"Actor: A Ha"

• Les Enfants Du Paradis | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A film which regularly charts high in critics' polls of the best films of all time, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert's masterpiece Les Enfants du Paradis is as solid a landmark in French film history as the Eiffel Tower is on the Parisian landscape. And at 187 minutes running time, it's a massy edifice indeed, built from a rambunctious cast of characters--ranging from pickpockets and prostitutes to aristocrats and actors--whose lives intersect around the Theatre des Funambules, a popular Parisian theatre on the Boulevard du Crime, during the 1840s. (The title refers to the poor who can only afford seats in the upper galleries of the theatre.) The heart of the plot is a love story between mime artiste Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) and streetwalker Garance (the magnificent, sand-paper-voiced Arletty). When Garance is falsely accused of pickpocketing, Baptiste provides a mimed alibi for her to the police (one of the film's most famous set pieces). The rose she later throws him in gratitude sets off a romantic obsession, one of several that structure the film, as do love triangles, duels, and tortured confessions of feeling. Thematically, Les Enfant du Paradis gnaws over typically French cinematic preoccupations: illusion and reality, the nature of performance, the indomitable spirit of the proletariat and so on, all made the more charged and poignant when you know the film was shot during the Nazi occupation. (One actor, Robert Le Vigan, was reportedly a Nazi collaborator and disappeared during the filming under mysterious circumstances and so had to be replaced by Pierre Renoir.) --Leslie Felperin

• D-Tox | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £5.25   |  Saving you £4.74 (90.29%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Sylvester Stallone stars as an FBI agent who goes to a secluded D-Tox centre after a serial killer murders his girl friend, only to find the killer has followed him...

• Sympathy For Mr Vengeance | DVD | (28/02/2005) from £9.31   |  Saving you £8.67 (137.18%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A deaf mute worker saves all his money for his sister who requires a kidney transplant. He has the wrong blood type to be able to donate one of his kidneys so he arranges a trade with a group of organ dealers: one of his kidneys and 10 million won in return for their finding a kidney for his sister. They renege but a legitimate kidney becomes available for transplant. Unfortunately he no longer has the 10 million won required for the hospital to perform the operation. He and his

• La Bamba | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Born to poverty. Destined for stardom. He lived the American dream. The life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens bursts across the screen in this celebrated music-filled movie with star-making performances by Lou Diamond Phillips as Richie and Esai Morales as his half-brother Bob. La Bamba depicts the 17-year-old Mexican-American's rocket rise to fame from field laborer to rock star with a string of hit singles and a date with destiny. Fueled by Valens' hit songs performed

• 101 Reykjavik | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £5.00   |  Saving you £10.99 (219.80%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Modern-day Iceland is terminally weird, if writer-director Baltasar Kormákur's debut film 101 Reykjavík is anything to go by. Our guide to this particular Icelandic saga is Hlynur, 28-year-old unemployed slacker and one-man Nordic-gloom factory; "I'll be dead after I die. I was dead before I was born. Life is just a break from death," he muses. After his gut-freezingly boring family Christmas dinner--whose highpoint is watching a video of last year's ditto--you can see his point. Distraction, and a welcome dose of Southern warmth, comes in the form of his mother's flamenco teacher Lola (the delicious Victoria Abril). Only after sleeping with her does he discover that she's not just Mum's teacher, but her lover as well. A little like Pål Sletaune's 1997 Norwegian postie-comedy Junk Mail, 101 Reykjavík gets a lot of lugubrious fun from its protagonist's sheer social and emotional ineptitude--though to give Hlynur his due, most of his mates seem equally clueless, (the women, as so often in this kind of movie, come off rather better). We've been here before, of course--as a male with a severe case of delayed adolescence is gradually brought to engage with adulthood--but the offbeat humour and eccentric details of Kormákur's film keep it fresh and engaging. Whether--in view of remarks like "Reykjavík is like some backwater in Siberia, with glaciated diarrhoea,"--it will do much for the Icelandic tourist trade is another matter! On the DVD: Filmographies for Kormákur, Abril, and lead male actor Hilmir Snaer Gudnason; subtitles and menu; and the theatrical trailer, which contains snatches of several scenes evidently cut from the final release. The sound is clean and immediate (score co-composed by Damon Albarn) and the widescreen print preserves the original 16:9 ratio. --Philip Kemp

• What Waits Below | DVD | (29/08/2002) from £5.92   |  Saving you £-1.93 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Clayton 'Wolf' Wolfson and his friend Lieutenant George Barwell have been hired by U.S. Colonel Stevens (who's in charge of the Omega Base Communications Operations) to blow a hole in a mountain adjacent to the Omega Base. The Army plans to open up an entrance to an unexplored cave system where they can set up a sonic tester to test communication abilities. Against Wolf's warning that the caves might not be safe Colonel Stevens starts sending down men and equipment. The first night in the cave a technician above ground hears a scream on the radio and then silence. When Wolf and the others go back into the cave the men are missing and the sonic tester is destroyed. Deep within the cave system. the rescue team find caves of breathtaking beauty but there is great danger which they cannot see ''- the one that is waiting for the right moment to attack...

• Baby Boy | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £5.38   |  Saving you £14.61 (271.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In this follow up to "Boyz N The Hood", director John Singleton takes us back to the same neighborhood where we meet Jody, an unemployed 20 year old black man living at home with his mother, who has a complicated love life. Can he sort his mess out?

• Bowling For Columbine : Special Edition (Two Disc Set) | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £7.10   |  Saving you £12.89 (181.55%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the wake of the Columbine high school massacre acclaimed documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's latest film takes a critical look at America's obsessive gun culture.

• Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3 | DVD | (03/09/2012) from £4.24   |  Saving you £9.01 (302.35%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Papi is back, and he’s ready to party! From the studio that brought you Beverly Hills Chihuahua – you’re invited to the ultimate celebration of friendship and family: Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta! Join Papi (voiced by George Lopez) and his two – and four-legged family as they move into a posh Beverly Hills hotel, complete with a luxurious doggy spa. But there’s trouble in puppy paradise when Rosa, the littlest member of the pack, feels smaller and less special than ever. Now it’s up to Papi to help Rosa find – and celebrate – her inner strength, which turns out to be bigger than she ever dreamed. Overflowing with laughter, love and excitement, this is tail-wagging fun for the whole family!

• Colors | DVD | (09/07/2001) from £8.14   |  Saving you £4.85 (59.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Directed by Dennis Hopper, Colors is a superior 1988 action movie set among the street gangs of LA that teams up Robert Duvall as Hodges, the elder cop, with young hothead partner Danny McGavin (Sean Penn). Investigating a murderous feud between the “Bloods” and the “Crips”, Duvall attempts to impress upon the impetuous Penn the value of a more cautious, easy-going approach in dealing with gang members, rather than trying to charge in among them. The film as a whole was one of the first to take a serious, unromantic and unstereotypical look at gang culture, at how youngsters are sucked into it, how few options are actually open to these macho hoodlums and how little they have in the way of family, community and stability other than the gangs. The partnership between Penn and Duvall by contrast, though well played, is pretty much the standard old cop/young cop set-up, right down to Duvall’s frequent, ominous remarks about how close he is to retirement. While the action is sometimes disjointed and the relationships between the gangs at times confused, it at least helps to dispel the usual Hollywood good vs. evil dynamic. Instead, there’s a more ambient sense of violence, desperation, retribution and recrimination. Penn’s doomed relationship with a “homegirl” indicates that while the LAPD may capture a few felons, they’ve little chance of capturing the hearts and minds of the criminalised poor. Later films such as John Singleton’s Boyz 'n the Hood (1991) would go further in exploring how life looks from the gangsta perspective.On the DVD: The films is presented in an anamorphic 16:9 widescreen version, with the usual chapter and language selections. The only other feature is the original, detailed but run-of-the-mill trailer. --David Stubbs

• Return Of The Living Dead | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A sudden storm brings a shower of polluted rain and in a downtown cemetery something stirs six feet under the earth. The bad news is the living dead are back. The worse news is that they haven't had a decent meal in years... and as anybody will tell you there's nothing as greedy as a ghoul with a taste for human brains. 'Return Of The Living Dead' is a special effects masterpiece and has its rotting tongue firmly in its ghoulish green cheek.

• Das Testament Des Dr Mabuse | Blu Ray | (24/09/2012) from £21.58   |  Saving you £8.41 (38.97%)   |  RRP £29.99

  With the etching onto glass of a single word - MABUSE - Berlin reawakens into a nightmare. Fritz Lang's electrifying Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) is the astonishing second instalment in the German master's legendary Mabuse series, a film that puts image and sound into an hypnotic arrangement unlike anything seen or heard in the cinema before - or since.It's been eleven years since the downfall of arch-criminal and master-of-disguise Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), now sequestered in an asylum under the watchful eye of one Professor Baum (Oskar Beregi). Mabuse exists in a state of catatonic graphomania, his only action the irrepressible scribbling of blueprints that would realise a seemingly theoretical Empire of Crime. But when a series of violent events courses through the city, police and populace alike start asking themselves with increasing panic: Who is behind all this?! The answer borders on the realm of the impossible...

• Fun With Dick And Jane | DVD | (22/05/2006) from £4.75   |  Saving you £15.24 (320.84%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni star in this remake of the 1977 comedy.

• Jacob's Ladder | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £15.02   |  Saving you £0.97 (6.46%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In Jacob's Ladder, Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) thinks he is going insane. Or worse. When his nightmares begin spilling into his waking hours, Jacob believes he is experiencing the after-effects of a powerful drug tested on him during Vietnam. Or perhaps his post-traumatic stress disorder is worse than most. Whatever is happening to him, it's not good. Director Adrian Lyne sparks our interest and maintains high production values, but this confusing film chokes on its "surprise" ending. It owes much to Ambrose Bierce's haunting and more straightforward short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin, who also explored the "other side" in Ghost and My Life, Jacob's Ladder ultimately feels like an exercise in self-indulgence. A spirited performance by Elizabeth Peña outshines Robbins, who is surprisingly lethargic. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• The Amityville Curse | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In the fifth installment of the ""Amityville"" series six friends move into the infamous haunted home. Soon their lives are turned upside-down when supernatural forces residing in the cellar wreak bloody havoc upon them.

• Dawn Of The Dead - Uncut | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The quite terrifying and gory Dawn of the Dead was George Romero's 1978 follow-up to his classic 1968 Night of the Living Dead. But it is also just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping centre to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewellery shops, making gourmet meals and so on. It is Romero's take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film after all and even some of Romero's best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat. --Tom Keogh

• Anywhere But Here | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £4.49   |  Saving you £8.50 (189.31%)   |  RRP £12.99

  ""Funny and poignant. Sarandon and Portman sparkle!"" -Jami Bernard NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Adele is a flashy flirtatious dreamer. Her daughter Ann is a quiet no-nonsense realist. On the surface they're like oil and water but deep down they're two of a kind. ""Susan Sarandon makes magic"" (Chicago Tribune) and ""Natalie Portman soars"" (NY-1) in this funny and touching story about a mother who knows best...and a daughter who knows better!

• Hamburger Hill | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £4.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (68.80%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill... up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was the way it really was. It's a raw gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. Dodge the gunfire. Get caught behind enemy lines. Go into battle beside the brave young men who fought and died. Feel their desperation and futility. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst men at their best.

• The Animatrix | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Collection of nine short animated films telling the backstory of the Matrix.

• Wer | DVD | (19/10/2015) from £7.69   |  Saving you £5.30 (40.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a family is brutally slain near an isolated rural village, a suspicious local man is soon arrested and brought in for questioning. During the interrogation process it becomes clear that the suspect is not quite what he seems as he begins to transform into a rampaging werewolf set on destroying anything in his path. As the bloodbath ensues, the authorities must do whatever they can to survive the surrounding terror and prevent the chaos from spreading.