"Actor: Jennifer Irwin"

• The Gate (Vestron) | Blu Ray | (26/02/2018) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1987 The Gate was at the forefront of what came and went as a purely 80s genre: Kiddie Horror. Just like The Lost Boys or The Monster Squad of the same year, the idea was to let a couple of younger-than-teenage kids loose in a well-worn horror scenario and play it for as many laughs as scares. Its 15 certificate (PG-13 in the States) meant The Gate had an enormous opening weekend, and a considerable shelf life. The kids in question here are a very young Stephen (Blade) Dorff as Glen and his best friend Terry. After some tree felling in Glen's seemingly miles-square back yard they discover a hole full of precious rock. This is of course the Gate to a demonic dimension. As things start levitating, Glen's dog dies and moths get into the most awkward of places, it becomes obvious that the Gate is open! A teenage sister does little to help early on, but naturally the story develops into one about banding together under extreme circumstances. The make-up and stop-motion animation effects remain impressive in scope and there are a couple of frights still just on the right side of cliché. Since it was so successful, the writer and director went on to make an inferior sequel some years later. On the DVD: Viewers should note this is a very murky transfer that's in an unspecified widescreen ratio. There's also an unspectacular (equally unspecified) sound mix. But a gallery of 10 photos and the theatrical trailer makes up for that, right? --Paul Tonks

• Eastbound and Down Complete HBO Season 1 | DVD | (15/03/2010) from £4.54   |  Saving you £15.45 (340.31%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Former Major League pitcher Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) used to have it all: fame endorsements and a lucrative contract. Now after hard living took its toll on his fastball Kenny has found himself crashing with his brother's family and teaching gym class at the North Carolina middle school he once attended. Wherever he goes Kenny wreaks havoc with his boorish behaviour and even makes a pre-emptive romantic strike on his former high school squeeze now a teacher engaged to the school principal. Out of baseball and discarded by the game he abused so well can Kenny succeed in his plot to triumphantly return to the big leagues?

• Blues Brothers 2000 | DVD | (03/08/2009) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  audio in italiano18 anni dopo elwood blues (aykroyd) esce di prigione. suo fratello jake (belushi) e' morto e la loro orchestra non c'e' piu'. se n'e' andato anche curtis, loro padre spirituale, lasciando un figlio poliziotto duro e puro. insieme con un nuovo partner, il gioviale mighty mack mcteer (goodman) e con buster, orfanello di 10 anni (bonifant), elwood si rimette in marcia. dovra' fare i conti con la mafia russa. tentativo parzialmente riuscito di continuare un film di culto che nel 1980, con l'aereo piu' pazzo del mondo inauguro' il genere catacomico: ludico, demenziale, goliardico, frenetico, buffonesco, tutto ma non rassicurante e mistificatorio. quel che c'e' di divertente e' gia' visto e quel che ha di nuovo non diverte. c'e' tanta musica, d'accordo. troppa.

• The Gate | DVD | (05/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In 1987 The Gate was at the forefront of what came and went as a purely 80s genre: Kiddie Horror. Just like The Lost Boys or The Monster Squad of the same year, the idea was to let a couple of younger-than-teenage kids loose in a well-worn horror scenario and play it for as many laughs as scares. Its 15 certificate (PG-13 in the States) meant The Gate had an enormous opening weekend, and a considerable shelf life. The kids in question here are a very young Stephen (Blade) Dorff as Glen and his best friend Terry. After some tree felling in Glen's seemingly miles-square back yard they discover a hole full of precious rock. This is of course the Gate to a demonic dimension. As things start levitating, Glen's dog dies and moths get into the most awkward of places, it becomes obvious that the Gate is open! A teenage sister does little to help early on, but naturally the story develops into one about banding together under extreme circumstances. The make-up and stop-motion animation effects remain impressive in scope and there are a couple of frights still just on the right side of cliché. Since it was so successful, the writer and director went on to make an inferior sequel some years later. On the DVD: Viewers should note this is a very murky transfer that's in an unspecified widescreen ratio. There's also an unspectacular (equally unspecified) sound mix. But a gallery of 10 photos and the theatrical trailer makes up for that, right? --Paul Tonks

• Superstar | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £13.48   |  Saving you £-3.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Superstar is a big-screen vehicle for Molly Shannon, the latest comic from the American sketch show Saturday Night Live to have a movie built around her. She isn't exactly funny--in fact, she's a little unsettling. Her creation, the neurotic Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher, invites laughter because she's a little too close to the bone for anyone who grew up feeling ugly and unloved, which is a lot of people. Mary lives with her grandmother (Glynis Johns), who insists that Mary study business. Mary herself yearns to be famous and admired, though for what isn't exactly clear; she envisions some vague combination of singing, dancing, and acting that will make her a superstar. A talent show promises to be her ticket to stardom (the winning prize is a role in "a movie with positive moral values"), and she won't let her loser status or any hostile cheerleaders stand in her way. Meanwhile, Mary acts out dating fantasies with trees and signposts, envisions the school lunch room bursting into a Fame-like dance number, and longs for the biggest jock in school. What makes Superstar more than just a collection of bad high school memories is that, though the formulaic plot redeems Mary, the movie as a whole isn't so sure. Mary completely loses herself in her obsessive fantasies--many inspired by cheesy made-for-TV movies--but there's always someone watching, aghast, as Mary acts out her inner thoughts. Is she misunderstood or freakish? Superstar never commits to one side or the other, which makes it both comic and uncomfortable. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Harlan County War | DVD | (16/08/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (33.39%)   |  RRP £7.99

  It's Her Turn To Fight Back. Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter (The Piano) stars as Ruby the wife of a coal miner in Harlan County Kentucky. After two senseless deaths the union calls a strike against the mining company. What follows is one of the most violent bitter and notorious union battles in history. With no end to the strike in sight Ruby decides to fight the company her way. Ted Levine (Georgina) and Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting) also star in this fictional