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Brick Lane [2007]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Tannishta Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson
directed by: Sarah Gavron

March 10, 2008
"Brick Lane" is a quality drama set in a Bangladeshi community in a council estate in East London. An attractive but submissive wife lives with her overweight, iconoclastic husband and her two daughters and reminisces about happier days in Bangladesh before having an affair with a dashing young Muslim militant for whom she makes clothes alterations as a means of supplementing the family income. After longing to return to Bangladesh and be reunited with her beloved sister, she comes to appreciate the qualities of her humble London home and becomes reluctant to join her husband on the plane back to Dhakar."Brick Lane" is well acted and filmed and is an entertaining and often absorbing tale of life among immigrant folk.

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Control [2007]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Craig Parkinson, Joe Anderson, James Anthony Pearson
directed by: Anton Corbijn

February 11, 2008
I watched this for the second time last night and just wanted to write and say what a fantastic film it is. The wigs are a bit dubious and John Cooper Clarke looks about sixty whereas back then he would have been thirty, but these are mere trivialities. The difference between Sam Riley's Curtis and Sean Harris' depiction in 24 Hour Party People is marked (off stage and seizures apart). I have to confess Harris portrays Ian Curtis in the way I imagined him to be - quiet, intense and `deep'. Whereas in Control, off stage - until his descent into depression and despair, he is a jovial, sweet natured young man. Given that this film is based on Deborah Curtis' account of her husband's life, I take it that this is a truer representation.

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Monsters Inc. [2002]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Mary Gibbs, Jennifer Tilly
directed by: Peter Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich

September 07, 2002
Be aware, this is the 4:3, not the Widescreen version!

Easy to buy it by mistake as 99.9% of DVDs are widescreen!

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Lost - The Complete First Season [2005]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
by: Emilie De Ravin
starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Dominic Monaghan, Naveen Andrews, Josh Holloway

January 16, 2006
Bad acting, dull nonsense of a script, poorly paced and directed.
Anyone giving this pathetic excuse for a tv programme 5 stars must have a 1 star life.
Stop sitting indoors watching hour upon hour of this patronising rubbish and find some friends instead.
Preferably ones who don't like this bunk.

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Heroes - Season 1 Complete [2006]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Masi Oka

December 10, 2007
This show is totally terrific. Based around supernatural powers - this show really does it very well. With one human with supernatural powers wanting more supernatural powers, its up to other humans with supernatural powers to stop this evil force and save the world from destruction.

The story sounds like a RPG fantasy game or a story pulled from the Marvels Comics Universe, but honestly, the show is simply amazing and has so many twists and turns along the way to make you coming back for more. The special effects just keeps you wondering how these effects were put together - especially the power to freeze time, even during an explosion.

Heroes is such a wonderful show with such an amazing cast that makes the show that much amazing. Should ... Read More:

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House - Season 3 (Hugh Laurie) [2006]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Hugh Laurie

November 19, 2007
Season 1 got me hooked, Season 2 made me fall in love and Season 3 just made me giddy. If someone told me this show couldn't get better, I would be inclined to agree. At the end of Season 2, House was shot and he asked to be given Ketamine which would help fix his leg. Season 3 starts off with, what seems to be a completely new House, he's happy and he's walking without an aid and doing his job without Vicodin. This is cool, it shows us just how much the leg problems have affected House and his personality. It doesn't last, as within a few episodes he's back to using the Cane and popping pills every hour.

During mid season House also gains himself a Vogler-esque type enemy, only this time it's a cop, and it lands House in some serious trouble. He's constantly ... Read More:

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Bridget Jones's Diary / The Edge Of Reason

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent
directed by: Sharon Maguire, Beeban Kidron

November 14, 2005
Now, it is true to say that the iconography of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones isn't one to be taken too seriously. Beginning life as a newspaper serial whose captions would later constitute a worldwide bestselling novel, Fielding at once captured the humility, the optimism and every single wine stain of the modern day middle-class working girl in England, with barbed asides regarding celebrity culture and the dating game that bordered on the scabrous but that were also never less-than-funny. To turn the novel into a charming romantic comedy blockbuster proved to be a bit of a no-brainer for Working Title and Miramax, and thanks to a marketing push that enveloped the world much like Miss Jones's underpants did her tummy and waist, pubs became wine bars or cocktail lounges and the film ... Read More:

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Pierrepoint [2005]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, Eddie Marsan

September 10, 2007
Let me state at the outset I am a supporter of Capital Punishment for the most heinous crimes and, having watched Pierrepoint, that view has not changed. However this review is of the film biographry of Britain's most famous hangman not a debate as to the rights and wrongs.

The film appears to reference both Albert's own autobiography and that written by Syd Dernley - an assistant hangman who worked with him on many occasions.

Overall the story is told quite well, though Timothy Spall doesn't quite look like Albert and doesn't really age during the course of the film. The 1930's - 1950's atmosphere of the UK is very well captured, from the "corner shop" economy, to the dimly lit houses and pubs with no mod-cons, everyone smoking etc.

The prisons ... Read More:

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Chocolat [2001]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Juliette Binoche, Alfred Molina, Carrie-Anne Moss, Judi Dench, Antonio Gil (VI)
directed by: Lasse Hallström

November 26, 2001
very touching film, very enjoyable. although Johnny Depp only has a small role what a fantastic one it is, gorgeous makes me want to run off and find my own irish gypsy. lovely. a good watch highly recommended

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The Sword In The Stone (45th Anniversary Edition) [1963]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > DVD
starring: Karl Swenson, Rickie Sorenson, Vera Vague, Norman Alden, Alan Napier
directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman

August 18, 2008

As other reviewers have duly noted, this film (first released in 1963) is based on the first of four parts of T.H. White's The Once and Future King (1958), focusing on Arthur's birth, childhood, and youth before he became king of England. The film has been reissued as a 45th anniversary edition. It features the well-selected voices of Sebastian Cabot (Sir Ector/Narrator), Karl Swenson (Merlin), Rickie Sorensen (Arthur/"Wart"), Junius Matthews (Archimedes), and Alan Napier (Sir Pelinore). Frankly, I was underwhelmed when I first saw it many years ago and had little patience with the antics. While seeing it again recently, I found the film much more entertaining and frequently charming.

In our family, a film's "acid test" for grandchildren is for them to want to see it again, ... Read More: