"Actor: Helen Coker"

• 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

• Victoria Wood - All The Trimmings | DVD | (25/11/2001) from £8.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (77.86%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings contains exactly what it says on the box. Harking back to the classic BBC Christmas comedy specials of yesteryear, the show features a star-studded cast: Alan Rickman, Richard E Grant, Michael Parkinson, Bob Monkhouse, Hugh Laurie, Angela Rippon, Roger Moore, Caroline Aherne, the list goes on. The show takes a typically idiosyncratic canter through a dream set of telly programmes for Christmas Day. Thus we get expertly played skits of A Christmas Carol (with Delia Smith as the cook); Brassed Off (in which Tony Blair solves the North/South divide by declaring everything The South); Brief Encounter (Parky as the station master, with a side order of drugs and lesbianism); a regency romantic drama (with the line "could you not stick your hand in your muff?") and lots more. What makes the production a true cut above, however, is the linking theme that takes a blatant pot shot at the modern BBC--or as Wood sees it--BBC Upmarket, BBC Downmarket, BBC Newmarket (for racing), BBC Makeover, BBC Takeover, etc. This is funny, cutting and achingly on the ball about the state of modern television.--Ian Watson

• The House Of Mirth | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £5.98   |  Saving you £4.01 (67.06%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The crushing pressures of social conformity have always been a central concern of Terence Davies' movies, so Edith Wharton's astringent novel of innocence destroyed makes an ideal choice for him. Set in the edgy, nouveau riche ambience of 1900s New York, the story traces the downfall of the lovely but imprudent Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson) in a world where hypocrisy and predatory vice lurk behind genteel facades. Wharton (whose later novel The Age of Innocence was brilliantly filmed by Martin Scorsese) has an acute feel for the subtleties of social nuance, the way insiders and outsiders are defined, and Davies skilfully renders these hints and insidious judgments in cinematic terms. Working to a tighter budget than most period dramas, he turns his limitations to advantage. The film's never in danger of being swamped by the gorgeousness of its sets and costumes, or turned into an exercise in easy nostalgia. The northern austerity of Glasgow effectively stands in for New York. Throwing off the mantle of Scully (from The X-Files), Gillian Anderson gives a powerful and wholly convincing performance as Lily, movingly despairing as her options are closed off one by one; and there's a fine portrayal of self-satisfied brutality from Dan Aykroyd as the chief agent of her downfall. --Philip Kemp

• All Or Nothing | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £6.85   |  Saving you £13.14 (191.82%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A 2002 Mike Leigh drama, All or Nothing is at times almost unbearably bleak and poignant, yet funny, truthful and richly rewarding. The film's revolves around Timothy Spall's mini-cab driver, his family and the various characters and acquaintances on the South-east London estate where he lives. It's perhaps even better than Secrets and Lies, in which Spall also starred, which was marred a little by some of the tearful excesses of Brenda Blethyn's bravura performance. It's evidence that Leigh has matured and improved with age, rather than mellowed and softened. He's developed into a highly distinctive but rounded and humane filmmaker. Spall's cabbie is too gentle and thoughtful to be described as a slob, but his lack of even the most basic ambition and stoic non-resistance to life has created an unspoken rift between him and wife Penny (Lesley Manville). Working on a supermarket checkout, she must cook dinner and fend off insults from her fat, frustrated, obnoxious 18-year-old son Rory. She receives only passive sympathy from her older daughter Rachel. Only when Rory is taken ill is Phil snapped out of his torpor as the family pull together. A host of minor characters also feature; fatuous cabbie Ron (Paul Jesson) his alcoholic wife and sluttish daughter, as well as the wonderfully good-humoured and resilient Maureen, Penny's best friend, concerned at her daughter's relationship with a violent boyfriend. Once accused of caricaturing his "lower class" characters, here Leigh (with the collaborative assistance of his actors) exhibits them in all their authentic complexity, neither idealising nor sentimentalising them. On the DVD: All or Nothing's extras include the original trailer, as well as interviews with several members of the cast. Timothy Spall is interesting on the unnerving process of collaboration favoured by Leigh, whereby characters are "built from zero" by the actors. The smart and rather posh Lesley Manville strikes quite a contrast in real life with her mousey, put-upon character. There's also a meticulous and absorbing commentary from Mike Leigh, who talks about filming in Greenwich and how he has moved away from some of the more dogmatic ideas about filmmaking of his earlier, avant-garde days. --David Stubbs