"Actor: Allen Co"

• Nicholas Cage Collection - The Rock / Face/Off / Gone In 60 Seconds | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £19.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (75.04%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Gone In 60 Seconds: Remake of the 1974 classic car-chase movie. Nicolas Cage is Randall 'Memphis' Raines a legendary car thief. When he retired car crimes fell by almost 50% but he is being forced out to retirement to save his brother Kip from an evil mobster Raymond Calitri. Kip has to find 50 cars by Friday or he will be killed. Randall gets his old team back (including Robert Duvall and Vinnie Jones) to save his brother's life. With the police on his case and Calitri threatening to kill him and Kip time is soon running out... The Rock (2-Disc Set): Academy Award winners Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage star in the action-adventure blockbuster. Millions of lives hang in the balance after a military madman (Ed Harris) seizes control of the island prison Alcatraz and threatens to launch deadly poison gas missiles at San Francisco. With time ticking away a chemical weapons expert (Cage) and a cunning federal prisoner (Connery) - who happens to be the only man to have broken out of Alcatraz - must now break in and disarm the missiles! Face Off: Oscar-winning superstar Nicolas Cage and screen icon John Travolta battle head to head in 'Face/Off' the ultimate cat and mouse thriller directed by the world's most acclaimed action film director John Woo! To avenge the senseless murder of his son FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta) undergoes radical new surgery allowing him to switch faces with the comatose terrorist Castor Troy (Cage) and assume his identity. But when Castor awakes and assumes Sean's identity the real Sean is thrust into an unimaginable nightmare fighting not only for his life but also those of his wife (Joan Allen) and daughter!

• Cowboys And Angels | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  How far will you go? An award-winning exhilaratingly funny coming-of-age film Cowboys And Angels tells the witty story of two Irish lads - one straight and one gay - from their youthful career ambitions to romance and entanglements with the law. Shane is a shy civil servant striking out on his own; Vincent is a gay fashion design student looking for a roommate. When they cross paths a friendship begins with Vincent helping pull Shane from his shell and sending

• The Pursuit Of Happyness/Big Daddy/About A Boy | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Pursuit Of Happyness (Dir. Gabriele Muccino) (2006): Chris Gardner is a bright and talented but marginally employed salesman. Struggling to make ends meet Gardner finds himself and his five-year-old son evicted from their San Francisco apartment with nowhere to go. When Gardner lands an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm he and his son endure many hardships including living in shelters in pursuit of his dream of a better life for the two of them. Big Daddy (Dir. Frank Coraci ; Peter Segal ; Dennis Dugan) (1991): Thirty-two-year old Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) has spent his whole life avoiding responsibility. But when his girlfriend dumps him for an older man he's got to find a way to prove he's ready to grow up. In a desperate last-ditch effort Sonny adopts five-year-old Julian to impress her. She's not impressed...and he can't return the kid. Uh-oh for Sonny! About A Boy (Dir. Chris Weitz ; Paul Weitz) (2002): Will (Grant) is a 38-year old Londoner living a bachelor lifestyle on the back of royalties earned from a Christmas song penned by his father some years previously. A serial womaniser Will comes up with the idea of attending a single parents group as a new way to pick up women. Inventing a two-year old son for himself he meets lonely bullied schoolboy Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) and his depressed music therapist mother (Toni Collette). The intelligent Marcus soon learns Will's secret and so blackmails him into letting him hang out at his place and watch afternoon telly. However what starts out as an uneasy quiz show watching alliance turns into an unlikely friendship...

• Zoom - Academy For Superheroes/Thunderbirds/The Adventures Of Shark Boy And Lava Girl | DVD | (25/02/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Zoom - Academy For Superheroes: Jack Shepard a.k.a. 'Zoom' is an out-of-shape auto shop owner far removed from the man who once protected the world's freedom. Reluctantly called back into action by the government Jack is charged with turning a rag tag group of kids with special powers into a new generation of superheroes to save the world from certain destruction. Based on Jason Lethcoe's popular graphic novel Zoom's Academy for the Super Gifted. Thunderbirds: Thunderbirds are GO! International Rescue run in secret by the Tracy family and led by Jeff (Bill Paxton) is permamently on standby to offer assistance when accidents and incidents threaten lives across the world. However when the villainous Hood (Ben Kingsley) infiltrates the Tracy's clandestine island base and imprisons most of the family who will rescue the rescuers? It's left to teenage Alan (Brady Corbet) and his similarly young friends to save the day! The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl: Smaller heroes. Just as super. Max is a ten year old outcast who escapes his lonely world when his dreams magically come to life. Max and his two imaginary friends Sharkboy - a half-breed of boy and shark - and Lavagirl with flaming hair and hands that melt everything she touches embark on a mission to prove to the world that all it takes is a dream to make anything a reality.

• The Stunt Man | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Vietnam veteran Cameron (Steve Railsback) is on the run from the police when he stumbles onto the set of a war movie directed by megalomaniac Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole). But when the young fugitive is forced to replace a dead stunt man he falls in love with the movies leading lady (Barbara Hershey) while trying to avoid getting arrested or killed. Is Eli trying to capture Cameron's death on film? And what happens to a paranoid stunt man when illusion and reality change places?

• Sherlock Holmes - The Final Problem /The Empty House | DVD | (09/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In 'The Final Problem' Holmes investigates the theft of the Mona Lisa painting. On return to London he is threatened by his nemesis Moriarty. In 'The Empty House' Watson finds himself investigating the death of the Honourable Ronald Adair. It's been three years since Holmes died...

• Vintage Collection - Jazz Masters 1958-1961 | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Vol. 1 1958-1959 A package of the most famous jazz broadcast of all time. An all-star studio session with some of the giants of post-war jazz captured together performing a series of classic set pieces. Featuring: Henry Red Allen Count Basie Thelonious Monk Jimmy Giuffre Jimmy Rushing and a heart stopping sequence from Billie Holiday with Lester Young as one of her accompanists. Vol. 2 1960-1961 Features more priceless jazz material from vintage American television with perfor

• The Grind | DVD | (08/03/2010) from £5.38   |  Saving you £0.61 (11.34%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Street slimebag Luke owes a significant debt to the Mexican mob and has just had his final warning. In desperation he comes up with one final scheme to pay his IOU or risk losing his life. He gets together with his tech-geek mate Josh to raise easy on-line money through a reality peep show called 'hotgirlsinahouse.com.' Finding girls off the streets to participate in the 'big brother' style webcast proves easy enough but Luke needs cash up-front for the costs. He accepts a lucrative offer from a local hood to buy credit card information from the website hits as each girl's quirky personalities are streamed for all to see. On-line viewing becomes more sexual hits increase and the website's account grows. Luke leaves cash incentives for the girls to encourage the provocative behaviour and the girls play right into the scheme: fighting with each other by day competing for viewers by night. Hits grow and grow. When the competition amongst the girls turns threatening the web-masters realise they're in over their heads.

• Night Of The Demon | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £19.65   |  Saving you £-13.66 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  After being found in the forest with his face mutilated Professor Nugent insists that the American legend of the 'Bigfoot' monster is true. A group from the University anthropology class including the young daughter of one of the previous victims set out to uncover the mystery but very quickly land themselves knee deep in terror!

• The Dick Cavett Show - Comic Legends | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £13.65   |  Saving you £4.34 (31.79%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Before there was Dick Cavett the talk show host there was Dick Cavett the comedian. Cavett's early career as a writer for Jack Paar and Johnny Carson naturally led him into the world of stand-up comedy where his contemporaries were the likes of Woody Allen and Bill Cosby. Cavett would later welcome both to The Dick Cavett Show. Cavett's comedian guests were by no means limited to his contemporaries. Cavett developed warm personal relationships with people like Groucho Marx Bob Hope and Jack Benny. These great raconteurs and storytellers had some of their finest moments in Cavett's studio where they found a unique forum that didn't necessarily require them to be funny. But of course they simply couldn't be anything else. On this fantastic four disc box set we feature 12 episodes of this timeless show featuring some of the biggest legends in American comedy featuring: Woody Allen Lucille Ball Jack Benny Carol Burnett Mel Brooks George Burns Bill Cosby Bob Hope Jerry Lewis Groucho Marks The Smothers Brothers plus an all new interview with Dick himself.

• Exhibit A | DVD | (21/06/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Winner of the prestigious Best UK Feature award at the Raindance Film Festival and nominated for three British Independent Film Awards. Exhibit A tells the timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. All is not as it seems as the King family go about their day-to-day lives oblivious of the horror to come. Dad Andy (Bradley Cole) is nursing a secret that ultimately leads to terrifying consequences for them all. We witness these chilling events unfold through daughter Judith's (Brittany Ashworth) video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A. The film is inspired by the many men in real life who are known to their neighbours as devoted husbands and fathers, but for unknowable reasons suddenly decide to take drastic action to protect their loved ones. Exhibit A has left a trail of stunned audiences at festivals all over the world and won't leave you the same person. The Collector's Edition includes an exclusive making of featurette, rehearsal footage and bonus teaser trailers.

• Richard III | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The third and final entry in Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare triptych, Richard III is an audacious portrait of a man determined to prove himself a villain. A pure master of the political stage, Richard deploys a barrage of odious, unscrupulous traps in an attempt to exercise complete control over his rivals. As the personification of evil impudence, Olivier portrays the Duke of Gloucester with such aplomb that he even lures the audience on to his side. This is true even as Richard engineers plots to murder his brother Clarence (John Gielgud), betray his cousin Buckingham (Ralph Richardson) and seduce his niece Lady Anne (Claire Bloom). From the play's famous opening lines ("Now is the winter of our discontent"), Olivier delivers every speech with truly Machiavellian splendour. As usual, his voice is a force of nature--a full-bodied coloratura at one moment, an earthy baritone cello a few beats later. As a director, Olivier fully realises but underplays the corners of the script that most directors would hinge their dramatisation on. But he can also play it large: Olivier's superb staging of the climactic battle rivals his work on Henry V. Though Richard is finally brought down by the whispered curses of Queen Margaret, the audience exits feeling that the journey has been both entertaining and complete. Regrettably, this would be Olivier's last Shakespeare film, as a planned adaptation of Macbeth was abandoned for financial reasons. Olivier justly received an Oscar nomination for his performance; and believe it or not, this film was the inspiration for the original Blackadder! --Kevin Mulhall

• Anger Management / As Good As It Gets | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £13.56   |  Saving you £11.43 (84.29%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The irresistible pairing of Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler is the best reason to see Anger Management, a comedy that might have been subtitled "The Funny and the Furious". Nicholson and especially Sandler have screen personas that partially rely on pent-up anxieties, so there's definite potential in teaming them as a mild-mannered designer of pet clothing for chubby cats (Sandler) who's been ordered to undergo anger management therapy with a zany counsellor (Nicholson) prone to occasional tantrums and devious manipulation. Surely this meandering comedy looked better on the page; director Peter Segal scores a few lucky scenes (particularly Sandler's encounter with a Buddhist monk, played by John C Reilly), but a flood of cameos (Heather Graham, Woody Harrelson, Rudolph Giuliani, and others) can't match the number of laughs that fall flat. As Sandler's understanding girlfriend, Marisa Tomei plays a pivotal role in a happy ending that leaves everyone smiling, with the possible exception of the audience. --Jeff Shannon

• The Runaway | Blu Ray | (16/05/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £27.99

  From the makers of the hit series The Take the latest tale of crime and corruption from best-selling crime writer Martina Cole follows the lives of two childhood sweethearts. Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are brought up together in the East End. As the daughter of a prostitute Madge Cathy's life is difficult especially when everyone assumes that she will be following in her mother's footsteps. But when Cathy is forced to protect Madge from a violent attack by a punter it changes her life forever. Cathy is taken into care but she suffers institutional abuse which leaves her with no choice but to run away. She ends up destitute on the streets of Soho when Desrae a transvestite unexpectedly comes to her rescue. Meanwhile Eamonn is rising up the ranks of the East End criminal underworld.

• Wolfhound | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £8.96   |  Saving you £-3.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Beware the beast within... Returning to his parents' ancestral home Colum Kennedy (Allen Scotti) discovers an Irish village populated by animalistic shapeshifters. When a hauntingly beautiful woman (Julie Cialini) stirs ancient passions with him he must choose between his family and unleashing his own true nature.

• Shark Week | Blu Ray | (07/01/2013) from £8.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (44.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  It's Jaws meets Saw! A wealthy sadist traps a group of complete strangers on his secluded island compound... The group are forced into a horrifying gauntlet where they must fight for their lives against a relentless onslaught of man-eating sharks - each species more vicious than the last. Who will survive...?

• Royal Wedding | DVD | (05/03/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in this 1951 Alan Jay Lerner musical for MGM, directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The appealing story finds Astaire as part of a brother-and-sister act (along with Jane Powell) that travels to London at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. Astaire and Powell each find romances that threaten to break up the act, but that's mostly fun window dressing in a movie better known for some truly creative sequences made vivid by Donen, including Astaire's famous dance with a hat rack and his duet with Powell, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You (When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life)?" --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Night Of The Big Heat | DVD | (22/03/2004) from £47.95   |  Saving you £-31.96 (-199.90%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A freak heatwave sends the temperature soaring on the remote island of Fara. The locals including Dr Vernon (Peter Cushing) and novelist Jeffrey Callum (Patrick Allen) are left dazed by the rising temperature. When Callum is reunited with his former mistress Angela Roberts (Jane Merrow) the atmosphere becomes even more tense. It falls to Godfrey Hanson (Christopher Lee) another visitor to the island to solve the mystery. The unbearable temperature is the result of a heat ray dire

• 2000 Maniacs | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £10.55   |  Saving you £2.44 (23.13%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Available "fully uncut" for the first time in the UK, Two Thousand Maniacs! is the second of director HG Lewis' "blood" trilogy. Though the "once-in-a-lifetime" title makes a promise no film could keep--only about 30 maniacs show up--and the level of gore is a notch or so down from Blood Feast--only four deaths--this is perhaps the director's most watchable film. The Brigadoon-derived plot nugget concerns a Deep South town (variously suggested to be in Georgia or Arkansas, but actually Florida) wiped out by Union raiders during the Civil War, which reappears once every 100 years to wreak "blood vengeance". For the centennial celebrations, Pleasant Valley lures Yankee tourists off the road and subjects them to gruesome fairground games--a cannibal BBQ, a "horse-race", a "barrel roll" and "teetering rock". The ideas are nasty, and Lewis even attempts subtlety by keeping the quartering and the spiked barrel inside mostly off screen, but the creepiest touch is the "aw-shucks" good humour with which the ghostly Confederate maniacs--led by a mayor who is the spitting image of Sergeant Bilko's Colonel Hall--treat their horrible sport. It has the usual Lewis drawbacks--mostly inept staging, acting that veers between the wooden ("Playmate" Connie Mason) and the amateurishly hammy (one of the worst child actors in film history), clumsy editing, community theatre production values--but his fans wouldn't have it any other way and the hayseed music is great! On the DVD: The full-screen image is as good as this ever will look, considering Lewis' primitive understanding of lighting cinematography, with rich scarlet blood, vividly ugly 1963 leisurewear and very few print imperfections. The features offer an imaginative "Welcome to Pleasant Valley Centennial" menu, with buttons like the target you have to hit to drop the "teetering rock" on the Yankee; lurid original trailer ("Two thousand maniacs crazed for carnage started bathing a whole town in pulsing, human blood ... brutal, evil, ghastly beyond belief"); filmographies for Lewis, Friedman and star William Kerwin (aka Thomas Wood); promotional art gallery; notes by aptly-monickered expert Billy Chainsaw, highlighting the connections with John Waters and Brigadoon; a teaser trailer for "the Herschell Gordon Lewis Collection"; a mass of trailers for other "Tartan terror" titles. The Lewis-Friedman commentary and mind-numbing outtakes reel available on the Region 1 DVD are sadly absent, but that release doesn't have this one's major bonus addition--the entire soundtrack album, with compositions by Lewis himself (including the immortal "Yee-Hah, the South's Gonna Rise Again") and Flatt and Scruggs (of Bonnie and Clyde fame). --Kim Newman

• Spice World - the Movie | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  One of the reasons that the Spice Girls remain so much fun is that in the great British tradition, they don't take themselves too seriously. Like The Beatles before them, the girls are more than happy to take pot-shots at their own manufactured image, something that Spiceworld: The Movie revels in. It doesn't hurt, of course, that plenty of others are along for the ride: Richard E. Grant chews scenery as the road manager; Meat Loaf is the kindly, ever-reliable bus driver; Elvis Costello (!) makes a tongue-in-cheek cameo; and Roger Moore is... well, bizarre. The plot, as such, is merely a convenience, somehow tying together the girls' first-ever live concert, a pregnant friend, a documentary film crew, a non-Spice love story, and something or other about a tabloid photographer. But that's not the point--what matters here is a surprisingly deft touch by director Bob Spiers and a script that refuses to take anything too seriously; the result is a gentle self-parody that knows just how far to take the joke. --Randy Silver