"Actor: Wendy Gazelle"

• The Net | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £10.76   |  Saving you £-1.78 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The Net, the first of Hollywood's big cyber-thrillers of the mid-1990s, was also the most successful, thanks in large part to the natural appeal of star Sandra Bullock. Still riding high from Speed and While You Were Sleeping, Bullock plays a computer expert victimised by sinister cyber-forces who steal her identity for reasons unknown. It's a clever combination of high-tech paranoia and Hitchcockian references (including Jeremy Northam as a romantic stranger named Devlin, after Cary Grant in Notorious). Film historians may look back someday on films like this--Roger Ebert calls them "hacksploitation"--to see what they reveal about our society's reaction to the increasing role of technology in our lives, just as we now study the fears of Communism and the atom bomb reflected in films of the 1950s. Dennis Miller and Diane Baker co-star. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• The Net | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £7.40   |  Saving you £5.59 (75.54%)   |  RRP £12.99

  For a while The Net looked like it was going to be quickly outdated by the technology it showcased. But now we know that anyone can personalise their systems and Internet search engines, so the colourful displays endlessly intercut on Sandra Bullock's screens look perfectly contemporary. As a movie, the concept was already outdated by the time of its 1995 release, however. The plot takes pains to emulate the style and formula of a Hitchcock chase thriller. There's a computer disc "McGuffin" being sought after by conspiratorial baddies; while the lonely hero on the run is eminently sympathetic yet attractively flawed. Bullock, though, was perfectly cast at a point well before her star status took over. Although some of the suspense contrivances may seem simplistically predictable, there's an undeniable fascination in the theme of losing one's identity. Everywhere Bullock turns she's faced with either a bald reflection or mirroring metaphor of how the computer age strips us of individuality. And, indeed, privacy. Sooner or later, the technology will become outdated of course. Until then, be careful how you surf. On the DVD: The Net comes to disc in Dolby 5.1 sound and widescreen 1.85:1. It's hard to choose between the two commentaries included. Both the Writer's and the joint talk from the Director and Producer are crammed with anecdotal reference (with a little overlap). Then there are two documentaries of about 20 minutes each, but here the newest is by far the most interesting. Trailers and filmographies fill out the package. --Paul Tonks

• Hot Pursuit | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  John Cusack stars as Danny an all round nice guy who plans to spend some quality time in the Caribbean with his girlfriend Lori (Wendy Gazelle). But although they've been planning their trip for months it only takes a few minutes for it all to go wrong! To start Danny misses his plane. Then for all his attempts to catch up with Lori he finds himself in ever more bizarre situations. From jailbreaks and jungles to hurricanes and hijacking his only companion is roguish old sea dog Captain MacLaren (Robert Loggia). She promised him ten days together in paradise. He never dreamed how far he'd have to go!

• Hot Pursuit | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The one film in John Cusack's filmography he'd probably like us all to forget, this 80s-style preppy-in-peril film (compare and contrast with After Hours and Something Wild) casts him as a college student who gets mixed up with pirates and drug runners around the Caribbean. The wannabe screwball comedy falls flatter with each gag but Cusack's hang-dog sweetness and knack with one-liners carries it through and at the very least it's worth catching if only for a glimpse of Ben Stiller in his pre-There's Something About Mary fame days, in a double act here with his real-life father Jerry Stiller. --Leslie Felperin

• The Net - Collector's Edition / The Net 2.0 | DVD | (20/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Net (Dir. Irwin Winkler 1995): Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a freelance computer analyst who spends her days tracking down computer viruses and her nights at home 'chatting' to other Internet users. She is content with her reclusive existence until her life is turned upside down when she is sent a top-secret disc. Caught up in a murderous web of corruption and conspiracy and pursued by a force that will stop at nothing including deleting all traces of her existenc

• 28 Days / The Net / Forces Of Nature | DVD | (04/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Net:Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a freelance computer analyst who spends her days tracking down computer viruses and her nights at home 'chatting' to other Internet users. She is content with her reclusive existence until her life is turned upside down when she is sent a top-secret disc. Caught up in a murderous web of corruption and conspiracy and pursued by a force that will stop at nothing including deleting all traces of her existence Angela is forced to flee for her life... 28 Days:From director Betty Thomas (Dr. Dolittle Private Parts) comes 28 Days the story of Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock) a successful New York writer living in the fast lane and everyone's favorite party girl - until she gets drunk with boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) borrows her sister's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding limo and earns herself a stay in court-ordered rehab. There Gwen comes face to face with a unique set of rules and rituals embraced by an assortment of interesting characters - Counselor Cornell (Steve Buscemi) and fellow re-habbers Eddie (Viggo Mortensen) Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk) Oliver (Mike O'Malley) Andrea (Azura Skye) Roshanda (Oscar-nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and Bobbie Jean (Oscar nominee Diane Ladd). Forces Of Nature:It's only two days before his wedding when Ben's (Ben Affleck) plane skids out of control leaving him stranded in New York with no way home to his nervous fianc''e in Savannah. Against his better judgment the reliable groom-to-be hitches a ride with free spirited traveler Sarah (Sandra Bullock) - setting off the year's most riotous road trip. At first these two opposites attract nothing but trouble in a sidesplitting series of comic mishap as and unnatural disasters. But an irresistible attraction and the forces of nature threaten to detour them forever in this sexy whirlwind adventure Jeffrey Lyons (WNBC-TV) declared 'a fun hip ride' - one you'll never forget.

• Triumph Of The Spirit | DVD | (18/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  World War II was the time. Auschwitz was the place. Survival was the prize. Boxer Salamo Arouch (Willem Dafoe) is interned in the Nazi death camp with his family and friends. For the amusement of his captors Salamo is forced to fight his fellow inmates - brutal contests that send the loser to the gas showers. Salamo's prowess in the ring is both his salvation and his nightmare as his ""victories"" condemn others to death. Still he fights on hoping he might somehow save his father his friends perhaps even his soul.