"Actor: Thomas Milian"

• Amistad | DVD | (29/01/2001) from £6.77   |  Saving you £13.22 (195.27%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Steven Spielberg's most simplistic, sanitised history lesson, Amistad, explores the symbolic 1840s trials of 53 West Africans following their bloody rebellion aboard a slave ship. For most of Schindler's List (and, later, Saving Private Ryan) Spielberg restrains himself from the sweeping narrative and technical flourishes that make him one of our most entertaining and manipulative directors. Here, he doesn't even bother trying, succumbing to his driving need to entertain with beautiful images and contrived emotion. He cheapens his grandiose motives and simplifies slavery, treating it as cut- and-dry genre piece. Characters are easy Hollywood stereotypes--"villains" like the Spanish sailors or zealous abolitionists are drawn one-dimensionally and sneered upon. And Spielberg can't suppress his gifted eye, undercutting normally ugly sequences, such as the terrifying slave passage, which is shot as a gorgeous, well-lit composition. At its core, Amistad is a traditional courtroom drama, centred by a tired, clichéd narrative: a struggling, idealistic young lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) fighting the crooked political system and saving helpless victims. Worse yet, Spielberg actually takes the underlying premise of his childhood fantasy, E.T. and repackages it for slavery. Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), the leader of the West African rebellion, is presented much like the adorable alien: lost, lacking a common language, and trying to find his way home. McConaughey is a grown-up Elliot who tries communicating complicated ideas such as geography by drawing pictures in the sand or language by having Cinque mimic his facial expressions. Such stuff was effective for a sci-fi fantasy about the communication barriers between a boy and a lost alien; here, it seems like a naive view of real, complex history. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com

• Havana | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £5.54   |  Saving you £0.45 (8.12%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Robert Redford and Lena Olin star in Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack's passionate romantic adventure set in a place once called ""the sexiest city in the world."" High-rolling poker player Jack Weil (Redford) is trying to make one big score in 1958 Havana a pleasure-seeker's paradise on the verge of revolution. But his plan doesn't include falling for Roberta (Olin) the beautiful enigmatic wife of revolutionary Arturo Duran (Raul Julia). After Arturo is removed by the police Jack is drawn closer to Roberta who ignites a passion that threatens his last chance for the big score. Breathtaking cinematography a powerful story and a sensual score be Dave Grusin make Havana an unforgettable experience.

• Vampires | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £6.40   |  Saving you £-0.41 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  By night, vampires rise from loamy graves in search of human prey. By day, vampire slayer Jack Crow (Woods) leads a contingent of Vatican mercenaries in a long-waged war against these enemies.

• Vampires | Blu Ray | (30/01/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The first few minutes of John Carpenter's Vampires--in which James Woods' vampire killer leads a dawn raid on a New Mexico "goon nest" of bloodsuckers--not only suggests a horror movie that refuses to pull its punches, but even evokes some of the more disturbing dream-memories of American Westerns. Muscular and uncompromising, the sequence suggests a new Carpenter classic unravelling before one's eyes. Things don't quite work out that way, but this is still a film to reckon with. There are a few serious (and surprising) misjudgements on the director's part, particularly a mishandling of Sheryl Lee's role as a prostitute poisoned by the bite of a "master vampire" (who pretty much wiped out Woods' team of goon terminators). But aside from some weaknesses, the action is jolting, the suggested complicity of the Catholic Church in destroying monsters is provocative, and the traces of Howard Hawks' continuing influence on Carpenter's storytelling are in evidence. -- Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• John Carpenter's Vampires / John Carpenter's Vampires: Los Muertos / Vampires: The Turning | DVD | (27/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Vampires: ""Forget everything you've ever heard about vampires"" warns Jack Crow (James Woods) the leader of Team Crow a relentless group of mercenary vampire slayers. When master Vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) decimates Jack's entire team Crow and the sole team survivor Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) set out in pursuit. Breaking all the rules Crow and Montoya take one of Valek's victims hostage. The beautiful prostitute (Sheryl Lee) is their sole psychic link to Valek a

• Winter Kills | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  19 years after President Timothy Keegan was assassinated his brother Nick discovers a dying man claiming to have been the gunman. While trying to avoid his wealthy and domineering father's attempts to control his actions Nick follows the clues that have been handed to him. As he progresses it becomes increasingly difficult to discern the real trails from the dead ends and increasing dangerous as unknown parties try to stop Nick from uncovering the truth...

• The Thing / Vampires / Village Of The Damned | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Thing (1982): Horror-meister John Carpenter teams Kurt Russell's outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build this chilling version of the classic The Thing. In the winter of 1982 a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100 000 years. Soon unfrozen the shape-shifting alien wreaks havoc creates terror and becomes one of them... John Carpenter's Vampires (1998): In the blood-chilling tradition of Halloween and Village Of The Damned comes John Carpenter's unique vision of the ultimate killing machines vampires. Forget everything you've ever heard about vampires warns Jack Crow (James Woods) the leader of Team Crow a relentless group of mercenary vampire slayers. When master Vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) decimates Jack's entire team Crow and the sole team survivor Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) set out in pursuit. Breaking all the rules Crow and Montoya take one of Valek's victims hostage. The beautiful prostitute (Sheryl Lee) is their sole psychic link to Valek and through her senses they will track down the leader of the undead. As Valek nears the climax of his 600 year search for the Berziers cross Jack and the new Team Crow do everything humanly possible to prevent him from possessing the only thing that can grant him and all vampires the omnipotent power to walk in the daylight... Village Of The Damned (1995): From the master of suspense John Carpenter comes a chilling new version of the sci-fi classic. Something is terribly wrong in the tiny village of Midwich. After an unseen force invades a quiet coastal town 10 women mysteriously find themselves pregnant. Local physician Dr. Alan Chaffee (Reeve) and government scientist Dr. Susan Verner (Alley) join forces when the women simultaneously give birth...and the reign of terror begins. In what the New York Times calls one scarifying trip the people of Midwich must try to find a way to stop the children in the Village Of The Damned.

• John Carpenter's Vampires | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  By night, vampires rise from loamy graves in search of human prey. By day, vampire slayer Jack Crow (Woods) leads a contingent of Vatican mercenaries in a long-waged war against these enemies.