"Actor: James G"

• Elf | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £3.28   |  Saving you £7.97 (394.55%)   |  RRP £9.99

  After growing too big for his elf community, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to New York in search of his true identity.

• Desert Fox, The / The Desert Rats | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £14.35   |  Saving you £0.64 (4.46%)   |  RRP £14.99

  James Mason plays Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in both The Desert Fox (1951) and The Desert Rats (1953), a WWII double-bill on DVD. The Desert Fox, released six years after the end of the War, is a solemnly respectful tribute to Erwin Rommel, Germany's most celebrated military genius. James Mason's portrayal of this gallant warrior became a highlight of his career iconography. The film itself is oddly disjointed, though: a pre-credit commando raid to liquidate Rommel is followed by a flashback to the field-marshal's lightning successes commanding the Afrika Korps--a compressed account via documentary footage and copious narration (spoken by Michael Rennie, who also dubs Desmond Young, the Rommel biographer and one-time British POW appearing briefly as himself). The dramatic core is Rommel's growing disenchantment with Hitler (Luther Adler), his involvement in the plot to assassinate the Fuhrer, and his subsequent martyrdom. The Desert Rats stars Richard Burton in only his second Hollywood role (between Oscar-nominated turns in My Cousin Rachel and The Robe), as a Scottish commando put in charge of a battalion of the 9th Australian Division defending Tobruk. The Aussies don't like him, and with a year of grim North African duty already under his belt, he's not too crazy about his new responsibilities either. The outfit is charged with staving off the battering assaults of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel for two months, to give the British Army time to regroup in Cairo and prepare for a counterattack. In the end, the "desert rats" play hell with the Desert Fox for 242 days, during which time they and their commander develop some mutual respect. This is a solid, workmanlike World War II picture that, having been made in 1953 rather than 1943, can acknowledge a degree of eccentric humanity and soldierly professionalism in the enemy. Featured guest star James Mason reprises his Rommel from The Desert Fox, playing all his scenes in German except for a scene of ironical repartee with Burton. Another distinguished Brit, Robert Newton, gets costar billing as a boozy, self-confessed coward who used to be Burton's schoolmaster. However, a goodly number of Australians--including Chips Rafferty and Charles "Bud" Tingwell rate at least as much screen time. Robert Wise directed, with a trimness that reminds us he started out as an editor, and the pungent black-and-white cinematography is by Lucien Ballard. --Richard T. Jameson

• Jumanji | DVD | (18/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When young Alan Parrish and his friend Sarah (Bonnie Hunt) begin to play a mysterious board game they don't realise its unimaginable powers until Alan is magically transported into the untamed jungles of Jumanji. Twenty-six years later Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) discover the dusty board and reawaken the game as they begin to play. Instantly the forces of Jumanji release a fully-grown bewildered Alan Parrish (Robin Williams) into their world. With each roll of

• The Gruffalo's Child - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler Collection | DVD | (11/02/2019) from £10.73   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This collection brings together the much-loved family films based on the wonderful books written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The Gruffalo's Child is the tale of the brave little Gruffalo who ignores her father's warnings and tiptoes out into the snow in search of the Big Bad Mouse. She meets Snake, Owl and Fox but no sign of the fabled Mouse. He doesn't really exist... or does he? Featuring the voices of Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Robbie Coltrane, James Corden, Shirley Henderson, John Hurt and Tom Wilkinson. Also available in the collection: The Gruffalo, Room On The Broom, Stick Man, The Highway Rat and Zog.

• The Lost Prince | DVD | (20/01/2003) from £6.12   |  Saving you £9.87 (161.27%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A marvellous reinvention of the costume epic, The Lost Prince is Stephen Poliakoff's absorbing study of the turbulent years leading up to and during the First World War, seen through the percipient eyes of a scarcely remembered royal child. Extensively researched, impeccably cast, beautifully filmed, written and directed by Poliakoff himself with masterly economy and restraint, this is a timely reminder that original, intelligent drama can work as prime time entertainment while appealing on multiple levels; and there isn't an escaped soap star in sight. Johnnie, the prince kept hidden away by his parents Queen Mary and George V for fear that his epileptic fits and idiosyncratic ways might draw unwelcome attention, is not presented as a tragic figure. His view of the great events which shatter his family and change the world forever is direct and uncluttered. Poliakoff celebrates his apartness--and that of all children who are different--as a force for good, without judging the standards, protocols and contemporary medical theories which kept him on the periphery of society. The series makes the most of its well-chosen locations, and from Johnnie's garden at Sandringham to the assassination of the Russian imperial family, it maintains a hypnotic and elegiac quality The acting is first-rate, too. Gina McKee is profoundly moving as Johnnie's devoted nurse Lalla; and Miranda Richardson's Mary is an extraordinary performance, the controlled façade of single-minded focus occasionally fracturing to reveal a flash of humanity. This production is exquisite in every respect. On the DVD: The Lost Prince is presented in its original transmission format of 16:9. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, enhanced by Adrian Johnston's haunting score is crystal clear. Extras include Poliakoff's revealing commentary, with occasional input from Johnston and designer John-Paul Kelly, and a couple of documentary fragments which show the production in progress and place it in context with the rest of Poliakoff's work. --Piers Ford

• STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES COMP RE-PA | DVD | (16/06/2014) from £56.99   |  Saving you £-12.86 (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.13

  All Three of the origanal seasons of Star Trek.

• Gavin And Stacey - Series 1-3 And 2008 Christmas Special | Blu Ray | (07/12/2009) from £18.95   |  Saving you £21.04 (111.03%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Gavin is an ordinary boy from Billericay in Essex Stacey is an ordinary girl from Barry Island in South Wales. After months of speaking on the phone to each other at work they finally meet fall in love and get married. Series One: Falling in love causes a ripple effect on Gavin and Stacey's family and friends. And as their wedding day approaches we soon come to realise that there's nothing 'ordinary' about the Shipmans and the Wests after all... Series Two: The honeymoon is over for Gavin and Stacey and married life begins in earnest. But as Nessa and Smithy prepare for a big event of their own Stacey is missing Barry Island more than she could've imagined. Series Three: Gavin and Stacey are back with the gang from Barry and Billericay for more fun and laughter in Series 3 of the hit BBC series. Christmas Special: It's Christmas time and the Welsh contingent have been invited to celebrate the festive season with the Shipmans. So with the help of Dave and his coach; the West's head East. Dawn and Pete have come round for Christmas Eve drinks and Pete's brought his aged mum. Mick has an enormous turkey soaking in a bucket Bryn has his mistletoe on standby and Pam has a cracker of a present under the tree for Mick.

• The Lavender Hill Mob | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £7.09   |  Saving you £9.90 (139.63%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Directed by Charles Crichton, who would much later direct John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob is the most ruefully thrilling of the Ealing Comedies. Alec Guinness plays a bowler-hatted escort of bullion to the refineries. His seeming timidity, weak 'r's and punctiliousness mask a typically Guinness-like patient cunning. "I was aware I was widiculed but that was pwecisely the effect I was stwiving to achieve". He's actually plotting a heist. With more conventionally cockney villains Sid James and Alfie Bass in tow, as well as the respectable but ruined Stanley Holloway, Guinness' perfect criminal plan works in exquisite detail, then unravels just as exquisitely, culminating in a nail-biting police car chase in which you can't help rooting for the villains. The Lavender Hill Mob depicts a London still up to its knees in rubble from World War II, a world of new hope but continued austerity, a budding new order in which everything seems up for grabs; as such it could be regarded as a lighter hearted cinematic cousin to Carol Reed's 1949 masterpiece The Third Man. The Lavender Hill Mob also sees the first, fleeting on-screen appearance of Audrey Hepburn in the opening sequence. --David Stubbs

• Mission Without Permission | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £4.91   |  Saving you £11.08 (225.66%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Mission Impossible y'know for kids! This Hollywood remake of the Danish blockbuster 'Klatretosen' sees 12 year old Maddy (Kristen Stewart) and her friends using all their skills to raise money (by 'appropriating' money from a bank's vault protected by hi-tech security!) for an operation that may help Maddy's father walk again...

• The Night Of The Hunter | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also co-wrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• The Blacklist - Season 1 | DVD | (22/09/2014) from £5.99   |  Saving you £24.00 (400.67%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The world's most wanted criminal Raymond Reddington mysteriously turns himself in and offers to give up everyone he has ever worked with. His only condition is that he will only work with a newly minted FBI agent with whom he seemingly has no connection.

• The Conspiracy | DVD | (14/10/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When two young filmmakers select a crazed conspiracy theorist as the subject of their new work the task seems simple enough: Befriend him gain his trust and let his theories speak for themselves. Despite his street preaching their subject proves to be an articulate and intelligent man. Listen long enough and his arguments even start to make a certain sort of sense. It s enough to make you wonder if maybe somewhere there's some basis to what he's saying. And then he simply disappears. While one of the filmmaking duo is prepared to walk away the other becomes obsessed. This should not be possible. People do not just disappear. Not unless someone wants them to. What if he was correct? What if he was on the verge of exposing some greater scheme? And what if he was taken? And so begins an obsessive effort to reconstruct his work an effort that points the duo to a high powered retreat and networking organization for the political and business elite.

• Drugstore Cowboy | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £19.10   |  Saving you £-3.11 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Drugstore Cowboy was the breakaway change of pace and success for a number of those involved in its making. Principally, Gus Van Sant became a director of immediate notability winning multiple international Festival awards and acclaim. It also allowed Matt Dillon to stretch his acting abilities well outside of the teen rebel pigeonhole he'd become associated with in the 1980s and provided far meatier roles for Kelly Lynch and Heather Graham. Adapted from James Fogle's novel, the broad strokes of the plot are simple enough; a junkie foursome led by Dillon's headstrong Bob, move around the Pacific Northwest in the early 70s scoring pharmaceutical drugs in a series of robberies. The finer details, created with the sense of family developing between the principals, and how they are not portrayed as either victims or "bad" criminals. Van Sant occasionally slips into the surreal depicting Bob's drug-addled thinking like a James Bond title sequence, along with a questionable in-joke cameo with Williams S Burroughs, dish out advice and temptation to Bob. In one simple way, it's little more than a road movie. Yet on another level there's a cautionary tale of the life of a junkie that has relevance well beyond the film's timeframe. On the DVD: A stereo track and a grainy print in 1.85:1 usually does a movie little favours, but here they add to the overall gritty atmosphere surprisingly well. The only extra is unfortunately the original trailer. --Paul Tonks

• Dawson's Creek: Complete Season 1 | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Even viewers who consider themselves beyond their teen-angst years might find Dawson's Creek compelling. In the first series we are introduced to Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who for years have watched movies and slept in the same bed; but they find that as they enter high school their relationship will inevitably change. That becomes especially clear when Dawson is immediately attracted to Capeside's sexy new arrival, Jen (Michelle Williams). Meanwhile, their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) pursues an unachievable love object. Creator Kevin Williamson based Dawson's Creek on his own youth, and even though the characters may not really look or sound 15 years old, the Dawson-Joey-Jen interplay--especially embodied by the sad-eyed and cynical (but still adorable) Joey and the smart but emotionally inept Dawson--gives the show its heart. And just like Williamson's fresh take on the teen-horror genre, Scream, Dawson's Creek has a winking self-awareness, for example when Dawson says they're having a "90210 moment" or explains that they use big words because they watch too many movies. Highlights of the first series include Dawson's discovery that his perfect home life may not be so perfect, an unwelcome reminder of Jen's past, the Breakfast Club takeoff "Detention", the Scream takeoff "The Scare", a beauty contest in which two unlikely competitors square off, and the heart-rending finale. --David Horiuchi

• The Rocketeer Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (14/05/2018) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In the tradition of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, ROCKETEER is a full-throttle blast of thrills, fun and dazzling special effects. Set in glamarous 1930s Hollywood, it tells the story of Cliff Secord, a down-on-his-luck pilot who stumbles upon an incredible invention - a top secret jetpack that allows him to soar through the skies like a human rocket. But before long, a sinister spy (Timothy Dalton) plots to steal the jetpack, thrusting Cliff into a dangerous mission that ultimately transforms him into an extraordinary hero.

• Twilight | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Some people can buy their way out of anything. Except the past. Paul Newman plays Harry Ross a burned-out private eye who's plunged into a murder mystery tied to a long-unsolved case of Hollywood dreams schemes and cover-ups. Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman are among the locals who inhabit a Tinseltown world of privilege and sleaze sexuality and desperation trust and double-cross.

• Angels with Dirty Faces | Blu Ray | (26/02/2024) from £19.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Off-screen pals James Cagney and Pat O'Brien teamed up for the sixth time in this enduring gangster classic. Cagney's Rocky Sullivan is a charismatic ghetto tough whose underworld rise makes him a hero to a gang of slum punks. O'Brien is Father Connolly, the boyhood chum-turned-priest who vows to end Rocky's influence. Other ace talents join them: Humphrey Bogart as a scheming lawyer, Ann Sheridan as Rocky's hard-edged girlfriend and the Dead End Kids as worshipful street urchins, all ably directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca). The 1938 New York Film Critics Best Actor Award came Cagney's way, as well as one of the film's three Oscar nominations. Watch the chilling death-row finale and you'll know why.On-Disc Special FeaturesLeonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1938 with NewsreelMusic Short Out Where the Stars BeginCartoon Porky and DaffyTheatrical TrailersFeaturette Angels with Dirty Faces: Whaddya Hear? Whaddya SayCommentary by Film Historian Dana PolanAudio-Only Bonus: Radio Production with Film's Two Stars

• Battleground | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £5.56   |  Saving you £8.43 (151.62%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Director William Wellman (The Big Heat) offered up this 1949 treatment of the Battle of the Bulge, which won Oscars for best screenplay and best cinematography. The film concentrates on the camaraderie and the divisions between the troops as they prepare for the big offensive. Told in a taut narrative, the men of the 101st, led by Van Johnson, wait out the winter in the Ardennes forest to confront the German army in what would be the last major offensive of World War II. The men are demoralised and trapped, with no hope of support from the Allies as they are forced to band together and defend their position. A classically assembled war drama that nevertheless manages to be both engrossing and entertaining, Battleground is a mainstay of the genre. --Robert Lane

• Big Trouble In Little China | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £8.25   |  Saving you £9.74 (118.06%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Trying to explain the cult appeal of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China to the uninitiated is no easy task. The plot in a nutshell follows lorry driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) into San Francisco's Chinatown, where he's embroiled in street gang warfare over the mythical/magical intentions of would-be god David Lo Pan. There are wire-fu fight scenes, a floating eyeball and monsters from other dimensions. Quite simply it belongs to a genre of its own. Carpenter was drawing on years of chop-socky Eastern cinema tradition, which, at the time of the film's first release in 1986, was regrettably lost on a general audience. Predictably, it bombed. But now that Jackie Chan and Jet Li have made it big in the West, and Hong Kong cinema has spread its influence across Hollywood, it's much, much easier to enjoy this film's happy-go-lucky cocktail of influences. Russell's cocky anti-hero is easy to cheer on as he "experiences some very unreasonable things" blundering from one fight to another, and lusts after the gorgeously green-eyed Kim Cattrall. The script is peppered with countless memorable lines, too ("It's all in the reflexes"). Originally outlined as a sequel to the equally obscure Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, Big Trouble is a bona fide cult cinema delight. Jack sums up the day's reactions perfectly, "China is here? I don't even know what the Hell that means!". On the DVD: Big Trouble in Little China is released as a special edition two-disc set in its full unedited form. Some real effort has been put into both discs' animated menus, and the film itself is terrific in 2.35:1 and 5.1 (or DTS). The commentary by Carpenter and Russell may not be as fresh as their chat on The Thing, but clearly they both retain an enormous affection for the film. There are eight deleted scenes (some of which are expansions of existing scenes), plus a separate extended ending which was edited out for the right reasons. You'll also find a seven-minute featurette from the time of release, a 13-minute interview with FX guru Richard Edlund, a gallery of 200 photos, 25 pages of production notes and magazine articles from American Cinematographer and Cinefex. Best of all for real entertainment value is a music video with Carpenter and crew (the Coupe de Villes) coping with video FX and 80s hair-dos.--Paul Tonks

• The Vicar of Dibley - Christmas Specials | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This release features both of the Christmas Specials. Merry Christmas: It has been 10 years since Geraldine became the vicar of Dibley and everyone is determined to celebrate her anniversary. But as usual nothing goes according to plan and she soon has to deal with a disastrous chocolate gift an unexpected visit from a supermodel and a depressed Frank. Happy New Year: It is Geraldine's 40th birthday and the parish council decide the best way to make it an occasion to