"Actor: Helen Miller"

• Radio Days | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Woody Allen's gentlest and most unassuming movie, Radio Days isn't so much a story as a series of anecdotes loosely linked together by a voice-over spoken by the director. The film is strongly autobiographical in tone, presenting the memories of a young lad Joe (clearly a stand-in for Allen himself) growing up in a working-class Jewish family in the seafront Brooklyn suburb of Rockaway during the late 1930s and early 40s. In this pre-TV era the radio is ubiquitous, a constant accompaniment churning out quiz shows, soap operas, dance music, news flashes and Joe's favourite, the exploits of the Masked Avenger. Given Allen's well-publicised gallery of neuroses, you might expect childhood traumas. But no, everything here is rose-tinted and even the outbreak of war makes little impact on the easygoing, protective tenor of family life. Now and then Allen counterpoints his family album with the doings of the radio folk themselves (blink, and you'll miss a young William H Macy in the studio scene when the news of Pearl Harbour comes through). The rise to fame of Sally (Mia Farrow), a former night-club cigarette girl turned crooner, is the nearest the film comes to a coherent storyline. But most of the time Allen is content to coast on a flow of easy nostalgia, poking affectionate fun at the broadcasting conventions of the period and basking in the mildly rueful Jewish humour and small domestic crises of Joe's extended family. There aren't even any of his snappy one-liners, and the humour is kept low-key, raising at most an indulgent smile. A touch of Allen's usual acerbity wouldn't have come amiss. But for anyone who shares these memories, Radio Days will surely be a delight. On the DVD: Not much besides the theatrical trailer, scene menu and a choice of languages. The screen's the full original ratio, but nothing seems to have been done to enhance the soundtrack, and the dialogue's not always clear. A boost in volume may help.--Philip Kemp

• The Clearing | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £6.49   |  Saving you £9.50 (146.38%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Robert Redford and Helen Mirren play a married couple whose lives are turned upside down when one of them is kidnapped for a ransom.

• Dark Shadows (DVD + UV Copy) | DVD | (15/10/2012) from £5.09   |  Saving you £14.90 (74.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Barnabas Collins, a member of the founding family of Collinsport, Maine, is turned into a vampire and buried alive by his nemesis, Angelique Bouchard - a powerful witch. When he finally escapes 200 years later, Barnabas sets about to reclaim his family's legacy and destroy the witch who has taken over the town. Special Features: The Collinses: Every family has its demons

• Tim Burton 9-Film Collection | Blu Ray | (03/10/2022) from £45.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Pee-Wee's Big Adventure: When Pee-wee Herman's idyllic world is destroyed by the theft of his fire-engine red bicycle, the pre-pubescent adult sets out on a manic cross-country odyssey to recover his most valued possession. Director Tim Burton makes his feature-film debut with this comic masterpiece./p> Beetlejuice: A couple of home-loving ghosts need to be rid of a group of pretentious, trendsetting humans, who have taken over their house and made 'living' extremely difficult. They enlist the aid of a bio-exorcist in the hope that he can scare the unwanted guests away. Batman: After witnessing his parents brutal murder as a child, millionaire-philanthropist Bruce Wayne pledges his life to fighting crime disguised as Batman. His long-time nemesis, the Joker, has sinister plans for the citizens of Gotham City. His greed is matched by his obsession with photojournalist Vicki Vale. But Batman is there to counter the Joker's every move. With the fate of Gotham and Vicki in the balance, will good or evil prevail? Batman Returns: Batman the Caped Crusader is pitted against the demented, ravenous Penguin; a pitiful, orphaned psychopathic freak who once went on a baby-killing spree, and a 'power' hungry capitalist villain, Max Shreck. As the two criminals plot to gain domination over Gotham City, Batman must plot to stop them. In the highly stylized Batman Returns, Batman is thrown a third enemy, a terrible distraction: the slinky, sharp-clawed Cat Woman./p> Mars Attacks: When a shiny silver flying saucer lands in the Nevada desert, a group of skull-faced Martians exit the gleaming craft. Although they claim to be peaceful, they promptly vaporize a gathering of unfortunate Earthling s, kicking off a bizarre high-tech war with wild special effects. Sweeney Todd: Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is living a simple life with his wife Lucy and his daughter when the lust of a judge (Alan Rickman) throws their lives into chaos. The judge has Barker deported to Australia, and many years later he returns to England with revenge in his heart. Corpse Bride: Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor (voiced by JOHNNY DEPP), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory: Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about eccentric candy-maker Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket, a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonka's extraordinary factory.

• Kirk Douglas Collection | DVD | (14/04/2008) from £9.90   |  Saving you £-1.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  The Kirk Douglas Collection (3 Discs)