Russell and Ryan’s buddy crime caper in a collectors' boxset

THE NICE GUYS: LIMITED EDITION

Second Sight, cert 15

Blu-ray 4K, UHD, 150-page book & art cards £44.99

Out of the orange smog that in 1977 hung over Los Angeles like a bad smell, this revival of the buddy action movie burst forth to less acclaim than it deserved in 2016.

It is the brainchild of Shane Black who created the genre with his first Lethal Weapon script for the team of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Now the smart folk at Second Sight, who know what movie collectors like, have chosen to give it the star treatment, with a 4K UHD version, a Blu-ray, a hardback book of insight by film experts, and art cards. The works in other words.

Ryan Gosling gets the best comedy lines and some near-slapstick situations as drunken, accident prone private eye Holland March, while Russell Crowe plays beefy fixer Jackson Healy, who uses his fists to solve his clients’ problems, and talks to his tropical fish about his own worries.

Put the two together in a partnership of convenience and what could possibly go wrong? Just about everything!

When an adult entertainer gloriously called Misty Mountains is killed in suspicious circumstances, her porn-movie colleague Amelia sets our unheroic duo on the trail of the truth. When Amelia goes missing, the less-than-dynamic duo are plunged into a shady underworld of gangster powerbrokers where people who know too much are ruthlessly silenced. March and Healey couldn’t catch a cold on a rainy day, so it’s just as well March’s streetwise 12-year-old daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) can spot a clue a mile off and keeps the adults on the straight and narrow. There’s a great funky disco soundtrack as a bonus. Nice one!

9/10

MYTHICA: 1-6 FILM COLLECTION

Signature, cert 15

DVD £20

Wow, this is a bargain for fans of the fantasy franchise as it even includes Stormbound, the eagerly awaited sixth film - which is available now on Digital platforms.

The series follows the the adventures of Marek (Melanie Stone), a wizard born with the dark power of necromancy as she learns to harness her magical abilities. She teams up with a group of warriors to battle fierce enemies and protect the relics of the Darkspore and save their mystical world from destruction.

In Stormbound our heroes have won the final battle against the evil Szorlok, but at a terrible price. Their land is in ruins and the population decimated. Now another evil force is rising.

8/10

LAST RESORT

Miracle Media, cert 15

On Digital

Rising British action star Jon Foo gets to kick butt in this all-action thriller. He plays Michael, a former special forces soldier living in peace in Thailand. Until his wife and daughter are taken hostage by bank robbers.

Bad move by them, because Michael is mighty angry about it and uses all his personal skills to eliminate the gang floor by floor in the building where the hostages are being held. In the process he learns a much bigger and more dangerous game’s in play. Yes, we’ve seen this storyline before, but it’s well executed with excellent fight choreography involving Foo who took the Jackie Chan part in the TV version of Rush Hour.

7/10

BOOKS Reviews: Janet McKechnie & Alex Gordon

SOME OF US ARE LIARS

Fiona Cummins; Macmillan £18.99

With three books, Rattle, The Collector and When I Was Ten optioned for TV dramas, Cummins is on a roll. And she’ll rock you with this dark family drama spinning on the axis of sisterhood.

A simple request to look after her child holds no portents of tragedy for mum Jen when she leaves the kiddie in the safe (she thinks) custody of her sisters Winter and Alyssa while she enjoys her wedding party. But, alas, disaster strikes and its aftermath will tear the family apart in a story that will constrict your heart.

9/10

KING OF ASHES

S.A. Cosby; Headline £20.00

When Roman Carruthers returns to his sweltering Virginia home town of Jefferson Run because his dad’s in a coma following a car crash, he discovers there’s a bad moon rising. His sister Neveah’s struggling to keep the family crematorium afloat, and his feckless brother’s dangerously in debt to the local mob. So, financial whizz Roman goes to work for the gangsters, but he has a dicey plan to save his family in this cold sweat thriller by a master.

9/10

THE WOMAN WHO LAUGHED

Simon Mason; riverrun £12

Crime fans are hooked on Mason’s tight and gripping novellas featuring the missing persons expert known as the Finder.

Just as the pandemic took grip in 2020, sex worker Ella Bailey went missing. Possibly, another victim of a Sheffield serial killer. But, the Finder’s called in five years later when another woman’s murdered and a clue to Ella’s disappearance may be linked, putting in doubt a man’s confession to the killings.

8/10

THE SURGEON’S HOUSE

Jody Cooksley; A&B £22

This novel’s rich in the spooky Gothic tradition of Victorian London. The apparently random killing of Rose Parmiter, the cook at Evergreen House refuge for ill-treated women and children, sparks a series of sinister events. Proprietor Rebecca Harris begins to fear the refuge is being stalked by a malign presence from the past. Shudders galore.

8/10

A SECRET ESCAPE

Sarah Morgan; HQ £9.99

She’s a bestseller for good reason. This is another story of the ups and downs of friendship. In personal trouble and needing a bolthole, Nicole asks her lifelong best friend Milly if she can stay in one of her Lake District holiday homes. Despite misgivings Milly agrees, but events will see their friendship tested.

8/10