"Actor: James Ma"

• Murphy's Law | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £13.09   |  Saving you £-0.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Murphy's Law is a thoroughly unpleasant 1986 thriller stars Charles Bronson as a cop systematically framed for one murder after another. The killings, though, turn out to be the work of a female nutcase (Carrie Snodgress) he had once sent away to prison. Everyone involved in this leans on the atrocity-and-revenge formula, particularly Bronson and director J Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone), two Hollywood guys who once upon a time made plenty of classic films. Snodgress's performance is unhinged, interesting but hard to watch, as we never really got to know her onscreen after Diary of a Mad Housewife. Just think of this movie as having come from the same creepy planet as the Death Wish series. --Tom Keogh

• Sebastiane | DVD | (18/06/2001) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first and only film shot entirely in subtitled Latin, Sebastiane is Derek Jarman's first work as a director (though he shared the job with the less well-known Paul Humfress) and is a strange combination of gay nudie movie, pocket-sized Ancient Roman epic and meditation upon the image of Saint Sebastian. It opens with the Lindsay Kemp dance troupe romping around with huge fake phalluses to represent the Ken Russell-style decadence of the court of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 303, then decamps to Tuscany as Diocletian's favourite guard Sebastian (Leonardo Treviglio) is demoted to ordinary soldier and dispatched to a backwater barracks because the Emperor (Robert Medley) suspects him of being a covert Christian. The bulk of the film consists of athletic youths in minimal thongs romping around the countryside, soaking themselves down between bouts of manly horseplay or sylvan frolic. It all comes to a bad end as the lecherous but guilt-ridden commanding officer Severus (Barney James) fails to cop off with Sebastian and instead visits floggings and tortures upon his naked torso, finally ordering his men to riddle the future saint with arrows, thus securing him a place in cultural history. The public schoolboy cleverness of scripting dialogue in Latin--a popular soldier's insult is represented by the Greek "Oedipus"--works surprisingly well, with the cast reeling off profane Roman dialogue as if it were passionate Italian declarations rather than marbled classical sentences. The film suffers from the not-uncommon failing that the best-looking actor is given the largest role but delivers the weakest performance: Treviglio's Sebastian is a handsome cipher, far less interesting than the rest of the troubled, bullying, awkward or horny soldiers in the platoon. Peter Hinwood, famous for the title role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, can be glimpsed in the palace orgy. The countryside looks as good as the cast, and Brian Eno delivers an evocative, ambient-style score. --Kim Newman

• When The Wind Blows | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jim and Hilda Bloggs are the typical retired couple in rural England. They drink endless cups of tea and have an unwavering faith in the wisdom of their government. They understand that a Third World War is imminent between the US and the Soviets. However they fail to grasp the concept that war will be fought by nuclear means and what consequences this will have. With the help of government issued pamphlets Jim builds a shelter to protect the couple and although they survive a n

• Oz and James's Great Wine Adventure : Complete BBC Series Two | DVD | (03/03/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £2.46 (14.03%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Following their first adventure where oenophile Oz Clarke and wine novice James May strived to demystify the mysteries of French wine we join the pair in California as they take a month-long trip around the revered Californian wineries. They begin in Santa Barbara county - home of Pinot Noir where Oz is a local hero and inspiration to winemakers. Travelling on they meet wine 'renegades' an eccentric millionaire bicker when James crashes the Monaco Recreational Vehicle and argue over the quality of wine - from the Inaccessible and over-priced to 'two-buck-Chuck' who knocks out bottles for only two dollars. Finally they arrive at the glamorous Napa Valley where they are dismayed to discover that they're staying in the car park. The pair argue about who will empty the RV's waste tank then sample Californian sparkling wine at the Taittinger estate. Next the Schramsberg estate where they have a heated debate about what bubbles taste like!

• It's A Wonderful Life | DVD | (17/11/2014) from £6.17   |  Saving you £13.82 (223.99%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton

• Jane Eyre | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £9.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (60.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The stunning BBC production of Charlotte Bronte's inspiring story is available for the first time on DVD. Jane Eyre (Zelah Clarke) is a mistreated orphan who learns to survive by relying on her independence and intelligence. Her first job in the outside world is governess to the ward of Mr. Rochester (Timothy Dalton) a man of many secrets and mercurial moods. The tentative trust between them slowly develops into romance but their hopes for happiness will soon be jeopardized by a te

• The Lavender Hill Mob (60th Anniversary Edition) | Blu Ray | (01/08/2011) from £10.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (81.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  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

• Lonely Hearts | DVD | (29/10/2007) from £2.69   |  Saving you £17.30 (86.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the true story two homicide detectives (Travolta and Gandolfini) track Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez a murderous pair known as the ""Lonely Hearts Killers"" who lure their victims through the personals...

• The Inheritance | DVD | (13/11/2023) from £12.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Larry McMurtry's Streets Of Laredo | DVD | (13/06/2005) from £8.08   |  Saving you £16.91 (209.28%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Streets Of Laredo is the third title in the Lonesome Dove Saga. An exhilarating tale of legend and heroism continues the epic of the waning years of the Texas Rangers. Captain Woodrow Call is long in the tooth but still a legendary hunter. He is hired to track down a young Mexican train robber and killer Joey Garza. Riding with Call are an Eastern city slicker a witless deputy and one of the last remaining members of the Hat Creek outfit Pea-Eye Parker. Their long chase leads the

• The Man From Laramie | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £10.90   |  Saving you £2.09 (19.17%)   |  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

• Psych - Season 7 | DVD | (11/07/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Killer secrets are kept, broken and dramatically revealed in the seventh sensational season of Psych. It's business as unusual for psychic crime fighter Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and best pal Burton Gus Guster (Dulé Hill) as they track down Bigfoot, go undercover as wacky radio DJs, and solve the ultimate murder mystery. And, Gus finally gets the girl. Catch every episode back-to-back and uninterrupted of the laugh-out-loud whodunit series that features stellar guest stars including Garrett Morris (2 Broke Girls), Lesley Ann Warren (In Plain Sight), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future). Bonus Features: Deleted Scenes 100 Clues Exclusive Alternate Ending Psychouts Gag Reel Podcasts

• Young Guns / Young Guns II | DVD | (06/08/2021) from £14.73   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• 2 Guns | Blu Ray | (01/08/2023) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 7 | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £19.95   |  Saving you £60.04 (300.95%)   |  RRP £79.99

  The seventh and final series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer begins with a mystery: someone is murdering teenage girls all over the world and something is trying hard to drive Spike mad. Buffy is considerably more cheerful in these episodes than we have seen her during the previous year as she trains Dawn and gets a job as student counsellor at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High. Willow is recovering from the magical addiction which almost led her to destroy the world, but all is not yet well with her, or with Anya, who has returned to being a Vengeance demon in "Same Time, Same Place" and "Selfless", and both women are haunted by their decisions. Haunting of a different kind comes in the excellent "Conversations with Dead People" (one of the show's most terrifying episodes ever) where a mysterious song is making Spike kill again in spite of his soul and his chip. Giles turns up in "Bring on the Night" and Buffy has to fight one of the deadliest vampires of her career in "Showtime". In "Potential" Dawn faces a fundamental reassessment of her purpose in life. Buffy was always a show about female empowerment, but it was also a show about how quite ordinary people can decide to make a difference alongside people who are special. And it was also a show about people making up for past errors and crimes. So, for example, we have the excellent episodes "Storyteller", in which the former geek/super villain Andrew sorts out his redemption while making a video diary about life with Buffy; and "Lies My Parents Told Me", in which we find out why a particular folk song sends Spike crazy. Redemption abounds as Faith returns to Sunnydale and the friends she once betrayed, and Willow finds herself turning into the man she flayed. Above all, this was always Buffy's show: Sarah Michelle Gellar does extraordinary work here both as Buffy and as her ultimate shadow, the First Evil, who takes her face to mock her. This is a fine ending to one of television's most remarkable shows. --Roz Kaveney

• Carry On Dick | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £6.23   |  Saving you £6.76 (108.51%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The 18th century, with its frills and bawds, was ideal territory for the Carry On team: Carry On Dick is one of the few of the series where one notices the quality of the art direction in intervals between terrible old Talbot Rothwell jokes and the creaking of standard farce moments. Captain Fancy (Kenneth Williams) is sent to the remote village of Upper Denture to arrest Big Dick Turpin (Sid James) and makes the mistake of confiding in the local Rector, the Reverend Flasher (who is Big Dick's secret alter ego). Dick has troubles of his own: his liaison with his housemaid and henchperson Harriet (Barbara Windsor) is perpetually interrupted by his amorous housekeeper (Hattie Jacques). Meanwhile, Joan Sims struts around the plot as the proprietor of a touring show of scantily clad young women. This is not one of the best of the series--a certain mean-spiritedness creeps in to the humour as does the self-conscious awareness that 1974 was a date a little late for some of the more sexist jokes--but any film with Kenneth Williams discussing satin coats with his tailor has something going for it. --Roz Kaveney

• Halloween (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy) | 4K UHD | (25/02/2019) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  It's been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. She now faces a terrifying showdown when Michael returns to Haddonfield, Ill. -- but this time, Laurie is ready for him. In Halloween (2018) Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. Master of horror John Carpenter executive produces and serves as creative consultant on this film, joining forces with cinema's current leading producer of horror, Jason Blum (Get Out, Split, The Purge, Paranormal Activity). Inspired by Carpenter's classic, filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride crafted a story that carves a new path from the events in the landmark 1978 film, and Green also directs.

• The Box | DVD | (19/04/2010) from £7.05   |  Saving you £10.94 (155.18%)   |  RRP £17.99

  From acclaimed director Richard Kelly, "The Box" stars Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis and James Marsden as Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child who receive a simple wooden box as a gift that turns into a nightmare.

• Caught | DVD | (08/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Max Ophuls is widely regarded to be one of the greatest and most revered directors in the history of cinema. His trademark array of lavish fluid camera movements would influence generations of filmmakers to come. Among the many who have had praised his genius are Francois Truffaut Jean-Luc Goddard Martin Scorsese Stanley Kubrick who believed 'his camera could pass through walls' and more recently directors such as Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine Far From Heaven) and Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights Magnolia) who called him his 'idol'. Idealistic Leonora is looking for the dream life and believes she's found it when introduced to millionaire Smith Uhlrig. Quickly married she soon discovers him to be a domineering tyrant. In trying to escape this loveless existence she finds hope in the arms of a caring doctor but her psychotic husband doesn't give up his possessions so easily. Ophul's film noir classic is an intense melodrama played to perfection by the fine casting of James Mason Robert Ryan and Barbara Bel Geddes.

• The Black Candle | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £6.05   |  Saving you £3.94 (65.12%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bridget Mordaunt a young woman in 1880s Britain inherits a factory from her father and wins respect from the workforce as she turns it into a solid business yet all the while a dark cloud looms on the horizon...