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The Rita Hayworth Collection

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Worth owning for the way she peels off her opera gloves as the nightclub singer caught in the snake's nest noir Gilda (1946) alone. It also features Rita chased by Fred Astaire in You Were Never Lovelier (1942); shaking her stuff with Gene Kelly and a pre-Bilko Phil Silvers in Cover Girl (1944); and being a magnificent bitch to nightclub heel Sinatra in Pal Joey (1957). Lady is a vamp.

Worth owning for the way she peels off her opera gloves as the nightclub singer caught in the snake’s nest noir Gilda (1946) alone. It also features Rita chased by Fred Astaire in You Were Never Lovelier (1942); shaking her stuff with Gene Kelly and a pre-Bilko Phil Silvers in Cover Girl (1944); and being a magnificent bitch to nightclub heel Sinatra in Pal Joey (1957). Lady is a vamp.

One For The Road

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Engrossing, gritty, Shane Meadows-style debut from Chris Cooke, wherein three boozehounds on a rehab course scheme to scam portly tycoon Hywel Bennett. The lo-fi camerawork's iffy, but after starting slowly it tightens like a vice as cocktails, weed and violence kick in. Well written and acted, and surely the only film to argue that Jean-Michel Jarre's comeback gig was better than Glastonbury.

Engrossing, gritty, Shane Meadows-style debut from Chris Cooke, wherein three boozehounds on a rehab course scheme to scam portly tycoon Hywel Bennett. The lo-fi camerawork’s iffy, but after starting slowly it tightens like a vice as cocktails, weed and violence kick in. Well written and acted, and surely the only film to argue that Jean-Michel Jarre’s comeback gig was better than Glastonbury.

Hard Boiled: Special Edition

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John Woo's 1992 cop thriller was his last Hong Kong movie, and it's a self-conscious career peak. Chow Yun-Fat packs an arsenal that would shame the Pentagon as a cop called Tequila; Tony Leung rehearses for Infernal Affairs as his undercover mob contact. The original HK title translates as"Hot-Handed God Of Cops", which is about right.

John Woo’s 1992 cop thriller was his last Hong Kong movie, and it’s a self-conscious career peak. Chow Yun-Fat packs an arsenal that would shame the Pentagon as a cop called Tequila; Tony Leung rehearses for Infernal Affairs as his undercover mob contact. The original HK title translates as”Hot-Handed God Of Cops”, which is about right.

Dances With Wolves: Special Edition

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Costner's multi-Oscar winner recalls Ford and Lean in its epic sweep, as well as revisionist westerns like Run Of The Arrow in its portrayal of Native Americans. Costner's weary Civil War veteran is appointed commander of a remote army outpost, where he finds kinship with the Lakota Sioux. Rich characterisations are balanced by awesome widescreen backdrops.

Costner’s multi-Oscar winner recalls Ford and Lean in its epic sweep, as well as revisionist westerns like Run Of The Arrow in its portrayal of Native Americans. Costner’s weary Civil War veteran is appointed commander of a remote army outpost, where he finds kinship with the Lakota Sioux. Rich characterisations are balanced by awesome widescreen backdrops.

The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion

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Woody Allen movies come so fast (one a year since 1969) they're easy to overlook, but even diehards will be disappointed by this 2001 attempt at neo-'40s screwball noir. Woody's insurance investigator looks tired, and Helen Hunt strains amusement at his wisecracks, and the attempts to create sexual tension will have Billy Wilder spinning in his grave. Allen's worst to date.

Woody Allen movies come so fast (one a year since 1969) they’re easy to overlook, but even diehards will be disappointed by this 2001 attempt at neo-’40s screwball noir. Woody’s insurance investigator looks tired, and Helen Hunt strains amusement at his wisecracks, and the attempts to create sexual tension will have Billy Wilder spinning in his grave. Allen’s worst to date.

Cheech & Chong Collection

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At their mid-'70s peak, the stoner Laurel & Hardy personified friendly drug culture - and, accordingly, now seem dated. There are flashes of inspired humour, but only the most devoted pothead would want to wade through this box set, which contains Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (with Pee Wee Herman), Nice Dreams, Things Are Tough All Over, Get Out Of My Room and Cheech's solo Born In East LA.

At their mid-’70s peak, the stoner Laurel & Hardy personified friendly drug culture – and, accordingly, now seem dated. There are flashes of inspired humour, but only the most devoted pothead would want to wade through this box set, which contains Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie (with Pee Wee Herman), Nice Dreams, Things Are Tough All Over, Get Out Of My Room and Cheech’s solo Born In East LA.

Spider-Man 2

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SPIDER-MAN 2 IS THE best movie adaptation of a superhero comic since Superman 2—one each to Marvel and DC, then. Like that 1980 Christopher Reeve (R.I.P.) super-vehicle, here the eponymous character, played by Tobey Maguire with muscular sensitivity, is torn between saving the world and giving it all up for The Girl (Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane). This sets things up quite nicely for Peter Parker's biblical abdication of responsibility when the prospect of losing MJ becomes too great and inevitable return when he realises his true calling. Cue crowds of awestruck peons staring up as the messianic blue-and-red arachnid mega-webs back into view. Director Sam Raimi gets the balance just right between fidelity to the 2D original and cinematic invention. The fight scenes between our hero and physicist Otto Octavius turned mechanically tentacled insaniac Doctor Octopus are as startling as any you will have seen, but it's not all whomp-that-sucker. Alfred Molina affords his super-villain tragic qualities, and there's real heat to the Maguire-Dunst passion play. The final scene is an even more breathtaking reprise of Spidey's aerial ballet from the coda to Spider-Man. An action movie with awesome power and real pathos. Bring on Spider-Man 3.

SPIDER-MAN 2 IS THE best movie adaptation of a superhero comic since Superman 2—one each to Marvel and DC, then. Like that 1980 Christopher Reeve (R.I.P.) super-vehicle, here the eponymous character, played by Tobey Maguire with muscular sensitivity, is torn between saving the world and giving it all up for The Girl (Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane). This sets things up quite nicely for Peter Parker’s biblical abdication of responsibility when the prospect of losing MJ becomes too great and inevitable return when he realises his true calling. Cue crowds of awestruck peons staring up as the messianic blue-and-red arachnid mega-webs back into view.

Director Sam Raimi gets the balance just right between fidelity to the 2D original and cinematic invention. The fight scenes between our hero and physicist Otto Octavius turned mechanically tentacled insaniac Doctor Octopus are as startling as any you will have seen, but it’s not all whomp-that-sucker. Alfred Molina affords his super-villain tragic qualities, and there’s real heat to the Maguire-Dunst passion play. The final scene is an even more breathtaking reprise of Spidey’s aerial ballet from the coda to Spider-Man. An action movie with awesome power and real pathos.

Bring on Spider-Man 3.

Frank Capra Box Set

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You'd have to be Scrooge (or rather Mr Potter) not to recognise Capra as a film-maker whose delight in the human spirit produced some of the finest, sharpest comedies of vintage Hollywood. Here's four of'em-Jimmy Stewart in You Can't Take it With You, Mr Smith Goes To Washington and everyone's festive favourite, It's A Wonderful Life, plus 1934's It Happened One Night. Heart-melting brilliance.

You’d have to be Scrooge (or rather Mr Potter) not to recognise Capra as a film-maker whose delight in the human spirit produced some of the finest, sharpest comedies of vintage Hollywood. Here’s four of’em-Jimmy Stewart in You Can’t Take it With You, Mr Smith Goes To Washington and everyone’s festive favourite, It’s A Wonderful Life, plus 1934’s It Happened One Night. Heart-melting brilliance.

Control Room

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Robust, insightful doc by Startup.com director Jehane Noujaim examining the role of Arabic news channel Al Jazeera during the recent Gulf War. Despite being damned by Donald Rumsfeld as the mouthpiece of Al-Qaeda, Al Jazeera emerges as the only honest voice, struggling to be heard above the clamour of misinformation, manipulation and deceit (most of it, ironically, from the US networks). A real David and Goliath story, expertly told.

Robust, insightful doc by Startup.com director Jehane Noujaim examining the role of Arabic news channel Al Jazeera during the recent Gulf War. Despite being damned by Donald Rumsfeld as the mouthpiece of Al-Qaeda, Al Jazeera emerges as the only honest voice, struggling to be heard above the clamour of misinformation, manipulation and deceit (most of it, ironically, from the US networks). A real David and Goliath story, expertly told.

La Dolce Vita

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Not quite Fellini at his most brilliantly enigmatic, but the movie that made his name. Christ is helicoptered out of Rome while the city decays into a listless Sodom for the international jet set; Marcello Mastroianni plays the louche hack carrying too much ennui to write a novel, documenting the party people's jaded adventures for local scandal sheets, worried his soul is dying. The decadence looks tame today, but it still has Anita Ekberg in the fountain.

Not quite Fellini at his most brilliantly enigmatic, but the movie that made his name. Christ is helicoptered out of Rome while the city decays into a listless Sodom for the international jet set; Marcello Mastroianni plays the louche hack carrying too much ennui to write a novel, documenting the party people’s jaded adventures for local scandal sheets, worried his soul is dying. The decadence looks tame today, but it still has Anita Ekberg in the fountain.

The Other Side Of The Bed

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A hit in Spain, this only goes to show what Almodóvar is up against. Friends sleep with each other but not with their partners, whom they speculate may be gay. Intermittently they break into dire Euro-pop songs. You keep waiting for taboos to be challenged, stereotypes to be skewed?and you keep waiting. Paz Vega fans would be better off with almost anything else she's done.

A hit in Spain, this only goes to show what Almodóvar is up against. Friends sleep with each other but not with their partners, whom they speculate may be gay. Intermittently they break into dire Euro-pop songs. You keep waiting for taboos to be challenged, stereotypes to be skewed?and you keep waiting. Paz Vega fans would be better off with almost anything else she’s done.

Stroszek

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"We have a truck on fire ... we can't stop the dancing chicken..."In Werner Herzog's steady but bleak 1977 gaze at American badlands, Bruno S plays a Berlin street musician who goes in search of a better life in the US with hooker girlfriend (Eva Mattes) and mad old friend (Clemens Scheitz), but finds only the despairingly drab dead-end of rural Wisconsin. The movie lan Curtis watched the night he died.

“We have a truck on fire … we can’t stop the dancing chicken…”In Werner Herzog’s steady but bleak 1977 gaze at American badlands, Bruno S plays a Berlin street musician who goes in search of a better life in the US with hooker girlfriend (Eva Mattes) and mad old friend (Clemens Scheitz), but finds only the despairingly drab dead-end of rural Wisconsin. The movie lan Curtis watched the night he died.

The Nutty Professor

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Jerry Lewis comedy from 1963 in which he transforms Dr Jekyll-style from a geeky chemistry professor into a hip-but-obnoxious cabaret singer - fairly obviously based on Dean Martin - in order to woo Stella Stevens. It's gently likeable, and Lewis' most watchable movie this side of The King Of Comedy.

Jerry Lewis comedy from 1963 in which he transforms Dr Jekyll-style from a geeky chemistry professor into a hip-but-obnoxious cabaret singer – fairly obviously based on Dean Martin – in order to woo Stella Stevens. It’s gently likeable, and Lewis’ most watchable movie this side of The King Of Comedy.

Godsend

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Generic potboiler, and another easy rent cheque for De Niro. When Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos'young son is killed, he's the bulging-eyed scientist who says he can clone him back to life. All seems rosy, till the brat gets severely Damian (and then some) on their asses. Topical commentary on genetic engineering or The Omen Part 93? The latter, sadly.

Generic potboiler, and another easy rent cheque for De Niro. When Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos’young son is killed, he’s the bulging-eyed scientist who says he can clone him back to life. All seems rosy, till the brat gets severely Damian (and then some) on their asses. Topical commentary on genetic engineering or The Omen Part 93? The latter, sadly.

The Woody Allen Collection

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FEW ARTISTS IN ANY MEDIUM?Bowie, maybe, or Scorsese?enjoyed such a terrific'70s as Woody Allen. This box comprises every comedy that Allen wrote, directed and starred in from 1971-'79?save 1972's Play It Again, Sam and 1978's psychodrama Interiors, neither of which are included here. Bananas was his second auteurist venture (1969's Take The Money And Run being the first) and saw him fusing the wisecracks of Bob Hope and slapstick of Buster Keaton to create this immortal nebbish New Yorker who bears as much relation to the real Allen Konigsberg as does Dylan to Robert Zimmerman. The quintessence of"early, funny"Woody, here he is hapless products tester Fielding Mellish who, to impress an activist (Allen's ex-wife Louise Lasser), becomes the rebel leader of a guerrilla faction, and then president of a banana republic. Preposterous but hilarious [4]. Everything you always wanted to know about sex* (*but were afraid to ask) (1972) was an episodic extrapolation of the best-selling sex manual in which Allen featured, variously, as a luckless court jester negotiating Lynn Redgrave's chastity belt and, in the climactic'sketch'"What Happens During Ejaculation?", a sperm cell [3]. Sleeper (1973) is a slight but brilliant satire set in some future utopia. Allen is the displaced, hyper-sexed Brooklynite who, through medical misfortune, is put into suspended animation for 100 years [4]. Love And Death (1974) uses Russian literature/cinema as the launchpad for a series of moral and philosophical digressions, and if that sounds portentous let us assure you this is probably the most relentless gagathon in movie history [5]. Even so, Annie Hall represents an astonishing advance, both in terms of invention and breadth of vision [5]. The black-and-white Manhattan is arguably even more piquant, perceptive and plain funny than its predecessor [5]. And he was still one film away from his greatest achievement.

FEW ARTISTS IN ANY MEDIUM?Bowie, maybe, or Scorsese?enjoyed such a terrific’70s as Woody Allen. This box comprises every comedy that Allen wrote, directed and starred in from 1971-’79?save 1972’s Play It Again, Sam and 1978’s psychodrama Interiors, neither of which are included here. Bananas was his second auteurist venture (1969’s Take The Money And Run being the first) and saw him fusing the wisecracks of Bob Hope and slapstick of Buster Keaton to create this immortal nebbish New Yorker who bears as much relation to the real Allen Konigsberg as does Dylan to Robert Zimmerman. The quintessence of”early, funny”Woody, here he is hapless products tester Fielding Mellish who, to impress an activist (Allen’s ex-wife Louise Lasser), becomes the rebel leader of a guerrilla faction, and then president of a banana republic. Preposterous but hilarious [4]. Everything you always wanted to know about sex* (*but were afraid to ask) (1972) was an episodic extrapolation of the best-selling sex manual in which Allen featured, variously, as a luckless court jester negotiating Lynn Redgrave’s chastity belt and, in the climactic’sketch'”What Happens During Ejaculation?”, a sperm cell [3]. Sleeper (1973) is a slight but brilliant satire set in some future utopia. Allen is the displaced, hyper-sexed Brooklynite who, through medical misfortune, is put into suspended animation for 100 years [4]. Love And Death (1974) uses Russian literature/cinema as the launchpad for a series of moral and philosophical digressions, and if that sounds portentous let us assure you this is probably the most relentless gagathon in movie history [5]. Even so, Annie Hall represents an astonishing advance, both in terms of invention and breadth of vision [5]. The black-and-white Manhattan is arguably even more piquant, perceptive and plain funny than its predecessor [5]. And he was still one film away from his greatest achievement.

The Dreamers

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Bertolucci's woefully self-indulgent tale of a teenage ménageàtrois in Paris, 1968 is hampered by the preening self-obsession of his main characters, despite the director's lush cinematography. They lounge in the bath talking about cinema and stroking each other while the city burns. By the end, you're wishing the riot police had moved in earlier.

Bertolucci’s woefully self-indulgent tale of a teenage ménageàtrois in Paris, 1968 is hampered by the preening self-obsession of his main characters, despite the director’s lush cinematography. They lounge in the bath talking about cinema and stroking each other while the city burns. By the end, you’re wishing the riot police had moved in earlier.

The Story Of The Weeping Camel

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A family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi Desert assist the birth of a rare white camel colt, buts its mother rejects it. The Mongolians send envoys in search of a magical musician to make things right. So far, so Bambl. What raises this is the direction, which shows the nomad boys coveting miracles like batteries, TV and video games without patronising their time-honoured mores.

A family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi Desert assist the birth of a rare white camel colt, buts its mother rejects it. The Mongolians send envoys in search of a magical musician to make things right. So far, so Bambl. What raises this is the direction, which shows the nomad boys coveting miracles like batteries, TV and video games without patronising their time-honoured mores.

Dawn Of The Dead

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The second of George Romero's classic zombie trilogy, from 1978. This time the blood and guts were in full colour, the make-up and effects more inventive. Much of the action takes place in a shopping mall filled with zombies lurching mindlessly around?not the subtlest of satires on consumerism, but still highly effective, and as slyly funny as it is gory.

The second of George Romero’s classic zombie trilogy, from 1978. This time the blood and guts were in full colour, the make-up and effects more inventive. Much of the action takes place in a shopping mall filled with zombies lurching mindlessly around?not the subtlest of satires on consumerism, but still highly effective, and as slyly funny as it is gory.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Signature Collection

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Compiled, it seems, by lucky dip, but Stage Fright, I Confess, Dial M For Murder, The Wrong Man and North By Northwest all explain why he's still The Master. The centrepiece, though, is a special-edition Strangers On A Train (also available separately).

Compiled, it seems, by lucky dip, but Stage Fright, I Confess, Dial M For Murder, The Wrong Man and North By Northwest all explain why he’s still The Master. The centrepiece, though, is a special-edition Strangers On A Train (also available separately).

Bus 174

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This Brazilian documentary is based on live TV broadcasts from 12 June 2000, when a one gunman hijacked a commuter bus, enacting his own version of Dog Day Afternoon. Around this tense stand-off, director JoséPadhila interviews victims, eye-witnesses, media and police, probing the hijacker's motives, police vendettas against Brazil's homeless population, and a terminally unjust society.

This Brazilian documentary is based on live TV broadcasts from 12 June 2000, when a one gunman hijacked a commuter bus, enacting his own version of Dog Day Afternoon. Around this tense stand-off, director JoséPadhila interviews victims, eye-witnesses, media and police, probing the hijacker’s motives, police vendettas against Brazil’s homeless population, and a terminally unjust society.

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