"Actor: Phyllis Lyons"

• The Bridges Of Madison County | DVD | (25/09/1998) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Some called it a snooze-fest, while others tearfully clutched their Kleenex. In any case, Clint Eastwood was an unusual and (as it turned out) perceptive choice to direct and costar in this lush adaptation of Robert James Waller's phenomenally bestselling novel. Meryl Streep costars as Francesca, the lonely Iowa farmer's wife who is instantly attracted to Robert (Eastwood), the photographer from National Geographic who is in the area to photograph the bridges along Iowa's rural roadways. The two fall in love while Francesca's husband and children are away at a county fair, but the story's passion and lasting appeal derive from their decision to part forever after just a few brief days of intimate connection. Superbly acted with an emphasis on quiet, graceful moments of tender revelation, the film builds to a crescendo of powerful and conflicting emotions. Like David Lean's Brief Encounter (to which it bears marked similarities), The Bridges of Madison County is destined to become one of the classic film love stories. --Jeff Shannon

• If These Walls Could Talk | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-24.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Regardless of your opinion on the topic, If These Walls Could Talk is a bold and provocative examination of how the laws and attitudes about abortion in the United States have both changed drastically and remained so much the same. Three women, three time periods, one house: each finds herself in trouble and must face the overwhelming decision about what to do with the unwanted pregnancy. The first segment is the most powerful, featuring Demi Moore as a young, recently widowed nurse in 1952. With no-one to turn to and with limited financial means, her options are few. Catherine Keener costars as her harshly judgmental sister-in-law. The next piece occurs in 1974 as Sissy Spacek, a mother of four trying to earn a college degree, discovers she's pregnant with her fifth child. Her utterly modern feminist daughter encourages Spacek to get a newly legal abortion, but it's a complex decision. In the final segment, college student Anne Heche becomes pregnant by her married professor. Her best friend, played by Jada Pinkett, is resolutely against abortion and the two wrangle over right and wrong. As the young woman tries to learn about her options, she finds herself enmeshed in the pro-life demonstrations outside the abortion clinic. Cher, who directs this segment (the other two are directed by Nancy Savoca), costars as a doctor at the clinic. While trying to be even-handed and demonstrating the different choices different women make, the film does have a decidedly pro-choice leaning. Yet the power of the movie is undeniable and it raises significant questions on both sides of the abortion debate, making it an important film for women (and men) everywhere to watch and talk about. --Jenny Brown

• I'm Losing You | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on Bruce Wagner's bestselling novel 'I'm Losing You' is a melodrama of a wealthy Los Angeles family and the journey each one begins after a death in the family.

• Guardian | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £5.91   |  Saving you £13.07 (447.60%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Though the Guardian opens with a nod or two to Three Kings, it really offers a cut-down version of Fallen, with Los Angeles Detective Kross (Mario Van Peebles) facing Telal--a body-hopping Sumerian demon he encountered at an archaeological site in Iraq during the Gulf War--entrusted by ritual scarification with the task of protecting a 12-year-old boy who will grow up to unite the three great monotheistic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) and thus set the Devil's work back millennia. A sub-plot deals with a red powder drug ("Chaos"), imported by the demon's minions, which catches on in LA sending coke-sniffing agents into murderous frenzies (the funniest scene) and briefly giving guest star dealer Ice-T superpowers until an ambiguously angelic hit lady (Stacy Oversier) tosses him off a building. There are elements of The Matrix stirred in, with Oversier and Telal dead ringers for the Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving characters, but it inevitably boils down to a Fallen-style formula. It's stripped-down demonology--ever since The Evil Dead, those Sumerian demons have been getting a bad press--with direct-to-video action, but is by no means unlikeable. On the DVD: Along with the trailer, this disc offers IMDB filmographies for Van Peebles, Remar, Ice-T and John Terlesky (who used to be a busy B-actor in the likes of Chopping Mall and Valet Girls and now directs quickies such as Guardian). The transfer is augmented for 16:9 and looks significantly better than the video version, giving this low-budget effort a relatively lush feel, though the Iraqi desert does look as though it was an hour or so drive out of Los Angeles. --Kim Newman