"Actor: Brandon Hammond"

• Space Jam | DVD | (23/11/1998) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie co-starring the beloved characters from Warner Bros' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his co-stars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Warners' heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the original cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Menace II Society | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Tyrin Turner may not have broken out into stardom as was initially expected, but his work in Menace II Society is one of the more powerful cinematic debuts. The film, from the brother writer-director team of Allen and Albert Hughes, chronicles life in the Los Angeles 'hood. Similar territory was covered in the equally commanding Boyz N the Hood, but what makes this cautionary tale stand out is not only the Hughes brothers' forceful story, (written with their friend, Tyger Williams) and direction, but the naturalness of then-newcomer leads Turner as Caine, Larenz Tate as O-Dog, and Jada Pinkett as Ronnie. They are so credible--occasionally frighteningly so--that the repressive universe of violent ghetto life is captured effectively. Life as portrayed here-and no doubt accurately so--is both figuratively and literally narrow. As a very young boy, Caine witnesses his dad murdered over something inconsequential, and his mom OD. His is a world where respect comes from intimidation, power from violence. Despite his understanding of right and wrong (values passed on by a good friend, his kind grandparents, a caring teacher), his life and its entrapments are too much to overcome. --N.F. Mendoza

• The Fan | DVD | (25/10/1999) from £8.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (123.35%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Denzel Washington is a disillisioned soldier of fortune who grows close to a child he is paid to protect. When she is abducted, his fiery rage is unleashed on those he feels responsible, and he stops at nothing to save her.

• Soul Food | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £13.82   |  Saving you £-0.83 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Soul Food is the kind of movie that seems to have been blessed throughout its low-budget production and it has got a quality of warmth and charm that fits perfectly with its authentic drama about a large African-American family in Chicago. Twenty-eight-year-old writer-director George Tillman Jr. drew autobiographical inspiration from his upbringing in Milwaukee, and on a well-spent $6.5 million budget he succeeded where similar films (including Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back) fell short: he depicts his many characters with such depth and sympathy that, by the time they have weathered several family crises, we've come to care and feel for them and the powerful ties that bind them together. As seen through the eyes of Tillman's young alter ego Ahmad (Brandon Hammond), the film primarily focuses on the rivalries and affections that rise and fall among Ahmad's mother (Vivica A. Fox) and her two sisters (Vanessa L. Williams and Nia Long). Through them, and through the weekly Sunday dinners cooked with love by their mother, Big Mama (Irma P. Hall), we witness marital bliss and distress, infidelity, success, failure ... in short, the spices of life both bitter and sweet. But when Big Mama falls into a diabetic coma, Ahmad watches as his family begins to fall apart without the stability and love that Big Mama provided with every Sunday meal. Tillman's touch can be overly nostalgic, melodramatic and cloyingly sentimental, but never so much that the movie loses its firm grip on reality. As a universal portrait of family life, Soul Food ranks among the very best films of its kind--believable, funny, emotional and always approaching its characters (well-played by a uniformly excellent cast) with a generous spirit of forgiveness and understanding. As satisfying as one of Big Mama's delicious dinners, Soul Food is the kind of movie that keeps you coming back for more. --Jeff Shannon

• Menace II Society (1993) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (06/12/2021) from £32.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Directors Albert and Allen Hughes(The Book of Eli) and screenwriter Ttger Williams (The Perfect Guy) were barely into their twenties when they sent shock waves through American cinema and hip-hop culture with this fatalistic, unflinching vision of life and death on the streets of Watts, Los Angeles, in the 1990s. There, in the shadow of the riots of 1965 and 1992, young Caine (Panther's Tyrin Turner) is growing up under the influence of his ruthless, drugdealing father (Pulp Fiction's SAMUEL L. JACKSON, in a chilling cameo) and his loose-cannon best friend, O-Dog (Love Jones' Larenz Tate), leading him into a spiral of violent crime from which he is not sure he wants to escape, despite the best efforts of his grandparents and the steadfast Ronnie (The Matrix Revolutions' Jada Pinkett). Fusing grim realism with a propulsively stylish aesthetic honed through the Hughes brothers' work on rap videos, Menace II Society is a searing cautionary tale about the devastating human toll of hopelessness. Special Edition Features: Original 2.0 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Two audio commentaries from 1993 featuring directors Albert and Allen Hughes Gangsta Vision, a 2009 featurette on the making of the film New conversation among Albert Hughes, screenwriter Tyger Williams, and film critic Elvis Mitchell New conversation among Allen Hughes, actor and filmmaker Bill Duke, and Mitchell Interview from 1993 with the directors Deleted scenes Film-to-storyboard comparison Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by film critic Craig D. Lindsey

• Menace II Society | DVD | (14/02/2000) from £14.18   |  Saving you £-1.19 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Tyrin Turner may not have broken out into stardom as was initially expected, but his work in Menace II Society is one of the more powerful cinematic debuts. The film, from the brother writer-director team of Allen and Albert Hughes, chronicles life in the Los Angeles 'hood. Similar territory was covered in the equally commanding Boyz N the Hood, but what makes this cautionary tale stand out is not only the Hughes brothers' forceful story, (written with their friend, Tyger Williams) and direction, but the naturalness of then-newcomer leads Turner as Caine, Larenz Tate as O-Dog, and Jada Pinkett as Ronnie. They are so credible--occasionally frighteningly so--that the repressive universe of violent ghetto life is captured effectively. Life as portrayed here-and no doubt accurately so--is both figuratively and literally narrow. As a very young boy, Caine witnesses his dad murdered over something inconsequential, and his mom OD. His is a world where respect comes from intimidation, power from violence. Despite his understanding of right and wrong (values passed on by a good friend, his kind grandparents, a caring teacher), his life and its entrapments are too much to overcome. --N.F. Mendoza

• Space Jam | Blu Ray | (05/07/2021) from £19.97   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  NBA star Michael Jordan teams up with Bugs Bunny and the rest of his pals in a basketball game that is more important than any that has ever come before - the fate of the Earth hangs on the result. The problem has arisen because an invading alien race, the Nerclucks, want to kidnap Bugs and the rest of the Looney Tunes and use them as a tourist attraction on Moron Mountain. Bill Murray also stars in this live-action and animated mix. Special Features Commentary by Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Director Joe Pytka Featurette Jammin' with Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan 2 Music Videos: Seal's Fly like an Eagle and the Movie Cast's Monstars Anthem Hit 'Em High Theatrical Trailer

• Space Jam | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £20.99

  His Airness and His Hareness; what a team! Michael Jordon slams Bugs Bunny jams and a cavalcade of Looney Tunes and NBA stars hoop it up in the rim-rattlin out of this world roundball romp: Space Jam.

• SPACE JAM 20TH ANN | Blu Ray | (02/09/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Michael Jordan slams, Bugs Bunny jams and the Looney Tunes starts hoop it up in the rim-rattin' roundball romp that's one of the funniest animation/ live action capers ever made. Jokes fly as the Tune Squad takes on the Nerdlucks in a hard-court game to decide if the Looney Tunes remain here...or become attractions at a far-off galactic off-ramp called Moron Mountain. The Nerdlucks have a monstrous secret weapon: they've stolen the skills of the top NBA stars like Charles Barkley and Patric Ewing and have become Monstars. But the Tune Squad's secret weapon happens to be the finest player in this or any other universe. He's outta this world. So's the fun. Special Features: Commentary by Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Director Joe Pytka; Featurette Jmmin' with Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan; 2 Music Videos: Seal's Fly like an Eagle and the Movie Cast's Monstars Anthem Hit 'Em High Theatrical Trailer.