"Actor: Gary Howe"

• Under Siege/Under Siege 2 | Blu Ray | (11/09/2017) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Double bill of action thrillers starring Steven Seagal as ex-Navy SEAL-turned-cook Casey Ryback. In 'Under Siege' (1992) Ryback has to prevent a group of military mercenaries led by ex-CIA operative Bill Strannix and his Executive Officer Commander Krill (Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey) from hijacking the battleship USS Missouri and stealing its store of nuclear weapons. 'Under Siege 2 - Dark Territory' (1995) sees the newly-retired Ryback attempting to prevent a team of terrorists on a hijacked passenger train from using a weapons satellite to destroy Washington D.C..

• Under Siege | DVD | (27/09/1999) from £3.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (250.63%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Steven Seagal can consider himself lucky if he ever makes a better movie than this one, which was appropriately dubbed "Die Hard on a battleship" when released in 1992. Seagal handles the heroic duties with his usual wooden efficiency, but the movie's greatest assets are a punchy script and the scene-stealing performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. The two play leaders of a terrorist group who take over the venerable battleship USS Missouri during its final commissioned voyage. They're crazed psychotics who seize control of the ship's nuclear arsenal, but they don't know that Seagal--as the ship's cook, no less--is a former Navy hero, lurking in the shadows and waiting to spoil their nefarious scheme. Director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) helms the action with skilful style, and as the cheesecake stripper who proves handy with a hand grenade, Playboy Playmate-turned-actress Erika Eleniak gives Seagal another reason to strut his macho stuff. Under Siege is hormonal hokum for gun-happy viewers, but as action movies go, this one's a definite guilty pleasure. --Jeff Shannon

• Terminal Velocity | DVD | (12/02/2001) from £7.69   |  Saving you £7.30 (94.93%)   |  RRP £14.99

  While investigating the mysterious circumstances of a beautiful student's demise, a maverick skydiving instructor finds himself entangled in a murderous conspiracy involving Soviet spies and a lost shipment of gold. Logical it ain't, but this entertainingly daft thriller does offer some good-natured satiric riffs on standard action star conventions. Charlie Sheen (throughout most of the film, this not-especially-heroic hero displays the approximate intelligence of a bag of doorknobs) stars along with Nastassja Kinski in a welcome return after a long absence from the screen. Terminal Velocity is good fun for adrenaline junkies, with a boffo climax involving a midair escape attempt from a free-falling convertible. Writer David Twohy went on to direct Sheen in the considerably more accomplished The Arrival. --Andrew Wright

• Treasure of the Ninja and the Films of William | Blu Ray | (18/07/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Part of the 101 Films x AGFA range. Meet your new favourite action hero. Throughout the 1980s, Black filmmaker and martial artist William Lee wrote, produced, directed, and starred in dozens of D.I.Y. action epics -- all shot on Super 8 in Ohio and New York City. From Treasure Of The Ninja (1987, Lee's most ambitious and beloved movie) to The New Chinese Connection (1980, an homage to Bruce Lee -- William Lee's idol), these inclusive and explosive works serve as an inspiration to anyone with a dream, pulse, or appreciation for spinning kicks. AGFA + Bleeding Skull! are elated to bring the best-of-the-best in William Lee's early filmography to a wider audience for the first time ever, complete with brand new transfers and a revelatory stack of previously unreleased films. NOTICE! Treasure Of The Ninja was shot on super 8 and edited on tape. Please approach the technical quality of the transfer with empathy. Product Features Bonus movie: DRAGON VS. NINJA (1984), previously unreleased and transferred in 2K from the original Super 8 elements Treasure Of The Ninja: New transfer from the original 3/4 master tape Treasure Of The Ninja: Commentary track with William Lee and Bleeding Skull's Annie Choi and Joseph A. Ziemba Short: The New Chinese Connection (1980), previously unreleased and transferred in 2K from the original Super 8 elements Shorts: the Willie Jack series, all previously unreleased and transferred in 2K from the original Super 8 elements Reversible cover artwork

• A Way Of Life | DVD | (14/07/2008) from £5.29   |  Saving you £14.70 (73.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The lives of a single mother and her friends are changed forever after the death of a neighbour which bears all the hallmarks of a racist attack.

• Jazz - A Film By Ken Burns | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  The BBC, sceptical about the British appetite for extended documentary programmes, edited Ken Burns' epic 17-hour history Jazz back to around 12 hours. That's what's presented in this box set of the series, and while the flow of the original is preserved, so are its idiosyncrasies. The film dwells at length on early jazz, particularly on its origins in New Orleans, and there's a good deal of absorbing history here. On the other hand, in suggesting that the important work of jazz was done by 1975, Burns gives us cause to question how much of his earlier research is awry too. There isn't much here to reflect the brimming vitality of post-1960s jazz, and many listeners and musicians have been enraged by Burns' neglect of such pivotal figures as Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker--all players whose work responds vigorously to the question that Burns thinks nobody can answer: "Where are the modern equivalents of Armstrong, Ellington, Parker and Coltrane?" Armstrong and Ellington are the touchstones of Burns' film, providing the narrative thread around which the stories of other major figures turn, among them Bechet, Basie, Goodman, Parker, Miles Davis and Coltrane. Burns also finds populist mileage in the politicisation of jazz, making dramatic capital out of racial divides that most jazz players, black and white, have ignored. The fact is that almost all jazz players, regardless of race, have felt like outsiders. Despite such distractions, Jazz is the longest jazz documentary yet produced, and it's rich in musical examples and classic, rare and unseen footage. Even when working with simple stills, Burns uses seductive camera work and Keith David's epigrammatic narration to maximum effect. There's plenty to enjoy here, but viewers should be aware, as Joshua Redman points out in Musicians' Views in our Ken Burns' Jazz shop, that Burns' film is an often compelling perspective on jazz, not a definitive study. --Mark Gilbert

• Gang Law | DVD | (20/12/2002) from £4.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (180.92%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Kool finds out the dangers of life in the streets where drugs gangs and a corrupt justice system are a distubing way of life. Kool is a young kid trying to do right in this world of chaos through the disciplines of the martial arts. He is befriended by his mentor ""Master Koyangi"" is deeply in love with his girlfriend Lashawana and his dream of becoming a rap star has guided him positively toward his goal. But when Lashawana is wrongfully charged with the murder of a police office

• House Of Rock | DVD | (14/05/2007) from £5.95   |  Saving you £10.04 (168.74%)   |  RRP £15.99

  House of Rock is the outrageously funny Channel 4 animated series that follows the surreal afterlife of some of our greatest (sadly departed) pop stars. What if Biggie smalls John Lennon John Denver Freddie Mercury Marc Bolan and Kurt Cobain shared a home and experienced the usual problems in a house occupied by a diverse bunch of men: disagreements practical jokes and an existence revolving around what's on the telly? House Of Rock not only draws on the rock stars' notorious reputations and personas it has them hilariously parodying popular contemporary TV programmes like Ally McBeal and Big Brother in the afterlife.

• For Their Own Good | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £5.95   |  Saving you £3.03 (102.36%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A disturbing true story set in Texas 1984. A large corporation producing toxic substances that might cause defects in an unborn child orders the female workforce to have compulsory sterilisation or be sacked. One poverty-stricken woman fights back...