"Director: Tim Story"

• Comedy Collection - Barbershop/Beauty Shop/Taxi | DVD | (09/04/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Barber Shop (Dir. Tim Story 2002): A smart comedy about a day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin (Cube) who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out. Calvin's barbershop is filled with an eclectic and hilarious cast of characters that share their stories jokes trials and tribulations. In the shop we find Eddie (the Entertainer) an old barber with strong opinions and no customers. Jimmy (Thomas) is a highly educated barber with a superiority complex who can't stand Isaac (Garity) the new white barber who just wants a shot at cutting some hair. Ricky is an ex-con with two strikes against him and is desperately trying to stay straight. Terri (Eve) is a hard-edged woman who can't seem to leave her two-timing boyfriend. And lastly there's Dinka a fellow barber who is madly in love with Terri but doesn't get the time of day. Beauty Shop (Dir. Billie Woodruff 2005): The place that can change your whole look on life. From the filmmakers that brought you Barbershop and Barbershop 2 Queen Latifah stars as Gina a hairstylist who opens a shop of her own. Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) is a long way from the Barbershop. She's moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter can attend a prestigious music school and she's made a name for herself at a posh salon with her cutting-edge hairstyles. But when her egotistical boss takes credit for her work she leaves the salon with the shampoo girl (Alicia Silverstone) in tow to open a shop of her own. Gina buys a rundown salon and inherits a motley group of headstrong stylists a colourful clientele and a sexy piano-playing electrician (Djimon Hounsou). It's a rocky road to fulfilling her dreams but you can't keep a good woman down! Taxi (Dir. Tim Storey 2004): A loose remake of the Luc Besson production of the same name. Cab driver Belle Williams (Queen Latifah) regularly flies through the streets of New York in her souped-up Taxi earning her a reputation as the Big Apple's fastest cabbie. However Belle wants to be a real race-car driver and her day-job is only a means to paving the way for that dream. Well on the way to her ambition she is put in between a rock and a hard place by cop Andy Washburn: a great undercover cop but a hopeless driver! Hot on the heels of a gang of sexy Brazilian bank-robbers Washburn convinces Belle to assist him in catching the crooks. Cue some insane stunts and a complete disregard for the laws of the roads!

• Fantastic Four/The Death Of The Incredible Hulk | DVD | (21/05/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  The Fantastic Four (Dir. Tim Story 2005): Prepare for the fantastic! The lifelong dream of inventor astronaut and scientist Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) is close to being realized. He is spearheading a trip to outer space to the center of a cosmic storm. There he hopes to unlock the secrets of the human genetic codes for the benefit of all humanity. Extensive government grant cutbacks nearly dashed the visionary's hopes of the historic flight until Reed accepted a financing deal with his old college rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) now a billionaire industrialist. Reed's crew for the mission includes his best friend astronaut Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis); Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) Von Doom's director of genetic research and Reed's ex-girlfriend; and Sue's hot-headed younger brother pilot Johnny Storm (Chris Evans). With benefactor Von Doom in tow the four set off for the exploration of a lifetime. The mission is uneventful - until Reed discovers a miscalculation of the speed of the approaching storm. Within minutes the event threshold is upon them. The space station is engulfed by turbulent clouds of cosmic radiation which genetically transforms the crew. Their DNA is irrevocably altered - and so is their future. Back on earth the effects of the exposure are quickly revealed. Reed gains the ability to stretch and contort his body into any shape he can imagine and as leader of the group is given the name Mr. Fantastic; Sue is able to render herself invisible and to create and project powerful force fields as Invisible Woman; Johnny becomes known as The Human Torch as he can now engulf his body in flames and take flight at will; and Ben whose freakish transmutation is the most shocking becomes an orange-colored rock-like superhumanly strong creature The Thing. Together they turn tragedy into triumph and catastrophe into coalition using their unique and formidable powers to thwart the evil plans of their now steely-eyed iron-fisted nemesis Dr. Doom... The Hulk (Dir. Ang Lee 2003): Scientist Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) has to put it mildly anger management issues. His quiet life as a brilliant researcher working with cutting edge genetic technology conceals a nearly forgotten and painful past. His ex-girlfriend and equally brilliant fellow researcher Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) has tired of Bruce's cordoned off emotional terrain and resigns herself to remaining an interested onlooker to his quiet life. Which is exactly where Betty finds herself during one of the early trials in Banner's groundbreaking research. A simple oversight leads to an explosive situation and Bruce makes a split-second decision; his heroic impulse saves a life and leaves him apparently unscathed-his body absorbing a normally deadly dose of gamma radiation. Acclaimed Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee turns his masterful eye to adapting the classic Marvel Comics character for the big screen. Setting out to faithfully transfer the Hulk comic book character from four-color paneled page to motion picture screen Lee combines all the elements of a blockbuster visual effects-intensive superhero movie with the brooding romance and tragedy of Universal's classic horror films. Staying true to the early subversive spirit of the Hulk as envisioned by its creators (Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) while also tuning the tale to current dangerous times Lee presents a portrait of a man at war with himself and the world both a superhero and a monster a means of wish fulfillment and a nightmare...