"Actor: David Au"

• Starsky And Hutch - The Complete Second Season | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Starsky & Hutch: The Complete Second Season proves the 1970s series, in its sophomore year, both codified its earliest strengths while continuing to evolve into a sharper, wittier and often darker show. Contributing to those improvements were the stars themselves: David Soul (who plays maverick police detective, intellectual and health nut Ken Hutchinson) and Paul Michael Glaser (as Hutch's more impulsive, junk-food-junkie partner Dave Starsky), each of whom directed exemplary episodes in the second series. The series' creators also struck a more entertaining balance between the comic and dramatic possibilities inherent in Starsky and Hutch's bluntly honest, fraternal relationship. A number of stories placed the guys in intentionally funny undercover situations: as garish gamblers in the two-part opener "The Las Vegas Strangler"; entertainment directors (named Hack and Zack) on a luxury cruise ship in "Murder at Sea"; gigolo-like dance aficionados in the playfully-titled "Tap Dancing Her Way Right Back into Your Hearts"; and, most amusingly, stunt men in "Murder on Stage 17". Those are all good shows, and the duo often bicker within them, to great comic effect, like an old married couple. But it's the relentlessly tougher episodes that prove each character's mettle and demonstrate the depth of Starsky and Hutch's mutual trust. Among these is the powerful "Gillian", in which Starsky discovers Hutch's classy new girlfriend is a prostitute and breaks the news to his shattered friend. Somewhat lighter but just as revealing is "Little Girl Lost", starring a young Kristy McNichol as an orphaned street urchin whom Hutch, lately in a misanthropic, anti-Christmas mood, takes into his home. Glaser's directorial debut, the harrowing "Bloodbath", gives Soul a lot of room for an intensely physical and psychological performance as Hutch scurries to find his kidnapped partner. Soul returns the favour with "Survival", in which Starsky desperately seeks his missing pal, trapped and slowly dying beneath a car wreck. All in all, a very good series, with (of course) Antonio Fargas still sharp as sidekick Huggy Bear. --Tom Keogh

• The Serpent's Egg | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £14.97   |  Saving you £1.02 (6.81%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Abel Rosenberg (Carradine) is a circus acrobat out of work and living in a defeated Germany after the First World War. He takes a job at the Veregus Clinic and there he finds the truth behind the work of the Professor Veregus (Bennett) work that led to his own brother committing suicide...

• The First of the Summer Wine - Series One | DVD | (06/06/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A prequel to Roy Clarke’s original Last of the Summer Wine and featuring Peter Sallis, First of the Summer Wine takes place in a small Yorkshire village. The action revolves around the antics of the young Compo, Clegg and Seymour and their usually level headed female counterparts, all of whom are grappling with the world around them, their youth, and their experiences with the opposite sex – usually with hilarious consequences. Set between May and September 1939 as Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Great Britain become increasingly poised for war the characters’ lives are about to be changed forever.

• Divorcing Jack | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £8.38   |  Saving you £5.61 (66.95%)   |  RRP £13.99

  He's Irish he drinks is a touch cynical and when he has time he writes a newspaper column. On the eve of the country's first election as an independent state Dan Starkey's life is about to change after he finds the young woman he has just made love to dead and his only ally is a nun..

• Ghost Ship / Eight Legged Freaks / Queen Of The Damned | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £20.99

  Ghost Ship: In a remote region of the Bering Sea a boat salvage crew discovers the eerie remains of a grand passenger liner thought lost for more than 40 years. Once onboard the crew must confront the ship's horrific past and face the ultimate fight for their lives. Eight Legged Freaks: What do you get when you cross toxic waste with a bunch of exotic spiders? Eaten!!! Mutated ravenous arachnids the size of SUVs invade a tiny Arizona town in this gleeful comedy mon

• A Touch of Frost: Series 2 | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £11.39   |  Saving you £13.60 (119.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second series of investigations featuring the gruff detective. Episodes comprise: 'A Minority Of One' 'Widows And Orphans' 'Nothing To Hide' and 'Stranger In The House'.

• L.A. Confidential | DVD | (02/10/2017) from £8.25   |  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

• Doctor Who - The New Series - Series 2 - Vol. 3 | DVD | (10/07/2006) from £5.38   |  Saving you £10.61 (66.40%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This latest incarnation stars Scottish actor David Tennant as the 'good doctor' ably flanked by the lovely Billy Piper resuming her role as the Timelord's spunky sidekick Rose. Episodes Comprise: 1. Rise Of The Cybermen 2. The Age Of Steel 3. The Idiot's Lantern

• Angel - Season 5 (New Packaging) | DVD | (03/10/2011) from £95.93   |  Saving you £-67.94 (N/A%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Lives were upended--and some co-opted--in the fifth and final season of Angel, as the denizens of Angel Investigations found themselves taking on one of their scariest endeavours ever: corporate life. After making a literal deal with the devil (or something distinctly devil-like), Angel (David Boreanaz) moved his team from their crumbling hotel to the high-rise digs of law-firm-from-hell Wolfram & Hart, his reasoning being they could better fight the forces of evil from the inside, and with more resources to boot. Clever maneuvering or easy rationalisation? Not a few members of Angel's team accused him of selling out (as did a number of viewers), but as with most of the show's previous four seasons, Angel somehow took a dubious premise and mined it for gold. And with one core cast member gone (Charisma Carpenter, whose Cordelia was immersed in a deep coma), it seemed as if the show, from within and without, would suddenly fall apart--that is, until Angel's longtime nemesis Spike (James Marsters) showed up, fresh from his sacrificial roasting at the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Let the vampire games begin! With Buffy off the air, fans flocked to Angel's last season to get their fix of Joss Whedon's "Buffyverse" in any form they could, and the addition of Spike was a shrewd one, albeit not enough to keep the show from getting cancelled. And for the first half of the season, the creative forces behind the show seemed to be toying ruthlessly with the audience. Spike was around, but not entirely corporeal; Angel himself became sullen and withdrawn; and most horrifically, sweetheart scientist Fred (Amy Acker) and former watcher Wesley (Alexis Denisof) underwent traumas that would test even the most devoted viewer. However, just when you'd be about to throw in the towel, things started changing for the better--Spike became a permanent fixture (both in the flesh and on the show), Angel's secret motives were revealed, and the introduction of demon warrior Illyria, who proved to be the show's answer to Buffy's sardonic demon-made-human Anya, was a welcome breath of fresh air. Creatively, Angel also came up with some of its best episodes, including "Smile Time" (where Angel is turned into a puppet--really!) and "You're Welcome" (the show's 100th episode, which marked the bittersweet return of Carpenter's Cordelia). The ending of the series was deliberately ambiguous, and not everyone made it through alive, but in going out kicking, it was a proper sendoff for a show that always fought the good fight. --Mark Englehart

• Power Rangers: Green With Evil | DVD | (20/03/2017) from £7.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Power Rangers may have met their match after the evil witch Rita Repulsa creates her own Ranger: the Green Ranger! Can Angel Grove survive this new menace, armed with his own powers, a mystical dagger and the Dragonzord? A full-scale assault has been launched. Now, it's up to the Power Rangers to rise to their ultimate challenge! Includes all 5 episodes of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers arc that introduced the world to the most popular Ranger of all time! Episodes: Part 1: Out of Control Part 2: Jason's Battle Part 3: The Rescue Part 4: Eclipsing Megazord Part 5: Breaking The Spell

• Regan - The Original Sweeney Pilot Movie | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This is the pilot episode that launched the television series The Sweeney. Jack Regan is a good copper but his tough intuitive style is becoming unfashionable in a Scotland Yard seeking a new technocratic image. When a policeman is mysteriously murdered Regan breaks all the rules to find the killer but he finds there are men in the Flying Squad equally prepared to break him...

• Strauss: Arabella | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Like most of his later operas, Richard Strauss' Arabella ends with a meltingly lovely duet. But then criticising Strauss for composing melodically enduring operas is as pointless as lambasting Vermeer for painting only exquisite interior scenes. Those who say Strauss never improved on Rosenkavalier may be right but when such beguiling sounds kept coming from his music for the next 30 years of his life, there shouldn't be any quibbles. Arabella is, in a nutshell, the story of a woman who cannot make up her mind about a suitor. Taped at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1994 under the baton of conductor Christian Thielemann, this production features Kiri Te Kanawa in the title role; her acting is mediocre but vocally she never forces anything and at least sounds like the perfect Arabella. Wolfgang Brendel does well with Mandryka, who finally ends up with Arabella and Marie McLaughlin makes a sympathetic younger sister to the heroine as Zdenka. Otto Schenk's production is sturdily conservative, the video transfer is acceptable if unspectacular and the sound mix is CD-quality. --Kevin Filipski, Amazon.com

• Angel - Season 3 | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £23.00   |  Saving you £13.25 (60.95%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Season three of Angel's nocturnal investigations and adventures in the L.A. underworld. Episodes Comprise: 1. Heartthrob 2. That Vision Thing 3. That Old Gang Of Mine 4. Carpe Noctem 5. Fredless 6. Billy 7. Offspring 8. Quickening 9. Lullaby 10. Dad 11. Birthday 12. Provider 13. Waiting In The Wings 14. Couplet 15. Loyalty 16. Sleep Tight 17. Forgiving 18. Double Or Nothing 19. The Price 20. A New World 21. Benediction 22. Tomorrow

• How To Marry A Millionaire / Seven Year Itch / Gentlemen Prefer Blondes | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  How To Marry A Millionaire: Three screen goddesses - Betty Grable Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe - star as golddigging models blessed with fabulous looks but limited brain power. The three blondes pool their resources and conspire to nab millionaire husbands renting an expensive penthouse to lure in their likely prey. But with Rory Calhoun Cameron Mitchell David Wayne Fred Clark Alex D'Arcy and William Powell playing the desired millionaires the ladies are pushed to

• Extreme Measures | DVD | (12/06/2000) from £7.03   |  Saving you £6.96 (99.00%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Extreme Measures loses credibility near the climax when it sacrifices its hold on reality, but this entertaining, intelligent thriller effectively applies a formulaic plot to the complicated ethics of medical research. It also gives Hugh Grant an opportunity to break free from lightweight comedy by playing an emergency room surgeon who discovers that a renowned neurologist (Gene Hackman) has been conducting secret experiments on patients. When Grant fails to save a patient whose body later mysteriously disappears from the morgue, his investigation leads to an underground community of healthy homeless people, some of whom have been test subjects in Hackman's revolutionary, but criminal research toward a cure for paralysis. Co-produced by actor-model Elizabeth Hurley and capably directed by Michael Apted, this otherwise conventional thriller rises above its limitations by asking morally complex questions that give its far-fetched plot an extra kick of dramatic impact. --Jeff Shannon

• Beauty and the Beast/Belle's Magical World/ Enchanted Xmas Triple Pack | DVD | (31/10/2011) from £5.90   |  Saving you £18.09 (306.61%)   |  RRP £23.99

  Beauty and the Beast: One of the most acclaimed and treasured animated films of all time is about to sweep you off your feet. Follow the adventures of Belle, a bright young woman who finds herself in the castle of a prince who's been turned into a mysterious beast. With the help of the castle's enchanted staff, Belle soon learns the most important lesson of all - that true beauty comes from within. An all-new digital restoration makes this 2-Disc DVD more magical than ever. Be our guest and let the music you'll never forget and the characters who will fill your heart cast a shimmering spell like never before.Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas: Celebrate the most magical time of the year with this Special Edition of the irresistible holiday classic inspired by Disney's Academy Award-winning masterpiece, Beauty And The Beast (1991: Winner - Best Song, Best Original Score; nominated for Best Picture). Share the wonder as Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury) recounts another tale as old as time about a Christmas past that almost wasn't - thanks to the scheming of former court composer Forte (Tim Curry), now a gloomy, holiday-hating pipe organ, determined to keep Belle and Beast apart forever. Only a true Christmas miracle could possibly thwart his dastardly plans. Reuniting the original voice cast, this spectacular gem sparkles with exciting bonus features, delightful songs, spellbinding visuals, and enduring themes of hope, friendship and love. Your family will experience the spirit of the season all year long with the timeless magic of Beauty And The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World: A lot happened before Belle and Beast lived happily ever after! Share the fun with one of Disney's most spirited Princesses and all her enchanted friends as their exciting adventures continue in this sparkling Special Edition of Belle's Magical World - inspired by Disney's beloved Academy Award-winning masterpiece, Beauty And The Beast (1991: Winner - Best Song, Best Original Score; nominated for Best Picture). Join Belle, Beast, Cogsworth, Lumiere, plus some charming new friends as they discover how love, teamwork, forgiveness and friendship can turn a once-gloomy castle into a dazzling palace fit for a princess! Adorned with delightful bonus features, your favourite characters and great songs, this fun-filled, modern-day classic proves that true beauty shines from within!

• Poldark - Series 2 - Part 2 | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £5.63   |  Saving you £15.35 (581.44%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The second half of the acclaimed second series of the classic BBC drama. Welcome to Cornwall near the turn of the nineteenth century where an air of celebration pervades. However even as Admiral Lord Nelson defeats the french fleet in the battle of the Nile the situation between the recently returned Ross Poldark and George Warleggan is no nearer a conclusion. And things at home aren't much better for Ross for Demelza is playing a very dangerous game with Lord Falmouth's nephew

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Hollow | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Poirot joins Sir Henry Angkatell and fellow guests at Sir Henry's country retreat The Hollow. When the handsome doctor John Christow is found dead Poirot investigates and in doing so uncovers a love triangle. A crime of passion or a pack of lies? Confused by the different stories told by the family and guests Poirot starts to believe that he is deliberately being kept from the truth.

• A Soldier's Story | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £6.73   |  Saving you £-0.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charles Fuller adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play for the big screen in 1984. The film version, A Soldier's Story is essentially a murder mystery, played out against a background of inter and intra-racial conflict at a Second World War training camp. To the consternation of his white opposite number at the camp, a black captain (Howard W Rollins) arrives to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar). Suspicion immediately falls on a pair of bigoted white officers but as the tale unfolds in a series of flashbacks, it soon becomes clear that a different kind of prejudice is also at work. Assisted by some excellent performances, director Norman Jewison opens the story out from its stage roots. There's a wonderful baseball scene (filmed on location at Little Rock) in which the double standards of Dennis Lipscomb's fidgety white captain are exposed with neat irony; he'll cheer his successful black team all the way home in the name of sport. His gradual, forced liberalisation provides the film with an important comic element. A Soldier's Story wears its heart on its sleeve without being superficial in any way. It's a compelling tale, well told and often highly entertaining, in which nobody gets off lightly, least of all the good guy. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation helps give an epic feel to what could, in other hands, have been a claustrophobic production. The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music--an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary--is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. --Piers Ford

• Profondo Rosso | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An English jazz pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal hatchet murder of a renowned psychic and is quickly drawn into the savage crime. With the help of a tenacious female reporter the pair track a twisted trail of deranged clues and relentless violence towards a shocking climax that has ripped screams from the throats of audiences for more than 25 years! Widely considered by both fans and critics alike to be Dario Argento's true masterpiece.