"Actor: Glenn Walker"

• Anastasia | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £2.83   |  Saving you £3.16 (111.66%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Stomping out their usual cuteness and carbon copying Disney's grand animation style to a tee, directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman (An American Tail) create a successful musical comedy from the story of the lost Russian princess. Adapting the story of imperialism and revolution is tricky, and subsequently the film's opening is weak. Once Anya (voiced by Meg Ryan, sung by Liz Callaway) is a teenager and on her own (suffering from some degree of amnesia), Anastasia is quite pleasing though never refreshingly new. 20th Century Fox's big-money gamble to horn in on Disney's realm is worthy. The songs, especially the recurrent "Once Upon a December" by Broadway team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, are better than Disney's recent efforts. It's worth picking up the soundtrack. The mix of cell animation and computer work is vivid. The collection of vocal talent is also strong, from John Cusack (as Dimitri, who wants to earn the reward by bringing Anya to Paris) to Hank Azaria as an amusing albino bat. Kelsey Grammer helps turn a roly-poly sidekick into a warm and strong supporting character. The biggest drawback is Bluth/Goldman's insistence on having a typical villain. Surprisingly, the story would be strong enough without one and the undead corpse of Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd) is unneeded and unoriginal. --Doug Thomas

• Say Anything | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.45   |  Saving you £6.54 (101.39%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Seven years after he earned his first screen credit as the writer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, former Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe made his directorial debut with this acclaimed romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Ione Skye as unlikely lovers on the cusp of adulthood. The casting is perfect and Crowe's rookie direction is appropriately unobtrusive, no doubt influenced by his actor-loving, Oscar-winning mentor, James L. Brooks. But the real strength of Crowe's work is his exceptional writing, his timely grasp of contemporary rhythms and language (he's frequently called "the voice of a generation"), and the rich humour and depth of his fully developed characters. In Say Anything, Cusack and Skye play recent high-school graduates enjoying one final summer before leaping into a lifetime of adult responsibilities. Lloyd (Cusack) is an aspiring kickboxer with no definite plans; Diane (Skye) is a valedictorian with plans to further her education in Europe. Together they find unlikely bliss, but there's also turbulence when Diane's father (John Mahoney)--who only wants what's best for his daughter--is charged with fraud and tax evasion. Favouring strong performances over obtrusive visual style, Crowe focuses on his unique characters and the ambitions and fears that define them; the movie's a treasure trove of quiet, often humorous revelations of personality. Lili Taylor and Eric Stoltz score high marks for memorable supporting roles, and Cusack's own sister Joan is perfect in scenes with her on- and offscreen brother. A rare romantic comedy that's as funny as it is dramatically honest, Say Anything marked the arrival of a gifted writer-director who followed up with the underrated Singles before scoring his first box-office smash with Jerry Maguire. --Jeff Shannon

• Getting Even With Dad | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £6.73   |  Saving you £6.26 (93.02%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Small time crook Ray Gleason just committed the perfect crime but it took one small thing to screw it up - a visit from his son. Because after a lifetime of being ignored Timmy is getting even! Macaulay Culkin and Ted Danson join forces in this hilarious and heartwarming comedy about an enterprising kid who finds the ideal way to make his father into the dad he never had; a little love a little kindness and a little blackmail...

• Colors | DVD | (09/07/2001) from £8.14   |  Saving you £4.85 (59.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Directed by Dennis Hopper, Colors is a superior 1988 action movie set among the street gangs of LA that teams up Robert Duvall as Hodges, the elder cop, with young hothead partner Danny McGavin (Sean Penn). Investigating a murderous feud between the “Bloods” and the “Crips”, Duvall attempts to impress upon the impetuous Penn the value of a more cautious, easy-going approach in dealing with gang members, rather than trying to charge in among them. The film as a whole was one of the first to take a serious, unromantic and unstereotypical look at gang culture, at how youngsters are sucked into it, how few options are actually open to these macho hoodlums and how little they have in the way of family, community and stability other than the gangs. The partnership between Penn and Duvall by contrast, though well played, is pretty much the standard old cop/young cop set-up, right down to Duvall’s frequent, ominous remarks about how close he is to retirement. While the action is sometimes disjointed and the relationships between the gangs at times confused, it at least helps to dispel the usual Hollywood good vs. evil dynamic. Instead, there’s a more ambient sense of violence, desperation, retribution and recrimination. Penn’s doomed relationship with a “homegirl” indicates that while the LAPD may capture a few felons, they’ve little chance of capturing the hearts and minds of the criminalised poor. Later films such as John Singleton’s Boyz 'n the Hood (1991) would go further in exploring how life looks from the gangsta perspective.On the DVD: The films is presented in an anamorphic 16:9 widescreen version, with the usual chapter and language selections. The only other feature is the original, detailed but run-of-the-mill trailer. --David Stubbs

• Anastasia / Fern Gully - The Last Rainforest | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-5.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Anastasia The lost Russian Princess Anastasia and her incredible quest to find her true identity. When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia Anastasia the royal family's youngest daughter barely escapes with her life. Years later joined by a band of heroic companions Anastasia must battle the evil Rasputin his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris reclaim her rightful destiny and solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century! Fern Gully - The Last Rainforest An animated musical fantasy that takes a journey deep into the Australian rainforest where humans exist only in fairy tales...

• The Lies Boys Tell | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Before he dies Ed Reece has got some unfinished business... Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas gives a terrific performance as an eccentric old man determined to revisit some milestones from his past and reconcile with his feuding family in this superb drama. With a brilliant witty script from Oscar winning Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond). 'The Lies Boys Tell' also stars Craig T Nelson (Poltergiest) and the veteren character actress Eileen Brennan (Private Benjamin).

• Tully | DVD | (30/04/2007) from £11.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (7.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Tully explores a legacy of love between a family of men and the events of one summer that change their world forever. Through the eyes of Tully Coates Jr. (Anson Mount) - the local hearthrob and eldest son - a world is revealed where secrets are kept close beneath wide open skies as a distant father and his two sons struggle with a past that has come back to haunt them. L.A. Independent Film Festival: Critics Award Best Picture Audience Award Best Director Gen Art Film Festival: Best Feature Newport Int'l Film Festival: Audience Award Best Feature Aspen Film Festival: Audience Award Best Feature