"Actor: Allen"

• Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking | DVD | (11/12/2006) from £15.49   |  Saving you £0.50 (3.23%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Allen Carr is widely recognised as the world's leading expert on stopping smoking. The Easyway To Stop Smoking DVD has helped over 6 million people from all over the world to become happy non-smokers. It is a complete and effective programme in itself and it will enable any smoker to quit immediately painlessly and permanently whilst actually enjoying the process. The new Easyway DVD works because Carr understands the psychology of smokers the mental barriers and fears which make it difficult to stop and shows how to remove them.

• Lock Up | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £6.87   |  Saving you £6.12 (89.08%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The 1980s was the make-and-break decade for Sylvester Stallone's career, and Lock Up typifies the direction he took in his post-Rocky and Rambo days. It's a concept movie in the same mould as Rambo III just before it, and Tango & Cash just after. The hero (Frank Leone) is put in jeopardy (Gateway Prison), establishes a nemesis to defeat (in the shape of Donald Sutherland as Warden Drumgoole), makes a few friendships that can be sacrificed along the way (Tom Sizemore as Dallas) and does what he does in the name of love (Darlanne Flugel as Melissa). The revenge-twisted warden puts him through hell over a shared back-story. The torture ranges from being made to hold his breath in a delousing chamber to sanity-stretching periods in "The Hole". It's all about how far a man can be pushed. But being a Stallone vehicle, it's not all depressing. Composer Bill Conti reunites with the star to put the same sort of heroic fuel behind a prison-yard football game as he did for Rocky. A couple of feel-good songs pep up the love story and a montage of camaraderie in rebuilding a broken-down car. There's a healthy sense of realism achieved by having Sly doing all his own stunts and the use of a real-life prison. If the elements lead to a by-the-numbers conclusion (it's no Shawshank Redemption), remember this was some years before the actor wanted to get serious. On the DVD: A surprising amount of footage has been assembled in the two behind-the-scenes featurettes: we see Stallone directing his own fight scenes, and how use of New Jersey's Rahway Prison came with 2,500 real inmates to keep under control. Sound bite interviews reveal Stallone's worldly philosophies, then a trailer and gallery of 17 photos round out a decent overall package. --Paul Tonks

• Code Of Silence | DVD | (12/01/2004) from £14.69   |  Saving you £-1.70 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Chuck Norris plays Det. Eddie Cusack a tough Chicago cop who battles two opposing mob gangs in this fast-paced police actioner. Norris is asked to rectify the situation when the daughter of an underworld Don is used as a pawn in an escalating drug war. Complete with dazzling martial arts action and incredible stunts!

• Stalking Laura | DVD | (01/04/2002) from £16.24   |  Saving you £-10.25 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Laura has her degree her job in Silicon Valley and it's time to leave home. Everything is fine until she meets Richard Farley who will not leave her alone...

• Carrie | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £7.76   |  Saving you £12.23 (157.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel was directed by shock maestro Brian De Palma for maximum, no-holds-barred effect. Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie White, the beleaguered daughter of a religious kook (Piper Laurie) and a social outcast tormented by her cruel, insensitive classmates. When her rage turns into telekinetic powers, however, school's out in every sense of the word. De Palma's horrific climax in a school gym lingers forever in the memory, though the film is also built upon Spacek's remarkable performance and Piper Laurie's outlandishly creepy one. John Travolta has a small part as a thug, De Palma's future wife, Nancy Allen, is his girlfriend, and Amy Irving makes her screen debut as one of the girls giving Carrie a hard time.--Tom Keogh

• Singin' In The Rain - Special Edition | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £5.76   |  Saving you £8.23 (142.88%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

• Army Game - Vol.2 | DVD | (14/08/2006) from £28.25   |  Saving you £11.74 (41.56%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The Army Game was a sitcom giant of its time and one of ITV's most popular shows. Created by Sid Colin it pre-dated the more famous Dad's Army by a number of years. A group of men serving out time as conscripts in the army are determined to dodge duty and derive maximum fun out of a situation they'd rather not be in. Because WWII was only 12 years passed and national service was very much a reality many viewers found they could identify with the characters and the situation they found themselves in.

• The Dead Pool | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £10.04   |  Saving you £3.95 (39.34%)   |  RRP £13.99

  After the drudgery of Sudden Impact, the third and worst sequel to Dirty Harry, no one could have expected the fourth to have any signs of life. But The Dead Pool is fairly inspired, even playful--check out a "chase" scene between Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan character and a remote-controlled toy car wielding a bomb--and it ended the long-running series on an unexpectedly positive note. This time, Callahan investigates a series of murders that appears to be on a "death list," while becoming romantically involved with a television reporter (Patricia Clarkson). Jim Carrey has a small but memorable part as a doped-up rock star, and Liam Neeson is on board, too. IT is directed by Eastwood-surrogate Buddy Van Horn (Any Which Way You Can). --Tom Keogh

• Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah & Her Sisters) | DVD | (12/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Annie Hall: Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director ""Annie Hall"" is Woody Allen's supreme masterpiece. Coming between such early slapstick farces as ""Sleeper"" and ""Love and Death"" and darker more reflective comedies like ""Manhattan"" and ""Hannah and Her Sisters "" this endearing semi-autobiographical film put Woody in the league with the best directors we have. Starring Allen as New York comedian Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton (in a Best Actress Oscar-winning role) as Annie the film weaves flashbacks flash forwards monologues a parade of classic Allen one-liners and even animation into an alternately uproarious and wistful comedy about a witty and wacky on-again off-again romance. Manhattan: Nominated for two Academy Awards in 1979 and considered one of Allen's most enduring accomplishments Manhattan is a wry touching and finely-rendered portrait of modern relationships against the backdrop of urban alienation. Sumptuously photographed in black and white (Allen's first film in that format) and accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score Woody Allen's aesthetic triumph is a ""prismatic portrait of a time and place that may be studied decades hence"" (Time Magazine). 42-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates a seventeen-year-old girlfriend (Mariel Hemingway) he doesn't love and a lesbian ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep) who's writing a tell-all book about their marriage... and whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress Mary (Diane Keaton) Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginning of Isaac's quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gate to true love... is a revolving door. Hannah And Her Sisters: Brimming with laughter tears and subtle beauty Hannah And Her Sisters is a magnificent ""summation of (Woody Allen's) career to date"" (The New York Times). Winner of three Oscars and featuring a brilliant all-star cast Hannah And Her Sisters spins a tale of three unforgettable women and showcases Allen ""at his most emotionally expansive working on his broadest canvas with masterly ease"" (Newsweek)! The eldest daughter of show-biz parents Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife loving mother and successful actress. A loyal supporter of her two aimless sisters (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) she's also the emotional backbone of a family that seems to resent her stability almost as much as they depend on it. But when Hannah's perfect world is quietly sabotaged by sibling rivalry she finally begins to see that she's as lost as everyone else and in order to find herself she'll have to choose - between the independence her family can't live with... and the family she can't live without.

• Woody Allen: A Documentary | DVD | (15/10/2012) from £11.95   |  Saving you £5.04 (42.18%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Iconic writer, director, actor, comedian, and musician Woody Allen allows his life and creative process to be documented on-camera for the first time. With this unprecedented access, Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year and a half to create the ultimate film biography.Beginning with Allen's childhood, Woody Allen: A Documentary chronicles the trajectory and longevity of Allen's career - from teen writer to TV scribe, from standup comedian to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years. Exploring Allen's writing habits, directing, and relationship with his actors first-hand, new interviews with A-listers, writing partners, family and friends provide insight and backstory to the usually inscrutable filmmaker.

• Columbia Classics 4K UHD Collection Volume 4 | Blu Ray | (04/03/2024) from £167.59   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Limited edition 6 film box set

• Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £10.40   |  Saving you £-4.41 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Kathy Bates stars as an unhappy wife trying to get her husband's attention in this amusing and moving 1991 screen adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. After befriending a lonely old woman (Jessica Tandy), Bates hears the story of a lifelong friendship between two other women (Mary Stuary Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker, seen in flashback) who once ran a cafe in town against many personal odds. The tale inspires Bates to take further command over her life, and there director Jon Avnet (Up Close and Personal), in his first feature, has fun with the film. Bates develops a real attitude toward her thickheaded spouse at home and some uppity girls in a parking lot, but dignity is generally the key to Avnet's approach with the story's crucial relationships. Tandy is a joy and clearly loves the element of mystery attached to her character, and Masterson and Parker are excellent in the historical sequences. --Tom Keogh

• Bohemian Rhapsody | Blu Ray | (14/03/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Trigger Happy TV - Best Of Series 1 | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  First shown by Channel 4 at the beginning of 2000, Trigger Happy TV is one of those hidden-camera shows that plays pranks on the unsuspecting public. The brainchild of writer-performer Dom Jolly and his co-director Sam Cadman, it's a beguiling selection of endearingly daft scenes triggered by the admirably straight-faced Jolly (an inappropriate name if ever there was one). His characters include, among many others, a traffic warden who ticks off street cleaners for parking their carts on double-yellow lines; a business man who produces a three-foot-long mobile phone and bellows loudly into the handset; and an incompetent secret-service agent who sidles up to people on park benches, slipping them cryptic messages. Unlike the elaborate ruses of other hidden-camera shows, the best gags here are decidedly low-tech and simple: Jolly's attempt to interact with a stuffed dog he's taken for a "walk" in the park, much to bemusement of passing joggers, is fairly typical of the programme's mix of deadpan humour and surreal visuals--less Beadle's About, more absurdist street theatre. And instead of relying on a laugh track to set the mood, the show has a surprisingly eclectic, even at times strangely mellow and introspective, soundtrack from such acts as The Happy Mondays, Elastica and the Stereophonics. While some of the recurring gags were beginning to flag by the end of the series, the beauty of this compilation is that it features only the strongest material. However, we won't get a chance to see the prank Jolly played on Bill Wyman, who objected when it was first screened on television. Wyman might not get Jolly's impish brand of humour. But this fresh and entertaining compilation gives the rest of us a chance to sample it for ourselves. --Edward Lawrenson

• Miss Jones and Son: the Comple | DVD | (30/08/2010) from £25.00   |  Saving you £-12.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Paula Wilcox (Man About the House) stars in this six-part comedy series depicting the complicated life of Elizabeth Jones a young woman coming to terms with the responsibility of looking after her baby alone at a time when single mothers faced widespread prejudice. Though sympathy and emotional support comes in the shape of next-door-neighbour and friend Geoffrey (Christopher Beeny - In Loving Memory) every step seems to bring fresh difficulties for Elizabeth - including the reproaches of her parents a radically curtailed social life and a much-reduced income... Miss Jones and Son came from the creative team responsible for And Mother Makes Three Man About the House and Robin's Nest. It was notable for being the first British sitcom to depict a single mother. Presented here is the complete first series.

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 2 | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  The second series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine must have caused mixed feelings for those involved. There was a sense of optimism behind the scenes that stemmed from having gained a loyal following--made up of plenty of new fans--in its relatively short first year. The show had genuinely succeeded in being different from its predecessors. Better still, The Next Generation would be bowing out gracefully halfway through this year. So it was that, with several more series guaranteed, the writers changed tack from standalone tales and into long-running story arcs. This was immediately evident in the format-testing three-part opening. Through the actions of Kira and her old pals, we saw that the Bajorans would only ever work toward their own agenda, whereas the Cardassians easily switched sides to suit their various agendas. The Federation was hardly innocent of political machinations either, especially with the discovery of the Maquis terrorists a few episodes later. This three-way dynamic would underpin the entire run of the show. Expanding upon it was the handover of the Klingon saga from The Original Series and TNG, in which old warhorses Kor, Kang and Koloth first appeared. That left the Ferengi to maintain an element of fun with their Rules of Acquisition (Number 112: "Never have sex with the boss's sister"), exploration of their sexist culture and, naturally, through everything touched by the scene-stealing Quark (who was rewarded with a cameo for his real life wife). What seemed like standalone stories--Odo meeting his mentor, a trip into The Original Series' parallel universe and the culminating encounter with some super-soldiers (the Jem'Hadar)--later turned out to be more optimistic seed-sowing. Unfortunately, this second series also began with some concern about a competitor franchise, which started at exactly the same time as TNG ended. The impact of Babylon 5 on DS9 and TV SF in general by the end of the year could never have been envisioned at the start. --Paul Tonks

• Bright Eyes | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £6.00   |  Saving you £6.99 (116.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a maid is accidentally hit by a car and killed her young orphaned daughter is forced to live with the snooty couple her mother used to work for. A custody battle soon ensues between an aviator who adores the little girl and the couple's crotchety Uncle Ned.

• Rawhide: The Complete Series | DVD | (11/08/2020) from £80.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Game of Thrones Complete Collector's Edition  | Blu Ray | (02/12/2019) from £59.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on the best-selling novel series by George R.R. Martin, HBO's drama series Game of Thrones holds the record as the most awarded series in television history. This limited-edition, custom-designed complete collector's set includes all 73 episodes of this epic eight season series. Also included is 15 hours of bonus content and never-before-seen footage.

• China Moon | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  China Moon (1991) is a pleasing entertainment that assembles the dependable elements of film noir in the tradition of Body Heat (1981), The Last Seduction (1994) and, of course, the mother of all such films, Double Indemnity (1944). There's a femme fatale (the beautiful and talented Madeleine Stowe) and an honest cop (reliable Ed Harris) who soon becomes smitten. Her husband (Charles Dance) is a brute who beats her, so she murders him and inveigles Harris into helping her dispose of the body. That's when the complications begin, and Harris starts to sweat when his fellow cop keeps asking awkward questions. The acting is uniformly good, with Harris' partner played by Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) offering an excellent performance. Harris and Stowe strike sparks off each other, to the point where you almost believe he is being sucked into her schemes. On the DVD: The disc contains a theatrical trailer and several TV ads, with scroll-down filmographies of the major talents involved which are incomplete for some unknown reason. There's a brief and unenlightening five-minute documentary, with the principal cast plus the director, John Bailey, commenting on the film. Both image and sound are excellent quality, sound in Dolby Digital, picture in anamorphic widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 --Ed Buscombe