"Actor: Bob Greene"

• Patch Adams | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: there are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics. Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch" but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humour and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease", he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range--the ever-cheerful, do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face--he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. --Jenny Brown

• Copycat | DVD | (29/03/1999) from £18.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Taking its lead from Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning pulse-raiser The Silence Of the Lambs, Copycat strives for intelligence over gristle and carnage. It's a terse, involving thriller that swings away from the usual cinematic notion of violence as a means to an end by forgoing brawn for brains. Young San Francisco police inspector Ruben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) is teamed with brilliant force vet, M J Monahan (Holly Hunter), a diplomatic, no-nonsense cop who must buck the system in order to find a killer who is copying the crimes of history's most notorious serial killers. Ruben would rather shoot to kill than merely wound a suspect; Monahan labours to help him think more diplomatically. Everything changes when crank calls arrive at the station from serial-killer pin-up girl psychiatrist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver). She's been housebound for 13 months, ever since murderer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) nearly made her his next victim because she testified against him in court. Though he's in prison, he's still mentor and muse to every loose cannon walking the streets--one of whom is killing people with a vengeance and hoping to finish the job Cullum began. Cop and doc team up to solve the case in this stylish, plot-driven movie. Though Copycat loses steam in the end, it still makes a point. And it serves as a cautionary tale for people everywhere, tossing in street smart warnings against victimisation. The teaming of Hunter and Weaver works well, the short and the tall forging a terrific and friction-filled relationship that leads to grudging respect. Establishing an ominous atmosphere reminiscent of his classic British TV miniseries The Singing Detective, director Jon Amiel has an eye for the dark and the unusual and it gives this film an edge that eludes most other mainstream filmmakers. --Paula Nechak

• Gunnin for That # 1 Spot | Blu Ray | (02/12/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.77

  On the corner of 155th and Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem lies Rucker Park. By appearances, the concrete pavement, anchored on one side by its run down slab bleachers, is no different than any other basketball court in the city, but this is the pla