"Actor: Jack Ha"

• Swallows And Amazons | DVD | (25/07/2016) from £4.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (260.52%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The Railway Children (1970) and Swallows and Amazons (1974) are perfect bedfellows: two classic children's novels, simply and faithfully adapted for the big screen. Together they evoke a poignant nostalgia for the periods in which they are set--Edwardian and 1920s England, respectively--and for the childhood of anyone who has grown up watching them. Sentimentality reigns, of course, but it's never cloying. The truthfulness of the juvenile performances, balanced with restrained sympathy from the adults, sees to that. Flourishing under Lionel Jeffries' delicate direction, Jenny Agutter dominates The Railway Children as the oldest daughter of a family thrown on hard times when their father is wrongly sent to prison. They avert a train disaster, save an imperilled steeple chaser and reunite an exiled Russian with his wife, all with equal enterprise. Happy endings prevail after every crisis. And no number of repeat viewings can ever diminish the impact of father's return. One of the most expert tear-duct work-outs in film history, it hits the spot every time. Perhaps the lack of such a pivotal scene has kept Swallows and Amazons in the relative shade. But its gentle appeal survives with equal charm, not least in the resourcefulness of the eponymous children and the period detail. Together this pairing makes a double bill to treasure, and a piquant reminder that Disney doesn't have a complete monopoly on the rich heritage of children's cinema. On the DVD: The Railway Children and Swallows and Amazons is presented in standard 4:3 picture format, from so-so prints, and with acceptable mono soundtracks. Both films envelope the viewer in a comforting Sunday-afternoon haze. There are no extras, apart from scene indexes. --Piers Ford

• Coupling - Complete Series 1-4 Box Set (Special Collectors Edition) | DVD | (16/08/2004) from £47.70   |  Saving you £2.29 (4.80%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Two's Company. Three's a crowd. So what do you do with six? Who do you know who is over thirty sort-of-single and has a satisfying regular sex-life? Anyone? Being single isn't easy. But at least you've got your friends. But what happens when one of your friends falls in love with one of your friends' friends? This funny up-front series about love and lust amongst thirtysomethings centres around Susan and Steve - two lively sexy funny people who get together and start going out. Featuring series 1 to 4 of the hit BBC sitcom!

• Train Of Events | DVD | (02/02/2009) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Four different perspectives of a train disaster are told through a quartet of short stories.

• The Fox And The Hound | DVD | (15/10/2001) from £6.26   |  Saving you £13.73 (219.33%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of Disney's less popular animated movies, for absolutely no good reason at all, because it's an excellent story, simply and expertly told. The box blurb rather confusingly compares it to Bambi, but this is a story which has rather more to do with how social conventions can divide friendships than the coming-of-age subtext which underlies the latter. The story is perhaps predictable--a fox cub and a puppy play together as friends, not realising that their places in the scheme of things dictate that they will grow up to become hunter and hunted. Of course, eventually they see the light and it all ends happily, but even so the story promotes the importance of tolerance. The master-stroke, however, is the gradually evolving realisation that the aggressive prejudices which we all stand to inherit from society are nothing more that the products of stupidity and manipulation, and should be treated with the contempt they deserve. Good stuff for kids and adults alike. Trivia buffs might like to know that this is one of the films Tim Burton worked on at Disney, his first job after graduating from college. --Roger Thomas

• Excess Baggage | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £6.97   |  Saving you £-0.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Alicia Silverstone was so hot after the success of Clueless that she formed her own production company at the age of 19, and Excess Baggage was the first movie she chose as a starring vehicle. Silverstone plays Emily, a spoiled rich girl who has everything but her father's affection, so she decides to stage her own kidnapping to see if dad will come to his senses and appreciate the daughter he so blindly disregards. But when Emily locks herself in the trunk of her own car, she's surprised when the car is stolen by Vincent (Benicio Del Toro, from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), a professional car thief whose partner (Harry Connick Jr.) has misplaced 200,000 dollars of the Mob's money. Christopher Walken stars as Emily's "Uncle Ray," who's hot on her trail as she goes on the lam with Vincent. It's not the meandering plot that matters so much as the funny dialogue between Silverstone and Del Toro, who steals his scenes with a smoky mumble and easygoing charm. Excess Baggage is mostly for Alicia fans, but the film has got enough good laughs and low-key appeal to make it a home-video sleeper. --Jeff Shannon

• Heroes Reborn | Blu Ray | (09/05/2016) from £17.99   |  Saving you £-2.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.09

  Experience the epic 13-episode event series, Heroes Reborn, from the creator, Tim Kring, who imagined the global phenomenon, Heroes series. Heroes Reborn begins a year ago, in Odessa, Texas after a terrorist attack leaves the city decimated. Those with extraordinary abilities are blamed for this tragic event forcing them into hiding or on the run from those with evil motives. For better or for worse, some are fated to cross paths with the original heroes from the past, including Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and The Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis), among others. Yet, together, their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world and mankind. Bonus Features: Deleted Scenes Heroes Reborn: Reliving The Legacy Dark Matters Webisodes

• Rulers of the City | Blu Ray | (24/03/2025) from £15.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tony (Harry Baer, Fox and His Friends), a debt collector for a small-time Roman boss, dreams of making it big. He meets Rick (Al Cliver, Zombie Flesh Eaters) and decides to back him up in order to screw over an American gangster, called Scarface Manzari (Jack Palance, Batman), who monopolizes all the crime in the city. But Rick is driven by revenge on Manzari because he had treacherously killed his father after a robbery years earlier. An Italian crime classic from Fernando Di Leo (The Boss), Rulers of the City features his trademark violence and action with a strain of dark humour producing one of the filmmaker's most enjoyable slices of Eurocrime. Newly restored in 4K it is presented on Blu-ray in the UK for the first time.

• Tales That Witness Madness | DVD | (29/02/2016) from £9.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Stroll down the corridors of a mental asylum, where your mind won't believe what your eyes see. In the tradition of Tales from the Crypt and Creepshow.. This anthology of pulp horror tales, helmed by the ever- reliable horror master, Freddie Francis (Dr. Terror's House of Horrors). The film features a quartet of eerie vignettes involving four patients in the care of psychiatrist Donald Pleasance (Halloween), who attempting to justify his strange theories of colleague, Jack Hawkins (Theatre of Blood). The all-star cast includes Kim Novak, Joan Collins, Peter McEnery and Suzy Kendall.

• Coupling: Complete Series 4 | DVD | (16/08/2004) from £8.55   |  Saving you £11.44 (133.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Coupling Season 4: feel free to insert your own "four-play" joke, or for that matter, your own "insert" joke. Sex is still topic 1 for the intertwined group of "exes and best friends", but in this pivotal season there are momentous "relationship issues" that will upend all their lives (insert your own "upend" joke while you're at it). Susan is pregnant, inspiring in Steve nightmares about his own execution and unflattering comparisons of the birth process to John Hurt's iconic gut-busting scene in Alien. Missing in action is the Kramer-esque Jeff (although he makes something of a return in the season finale). Joining the ensemble is Oliver, who is more in the Chandler mode as a lovable loser with the ladies. These inevitable comparisons to "Sein-Friends" are no doubt heresy to Coupling's most devoted viewers. Indeed, this series does benefit from creator and sole writer Steven Moffat's comic voice and vision. He provides his ever-game cast some witty, funny-‘cause-it's-true dialogue, as in Oliver's observation that "Tea isn't compatible with porn". This Britcom is also less inhibited in language and sexual situations than its American counterparts. In the cleverly-constructed opening episode, in which the same "9-1/2 Minutes" are witnessed from three different perspectives, Sally and Jane can do what was left to the imagination when Monica and Rachel offered to make out in front of Joey and Chandler. The birth of Susan and Steven's baby ends the six-episode season on a satisfying and surprisingly moving grace note. A bonus disc takes viewers behind the scenes with segments devoted to bloopers and interviews with cast and crew. --Donald Liebenson

• The Osbournes - The First Series | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £33.99   |  Saving you £-16.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The first series of The Osbournes is a hilarious fly-on-the-wall documentary concerning the day-to-day domestic misadventures of Ozzy Osbourne (former frontman of Black Sabbath), his relatively sensible wife Sharon and their kids Jack and Kelly. Having made his millions and been to rock & roll hell and back, Ozzy seems content nowadays to put his feet up in the sofa of the kitchen of his palatial Beverly Hills abode. However, a host of problems--including poorly toilet-trained domestic pets, noisy neighbours, his continuing obligations as an ageing metal superstar, his inability to operate the state-of-the-art telly and his ever-quarrelsome kids flapping fractiously about the place--forbid him a moment of peace. This real-life sitcom fodder has led many to describe the Osbourne family as "dysfunctional"--however, despite the generous helpings of expletives with which the series is garnished, like The Simpsons, they're actually a loving and stable family unit underneath it all. The series isn't perfect--the stylised MTV treatment is occasionally obtrusive and more Ozzy and less of the career-hungry teen brats would be welcome. Still, it's a gloriously refreshing change from the usual bland evasiveness of celebrity profiles. On the DVD: The Osbournes boasts a welter of wittily packaged special features. These include a commentary track ("Aww, look at Kelly, being nice! Can't we have that Kelly back?"), an "Ozzy translator" (English subtitles) for the benefit of those bamboozled by his Brummy accent and "Ozzy's Ten Commandments" delivered impromptu by the great man, tidied up into biblical-speak in the subtitles ("Thou shall cling tight to the moneybelt of thy father"). Although Sharon declares that she's "worried about the oranges" on the DVD, she needn't be. Given that this is a transfer from video, it looks clean and pristine, necessarily so in that it enhances the colourful, almost cartoon air of the series. Sound wise, there are no problems either, despite the competing setbacks of thick accents, background music, "voices off" and barking. Everything is picked up, from offhand grunted remarks to ear-splitting tantrums. --David Stubbs

• The Long Arm | DVD | (11/02/2008) from £7.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Ealing Police Drama - The True Inside Story Of Scotland Yard's Crime Busters.

• One Body too Many | DVD | (13/10/2014) from £9.43   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• A Star Is Born - 2 Disc Special Edition | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £10.35   |  Saving you £3.64 (35.17%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A musical remake of the classic 1937 film of the same name, A Star is Born was designed as Judy Garland's comeback vehicle after she had been cruelly axed by MGM studios for professional unreliability. Her erratic moods caused serious production delays this time around, too, but the behind-the-scenes turmoil was certainly worth it--Garland gives just about the greatest one-woman show in movie history. The story is the stuff of pure Hollywood legend. Aspiring actress-singer Esther Blodgett meets fading matinee idol Norman Maine (James Mason), who navigates her to stardom under the more melodious handle of Vickie Lester. As she rises meteorically, he declines into alcoholic self-pity--and the result, if you haven't guessed, is plenty of heartbreak. Mason lends subtle support in a role Cary Grant refused as too downbeat for his image, but Garland grabs centre stage with an all-out emotional performance that rivets the attention. Director George Cukor was famous for coaxing the very best out of screen divas, and A Star is Born must be counted as his crowning achievement. The lush visual style that he contributes provides a suitable setting for Garland's deep, rich voice--throbbing with melancholy in the Harold Arlen-Ira Gershwin ballad "The Man That Got Away", then capering joyfully in the gargantuan musical number "Born in a Trunk". Moss Hart's script takes many cynical swipes at the pretensions of Tinsel Town--perhaps too many for the taste of studio boss Jack Warner, who ordered drastic cuts in the film after its premiere. --Peter Matthews

• Batman | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.98   |  Saving you £10.27 (276.08%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Thanks to the ambitious vision of director Tim Burton, the blockbuster hit of 1989 delivers the goods despite an occasionally spotty script, giving the caped crusader a thorough overhaul in keeping with the crime fighter's evolution in DC Comics. Michael Keaton strikes just the right mood as the brooding "Dark Knight" of Gotham City; Kim Basingerplays Gotham's intrepid reporter Vicki Vale; and Jack Nicholson goes wild as the maniacal and scene-stealing Joker, who plots a take over of the city with his lethal Smilex gas. Triumphant Oscar-winning production design by the late Anton Furst turns Batman into a visual feast, and Burton brilliantly establishes a darkly mythic approach to Batman's legacy. Danny Elfman's now-classic score propels the action with bold, muscular verve. --Jeff Shannon

• The Swan Princess | DVD | (01/03/2005) from £8.06   |  Saving you £4.93 (61.17%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Swan Princess (based on the classic fairy tale of Swan Lake) is a musical fantasy set in a mythical time filled with majestic castles forbidden forests enchanted animals and a wicked sorcerer. The young lovers Prince Derek and Princess Odette the evil Rothbart and Odette's hilarious animal friends are brought to life by a team of brilliant animators and a cast of high calibre actors including John Cleese Steven Wright and Jack Palance. The Swan Princess brims with magic ad

• The Transformers: The Movie - Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (25/10/2021) from £11.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Autobots, led by the heroic Optimus Prime, prepare to make a daring attempt to retake their planet from the evil forces of Megatron and the Decepticons. Unknown to both sides, a menacing force is heading their way Unicron. The only hope of stopping Unicfron lies within the Matrix of Leadership and the Autobot who can rise up and use its power to light their darkest hour. Will the Autobots be able to save their native planet from destruction or will the Decepticons reign supreme?

• Gallipoli | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £5.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.95%)   |  RRP £15.99

• The Wizard of Oz: Limited Edition Anniversary Collection | Blu Ray | (11/11/2019) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  For the first time ever remastered in 4K Ultra HD! Own The Wizard of Oz film alongside the CD soundtrack in this truly unique 80th Anniversary boxset. Showcased in a stunning pop-up design, this collection contains 4 discs (4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray feature, Blu-ray special features, and CD soundtrack), a set of premium art cards, a reproduction of the original film poster, and the marvellous map of Oz. One of the best-loved movies of all time. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) stars Judy Garland as Dorothy, a young Kansas farm girl who is whisked away by a twister to the land of Oz. Accompanied by a brainless Scarecrow, a heartless Tin Man and a cowardly Lion. Dorothy and her little dog, Toto, follow the Yellow Brick Road seeking the Wizard of Oz. In order that he may grant her wish to return home.

• Beyond Skyline | Blu Ray | (08/01/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Get ready for intense sci-fi action adventure with Beyond Skyline, the stand-alone sequel to 2010 hit Skyline. Los Angeles Detective Mark Corley (Frank Grillo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) thought bailing out his eighteen-year-old son, Trent (Jonny Weston, Taken 3), was the worst part of his day. But on the ride home, the skies above fill with a strange blue light. Within moments, the entire city's population is vacuumed up into a massive alien ship including his son. In the aftermath, the resilient Mark and a few survivors encounter a highly skilled resistance force in South East Asia, led by the deadly Sua (Iko Uwais, The Raid 1 & 2). In a race against time, these warriors from different sides of the world must unite to save their families and take back the planet.

• Father Brown Series 9 | Blu Ray | (14/02/2022) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A