"Actor: Curtis Arden"

• Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero | DVD | (06/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A made-for-TV adaptation of Andy McNab's best-selling Bravo Two Zero--his account of a covert SAS mission in the Gulf War gone wrong. Sean Bean plays McNab, part of an eight-man team dropped behind enemy lines to sever communications lines. Things inevitably go wrong, however, and the team are captured and tortured, before making a variety of daring and amazing escapes. The story on which this film is based is certainly stirring, but it suffers from being generically at odds with the production values of a TV adaptation. The acting is wooden and the budget cannot provide the pyrotechnics or thrilling action sequences which action or war junkies may demand. At some points there are even unsuccessful attempts to blend parts of the staged drama with real documentary news footage. One might argue that the presentation of the SAS team as everyday, emotionally stunted lads, and their mission as gritty, downbeat and devoid of glamour is perhaps quite true to real-life events. It is also a huge novelty to see cinematic acknowledgement of British forces' participation in any conflict occurring in the last century. On the other hand, Bravo Two Zero undoubtedly appears quite dour when placed alongside a more flashy, Hollywood offering such as Three Kings. Nevertheless, SAS aficionados and fans of the novel will enjoy it immensely, if only to look at the way in which McNab's account presents Chris Ryan--author of a drastically different film and novel version of this incident, The One That Got Away--as a posturing, image-conscious coward. The video also includes an exclusive 22-minute interview with the author, Andy McNab. --Paul Philpott

• Pretenders | DVD | (18/09/2017) from £15.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Set in the turbulent years of the later 17th century, this action-filled adventure series follows the fortunes of a brother and sister caught up in the dramatic events surrounding the Duke of Monmouth's doomed attempt to wrest the throne of England from his newly crowned uncle, King James II. Starring Frederick Jaeger, Pretenders comprises 13 episodes and is released here for the first time. June 1685: one of the most colourful power bids in English history begins, as a motley rebel army sets out to replace the Catholic, seemingly pro-French James with the Protestant Monmouth. Passions rage, and as the decisive battle of Sedgemoor draws closer, Elam and Perfect believed to be Monmouth's own son and daughter are assisted by a German mercenary, Joachim. Facing danger on every side, they must use all their ingenuity to evade capture by Royalist forces in the desperate hope that they will one day meet the father they have never known

• The Valley Of Gwangi | DVD | (28/06/2013) from £19.95   |  Saving you £-3.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When a prehistoric horse is captured a group of adventurers decide to travel to it's home in Mexico's Forbidden Valley in search of other specimens for their circus. They brave a host of winged and fanged monsters to find and snare a living dinosaur a savage killer. They soon have it on display but when the beast escapes from its cage to wreak bloody revenge on its captors the scene is set for a fiery showdown!

• South West 9 | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £8.66   |  Saving you £5.33 (61.55%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Set in Brixton, SW9, land of yuppies, clubbers, anarchists, guns and riots, this new Britsh drama follows five very different characters through a single extraordinary day.