"Actor: Tom Russell"

• Those Calloways | DVD | (21/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on the novel by Paul Annixter Those Calloways tells the story of Cam Calloway (Brian Keith) a New England preservationist and fur trapper. Along with his son Cam dreams of buying a nearby lake to turn into a refuge for migrating geese. He finds however that making the dream come true requires much more money than he has and even greater ingenuity in getting around the real estate developers. The situation turns violent when Cam and his son move into a cabin on the property and an attempt is made on his life. Can Cam stop the development of this pristine area and carry out his lifelong wish to help the environment... Available for the first time on DVD!

• Green Mile, The / Pay It Forward / Proof Of Life | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  The book was better" has been the complaint of many a reader since the invention of movies. Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison drama The Green Mile (The Shawshank Redemption was the first) is a very faithful adaptation of King's serial novel. In the middle of the Depression, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) runs death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Into this dreary world walks a mammoth prisoner, John Coffey (Michael Duncan) who, very slowly, reveals a special gift that will change the men working and dying on the mile. With Darabont's superior storytelling abilities, his touch for perfect casting, and a leisurely 188-minute running time, his movie brings to life nearly every character and scene from the novel. Darabont even improves the novel's two endings, creating a more emotionally satisfying experience. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.comPay It Forward is a multi-level marketing scheme of the heart. Beginning as a seventh-grade class assignment to put into action an idea that could change the world, young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) comes up with a plan to do good deeds for three people who then by way of payment each must do good turns for three other people. These nine people also must pay it forward and so on, ad infinitum. If successful, the resulting network of do-gooders ought to comprise the entire world. While this could have turned into unmitigated schmaltz, the acting elevates this film to mitigated schmaltz. By turns powerful and measured, the performances of Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment can't make up for the many missteps in a screenplay that sanitises the look of the lower-middle class and expects us to believe that homeless alcoholics and junkies speak in the elevated manner of grad students. One may wonder how it would have been handled by the likes of Frank Capra, who could balance sentiment with humour, clearly Capra would never have let the ending of his version to take the nosedive into cliché and pathos that director Mimi Leder has allowed in this film. --Jim Gay, Amazon.comWhen someone in Proof of Life says "Don't leave me hanging", you can bet they're going to be left hanging. There's little room for delicacy in Tony Gilroy's screenplay, adapted from an article by William Prochnau and the book Long March to Freedom by kidnapping survivor Thomas Hargrove. A hint of romance between Russell Crowe (the soldier-turned-"K&R") and Meg Ryan adds tension as the story shifts back and forth to David Morse's captivity. Avoiding that pitfall, director Taylor Hackford crafts the plot as a latter-day Casablanca that unfolds on a grander canvas (at stunning locations in Ecuador) while favouring an exciting rescue-mission climax over the tragedy of an ill-timed affair. It might have worked better as a straightforward macho action flick (with David Caruso doing lively work as Crowe's gung-ho K&R cohort), but Proof of Life effectively conveys the two-sided torment of a hostage crisis. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Mission Impossible 3 | HD DVD | (27/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Tom Cruise blasts back into action as IMF agent Ethan Hunt who with a little help from old friend Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) must take on a deadly new adversary in the shape of Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman)... This third instalment in the big screen exploits of Mission Impossible is written and directed by J.J. Abrams personally selected by Tom Cruise following his work on creating series such as Alias and Lost!

• Love Story / Oliver's Story | DVD | (08/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

• The Missing / The Quick And The Dead / Open Range | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Missing (Dir. Ron Howard 2003): In 19th-century New Mexico Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) returns home hoping to reconcile with his now adult daughter Maggie (Cate Blanchett). When Maggie's daughter is kidnapped father and estranged daughter are forced to put their troubled past behind them and work together to get her back... The Quick And The Dead (Dir. Sam Rami 1995): Herod (Gene Hackman) Mayor and ruler of Redemption has turned his town into a haven for thugs and Miscreants of every type. In return for his 'leniency' he keeps 50 cents on every dollar traded by the unsavoury group. Each year in order to weed out rivals and to protect his position of power Herod holds a shooting contest which attracts people from miles around including his son 'The Kid' (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cort (Russell Crowe). It is a shoot to kill contest with the prize being a large sum of cash. Herod wins every year so protecting his position and reputation for being the fastest killer in the West. That is until Ellen (Sharon Stone) rides into town a six-gun strapped to her hip and revenge burning in her heart. She's fast furious and her mind is set on winning the ultimate prize of a duel to the death with Herod. Open Range (Dir. Kevin Costner 2003): Academy-Award' winning director Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) helms this traditional Western tale of a way of life that is quickly disappearing. Boss Spearman (Duvall) Charley Waite (Costner) Mose Harrison (Benrubi) and Button (Luna) freegraze their cattle across the vast prairies of the West sharing a friendship forged by a steadfast code of honour and living a life unencumbered by civilization. When their wayward herd forces them near the small town of Harmonville the cowboys encounter a corrupt Sheriff (Russo) and kingpin rancher (Gambon) who govern the territory through fear tyranny and violence. Boss and Charley find themselves inextricably drawn towards the inevitable showdown as they are forced to defend the freedom and values of a lifestyle that is all too quickly vanishing. Amidst this turmoil life suddenly takes an unexpected turn for loner Charley when he meets the beautiful and warm-spirited Sue Barlow (Bening) a woman who embraces both his heart and his soul. As these courageous men prepare for the decisive battle that looms they are also forced to confront and conquer their own internal demons.

• Mission: Impossible 3 | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £10.98   |  Saving you £16.00 (177.98%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Tom Cruise returns as Special Agent Ethan Hunt, who faces the mission of his life.