"Actor: Helen Ryan"

• Woman In Gold | DVD | (03/08/2015) from £6.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren star in this drama based on the real-life story of Maria Altmann and her legal campaign against the Austrian government. Mirren plays Altmann who since fleeing Europe during the Second World War now lives in Los Angeles. When the death of her sister leads to Altmann finding out that a portrait of her aunt painted by Gustav Klimt was stolen by the Nazis from her family home during the war and now hangs in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna she enlists the help of young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds) and embarks on a legal campaign to reclaim her family's losses...

• The Long Good Friday | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £7.30   |  Saving you £12.69 (173.84%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Intricately plotted and smartly paced, this gangster saga clicks as whodunit, social satire and explosive thriller. The piece is crowned by Bob Hoskins' career-making turn as a London mobster courting respectability and Helen Mirren's subtly detailed performance as his upper-crust mistress. Cockney wiseguy Harold Shand is a would-be burgher whose domination of the city's underworld stems from his shrewdness as a mediator and his skill at harnessing political and economic clout. As Easter approaches, he's poised to launch an aggressive real estate development scheme along the depressed Thames waterfront when all hell breaks loose: a trusted lieutenant is brutally murdered, Shand's mother is nearly killed in a car bombing, one of his pubs is blown apart and the visiting American don crucial to the pending deal is quickly growing wary.Barrie Keeffe's original screenplay keeps the viewer a step ahead of Shand, providing us with a telling but teasingly incomplete glimpse of the misstep by his underlings that has set chaos loose. At the same time, Keeffe underlines the bourgeois pretensions of the rough-hewn, barrel-chested Shand, how the elegant Victoria (Mirren) helps serve those ambitions and the myriad parallels between Shand's minions and the local politicians and police only too willing to join in his scheme. Tart, funny dialogue and alternately playful and pungent Eastertide imagery complete Keeffe's shrewd design--two key scenes, in a meat locker and a warehouse, invoke the Crucifixion itself. Even with lesser performances, the script and John Mackenzie's solid direction would make The Long Good Friday a keeper but Hoskins's explosive portrait of Shand and his descent toward brutal revenge elevates the film into the very front rank, earning admiring comparisons to TheGodfather, Scarface, GoodFellas and other classics of that genre. --Sam Sutherland

• The Elephant Man | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £4.89   |  Saving you £13.10 (267.89%)   |  RRP £17.99

  You could only see his eyes behind the layers of makeup in The Elephant Man but those expressive orbs earned John Hurt a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his moving portrayal of John Merrick, the grotesquely deformed Victorian man. Inarticulate and abused, Merrick is the virtual slave of a carnival barker (Freddie Jones) until dedicated London doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins in a powerfully understated performance) rescues him and offers him an existence with dignity. Anne Bancroft co-stars as the actress whose visit to Merrick makes him a social curiosity, with John Gielgud and Wendy Hiller as dubious hospital staffers won over by Merrick. David Lynch earned his only Oscar nominations as director and co-writer of this sombre drama, which he shot in a rich black-and-white palette, a sometimes stark, sometimes dreamy visual style that at times recalls the offbeat expressionism of his first film, Eraserhead. It remains a perfect marriage between traditional Hollywood historical drama and Lynch's unique cinematic eye, a compassionate human tale delivered in a gothic vein. The film earned eight Oscar nominations in all and though it left the Oscar ceremony empty-handed, its dramatic power and handsome yet haunting imagery remain just as strong today. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com On the DVD: Being black and white, it's easier to judge the digital transfer in terms of shade and thankfully this print looks just fine. There's a little confusion over the sound, however, which is advertised as Stereo on the box but says Mono on the Audio Menu. It certainly seems to be a basic Dolby stereo but it's a shame Lynch hasn't given it the personal touch since he's obsessed with mixing his films' sound himself. From the nicely thought-out animated menus there's a gallery of 20 photos and a misguiding, dramatic theatrical trailer. The only other extra is a 64-page book of which only 10 pages relate directly to the film (the rest re-tell Lynch's career and the real Elephant Man's life). --Paul Tonks

• The Long Good Friday | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £12.96   |  Saving you £-1.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  In the savage and deadly world of the gangland king the man at the top is ruler only for as long as he controls everything in his territory. For that man the rewards can be infinite but so are the dangers. Harold Shand is enjoying the height of his powers and he is on the verge of something that would make his current 'arrangements' small fry. But stronger forces than even he can control have moved in and taken over. Climaxing in one long and bloody day of terror an Easter Good Friday he is to see his empire begin to crack and crumble.

• Prime Suspect 1 | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £8.98   |  Saving you £4.01 (30.90%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When DCI Jane Tennison (Mirren) takes over the running of what appears to be an open and shut murder case her investigations lead her into a male dominated world and the hunt for a serial killer. Winner of BAFTA's Best Drama Serial in 1991 written by Lynda La Plante.

• Absolutely Fabulous - The Last Shout | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £5.65   |  Saving you £10.34 (183.01%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and became an instant hit. Originally a sketch on the French and Saunders Show, Jennifer Saunders saw its potential and created one of the most ground-breaking and debauched comedies on British TV. Centred around the hip London fashion scene the series follows Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), two women who refuse to grow up and are constantly on a mission to lose weight, gorging themselves with cocaine and/or champagne, endlessly throwing parties (or throwing up at parties), and sporting outrageous outfits which were the height of fashion at the time--honestly sweetie! The superb comic performances offered star status to Julia Sawalha as Edina's straight-laced daughter and Jane Horrocks as the sublimely dippy Bubble, and re-invented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of the top female comedians Britain has ever produced. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever. Ab Fab remains a landmark in TV since it was the first time that female comedians and writers had had the freedom and exposure to satirise problems close to their own heart, from their own perspective. With Feminist writers claiming that the ideals of feminism were dead in the 1990s and that female concerns were moving in the wrong direction--towards the "Laddette Culture"--and reports claiming that careers were taking a central role, forcing motherhood onto the back-burner, the series sought to embody and satirise these new supposedly "female" characteristics. As the show continued to grow in popularity both in Britain and the States, plans were made to transfer the formula to America. However, as with many other great British series, the content was considered too risky for American audiences due to the amount of sex and drug references. Thus domestic audiences breathed a sigh of release that their beloved Ab Fab would forever stay British to the core. --Nikki Disney

• Macbeth | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £7.20   |  Saving you £4.79 (66.53%)   |  RRP £11.99

  The first major film production for a quarter of a century Macbeth is authentically set in eleventh century Scotland this epic award winning production conjures a world of grim battle fields desolate moors forbidding castles and haunted caverns. Peopled by witches and warriors assassins Kings and an infamous Queen Macbeth moves at a breathtaking pace through tales of war murder intrigue and revenge.

• Prime Suspect | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £13.85   |  Saving you £-3.86 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The first Prime Suspect introduces Helen Mirren's detective chief inspector Jane Tennison, the only female DCI on an old boy's club London homicide squad. She is like a phantom lurking around the edges of the action while the men rush through their latest murder case, joshing and winking with the kind of male camaraderie the cop genre has celebrated for decades. When DCI Shefford dies of a sudden heart attack, Tennison demands to take over. Despite her superintendent's resistance ("Give her this case and she'll start expecting more"), she becomes the squad's first woman to head a murder investigation. Scrutinised at every moment by her superior officers, Tennison is faced with a case that spirals out from a single murder to a serial spree, a second-in-command who undermines her authority and her investigation at every turn, a team resistant to taking orders from a woman and a private life unravelling due to her professional diligence. Lynda La Plante's script is a compelling thriller riddled with ambiguity that turns dead ends, blind alleys, and the mundane legwork of real-life cops into fascinating details. Mirren commands the role of Tennison with authority, intelligence, and a touch of overachieving desperation. Superb performances, excellent writing, and understated direction make this BBC miniseries one of the most involving mysteries in years. Look for future stars Ralph Fiennes and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles. --Sean Axmaker

• Absolutely Fabulous - Series 1 To 4 Box Set | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £54.99

  Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and became an instant hit. Originally a sketch on the French and Saunders Show, Jennifer Saunders saw its potential and created one of the most ground-breaking and debauched comedies on British TV. Centred around the hip London fashion scene the series follows Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), two women who refuse to grow up and are constantly on a mission to lose weight, gorging themselves with cocaine and/or champagne, endlessly throwing parties (or throwing up at parties), and sporting outrageous outfits, which were the height of fashion at the time--honestly sweetie! The superb comic performances reinvented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of Britain's top female comedians. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever. On the DVD: Absolutely Fabulous DVD box set comes beautifully packaged in mock velvet, with each series individually packaged inside. The original sketch from the French and Saunders Show and the pilot episode, "Mirrorball", offers all you need to understand the show's origins The commentary with Jennifer Saunders and John Ploughman on Series 4 is refreshing, owning up to the mistakes they made and the jokes that didn't work. The outtakes are funnier than the usual Hollywood blips. The 4:3 transfer is standard for a television comedy. --Nikki Disney

• Edward The Seventh | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The life and times of Edward VII dramatised for the television. The BAFTA award winning 1975 drama comes to DVD for the first time! Episode titles: The Boy Experiment In Education The New World Alix A Hundred Thousand Welcomes The Invisible Queen Dearest Prince The Royal Quadrille Scandal The Years of Waiting King At Last The Peacemaker Good Old Teddy!

• The Hawk | DVD | (10/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The last person you want to suspect. The last person you want to trust. Near the suburban home of housewife Anne Marsh and her young family a series of savage sexual murders are being investigated by the police. The killer is known only to them as 'The Hawk' owing to his trade mark of gouging out the eyes of his victims bodies. Gradually certain thingsd begin to trouble Anne about her husband's behavior - his frequent business trips a missing hammer a casual remark - could her Stephen be the killer? Her suspicions turn to cold fear when ore and more occurences seem to link her husband to the murders but Anne can not be sure whilst the shadows of her past continue to haunt her: is her mind playing tricks on her?

• My Dear Secretary | DVD | (22/03/2004) from £5.91   |  Saving you £2.07 (70.89%)   |  RRP £4.99

  If Charles Martin's wisecracking 1948 period-piece My Dear Secretary hasn't quite endured as a classic of its kind, it still commands attention as an appealing and often very funny curiosity. Kirk Douglas rightly earned his status as one of the titans of big-screen epic drama, so it's a surprise to encounter him in this romantic comedy as a feckless writer who can always find something to do rather than get down to work, leaving a string of outraged, frustrated or compromised secretaries in his wake. Douglas has a reasonably light comic touch and spars well with Laraine Day, in determined form as the secretary whom finally tames him and, in a notable strike for women's liberation, becomes a successful author herself in the process. But this is a film in which the supporting cast steal the best lines and scenes. Keenan Wynn is delightful as Ronnie, Douglas' neighbour and partner in the pursuit of pleasure. Some splendid high campery offers ample evidence that in a more enlightened age, Ronnie would surely have been openly gay. How else to explain his hilarious last reel marriage of convenience to the wealthy dragon of a landlady, played by the irrepressible Florence Bates? It isn't vintage screwball by any means, but My Dear Secretary is witty and literate enough to make you long for a revival in sophisticated cinema comedy. Truly, they don't make 'em like they used to. On the DVD: As the rush to release long-forgotten gems on DVD turns into a deluge, we will probably have to get used to the sort of disappointment on offer here: unrestored prints with no digital remastering and lousy sound quality, simply slammed onto the disc. The film could hardly be served less adequately. There isn't even any static background information on the production or the actors, making the package rather poor. --Piers Ford

• Sherlock Holmes - The Greek Interpreter / The Norwood Builder | DVD | (09/06/2003) from £7.49   |  Saving you £2.50 (33.38%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Two more cases for the detective Sherlock Holmes to solve! The Greek Interpreter: Sherlock's older brother Mycroft introduces Holmes and Watson to his Greek interpreter friend Mr Melas. They soon find themselves attempting to discover the identity of the young Greek man covered in sticking plaster and his mysterious lady friend Sophy. The Norwood Builder: With the police hot on his trail young solicitor John McFarlane appears at Baker Street to beg for Holmes' help in providing his innocence. Was he responsible for the untimely death of Mr Oldacre and did he burn Oldacre's house Lower Norwood to the ground? Time is against Holmes as he races to determine the truth. Featuring guest appearances from stars such as John Thaw Jude Law Robert Hardy Natasha Richardson Joss Ackland and many more.

• Green Mile, The / Pay It Forward / Proof Of Life | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  The book was better" has been the complaint of many a reader since the invention of movies. Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison drama The Green Mile (The Shawshank Redemption was the first) is a very faithful adaptation of King's serial novel. In the middle of the Depression, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) runs death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Into this dreary world walks a mammoth prisoner, John Coffey (Michael Duncan) who, very slowly, reveals a special gift that will change the men working and dying on the mile. With Darabont's superior storytelling abilities, his touch for perfect casting, and a leisurely 188-minute running time, his movie brings to life nearly every character and scene from the novel. Darabont even improves the novel's two endings, creating a more emotionally satisfying experience. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.comPay It Forward is a multi-level marketing scheme of the heart. Beginning as a seventh-grade class assignment to put into action an idea that could change the world, young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) comes up with a plan to do good deeds for three people who then by way of payment each must do good turns for three other people. These nine people also must pay it forward and so on, ad infinitum. If successful, the resulting network of do-gooders ought to comprise the entire world. While this could have turned into unmitigated schmaltz, the acting elevates this film to mitigated schmaltz. By turns powerful and measured, the performances of Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment can't make up for the many missteps in a screenplay that sanitises the look of the lower-middle class and expects us to believe that homeless alcoholics and junkies speak in the elevated manner of grad students. One may wonder how it would have been handled by the likes of Frank Capra, who could balance sentiment with humour, clearly Capra would never have let the ending of his version to take the nosedive into cliché and pathos that director Mimi Leder has allowed in this film. --Jim Gay, Amazon.comWhen someone in Proof of Life says "Don't leave me hanging", you can bet they're going to be left hanging. There's little room for delicacy in Tony Gilroy's screenplay, adapted from an article by William Prochnau and the book Long March to Freedom by kidnapping survivor Thomas Hargrove. A hint of romance between Russell Crowe (the soldier-turned-"K&R") and Meg Ryan adds tension as the story shifts back and forth to David Morse's captivity. Avoiding that pitfall, director Taylor Hackford crafts the plot as a latter-day Casablanca that unfolds on a grander canvas (at stunning locations in Ecuador) while favouring an exciting rescue-mission climax over the tragedy of an ill-timed affair. It might have worked better as a straightforward macho action flick (with David Caruso doing lively work as Crowe's gung-ho K&R cohort), but Proof of Life effectively conveys the two-sided torment of a hostage crisis. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• My Dear Secretary | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  If Charles Martin's wisecracking 1948 period-piece My Dear Secretary hasn't quite endured as a classic of its kind, it still commands attention as an appealing and often very funny curiosity. Kirk Douglas rightly earned his status as one of the titans of big-screen epic drama, so it's a surprise to encounter him in this romantic comedy as a feckless writer who can always find something to do rather than get down to work, leaving a string of outraged, frustrated or compromised secretaries in his wake. Douglas has a reasonably light comic touch and spars well with Laraine Day, in determined form as the secretary whom finally tames him and, in a notable strike for women's liberation, becomes a successful author herself in the process. But this is a film in which the supporting cast steal the best lines and scenes. Keenan Wynn is delightful as Ronnie, Douglas' neighbour and partner in the pursuit of pleasure. Some splendid high campery offers ample evidence that in a more enlightened age, Ronnie would surely have been openly gay. How else to explain his hilarious last reel marriage of convenience to the wealthy dragon of a landlady, played by the irrepressible Florence Bates? It isn't vintage screwball by any means, but My Dear Secretary is witty and literate enough to make you long for a revival in sophisticated cinema comedy. Truly, they don't make 'em like they used to. On the DVD: As the rush to release long-forgotten gems on DVD turns into a deluge, we will probably have to get used to the sort of disappointment on offer here: unrestored prints with no digital remastering and lousy sound quality, simply slammed onto the disc. The film could hardly be served less adequately. There isn't even any static background information on the production or the actors, making the package rather poor. --Piers Ford

• Macbeth | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The first major film production for a quarter of a century Macbeth is authentically set in eleventh century Scotland this epic award winning production conjures a world of grim battle fields desolate moors forbidding castles and haunted caverns. Peopled by witches and warriors assassins Kings and an infamous Queen Macbeth moves at a breathtaking pace through tales of war murder intrigue and revenge.

• My Dear Secretary | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  If Charles Martin's wisecracking 1948 period-piece My Dear Secretary hasn't quite endured as a classic of its kind, it still commands attention as an appealing and often very funny curiosity. Kirk Douglas rightly earned his status as one of the titans of big-screen epic drama, so it's a surprise to encounter him in this romantic comedy as a feckless writer who can always find something to do rather than get down to work, leaving a string of outraged, frustrated or compromised secretaries in his wake. Douglas has a reasonably light comic touch and spars well with Laraine Day, in determined form as the secretary whom finally tames him and, in a notable strike for women's liberation, becomes a successful author herself in the process. But this is a film in which the supporting cast steal the best lines and scenes. Keenan Wynn is delightful as Ronnie, Douglas' neighbour and partner in the pursuit of pleasure. Some splendid high campery offers ample evidence that in a more enlightened age, Ronnie would surely have been openly gay. How else to explain his hilarious last reel marriage of convenience to the wealthy dragon of a landlady, played by the irrepressible Florence Bates? It isn't vintage screwball by any means, but My Dear Secretary is witty and literate enough to make you long for a revival in sophisticated cinema comedy. Truly, they don't make 'em like they used to. On the DVD: As the rush to release long-forgotten gems on DVD turns into a deluge, we will probably have to get used to the sort of disappointment on offer here: unrestored prints with no digital remastering and lousy sound quality, simply slammed onto the disc. The film could hardly be served less adequately. There isn't even any static background information on the production or the actors, making the package rather poor. --Piers Ford