"Actor: Catherine"

• Space: 1999 - Vol. 2 | DVD | (30/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on a first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds--an astounding amount--and ran for two seasons from 1975 to 77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances are: the moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from its orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors, having been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticised the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway", which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propel it out of orbit and sent it flying through space without regard for any physical laws. In "Earthbound", aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.com

• Gossec/Gretry - La Petite Musique De Marie-Antoinette (Waas) | DVD | (04/09/2006) from £35.08   |  Saving you £-8.09 (N/A%)   |  RRP £26.99

• Je Veux Voir | DVD | (22/02/2010) from £10.78   |  Saving you £5.21 (48.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Je Veux Voir

• George Clooney | DVD | (13/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A collection of great movies featuring the ruggedly suave George Clooney! The Peacemaker: (Dir. Mimi Leder 1997) When a train carrying atomic warheads mysteriously crashes in the former Soviet Union brilliant US nuclear specialist Dr. Julia Kelly discovers the accident is really part of a diabolical plot to cover up the theft of these weapons. Assigned to help her recover the explosives is crack Special Forces Colonel Thomas Devoe whose brash take-no-prisoners style clashes with Kelly's more diplomatic approach. Putting aside their personal differences - and their budding romance - together they race against time and as they track the last remaining warhead to the steps of the United Nations in this taut apocalyptic thriller from director Mimi Leder. Out Of Sight: (Dir. Steven Soderbergh 1998) Meet Jack Foley (George Clooney) the most successful bank robber in the country. On the day he busts out of jail he finds himself stealing something far more precious than money: Karen Sisco's (Jennifer Lopez) heart. She's smart sexy and unfortunately for Jack she's a Federal Marshal. Now they're willing to risk it all to find out if there's more between them than just the law... Intolerable Cruelty: (Dir. Joel Coen 2003) From the Coen brothers comes this witty sharp comedy about a man who wins in court and courts to win! Divorce attorney Miles Massey has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth wants it all. A hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues when Miles falls for Marilyn with each one trying to outsmart the other. Underhand tactics deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes...

• Space: 1999 | DVD | (11/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £45.99

  For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on a first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds, an astounding amount, and ran for two seasons from 1975-77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. The moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from Earth's orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors, and has been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticized the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway," which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propelling it out of Earth's orbit and flying through space without regard to any physical laws. In "Earthbound," aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the Galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.com

• Death Defying Acts | DVD | (11/04/2016) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  During the last year of his life, whilst on a tour of Scotland, the legendary escape artist and magician, Harry Houdini (Golden Globe nominee Guy Pearce*; Iron Man 3) issued a challenge to any and all psychics; he offered up a prize of £10,000 if any of them could tell him the last words his mother spoke to him before she died. Eager to win the much sought after prize is Mary McGarvie (Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta-Jones°; Chicago), a beautiful conartist, who, along with her daughter Benji (Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan+; Brooklyn) pretends to perform incredible séances in which they communicate with the ˜other side'. Mary's con becomes complicated when she and Houdini develop an attraction which is anything but an illusion and Houdini's manager (BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall; Harry Potter franchise) learns the truth about Mary's plans.

• The Sorcerers | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The Sorcerers, the second film directed by the lost "wunderkind" of British cinema Michael Reeves, may not have the scope and visceral impact of his masterpiece, Witchfinder General (1968), but there's enough fierce originality here to show what a tragic loss it was when he died from a drugs overdose aged only 24. The film also shows the effective use he made of minimal resources, working here on a derisory budget of less than £50,000--of which £11,000 went to the film's sole "named" star, Boris Karloff. Karloff plays an elderly scientist living with his devoted wife in shabby poverty in London, dreaming of the brilliant breakthrough in hypnotic technique that will restore him to fame and fortune. Seeking a guinea-pig, he hits on Mike, a disaffected young man-about-town (Ian Ogilvy, who starred in all three of Reeves' films). But the technique has an unlooked-for side effect--not only can he and his wife make Mike do their bidding, they can vicariously experience everything that he feels. At which point, it turns out that the wife has urges and desires that her husband never suspected. Karloff, then almost at the end of his long career, brings a melancholy dignity to his role; but the revelation is the veteran actress Catherine Lacey as the seemingly sweet old lady, turning terrifyingly avid and venomous as she realises her power. The portrayal of Swinging London, with its mini-skirted dollybirds thronging nightclubs where the strongest stimulant seems to be Coke rather than coke, has an almost touching innocence, but Reeves invests it with a dream-like quality, extending it into scenes of violent death in labyrinthine dark alleys. By this stage, some ten years after it started, the British horror cycle was winding down in lazy self-parody. Reeves had the exceptional talent and vision to revive it, had he only lived. On the DVD: The Sorcerers DVD has original trailers for both this film and Witchfinder General (both woefully clumsy); filmographies for Reeves, Karloff and Ogilvy; an "image gallery" (a grab-bag of posters, stills and lobby cards); detailed written production notes by horror-movie expert Kim Newman; and an excellent 25-minute documentary on Reeves, "Blood Beast", dating from 1999. The transfer is letterboxed full-width, with acceptable sound. --Philip Kemp

• Gotterdammerung - Wagner | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £34.49   |  Saving you £0.50 (1.45%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Wagner: Gotterdammerung (Haenchen Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Kruse)

• Bob Le Flambeur / Un Flic | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A double bill of Jean-Pierre Melville classics including 'Bob Le Flambeur' and the hardboiled thriller 'Un Flic'. Bob Le Flambeur (1955): Once a renowned criminal Bob the Gambler now contents himself with gambling frequenting casinos in the shady districts of Paris. He is convinced his gangster days are over - until he meets up with an old accomplice who has news which interests him. The casino at Deauville has a safe which is loaded with several hundred million francs. Short of cash Bob decides to plan one last great robbery. He recruits a number of former fellow criminals and plans the theft to the greatest detail. Unfortunately on the day of the robbery things rapidly begin to go wrong. Bob's luck appears to have taken an unexpected turn - for the better. Un Flic: Melville's last film returns to the genre in which he made the classic Le Samourai. A band of crooks carry out a bank robbery and then an incredible hold-up on a train. When he investigates the crimes Parisian detective Commissaire Coleman discovers that they were masterminded by his friend - the night club owner Simon abetted by his seductive girlfriend Cathy...

• Period Drama: The House Of Mirth, The Madness Of King George, Land Girls | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  House Of MirthDirector Terence Davies' sumptuous adaptation of the Edith Wharton classic novel 'The House of Mirth' is a tragic love story set against a background of wealth and social hypocrisy in the turn of the century New York. The Madness Of King GeorgeIn 'The Madness of King George' George III (Nigel Hawthorne) begins to behave in an odd manner thirty years into his rule over England shouting obscenities at people spouting garbled rubbish and attacking his wife's young Mistress of the Robes Lady Pembroke (Amanda Donohoe). The Prince of Wales (Rupert Graves) is determined to see that his father is declared unfit to rule so he can become Regent and denies him access to those close to him. The Prime Minister is forced to intervene and sends his own doctor to help the King instead of the Prince's doctors and the King eventually begins to regain his sanity. Land GirlsIt's 1941. World War II continues to rage across Europe. The young men of England have been called to the front to fight. So back at home a new regiment is formed an army of England's young women who are dispatched across the countryside to pick up the slack known as 'The Land Girls'.

• Spy Game/U-571/Stalingrad Triple Pack | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Stalingrad (Dir. Joseph Vilsmaier 1992) From the same production team as the critically acclaimed 'Das Boot' this film brings the bloodiest battle in the history of warfare to the screen - the legendary battle of Stalingrad. With German forces following Hitler's orders to neither retreat or surrender over 2 million Russians and Germans lost their lives in what came to be a turning point in the defeat of Germany in the Second World War. Pulling no punches in revealing the gritty reality of combat the viewer is put in the trenches with the young soldiers as they face the harsh elements and brutal fighting conditions. Considered in the company of such anti-war classics as 'Paths Of Glory' 'Platoon' and 'Apocalypse Now' 'Stalingrad' stands alone in its searing unforgettable imagery. U-571 (Dir. Jonathan Mostow 2000): A U. S.Navy captain and his crew are just beginning to enjoy 48 hours of leave when they receive word to immediately return to duty. On a top-secret assignment they must disguise themselves as Nazis and infiltrate a severely damaged Nazi U-boat. Once on board they are to steal the Nazi's top-secret decoding device and sink the sub before the Germans catch on to what's really happening. Their mission is more dangerous and frightening than anything they could have ever imagined but one which has the power to turn the tide of battle. Filled with incredible explosions raging fires and speeding torpedoes this suspense-filled action-packed film sets a new standard for high-impact entertainment and features an impressive all-star cast. Spy Game (Dir. Tony Scott 2001): Superstar Brad Pitt teams with Academy Award-winner Robert Redford in this pulse-pounding action thrill ride. When a top-secret unauthorized mission goes awry CIA agent Tom Bishop (Pitt) is captured and sentenced to die. With just 24 hours to get him out alive Bishop's boss Nathan Muir (Redford) must battle enemies abroad and the system inside the CIA to save his protege in an adrenaline-fueled thriller that ABC Radio says 'sizzles with suspense!

• Handel: Alcina | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £14.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (66.82%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Produced with the cast of a year-2000 Stuttgart stage version, this performance of Handel's 1735 opera Alcina has been specially shot for home viewing without the audience present (though applause is heard during the closing credits). Director Janos Darvas enhances the usual low theatre illumination with stronger television-friendly lighting to provide more detail, and he also takes his cameras much closer to the artists than live performance permits, offering film-style close-ups that greatly enhance the drama. With just eight performers and an essentially static set--though some intriguing interesting things are done with a large "mirror"--this intimate approach proves an enormous advantage. Handel's complex tale of intense romantic entanglement on the island of the enchantress Alcina focuses as much on high-voltage acting as powerful music-making. The 20th-century costumes are initially disconcerting, but soon become part of a psychologically intense world where time seems out of joint and charged with otherwise-unimaginable emotional possibilities. As Alcina, Catherine Naglestad gives an extraordinary performance, both strikingly passionate and deeply sensual, her revealing costuming being just the most obvious sign of a production intent on the erotic. Though Naglestad dominates, each performer offers memorable characterisation and fine singing. On the DVD: Alcina comes to disc with an anamorphically enhanced 16:9 picture that is clear and detailed, while the PCM stereo audio is natural and is recorded with good presence. Other than various optional subtitles, including English, extras are entirely absent. Within the booklet is a brief biography of Handel, background notes on Alcina and a synopsis, but nothing on the artists or performance. --Gary S Dalkin

• Space: 1999 - Vol. 3 | DVD | (30/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on a first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds--an astounding amount--and ran for two seasons from 1975 to 77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances are: the moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from its orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors, having been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticised the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway", which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propel it out of orbit and sent it flying through space without regard for any physical laws. In "Earthbound", aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.com

• Cubix - The Unfixable Robot | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The complete first series of this hugely successful television series starring John Thaw as the legendary Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as sidekick George Carter. This is first of four box sets featuring all 13 episodes from series 1. Most of these episodes are new to DVD and 2 episodes have never been previously released on any format. Episodes comprise: 1. Ringer 2. Jackpot 3. Thin Ice 4. Queen's Pawn 5. Jigsaw 6. Night Out 7. The Placer 8. Cover Story 9. Golden Boy 10. Stoppo Driver 11. Big Spender 12. Contact Breaker 13. Abduction

• White Angel / Urban Ghost Story | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £19.90   |  Saving you £-3.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Urban Ghost Story A paranormal drama set against the backdrop of Glasgow. The story of a young girl who has a near death experience following a car crash and then believes something has followed her back from the other side. The grim and dark tower block provides an erie and contemporary setting for a spooky 'thinking mans' ghost story. White Angel: Serial killer thriller starring classic British actor Peter Firth as the terrifyingly mild mannered murderer of the titl

• Tony Bennett - An American Classic | DVD | (23/04/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Acclaimed director Rob Marshall re-invents the traditional variety special in this groundbreaking event with show-stopping dance numbers and breathtaking stage production. Marshall and his Academy-award-winning creative team take the viewer on an emotional musical journey re-creating seminal venues of Tony Bennett's music career from the 52nd Street Swing Club to the early Columbia recording studio from the ""rat pack"" stage in Las Vegas to the famous Carnegie Hall. Tony performs live duets of his greatest hits with the greatest artists of today. The show features special appearances by Robert De Niro Catherine Zeta-Jones John Travolta Bruce Willis and Billy Crystal! Track Listing 1. Smile - with Barbra Streisand 2. Sing You Sinners - with John Legend 3. Because of You - with K.D.Lang (featuring Chris Botti) 4. The Best Is Yet to Come - with Diana Krall 5. The Shadow of Your Smile - with Juanes 6. Rags to Riches - with Elton John 7. Just in Time - with Michael Buble 8. For Once in My Life - with Stevie Wonder 9. Steppin' Out - with Christina Aguilera 10. I Left My Heart in San Francisco

• The Nightmare Before Christmas Combi Pack (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (02/11/2009) from £22.93   |  Saving you £1.06 (4.40%)   |  RRP £23.99

  As fresh, engaging and original as it was when it was first released over 15 years ago, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a showcase not just for the creative work of Mr Burton himself, but also the directorial genius of Henry Selick. For while it’s often assumed that Burton directed the film, it’s actually Selick behind the camera calling the shots. The same Henry Selick, incidentally, who directed the equally stunning Coraline more recently. That’s a film worth picking up too. But it’s, with some justification, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas for which he’s best known. It almost feels like a timeless tale already, as Jack Skellington, bored of arranging his usual successful Halloween, has a stab at Christmas instead. As you might expect, things don’t go quite to plan, which gives Selick and Burton the chance to introduce a macabre set of terrific characters. And, set to some superb music from Danny Elfman, one of the more unusual festive fairytales goes about its business. And for such a visually striking film, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas benefits heavily from high definition. The attention to detail with the stop motion animation is gloriously highlighted here, and with Elfman’s aforementioned music eating up the breadth of the soundstage afforded by Blu-ray, it’s a genuine home cinema treat. It’s also the kind of film that, as the past 15 years have proven, is set to be spun again and again. And this Blu-ray edition is unquestionably the best version of it you can have in your home. Whether you find it a Halloween or a Christmas treat, it’s strongly recommended. --Jon Foster

• Weill: Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny | DVD | (30/01/2001) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Kurt Weill's complex score reigns supreme in Peter Zadek's 1998 Salzburg Festival staging of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, the collaboration with Brecht which became a target for Nazi insurrection on its 1930 premiere. The city itself is suggested by the attitudes and personalities of the singers rather than by Richard Peduzzi's Spartan sets. It's bleak stuff in many ways, not least in its vision of the human state: squaring up to corruption is a lonely and fatal business. But thanks to Weill's musical eclecticism, which ranges from barbershop to lieder, there are moments of intense beauty, not least in the duets between lumberjack Jimmy Mahoney and prostitute Jenny. There are, too, flashes which anticipate Weill's American future on Broadway. The lilting "Alabama Song", that gift to every would-be cabaret artist in search of a Lotte Lenya moment, works wonderfully as an ensemble piece. Despite occasional inaudibility, the singing is often breathtaking. Gwyneth Jones is a majestic Begbick, Catherine Maltifano's voluptuous and earthy Jenny also has a rarely seen sweetness and Jerry Hadley's Jimmy Mahoney is ultimately almost unbearably moving. Food for thought, indeed. On the DVD: The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is presented in 16:9 picture format, but would have benefited from the scale of a widescreen treatment. It can be difficult to keep track of everything that's going on. The cavernous stage is probably responsible for the acoustics which sometimes allow the orchestra to overwhelm the singing, otherwise well served by the PCM stereo sound. There are no DVD extras but the excellent booklet and production notes are welcome.--Piers Ford

• Child's Play | Blu Ray | (15/04/2022) from £16.90   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Child's Play (1988) will be joining Umbrella's Beyond Genres collection as volume #17. This release comes in O-ring packaging, includes special features and artwork.Tom Holland (Fright Night) turns up the thrills and chills, introducing one of the most original and terrifying horror creations in history the pint-sized killer doll CHUCKY! After 6 year-old Andy Barclay's (Alex Vincent) babysitter is violently pushed out of a window to her death, nobody believes him when he says that his birthday present, an innocent Good Guy Doll named Chucky, committed the fateful act.Infused with the demonic soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), Chucky establishes himself as a master manipulator, with the ability to get away with more than just murder. An ensuing rampage of gruesome murders leads detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon) back to the same suspicious toy, uncovering a legacy of horror and highlighting Chucky's grand plan to transfer his evil spirit into a living, breathing human being young Andy!An ingenious blend of supernatural horror, voodoo and good old-fashioned slasher film, CHILD'S PLAY throws down a killer gauntlet and delivers with a bloody vengeance.Audio Commentary with director Tom Holland; moderated by Nathaniel ThompsonBehind-the-Scenes Special Effects Footage (over an hour of original footage)Vintage featuretteTV spotAudio commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and Chucky designer Kevin YagherAudio commentary with producer David Kirchner and screenwriter Don ManciniScene specific Chucky commentaries: Chucky's Thoughts The Advantages of Being Chucky Chucky on Filmmaking Up Close and Personal with ChuckyEvil Comes in Small Packages The Birth of Chucky Creating the Horror UnleashedChucky: Building a NightmareA Monster ConventionIntroducing Chucky: The Making of Child's PlayTheatrical Trailer

• Perth | DVD | (28/05/2007) from £5.79   |  Saving you £9.20 (61.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Harry Lee a part-time security guard and taxi driver has dreams of retiring to a quieter life in Australia a long-cherished escape from the relentless pace of Singapore life When a friend offers him an opportunity to make more money driving up-market call girls to their clients he accepts. However he starts taking an obsessive interest in the welfare of an abused Vietnamese prostitute. It awakens painful memories from his past and leads to desire for personal redemption as an avenging angel.