Dustin Hoffman does romance

Advantages: lovely story
Disadvantages: bit short

...Harvey (Dustin Hoffman) has a job making jingles for TV ads. He travels from the US to the UK to take part in his estranged daughter's wedding, only to find he is ostracised and unwanted. When he loses his job over the phone, he's left pretty much all alone. Kate (Emma Thompson) is a single woman with a nagging mother who won't leave her alone. When the two meet, it just shouldn't work, but will it? This is a stunning film. Fresh and different, it adds a whole new slant to the romantic comedy genre. What's so great about it is the way that the two main characters are so used to having crap lives, they expect that as the norm. When love rears its head, they expect nothing from it. The storyline, therefore, is interesting, varied, different and compelling. The acting is just sublime. These two worked together on Stranger than...

bruffyboy 14.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Last Chance Harvey (DVD)

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

mat hoffmans

Advantages: brilliant gameplay and the great graphics
Disadvantages: none

...The first thing that hit me when I played Mat Hoffmans Pro BMX is the incredible similarity to both Tony Hawks and Tony Hawks 2. Is this a bad thing? HELL NO! Tony Hawks 1 and 2 are two of the best games I’ve played on any console. I may be a dedicated Ninty but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy great games on other platforms. MHP BMX is in fact made by the same people who made Tony Hawks. The same engine is used and the game plays almost exactly the same. So why’s this game so good? Because of those very reasons I just gave! A game that more than closely resembles Tony Hawks can’t be bad! Can it?! I picked up the controls amazingly easily. They are just so simple. It’s this kind of simplicity that is missing from games today but thankfully MHP BMX has simplicity in abundance. You can...

martinwright 23.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX (PlayStation)

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

Hoffman .vs. Hawk

Advantages: Everything!
Disadvantages: Nothing!

...Mat Hoffman Pro BMX is the latest biking game to grace the PS1, and it does so in style. Activision have done themselves justice with this amazing game, and from the opening video sequence, you will notice the close resemblance to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Similarities are noticeable immediately. Like THPS, Hoffman plays like a dream, and the graphics are amazing. If we had to find a new THPS, this would undoubtedly be it, hands down. The first mode you will encounter is Career Mode. You are to choose from a vast selection of the most respected bikers, including Mat Hoffman, Mike Escamilla and many more. You can then browse the currently very small collection of bikes and calibrate it to your preference, with very miniscule details such as the tires and the handlebars, which albeit unnecessary, are still very interesting. However...

Desert_Beetle 18.02.2002 · Read review
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Review of Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX (PlayStation)

The Dull Blue Diary :(

Advantages: beautiful descriptions, kat was a lively character I enjoyed reading about
Disadvantages: overall it was dull, dull dull!

...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I thought the premise of this story was intriguing; all families have secrets and no one is perfect, but I found the idea of a seemingly perfect family who is well liked and respected holding such a dark and terrifying secret impossible to resist and I was curious to see how it would be portrayed and tackled. Hoffman doesn't take long to delve into the heart of the story, which on the plus side means that there is no long and laborious lead up to the "exciting" part of the book, but it also means that I was unable to gather much sympathy or understanding of Ethan's character before his past crime is revealed to the community. This could have been what the author intended; that the reader only sympathise with Jorie and her son Collie, but I don't think this was her intention at all. The beginning of the story explains how Ehtan...

burtybookworm 27.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Blue Diary - Alice Hoffman

Dustins Best Performance

Advantages: A fuuny yet serious film
Disadvantages: None

...Rain Man tells the story of two brothers; the younger played by Tom Cruise is a volatile pushy person, who imports high performance Italian sports cars as a living. The elder brother played by Dustin Hoffman is autistic he has spent the main part of his life in institutions. When the brother's father dies, uncanny enough it's Hoffman who inherits his father's vast wealth. Cruise is outraged by this, and takes his autistic brother on a car journey across America. He has ulterior motives though and that is to woo his brother into sharing the money out equally. But during the trip Cruise discovers a different side to his brother, he has astonishing wit and wisdom and what's more he has almost miraculous powers. Rain Man try's to delve into the live of an autistic person, but the film is somewhat overlong and it seems tentative...

mandyco 17.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Rain Man (DVD)

A treat for the mind, the senses, the heart

Advantages: Lyrical prose, full of emotion and humanity
Disadvantages: Some of the short stories are less captivating than others

...and sweetpeas and red pears and the ghostly white blackbird who can still be glimpsed flitting through the trees nearby. Finally Hoffman brings us up to date, with one woman who has already done her losing in life. Emma had cancer as a child and now, turning thirty, she feels ungrateful, a shadow, someone who should feel lucky to be alive but only feels held back by what she went through. She has lost her man, and her childhood chemotherapy has taken away her fertility. When her parents sign the farm on the Cape over to her, she goes back to the land she grew up in and something stirs inside her. The tale ends with hope and optimism for the future, with a new lick of paint and a man and child in the field helping her clear the debris from her home and her life... Hoffman is a unique writer, weaving enchantment and hope and magic and love...

elliepotten 17.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Blackbird House - Alice Hoffman

A Glassy Read

Advantages: Pleasant, unusual read
Disadvantages: The 'magical' writing style will not appeal to all tastes. A bit odd in parts.

...I came across this book when it popped up on my book group?s reading list. A little bit of research showed that people had compared it to the Time Traveller?s Wife which I had loved, although such comparisons are not always a good thing as they lead to higher expectations followed by the inevitable disappointment. This is the first book I have read by Alice Hoffman. The book is unusual to some degree in that it does not have any chapters, however it is divided into three parts. Arlyn, our heroine of the first part, grew up in a remote town with her father and upon his death saw the arrival of stranger John Moody as a sign of her destiny and she follows him to his family home in New Haven, Connecticut. The house is all made of glass and is nicknamed The Glass Slipper locally. Initially refusing to admit she may have made...

Essexgirl2006 20.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Skylight Confessions - Alice Hoffman

A magical and haunting modern fairytale

Advantages: Gorgeous prose and a unique story
Disadvantages: Nothing worth mentioning

...think it will haunt me for a long time. I'll definitely be seeking out more Hoffman in the near future......

elliepotten 29.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman