"Actor: Billy Crudup"

• Waking The Dead | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £12.45   |  Saving you £-6.46 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Waking the Dead, like director-writer Keith Gordon's earlier films (The Chocolate War, A Midnight Clear, Mother Night), is based on a well-regarded modern novel (by Scott Spencer) and has a great many quiet virtues: a genuine engagement with near-contemporary America, complicated characters well-played by a cast of perfectly selected not-quite-star performers and a questioning approach that sits ill with the too-easy answers of most contemporary films. The complex story opens in 1974 with the death in a car bomb explosion of Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly), a radical working with a faction of left-wing Catholics to rescue dissidents from Chile. This has a devastating effect on her straighter boyfriend, Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup), who is working within the system with an eye on rising in the Democratic Party through the patronage of a senior figure (Hal Holbrook), the man who is eventually to become the President. We flash back to 1972 and Fielding's intense relationship with Sarah, marked by romantic and political differences that feel far more real than the contrived oppositional arguments in most political movies. Then skip 10 years forward to find a sleeker, hollow-faced Fielding running for Congress, tormented not only by memories of Sarah but her actual or phantasmal appearances. Another film might play this as a paranoid mystery thriller, but this goes for psychology, and Crudup delivers an intense portrait of a man cracking up by the loss of his ideals as much as his life's love--climaxing in a terrific restaurant outburst to his needy, congratulatory family. Unreleased theatrically in the UK, this outstanding film has award-quality performances from Crudup and Connelly, both doing their best screen work to date. On the DVD: The picture is presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital sound. You get the usual trailer, filmographies and puff piece featurette, but also three superb extras: a commentary from Gordon that passionately and intelligently addresses the thematic material and production circumstances of the film; a package of deleted scenes that goes well beyond the usual irrelevant snippets--everything here offers additional insights into the plot and character; tracks from the composers Tomandandy which play over the menus--a rare feature that's liable to become more common. --Kim Newman

• Sleepers | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £15.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The first thing you need to know about Sleepers is that it's based on a novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing this, Sleepers becomes problematic because it's too neat, too clean, too manipulative in terms of legal justice and dramatic impact to be truly convincing. And yet, with its stellar cast directed by Barry Levinson, it succeeds as gripping entertainment, and its tale of complex morality--despite a dubious emphasis on homophobic revenge--is sufficiently provocative. It's about four boys in New York's Hell's Kitchen district who are sent to reform school, where they must endure routine sexual assaults by the sadistic guards. Years after their release, the opportunity for revenge proves irresistible for two of the young men, who must then rely on the other pair of friends (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), a loyal priest (Robert De Niro), and a shabby lawyer (Dustin Hoffman) to defend them in court. Despite the compelling ambiguities of the story, there's never any doubt about how we're supposed to feel, and the screenplay glosses over the story's most difficult moral dilemmas. At its best, Sleepers grabs your attention and pulls you into its intense story of friendship and the price of loyalty under extreme conditions. The movie's New York settings are vividly authentic, and Minnie Driver makes a strong impression as a long-time friend of the loyal group of guys. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Trust The Man | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £4.96   |  Saving you £1.03 (20.77%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Four New Yorkers search for love in the midst of careers, family, infidelity and Manhattan street parking.

• Watchmen / Tales Of The Black Freighter | DVD | (30/05/2011) from £8.27   |  Saving you £7.71 (146.02%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Watchmen: When one of his former colleagues is murdered the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...But who is watching the Watchmen? Tales Of The Black Freighter A gruesome 25 minute manga-style CG animated pirate story following the lone survivor of an attacked vessel (Gerard Butler) and his desperate journey to safely return home. Based on the comic book within the Watchmen universe it is an example of post-modern Metafiction and a comic-within-a-comic that also serves as a foil for the main plot.

• Blood Ties | Blu Ray | (06/10/2014) from £16.18   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  New York 1974.  Fifty-year-old Chris (Clive Owen; Children of Men) has just been released from prison on good behaviour several years after he was involved in a gangland murder. Waiting for him reluctantly outside the prison gates is his younger brother Frank (Billy Crudup; Watchmen) a cop with a bright future.  Hoping that Chris has changed Frank is willing to give his brother a chance; he shares his home finds him a job and helps him reconnect with his children and his ex-wife (Marion Cotillard; The Dark Knight Rises). But Chris’ past quickly begins to catch up with him and his descent back into a life of crime becomes inevitable.  For Frank it’s the last in a long line of betrayals and he banishes him from his life. But it’s already too late; the brothers’ destiny will be bounded forever. Blood ties are the ones that bind. Also starring; Mila Kunis (Black Swan) Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy) Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone) and James Caan (The Godfather) Special Features: 'Behind the scenes'  

• Stage Beauty | DVD | (19/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Audio : english - subtitles : dutch ( removeable ) - 16:9 anamorphic widescreen / extra's - trailer / director's commentary / behind the scenes / interviews ( 21 min ) - B-Roll ( 17 min )

• Thin Ice | Blu Ray | (24/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear, Academy Award winner Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudup lead a celebrated cast in the most critically acclaimed caper of the year. An insurance agent (Greg Kinnear) is looking for a way to jump-start his business, reunite with his estranged wife (Lea Thompson), and escape the dismal midwestern weather. This self-proclaimed master of duplicity believes that salesmanship is all about selling a story-all he needs is a sucker willing to buy it. He hits pay dirt with a lonely retired farmer (Alan Arkin), who is sitting on something much bigger than an insurance commission: a rare violin collecting dust in the corner of the farmhouse. His attempt to con the old man spins out of control, however, trapping him in a web of deceit and moral ambiguity.

• Almost Famous | Blu Ray | (01/02/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Blood Ties | Blu Ray | (06/10/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  New York, 1974. Fifty-year-old Chris (Clive Owen; Children of Men) has just been released from prison on good behaviour, several years after he was involved in a gangland murder. Waiting for him reluctantly outside the prison gates is his younger brother, Frank (Billy Crudup; Watchmen), a cop with a bright future. Hoping that Chris has changed, Frank is willing to give his brother a chance; he shares his home, finds him a job, and helps him reconnect with his children and his ex-wife (Marion Cotillard; The Dark Knight Rises). But Chris' past quickly begins to catch up with him, and his descent back into a life of crime becomes inevitable. For Frank, it's the last in a long line of betrayals, and he banishes him from his life. But it's already too late; the brothers' destiny will be bounded, forever. Blood ties are the ones that bind. Also starring; Mila Kunis (Black Swan), Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy), Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone) and James Caan (The Godfather) Special Features: 'Behind the scenes'

• Noose | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £10.23   |  Saving you £-4.24 (-70.80%)   |  RRP £5.99

  On the mean streets of Boston's Charlestown trouble is a way of life. It's home to Bobby O'Grady who makes his cash from thieving and gets his kicks from fighting gambling and hanging out with his buddies at the local bar. The neighbourhood's Mr. Big is Jackie O'Hara a ruthless gangster whose rule of terror guarantees that a wall of silence surrounds the robberies and murders he commits. No-one crosses Jackie and no-one ever talks to the cops. But when Bobby's cousin arrives from Dublin and is witness to a killing it triggers a chain of events that challenges the code of loyalty and threatens to tear Charlestown apart...

• Thin Ice | DVD | (26/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear, Academy Award winner Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudup lead a celebrated cast in the most critically acclaimed caper of the year. An insurance agent (Greg Kinnear) is looking for a way to jump-start his business, reunite with his estranged wife (Lea Thompson), and escape the dismal midwestern weather. This self-proclaimed master of duplicity believes that salesmanship is all about selling a story-all he needs is a sucker willing to buy it. He hits pay dirt with a lonely retired farmer (Alan Arkin), who is sitting on something much bigger than an insurance commission: a rare violin collecting dust in the corner of the farmhouse. His attempt to con the old man spins out of control, however, trapping him in a web of deceit and moral ambiguity.

• Princess Mononoke (DVD and Book) | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Princess Mononoke has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, this epic, animated 1997 fantasy, represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylised approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here. Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god", transformed by human anger. Ashitaka's quest to solve the beast's fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature. Miyazaki's convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki's atmospheric world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic kingdom. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com On the DVD: with an impressive widescreen aspect of 2.35:1 and a pleasant 5.1 Dolby digital sound, you cannot fault the transfer of this animation in any way. However, the special features leave a lot to be desired on what is a classic piece of modern anime. The "Behind the Scenes" feature holds no information on the making of Princess Mononoke in its original form--with no input from animator Hayao Miyazaki--and the trailer is taken from the American release of the movie (even though it calls itself an "original" theatrical trailer), complete with the annoyingly hyped-up voiceover that comes with US film trailers. The redeeming feature of this DVD is the ability to watch the anime in its original language with subtitles, a much more passionate and beautiful form--so much of the feeling and lyricism of the movie is lost with the transfer to English language and misplaced casting. After watching the original Japanese version of Princess Mononoke and reading the book you begin to wonder why the West has become such a solitary child of Disney. --Nikki Disney

• The Morning Show: Season 2 | DVD | (31/12/2025) from £29.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All ten episodes of the second season of the US drama starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. Alex Levy (Aniston) is the anchor of the successful and popular 'The Morning Show'. When her co-host of 15 years, Mitch Kessler (Carell), is fired due to allegations of sexual harassment, she fights to keep her job and struggles with her new co-host, Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon). As the network tries to hide its prior knowledge of Kessler's misconduct and he tries to tell people his version of events, there are tragic consequences for one of his victims. In this season, following Alex and Bradley's expose of the network's behaviour, Alex quits the show and moves to Maine. As the network executives try to convince her to return, Hannah's family file a wrongful death lawsuit against the network. Meanwhile, there's a Democratic Presidential debate to host, Mitch is hiding out in Italy and COVID-19 begins to spread across America. The episodes are: 'My Least Favourite Year', 'It's Like the Flu', 'Laura', 'Kill the Fatted Calf', 'Ghosts', 'A Private Person', 'La Amara Vita', 'Confirmations', 'Testimony' and 'Fever'.

• The Morning Show: Season 2 | Blu Ray | (31/12/2025) from £39.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the wreckage of Alex (Aniston) and Bradley's (Witherspoon) actions, to a new UBA and a world in flux, where identity is everything and the chasm between who we present as and who we really are comes into play.

• The Morning Show: Season 1 | Blu Ray | (31/12/2025) from £37.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In the first season, after her on-air partner of 15 years, Mitch Kessler, is fired amidst a sexual misconduct scandal, Alex fights to retain her job as top news anchor while sparking a rivalry with Bradley Jackson, a haphazard field reporter whose series of impulsive decisions brings her into a new world of television journalism.

• Almost Famous | DVD | (26/01/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Inspired by director Cameron Crowe's own experiences and set in the 1970s, the film follows a fifteen year old wannabe journalist who gets the opportunity to interview and go on the road with a hard living rock band.

• Public Enemies | Blu Ray | (05/12/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Since crime auteur Michael Mann, like his protagonists, plays by his own rules, Public Enemies eschews back story and motivation for a closely-observed, action-packed examination of men at work. FBI supremo J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) kick-starts a nationwide manhunt when he proclaims John Dillinger (Johnny Depp, in top form) Public Enemy #1. Hoover taps Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to bring the Tommy Gun-toting bank robber in by any means necessary (the agency also targets Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson). If Dillinger had split the scene then and there, he might have enjoyed a happier fate, but he falls for beautiful coat-check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard, whose open-hearted performance makes her the most sympathetic character in the film). In the end, though, Dillinger is the captain of his own destiny: his loyalty to his girl and his gang overpowers his desire to live free. Though the director also set his first film, Thief, and third series, Crime Story, in his native Chicago, Public Enemies plays more like Heat in Depression-era garb. In that L.A. policier, Al Pacino's cop develops a grudging respect for Robert De Niro's criminal, but letting a lawbreaker go free isn't an option. In this case, however, the tight-lipped Purvis never develops the same sort of esteem for Dillinger--or Hoover--making him the more tragic figure. If Public Enemies is less overtly commercial than The Untouchables or Bugsy, it's still the best mainstream gangster epic in ages and ranks among Mann's finest works. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Noose | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

• Big Fish | UMD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

• Mission: Impossible 3 | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £10.98   |  Saving you £16.00 (177.98%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Tom Cruise returns as Special Agent Ethan Hunt, who faces the mission of his life.