"Actor: David Drew"

• Hannibal - Superbit | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Yes, he's back ... and he's still hungry. Hannibal is set 10 years after The Silence of the Lambs, as Dr Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his Oscar-winning role) is living the good life in Italy, studying art and sipping espresso. FBI agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore, replacing Jodie Foster), on the other hand, hasn't had it so good--an outsider from the start, she's now a quiet, moody loner who doesn't play bureaucratic games and suffers for it. A botched drug raid results in her demotion--and a request from Lecter's only living victim, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman, uncredited), for a little Q and A. Little does Clarice realise that the hideously deformed Verger--who, upon suggestion from Dr Lecter, peeled off his own face--is using her as bait to lure Dr Lecter out of hiding, quite certain he'll capture the good doctor. Taking the basic plot contraptions from Thomas Harris's baroque novel, Hannibal is so stylistically different from its predecessor that it forces you to take it on its own terms. Director Ridley Scott gives the film a sleek, almost European look that lets you know that, unlike the first film (which was about the quintessentially American Clarice), this movie is all Hannibal. Does it work? Yes--but only up to a point. Scott adeptly sets up an atmosphere of foreboding, but it's all a build-up to the anticlimax, as Verger's plot for abducting Hannibal (and feeding him to man-eating wild boars) doesn't really deliver the requisite visceral thrills, and the much-ballyhooed climatic dinner sequence between Clarice, Dr Lecter and a third, unlucky guest wobbles between parody and horror. Hopkins and Moore are both first-rate, but the film contrives to keep them as far apart as possible, when what made Silence of the Lambs so amazing was their interaction. When they do connect it's quite thrilling but it's unfortunately too little too late. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com On the DVD: The good-looking widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic print is accompanied by a directorial commentary on the first disc. Ridley Scott is no stranger to DVD commentaries by now, and keeps up a pretty constant flow of enjoyable story exposition, although provides few specifics about the actual filmmaking process. He's obviously more than happy to talk about this movie, since on the second disc there are also "Ridleygram" interviews with Scott about the process of storyboarding and a huge chunk of deleted or alternate scenes (including the alternate ending) with optional directorial commentary. There's a wealth of other extras to dip into, including five "making-of" featurettes (73 minutes in all), plus two multi-angle "vignettes" of the film's opening sequences (the fish-market shoot-out and opening titles), and a marketing gallery of trailers, stills and artwork. Surround-sound enthusiasts can select either Dolby 5.1 or DTS soundtracks for the main feature. --Mark Walker

• FIGHT CLUB -STEELBOOK | Blu Ray | (04/06/2012) from £26.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All films require a certain suspension of disbelief, Fight Club perhaps more than others; but if you're willing to let yourself get caught up in the anarchy, this film, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, is a modern-day morality play warning of the decay of society. Edward Norton is the unnamed protagonist, a man going through life on cruise control, feeling nothing. To fill his hours, he begins attending support groups and 12-step meetings. True, he isn't actually afflicted with the problems, but he finds solace in the groups. This is destroyed, however, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), also faking her way through groups. Spiralling back into insomnia, Norton finds his life is changed once again, by a chance encounter with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), whose forthright style and no-nonsense way of taking what he wants appeal to our narrator. Tyler and the protagonist find a new way to feel release: they fight. They fight each other, and then as others are attracted to their ways, they fight the men who come to join their newly formed Fight Club. Marla begins a destructive affair with Tyler, and things fly out of control, as Fight Club is transformed into a nationwide fascist group. The depiction of violence in Fight Club is unflinching, but director David Fincher's film is captivating and beautifully shot, with camerawork and effects that are almost as startling as the script. The movie is packed with provocative ideas and images--from the satirical look at the emptiness of modern consumerism to quasi-Nietzschean concepts of "beyond good and evil"--that will leave the viewer with much food for thought to take away. Pitt and Norton are an unbeatable duo, and the film has a great sense of humour too. Even if it leaves you with a sense of profound discomfort this is a movie that you'll have to see again and again, if for no other reason than to just to take it all in. --Jenny Brown, Amazon.com

• Specimen | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Twenty four years ago Carol Hillary was abducted by a mysterious alien presence at the remote Spruce Lake near Thornbury in up - state New York. Six weeks later she discovered she was pregnant. But this was to be no ordinary child. As an eight-year old under the influence of an alien power that he could not control Mark Hillary created an inferno in his own home which claimed the life of his mother. Now at the age of twenty four Mark is determined to find his roots. His search brings him to quiet Thornbury where he discovers the town Sheriff was a childhood friend of his mother but the Sheriff denies any knowledge of Mark's roots. As he sets about a new life in this quiet town the stillness of nearby Spruce Lake is broken once again.

• The Alex Cox Collection | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  THREE BUSINESSMEN:; Two lone businessmen, Bennie (Miguel Sandoval) and Frank (Alex Cox) find themselves alone one night in the dining room, of a large Victorian hotel in Liverpool, England. Abandoned by the staff of the wierd dining room, they tentatively join forces and go in search of food, in a city neither of them knows. But restaurant after restaurant fails them.; ; Without realising their destination, Bennie and Frank travel halfway around the planet, via public transport. Prattling abo.

• Paramount Presents: Another 48 Hrs. | Blu Ray | (06/07/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Sky Blue | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Two young freedom fighters try to save the Earth's environment in this futuristic Korean animation.

• The Firm/The Rainmaker | DVD | (18/08/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  The Firm: Three-time Oscar nominee Tom Cruise delivers the most electrifying performance of his career in this riveting film based on the international best-seller. Cruise plays Mitch McDeere a brilliant and ambitious Harvard Law grad. Driven by a fierce desire to bury his working class past Mitch joins a small prosperous Memphis firm that affords Mitch and his wife (Jeanne Tripplehorn) an affluent lifestyle beyond their wildest dreams. But when FBI agents confront him with evidence of corruption and murder within the firm Mitch sets out to find the truth in a deadly crossfire between the FBI the Mob and a force that will stop at nothing to protect its interests - The Firm. The Rainmaker: Francis Ford Coppola directs and scripts an exciting star-packed adaptation of John Grisham''s novel about an idealistic young attorney who takes on the case of a lifetime. Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting) plays Rudy Baylor a rookie lawyer in over his head on a high-profile case. Opposing him: an army of seasoned legal sharks (led by Jon Voight). On Rudy''s side: Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito) a feisty ''paralawyer'' who specialises in flunking the bar exam. Rudy''s chances are slim to none until he uncovers a trail of corruption that might lead to the one thing that could win his case: the truth.

• Dawn Of The Living Dead | DVD | (30/05/2005) from £6.77   |  Saving you £9.22 (57.70%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Renee Summers has just been released from a mental institution when her fiancee and psychiatrist Jeffrey Morgan buys her a secluded cabin to rest before she faces her friends and family. Renee soon befriends her only neighbour Michael Richards who is not all that he seems to be. She also uncovers a deadly secret! The former tenants of the cabin a mayan family were butchered to death and dumped in an unmarked grave.

• Scream - Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu Ray | (19/10/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Automata | DVD | (04/05/2015) from £11.68   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fast forward thirty years into the future: mankind struggles to survive as the environment deteriorates and the slow regression of the human race begins. On the brink of life and the reality of death, technology combats the prevailing uncertainty and fear with the creation of the first quantum android, the Automata Pilgrim 7000. ROC, the corporation at the helm of robotic intelligence, has set forth security protocols to ensure mankind maintains control over the manufactured population. However, as ROC insurance agent, Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Banderas) investigates cases surrounding defective androids, he begins to uncover the secrets behind who is really manipulating the Automata Pilgrim 7000 and the truth is far more complex than the make or model of any machine.