"Actor: Brenda McDonald"

• Kingdom Hospital - Complete | DVD | (09/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Kingdom Hospital is horror novelist Stephen King’s adaptation of Danish director Lars Von Trier’s cult mini-series The Kingdom, geared very much for an American audience. The story unfolds across 15 hours, telling the story of a hospital in Maine that’s been built on the site of a 19th Century mill fire that killed most of its young occupants--themes that King fans will be familiar with. In the present day, Kingdom Hospital is haunted by the ghost of ten-year-old child labourer Mary and, even more bizarrely, a fearsome giant anteater-like creature called Antubis. It falls to the ace doctor Hook (Andrew McCarthy), the paraplegic artist Jack Coleman (Peter Rickman) and the hypochondriac psychic Sally Druse (Diane Ladd) to enlist the help of a surreal assortment of hospital staff and patients to help Mary and save Kingdom Hospital itself from certain doom. Fans of Stephen King will probably enjoy the blend of black comedy, spectral horror and general weirdness, which owes a big debt to previous television series like Twin Peaks and even ER. But too often, Kingdom Hospital seems to be trying too hard to make itself into a cult series, something which King is just not a subtle enough writer to carry off. But Kingdom Hospital looks good, especially the CGI Antubis, who steals every scene in which he appears. Generally, though, the series is more of an entertaining experiment than a cult-in-the-making. --Ted Kord

• The Field | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Irish director Jim Sheridan made The Field after scoring an art house hit and Oscar nominations for his previous film, My Left Foot. Set in Ireland during the 1930s, this ambitious and hard-hitting drama is about one man's obsession with a plot of land that his family has tended for generations. The results are decidedly mixed, and it's obvious that this kind of tragic allegory is better suited for the stage (where it originated as a play by John B Keane). What makes the film worthwhile is the Oscar-nominated performance by Richard Harris as "Bull" McCabe, the fiercely stubborn man who's nurtured a prime field of rented land for decades, only to lose it when the owner auctions the land to an unwelcome American (Tom Berenger). Rather than sacrifice his life's work to this brazen invader, McCabe wages a personal war with powerfully tragic results. It's unfortunate that this potent drama never really connects on an emotional level, but Harris is never less than fascinating in a role that virtually seems to consume him as an actor. His performance approaches greatness, even when the film falls somewhat short of its dramatic ambitions. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• School Of Life | DVD | (23/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Ryan Reynolds lights up the screen as the charismatic Mr D A teacher whose lessons extend far beyond the classroom in this heart-warming tale of learning to appreciate every moment we're given. At Fallbrook Middle School a Warner has won the coveted Student-Elected Teacher of the Year award 43 years in a row. Unfortunately it was ""Stormin"" Norman Warner each time and now that he's passed away the burden of maintaining the family legacy falls to Matt Warner (David Paymer) who's