"Actor: Meg Kasdan"

• SILVERADO (BLU-RAY) - VARIOUS | Blu Ray | (17/09/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Silverado | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Director Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill) clearly set out to make an old-fashioned Western, but he couldn't help bringing a hip, self-conscious attitude to the proceedings. Silverado thus finds its own funky tone--sometimes rousing, sometimes winking. Four cowboys--Kevin Kline (a distinctly modern kind of Western hero), Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, and the rowdy young Kevin Costner--converge on a little Western burg called Silverado. Kasdan peppers the somewhat generic action with smart dialogue and a parade of quirky supporting players, including John Cleese as a sheriff who seems to have stepped straight from a Monty Python sketch into an Old West saloon. Bruce Broughton supplies the music, a real throwback to the glory days of thundering Western themes. One thing's for sure: Silverado's a lot more fun than the later Kasdan-Costner Western, Wyatt Earp. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

• The Big Chill | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £17.49   |  Saving you £-4.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This seminal film about the reunion of thirtysomething friends works even better than when first released in 1983. The fine performances of the ensemble cast and a rockin' soundtrack always made this eminently enjoyable. However, the characters' often pompous blather occasionally stalled the action. Baby Boomer introspection has become so common that such navel gazing seems less problematic than it did in the early 1980s. Seven former classmates from the University of Michigan gather for the funeral of Alex, their idealistic and suicidal friend. They use their time together to become reacquainted, all the while discussing lost dreams and current hopes. (This should appeal to anyone who enjoyed that other famous reunion flick of the 1980s, John Sayles' Return of the Secaucus Seven.) Director-cowriter Lawrence Kasdan culled finely textured performances from his cast and filled the screen with memorable details. He may manipulate us with his writing but the actors do an impressive job of pulling at our heartstrings while Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye play in the background. --Rochelle O'Gorman