Five new videos

I called in a local 'buy and sell' shop today to see what was going cheap. The owner is selling off videos at £1, sometimes 50p, and I hoped to pick up some classics for next to nothing. His DVDs are still too expensive. This is what I bought:

• Hamlet - Kenneth Branagh version. The whole text! Spot the celebrity.
• Gladiator - surprisingly, I didn't own a copy. It's obviously over-rated. Just a combined remake of Spartacus and The Fall of the Roman Empire.
• Great Balls of Fire - story of Jerry Lee Lewis. Dennis Quaid fantastic, even plays the piano well enough for some close-ups. Great songs, or should I say one great song repeated with variations? Lewis was an arrogant, self-absorbed prat really. What kind of a haircut was that? Racist bastard as well, I'm told. I've lent this to a friend who's a fan. Slips into 'musical' mode occasionally, when the music stops being studio sessions or concerts, and provides the background for a song and dance act.
• The Commitments - better, grittier, prefer the music. But still just another Full Monty, or Brassed Off or Billy Elliott. Fouled-mouthed, fucking underclass trying to better themselves. Calendar Girls was in the same vein, but 'nicer'. I went to see CG a couple of years ago, because it seemed like a safe bet as birthday present for a lady friend. Gangs of New York might have been a bit dodgy. The cinema was full of female couples, middle-aged daughters with their mothers, all feeling terribly daring.
• Legends of the Fall - Hopkins, Pitt, Zwick directing (who did Glory). Must be worth a look.