Blackball (15, Icon Home Entertainment, also available to buy DVD £15.99/VHS £12.99): Stars: Paul Kaye, Johnny Vegas, Alice Evans, James Cromwell, Vince Vaughn, Imelda Staunton, Mark Dymond, Mark Little.
IN the sleepy seaside town of Torquay, lawn bowls is the sport of kings. Arrogant and foul-mouthed newcomer Cliff Starkey (Kaye) unseats the area's reigning champion, Ray Speight (Cromwell), and is quickly signed up by glitzy American agent Rick (Vaughn), who intends to transform the formerly stuffy game of lawn bowls into a television phenomenon.
Fame and adulation go to Cliff's head and he casts aside his family, his best mate Trevor (Vegas) and girlfriend Kerry (Evans), who just happens to be Ray's daughter. The enmity between Ray and Cliff boils over and the old timer orchestrates Cliff's lifetime ban from the game. However, when Australian bowls champions, the Doohan brothers (Dymond, Little), visit England, Cliff's ban is hastily overturned so he can partner Ray in an Ashes-style tournament.
DVD Extras: Director commentary, cast and crew interviews, TV spots, theatrical trailers.
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (12, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, also available to buy DVD £15.99/two-disc special edition DVD £22.99/VHS £12.99)
StarS: Sean Connery, Shane West, Stuart Townsend, Peta Wilson, Jason Flemyng, Naseeruddin Shah, Tony Curran, Richard Roxburgh, David Hemmings
SET in Victorian England and based on Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book series, Steven Norrington's fantasy adventure is all style and no substance. When villains break into the Bank of England circa 1900 with a state-of-the-art bulletproof tank, undercover operative M (Roxburgh) recruits a team of talented individuals known as the League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen to avert this terrorist threat. He approaches legendary explorer Alan Quartermain (Connery) to lead the mission, aided by mythical figures including adventurer Captain Nemo (Shah), vampire bride Mina Harker (Wilson), invisible man Rodney Skinner (Curran), the ever youthful Dorian Gray (Townsend), doomed Dr Jekyll (Flemyng) and gung-ho cowboy Tom Sawyer (West).
DVD Extras: One-disc version: Producers, actors and crew commentaries; Two-disc version: Producers, actors and crew commentaries, ''Matters Of Previsualisation'' featurette, stills gallery, ''Assembling The League'' featurette, 17 deleted and extended scenes, ''Behind The Fantasy'' featurette, European premieres of the film, 12 TV spots, posters, 3 theatrical trailers.
Published: 12/02/2004
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