"Actor: J Barton"

• The Sixth Sense | DVD | (08/01/2001) from £5.19   |  Saving you £14.80 (285.16%)   |  RRP £19.99

  I see dead people," whispers little Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), scared to affirm what is to him now a daily occurrence. This peaked nine-year old, already hypersensitive to begin with, is now being haunted by seemingly malevolent spirits. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is trying to find out what's triggering Cole's visions, but what appears to be a psychological manifestation turns out to be frighteningly real. It might be enough to scare off a lesser man, but for Malcolm it's personal--several months before, he was accosted and shot by an unhinged patient, who then turned the gun on himself. Since then, Malcolm has been in turmoil--he and his wife (Olivia Williams) are barely speaking, and his life has taken an aimless turn. Having failed his loved ones and himself, he's not about to give up on Cole. The Sixth Sense, M Night Shyamalan's third feature, sets itself up as a thriller, poised on the brink of delivering monstrous scares, but gradually evolves into more of a psychological drama with supernatural undertones. Many critics faulted the film for being mawkish and New Age-y, but no matter how you slice it, this is one mightily effective piece of filmmaking. The bare bones of the story are basic enough, but the moody atmosphere created by Shyamalan and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto made this one of the creepiest pictures of 1999, forsaking excessive gore for a sinisterly simple feeling of chilly otherworldliness. Willis is in his strong, silent type mode here, and gives the film wholly over to Osment, whose crumpled face and big eyes convey a child too wise for his years; his scenes with his mother (Toni Collette) are small, heartbreaking marvels. And even if you figure out the film's surprise ending, it packs an amazingly emotional wallop when it comes, and will have you racing to watch the movie again with a new perspective. You may be able to shake off the sentimentality of The Sixth Sense, but its craftsmanship and atmosphere will stay with you for days. --Mark Englehart

• The OC - The Complete Season 2 | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £15.99   |  Saving you £44.00 (275.17%)   |  RRP £59.99

  The drama was poured on aplenty in the second season of The O.C. , as the sun-dappled denizens of Orange County found their lives massively upended and then some. At the end of the first season, the Cohen household had been reduced to two--parents Sandy and Kirsten (Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan)--as the boys had flown the coop, moody Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) back to Chino and goofy Seth (Adam Brody) for the wide expanse of the Pacific (somehow ending up in Portland, Oregon). Once the prodigal sons returned home, thanks to a lot of persuading, both tried to mend relationships with their former girlfriends, Marissa (Mischa Barton) and Summer (Rachel Bilson). While friendships were solidified, everyone was dating someone else: Seth was with sultry club manager Alex (Olivia Wilde), Summer with sensitive polo jock Zach (Michael Cassidy), Ryan with smart girl Lindsay (Shannon Lucio), and Marissa with her family's pool guy and a bottle of vodka. That's just the first half of this year of The O.C. , and we haven't even gotten to the adults yet. Both Sandy and Kirsten found themselves tempted away by more-than-willing suitors, and wicked Julie (Melinda Clarke), Marissa's mom, cheated on new husband Caleb (Alan Dale) with ex-husband Jimmy (Tate Donovan). An extremely tangled web was woven, one from which the show almost didn't recover: the Lindsay storyline started out strong but went nowhere, Sandy's ex-girlfriend (Kim Delaney) was a bit of a bore, and the same-sex relationship between Marissa and Alex never really gelled. All seemed like sure-fire character additions, but it was the later peripheral characters, including Billy Campbell as a magazine editor smitten with Kirsten and the menacing yet sexy Logan Marshall-Green as Ryan's ex-con brother, who injected The O.C. with energy, and helped steer the show back on course. Brody, who became the show's de facto poster boy, got to show off his comedic talents with the wonderful Bilson (who rode the Zach-Seth-Summer romantic triangle most smoothly), and the heretofore sullen McKenzie got to lighten up quite a bit, until the show's violent yet effective season finale. Forsaking a good amount of its comedy for drama, The O.C. got a little too seriously soapy, but its characters were so compelling you couldn't stop watching--even waiflike Marissa grew some edges. Clarke's scheming Julie was a constant pleasure to watch, and Rowan turned Kirsten's late-season downturn into a steely yet heartfelt portrayal. Despite the bumps, The O.C. remained one of the most exciting shows to look forward to week after week, a soap with smarts thanks to its fresh dialogue, gifted cast, and careening plot arcs. --Mark Englehart

• The Exorcist | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith, author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist, the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity

• Legally Blonde 2 | DVD | (01/12/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £16.27 (437.37%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Reese Witherspoon is back in Elle Woods' strappy shoes. Now a rising young lawyer she finds out her beloved Bruiser's canine relatives are being used as cosmetic test subjects, so Elle heads to D.C. to take matters into her own well-manicured hands.

• 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £5.85   |  Saving you £9.14 (156.24%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The swashbuckler genre bumped into science fiction in 1954 for one of Hollywood's great entertainments, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The Jules Verne story of adventure under the sea was Walt Disney's magnificent debut into live-action films. A professor (Paul Lukas) seeks the truth about a legendary sea monster in the years just after the Civil War. When his ship is sunk, he, his aide (Peter Lorre), and a harpoon master (Kirk Douglas) survive to discover that the monster is actually a metal submarine run by Captain Nemo (James Mason). Along with the rollicking adventure, it's fun to see the future technology that Verne dreamed up in his novel, including diving equipment and sea farming. The film's physical prowess is anchored by the Nautilus, an impressive full-scale gothic submarine complete with red carpet and pipe organ. In the era of big sets, 20,000 Leagues set a precedent for films shot on the water and deservedly won Oscars for art direction and special effects. Lost in the inventiveness of the film and great set pieces including a giant squid attack are two great performances. Mason is the perfect Nemo, taut and private, clothed in dark fabric that counters the Technicolor dreamboat that is the beaming red-and-white-stripe-shirted Kirk Douglas as the heroic Ned Land. The film works as peerless family adventure nearly half a century later. --Doug Thomas

• The Sixth Sense - 2 Disc Collector's Edition | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £7.17   |  Saving you £10.82 (150.91%)   |  RRP £17.99

  M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense sets itself up as a thriller, poised on the brink of delivering monstrous scares, but gradually evolves into more of a psychological drama with supernatural undertones. Many critics faulted the film for being mawkish and New Agey, but no matter how you slice it, this is one mightily effective piece of filmmaking. The bare bones of the story are basic enough, but the moody atmosphere created by Shyamalan and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto made this one of the creepiest pictures of 1999, one that forsakes excessive gore for a sinisterly simple feeling of chilly otherworldliness. Bruce Willis is in his strong, silent type mode here, and gives the film wholly over to Haley Joel Osment, whose crumpled face and big eyes convey a child too wise for his years; his scenes with his mother (Toni Collette) are small, heartbreaking marvels. And even if you figure out the film's surprise ending, it packs an amazing emotional wallop when it comes; it will have you racing to watch the movie again with a new perspective. You may be able to shake off the sentimentality of The Sixth Sense, but its craftsmanship and atmosphere will stay with you for days. --Mark Englehart

• Brief Encounter | DVD | (26/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Noel Coward's timeless movie of a couple who meet in a railway station and must make a decision that will change their lives forever.

• Dead Man Walking | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £7.73   |  Saving you £8.26 (106.86%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A serious film on a serious subject, Dead Man Walking (1995) is enriched by two excellent performances: Sean Penn as a murderer and rapist facing execution on Death Row, and Susan Sarandon as a nun who visits and befriends him. Tim Robbins, the writer and director of the film (and Sarandon's husband), based the film on a true story, and there's not much narrative tension since it's obvious Penn will not escape his fate. But the film is a clear-eyed look at the realities of capital punishment and its grisly rituals, which at the same time never sentimentalises the people or the issues. There is no shying away from the evil of the murderer's acts and their effects on the victims' families, but this is balanced against the heartlessness and cynicism of those in the prison system and their political masters. It's hard to say whether the film is ultimately against capital punishment; it certainly encourages you to think for yourself. On the DVD: The image and sound quality is excellent, in widescreen ratio 16:9. There's a theatrical trailer and a TV commercial for the film, which also has language tracks in English, French and Spanish and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Dutch and Hungarian. There's also an audio commentary on the film by director Tim Robbins which gives valuable insights into the political background of the film and the shooting process. --Ed Buscombe

• Raising Cain | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £10.65   |  Saving you £-4.66 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Directed by Brian De Palm Raising Cain is about Carter Nix a man who obsesses over the upbringing of his daughter. But is this all his wife needs to worry about? A spate of local kidnappings forces her to accept the possibility that he may be trying to recreate the twisted mind-control experiments of his discredited psychologist father.

• The Misfits | DVD | (26/11/2001) from £4.37   |  Saving you £11.62 (265.90%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A down-on-her-luck divorced woman meets and falls for a disenchanted outcast cowboy who earns his living by capturing wild mustangs. When she witnesses this cruel spectacle she teams up with a jaded rodeo performer in an attempt to free the horses. Last screen appearance for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe who was married to playwright Arthur Miller during the course of the filming.

• Angel and the Badman (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £5.43   |  Saving you £4.56 (83.98%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Quirt Evens an all round bad guy is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth a quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose from his world or the world from which Penelope lives by.

• The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990) | DVD | (01/06/2006) from £7.09   |  Saving you £6.90 (97.32%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Is it time, after the anonymous disaster of Mission to Mars, to give Brian De Palma's famously doomed film of Tom Wolfe's bulky novel Bonfire of the Vanities another chance? The uproarious ins and outs of the film's troubled production have become well-known via Julie Salamon's account of its making, The Devil's Candy, and fans of that might want to flick between page and screen to see just when Melanie Griffith caused untold continuity problems by having her breasts inflated. Techno buffs will surely appreciate the pointless but somehow wonderful trickery of an extended tracking shot at the outset that exists only to last a few seconds longer than the one in Orson Welles Touch of Evil (1958). Tom Hanks was rather better cast than was generally allowed, as "master of the universe" Sherman McCoy, who comes a cropper after a hit-and-run accident, since his nice-guy act shows intriguing cracks. And even Bruce Willis does his best on a hiding to nothing as the drunken writer. It is funny in parts, agonising in others, and misses Wolfe's tone--but somehow its failures might make it as symptomatic of the long-gone excesses of the early 90s as the novel was of the 80s. --Kim Newman

• The Reckless Moment | DVD | (18/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This Ophuls film noir classic is rich in suspense strikingly photographed and features career best performances from Joan Bennett and James Mason. Based on the story 'The Blank Wall' by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.

• Valdez Is Coming | DVD | (14/03/2005) from £9.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (30.16%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Town constable Bob Valdez (Lancaster) must confront evil double-crossing rancher Frank Tanner (Cypher) after he's duped into leaving a widow penniless. After an attempt on his life Valdez summons the courage and strength he learned in the army to plan a righteous and bloody revenge. Tension mounts when after wounding one of Tanner's henchmen our hero sends him back to the land baron with the immortal message of the title ""Valdez is coming""...

• The Man From Laramie | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £8.73   |  Saving you £4.26 (48.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Man from Laramie is the last of five remarkable Westerns Anthony Mann made with James Stewart (starting with Winchester '73 and peaking with The Naked Spur). Only John Ford excelled Mann as a purveyor of eye-filling Western imagery, and Mann's best films are second to no one's when it comes to the fusion of dynamic action, rugged landscapes and fierce psychological intensity. This collaboration marked virtually a whole new career for Stewart, whose characters are all haunted by the past and driven by obsession--here, to find whoever set his cavalry-officer brother in the path of warlike Indians. The Man from Laramie aspires to an epic grandeur beyond its predecessors. It's the only one in CinemaScope, and Stewart's personal quest is subsumed in a larger drama--nothing less than a sagebrush version of King Lear, with a range baron on the verge of blindness (Donald Crisp), his weak and therefore vicious son (Alex Nicol) and another, apparently more solid "son", his Edmund-like foreman (Arthur Kennedy). There are a few too many subsidiary characters, and the reach for thematic complexity occasionally diminishes the impact. But no one will ever forget the scene on the salt flats between Nicol and Stewart--climaxing in the single most shocking act of violence in 50s cinema--or the final, mountain-top confrontation. For decades, the film has been seen only in washed-out, pan-and-scan videos, with the characters playing visual hopscotch from one panel of the original composition to another. It's great to have this glorious DVD--razor-sharp, fully saturated (or as saturated as 50s Eastmancolor could be) and breathtaking in its CinemaScope sweep. --Richard T Jameson, Amazon.com

• The OC (Orange County) - The Complete Second Season | DVD | (08/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Live. Laugh. Lie. Cheat. Grow. Share. Connive. Love. In California's beach paradise they do everything under the sun. There's trouble (and plenty of fun) in paradise in this Season 2 collection of the smash-hit series set in Orange County's posh Newport Beach. Hook up with what's coming down as the core-four romances of Ryan-and-Marissa and Seth-and-Summer may (or may not) go from very over to very on; Sandy and Kirsten face choices that could trainwreck their 20-year

• Backlash | DVD | (11/05/2009) from £18.88   |  Saving you £-2.89 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Legendary Hollywood director John Sturges breathed new life into the western and brought it to another level of greatness with landmark movies such The Magnificent Seven and Gunfight At The O.K Corral. He also proved himself to be master of action/drama with the equally iconic The Eagle Has Landed and The Great Escape. John Sturges expertly manages to bring all these elements together for Backlash a highly original unconventional western brimming with tense violent action and a plot riddled with mystery and suspense. Backlash features Richard Widmark the menacing and unforgettable star of film noir masterpieces such as Kiss Of Death and Panic In The Streets. Co-stars accomplished actress Donna Reed most renowned for her popular roles in It''s A Wonderful Life and From Here To Eternity. Backlash tells the story of one man''s journey in search of his estranged father and one woman''s attempt to discover the truth behind the disappearance of her husband both of whom were possibly the victims of a brutal Apache massacre. But the Arizona desert is a harsh merciless and unforgiving landscape filled with deadly secrets and few survivors.

• The Exorcist - Director's Cut | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success of The French Connection, and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to make The Exorcist as his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controversial best-seller, this shocking 1973 thriller set an intense and often-copied milestone for screen terror with its unflinching depiction of a young girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by an evil spirit. Jason Miller and Max von Sydow are perfectly cast as the priests who risk their sanity and their lives to administer the rites of demonic exorcism, and Ellen Burstyn plays Blair's mother, who can only stand by in horror as her daughter's body is wracked by satanic disfiguration. One of the most frightening films ever made, The Exorcist was mysteriously plagued by troubles during production, and the years have not diminished its capacity to disturb even the most stoical viewers. --Jeff Shannon

• Brief Encounter | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Noel Coward's timeless movie of a couple who meet in a railway station and must make a decision that will change their lives forever.

• A Cry In The Dark | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A family torn apart. A public filled with outrage. A woman accused of murder. Based on true events Fred Schepisi's film stars Sam Neill and Meryl Streep as an Australian couple who are accused of murder when their claims that their baby was taken by a dingo in the outback fall under suspicion...