"Actor: James Ma"

• Lynda La Plante - Trial And Retribution - 5 To 8 | DVD | (14/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Drawing TV audiences of up to 11 million viewers 'Trial And Retribution' is a gritty urban drama that deals with graphic topics from abduction to serial murders and internal police corruption to psychological illness. Breaking new ground in terms of content and style each episode traces the entire trajectory of a serious crime from the act being committed to a detailed investigation and arrest before arriving at the law courts for a dramatic finale.

• NYPD Blue - Season 2 | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Originally broadcast in 1994, the second series of NYPD Blue was disrupted by the departure of star David Caruso (Detective John Kelly) after just four episodes--apparently under less than amicable circumstances. He was ably replaced as Detective Sipowicz's partner by Jimmy Smits as the smoother Detective Bobby Simone, and the series managed not to miss a beat. More streamlined and downbeat than its predecessor Hill Street Blues (also created by Steven Bochco), NYPD Blue continued second time around to mix near-the-knuckle detective work in pursuit of New York's scummiest with more character and relationship-based drama. Although it's regrettable that its ethnic-minority characters such as Lieutenant Fancy are increasingly marginalised here, the series is more comfortable, and even has fun with, regular characters such as the nervy Detective Medavoy and his on-off paramour Donna Abandando. Andy Sipowicz's simmering, tough-nosed recovering alcoholic is increasingly and amusingly put to the test in a number of situations, including a murder investigation in a gay bar; being sung to at his own wedding by Nic Turturro's Detective Martinez; and a love scene in the shower in which we experience the dubious pleasure of seeing his bare bum. New female introductions, such as the strong but sympathetic Detective Lesniak, also helped to shake up the series with a much-needed oestrogen boost. There's also fun to be had in spotting a number of guest appearances by up-and-coming actors destined to make it in their own right such as Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) and Debra Messing (Will and Grace). On the DVD: NYPD Blue, Series 2 DVD box set contains a number of extras, primarily a one-hour documentary in which the cast and programme-makers discuss the series episode by episode, the self-congratulatory mood only broken by some subtle digs at departing star David Caruso (apparently, he walked straight off the set following his final take into a waiting limo without any farewells). There's also a small piece paying tribute to the music of theme-writer Mike Post and an item covering the relationship between Sipowicz and Assistant DA Sylvia Costas, in whose marriage this series culminates. --David Stubbs

• Battlestar Galactica Season 3 | DVD | (03/09/2007) from £9.99   |  Saving you £40.00 (400.40%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Features the following episodes: Occupation/Precipice Exodus Part 1 Exodus Part 2 Collaborators Torn A Measure of Salvation Hero Unfinished Business The passage The Eye of Jupiter Rapture Taking A Break from All Your Worries The Woman King A Day In The Life Dirty Hands Maelstrom The Son Also Rises Crossroads Part 1 Crossroads Part 2

• Sahara | Blu Ray | (08/09/2008) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Matthew McConaughey goes looking for some long lost treasure in this adaptation of Clive Cussler's book.

• X-Men: The Ultimate Collection | DVD | (22/12/2011) from £5.49   |  Saving you £29.50 (537.34%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Unleash your inner mutant with the Ultimate X-Men Movie Collection - including all 5 thrilling films together for the first time! Featuring eye-popping visual effects, thunderous sound and extraordinary star power, including Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn, this is nonstop action and excitement from start to finish!Titles Comprise:X-Men: Born into a world filled with prejudice are children who possess extraordinary and dangerous powers-the result of unique genetic mutations. Cyclops unleashes bolts of energy from his eyes. Storm can manipulate the weather at will. Rouge absorbs the life force of anyone she touches. But under the tutelage of Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), these and other outcasts learn to harness their powers for the good of mankind. Now they must protect those who fear them as the nefarious Magneto (Ian Mckellen), who believes humans and mutants can never co-exist, unveils his sinister plan for the future!X2:The time has come for those who are different to stand united...The X-Men have to band together to find a mutant assassin who has made an attempt on the President's life, while the Mutant Academy at Westchester is attacked by military forces prompting some uncomfortable home truths for Wolverine...X-Men 3:Take a stand... When a pharmaceutical company publicises a 'cure' to suppress mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier (Stewart), and the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organized under Xavier's former ally, Magneto (McKellen)...X-Men: Origins - Wolverine: Leading up to the events in the X-Men film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) epically violent past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe.X-Men: First Class: X-Men: First Class brings together the epic scale and action of a classic blockbuster with a character driven story that unveils the beginning of the X-Men saga - and a secret history of the Cold War and our world at the brink of nuclear Armageddon. As the first class discovers, harnesses and comes to terms with their formidable powers, alliances are formed that will shape the eternal war between the heroes and villains of the X-Men universe. The British dream team behind Kick Ass - director Matthew Vaughn and writer Jane Goldman - are joined by a stellar cast including James McAvoy (Wanted), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man) and Jason Flemying (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) in one of the biggest blockbusters of the year.

• A Passage To India | Blu Ray | (26/09/2022) from £14.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Enter a world where cultures clash so violently that an entire country could split at any moment. Nominated for eleven Academy Awards® and winner of two, A Passage to India is a wonderfully provocative tale, full of vivid characters, all played to near perfection. With a fabulous cast that include Peggy Ashcroft, Judy Davis, James Fox, Sir Alec Guinness, and Nigel Havers, this hauntingly beautiful film is a daring triumph. When liberal-minded English ladies Mrs. Moore (Ashcroft) and Adela Quested (Davis) arrive in India, they're shocked by the extreme racial prejudice that exists here. Fortunately, kind Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee) rises above the intolerance and guides the women on a splendid tour of the mysterious Marabar caves. But the outing turns tragic when Adela suddenly comes running from one of the caves-scratched, bleeding and terribly frightened. News of the incident quickly spreads across the whole of India...igniting a powder keg of tension just waiting to explode. A rich tapestry woven of the clash between cultures, A Passage to India is supreme entertainment, and a visual wonder that is truly spellbinding!

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, With Feeling | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £7.17   |  Saving you £8.82 (123.01%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Once More With Feeling", a much needed shaft of lightness in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's dark sixth series, demonstrates that a "special" episode can be genuinely special. It preserves the show's continuity for its regular watchers and also delights people who have never experienced it before. This is creator Joss Whedon's tribute to all the masters of the stage musical whom he admires--most obviously Stephen Sondheim--and a chance for his talented cast to display their usual tight ensemble and sing and dance while doing it. The premise is typical Buffy both in its whimsy and its emotional truth--a demon forces the inhabitants of Sunnydale to express their emotions truthfully and uncovers a variety of embarrassing secrets. The actual musical ability of the Buffy cast is variable--Amber Benson as Tara and Anthony Stewart Head as Giles are perhaps the only ones with enough musical talent to carry purely lyrical tunes, but Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy is a game little trooper who delivers her various patter songs with her usual efficiency and charm. Emma Caulfield as the ex-demon Anya is the big surprise, her short paranoid riff on the subject of that ultimate evil, bunny rabbits is quite extraordinary; Broadway hoofer Hinton Battle is fabulous as Sweet: "I can bring whole cities to ruin and find time to get some soft shoe in." --Roz Kaveney

• Las Vegas - Series 3 | DVD | (05/02/2007) from £7.99   |  Saving you £27.00 (337.92%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Las Vegas one of the sexiest show on TV is back and even hotter on DVD in Season 3! Episodes Comprise: 1. Viva Las Vegas 2. Fake the Money and Run 3. Double Down Triple Threat 4. Whatever Happened to Seymour Magoon? 5. The Big Ed De-cline 6. The Real McCoy 7. Everything Old Is You Again 8. Bold Beautiful & Blue 9. Mothwoman 10. For Sail by Owner 11. Down and Dirty 12. Bait and Switch 13. The Bitch Is Back 14. And Here's Mike with the Weather 15. Urban Legend 16. Coyote Ugly 17. Lyle & Substance 18. Like a Virgin 19. Cash Springs Eternal 20. All Quiet on the Montecito Front 21. Chaos Theory 22. Fidelity Security Delivery 23. Father of the Bride

• Sapphire And Steel - Assignments 1-3 | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  One of the oddest shows ever mounted for mainstream UK television, Sapphire & Steel was one of ITV's many short-lived attempts at grabbing the sci-fi cult status of the BBC's Doctor Who. Ex-Man From U.N.C.L.E. David McCallum and ex-Avenger Joanna Lumley play human-looking incarnations of the eponymous substances, mysterious investigators working at the behest of an apparent God of Order and zipping about TARDIS-like to cope with anomalies in the time-stream that manifest as apparent supernatural forces in remote English locales like an isolated farmhouse (Adventure One), a deserted rural railway station (Adventure Two) and a high-rise block of flats (Adventure Three). McCallum and Lumley play their "medium atomic weights" with blank style and a few touches of baffled humour, not to mention visual flair in the case of Lumley's blue fashions and occasional glowing eyes. But the lengthy serial format, strictly limited guest casts and claustrophobic confinement to studio floor sets tend to mean individual serials straggle on with a great deal of repetition, providing longeurs as six or eight-part stories seem to take forever to get moving and then resolve. Shot on video, with a few strange 1970s effects (evil follow-spots, floating pillows), this remains prime cult material, though it's hard to sit still for more than one episode at a time. It will take an extremely devoted fan to get through all three adventures in under six months. On the DVD: Sapphire & Steel on disc has to be reckoned a disappointment when compared with the wealth of extra material included on the Gerry Anderson or Doctor Who DVDs. This set stretches only to a few press releases and a TV Times article from the launch of the series that tries hard to build up a mystique about the show which it would take some years to actually acquire. There are basic bios of the two stars, and some unresonant stills. Image quality-wise, this looks much the same as previous VHS releases: shot on video, with only a few tiny film inserts for Adventure Three (on the roof of a London building), the series' transfer to DVD is plagued by artefacting of various kinds (some of which can just about be passed off as visual effects), but then again so were the original transmissions. The pristine look is especially unfortunate in exposing the extremely ordinary trickery as far less terrifying than the onscreen characters make them out to be. --Kim Newman

• Babe | DVD | (08/09/2014) from £7.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The surprise hit of 1995, this splendidly entertaining family film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture, director, and screenplay, and deservedly won the Oscar for its subtly ingenious visual effects. Babe is all about the title character, a heroic little pig who's been taken in by the friendly farmer Hoggett (Oscar nominee James Cromwell), who senses that he and the pig share "a common destiny." Babe, a popular mischief-maker the Australian farm, is adopted by the resident border collie and raised as a puppy, befriended by Ferdinand the duck (who thinks he's a cockerel), and saves the day as a champion "sheep-pig." Filled with a supporting cast of talking barnyard animals and a chorus of singing mice (courtesy of computer enhancements and clever animatronics), this frequently hilarious, visually imaginative movie has already taken its place as a family classic with timeless appeal. --Jeff Shannon

• Varsity Blues | DVD | (04/09/2000) from £5.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (117.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) leads the action in this exciting funny coming-of-age story about a small-town high schooler confronting the pressures and temptations of grid-iron glory. At first backup quarterback Jonathan 'Mox' Moxon (Van Der Beek) is nowhere close to being a football star. He's perfectly content to stay on the bench and out of the win-at-all-cost strategies of coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight in a powerful performance). But when the starting quarterback is inj

• King Kong - The Eighth Wonder Of The World | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £13.09   |  Saving you £-3.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Now you see it. You're amazed. You can't believe it. Your eyes open wider. It's horrible, but you can't look away. There's no chance for you. No escape. You're helpless, helpless. There's just one chance, if you can scream. Throw your arms across your eyes and scream, scream for your life!" And scream Fay Wray does most famously in this monster classic, one of the greatest adventure films of all time, which even in an era of computer-generated wizardry remains a marvel of stop-motion animation. Robert Armstrong stars as famed adventurer Carl Denham, who is leading a "crazy voyage" to a mysterious, uncharted island to photograph "something monstrous ... neither beast nor man". Also aboard is waif Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and Bruce Cabot as big lug John Driscoll, the ship's first mate. King Kong's first half-hour is steady going, with engagingly corny dialogue ("Some big, hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang, he cracks up and goes sappy") and ominous portent that sets the stage for the horror to come. Once our heroes reach Skull Island, the movie comes to roaring, chest-thumping, T-rex-slamming, snake-throttling, pterodactyl-tearing, native-stomping life. King Kong was ranked by the American Film Institute as among the 50 best films of the century. Kong making his last stand atop the Empire State Building is one of the film's most indelible and iconic images. --Donald Liebenson, Amazon.comOn the DVD: Although a little light on extras, this is happily the Director's Cut, restoring scenes that were censored after the film's original 1933 run, including Kong peeling off Fay Wray's clothes like a banana, and our hirsute hero using unfortunate natives as dental floss. The ratio of 4:3 is correct for a film of this age; the picture and (mono) sound are perfectly acceptable without being revelatory. The 25-minute "making of" documentary from 1992 is a 60th anniversary tribute to the film, which details all of Kong's many ground-breaking contributions to cinema, from Willis O'Brien's use of stop-motion and rear projection effects to Max Steiner's music score. There are contributions from film historians, modern admirers of the film including composer Jerry Goldsmith--who admits that Steiner created a template that Hollywood composers are still following--and a few surviving participants such as sound effects man Murray Spivak. Apparently, director Merian C. Cooper's original idea was to capture live gorillas, transport them to the island of Komodo and film them fighting the giant lizards! Thanks to Willis O'Brien's pioneering effects work good sense prevailed and a cinema classic was born. --Mark Walker

• Stephen King's Cat's Eye | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £9.98   |  Saving you £6.01 (60.22%)   |  RRP £15.99

  What does a stray cat have in common with a radical technique to quit smoking the window ledge of a sky scraper and an evil goblin? Three of Stephen King's most imaginatively terrifying tales brought to life in this chilling trilogy of short stories...

• Rollerball | DVD | (24/04/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the year 2018, violence and crime have been totally eliminated from society and given outlet in the brutal blood sport of rollerball, a high-velocity blend of football, hockey, and motor-cross racing sponsored by the multinational corporations that now control the world following the collapse of traditional politics. James Caan plays Jonathan ., the reigning superstar of rollerball, whose corporate controllers fear that Jonathan's popularity has endowed him with too much power. They begin to pressure him according to their own ruthless set of rules, but Jonathan has rules of his own--ones for a man determined to retain his soul in a world gone mad. As directed by Norman Jewison (who was enjoying a peak of success during the early and mid-1970s), Rollerball creates a believable society that's been rendered passive and compliant by the homogenisation of corporate dictatorships, where the control and flow of information is the only currency of any importance. It's a world in which natural human aggressions have been sublimated and vented through the religious fervour toward rollerball and its players. Rollerball now looks like one of those 1970s science fiction films (another example being Logan's Run) that seems a bit dated and quaint, but its ideas are still provocative and fascinating, and the production is visually impressive. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Howards End | Blu Ray | (27/11/2017) from £9.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Howards End is E M Forster's beautifully subtle story of the criss-crossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain--and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) who befriend a poor young clerk (Sam West) and, without meaning to, ruin his life. Meanwhile, Thompson also makes the acquaintance of a dying neighbour (Vanessa Redgrave), who leaves her a family home in her will--which her husband (Anthony Hopkins) destroys. But, ironically, he meets and falls in love with Thompson, even as their paths once more intersect with the increasingly miserable young clerk. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beautifully economical script also won an Oscar.--Marshall Fine

• Wild Bill | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £5.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (117.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Audiences overlooked Wild Bill at the cinema, but it's one of the better Westerns of the 1990s, featuring yet another terrific performance by Jeff Bridges, America's most underrated movie actor. As James Butler Hickock, he captures the sense of a man at the end of his career, one of the first media superstars who discovers that his legend is more burden than blessing. As he heads toward his final hand of poker in Deadwood, South Dakota, he flashes back to his younger days and the events that built his reputation, even as he copes with encroaching blindness caused by syphilis. Walter Hill blends action and elegy, utilising a screenplay based both on Pete Dexter's novel Deadwood and Thomas Babe's play Fathers and Sons. Wild Bill features strong supporting performances by John Hurt (as a Hickock sidekick) and Ellen Barkin (as the tough, lusty Calamity Jane)--but the centrepiece is the sad, manly performance by Bridges, who more than measures up to the part. --Marshall Fine

• The Girl Next Door | DVD | (09/08/2004) from £5.60   |  Saving you £12.39 (221.25%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A straight-arrow high-school student falls in love with the perfect 'girl-next-door', only to discover she's a former porn star.

• Christmas Classics Collection | DVD | (23/10/2017) from £9.94   |  Saving you £8.05 (80.99%)   |  RRP £17.99

  It's a Wonderful LifeVoted the # 1 Most Inspiring Film Of All Time by AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, It's A Wonderful Life has had just that. With the endearing message that no one is a failure who has friends, Frank Capra's heartwarming masterpiece continues to endure, and after 70 years this beloved classic still remains as powerful and moving as the day it was made. White ChristmasTwo talented song-and-dance men (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. One winter, they join forces with a sister act (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) and trek to Vermont for a white Christmas. Of course, there's the requisite fun with the ladies, but the real adventure starts when Crosby & Kaye discover that the inn is run by their old army general who's now in financial trouble. And the result is the stuff dreams are made of. Holiday InnWith music by Irving Berlin, songs by Bing Crosby and dancing by Fred Astaire, Holiday Inn is one of the most delightful and memorable musicals of all time, nominated* for 3 Academy Awards®. Crosby plays Jim Hardy, a song and dance man who leaves showbiz to open a Connecticut Inn. Astaire plays Ted Hanover, Hardy's former partner and rival in love. And, of course there are girls (Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale), an agent (Walter Abel) and plenty of lavish song and dance routines with spectacular production numbers. Scrooge. The spirit of Christmas becomes a musical celebration of life in this rousing adaptation of Charles Dickens' beloved family classic, A Christmas Carol. Mean-spirited and stingy, Ebenezer Scrooge (Albert Finney) has a sour face and humbug for anyone who crosses his path. But on this Christmas Eve, he will learn the terrible fate that awaits him if he continues his miserly ways. One by one, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future take the startled Ebenezer on an incredible journey through time - showing him in one magical night what takes most people a lifetime to learn. Filled with joyous songs, this delightful tale is sure to enrich the lives of young and old alike for many more generations.

• Cruise of the Gods | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £7.12   |  Saving you £8.87 (124.58%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Both warmly funny and surprisingly touching, the one-off 90-minute BBC comedy Cruise of the Gods (2002) unites the twin comic talents of Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan for the first time. Brydon, whose Marion & Geoff brought him instant cult status and critical acclaim, plays Andy Van Allen, a washed-up actor who once enjoyed celebrity as the star of a TV science-fiction series but who is now down on his luck as a hotel porter. Desperate to rescue his self-esteem, but equally desperate to conceal his failure, he reluctantly embarks on a Mediterranean cruise for die-hard fans of the old show organised by uber-nerd Jeff Monks (David Walliams). To compound his humiliation, Van Allan's one-time costar, Nick Lee (Coogan), now a Hollywood big shot thanks to his starring role in Sherlock Holmes in Miami, gatecrashes the trip. Elements of both Marion & Geoff's agonising pathos and the squirm-inducing embarrassment of I'm Alan Partridge feature prominently here as the merciless portrayal of geeky fandom slowly gives way to a more gentle, affectionate portrait of people whose lives were inexplicably touched by the fantastically awful Children of Castor (imagine a camp cross between Blake's 7 and The Tomorrow People). Unlike the sympathetically pathetic ex-husband of Marion, here Brydon plays a cruelly cynical and embittered character, whose self-loathing contrasts painfully with the annoying ebullience of Coogan's superstar. The supporting cast are all a delight, too: witness lugubrious Philip Jackson, as alcoholic writer Hugh Bispham, clashing hilariously with Walliams' deadly earnest super-fan over the interpretation of names in the show, which turn out to be nothing more cryptic than anagrams of Bispham's favourite curries. James Corden and Helen Coker are emotionally fragile followers whose lives intertwine unexpectedly with their heroes, while Brian Conley and Jack Jones gamely provide cameos. --Mark Walker

• Enemy Mine | DVD | (03/06/2002) from £17.98   |  Saving you £2.01 (11.18%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Enemy Mine is, in essence, a sci-fi remake of John Boorman’s Hell in the Pacific (1969), only instead of a US pilot and a Japanese naval officer stranded on a Pacific island during WWII, here we have a lizard-like Draconian (Louis Gossett Jr.) and his mortal enemy, Earthling Dennis Quaid, both having crash-landed on a hostile planet during a brutal space battle. Forced to rely on one another for survival, they overcome their differences and become fast friends. (You can almost hear them break into an off-key version of "It's a Small World".) German director Wolfgang Petersen, so brutally honest with his film Das Boot, turns warm and cuddly on us with this intergalactic buddy movie. Although the script sets us up for an intriguing encounter, it ultimately settles for a simple and sentimental resolution. Noteworthy set design and strong performances, especially by Gossett, push this beyond mere mediocrity. His performance is fascinating, as he must speak in an alien tongue, which he maintains with artistry and consistency.--Rochelle O'Gorman, Amazon.com On the DVD: Enemy Mine on disc is presented anamorphically in its original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio with a vivid Dolby 4.0 soundtrack. Thankfully picture and sound are excellent, since the extra features are lamentably poor, consisting merely of the theatrical trailer and three (yes, three) "behind the scenes" still pictures. The disc is also equipped with multiple language and subtitle options.--Mark Walker