"Actor: Dean Rader Duval"

• Lock Up | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £15.50   |  Saving you £-2.51 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The 1980s was the make-and-break decade for Sylvester Stallone's career, and Lock Up typifies the direction he took in his post-Rocky and Rambo days. It's a concept movie in the same mould as Rambo III just before it, and Tango & Cash just after. The hero (Frank Leone) is put in jeopardy (Gateway Prison), establishes a nemesis to defeat (in the shape of Donald Sutherland as Warden Drumgoole), makes a few friendships that can be sacrificed along the way (Tom Sizemore as Dallas) and does what he does in the name of love (Darlanne Flugel as Melissa). The revenge-twisted warden puts him through hell over a shared back-story. The torture ranges from being made to hold his breath in a delousing chamber to sanity-stretching periods in "The Hole". It's all about how far a man can be pushed. But being a Stallone vehicle, it's not all depressing. Composer Bill Conti reunites with the star to put the same sort of heroic fuel behind a prison-yard football game as he did for Rocky. A couple of feel-good songs pep up the love story and a montage of camaraderie in rebuilding a broken-down car. There's a healthy sense of realism achieved by having Sly doing all his own stunts and the use of a real-life prison. If the elements lead to a by-the-numbers conclusion (it's no Shawshank Redemption), remember this was some years before the actor wanted to get serious. On the DVD: A surprising amount of footage has been assembled in the two behind-the-scenes featurettes: we see Stallone directing his own fight scenes, and how use of New Jersey's Rahway Prison came with 2,500 real inmates to keep under control. Sound bite interviews reveal Stallone's worldly philosophies, then a trailer and gallery of 17 photos round out a decent overall package. --Paul Tonks

• The Real McCoy | DVD | (14/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  They said there wasn't a man on earth who could pull off a bank job like this. They were right! After six long years in prison for a foiled bank robbery legendary criminal Karen McCoy (Basinger) wants nothing more than to turn her life around. But her hopes are soon shattered: no one will hire her; she's stuck with a sleazy parole officer and her ex-husband has told their son that she's dead. To make matters worse crime lord Jack Schmidt (Stamp) is forcing her to pull off a seemin

• The Journey Of August King | DVD | (20/07/2004) from £8.18   |  Saving you £6.81 (83.25%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This passionate uplifting celebration of the human spirit received outstanding acclaim from critics coast-to-coast! Jason Patric (SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL SLEEPERS) is August King a young man whose life is changed forever when he risks everything to help a beautiful woman (Thandie Newton -- THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II) on a courageous -- and very dangerous -- search for a new life. Desperate yet determined the two set out on a harrowing journey toward freedom ..