"Actor: Carl Franklin"

• A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies | DVD | (05/06/2000) from £4.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (300.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Scorsese's invigorating history of American movies avoids the straitjacket of chronology. Although he makes dutiful nods in the direction of Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith and Orson Welles, he is equally interested in figures working at the margins, film-makers such as Andre De Toth, Ida Lupino, Sam Fuller and Edgar Ulmer, "who circumvented the system to get their vision onto the screen". He describes them as "illusionists", "smugglers", con artists who managed to hoodwink the money men into allowing them to make the films they wanted. Some worked in B-movies ("less money, more freedom") others (like Scorsese himself) struck their own Faustian bargains with the studios, making "one movie for them, one for yourself"His heroes are the outsiders, the film-makers who chafe against the assurances of the American dream. He offers a vivid, guilty vignette of himself as a four-year-old child, sitting in a darkened auditorium watching in amazement as Gregory Peck overpowers Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun, one of the first films his mother took him to. "The savage intensity of the music, the burning sun, the overt sexuality ... it seems that the two could only consummate their passion by killing each other". There's a certain irony in Scorsese, who once seriously considered becoming a priest, succumbing to a David O. Selznick Technicolor extravaganza which had already been condemned by the church.While often sounding like a serious-minded apprentice who watches old movies to pick up tips which will help him in his own work ("study the old masters, enrich your palette, expand the canvas-there's always so much more to learn") he never overlooks the illicit pleasure that cinema can bring. "I don't really see a conflict between the church and the movies, the sacred and the profane". --Geoffrey Macnab

• I'm Not There | DVD | (14/07/2008) from £7.69   |  Saving you £12.30 (159.95%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ruminations on the life of Bob Dylan, where seven characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work.

• The A-Team - Vol. 2 | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Initially one of NBC network's most successful series, The A-Team ran for 90 one-hour episodes (with a few feature-length specials thrown in) from 1983 to 1987. The premise of the series was certainly different. A group of US operatives is sent to rob the Bank of Hanoi during the Vietnam War in an attempt to destabilise the country's economy, but the bigwig who organises the raid is killed, leaving no indication that the mission was officially sanctioned. Returning home, Smith (George Peppard), BA (it stood for "Bad Attitude") Baracus (Mr T), Face (Dirk Benedict) and that "crazy foo" Murdoch (Dwight Schultz) suddenly find themselves accused of criminal activity, obliging them to set up as benevolent mercenaries. They tear around the country in what looks like a delivery van, generally do-gooding while keeping one step ahead of the inept military police. Snappy, witty and fast paced, the series began as a spoof of the action-thriller genre. It wasn't until the later episodes that an element of seriousness crept in, which may have caused the decline in audience figures eventually resulting in the show's cancellation. On video and DVD though, it remains a feast for fans of classic cult TV.--Roger Thomas

• The A-Team - Series 1 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £16.35   |  Saving you £18.64 (114.01%)   |  RRP £34.99

  In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem if no one else can help and if you can find them maybe you can hire the A-Team! Episodes comprise: 1. Mexican Slayride (Part 1) 2. Mexican Slayride (Part 2) 3. Children Of Jamestown 4

• Free Enterprise | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £16.40   |  Saving you £-13.41 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Set in LA among the same narcissistic, vain and pop culture-obsessed generation already celebrated in Kevin Smith's Clerks and Doug Liman's Swingers, Free Enterprise is a smart-aleck comedy that consciously holds a mirror up to the lives of twenty- and thirtysomethings everywhere. Anyone who grew up in the shadows of Star Trek and Star Wars will find plenty to laugh about and identify with here. The loose premise follows two self-professed geeks: Mark (Eric McCormack), in a delightful spin on Logan's Run, is agonising about reaching his 30th birthday before he has achieved anything much at all, while his slacker pal Robert (Rafer Wiegel) neglects his daytime editing job to woo a comic-reading, nerdy yet totally babelicious wish-fulfilment girlfriend. The great joy of the movie, however, is not the constant parade of witty movie in-jokes, but the appearance of William Shatner as himself. He plays a washed-up, boozy actor desperately touting to anyone who will listen his idea for "William Shatner's William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: The Musical" (words W. Shakespeare, music W. Shatner), displaying all the while a refreshing gift for comic understatement. Shatner brings real pathos and self-deprecating humour to the depiction of the gulf between the other characters' hero-worship of his on-screen persona and his subjective reality as a misunderstood actor. By the time he gets round to performing a mind-boggling bizarre rap version of Marc Anthony's soliloquy, the ageing Captain Kirk has redeemed himself, both in the eyes of the characters and the viewing audience. --Mark Walker

• The A-Team | DVD | (09/04/2001) from £5.84   |  Saving you £4.15 (71.06%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem if no one else can help and if you can find them maybe you can hire the A-Team. 1: The Taxi Cab Wars The small independent Lonestar cab company admits defeat and closes its doors when their cabs

• Gaite Parisienne | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £22.65   |  Saving you £0.34 (1.50%)   |  RRP £22.99

• Lackawanna Blues | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £11.45   |  Saving you £-3.46 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Based on the award-winning play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson this poignant and colourful drama tells the inspirational story of a courageous woman Nanny whose spirit and strength served as the foundation for a struggling community trying to survive during the segregation era. Starring an exceptional ensemble cast led by Jimmy Smits Rosie Perez and Macy Gray this inspiring drama from HBO Films is a celebration of the good things in life no matter how tough times may be.