, occasionally clipping the cardboard tombstones in their zeal to find the source of the mysterious goings-on. More than just a bad film, Plan 9 is something of a one- stop clearinghouse for poor cinematic techniques: The time shifts whimsically from midnight to afternoon sun, Tor Johnson flails desperately in an attempt to rise from his coffin, and flying saucers zoom past on clearly visible strings. Fading star Bela Lugosi tragically died during filming, but such a small hurdle could not stop writer-producer-director Ed Wood. Lugosi is ingeniously replaced with a man who holds a cape across his face and might as well have "NOT BELA LUGOSI" stamped on his forehead. Plan 9 is so sweetly well- intentioned in both its message and its execution that it's impossible not to love it. And if you don't, well, as Eros says, "You people of Earth are idiots!" -Ali Davis.

Review Tartan Video / The Virgin Spring [1960]
Actors & Directors
  • Birgitta Valberg
  • Max von Sydow
  • Gunnel Lindblom
  • Ingmar Bergman
  • Birgitta Pettersson
  • Axel Düberg
Release date: 1994-08-22
Run time: 85 min.
Creator: Ulla Isaksson
Price: £15.99

Review The Virgin Spring [1960] / Tartan Video:

Made in 1960 and set in mediaeval Sweden, Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring is based on a folk ballad. It also examines a society in transition from worshipping the old Norse gods to Christianity. The film starkly contrasts Ingeri-a dark, feral Odin-worshipping brunette, foster daughter to a Christian family headed by Max Von Sydow-and their own daughter, Karin, pretty and blonde but also vain and naive, and resented by Ingeri. They travel out together to a distant church where Karin is to offer votive candles to the Virgin Mary. However, en route, Karin is raped and murdered by two desperate goatherders, accompanied by a 13-year-old boy. By coincidence, the goatherders then seek refuge with Karin's parents and even try to sell them her clothes, which proves to be a mortal error. Bergman was greatly influenced by Kurosawa, the Japanese director of The Seven Samurai, when he made The Virgin Spring, as evinced in its ominous use of dark and shade and lengthy sequences without dialogue. However, this is more than pastiche. Although the Christian ending with which Bergman feels obliged to conclude the film doesn't quite sit well in a movie in which God is as palpably absent as in any Bergman movie, the slow, remorseless pace of the murder and subsequent retribution bring to mind Kieslowki's A Short Film About Killing in their sense of the futility of vengeance. On the DVD: The Virgin Spring arrives on disc in a restoration that vividly enhances the sense of light and shade which is integral to the movie. [+]
Notes from critic Phillip Strick provide background to the movie, including the legend on which the film was based, as well as observing that Bergman was later so embarrassed by the film's debt to Kurosawa that he disowned it, only to be told by Kurosawa himself not to be so silly. -David Stubbs.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 1 : Encounter At Farpoint [1987]
Actors & Directors
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Gates McFadden
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • LeVar Burton
  • Denise Crosby
  • Corey Allen
Release date: 1990-04-02
Run time: 91 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £0.99

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 1 : Encounter At Farpoint [1987] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Cinema Club / Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Mysterious Affair At Styles [1989]
Actors & Directors
  • Philip Jackson
  • Pauline Moran
  • Hugh Fraser
  • David Suchet
  • Richard Bebb
Release date: 2003-06-16
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Nick Elliott
RRP: £5.99
Price: £7.99

Review Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Mysterious Affair At Styles [1989] / Cinema Club:


Actors & Directors
  • Godzilla
  • Jun Fukuda
Release date: 1992-05-11
Run time: 163 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £14.99

Review Godzilla vs Gigan / Godzilla vs Megalon / Universal Pictures UK:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 59 : The Outcast / Cause And Effect [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Michael Dorn
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Gates McFadden
  • LeVar Burton
  • Jonathan Frakes
Release date: 1993-02-15
Run time: 88 min.
Creator: Brannon Braga
RRP: £10.99
Price: £24.99

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 59 : The Outcast / Cause And Effect [1992] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Browse Horror & Suspense:

Models & Brands:
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - The Body In The Library [1984], Saw [2004], Doctor M. [1990], I See A Dark Stranger [1946], Deathwatch [2002], Star Trek The Next Generation 8 : 11001001 / Too Short A Season [1987], Star Trek The Next Generation 5 : The Battle / Hide And Q [1987], Star Trek The Next Generation 42 : Final Mission / The Loss [1990], The Spree (1996) (NTSC), Godzilla-Son of Godzilla, Beowulf, The Last Boy Scout [1992], Star Trek The Next Generation 16 : Loud As A Whisper / The Schizoid Man [1988], The Avengers - The M. Appeal Collection - Mission 5 [1961], Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Virgin Spring [1960], Star Trek The Next Generation 1 : Encounter At Farpoint [1987], Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Mysterious Affair At Styles [1989], Godzilla vs Gigan / Godzilla vs Megalon, Star Trek The Next Generation 59 : The Outcast / Cause And Effect [1992]

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