"Actor: Aiken"

• Caddyshack | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A purely tasteless, moronic, guilty pleasure. Director Harold Ramis employs a mixture of Mad magazine National Lampoon maturity and Saturday Night Live sarcasm in this goofball golf comedy set on the grounds of a posh country club. Somewhere buried in the slapstick antics, drug references, Marx Brothers-like insults, and gratuitous sex scenes are the intertwined, forgettable subplots of a poor caddie (Michael O'Keefe) trying to earn enough cash to attend college, and golf-tournament and class battles between rich and even richer snobs. Mainly, Ramisjust lets his colourful group of eccentrics crash into each other, relying on several inspired performances to create several hilarious moments of sketch comedy. Most come from the trio of Bill Murray (playing a vile, obsessed groundskeeper engaged in a one-man war with a charismatic and very stuffed gopher), Rodney Dangerfield (basically recreating his crude stand-up routine), and Chevy Chase (who looks bemusedly stoned throughout). Quotable favourites include Murray's acted-out fantasy of winning the Masters, his tall tale about caddying for the Dalai Lama, an overreaching priest's rain-soaked golf game, Dangerfield's verbal assault on the club's uptight dining patrons, and Chase's lesson on the essence of golf ("Be the ball, Danny"). A perfect double feature with other comparably crass films such as National Lampoon's Vacation or Stripes. --Dave McCoy

• Stepmom | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Although Stepmom was dismissed as a contender in the 1998 Oscar race, it's worth giving a second chance to this rather cogent, sharp-tongued look at second chances. Susan Sarandon's performance as a mum about to be replaced by her ex-husband's new girlfriend (played by Julia Roberts) has a lot of bite, and it's a shame the script opted to trivialise her plight in its final reel. Initially, the rancour that passes between divorced mum Jackie (Sarandon) and trendy fashion photographer Isabel (Roberts) rings true, aided by the sincerity of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) and the emotional plight of their children, who have the most to lose in their parents' divorce. As the drama makes clear, the children are the real victims in the agony that ensues between old and new love. Director Chris Columbus, who is adept at showing familial chaos (he directed Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone) with a sanitised minimum of lingering emotional damage, actually manages to dig a trifle deeper than usual in exploring the jealousy and hurt that occur when the baton is passed between a birth mum and the younger wife who steps into her shoes. Stepmom fortunately manages to touch on that chord--showing how an ambitious woman might feel hampered by the responsibility of children just because she's fallen in love with their dad--as well as the haunting grief that it causes their birth mum. It's an issue that haunts millions of second wives everywhere, and while Roberts conveys the confusion of being taken for granted in the melee that follows, it's Sarandon who walks off with the film. She's relentless in her fury, and everyone else in the film--the generally excellent Harris included--is sideswiped. It's just a shame that Hollywood once again wimps out in the end, solving the problem by giving Sarandon a terminal illness. Instead of allowing Jackie and Isabel's relationship to unfold on something less than a high note, the movie has to quell its best thing with a false payoff because it doesn't know what to do with real life. --Paula Nechak, Amazon.com

• Erin Brockovich / Stepmom / Steel Magnolias | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Erin Brockovich (Dir. Steven Soderbergh 2000): Erin Brockovich was never trained or indeed meant to work in a lawyers office. Circumstances take this down-on-her-luck twice-divorced mother of three into a legal practice. Here she discovers some legal files that don't add up... On investigation she discovers an injustice and decides against the odds to take on the bad guys on behalf of a poor and very ill community. Stepmom (Dir. Chris Columbus 1998): Jackie (Susan Sarandon) is a divorced mother of two. Isabel (Julia Roberts) is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. It is the universal dilemma of the 'non-traditional family' they all love the children but the complex interplay between parents step-parents step-children ex-spouses and significant others is decidedly tricky. But when Jackie discovers she is ill both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest while they have the chance. Steel Magnolias (Dir. Herbert Ross 1989): A beautiful bittersweet comedy set in deep south Louisiana Steel Magnolias unites talents of America's finest actresses as six very special friends bonded together by mutual triumphs and tragedies. Despite their differences beautiful Shelby (Julia Roberts) her strong-willed mother M'Lynn (Sally Field) beauty parlour owner Truvy (Dolly Parton) elegant wealthy widow Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) sharp tongued Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) and mousey newcomer Anelle (Daryl Hannah) enjoy a friendship that spans the boundaries of age and status. Sharing each other's strength and loyalty they face their greatest fears and highest hopes with dry wit and a self-deprecating style...

• I Dreamed Of Africa | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the memoirs of party-girl-turned-conservationist Kuki Gallman, I Dreamed of Africa never comes close to living up to its title; the mood is more prosaic travelogue than oneiric wonderment. After a car accident warns Kuki of her mortality, she resolves to grow up, a process that mysteriously involves marrying a man she barely knows and moving with him and her young son to the wilds of South Africa. There she learns new beau Paolo is less reliable than she thought, but also that the sun-baked plains and roaming beasts of Africa speak to her in a way the nightlife of Italy did not. (We learn of her blossoming humanity because she introduces herself to the servants; a probing study of interpersonal relationships this isn't.) Kim Basinger obviously feels connected to the role--she can stride across a room with a majestic self-righteousness that the film should have drawn upon more--but she's defeated by a script composed of repetitive vignettes that have no cumulative effect and a director (Hugh Hudson) who keeps the film's emotional impact curiously flat and diffuse except for the crass, manipulative moments every 20 minutes or so. Sure the photography's lovely, but really, how hard is it to get a nice shot of flamingoes at dawn? --Bruce Reid, Amazon.com

• Lemony Snicket: Series Of Unfortunate | DVD | (27/05/2005) from £4.94   |  Saving you £15.05 (304.66%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jim Carrey stars as a dastardly Count who won't stop at anything to snatch the huge inheritance from three orphaned kids.

• Waking The Dead - Series 2 | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-4.17 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.81

  The Cold Case team return to DVD for more unsolved crimes that need their outstanding expertise. Episodes Comprise: 1. Life Sentence (Part 1) 2. Life Sentence (Part 2) 3. Deathwatch (Part 1) 4. Deathwatch (Part 2) 5. Special Relationship (Part 1) 6. Special Relationship (Part 2) 7. Thin Air (Part 1) 8. Thin Air (Part 2)

• Sweet November | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £6.49   |  Saving you £7.50 (115.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Charlize Theron stars as Sara Deever who, every month, takes a new lover. But her plans go awry in November after she meets Nelson Moss (Keanue Reeves) who hopes to win her heart for good.

• No Angels - Series 1 | DVD | (15/05/2006) from £19.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (25.01%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Every day the girls face life death and lunacy on the wards of St. Margaret's; every night they let off steam with a dangerous appetite for uncomplicated sex and unruly misbehaviour. Anji is set on an arranged marriage and Beth is determined to settle down with a rich consultant. In the meantime however they're both happy to practice their bedside manners. For single mum Lia juggling work and home can prove tricky. And acting sister Kate soon finds out that juggling work and love is even trickier... Still they can always rely on each other. And if the drugs don't work it's probably because the junior doctor's taken them. Featuring every episode from the first series!

• The Object Of My Affection | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £5.97   |  Saving you £7.02 (117.59%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A romantic comedy-drama that pushes the very tender line between love sex and friendship! Nina a social worker shares a cozy flat with her dear friend George who happens to be gay. When Nina becomes pregnant by her overbearing boyfriend she begs George to step into the breach - but is he ready to be a surrogate dad?

• Viva Las Vegas | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (133.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  It's pretty tough to beat Jailhouse Rock in terms of sheer entertainment, but Elvis lovers are particularly fond of this 1964 hit. The Big E plays race-car driver Lucky Jackson, who arrives in Las Vegas for an upcoming Grand Prix race. Lucky's car needs a new engine, so he gets a waiter job at a casino and starts working his crooning charms on Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). It's their on-screen chemistry that makes this flick a lot of fun; Presley never had a better co-star than Ann-Margret, and their race-car romance is quintessential 1960s fluff. Then there are the songs, of course, including the snappy title tune, a rockin' rendition of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say?" and "The Yellow Rose of Texas". Viva Las Vegas is one of the Elvis movies that stands the test of time, when the legend was still at his peak. --Jeff Shannon

• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2-disc Special Edition) | DVD | (27/05/2005) from £7.65   |  Saving you £17.34 (226.67%)   |  RRP £24.99

  If you spliced Charles Addams, Dr. Seuss, Charles Dickens, Edward Gorey, and Roald Dahl into a Tim Burtonesque landscape, you'd surely come up with something like Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Many critics (in mostly mixed reviews) wondered why Burton didn't direct this comically morbid adaptation of the first three books in the popular series by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. "Lemony Snicket," played here by Jude Law and seen only in silhouette) instead of TV and Casper veteran Brad Silberling, but there's still plenty to recommend the playfully bleak scenario, in which three resourceful orphans thwart their wicked, maliciously greedy relative Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), who subjects them to... well, a series of unfortunate events. Along the way they encounter a herpetologist uncle (Billy Connolly), an anxious aunt (Meryl Streep) who's afraid of everything, and a variety of fantastical hazards and mysterious clues, some of which remain unresolved. Given endless wonders of art direction, costume design, and cinematography, Silberling's direction is surprisingly uninspired (in other words, the books are better), but when you add a throwaway cameo by Dustin Hoffman, Law's amusing narration, and Carrey's over-the-top antics, the first Lemony movie suggests a promising franchise in the making. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Electrick Children | Blu Ray | (15/10/2012) from £24.28   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Rachel is a rambunctious teenager from fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah. On Rachel's 15th birthday, she discovers a forbidden cassette tape with rock music on it. Having never heard anything like it, Rachel has a miraculous experience. Three months later, Rachel turns up pregnant and claims to have had an immaculate conception from listening to the music. Rachel's parents arrange a marriage for Rachel, but Rachel runs away to the closest city, Las Vegas, to search for the man who sings on the cassette tape, thinking he has something to do with her mysterious pregnancy...

• The Bloodhound | Blu Ray | (22/03/2021) from £16.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  First-time feature director Patrick Picard brings a fresh take to one of the best-known stories from the master of mystery and the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, in his new slow-burner horror-thriller The Bloodhound, a hauntingly atmospheric tale described by The Hollywood News as an impressively stylish and intellectual debut. Francis (Liam Aiken, A Series of Unfortunate Events), a dispossessed young man, is summoned to the secluded home of his wealthy childhood friend, JP Luret (Joe Adler, The Maze Runner), who is suffering from a mysterious affliction. Upon his arrival, Francis realizes that JP and his ethereal twin sister Vivian (Annalise Basso, Ouija: Origin of Evil) are the sole surviving members of the privileged Luret family, whose legacy has been one of depression and self-destruction, and the only occupants of their family estate. As the old friends attempt to reconnect, a number of inexplicable incidents begin to occur within the house, and Francis finds himself drawn into a world of malaise and despair, where an act of betrayal might provide his only way out From Leal Naim and Thomas R. Burke, producers of The Endless and Synchronic, and featuring some remarkable performances from its trio of lead actors, The Bloodhound leads you on a journey exploring themes that are as relevant to today as ever before, such as the yearning for emotional connection, the perils of social isolation and the fragility of mental health. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Brand new audio commentary by director Patrick Picard and editor David Scorca Four experimental short films by director Patrick Picard: bad dream, the muffled hammerfall in action, the mosaic code and wiggleworm On the Trail of The Bloodhound: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Chiller, exclusive 45-minute making-of featurette FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel

• Good Boy! | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £3.49   |  Saving you £12.50 (358.17%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Twelve-year-old Owen has always wanted a dog but hasn't reckoned for Hubble, an interplanetary scout from the Dog Star Sirius!

• Doctor Jekyll And Mr Hyde | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In this 1920 silent version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, John Barrymore is dignified and virtuous as Dr Henry Jekyll, and transforms into Id incarnate as the lascivious Mr. Hyde with almost no make-up beyond his gnarled, knobby fingers and greasy hair, relying almost solely on a bug-eyed grimace, a spidery body language and pure theatrical flourish. He tends to be hammy as the leering beast of a thug but brings a tortured struggle to the repressed doctor, horrified at the demon he's unleashed, guilty that he enjoys Hyde's unrestrained life of drinking and whoring and terrified that he can no longer control the transformations. Martha Mansfield co-stars as his pure and innocent sweetheart, and Nita Naldi (the vamp of Blood and Sand) has a small but memorable role as the world-weary dance-hall darling who first "wakens" Jekyll's "baser nature". --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Electrick Children | DVD | (15/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Rachel is a rambunctious teenager from fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah. On Rachel's 15th birthday, she discovers a forbidden cassette tape with rock music on it. Having never heard anything like it, Rachel has a miraculous experience. Three months later, Rachel turns up pregnant and claims to have had an immaculate conception from listening to the music. Rachel's parents arrange a marriage for Rachel, but Rachel runs away to the closest city, Las Vegas, to search for the man who sings on the cassette tape, thinking he has something to do with her mysterious pregnancy...

• The She Creature | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £6.73   |  Saving you £13.26 (197.03%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With special effects by the legendary monster maker Stan Winston 'She Creature' is a winning combination of eye-popping visuals mixed with good old-fashioned storytelling to create a terrifying tale of mermaids and mayhem. Angus (Rufus Sewell) and Lily (Carla Gugino) are travelling the Irish countryside with their carnival sideshow when they befriend a wealthy old sailor. After giving him a ride to his castle he shows them his deadly prize: a real live mermaid held captive in a

• Station To Station | DVD | (10/08/2015) from £7.55   |  Saving you £8.44 (111.79%)   |  RRP £15.99

• D.W. Griffith - Monumental Epics | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  There’s little doubt that much of what we now take for granted about cinema owes much to the vision of director D W Griffith. Monumental Epics collects five of his most influential silent masterpieces. The Birth of a Nation (1915) is also the birth of the epic film. Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War this provocative film unflinchingly shows the humiliation of Southern culture, the "heroism" of the Ku Klux Klan, and links the Union and Confederacy by a common Aryan birthright. All of which has to be viewed in its period context if it is to be viewed at all. Intolerance (1916) is film-making of epic complexity. Human intolerance is related through a modern tale of wrongful conviction, intercut by three stories from Babylonian, Judean, and French history to point up the issue through the ages. The intricacy of the intercutting is breathtaking even now, but those as confused as the first audiences evidently were can opt to see each story separately. Sensitively tinted, this is Griffith's finest three hours. Broken Blossoms (1919) has Griffith venturing into domestic melodrama. Although there's a clear moral to be drawn from this tale of compassion in the face of ignorance and brutality, neither the over-acting of Lillian Gish and Donald Crisp, nor the vein of sentimentality that creeps into their characters' relationship allow the viewer to forget the period-piece nature of the film. Here an appropriately expressive musical score helps keep viewing at an attentive level. Way Down East (1920) shows Griffith moving from the epic to the personal, though still on a large scale. The combining of old-style melodrama with latter-day female emancipation is tellingly brought off, and Lillian Gish excels as the country girl used and abused by male society, until "rescued" by a farmer of true moral scruples. Unconvinced? Then go straight to the climactic snowstorm and ice floe sequences--Eisenstein et al are inconceivable without this as trailblazer. Abraham Lincoln (1930) marked Griffith's entry into the talkie era. Tautly directed, it offers a historically accurate account of the 16th US President's rise to power and his visionary outlook on American society. Civil War scenes are implied rather than enacted, and its Walter Huston's robust yet understated acting that carries the day, with sterling support from Una Merkel as Ann Rutledge and Hobart Bosworth as General Lee. On the DVD: Stylishly packaged, restoration and digital remastering has been carried out to Eureka's usual high standard, and the 4:3 aspect ratio has commendable clarity. Birth of a Nation has Joseph Carl Breil's original orchestral score and a pithy "making of" film by Russell Merritt. Intolerance contains a useful rolling commentary and a great wurlitzer soundtrack too. Way Down East includes a commentary. Abraham Lincoln also has a commentary, though Hugo Riesenfeld's score often verges on the mawkish. Overall this set is a must for anyone remotely interested in film as a living medium.--Richard Whitehouse

• Miller's Crossing / Road To Perdition | DVD | (31/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Miller's Crossing: The year is 1929. The place is a gangster-ridden American city run by Leo (Albert Finney). But the real power lies with Tom (Gabriel Byrne) the power behind the man. Their friendship is severed when they both fall in love with the same woman (Marcia Gay Harden) and a bloody gang war erupts... Road To Perdition: Two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan a father fighting to keep his only son from traveling the Road To Perditio