"Actor: Alan"

• The Natural | DVD | (28/05/2001) from £17.17   |  Saving you £2.82 (16.42%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Director Barry Levinson treats The Natural as a kind of shrine to America's national pastime, baseball, complete with all the possible mythic resonance that can be gleaned from the subject. Fans of the Bernard Malamud novel may be dismayed, but anyone who fell for the similarly mythic Field of Dreams will be hooked. Levinson displays an unabashed devotion to the game, although the film could use more of the realities of chewing tobacco and pine tar. The story opens as a young man (Robert Redford, in soft lighting) emerges from the sun-dappled heartland as maybe the best baseball player anybody's ever seen. On his way to the majors, he is waylaid by an enigmatic black widow (Barbara Hershey) and vanishes for many years. When he re-emerges, a silent mystery, he lands a spot with a New York team and begins tearing up the league--he's still the natural. Redford is fine, and Kim Basinger and Oscar-nominated Glenn Close are effective as the women in his life. The crowning touch is the soaring, extraordinary music by Randy Newman, the singer-songwriter turned orchestral composer. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

• Some Kind Of Wonderful / Pretty In Pink / Planes, Trains And Automobiles | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Ferris Bueller. Larger than life. Blessed with a magical sense of serendipity. He's a model for all those who take themselves too seriously. A guy who knows the value of a day off. Ferris Bueller's Day Off chronicles the events in the day of a rather magical young man Ferris (Matthew Broderick). One spring day toward the end of his senior year Ferris gives in to an overwhelming urge to cut school and head for downtown Chicago with his girl (Mia Sa

• The Mephisto Waltz | DVD | (27/03/2017) from £18.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Alan Alda's character is a music journalist whose career as a piano player came to an end when his debut concert received undeservedly scathing reviews.

• Yesspeak - Yes 35th Anniversary | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £21.00   |  Saving you £-1.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Shot during the group's 35th Anniversary European Tour, Yesspeak offers a 169-minute documentary about the classic progressive rock band Yes, together with an audio-only presentation of their 2003 set. The feature, narrated by Roger Daltrey, is a refreshingly straightforward affair, with a near three-hour running time allowing rather more depth than the usual rockumentary. Divided into 10 chapters the programme systematically covers the background, history and outlook of the group before an extended interview with each of the five members of the classic line-up: Jon Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Alan White (drums), and Rick Wakeman (keys). Finally there are more general sections on touring and the band's music. Archive material and glimpses of the 2003 tour are interwoven with the interviews, but this is very much a documentary, not a concert (to see Yes at their modern best watch Yes: Symphonic Live, 2002). The documentary puts a positive spin on a sometimes chequered past, and it's clearly aimed at long-term fans, but for those who have followed Yes through the decades this is satisfyingly comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable; from Steve Howe's famous but still entertaining guitar/Concord story, to Rick Wakeman's tea break during a typically expansive prog-rock solo. On the DVD: Yesspeak comes as a two-disc set. Disc 1 offers the first five chapters and 89 minutes of the documentary, while the remaining 80 minutes are featured on Disc 2. The picture is an excellent amamorphically enhanced 16:9 widescreen presentation, though by necessity the archive material is of variable quality. Switches into black and white and slow motion are a typically unnecessary distraction of the rock documentary format, but the DVD handles them well. There are excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks and optional French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish subtitles. Disc 2 also showcases 126 minutes of concert audio. This is accompanied by concert photos but the sound is only Dolby Digital 5.1, without a DTS option. Although the sound is good it does not match the crystal clear quality of the same music as heard in fragments during the documentary itself. Presumably a DVD of the concerts will follow with much better sound, and the audio here will simply serve as a trailer for that release? --Gary S Dalkin

• Laurence Olivier Presents | DVD | (21/05/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The greatest actor of the 20th century presents five works by great 20th-century playwrights. Stars include Olivier Natalie Wood Robert Wagner Maureen Stapleton Alan Bates Malcolm McDowell Helen Mirren Joanne Woodward Carrie Fisher Greta Scacchi and Joan Plowright.. The Plays: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (by Tennessee Williams): A rich plantation owner and his family come to grips with their greed envy and self-delusion. The Collection (by Harold Pinter): What did or did not take place in a Leeds Hotel ruffles the lives of four habitus of fashionable London. Hindle Wakes (by Stanley Houghton): An independent young mill worker refuses to bow to convention after an indiscretion with the boss's son. Come Back Little Sheba (by William Inge): Loss and regret bubble to the surface of a troubled marriage after a young boarder moves in. Saturday Sunday Monday (by Eduardo de Filippo): A monumental argument erupts smolders and subsides over a weekend in the life of a boisterous Italian family. The Ebony Towers (by John Fowles): Laurence Olivier portrays an elderly painter who has locked himself away from the world in a crumbling French chateau. Olivier is not quite a hermit; he enjoys the attentions of two nubile admirers played by Greta Scacchi and Toyah Willcox. This situation is disturbed by the arrival of young transient Roger Rees.

• Mesmer | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Who knows what secrets lurk in the souls of man? In 18th century Vienna one man discovers the truth-and pays the price. His patients call him a miracle worker; his colleagues dismiss him as a quack. Meet Franz Anton Mesmer (Alan Rickman Galaxy Quest Dogma Sense and Sensibility): physician hypnotist self-promoter hopeless romantic and man ahead of his time. Employing revolutionary ideas about ""animal magnetism"" and the power of suggestion Mesmer gains local acclaim by curing his disturbed young cousin. Shortly thereafter beautiful blind pianist Maria Theresa Paradies (Amanda Ooms) seeks Mesmer's aid setting in motion a dizzying doomed love affair as her cure becomes both his greatest triumph and his downfall. In this thought-provoking film from acclaimed screenwriter Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective) and director Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies) everything we know-or think we know-about the nature of consciousness is called into question. As the man who scandalized Vienna and Paris and threw the medical establishment into an uproar Alan Rickman delivers a tour de force performance that won the Best Actor Award at the Montreal Film Festival. Music composed by three-time Golden Globe Nominee Michael Nyman

• Eve Of Destruction | Blu Ray | (04/12/2017) from £27.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Sci-fi action thriller in which a scientist creates an android version of herself and equips it with both the passionate emotions she lacks and a nuclear bomb. The trouble begins when the android, named EVE VIII (Renee Soutendijk), is taken out for a test run and ends up in the midst of a bank robbery where its internal bomb is accidentally activated. The situation escalates when EVE becomes emotionally unglued and launches into a destructive rampage while enacting out its repressed creator's darkest desires. Col. Jim McQuade (Gregory Hines) and EVE's creator Dr. Eve Simmons (also Soutendijk) are tasked with stopping her but can they succeed in outsmarting the android?

• Psycho Collection | DVD | (26/09/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Psycho: The classic Hitchcock thriller involving a series of murders at a lonely motel where the deaths are attributed to the mother of the young owner. Psycho 2: Norman Bates is coming home after spending 22 years in a mental institution. He plans to renovate the old Bates Motel the place where his first murders occurred... Psycho 3: The Bates Motel is again the site of some nasty doings as the rehabilitated Norman who has installed a new ice machine att

• QI - The C Series | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £11.97   |  Saving you £8.02 (40.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Qi or Quite Interesting recently won 'Best Entertainment Programme' at the Royal Television Society Awards in London. Started in 2003 with all things 'A' Qi is attempting to get all the way through the alphabet. It is currently in its 5th season. Series C was first broadcast in Autumn 2005. Qi showcases some of the best comedians broadcasters and writers in the business including Bill Bailey Rob Brydon Jimmy Carr Jo Brand and Jeremy Clarkson.

• The Running Man | Blu Ray | (17/06/2019) from £16.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Over a decade after redefining the thriller with The Third Man, director Carol Reed returned to the genre with The Running Man. Reuniting with that film s cinematographer Robert Krasker (BAFTA-nominated for his work here), Reed goes in the opposite direction visually, framing the twisty plot in sun-kissed widescreen colour. Rex Black (Laurence Harvey, Walk On The Wild Side) has successfully faked his death in a plane crash and escaped to sunny Málaga under a new identity, waiting for his wife Stella (Lee Remick, Anatomy Of A Murder) to arrive with £50,000 of life insurance money. It s the start of a blissful, trouble-free new life for the couple until Stephen (Alan Bates, Gosford Park), the insurance agent in charge of investigating Rex s death, suddenly arrives in town. Is he just holidaying in Spain, as he claims, or is he on assignment to foil Rex s scheme? Adapted by John Mortimer (later the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey) from the novel The Ballad of the Running Man by Shelley Smith, this underappreciated entry in Reed s celebrated oeuvre makes its official worldwide home video premiere, complete with insightful new bonus features. Special Features: 2K restoration of the film by Sony Pictures High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray presentation Original uncompressed mono audio Isolated music and effects track Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio commentary by Peter William Evans, author of British Film-Makers: Carol Reed On The Trail Of The Running Man, all-new featurette with crew members such as script supervisor Angela Allen and assistant director Kits Browning Lee Remick at the National Film Theatre, an audio-only recording of the actor's appearance at the NFT in 1970 Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw

• High Sierra (The Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (12/10/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The OC (Orange County) - The Complete First Season | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Surf, sand, sex and scandal...The rich and glamorous city of Newport Beach, California is the setting for The O.C., one of today's most hip and edgy television series making its way to DVD in a collectible seven-disc set featuring all 27 episodes from Season One. If you missed the first season, here is the chance to introduce yourselves to the hottest new show of the 2003-04 television season. The O.C. is a story of father/son and husband/wife relationships and the coming of age of three young people. When Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie), a tough, guarded fiercely intelligent teenager, plunges headlong into the wealthy, privileged community of Newport Beach, he soon discovers that the ruling families of Orange County are every bit as territorial as the tough crowd with which he ran on the streets of Chino. For Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), the patient, pro-bono public defender who takes Ryan in; his wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), the linchpin of O.C. society; their awkward adolescent son, Seth (Adam Brody) - Ryan's presence will forever change their lives. Meanwhile, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), the heartbreakingly beautiful girl next door who is dating her classmate Luke Ward (Chris Carmack), seems to glide through life effortlessly--that is, until the indiscretions of her wealthy father, Jimmy (Tate Donovan) threaten to break her world apart, along with that of her mother, Julie (Melinda Clarke). DVD Special Features include Deleted Scenes with introductions by creator Josh Schwartz; Casting The O.C. featurette with creator Josh Schwartz and casting director Patrick Rush; The Music of The O.C. featurette with music supervisor Alexandra Pastavas; Inside The Real O.C. featurette with producer McG; Audio Commentary for The Pilot with creator Josh Schwartz and producer Stephanie Savage; The O.C. Music Guide for 6 episodes; Season 2 Sneak Peak with creator Josh Schwartz and the cast and the trailer for the ocinsider.com.

• The Kings And Queens Of England - The Tudors - 1485 To 1603 | DVD | (13/06/2005) from £16.90   |  Saving you £-6.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  As seen on the UK History Channel. Going back a few years before the Tudor reign began; this documentary begins in 1461 with a character called Owen Tudor. Owen was the source from which the famed Tudor dynasty would spring forth and rule England for over 100 years. Their reign would begin with Henry VII in 1485. To follow was Henry the VIII (and his six wives) Edward VI Mary I and Elizabeth I along with Lady Jane Grey (the nine day queen) - a monarch whom historically gets very l

• Harry Potter Hogwarts Collection | Blu Ray | (24/11/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £159.99

  Follow Harry Hermione and Ron from day one as vulnerable young children learning new tricks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to their epic final battle as fully fledged wizards in a true battle of good vs. evil. This collection contains all 8 of the popular adaptions of J.K. Rowling’s action-packed novels.

• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2 Disc) | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £4.01   |  Saving you £20.98 (523.19%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The love life of a woolly mammoth - handled with U-rated delicacy - drives this sequel to the first computer-animated romp in the age of prehistoric mammals. While the first Ice Age took a delightful premise and suffocated it with a formulaic plot - in which a mammoth named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano, Everyone Loves Raymond), a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo, Moulin Rouge!), and a sabre-tooth tiger named Diego (Denis Leary, Rescue Me) helped an abandoned human infant return to its tribe (basically, Three Mammals and a Baby) - the sequel takes the now-familiar setting, gives it a shapeless, episodic storyline, and yet somehow becomes pretty darn entertaining. Faced with the threat of a flood from melting ice, our heroic trio are on the run to escape from their blossoming valley. On the way, they meet a female mammoth (Queen Latifah, Bringing Down the House) who thinks she's an opossum and get menaced by some freshly defrosted carnivorous fish. Add into the mix a herd of lava-worshipping mini-sloths, some Busby Berkeley-style vultures, and more ingenious slapstick featuring the acorn-crazed Scrat, and Ice Age: The Meltdown will amuse even jaded adults. --Bret Fetzer

• Wagner: Das Rheingold -- Metropolitan/Levine | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  It takes a certain amount of forethought if Das Rheingold is to be more than a series of special effects scenes, though moments like the appearance of the giants through the mist or Alberich's transformations need to be as thrilling as they are here. As always in his Wagner, and perhaps especially in this very traditional 1990 Metropolitan Opera production of the Ring cycle, James Levine keeps to the forefront the underlying humanity of Wagner's gods and monsters. In the first scene, for example, he brings out the thoughtless, callous frivolity of the Rhine maidens as they precipitate the events of the four operas by taunting the gnome Alberich: it helps that they swirl around, green and gold, in a convincing representation of the bottom of the Rhine, but the emotions are the point. Ekkehaard Wlaschiha is a convincingly menacing Alberich partly because Levine brings out his vulnerability as well as his evil temper. James Morris is splendid as the younger less care-worn Wotan and Siegfried Jerusalem as Loge enjoys the sarcasm of his cynical commentary on Wotan's aspirations. The smaller parts have luxury casting: Matti Salminen as Fafner and Christa Ludwig as Fricka, for example. On the DVD: Das Rheingold comes with a photo gallery of the Metropolitan Opera production and with menus and subtitles in German, French, English, Spanish and Chinese. Disappointingly though it is presented in American NTSC format with standard TV 4:3 visual ratio. But it does have an excellent clear acoustic in all three of its audio options: PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. --Roz Kaveney

• Treasure Gardens - The Gardens Of The Treasure Houses Of England | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £9.19   |  Saving you £9.80 (106.64%)   |  RRP £18.99

  In the company of gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh here is a chance to savour the genius of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown the 18th century landscape artist whose legacy includes the gardens and grounds of both Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and the magnificent Chatsworth in Derbyshire. There is the famous lakeside Rhododendron Walk at Harewood House in Yorkshire the ancient woodland treasures of Castle Howard nearby and the riverside delights of the Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire. Ala

• Spy Kids 3 | Blu Ray | (15/08/2011) from £14.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (66.93%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Spy Kids are back again. This time, their trademark action delivers a motion picture event that pushes family fun to the next level. Secret agents Juni (Daryl Sabara) and Carmen Cortez (Alexa Vega) set out on their most mind-blowing mission yet: a journey inside the virtual reality world of a video game where awe-inspiring graphics and creatures come dangerously to life. As they face escalating challenges through increasingly difficult levels of the game, the Spy Kids must rely on humour, high-tech gadgets and the bonds of family in order to stop a power-hungry villain (Sylvester Stallone) set on controlling the youth of the world. Also featuring familiar faces Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino and Ricardo Montalban in an incredible all-star cast.

• Lazer Team Director's Cut | DVD | (15/08/2016) from £11.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (30.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  MANKIND'S DARKEST HOUR NEEDS OUR BRIGHTEST TEAM When four small-town losers stumble across an alien crash site containing an incredible battle suit, they soon find themselves responsible for the fate of the entire planet. With this new alien equipment genetically bound to them, and the government hot on their heels, the foursome have no choice but to work together as one to save humanity. All they have to do is learn to use a strange alien device meant for only one-person, train for a battle against an omnipotent enemy, and not kill each other in the process. They may not be strong, smart, or talented... but they're Lazer Team. Based on a true event, Lazer Team is directed by Matt Hullum and stars Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, Allie DeBerry, Colton Dunn and features Alan Ritchson. Lazer Team is The first feature film from pioneering studio Rooster Teeth, the creators of the longest-running web series in history, Red vs Blue. In 2014 Lazer Team smashed crowdfunding records when the film raised more than $2.6 million on IndieGoGo.

• A Little Chaos | Blu Ray | (24/08/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A female landscape-gardener is awarded the esteemed assignment to construct the grand gardens at Versailles a gilt-edged position which thrusts her to the very centre of the court of King Louis XIV. Can she overcome the challenges of this new and complex world and the ghosts of her own past tragedy to secure a future with the man she loves?