Yet for some reason it’s never quite happened for her. She’s never had that breakthrough film that other actresses of a similar ilk (Sandra Bullock for example) managed to get. Of course, she’s hardly helping herself on that front as she seems to play the same character in every film she’s in. Perhaps she’s just given up and realised that she’ll always be ‘Rachel from Friends’, so why try and fight it anymore?

Whatever the reason, she’ll no doubt make a decent living churning out the same sort of film year after year and, as she still looks incredible well into her forties, she can probably make this career last a while longer yet.

It’s just a shame in my opinion because I’d like to see her try something different, whether that be out and out action or a dramatic role, but I think I’ll be disappointed.

Gerard Butler on the other hand seems to be able to try his hand to anything, and his dabbling in the romantic comedy genre is a welcome sight for someone who, let’s face it, isn’t pretty-boy styled guy you usually see in these films.

So, the two main stars aside, what of the film? The Bounty Hunter takes the premise of something that every guy who’s ever been divorced would dream about doing. Milo (Butler) is a bounty hunter. His job is to bring people in to custody when they skip out on bail, usually for fairly minor charges such as driving offenses. He’s down on his luck (having divorced his wife) and lives like a bum – no surprise perhaps that he used to be a cop.

Nicole Hurley (Aniston), his ex-wife, is doing much better for herself. She’s a successful reporter and she’s working on a big story that could expose police corruption and a murder that nobody knew had been committed. However, she’s also due in court for assaulting a police officer – a court appointment that she misses.

You can guess the next part. Milo is given the task of bringing his ex-wife into custody, a task that he attacks with the relish of a man wanting to finally get even – legally.

Naturally she doesn’t go quietly, and two play cat and mouse for a while until Milo realises that firstly, he still loves her and secondly, someone is trying to kill her. Anniston plays this role as she’s played every role beforehand, as an older, not so wiser, version of Rachel from Friends. Gerard Butler seems to be enjoying himself (rumours of a real-life romance on set between the two may explain why) and his infectious enthusiasm shines through on film.

All in all, The Bounty Hunter is a pretty by-the-numbers romantic comedy where two former lovers find that they’re still in love, while someone tries to kill them – much like ‘Did You Hear About The Morgans?’, which was released in the same year, and even has a trailer on this Blu-Ray.

There’s nothing really new here, but it is very entertaining. It is shame however that Nicole’s mother Kitty (Christine Baranski) didn’t feature more in the film, as her three (yes just three) scenes were all stand out moments.

Anyhow, Daniel and Miyagi are on their way when the owner and trainer of the Cobra Kai, John Kreese (Martin Kove) is beating up on his losing student. This prompts Miyagi to intervene and ‘make his knuckles bleed’ without even touching him. You need to remember this for Karate Kid part III (actually you don’t, you’ll be reminded with flashbacks again).

Once the initial euphoria of Daniel’s victory has settled down we can get on with the storyline. Miyagi must return to Okinawa because his father is dying, but in doing so he will have to fight his old friend Sato (Danny Kamekona) to the death for stealing his betrothed some 40 years earlier, before escaping to America.

There, that’s the storyline.

As with the first Karate Kid, you can pretty much guess the rest. Daniel will fall for some pretty young Okinawa beauty, some local hoodlums with trash some plants attempting to act tough, Miyagi and Sato will eventually put things behind them and Daniel will have a one-on-one fight in the end, which he no doubt wins with the use of some new move that he learns throughout the course of the film.

All goes without saying.

In truth, and not a lot of people would say this, Karate Kid part II is actually a better film than the original, if perhaps not quite as enjoyable. Daniel’s character is far more likeable and with much of the drama centring on Miyagi (who is a far better actor than many give him credit for) the film stands up much better than the first.

However, nothing can quite top the impact and sheer enjoyment of the first film, with that memorable scene where Daniel realises that he has been learning karate for three whole days without even knowing it.

Just like the first film however, this Blu-Ray release is completely devoid of special features (save for the original featurette), and doesn’t even contain the original trailer.

Also – the original Karate Kid films are a trilogy, so where’s the third film on Blu-Ray?

All of that side, The Karate Kid part II is another classic of 80s cinema and a worthy follow up to the original. It’s a shame more effort hasn’t been put into the Blu-Ray release, as the original trilogy DVD was crafted with real love and attention. Owners of the DVD trilogy need not bother with this, but if for some strange reason The Karate Kid Trilogy isn’t in your collection, you could do a lot worse than these very affordable Blu-Rays.

The Karate Kid was originally released in a digital format back in 2003, on a Trilogy DVD set crammed with special features, but sadly this Blu-Ray, by comparison, is rather sparse. For example, the great ‘catch the fly with the chopsticks’ DVD game that provided literally minutes worth of entertainment for me all those years ago is now absent. However, with the Karate Kid it’s not about special features, nor is it about quality Blu-Ray high definition (which is lucky, because the picture on this Blu-Ray looks no better than the DVD) – no, Karate Kid is about reliving your childhood, learning karate, performing general maintenance on an old man’s house and listening to truly awful 80s music.

The first thing that struck me about the Karate Kid, after all these years, is what a truly whining character Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) really is. He’s moody, immature, mistrusting and not particularly eloquent when he speaks to Ali with an ‘I’ (Elisabeth Shue). So much so that you can’t quite fathom what her character is supposed to see in him at all.

His temper is such that he even shouts at Mr Miyagi on several occasions, making you again wonder why the elderly karate expert would have anything to do with this precocious Italian American from New Jersey.

All of that aside (and it is difficult) the film sure is entertaining. LaRusso moves with his mother from New Jersey to the West Coast of America, where he instantly makes friends and spies a potential new girlfriend who, for some inexplicable reason, seems attracted to him. All would be great if it weren’t for ‘Johnny’ (William Zabka), Ali’s ex boyfriend and resident karate champion, who is intent on persecuting Daniel for daring to make eyes at his ex-girlfriend.

Johnny and his gang of karate experts pick on Daniel at every opportunity (and let’s be honest, most of time it was justified) until Mr Miyagi promises to teach him the ways of karate so that he can face Johnny in a tournament.

All very simple so far, and that’s about it. You know how it’s going to end simply by looking at the poster, but the manner in which Karate Kid plays out makes you love the film more and more with every viewing. Maybe it’s the music, which is more unashamedly 80s than the music for Rocky IV, maybe it’s the fact that when they play football (soccer to our American readers) they chase the ball around in groups in a manner that even five-year-olds in the UK know not to do, or maybe it’s just the way that Daniel learns karate by performing menial household chores, such as painting fences and sanding floors.

There’s something about Karate Kid that you just can’t quantify, and that’s what makes it a cinematic classic, and a film that guarantees that children of all ages, and adults who remember it first time round, will love it still.

This DVD boxset (the UK version, not the really cool American version with the crate packaging and map) contains the original 14 episodes of Sharpe and was released one episode at a time, starting in 2002, before this packaged set gained a separate release some time later.

The series is set during the Napoleonic War at the start of the 19th Century, and centres around a British sergeant named Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean). Sharpe saves the life of General Sir Arthur Wellesley (soon to be Lord Wellington), single-handedly killing three Frenchmen in the process. This is more impressive than it perhaps sounds considering that the rifles used at the time could only fire one shot before needing reloading, and even the best soldiers at the time could only manage two rounds per minute.

As reward for his bravery, Sharpe is promoted by Wellesley to the rank of lieutenant, and given command over a group of men in the 95th Rifles, including a rather belligerent chap named Sergeant Patrick Harper (Daragh O’Malley). The problem Sharpe initially faces is that, being raised from the ranks, neither officers nor soldiers want anything to do with him. The officers think he is common and not gentleman (and they’d be right) and the soldiers think he’s not a proper officer and will get them all killed. It’s this initial conflict that drives the first episode, Sharpe’s Rifles, as Lieutenant Sharpe must contend with mutiny in the ranks, and a disliking from other officers, if he is to survive.

Naturally survive he does, and he endures many adventures (most of which being based on the books by Bernard Cornwell). Throughout the course of the 14 episodes (all filmed for a 2 hour timeslot on ITV, so are effectively feature films in their own right) Sharpe marries 3 times, gets promoted up as far as Lieutenant Colonel and performs a great many heroic deeds, much to the annoyance of the French (and many of the English officers).

Sharpe is very much a man’s man, and doesn’t care whether he offends anyone (including ladies) which accounts for much of his charm. If he’s not telling ‘fops’ to ‘get off their bloody horse’, he’s given ladies compliments on their cleavage (as he does to Liz Hurley, who plays a former flame and a prostitute in one episode and is forced to undress in front of him).

Other guest appearances of note include Daniel Craig as a no good British officer, Alexis Denisof (from Buffy and Angel) as a cowardly officer who steals Sharpe’s wife and Brian Cox as a devious Irish Major.

It’s Sean Bean’s performances in Sharpe that saw him tipped to play James Bond (before Brosnan finally got the nod) and then to appear as a 00 agent in Goldeneye. Sharpe is fantastic entertainment, whether you’re interested in the historical aspect of the Napoleonic Wars, or whether you just like to see a northern hero sticking it to the Frogs (as Sharpe himself calls them). The boxset is also great value for money in the UK, with 14 DVDs included.

Special Features

This is a little disappointing as the Sharpe’s Legend documentary that is included with another boxset release is absent from here, so you only really get photo galleries. There’s not even an episode guide booklet, so unless you have the outer box itself you can’t even tell which episode comes next in the sequence as the DVDs aren’t even marked with volume numbers.

Don’t let the absence of special features put you off though, this is British television at its absolute best – and better yet, there are another two episodes of Sharpe that were made after this release so you can get another fix once you’ve watched all of these.

You have to hand it to Vince McMahon. He’s not a man content with just making billions of dollars from the World Wrestling Entertainment company that he owns, he’s also intent on making billions of dollars from movies. Backed by his own company’s impressive bankroll, and starring the brightest and best from the WWE roster, WWE Studios is able to churn out a huge number of action movies each year, made to measure for the fans.

However, where this doesn’t always work is where the WWE Superstar in question isn’t that comfortable with the mic. John Cena was, and is, always comfortable when he’s talking trash and addressing the audience. Whether playing a heel or a face, Cena could have the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. Other WWE Superstars, such as Sean Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and obviously The Rock, were equally adept at the dialogue part of being a WWE Superstar too – Ted DiBiase Jr however, doesn’t seem that comfortable with it.

In the Marine 2, DiBiase looks ill at ease with what is being asked of him and doesn’t have any of the screen presence that Cena had in the first film. Of course, you can’t place all of the blame with DiBiase – the script and the direction on this sequel are nothing compared to that seen on the first movie. The Marine 2 is pondering, plodding and lacking in any kind of emergency. When it does call for action, DiBiase looks as uncomfortable with gunplay as he does with dialogue.

Naturally you can’t have a film starring a WWE wrestler without some form of hand-to-hand combat – yet the way that’s introduced is about as clunky as if the bad guys had called him out to a wrestling ring. That said, DiBiase handled this well – this he is comfortable with.

The plot of The Marine 2 (which is inspired by true events, as the DVD cover tells us) centres around Joe Linwood (DiBiase) and his wife Robin (Cox) who are on a paradise resort that is about to be opened, while she acts as the PA to a tyrannical Darren Conner (Coleby) who owns the new resort. During the launch party, fanatical separatists, led by Damo (Temuera Morrison – Jango Fett from Star Wars) take everyone hostage and demand a ‘tribute’, or ransom.

Joe Linwood, a US Marine, escapes and should then embark on a Die Hard or Commando styled adventure to rescue his wife – but instead he sits around until the authorities show up, dragging out the story a bit. A few botched rescue attempts later, and a couple of sign posted double crosses, and Linwood eventually has a showdown with Jango Fett (sorry, Damo) in a shanty town.

The Marine 2 smacks of being a straight to DVD cash-in on the success of the first film, which makes a mockery of the fact that it actually did very well in the USA when it was released theatrically.

Fans of the WWE movies will be pleased to know that there’s many more where these came from, including one starring Mr Monday Night, Rob Van Dam. We’re not going to hold our breath for that one because, while RVD is one of the best in the business when it comes to leaving it all in the ring, his mic skills are poor, very poor. He makes the other Van Damme look like Brando.

No, Zombieland has zombie, lots of ‘em, and it has Woody Harrelson killing them, frequently.

Despite this, Zombieland is incredibly good fun, and the Blu-Ray medium has been used to the full for every gore soaked, blood spattered scene. You know exactly what you’re in for during the opening title sequence as people are shown either dying, or inches from death, at the hands of zombies in slow motion as the blood flies through the air in vivid colour.

This is not a movie to watch with the kids or the elderly parents. It’s loud, it’s offensive and it’s hilarious – if you like zombies being shot, beaten and crushed with pianos, this one’s for you.

The film’s plot, or what there is of one, focuses on Columbus, played by Jesse Eisenberg, and his efforts to get home from college in the midst of a zombie outbreak in the US. Columbus isn’t his real name, that’s where he’s heading, but Tallahassee (Harrelson) doesn’t like real names and insists on using place names instead.

Columbus is nervous of everyone, which comes in useful when the world is overrun by zombies. The pair meet two sisters, Wichita and Little Rock (Stone and Breslin) who seem to want nothing more than to reach an amusement park in California.

Why not?

Along the way the usual mistrust turns into trust, and then love, before they finally end up at the best part of the film, Bill Murray’s house. Tallahassee is a big Bill Murray fan and thinks that staying in Murray’s house is a good way of avoiding the zombies, which leads to a hysterical cameo from Bill Murray. Ghostbusters references fly thick and fast before the gang head off to the amusement park, and a brilliantly worked sequence where Tallahassee lays ruin to pretty much every zombie he can find in some truly imaginative ways.

As an indication of just how dumb some of the scenes are in this film, when Columbus is being chased by zombies at the amusement park, where does he head? The haunted house… sheesh.

So, as zombie films go this one’s pretty devoid of meaning – but it doesn’t need it. It’s entertaining, gore filled and worth watching just for the Bill Murray cameo, if nothing else.

The first season of Robin Hood was good clean fun, where nobody really suffered or died. The second season went down something of a dark road, before it’s very dark conclusion – which is where the third season kicks off. Pitched as being much darker than the previous seasons, they weren’t wrong.

Robin Hood season three begins with Robin wanting revenge of Guy for what happened in the Holy Land, and Robin seemingly prepared to give up on his duties to the people of Nottingham, and England.

The arrival of Friar Tuck (we wondered he wasn’t in the first two series) managed to convince Robin that his place was defending Nottingham and his king, so the third series could get underway.

What makes this series different is that relationships are constantly changing, and characters are descending into darkness. Where Alan a Dale had betrayed Robin and his men in series two, only to make amends, in this third series some characters were finding nothing at all worth fighting for and are prepared to betray everyone, family included. Guy of Gisborne for example has become a shell of a man, not forgiving himself for killing Marion and losing any respect, or fear, for the Sheriff.

Allies of Robin’s become his mortal enemies, and his mortal enemies become his most trusted friends. The conclusion of the series is both suitably climactic and harrowing at the same time, as it even threatens to go all ‘Wild Bunch’ at one point.

Is this version of Robin Hood the best TV version? Well, there is the excellent Robin of Sherwood (1984-86) which also ran for three series to contend with, but this third series of Robin Hood is perhaps on a par with that. It’s certainly the best of the three series, even without the delectable charms of Lucy Griffiths.

As ever, the storyline has been left open, and perhaps following the latest big screen outing for the legend that is Robin Hood, with Russell Crowe, we may get another Robin Hood series before too long.

With Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, released on DVD tomorrow, some of those problems have been addressed. Firstly, the action sequences. They are now edited properly and are, not to heap too much praise on Bay, excellent. The opening sequence where Optimus Prime battles with a huge crane Decepticon and Sideswipe destroys a Decepticon Audi R8 is fantastic. Better than anything in the first movie.

Optimus himself is now finally the Autobot he should have been in the first film. The scene where he takes on three Decepticons at once, including Megatron and Starscream, is superb.

Just like the first film, where we see Megan Fox getting her iconic ‘opening Bumblebee’s bonnet’ shot, in Transformers 2 we get the ‘straddling a bike’ shot, as Bay gives the little boys in the audience just what they want. It’s gratuitous, but we don’t care.

The addition of the Decepticon Wheelie is a great one. Wheelie transforms into a radio controlled truck, and is a lewd creature with a crush on Michaela. He’s the sort of comic relief that works, unlike much of the other comedic moments in the film.

There is a point in the film where it looked as though we were moving in Species, where the Decepticon who took the disguise of a teenage girl tried to seduce Sam and steal what was in his head. This isn’t quite what Transformers is about, but at least Bay kept his diversion to a minimum during the film and went back on track very quickly.

While Transformers 2 is better, there are still some big problems with the film:

The biggest problem I have with this movie, and with the first one for the matter, is Bay’s insistence on filling the screen time with pointless comedy. With Transformers 2 however I’m not referring to the comedy scenes with Sam’s parents, instead the problem is the comedic Transformers themselves. Why does Bay insist on inventing Transformers characters such as the ‘Twins’? They’re not funny and they’re not needed.

Is the Transformers Universe not big enough that characters such as these need to be invented? Their onscreen antics take away from the real quality of the film, such as the scenes where we finally see Optimus Prime acting like the character that he is, and the great relationship between Megatron and Starscream.

As for what Bay did to Jetfire, that’s inhumane. Jetfire is one of the best of the original Transformers. He is extremely powerful, fast and above all torn. Whether you follow the cartoon continuity or the comic continuity, the character of Jetfire is very complex, and he is a confused soul.

Yet Bay decided to turn him into comic relief and have him as an old duffer. It was senseless and a waste of a great character.

Another negative of Revenge of the Fallen, and this is going to annoy a great many people, is the relationship between Sam and Michaela (Shia and Megan). Shia is an OK actor, and Megan has proved in films since that she’s more than just a pretty face and a hot body, she can act. Yet in this film the pair are given wafer thin characters and are expected to make them work. They are given a lot of screen time and dialogue, but it doesn’t work. The childishness of Sam’s character, refusing to speak for ten seconds when being chased by a Decepticon and his insistence that he’s trying to keep Michaela interested by not telling her he loves her doesn’t ingratiate him to the audience, nor would it to anyone.

His character comes across as very annoying, which is a shame as he’s supposed to anchor the film.

Don’t get me wrong, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is much better than the first film. The action sequences are shot, and more importantly edited, much better and Optimus Prime gives the impression that he really is a ‘kick ass’ leader. There’s still some way to go however before Bay makes a Transformers film that does the franchise justice.

When the idea of a fourth Terminator movie was first floated around, it met with much scepticism. The third Terminator, Rise of the Machines, was so bad that any thought of another movie left the blood cold. Cameron’s first two movies were so good, whereas the third was so bad, that surely the franchise had been terminated?

Despite this, the TV series ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ breathed new life into the franchise, and wisely ignored the presence of T3 altogether. The fourth Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation, is along the same lines as the series, only bigger, darker and better.

Terminator Salvation takes place after judgment day, so you don’t get any of this time travel gimmickry that the first three movies had. It’s a cold, dark world, and there’s no escape from it. This helps with the intensity of T4, as the Terminators are everywhere, they can attack at any time and they have secret weapons.

John Connor is back, this time played by the now legendary Christian Bale, who clearly wanted to be the centre of two franchises at the same time. He is outstanding in the role, bringing the depth, intensity (there’s that word again) and credibility needed for the saviour of mankind.

Connor isn’t the leader of the resistance. Instead he is challenged in everything he tries to do as the actual leaders don’t believe in his mother’s foretelling of events. This isn’t so much of a problem, as those under him do believe.

Sam Worthington plays Marcus Wright, a murderer who was sentenced to death by lethal injection, yet wakes up in the future feeling much better than he should. His dark past is nothing compared to his even darker future.

The film revolves around Connor having to trust his instincts in the face of what he has been fighting his whole life, if he is to save his father, Kyle Reese, before the Terminators get to him.

The film is dark, expertly shot and yes, intense. The scene towards the beginning of the film features a huge single shot sequence where Connor pursues a HK (Hunter Killer) on a helicopter, only to crash land and crawl out before being attacked by a Terminator. This scene being shot in a single, unbroken shot, forces you into the film like the previous three films never did.

Salvation could possibly be the best Terminator movie yet.

The Blu-Ray also features the extended version, which has the odd extra scene and sequence. One of the extra sequences shows Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood) removing her clothes to shower in the rain while staring at Marcus Wright. Probably not needed for the plot, but we’re all glad it’s in there!

There are one or two flaws with the film, flaws that were probably added in post production. For example, as Connor and his team attack the Terminator base at the beginning of the film, a line of dialogue was dubbed over the top telling the viewer that the information in the computers is top priority… did we need to know that? We could probably have worked out that they were going in for information, without the info dump.

This is only a minor niggle, as the film is outstanding. The final sequence with the T800 in the Terminator production factory will send shivers down any Terminator fan’s spine.

Created by Eiji Tsuburaya, a special effects innovator who had a hand in the creation of Godzilla in 1954, Ultraman focuses on the adventures of the five-member Science Special Search Party of the International Science Police Organization. They are stationed in Japan investigating unusual phenomena while protecting Earth from alien invaders from outer space.

While investigating a UFO, deputy captain Shin Hayata’s (Kurobe) jet plane is taken out by a strange spherical object. Hayata’s unconscious body is enveloped by an alien red sphere where he is confronted by a being from the M78 nebula. The alien has been pursuing another extra-terrestrial known as Bemular, a “devilish monster who disturbs the peace of space.” The M78 nebula alien merges with Hayata so that when he is trouble he can transform into this powerful being known as Ultraman.

The show has fairly cheap production values, including shots of fighter jets that look like models right out the Thunderbirds, and stiff acting but this only adds to Ultraman’s charm. All of the episodes follow the same basic formula: a strange alien monster threatens Earth forcing Hayata to transform into Ultraman and stop it. There are also a lot of snazzy gizmos, cool weapons and neat vehicles that you couldn’t get enough of when you were a kid. The rubber-suited monsters evoke the ones made popular by the Godzilla films only on a much smaller budget. As a result, it is a lot of fun to see Ultraman slug it out with one of these things.