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• Victor Victoria | DVD | (29/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Like a good claret laid down for a couple of decades, Victor Victoria (1982) just improves with age. Based on a 1930s German screenplay, Blake Edwards' cross-dressing musical tackles sexuality and gender with a sweet generosity of spirit and endearing warmth. To Edwards' credit and that of his wife Julie Andrews in the title role it is far more than a star vehicle, with James Garner, Lesley Ann Warren and, particularly, Robert Preston (as worldly gay Toddy) contributing quick-fire performances that brim with brilliant timing. Andrews, too, is wonderful in a deceptively complex part. It shouldn't have worked at all. Victor Victoria was made at a time when the Hollywood musical's currency was at its lowest and Andrews might have been deemed a rather old-fashioned sort of star. But by keeping Henry Mancini's songs in context as stage numbers, the traditional values of the musical are subverted. And the whole thing is bathed in a soft, intimate light; this is a film of considerable artistry on every level. On the DVD: Victor Victoriais presented in widescreen with a sharp Dolby Digital soundtrack; the picture quality is splendid. Extras include lists of cast, crew and awards as well as the original theatrical trailer. Best of all is a touching--if occasionally repetitive--commentary from Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews, who clearly remember the project with great pride and affection. Somewhat belatedly they resurrected it as a Broadway show in the 1990s, in which Andrews again scored a considerable personal triumph. --Piers Ford

• Funny Girl / Funny Lady | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Like giant monuments to good old-fashioned star quality, Funny Girl (1968) and Funny Lady (1975) hark back to the golden days of American vaudeville, while essentially celebrating one of the great, egotistical show-business talents of all time. Viewed end to end, these two films, which tell the story of Ziegfeld comedienne Fanny Brice, run for almost five hours. That's a lot of biopic. But with the greatest of respect to Brice, undoubtedly a formidable star of her time, the talent really in the spotlight here belongs to Barbra Streisand. Streisand created the role of Fanny Brice in the 1964 Broadway stage musical and her performance for the big screen is a tour de force, fully deserving the Best Actress Oscar which she received. As a biopic, Funny Girl is superior fare, full of sumptuous production numbers. Brice's glory days are explored against the background of her turbulent private life with her flawed playboy husband Nicky Arnstein (a sympathetic performance from Omar Sharif) with considerable attention to the details of her inner turmoil. More rambling and less cohesive, Funny Lady finds Fanny divorced but still in love with Arnstein (Sharif also revisiting his role), drifting into marriage number two with uncouth songwriter and impresario Billy Rose (the excellent James Caan), her successful career again juxtaposed with a less than happy personal life. Combined, both films measure Streisand's rise to greatness. In Funny Girl, the bravura of the performance as a whole masks occasional gaucheness, while if Funny Lady is the less impressive picture overall, it still marks how far she has developed as a screen actress. The rough edges are gone, replaced by a sophisticated poise and the sense of a talent that has come to terms with itself. And of course throughout she is superb in the musical numbers, which include her theme song "People" and the classic belter "Don't Rain on my Parade", as well as Brice's classic torch song, "My Man". On the DVD: this package of tremendous, old-fashioned entertainment takes the viewer back to pre-multiplex days when going to the cinema was an event you might dress up for. Funny Lady's soundtrack includes a pre-picture "Overture" to give you time to unwrap the chocolates. You really need some plush velvet curtains to swing back across the television screen. Then, guaranteeing a twinge of nostalgia, there's an intermission break. Both films are presented in their original widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Dolby Digital 5.0 (Funny Girl) and LCR (Funny Lady) soundtracks do justice to Streisand's lung power. The first disc offers the most interesting extras, including a couple of featurettes about Streisand. Both discs provide standard filmographies and song highlights so Streisand addicts can skip between numbers to their hearts' content.--Piers Ford

• When The Boat Comes In - The Complete Boxed Set | DVD | (14/05/2007) from £84.95   |  Saving you £35.04 (41.25%)   |  RRP £119.99

  Ex-Sergeant Jack Ford returns home to Gallowshields on Tyneside after the end of World War One. It is a time of economic depression and Jack finds his home town gripped by decline and unemployment. Jack soon falls in with the Seaton family and is determined to make his mark on the world. Contains every episode made from all four series.

• Miracle Maker | DVD | (30/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This animated feature-length life of Jesus boasts a stellar pedigree. Originally a BBC Wales production, it showcases the voices of some of Britain's finest actors in any medium: Ralph Fiennes as a brooding and humble Jesus, Miranda Richardson as Mary Magdalene, Richard E. Grant as John the Baptist and David Thewlis as Judas. The lovely, flute-heavy score is by Oscar-winner Anne Dudley (The Full Monty). And clearly a lot of expense has gone into the Claymation-like animation. But while it's hard to find fault with the rendering of this familiar story--it is respectful and definitely done, you might say, by the Book--it would have been nice if there had been a tad more joy, if it walked a bit lighter in its sandals. As it is, all the characters seem consistently subdued, whether they are expressing angst, rage, terror or bliss--none of which is helped by the figures' blank-eyed stares (if animators are becoming ever more sophisticated, why can't they get rid of those creepy blank gazes once and for all?). Still, the weight of having such formidable actors play these familiar roles lends the production a certain credibility, and parents looking for good religious videos that won't insult their kids' intelligence will be thrilled. --Anne Hurley

• The Quest | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Jean-Claude Van Damme directs and stars in this exciting fast moving action packed film which centres around Chris Dubois (Van-Damme) and the Ghan-Gheng a legendary 'special invite only' tournament that brings together the greatest fighters of the world in a winner takes all test of skill and courage. When Debois learns of the prestiegous tournament and the prize of a solid gold statue of a dragon he calls on his ""old friend"" Dobbs (Roger Moore) to help him enter the covena

• Psych - Season 6 | DVD | (11/07/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The world's most dynamic, and oddball, detective duo get more than they bargained for when they take on con-artists, masked vigilantes and Darth Vader collectibles in the wild sixth season of Psych. Fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and his best bud, Burton Gus Guster (Dulé Hill), go undercover, behind the scenes and over the top to solve some of the most off the wall crimes imaginable. But how long can these super sleuths keep their psychic secret safe? Guest starring William Shatner (Boston Legal), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon franchise), relive the laughs, thrills and mind-boggling mysteries uninterrupted and back-to-back in all 16 episodes of the totally unique and unpredictable series that will keep you guessing just whodunit. Bonus Features Deleted and Extended Scenes Gag Reel Video and Audio Commentaries Montages Psychouts

• Definitive Edition - The Great Escape | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £11.07   |  Saving you £1.92 (17.34%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The all time classic tale of a massive escape from a World War Two German Prisoner of War camp released as a two disc DVD set with a host of extra features.

• Miami Vice - Series 1 | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  The cops. The cars. The clothes. The music. From executive producer Michael Mann (Heat Collateral) comes the first season of the explosive groundbreaking detective show that redefined the word cool. Set against the seamy and steamy Miami underworld ride shotgun with suave Vice cops Sonny Crockett (Golden Globe winner Don Johnson) and Rico Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas) as they battle a never-ending gallery of criminals drug dealers and lowlifes. Episodes comprise: 1. Brother's Keeper (Parts 1 & 2) 2. Heart of Darkness 3. Cool Runnin' 4. The Hit List 5. Calderone's Demise 6. One-Eyed Jack 7. No Exit (a.k.a. Three-Eyed Turtle) 8. The Great McCarthy 9. Glades 10. Give a Little Take a Little 11. Little Prince 12. The Milk Run 13. Golden Triangle (Part 1) (a.k.a. Score) 14. Golden Triangle (Part 2) 15. Smuggler's Blues 16. Rites of Passage 17. The Maze 18. Made for Each Other 19. The Home Invaders 20. Nobody Lives Forever 21. Evan 22. Lombard

• The Mummy | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £4.18   |  Saving you £5.81 (139.00%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Boris Karloff's legendary performance has become a landmark in the annals of screen history. As The Mummy Im-Ho-Tep he is accidentally revived after 3 700 years by a team of British archaeologists. It is revealed in a flashback that he was a high priest embalmed alive for trying to revive the vestal virgin whom he loved after she had been sacrificed. Alive again he sets out to find his lost love. Today over 50 years after The Mummy was first released this brooding dream-like film remains a masterpiece not only of the genre but for all time.

• London's Burning - The Complete Second Series | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £19.89   |  Saving you £0.10 (0.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The complete second series of ITV's London's Burning which followed the lives and tribulations of Blackwall Fire Station's Blue Watch. Viewers loved the quirky but human characters that put their lives on the line with every episode and this set features some of the most fondly remembered including female fire-fighter Josie Ingham 'Bayleaf' 'Sicknote' and 'Charisma'. This set features all eight episodes of the second series originally transmitted in 1989.

• John Q. | Blu Ray | (13/04/2009) from £7.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (87.61%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A down-on-his luck father, whose insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant, takes the hospital's emergency room hostage until the doctors agree to perform the operation.

• The Wedding Date/My Big Fat Greek Wedding/The Wedding Singer | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Wedding Date (Dir. Clare Kilner 2005): In this sparkling romantic comedy Debra Messing plays Kat a never-married New Yorker who is invited to her parents' London home for her younger sister's wedding. What should be a joyous occasion bodes disaster for Kat however when she discovers that the best man will be none other than her ex-fianc who two years before inexplicably dumped her. In a desperate attempt to face the ordeal with dignity Kat hires Nick (Dermot Mulroney) a charming and handsome professional male escort to pose as her new boyfriend and escort her to the wedding. Even more valuable to Kat than Nick's good looks and charisma is his keen insight into human behavior--a well-learned trick of his trade. Over the course of the weekend Nick takes on the role of the bride's therapist the father's ideal son-in-law the groom's new best friend and the object of every woman's affection. For Kat what starts out as a pretend relationship with Nick begins to turn into something entirely unexpected: a second chance at love. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Dir. Joel Zwick 2002): In this hit ethnic comedy Toula (Nia Vardalos) is a thirty-year-old ugly duckling whose life is going nowhere while she works long hours in her family's Greek diner (called Dancing Zorba's). She then decides to give herself a radical makeover lands a new job in her aunt's travel agency and falls for a hunky sensitive vegetarian teacher (John Corbett). They soon decide to get married but her family have a history of getting hitched exclusively to other Greeks. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a warm funny comedy adapted by writer/star Vardalos from her own one-woman show. The Wedding Singer (Dir. Frank Coraci 1998): It's 1985 and Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is the ultimate master of ceremonies until he is left at the altar at his own wedding. Devastated he becomes a newlywed's worst nightmare - an entertainer who can do nothing but destroy other people's weddings. It's not until he meets a warm-hearted waitress named Julia (Drew Barrymore) that he starts to pick up the pieces of his heart. The only problem is Julia's about to have a wedding of her own and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a lifetime the girl of his dreams will be gone forever...

• Heaven Can Wait | DVD | (24/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The whimsical comedy-romance Heaven Can Wait is a delightful example of the small sub-genre of afterlife comedies. The film, which teams then lovers Warren Beatty and Julie Christie for a third time following McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971) and Shampoo (1975), is not a remake of the 1943 supernatural film of the same name, but of the Robert Montgomery classic Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941). Here Beatty is American football player Joe Pendleton, who accidentally dies, decades too early, and is incarnated in a new body which, until recently, was occupied by a ruthless multi-millionaire. James Mason is superb as a most authoritative angel (Mr Jordan), heading a fine cast including Charles Grodin, Buck Henry and Jack Warden. In a sub-plot paralleling The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and revisited in You've Got Mail (1998), Julie Christie plays an English woman outraged that one of the former millionaire's companies is destroying her village, while simultaneously falling in love with the man now occupying the hated millionaire's mortal coil. Much comic and romantic misunderstanding follows, as well as some appealing slapstick, courtesy of Dyan Cannon. Aided by a lovely musical score by Dave Grusin, this is a beautifully played and thoroughly charming bittersweet fantasy about the transcendent power of love. It is a joy for romantics everywhere. On the DVD: Heaven Can Wait comes to DVD in a good 1.77:1 ratio transfer which exhibits just a little grain in some darker scenes. The print shows some very minor, occasional damage, but nothing to complain about in a film of this vintage. The sound is the original mono mix, which is perfectly serviceable. The only extra is the theatrical trailer. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Final Countdown | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £6.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  With a tantalising "what-if?" scenario and a respectable cast of Hollywood veterans, The Final Countdown plays like a grand-scale episode of The Twilight Zone. It's really no more than that, and time-travel movies have grown far more sophisticated since this popular 1980 release, but there's still some life remaining in the movie's basic premise: what if a modern-era navy aircraft carrier--in this case the real-life nuclear-powered USS Nimitz--was caught in an anomalous storm and thrust 40 years backwards in time to the eve of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor? Will the ship's commander (Kirk Douglas) interfere with history? Will the visiting systems analyst (Martin Sheen) convince him not to? Will a rescued senator from 1941 (Charles Durning) play an unexpected role in the future of American politics? Veteran TV director Don Taylor doesn't do much with the ideas posed by this potentially intriguing plot; he seems more interested in satisfying aviation buffs with loving footage of F-14 "Jolly Roger" fighter jets, made possible by the navy's generous cooperation. That makes The Final Countdown a better navy film than a fully fledged time-travel fantasy, but there's a nice little twist at the end, and the plot holes are easy to ignore. James Cameron would've done it better, but this popcorn thriller makes an enjoyable double bill with The Philadelphia Experiment. --Jeff Shannon

• Inspector Morse - Disc 19 And 20 - Greeks Bearing Gifts / Promised Land | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and story lines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep-down sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford

• Agent Cody Banks 2 - Destination London | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Teen super spy Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) has to go undercover at an elite London boarding school to track down a missing mind control device.

• The Return Of The Living Dead 3 | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £22.50   |  Saving you £-9.52 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Return of the Living Dead III is the third go-round for a premise intended as both a sequel to and a satire of the George A Romero Living Dead films. This could just as easily have been an entry in director Brian Yuzna's Re-Animator series, and indeed the plot nugget seems derived from the last shot of Re-Animator itself, as a devoted youth (J. Trevor Edmond) revives his freshly dead girlfriend (Mindy Clarke) with trioxin, a military zombie-making gas, and learns to regret his actions. Though it has some left-field ideas--the heroine turns herself into a DIY Hellraiser Cenobite poster-girl with extreme body piercing to distract herself from the desire to eat her boyfriend's brain--and effective action, it is still confined by its low budget and thus stuck with ordinary acting, a minimal plot and too many dumb developments. The central thread is the necrophile/SM romance, which ends up in a liebestod clinch in the army base's furnace, but there's a sub-plot about a quartet of zombified gang members which serves mainly to get some violence going every few minutes. Clarke is a striking presence, studded with bits of metal like a punk porcupine, but her performance flat lines even before her death in a motorcycle crash and revival as a zombie, while the rest of the cast--with the honourable exceptions of Kent McCord as a senior officer and Basil Wallace as a mystical down-and-out--are typified by Sarah Douglas' strident militarist mad scientist, who wants to put zombies in armoured exoskeletons and deploy them as combat troops. Nevertheless, this is gruesome fun for the fans, with some imaginative zombie mutilation effects. On the DVD: It's a no-frills full-screen transfer. The only extra is a 50-second trailer.--Kim Newman

• The Killer Elite | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Best friends Mike Locken and George Hansen are the 'Killer Elite' undertaking jobs that are too dangerous even for the CIA. But when one of the duo is betrayed by the other things get tricky...

• Charade | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £4.97   |  Saving you £8.02 (161.37%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In Charade 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 arent 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 in terms of suspense it holds its own; and Donens glossy production lends itself to the welcome experience of stargazing. You want 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 dont let us down. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• The Queen & I | DVD | (30/09/2019) from £4.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Made-for-TV comedy drama based on the novel by Sue Townsend. Following the election of the Republican Party, the United Kingdom's new Prime Minister, Jack Barker (David Walliams), carries out his campaign promise to abolish the country's monarchy. Stripped of their vast wealth, the Royal Family is forced to relocate to a council estate in the Midlands, where they struggle to fit in and adjust to their new surroundings.