"Actor: Bill"

• Kramer vs Kramer | DVD | (02/05/2011) from £4.38   |  Saving you £1.61 (36.76%)   |  RRP £5.99

  It might have started out as a small, rather arty divorce drama but Kramer vs Kramer was the biggest cinema hit of 1979. It confirmed Dustin Hoffman's status as a major star in a performance that combined his trademark twitchy intensity with deep sensitivity. And it provided Meryl Streep with a pivotal role in her rise to big-screen greatness. Both won Oscars, as did director Robert Benton and the film itself scooped the Best Picture award. Kramer vs Kramer has worn well into the 21st century. Although clearly of its time--by the late 1970s, microscopic relationship analysis had become the theme of commercial cinema--it stands on the strength of its central performances. Hoffman's Ted Kramer is a vision of the Graduate grown up: serious, focused and thrown by anything that threatens his upwardly mobile professional trajectory. The news that his wife, who he has failed to notice teetering on the edge of a breakdown, is leaving him and their son sends him into a tailspin. The film is as much about his resilience and fulfilment as it is the story of a divorce and custody battle. Justin Henry is extraordinary as Billy, the boy caught in the middle, and turns in a remarkably complex, thoughtful performance, which is light years from the archetypal all-American kid you might anticipate. And in just a handful of scenes, Streep is mesmerising as Joanna, the deserting wife and mother who you just can't bring yourself to hate. Yes, this is soap opera. But it belongs up there with all the finest cinematic human dramas. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation ensures a theatrically authentic experience, with some fantastic shots of New York city coming into their own. The mono sound is adequate for the relative intimacy of most of the dialogue. But the real bonus is the retrospective documentary in which director and writer Benton, producer Stanley Jaffe and the cast look back with touching satisfaction at a piece which clearly meant a great deal to them all. Hoffman's initial reluctance (he was going through a real-life divorce) to get involved, the process of working with a gifted child actor and Streep's desire to make Joanna understood are all recalled in fascinating detail. --Piers Ford

• Last of The Summer Wine - The Christmas Specials Vol. 1 | DVD | (03/11/2014) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-14.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.00

  Christmas in Holmfi rth is always full of festive fun as these cracking Christmas Specials spectacularly show. Here we see Compo feeling a little frosty having trouble scraping enough together to buy his beloved Nora the perfect present – could Auntie Wainwright have the answer? Howard has a problem too: he’s got a present to give to Pearl and keep from Marina all at the same time. But the lack of wise men is more than made up for with a surplus of Santas. There’s one on the rooftops four on the doorstep and one very sozzled one enjoying a silent night locked in a pub. That’s what you call a very merry Holmfi rth Christmas.

• The Last Seduction | DVD | (12/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) is a woman who knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it: including murder. After a drug deal goes wrong she cons her ineffectual husband Harlan (Bill Pullman) out of seven hundred thousand dollars. She hides in a small town where she takes up with young dumb lover Swale (Peter Berg) but soon Harlan is on her trail and he means business. John Dahl's modern take on the classic film noir is packed full of double-crosses sexual tensi

• On the Rocks | DVD | (08/11/2021) from £7.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Laura (Rashida Jones) thinks she's happily hitched, but when her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) starts logging late hours at the office with a new coworker, Laura begins to fear the worst. She turns to the one man she suspects may have insight: her charming, impulsive father Felix (Bill Murray), who insists they investigate the situation. As the two begin prowling New York at night, careening from uptown parties to downtown hotspots, they discover at the heart of their journey lies their own relationship.

• Narrow Escape | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £6.60   |  Saving you £-4.61 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Based on a true story this film tells of the tireless efforts of a US naval ship crew to save an abandoned Korean / American baby from the post-Korean War political fallout.

• Bill Bailey: Dandelion Mind | Blu Ray | (22/11/2010) from £14.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (66.82%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Featuring Bill's trademark musical interludes observations and stories of the road Dandelion Mind will be based loosely on the theme of doubt (or will it?) as we follow Bill from his real-life saga of being trapped by the ash cloud to his barely contained rants about celebrity TV creationism and Michael Winner. He demonstrates new instruments both ancient and modern he sings an internet love song a lament about punk heroes Iranian hip-hop and plays a mean folk-bouzouki. Thomas the Doubter gets a new look and Darwin's curious obsessions and the myth of intelligent design are all worked over in Bailey's own surreal style. He revisits the music of his youth with a brand-new French Disco re-working of Gary Numan's hit Cars played in his own inimitable way and maybe some Wurzel-based remixes of classic German techno. Just your normal Bill Bailey gig then.

• Rebus: Dead Souls | DVD | (23/03/2009) from £7.48   |  Saving you £0.51 (6.82%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Rebus: John Hannah (Four Weddings and a Funeral Sliding Doors The Mummy McCallum) stars as Detective Inspector Rebus in these four primetime two hour film dramas for SMG Television from Clerkenwell Films. Adapted from the novels by acclaimed writer Ian Rankin the Rebus stories have been applauded for their intricate plots keen characterisation and flawless sense of place. Rebus himself is an enigma fighting his own weaknesses while dealing with the sad consequences of human frailty. He has seen it all before but his cynicism is redeemed by an unexpected humanity that reveals he is more disillusioned with himself than others. Dead Souls: Rebus is working with a colleague when they catch site of a known convicted paedophile taking photographs at the zoo. It transpires that he has been released early from prison is under police protection and is to be the key witness in the trial of two suspected abusers. The next day Rebus' colleague is found dead in the centre of Edinburgh. Rebus is devastated

• Rebus: The Hanging Garden | DVD | (23/03/2009) from £5.98   |  Saving you £2.01 (33.61%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Rebus: John Hannah (Four Weddings and a Funeral Sliding Doors The Mummy McCallum) stars as Detective Inspector Rebus in these four primetime two hour film dramas for SMG Television from Clerkenwell Films. Adapted from the novels by acclaimed writer Ian Rankin the Rebus stories have been applauded for their intricate plots keen characterisation and flawless sense of place. Rebus himself is an enigma fighting his own weaknesses while dealing with the sad consequences of human frailty. He has seen it all before but his cynicism is redeemed by an unexpected humanity that reveals he is more disillusioned with himself than others. The Hanging Garden: Rebus pieces together the trail of a war criminal who may have gone to ground in a very respectable part of town. But then he becomes drawn into a vicious running battle between two rival gangs after rescuing a young Chechen girl from a local gangster. Rebus takes his work personally. But when his daughter is deliberately run down in the street it's plain that he will stop at nothing to find the man responsible even if it kills him.

• Comfort And Joy | DVD | (29/02/2016) from £7.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (125.16%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Alan Bird (Bill Patterson, Outlander, Dad's Army) thinks he has life pretty well organised. Glasgow's top DJ, with a nice apartment, and the only red BMW Cabriolet north of Manchester, he has little to worry about until his kleptomaniac girlfriend Maddy ditches him just before Christmas. With his apartment and his life stripped bare, he stumbles across a furious vendetta between rival ice-cream families. Caught in the crossfire and looking for something meaningful in life, he decides to take things seriously and settle the dispute between these feuding mafiosi Extras: Brand new interview with Bill Paterson Brand new interview with Clare Grogan Brand new interview with Bill Forsyth

• Jungle Burger AKA Shame of the Jungle | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £7.79   |  Saving you £5.20 (66.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Featuring the vocal talents of Bill Murray John Belushi Christopher Guest and the son of original Tazan - Johnny Weissmuller Jr. Jungle Burger is a rare treat: an adult animated feature that is outrageously sexy unashamedly rude and decidedly earthy in dialogue! Inspired by the classic jungle duo Tarzan and Jane (not forgetting Cheeta the chimpanzee) it is an hilarious exercise in role reversal. Tarzan becomes Shame - weak cowardly and sexually inadequate. Jane becomes June - strident sexually demanding and naked most of the time. Cheeta becomes Cheapo a randy primate who delights in fondling June's breasts and swinging on Shame's genitalia. Shame is aghast when June is kidnapped by a gang of giant penises. They take her to their queen Bazonga a bald woman with fourteen breasts. After tangling with a gang of great white hunters a marauding lion and the Molar Men Shame sets off to rescue her. With only his faithful friend Cheapo at his side he heads for the dark heart of the jungle... Bush Country! First time to DVD!

• Millennium - Season 3 | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  After 10 years with the FBI former FBI serial killer profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) returns home to Seattle with his family . However his work experience has left him able to ""see"" into the minds of killers. This makes him a valued member of the Millennium Group a shadowy organisation dedicated to tracking evil and bringing its perpetrators to justice... The final season of episodes comprise: 1. The Innocents 2. Exegesis 3. TEOTWAWKI 4. Closure 5. ...Thirteen Years

• Crumb | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Robert Crumb is known for his disturbing, yet compelling, underground cartoons: his most famous works made counter-cultural icons out of Mr. Natural ("Keep on Truckin'...") and Fritz the Cat. Terry Zwigoff delves into the odd world of the cartoonist in his documentary film Crumb, and the picture that emerges is not always pretty--at moments, it's almost repellent--but it's a fascinating glimpse into a very strange mind. Interviewing immediate family--Crumb has one suicidal brother, one semi-psychopathic brother, two sisters who declined to be interviewed and a tyrannical mother--Crumb begins to look a bit saner. Given his surroundings, it's remarkable that he has survived so well. His hostilities toward women may turn some viewers off but his wife, Aline, seems to be a grounding point and she provides a solid counterbalance to the man. No one shies away from discussing incredibly intimate things (namely, sex!), which explains much of R. Crumb's cartoons. This documentary can definitely be considered a masterpiece for the cult crowd and, as for the rest of us, it's sure to make us feel a little better about our own lives! --Jenny Brown

• City Slickers | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £14.76   |  Saving you £-1.77 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Comic genius Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally) stars in this hilarious film about cowboys careers and mid-life crises. Co-starring Daniel Stern Bruno Kirby and Jack Palance in an Academy Award-winning role City Slickers is ""the rowdiest western jokefest since Blazing Saddles (Rolling Stone). It'll rope you in...and keep you laughing from first frame to last. New Yorker Mitch Robbins (Crystal) is 39 and miserable. He's tired of his job and bored with his life. And his two bes

• TABU: A STORY OF THE SOUTH SEAS (Masters of Cinema) (BLU-RAY) | Blu Ray | (24/06/2013) from £8.75   |  Saving you £11.24 (128.46%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In 1929 F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu Faust Sunrise) one of the greatest of all film directors invited leading documentarist Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North Man of Aran) to collaborate on a film to be be shot on location in Tahiti a Polynesian idyll in which Murnau imagined a cast of island actors would provide a new form of authentic drama and offer rare insight into their primitive culture. The result of their collaboration was Tabu a film that depicts the details of indigenous island life to tell a mythical tale that is rich in the universal themes of desire and loss. Subtitled A Story of the South Seas Tabu concerns a Tahitian fisherman (played by an islander Matahi) and his love for a young woman (played by fellow islander Reri who went on to star on Broadway) whose body has been consecrated to the gods rendering her tabu as far as mortal men are concerned. The lovers flee their island and its restrictive traditions but will their love prevail in the civilised world? This Oscar-winning film (the Academy Award went to cinematographer Floyd Crosby) is both poetic and simple in tone. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present - completely unc­ensored and fully restored - this landmark film of rare exoticism and magical beauty described by critic Lotte Eisner in 1931 as the apogee of the art of the silent film for the first time ever on Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio. Special Features: New 1080p HD transfer on the Blu-ray of the Murnau-Stiftung / Luciano Berriatúa 75th anniversary restoration of the pre-Paramount longer Murnau-approved version of the film with uncensored scenes and titlecards appearing in its original 1.19:1 aspect ratio for the first time Full-length commentary track by R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens 15-minute German documentary about Tabu by Luciano Berriatúa Newly presented outtakes from the original shoot of the film Treibjagd in der Südsee (1940) - an archival short film 56-Page Booklet with articles by Scott Eyman Richard Griffiths and David Flaherty; an interview with the film’s cinematographer Floyd Crosby; and the original story treatments written by Murnau and Flaherty for Tabu and its aborted predecessor Turia

• Carve Her Name With Pride | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-10.01 (-100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The moving and dramatic story of Violette Szabo (McKenna) a courageous WW2 secret agent who was captured in northern France... Carve Her Name With Pride is the inspiring true life story of Violette Szabo. During World War II Violette (Virgina McKenna) volunteers to parachute into France as a secret agent to aid a Resistance group. Her mission successful she joins the Resistance where she stays until captured by the Germans. Tortured by the Gestapo for information she refuses to betray her comrades... Directed by Lewis Gilbert Carve Her Name With Pride is a moving tale about the endurance of the human spirit in even the most adverse circumstances.

• Wives And Daughters | DVD | (20/08/2001) from £16.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (47.43%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Andrew Davies' 1999 adaptation of Mrs Gaskell's Wives and Daughters was hailed as the rediscovery of a "forgotten" classic novel and found the BBC on the crest of a wave with costume dramas--led by Pride and Prejudice. Handsome and beautifully filmed, if anything, it surpassed the quality of even that highly praised landmark production. "We should all look pretty strange under a microscope," botanist Robert Hamley tells our heroine Molly Gibson and of course Mrs Gaskell places all her characters under intense scrutiny, with affection but without judgement. Davies' screenplay peals back the layers, giving full vent to the comedy, tragedy and satire that drive this tale of provincial life to its highly satisfactory conclusion. Justine Waddell imbues Molly with an increasingly exasperated but remarkably forbearing intelligence, while Francesca Annis, as the outrageously self-absorbed step-mother Hyacinth, paints a wonderful portrait of affectation without ever totally alienating our sympathy. Michael Gambon's immensely touching Squire Hamley won him a Best Actor BAFTA, but all the performances are uniformly excellent, contributing immeasurably to five hours of television drama of the highest calibre. On the DVD: Presented in 16:9 format with a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack, this two-disc presentation retains all the hallmarks of the original BBC viewing experience. The picture quality is lush--the production lighting is excellent--and the sound quality sharp. The only gripe is with the extras: the Omnibus documentary "Who the Dickens is Mrs Gaskell?" is brutally truncated, cutting off talking heads like novelists Fay Weldon and Margaret Drabble in their prime and giving limited insight into how the production was made. As an audio bonus, there is also 30 minutes of John Keane's music.--Piers Ford

• Elvis - Loving You | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Digitally re-mastered for superior sound and picture quality Lovin’ You is a genuine Elvis classic and an absolute “must have” for any true fan of the undisputed King of Rock’n’Roll from the days when he was lean mean and magnificent and had a hip wiggle that drove the girls crazy. Only Presley’s second ever feature film and his first in colour this rocking romance uncannily mirrors Elvis’s own explosion onto the music scene and rocket ride to fame and fortune. His raw animal prescence leaps sensationally from the screen in the all-singing all-dancing story of a humble delivery boy turned rock’n’roll star Deke Rivers – featuring the hit songs Teddy Bear Got A Lot Of Lovin’ To Do Hot Dog Mean Woman Blues Party and of course the tender ballad Lovin’ You. First released in the cinema in 1957 the movie showed Elvis had genuine acting talent with his gritty and emotional portrayal of a simple country boy catapulted to stardom. Interestingly two versions of the title song were recorded for the film and although two versions are on the Complete Fifties Masters both are shorter than the 2 minutes 12 seconds on-screen version here!

• Killer's Kiss | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An exercise in film noir fairytale, 1955's Killer's Kiss was Stanley Kubrick's second feature film (he had the first buried forever) and shows just how powerful a filmmaker he was right out of the gate. Followers of Kubrick's career will note the appearance of themes and images that recurred (a final axe-fight in a warehouse full of disembodied mannequin parts would not be out of place in The Shining), but this is also notably unlike later Kubrick films in its use of authentic locations and its 65-minute running time. The plot is a tiny anecdote about a washed-up boxer (Jamie Smith), a dance hall dame (Irene Kane) and a slimy hood (Frank Silvera) during one crowded weekend of brutality and romance. There's a sense of a young director playing games: the boxing match (a definite influence on Raging Bull) is all low-angle close-ups and subjective shots with plenty of thump and dazzle, and the traditional Expressionist look of noir is exaggerated with many a tricky shot or doomy plot twist. The three unfamiliar leads are all excellent as small-timers struggling with big passions, and there is already a potent use of raucous source music and subtle sound design to augment the stark, haunted black and white imagery. On the DVD Killer's Kiss on disc features no extras other than a blaring trailer ("a picture as brazen as the naked lights of Broadway, as hard as the New York streets in which it was shot!"). The black and white picture is 4:3, and comes with soundtracks in English, German, Italian and Spanish; subtitles in English, German, Italian, French, Dutch and Spanish. --Kim Newman

• A Goofy Movie | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £6.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (128.76%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Even as Disney has revelled in the success of its high-end animated features, it occasionally sneaks a lesser effort into cinemas, based on one of the many TV shows with which it dominates daytime TV. This one is based on perennial Disney favourite Goofy's adventures in domesticated bliss. Goofy is now a single dad; when son Max gets blamed for a prank gone wrong at school, Goofy blames himself and decides that, for his vacation, he's going to get away with Max alone. Of course, this is no treat for Max, who has just met the girl of his dreams and harbours no wish to spend the summer touring America with his square dad. The vacation is one disaster after another, though they aren't particularly funny disasters; the culmination involves Goofy's efforts to get Max backstage at a big rock concert. --Marshall Fine

• The Belstone Fox | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Combining exquisite imagery of both landscape and wildlife and with fine performances from a top-line cast including Eric Porter, Jeremy Kemp, Oscar nominee Rachel Roberts and Bill Travers The Belstone Fox is a captivating film for the whole family. Written and directed by Born Free's James Hill and with original music from the legendary Laurie Johnson it is featured in a brand-new High Definition transfer from the original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. Based on David Rook's acclaimed novel The Ballad of the Belstone Fox (which went on to inspire Disney's The Fox and the Hound) it tells the story of Tag, an orphaned fox cub reared with a litter of foxhound puppies and who forms a close friendship with a pup named Merlin. Years pass and Tag's wily ways keep him safe but when he is eventually cornered he embarks on a course of action which could end in tragedy... SPECIAL FEATURES: Original theatrical trailer Textless material Image gallery