"Actor: James Au"

• The Russia House | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Intelligent casting, strong performances and the persuasive chemistry between Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer prove the virtues in director Fred Schepisi's well-intended but problematic screen realization of this John Le Carré espionage thriller. At its best, The Russia House depicts the bittersweet nuances of the pivotal affair between a weary, alcoholic London publisher (Connery) and the mysterious Russian beauty (Pfeiffer) who sends him a fateful manuscript exposing the weaknesses beneath Soviet defence technology. Connery's Barley is a gritty, all-too-human figure who's palpably revived by his awakening feelings for Pfeiffer's wan, vulnerable Katya, whose own reciprocal emotions are equally convincing. Together, they weave a poignant romantic duet. The problems, meanwhile, emanate from the story line that brings these opposites together. Le Carré's novels are absorbing but typically internal odysseys that seldom offer the level of straightforward action or simple arcs of plot that the big screen thrives on. For The Russia House, written as glasnost eclipsed the cold war's overt rivalries, Le Carré means to measure how old adversaries must calibrate their battle to a more subtle, subdued match of wits. Barley himself becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the manuscript because British intelligence chooses to use him as cat's paw rather than become directly involved. Such subtlety may be a more realistic take on the spy games of the recent past but it makes for an often tedious, talky alternative to taut heroics that Connery codified in his most celebrated early espionage role. If the suspense thus suffers, we're still left with an affecting love story, as well as some convincing sniping between British and US intelligence operatives, beautifully cast with James Fox, Roy Scheider and John Mahoney. Veteran playwright Tom Stoppard brings considerable style to the dialogue, without solving the problem of giving us more than those verbal exchanges to sustain dramatic interest. --Sam Sutherland

• Elvis - Loving You | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Digitally re-mastered for superior sound and picture quality Lovin’ You is a genuine Elvis classic and an absolute “must have” for any true fan of the undisputed King of Rock’n’Roll from the days when he was lean mean and magnificent and had a hip wiggle that drove the girls crazy. Only Presley’s second ever feature film and his first in colour this rocking romance uncannily mirrors Elvis’s own explosion onto the music scene and rocket ride to fame and fortune. His raw animal prescence leaps sensationally from the screen in the all-singing all-dancing story of a humble delivery boy turned rock’n’roll star Deke Rivers – featuring the hit songs Teddy Bear Got A Lot Of Lovin’ To Do Hot Dog Mean Woman Blues Party and of course the tender ballad Lovin’ You. First released in the cinema in 1957 the movie showed Elvis had genuine acting talent with his gritty and emotional portrayal of a simple country boy catapulted to stardom. Interestingly two versions of the title song were recorded for the film and although two versions are on the Complete Fifties Masters both are shorter than the 2 minutes 12 seconds on-screen version here!

• Doris Day | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £16.32   |  Saving you £33.67 (206.31%)   |  RRP £49.99

  A collection of six classic Doris Day movies in one bumper value box set! Young At Heart (1955) Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra) is a cynical down-on-his-luck musician who reluctantly agrees to help his composer friend Alex Burke (Gig Young) with a new comedy he is working on. However Barney gains a new perspective on life and love when he meets Alex's irrepressibly perky fiancee Laurie (Doris Day) - and promptly falls in love with her! Lover Come Back (1961) Account ex

• Henry V | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £6.54   |  Saving you £3.45 (52.75%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Very few first-time film directors would have been capable of making such a triumphant adaptation of Henry V; but a still-youthful Kenneth Branagh's years of stage experience paid off handsomely and his 1989 version qualifies as a genuine masterpiece, the kind of film that comes along once in a decade. He eschews the theatricality of Laurence Olivier's stirring, fondly remembered 1945 adaptation to establish his own rules: Branagh plays it down and dirty, seeing the Bard's play through revisionist eyes, framing it as an anti-war story in contrast to Olivier's patriotic spectacle. Branagh gives us harsh close-ups of muddied, bloody men, and of himself as Henry, his hardened mouth and wilful eyes revealing much about the personal cost of war. Not that the director-star doesn't provide lighter moments: his scenes introducing the French Princess Katherine (Emma Thompson) trying to learn English quickly from her maid are delightful. What may be the crowning glory of Branagh's adaptation comes when the dazed leader wanders across the battlefield, not even sure who has won. As King Hal carries a dead boy (a young Christian Bale) over the hacked bodies of both the English and French, a panorama of blood and mud and death greet the viewer as Branagh opens up the scene and Patrick Doyle's rousing hymn "Non nobis, Domine" provides marvellous counterpoint (like the director, the composer was another filmic first-timer). A more potent expression of the price of victory could scarcely be imagined. --Rochelle O'Gorman, Amazon.com

• Sex, Chips And Rock 'n' Roll | DVD | (08/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Sex, Chips and Rock 'n' Roll spins a complex web of secret loves and twisted ambitions against the backdrop of the early British music scene. It's a rock n' roll soap opera, but it's smartly written and engagingly acted, full of subtle commentary on the cultural changes cutting across British society. Manchester in 1965 seems like a dead end to two sisters, flirty Arden (Emma Cooke) and bookish Ellie Brookes (Gillian Kearney). They ache to get out from under the thumb of their domineering grandmother (Sue Johnston), and when their cousin Norman (David Threlfall) proposes to Ellie, she accepts. But just then the sisters meet a struggling band called the Ice Cubes, who grudgingly play back-up for a smarmy singer named Larry B Cool (Phil Daniels) while trying to land a record deal. Arden throws herself at the group's leader, Dallas (Joseph McFadden), but Dallas finds himself drawn more to Ellie, who's also an aspiring songwriter. From there the multi-dimensional characters take unexpected turns, and you'll quickly find yourself drawn into their lives. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6 | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Season six of Buffy's exciting vampire vanquishing adventures. Episodes Comprise: 1. Bargaining - Part 1 2. Bargaining - Part 2 3. After Life 4. Flooded 5. Life Serial 6. All The Way 7. Once More With Feeling 8. Tabula Rasa 9. Smashed 10. Wrecked 11. Gone 12. Doublemeat Palace 13. Dead Things 14. Older And Far Away 15. As You Were 16. Hell's Bells 17. Normal Again 18. Entropy 19. Seeing Red 20. Villains 21. Two To Go 22. Grave

• Trainspotting | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £6.18   |  Saving you £15.07 (306.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The film that effectively launched the star careers of Robert Carlyle, Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller is a hard, barbed picaresque, culled from the bestseller by Irvine Welsh and thrown down against the heroin hinterlands of Edinburgh. Directed with abandon by Danny Boyle, Trainspotting conspires to be at once a hip youth flick and a grim cautionary fable. Released on an unsuspecting public in 1996, the picture struck a chord with audiences worldwide and became adopted as an instant symbol of a booming British rave culture (an irony, given the characters' main drug of choice is heroin not ecstasy).McGregor, Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner play a slouching trio of Scottish junkies; Carlyle their narcotic-eschewing but hard-drinking and generally psychotic mate Begbie. In Boyle's hands, their lives unfold in a rush of euphoric highs, blow-out overdoses and agonising withdrawals (all cued to a vogueish pop soundtrack). Throughout it all, John Hodge's screenplay strikes a delicate balance between acknowledging the inherent pleasures of drug use and spotlighting its eventual consequences. In Trainspotting's world view, it all comes down to a question of choices--between the dangerous Day-Glo highs of the addict and the grey, grinding consumerism of the everyday Joe. "Choose life", quips the film's narrator (McGregor) in a monologue that was to become a mantra. "Choose a job, choose a starter home... But why would anyone want to do a thing like that?" Ultimately, Trainspotting's wised-up, dead-beat inhabitants reject mainstream society in favour of a headlong rush to destruction. It makes for an exhilarating, energised and frequently terrifying trip that blazes with more energy and passion than a thousand more ostensibly life-embracing movies. --Xan Brooks

• The Breed | DVD | (09/10/2003) from £6.98   |  Saving you £-0.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  With a hot cast and a sexy look 'The Breed' puts a stylish twist on the classic vampire tale. FBI Agent Steven Grant (Woodbine) is reluctantly assigned to track a renegade bloodsucker that is bent on exposing a government plan to integrate vampires into society. Along with his new partner 'good' vampire cop Aaron Grey (Paul) Grant follows the clues and the bodies to the lair of the stunningly beautiful Lucy (Ling). Trusting any vampire is difficult for Grant but when he finds hi

• Destry Rides Again | DVD | (04/06/2007) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Destry Rides Again will forever be remembered for Marlene Dietrich's performance as Frenchy a crooked saloon waitress with a heart of gold. Her rendition of ""See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have"" is one of the highlights of her career. But Destry Rides Again has much more to offer than just Dietrich's performance. This hilarious satire carries Jimmy Stewart in the lead as Tom Destry a supposedly tough law enforcement man who doesn't like guns. Stewart's comic touches are brilliant as he eagerly gives out educational anecdotes anytime an opportunity affords itself. The plot concerns the efforts of a saloon owner and a corrupt Mayor to rob the local cowpokes blind. Frenchy's on the payroll of the bad guys but when sparks fly between her and Destry her loyalty becomes a deciding factor in whether it's Destry or the bad guys who will ride off into the sunset.

• Lord of the Flies (The Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In this classic 1963 adaptation of William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, a planeload of schoolboys are stranded on a tropical island. They've got food and water; all that's left is to govern themselves peacefully until they are rescued. "After all", says choir leader Jack, "We're English. We're the best in the world at everything!" Unfortunately, living peacefully is not as easy as it seems. Though Ralph is named chief, Jack and the choristers quickly form a clique of their own, using the ever-effective political promise of fun rather than responsibility to draw converts. Director Peter Brook draws some excellent performances out of his young cast: the moment when Ralph realises that even if he blows the conch for a meeting people might not come is an excruciating one. Well acted and faithfully executed, Lord of the Flies is as compelling today as when first released. --Ali Davis

• Primeval | DVD | (19/03/2007) from £6.29   |  Saving you £13.70 (217.81%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When strange anomalies in time start to appear all over England Professor Cutter and his team have to help track down and capture all sorts of dangerous prehistoric creatures from Earth's distant past.

• Blood From The Mummy's Tomb | DVD | (11/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  A British expedition team in Egypt discovers the ancient sealed tomb of the evil Queen Tera. But when one of the archaeologists steals a mysterious ring from the corpse's severed hand he unleashes a relentless curse upon his beautiful daughter. Is the voluptuous young woman now a reincarnation of the diabolical sorceress or has the curse of the mummy returned to reveal its horrific revenge? Andrew Keir and the luscious Valerie Leon star in this supernatural shocker based on Bram Stoker's classic novel 'Jewel Of The Seven Stars'.

• The Definitive Ealing Studios Collection | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £149.95   |  Saving you £-109.95 (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.00

  A box set featuring 16 of the finest efforts from the house of Ealing. 1. Champagne Charlie (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1944) 2. Dead of Night (Dirs. Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton 1945) 3. Hue & Cry (Dir. Charles Crichton 1947) 4. It Always Rains on Sunday (Dir. Robert Hamer 1947) 5. Kind Hearts and Coronets (Dir. Robert Hamer 1949) 6. The Ladykillers (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1955) 7. The Lavender Hill Mob (Dir. Charles Crichton 1951) 8. The Maggie (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1954) 9. The Magnet (Dir. Charles Frend 1950) 10. The Man in The White Suit (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1951) 11. Nicholas Nickelby (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1947) 12. Passport To Pimlico (Dir. Henry Cornelius 1949) 13. Scott of The Antarctic (Dir. Charles Frend 1948) 14. The Titfield Thunderbolt (Dir. Charles Crichton 1953) 15. Went The Day Well? (Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1942) 16. Whisky Galore (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick 1949)

• Boston Legal: Season 1 | DVD | (24/07/2006) from £11.99   |  Saving you £28.00 (70.00%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the courtroom... Created by TV genius David E. Kelley and led by an Emmy Award-winning cast Boston Legal tells the professional and personal stories of a group of brilliant but often emotionally challenged attorneys. Fast-paced and darkly comedic the series confronts social and moral issues while its characters continually stretch the boundaries of the law. This spin-off of The Practice features all the episo

• The Professionals: Mkiii | Blu Ray | (30/03/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Long-awaited long-overdue: The Professionals as you have never seen them before. Bodie and Doyle need little by way of introduction but if the series had at all escaped you since its debut in 1977 their boss George Cowley head of CI5 couldn't put it more succinctly than his opening gambit: anarchy acts of terror crimes against the public. To combat it I've got special men – experts from the army the police from every service. These are The Professionals. Featuring the perfect ensemble cast of Martin Shaw Gordon Jackson (completely against type here) and the much-missed Lewis Collins the series ran for 57 action-packed episodes and made an immediate impact on British and then international audiences which has sustained 35 years. But the series has never looked this good. Painstakingly restored from the camera-original negatives the series could have been made yesterday. No matter how many times you have seen The Professionals this is a new experience like seeing it for the first time. Features: Brand-new High Definition restorations of all 13 episodes in series three from the camera-original negatives. Brand-new 5.1 tracks from original sound elements. Remastered original as-broadcast mono tracks. Remastered music-only tracks featuring Laurie Johnson's original scores. HD photo galleries featuring hundreds of rare and previously unseen images. Exclusive book of programme notes authored by TV historian Andrew Pixley which documents the complete production history for the 13 episodes in series three. All episodes are presented in their original production order. PDF material featuring scripts and memorabilia. English HOH subtitles

• Boston Legal - Series 4 - Complete | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £14.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (133.42%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Boston Legal is back with Season 4 Created by TV genius David E. Kelley and led by an Emmy Award-winning cast Boston Legal tells the professional and personal stories of a group of brilliant but often emotionally challenged attorneys. Fast-paced and darkly comedic the series confronts social and moral issues while its characters continually stretch the boundaries of the law.

• Venus In Furs | DVD | (28/01/2013) from £6.79   |  Saving you £3.20 (47.13%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Erotic shocker by cult director Jess Franco featuring a jazz score by Manfred Mann. James Darren stars as Jimmy Logan a jazz trumpeter in the throes of a breakdown who is sucked into a perverse mire of pyscho-sexual horror after finding the dead body of a girl he had watched being stripped and whipped the previous evening at a party. Now Jimmy along with his sultry girlfriend a kinky lesbian a depraved playboy and the mysterious and insatiable beauty Wanda Reed (Maria Rohm) begin a journey that may well lead them all straight to hell...

• The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland | DVD | (12/06/2018) from £22.88   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Mr Smith Goes To Washington | DVD | (26/02/2001) from £19.94   |  Saving you £0.05 (0.25%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Frank Capra's bright, funny and beautifully paced satire Mr Smith Goes to Washington political heavyweights decide that Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), an obscure scoutmaster in a small town, would be the perfect dupe to fill a vacant US Senate chair. Surely this naïve bumpkin can be easily controlled by the senior senator (Claude Rains) from his state, a respectable yet corrupted career politician. Capra fills the film with Smith's wide-eyed wonder at the glories of Washington, all of which ring false for his cynical secretary (Jean Arthur) who doesn't believe for a minute this rube could be for real. But he is. Capra was repeating the formula of a previous film, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, but this one is even sharper. Stewart and Arthur are brilliant, and the former cowboy-star Harry Carey lends a warm presence to the role of the vice-president. Mr Smith Goes to Washington is Capra's ode to the power of innocence--an idea so potent that present-day audiences may find themselves wishing for a new Mr Smith in the halls of power. The 1939 US Congress was none too thrilled about the film's depiction of their august body, denouncing it as a caricature; but even today, Capra's jibes about vested interests and political machines look as accurate as ever. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

• Charade | Blu Ray | (20/02/2017) from £15.59   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Audrey Hepburn plays a Parisienne whose husband is murdered and who finds she is being followed by four men seeking the fortune her late spouse had hidden away. Cary Grant is the stranger who comes to her aid but his real motives aren't entirely clear--could he even be the killer? The 1963 film is directed by Stanley Donen but it has been called "Hitchcockian" for good reason: the possible duplicities between lovers, the unspoken agendas between a man and woman sharing secrets. Charade is nowhere as significant as a Hitchcock film but suspense-wise it holds its own; and Donen's glossy production lends itself to the welcome experience of stargazing. One wants Cary Grant to be Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn to be no one but Audrey Hepburn in a Hollywood product such as this, and they certainly don't let us down.--Tom Keogh