DVD Releases (UK) October 27, 2008

Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [2008]
From 2 Entertain Video

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Synopsis
This lavish adaptation of Thomas Hardy's literary classic start Gemma Arterton (THE QUANTUM OF SOLACE) in the titular role of Tess, the poor peasant girl who becomes a social outcast after she falls pregnant with the child of her rich cousin.
Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [2008]


Sleeping Beauty (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - 2 Disc DVD and Book Set [1958]
Directed by Clyde Geronimi
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Disney's 1959 Sleeping Beauty was the studio's most ambitious effort to date, a lavish spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapted from the music of Tchaikovsky.

In the 14th century, the malevolent Maleficent (not dissimilar to the wicked queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) taunts a king that his infant Aurora will fatally prick her finger on a spinning wheel before sundown on her sixteenth birthday. This, of course, would deny her a happily-ever-after with her true love. Fortunately, some bubbly, bumbling fairies named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are on hand to assist.

It's not really all that much about the title character--how interesting can someone in the middle of a long nap be, anyway? Instead, those fairies carry the day, as well as, of course, good Prince Phillip, whose battle with the malevolent Maleficent in the guise of a dragon has been co-opted by any number of animated films since. See it in its original glory here, alongside Maleficent's castle, which, filled with warthogs and demonic imps in a macabre dance celebrating their evil ways, manages a certain creepy grandeur. --David Kronke, Amazon.com
Sleeping Beauty (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - 2 Disc DVD and Book Set [1958]


Ben 10 - Race Against Time [2007]
From Warner Home Video
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Synopsis
Bringing to life Cartoon Network's animated series, this live-action feature explores the origins of Ben 10's superhero-like powers. As fans of the show already know, Ben Tennyson (Graham Phillips) was just your average 10 year old until he found the Omnitrix. The mysterious watch-like device let him transform himself into 10 different aliens--and use their powers to do some good along the way. But what if the watch stopped working? In RACE AGAINST TIME, that's just what happens after a fierce alien sets foot in town. The extraterrestrial overlord's plans for the Earth, and his strange connection to Ben, prove to be more disturbing than he could have ever imagined. This action-packed film will thrill fans of the show, and its sci-fi storyline will clue viewers into more than a few of its secrets. TV star Lee Majors (THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN) resurfaces in the role of Grandpa.
Ben 10 - Race Against Time [2007]


The Edge Of Love [2008]
Directed by John Maybury
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Set during the Second World War, The Edge Of Love is, at heart, the story of a love triangle. In the middle of it is the poet Dylan Thomas (played here by Matthew Rhys), and it’s he who finds himself in love with two women. On one hand, there’s his childhood sweetheart Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley), and on the other there’s his wife, Caitlin Thomas (Sienna Miller). Throw in Caitlin’s husband, William (Cillian Murphy), and you have the basis of a complicated period romantic drama.

The best parts of The Edge Of Love prove to be in the build up, with the strong production values really allowed director John Maybury to build up his characters, and get across the setting of a war-torn London. Boasting good performances from the likes of Keira Knightley and Matthew Rhys, it’s hard not to get pulled into the film’s set-up.

That said, the pay-off of The Edge Of Love isn’t quite as satisfying, and the second half of the film lacks the punch you’d expect it to have. It’s hard to pinpoint quite why it doesn’t gel, but as major dramatic events ensue, you’re simply not drawn into them as much as you’d hope. Perhaps a bit more fleshing out of the characters would have helped.

However, there’s still a lot to admire and enjoy, and The Edge Of Love boasts some excellent visuals, and neat directorial touches. And even though it doesn’t fulfill its potential, it’s still a fine, eminently watchable drama. It just could have been that little bit more. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Set against a backdrop of London during World War II, THE EDGE OF LOVE tells the story of a love triangle that forms between renowned poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys), his young, sultry wife, Cat ( Sienna Miller) and old flame Keira Knightley.
The Edge Of Love [2008]


Little Dorrit [1987]
From Squirrel Films Distribution Ltd
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Synopsis
A drama based on the novel by Charles Dickens which tells the story of Arthur Clennam who is thrown into a debtor's prison. There he meets a young seamstress whose father has been imprisoned for twenty-five years.

Review
Edzard has divided her thoroughly engrossing, deeply moving, brilliantly edited six-hour film into two parts: Nobody s Fault, where even responsibility for widespread poverty is taken up by no one, and where someone or other declares Nobody s fault! so often it comes as a shock when someone says My fault! over the accident of brushing against someone else in the street. Following Dickens, Edzard also undertakes a satire of bureaucratic runaround, propelled by Arthur Clennam s desire to secure a patent for a safely operating machine for his business, that suggests Kafka as well as Carlyle. The second part, beginning with her birth, follows Amy s pilgrim s progress, humanizing Amy by disclosing her noble interiority, whereas in the first part we view her in patches from the outside. Before Edzard concludes her calmly feminist work we see a number of scenes we have already seen in the first part, but with the events shifted to Amy s perspective, a partial, miniature echo of Robert Browning s method in The Ring and the Book. Don t worry; it all ends happily with a wedding. But Shakespeareans know that such anticipated bliss is problematic. Amy marries a man who, throughout the first part of the film, somehow failed to notice how much in love she was with him. Edzard s first-half reliance on Clennam s perspective has extended this failure to ourselves. Nobody s fault! The actors provide a phenomenal range of quirky, colorful humanity. For me, the three best performances are given by Cyril Cusack as Amy s uncle, who is as devoted to his brother as Amy is to her father, Roshan Seth as Pancks, and Joan Greenwood as elderly Mrs. Clennam, who has a family secret tucked away. Sarah Pickering is strikingly convincing as Little Dorrit. --Dennis Grunes Wordpress.com
Little Dorrit [1987]


The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency [2008]
Directed by Anthony Minghella
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Synopsis
Based on the series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY stars US soul singer Jill Scott as Mma Ramotswe, a fledgling private detective in Botswana who sets up the country's first female-owned agency. The late Anthony Mingella directed this lavish, charming and satisfyingly faithful adaptation, in addition to co-writing the script with Richard Curtis.
The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency [2008]


Dirty Sexy Money - Season 1 [2007]
Directed by Michael Grossman
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Synopsis
Down to earth, happily married young lawyer Nick George is forced to compromise his ethics and relive his childhood by taking over his recently deceased father’s job of representing the impossibly wealthy and out of control New York family, the Darlings. The reason? $10 million a year to carry out charitable works and the small matter of finding out who killed his father.

Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) stars as George, alongside a great cast, including William Baldwin (Sliver) and a career-defining performance from Donald Sutherland (Don't Look Now) as head of family Tripp Darling. The Darlings are no ordinary family and George’s problem solving talents are tested to the full as he tries to balance family life with the engaged Karen Darling’s continuing infatuation with him, senator-hopeful Patrick Darling’s secret affair with a transgender prostitute, the Reverent Brian Darling’s illegitimate son and twins Jeremy and Juliet’s continual feuding and money-burning--all the while digging into family secrets as he tries to uncover the truth behind his father’s death.
Dirty Sexy Money - Season 1 [2007]


Sleeping Beauty [Blu-ray] [1958]
Directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, Clyde Geronimi, Wolfgang Reitherman
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DVD Description
Sleeping Beauty on Blu-ray: a classic from the past, for the future. Now Disney doesn’t just bridge the years with magic, it does it with technology too. For a limited time only, Sleeping Beauty will be available in a unique Blu-ray/DVD combination set. Two Blu-ray discs give you the very first Disney classic in incredible hi-definition, whilst the full feature on DVD still gives you the choice of enjoying this timeless tale anywhere you have access to a DVD player.

Synopsis
A beautiful princess born in a faraway kingdom is destined by a terrible curse to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a deep sleep which can only be awakened by true love's first kiss. Though the titular princess is on par with the rest of Disney's essential heroines, most of the fun arises from the trio of charming fairies entrusted with her care: Flora, Fauna, and Meriweather. Meanwhile the evil Malificent may just be Disney's most chilling villainess. This classic makes wondrous use of Tchaikovsky's same-titled ballet score, which earned SLEEPING BEAUTY an Academy Award nomination for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.
Sleeping Beauty [Blu-ray] [1958]



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