"Actor: David Au"

• Cruise of the Gods | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £7.12   |  Saving you £8.87 (124.58%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Both warmly funny and surprisingly touching, the one-off 90-minute BBC comedy Cruise of the Gods (2002) unites the twin comic talents of Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan for the first time. Brydon, whose Marion & Geoff brought him instant cult status and critical acclaim, plays Andy Van Allen, a washed-up actor who once enjoyed celebrity as the star of a TV science-fiction series but who is now down on his luck as a hotel porter. Desperate to rescue his self-esteem, but equally desperate to conceal his failure, he reluctantly embarks on a Mediterranean cruise for die-hard fans of the old show organised by uber-nerd Jeff Monks (David Walliams). To compound his humiliation, Van Allan's one-time costar, Nick Lee (Coogan), now a Hollywood big shot thanks to his starring role in Sherlock Holmes in Miami, gatecrashes the trip. Elements of both Marion & Geoff's agonising pathos and the squirm-inducing embarrassment of I'm Alan Partridge feature prominently here as the merciless portrayal of geeky fandom slowly gives way to a more gentle, affectionate portrait of people whose lives were inexplicably touched by the fantastically awful Children of Castor (imagine a camp cross between Blake's 7 and The Tomorrow People). Unlike the sympathetically pathetic ex-husband of Marion, here Brydon plays a cruelly cynical and embittered character, whose self-loathing contrasts painfully with the annoying ebullience of Coogan's superstar. The supporting cast are all a delight, too: witness lugubrious Philip Jackson, as alcoholic writer Hugh Bispham, clashing hilariously with Walliams' deadly earnest super-fan over the interpretation of names in the show, which turn out to be nothing more cryptic than anagrams of Bispham's favourite curries. James Corden and Helen Coker are emotionally fragile followers whose lives intertwine unexpectedly with their heroes, while Brian Conley and Jack Jones gamely provide cameos. --Mark Walker

• L.A. Confidential | Blu Ray | (02/10/2017) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being a film noir, LA Confidential is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex, scandal, betrayal and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay is actually based on several titles in James Ellroy's series of chronological thriller novels (including the title volume, The Big Nowhere and White Jazz)--a compelling blend of LA history and pulp fiction that has earned it comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolour noir films, Chinatown. Kim Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey and James Cromwell play LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearce's character is a particularly intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced "hero" (and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other moral, ethical and legal considerations. If he's a good guy, it's only because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. --Jim Emerson

• Alphas - Series 1 | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £4.94   |  Saving you £20.05 (405.87%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A crack team of super-humans operate within the Defence Criminal Investigation Service of the U.S Department of Defence to investigate a new breed of crime; those committed by and involving other 'Alphas'.

• Waxwork | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In Waxwork a waxwork museum appears overnight in an American small town and sinister showman David Warner invites a group of typical teens to a midnight party. However, as expected, the place is home to nasty secrets, and the blundering kids find themselves transported via the exhibits into the presence of "the 18 most evil men in history". What this means is that the film gets to trot out gory vignettes featuring such horror staples as Count Dracula (played inaptly with designer stubble and a Clint croak by ex-Tarzan Miles O'Keefe), the Marquis de Sade, an anonymous werewolf with floppy bunny ears (John Rhys-Davies in human form) and the Mummy. Nerdy hero Zach Galligan appeals to wheelchair-bound monster fighter Patrick MacNee for help. Waxwork is strictly a film buff's movie--with Warner and MacNee turning in knowingly camp performances, and references to everything from Crimes of Passion to Little Shop of Horrors cluttering up its very straggly story line. It's not without ragged charms, though the tone veers between comic and sick (the de Sade scene, although inexplicit, features some lurid dialogue) more or less at random. The effects are likewise variable, and in any case rather fudged by direction, which frequently fails to point up the gags properly. It winds up with a scrappy Blazing Saddles-style fight between the forces of Good and a whole pack of monsters, and the budget runs out before the climactic burning-down-the-waxworks scene. The episodic approach echoes the old Amicus omnibus horrors (Dr Terror's House of Horrors, The House that Dripped Blood etc.), and various cameos allow director Anthony Hickox to parody/emulate the styles of Hammer films, Night of the Living Dead and Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. On the DVD: It's a nice-looking and sounding print, but fullscreen format. The only extras are filmographies taken from the IMDB and the trailer.--Kim Newman

• Legend of Korra: Book One: Air - Volume 1 | DVD | (28/10/2013) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The time of Aang the last Airbender has passed, but the spirit of the Avatar lives on in Korra, a teenage girl from the Southern Water Tribe. Against the wishes of her guardians, Korra leaves the safety of her home in the Southern Water Tribe to travel to Republic City. There she begins her quest to capture the man who ultimately seeks to rid the world of bending forever. Get ready to experience a story like nothing before in The Legend of Korra: Book One - Air!

• The Pink Panther | Blu Ray | (02/02/2009) from £11.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (66.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Along with co-stars David Niven Robert Wagner and Capucine comedy genius Peter Sellers first introduced the world to the hilarious bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau in this 'delightful caper' (Leonard Maltin). When a suave jewel thief (Niven) sets out to rob a princess of both her heart and her priceless diamond The Pink Panther Clouseau falls all over himself - literally - to try to stop the crime.

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 5.2 | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £8.89   |  Saving you £26.10 (293.59%)   |  RRP £34.99

  C.S.I. is an acclaimed edgy fast-paced drama series about a passionate team of forensic investigators (among them William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger) who work the graveyard shift at the Las Vegas Criminalistics Bureau. Their job - to find the missing pieces at the scene that will help to solve the crime and vindicate those who often cannot speak for themselves - the victims. Between the hidden clues and the buried motives lies the trail to the truth because people lie...

• Wizards Of Waverly Place - Series 1 Vol.1 | DVD | (05/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Wizards Of Waiverly Place: Season 1 - Vol.1

• A Guy Thing | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When a man wakes up the morning after his bachelor party in bed with a strange woman he presumes he must have cheated on his fiancee!

• Police Academy 5 (DVD) | DVD | (30/04/2007) from £6.96   |  Saving you £4.02 (101.26%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Sun fun and babes in shades. Where else but Miami Beach? Buffoons blockheads and party-hearty animals. Who else but the Police Academy gang? Put them all together for Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach the caper that takes our klutzy cops on the road. Our badge-carrying bunglers are in Miami for a convention honoring Cmdt. Lassard. But crime doesn't take a vacation even if our heroes do. Lassard is kidnapped. And not even the lure of limbo beach parties will stop the intrepid troopers' uproarious rescue attempts. So join your armed and hilarious favorites. If there's a Most Wanted List for laughter these loony coppers have just gotta be on it.

• A Touch of Frost: Series 3 | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £13.50   |  Saving you £11.49 (85.11%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The complete third series of investigations by Detective Frost... Episodes comprise: 'Appropriate Adults' 'Quarry' 'Dead Male One' and 'No Refuge'.

• First Amongst Equals | DVD | (09/03/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  First Among Equals: The Complete Series (3 Discs)

• Gangster No.1 | Blu Ray | (27/07/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The time is present day. The scene is a boxing-match dinner at a deluxe London hotel. At the head of the top table sits Gangster.

• Silver Dream Racer | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £10.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Pop legend David Essex stars opposite Beau Bridges in a bittersweet story set in the cut-throat world of motorcycle racing. Featuring thrilling scenes filmed at the 1979 British Grand Prix and a powerful score by John Cameron (and a memorable top-ten hit for Essex himself) Silver Dream Racer is presented here in a brand-new High Definition transfer from original film materials in its original, as-exhibited aspect ratio. Aspiring racer Nick Freeman returns to his job as a garage mechanic after losing out to his underhanded American rival Bruce McBride. A twist of fate, however, gives Nick one more chance: when his brother is killed in a motorcycle accident, Nick inherits the untested, super-fast 500cc prototype on which he was working. Despite a series of crushing setbacks, he finally has the chance to prove both himself and the Silver Dream Machine ... Pop legend David Essex stars opposite Beau Bridges in a bittersweet story set in the cut-throat world of motorcycle racing. Featuring thrilling scenes filmed at the 1979 British Grand Prix and a powerful score by John Cameron (and a memorable top-ten hit for Essex himself) Silver Dream Racer is presented here in a brand-new High Definition transfer from original film materials in its original, as-exhibited aspect ratio. Aspiring racer Nick Freeman returns to his job as a garage mechanic after losing out to his underhanded American rival Bruce McBride. A twist of fate, however, gives Nick one more chance: when his brother is killed in a motorcycle accident, Nick inherits the untested, super-fast 500cc prototype on which he was working. Despite a series of crushing setbacks, he finally has the chance to prove both himself and the Silver Dream Machine ... SPECIAL FEATURES: Alternative Happy ending Original theatrical trailer Image gallery Promotional PDF Alternative Happy ending Original theatrical trailer Image gallery Promotional PDF

• Wizards Of Waverly Place - Series 1 Vol.3 | DVD | (05/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Wizards Of Waiverly Place: Season 1 - Vol.3

• Nannerl: Mozart's Sister | DVD | (16/07/2012) from £7.15   |  Saving you £7.84 (52.30%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A speculative account of Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart (Marie Feret), five years older than Wolfgang (David Moreau) and a musical prodigy in her own right. Originally the featured performer, she has given way to Wolfgang as the main attraction, as their strict but loving father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring in front of the royal courts of pre-French revolution Europe. Approaching marriageable age and now forbidden to play the violin or compose, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed on her gender. But a friendship with the son and daughter of Louis XV offers an alternative.

• Better Off Dead | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £23.59   |  Saving you £-7.60 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In Better off Dead, Lane Myer (John Cusack) is stuck in a personal hell. A compulsive adolescent everyman growing up in Suburbia, USA; not only does he fail to make the prestigious high-school ski team (again), but his beloved sweetheart, Beth, also leaves him for Roy, the team's popular arrogant captain. If this isn't bad enough, he's stuck with a mother who frighteningly experiments--rather than cooks--with food, a brother who builds rockets out of models, and a best friend so desperate for drugs that he settles for snorting powdered snow. Faced with these prospects, Lane opts to end it all... until he comes up with a ridiculous plan to gain acceptance and win Beth back. Director Savage Steve Holland warps this simple, clichéd premise, letting his wacky imagination twist it into a fairly original, slightly dark, and completely hilarious 80s teen comedy. Not as serious a "suicide-attempt" movie as, say, Harold and Maude but just as funny, the film is more a collection of screwball sketches than a narrative. Holland enlivens the high jinks with surrealistic fantasy touches, including Jell-O that crawls, a hamburger that sings Van Halen, drawings that mock its creator, and a psychotic paperboy seeking blood over a missing two dollars. Cusack puts the whole thing on his shoulders and carries the insanity with another one of his touching, obsessively romantic performances, which along with Say Anything, The Sure Thing and One Crazy Summer, made him the quintessential (and appealing) personification of lovestruck adolescence and suffering. --Dave McCoy

• Friday The 13th: Part 3 | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  From the people who brought you ""Friday the 13th parts 1 and 2"" comes the most hair-raising horror yet - Part 3. An idyllic summer turns into a nightmare of unspeakable terror for yet another group of naive counsellors. Ignoring Camp Crystal Lake's bloody legacy one by one they fall victim to the maniacal Jason who stalks them at every turn... ""Friday the 13th part 3"" will have you frozen with fear as Jason finds his way into your living room.

• Kalifornia | DVD | (22/05/2000) from £12.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (54.01%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Directed with a cool remove by Dominic Sena, Kalifornia falls somewhere between Badlands and Natural Born Killers. David Duchovny is a blocked author with a fascination for outlaw killers who hatches a plan to road trip through America's mass-murder landmarks to finish his book. He enlists the help of his frustrated photographer girlfriend Michelle Forbes, who desperately wants to leave the East Coast for LA, and they advertise for riding partners. Luckily for them, they wind up with a veteran killer, the greasy trailer-park ex-con Brad Pitt, who decides to skip parole with his cowering child-woman girlfriend Juliette Lewis. Duchovny is enamoured by gun-toting Pitt's recklessness and lawless disregard for, well, everything--simultaneously terrified and thrilled by Pitt's brutal beating of a barfly. Meanwhile, Pitt's leaving a trail of corpses in their wake. Pitt brings a ferocious magnetism to his part, but it's still hard to buy genial Duchovny's odd attraction; Juliette Lewis conveys a terrifying sense of victimization with her poor dumb creature. Despite the film's best efforts, it never really plumbs the psyche of Pitt's simmering psycho--he's just plain bad, you know--but it does fashion an effective little thriller out of the tensions brewing in the restless quartet. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• The Rolling Stones - Rock And Roll Circus | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £13.20   |  Saving you £0.79 (5.98%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Unavailable at all for nearly three decades, then issued in a VHS edition in 1996, the Rolling Stones' legendary Rock and Roll Circus finally gets the full treatment with this DVD release documenting the 1968 event. The Stones were reportedly unhappy with their performance (hence the long delay), and it isn't their finest moment; performing "Jumping Jack Flash" and a variety of songs from their then-new Beggars Banquet album, Keith Richards is game, but Jagger's preening (especially on "Sympathy for the Devil") is over the top, and guitarist Brian Jones looks dissolute and well on his way to his death the following year. A certain weirdness permeates some of the other musical acts as well: Jethro Tull lip-syncs unconvincingly, Taj Mahal and band were obliged to perform before the circus set was completed and the audience had arrived, and John Lennon's outing with impromptu supergroup the Dirty Mac (with Richards, Eric Clapton, and drummer Mitch Mitchell) is hampered by Yoko Ono's caterwauling, although their version of the Beatles' "Yer Blues" is cool. Still, the Who are brilliant, Marianne Faithfull is beautiful, the various circus acts are fun, and the crowd clearly loves it. The DVD comes with some fascinating bonus features, including three extra songs by Mahal, some lovely classical piano by Julius Katchen, and a "quad split-screen" version of "Yer Blues". Best of all are a new interview with the Who's Pete Townshend and the various commentary tracks added for the DVD--especially those by Tull's Ian Anderson, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and Stones Jagger, Richards, and Bill Wyman (who dryly attributes Jagger's reluctance to issue the show to his dissatisfaction with his own performance, not the band's). Flaws notwithstanding, this is a treat. --Sam Graham