"Actor: Sky du Mont"

• Eyes Wide Shut | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Visually beautiful, Stanley Kubrick's last completed film Eyes Wide Shut blends the sinister, the sensual and the clinical in a combination that is rather too personal and idiosyncratic to be entirely successful as the final statement about gender and sexuality he intended it to be. Adapted by Frederick Raphael from the Dream Story of Freud's friend Schnitzler, it shows a young successful couple confront the dangers that lurk beyond monogamy; Nicole Kidman's Alice does little more than fantasise, flirt and dream, but even this causes guilt and pain. Doctor Bill (Tom Cruise) does rather more--he visits a whore, crashes an orgy and continues to ask questions when warned off; if no disaster ensues, and it is possible that two people die as a result, it is only luck that averts it. Much of the best of what is here is to be found in occasional moments of stillness--Cruise walking through a morgue--or wild comedy--Cruise's attempt to hire a costume in the middle of the night interrupts major shenanigans at the fancy-dress shop. Cruise and Kidman do what they can with material that never means as much as it aspires to, and the standout performance is Sydney Pollack's, as a worldly wise client. On the DVD: Eyes Wide Shut on DVD is presented in lavish Dolby Sound that makes the most of the obsessive Ligeti piano piece and Shostakovich waltz that dominate the score, and in the 1.33:1 ratio that was Kubrick's considered choice. It has subtitles in English, Arabic, Bulgarian and Rumanian, two TV spots and informative interviews with Kidman and Cruise, as well as with Steven Spielberg, to whom Kubrick had talked at length about his artistic intentions. --Roz Kaveney

• Eyes Wide Shut | DVD | (10/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Visually beautiful, Kubrick's last completed film Eyes Wide Shut blends the sinister, the sensual and the clinical in a combination that is rather too personal and idiosyncratic to be entirely successful as the final statement about gender and sexuality he intended it to be. Adapted by Frederick Raphael from the Dream Story of Freud's friend Schnitzler, it shows a young successful couple confront the dangers that lurk beyond monogamy; Nicole Kidman's Alice does little more than fantasise, flirt and dream, but even this causes guilt and pain. Doctor Bill (Tom Cruise) does rather more--he visits a whore, crashes an orgy and continues to ask questions when warned off; if no disaster ensues, and it is possible that two people die as a result, it is only luck that averts it. Much of the best of what is here is to be found in the occasional moments of stillness--Cruise walking through a morgue--or wild comedy--Cruise's attempt to hire a costume in the middle of the night interrupts major shenanigans at the fancy-dress shop. Cruise and Kidman do what they can with material that never means as much as it aspires to and the stand-out performance is Sydney Pollack's, as a worldly wise client. On the DVD: The DVD is presented in a lavish Dolby Sound that makes the most of the obsessive Ligeti piano piece and Shostakovich waltz that dominate the score and in the 1.33:1 ratio that was Kubrick's considered choice. It has subtitles in English, Arabic, Bulgarian and Rumanian, two TV spots and informative interviews with Kidman and Cruise, as well as with Stephen Spielberg to whom Kubrick had talked at length about his artistic intentions. --Roz Kaveney

• The Lion Of The Desert | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The year is 1929 and dictator Benito Mussolini (Rod Steiger) is still faced with the 20 year long war waged by Bedouin patriots to combat Italian colonisation in Africa. Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed) governor of Libya confidant that he can crush the rebellion and restore the glories of Imperial Rome. Inspirational in the Bedouin resistance toward the oppressors is the leadership of one man - Omar Mukhtar (Anthony Quinn). A teacher by profession guerilla

• Lion Of The Desert | DVD | (05/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Destined to remain a dubious footnote in books of movie trivia, Lion of the Desert--an occasionally impressive epic from 1981--was financed with a budget of $35 million by Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who previously attempted the role of movie producer with the critically roasted Mohammad: Messenger of God. This effort didn't fare much better (it grossed approximately $1 million worldwide), and although some of its wartime action sequences are intelligently filmed, it's not likely to gain much more of a reputation on home video. Under a shaggy Muslim beard, Anthony Quinn stars as Omar Mukhtar, the Arab hero and guerrilla fighter who defended Libya against Benito Mussolini and Italy's attempted conquests during World War II. As straightforward biography, the movie's got an admirable epic sweep, but a cliché-ridden script and uniformly bad performances (from a cast that includes John Gielgud, Oliver Reed and Rod Steiger) make this little more than a curiosity for those wanting to learn more about Libyan history. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Lion Of The Desert / The Message | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Message:It is the 7th Century and in Mecca powerful leaders are in conflict with Mohammed who attacks the many injustices their way of life produces - slavery drunkenness and cruelty. Mohammed claims to have seen a vision of the Angel Gabriel and calls to the people of Mecca to worship one God only. After a revelation from God Mohammed agrees to take arms against Mecca and at the Wells of Bedr the inexperienced Moslem troops are victorious. However at the Battle of Uh