"Actor: Poe"

• Speechless | DVD | (24/02/2003) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In the screwball comedy Speechless, Michael Keaton and Geena Davis are political speechwriters with bad cases of insomnia who meet, fall in love, and then discover that they are working for opposing candidates. The subsequent short-lived war of dirty tricks and one-upmanship is one of those contrivances that is soon (and thankfully) discarded in light of their instant rapport and mutual respect. In a world where candidates are for sale and campaigns are fought like poker games, these idealists are made for each other--they just don't know it yet. Director Ron Underwood (City Slickers) has a light touch with comedy and a nice feel for romantic fun, but it's the charm of Keaton and Davis that puts the bounce in an otherwise limp political satire. --Sean Axmaker

• The Dogs Of War | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £11.93   |  Saving you £2.32 (21.74%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Dogs of War is an uneasy mix of espionage and combat that never really succeeds in either role. Based around the character of Paul Shannon, the film follows events in the fictional African state of Zagaro. Hired on a reconnaissance mission by a nameless multi-national corporation, Shannon is captured and tortured before his release, only to return to the country to lead a small band of mercenaries (the dogs of the title) in a bloody coup. The first section of the movie works best, building a real sense of tension and unease, not least through a typically understated performance by Christopher Walken as the paranoid loner who keeps a pistol in his fridge (watch too for a brief appearance from a young Jim Broadbent). There are obvious references to the by-then obsolete school of Vietnam filmmaking in the second section, with the Asian enemy replaced by an African one. The gung-ho mentality of the soldiers is, however, so two-dimensional that the viewer develops little empathy for their plight. The action is slow and drawn out, with the seemingly endless pregnant pauses operating as a means for enabling the film to achieve a reasonable running time. On the DVD: little is on offer here aside from the usual scene selection, audio and subtitle options and original cinema trailer. --Phil Udell

• Gossip | DVD | (26/02/2001) from £5.23   |  Saving you £10.02 (252.39%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Gossip is one of a spate of movies that owe a lot to Cruel Intentions. This time it's rich kids in college, but other than that Gossip stays well within the beautiful-young-people-doing-awful-things-to-each other formula. Lena Heady plays Jones, obviously the Smart Girl because she is briefly seen wearing glasses. Jones hangs out with Arty Guy Travis and Handsome Rich Guy Derrick, who finances their adventures and has a little bit of a lying habit. The three are all in the same journalism class (acidic monologist Eric Bogosian plays the acidic professor) and decide to start and track a rumour for their term papers. They pick rich and beautiful couple Beau and Naomi (Joshua Jackson and Kate Hudson) as the focus of the rumour, and before you know it their juicy story starts spinning out of control into ugly territory and a truly ludicrous climax. There are attempts at making sledgehammer points about the slippery task of finding Truth, but mostly Gossip is about the guilty pleasure of watching pretty young actors be mean to each other. You'll hate yourself in the morning, but watch it anyway. --Ali Davis, Amazon.com

• Toys Are Not For Children | Blu Ray | (07/10/2019) from £12.91   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Psychological trauma and aberrant sexuality abound in this twisted 1972 tale of a young woman whose severe daddy issues send her on an unforgettably bleak downward spiral. Yearning for the love of her absentee father, Jamie inhabits an infantilised world surrounded by toys, including those which her wayward pops bizarrely continues to send her. Unable to consummate her new marriage with dashing colleague Charlie, Jamie's chance encounter with aging sex worker Pearl leads her into the murky world of prostitution where her most disturbing erotic fantasies begin to play out. Grim, quirky and strangely affecting in equal measure, Stanley H. Brasloff's Toys Are Not for Children is a truly one-of-a-kind effort from the heyday of the American exploitation independents, which builds to a haunting and devastating climax that lingers long after the credits roll. Special Edition Contents: Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation Original uncompressed mono audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Brand new audio commentary with Kat Ellinger and Heather Drain Newly-filmed appreciation by Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower ˜Dirty' Dolls: Femininity, Perversion and Play - a brand new video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Original theme song Lonely Am I, newly transferred from the original 45-RPM vinyl single Original Trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Vanity Celis

• All The Pretty Horses | DVD | (05/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Matt Damon and Henry Thomas star as John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins, two young cowboys in 1949 who ride from Texas into Mexico in search of what may be left of the Old West.