"Actor: James X"

• Still Open All Hours - The Complete Collection | DVD | (05/06/2023) from £35.91   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Open All Hours returns to our screens 28 years after the first series. This warm-hearted sitcom sees Sir David Jason reprise his role as Granville who has inherited the corner shop from his beloved but miserly Uncle Arkwright. Now running the business with his cheerful and good-looking son, Leroy (James Baxter) - the result of a brief romantic encounter a couple of decades ago - Granville continues to serve the locals with a keen eye on a clever profit, from familiar and new faces including Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (Lynda Baron), the formidable Mrs Featherstone (Stephanie Cole), and pessimistic Wet Eric (Johnny Vegas). He is also still trying to woo the lovely Mavis (Maggie Ollerenshaw), who is now under the watchful eye of her fearsome sister Madge (Brigit Forsyth), and Granville tries to find a way through with help from his neighbour, Gastric (Tim Healy).

• Blacklist, The - Season 06 | DVD | (04/11/2019) from £34.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Following the startling revelation that Raymond Red Reddington (James Spader) isn't who he says he is, Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) is torn between the relationship she's developed with the man claiming to be her father and her desire to get to the bottom of years of secrets and lies. Meanwhile, Red leads Liz and the FBI to the most strange and dangerous criminals yet, growing his empire and eliminating rivals in the process. All throughout, Liz and Red engage in an uneasy cat-and-mouse game in which lines will be crossed and the truth will be revealed.

• X-Men: Dark Phoenix DVD | DVD | (07/10/2019) from £3.83   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In DARK PHOENIX, the X-MEN face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. During a rescue mission in space, Jean is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain. With Jean spiraling out of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite -- not only to save Jean's soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.

• Planet of the Apes Triple | Blu Ray | (27/11/2017) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Billed as a "re-imagining" of the original film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honourable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape make-up (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal--the dominance of apes over humans--into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right. While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. --Jeff Shannon

• Pink Floyd - The Wall | DVD | (22/04/2005) from £9.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  By any rational measure, Alan Parker's cinematic interpretation of Pink Floyd's The Wall is a glorious failure. Glorious because its imagery is hypnotically striking, frequently resonant and superbly photographed by the gifted cinematographer Peter Biziou. And a failure because the entire exercise is hopelessly dour, loyal to the bleak themes and psychological torment of Roger Waters' great musical opus, and yet utterly devoid of the humour that Waters certainly found in his own material. Any attempt to visualise The Wall would be fraught with artistic danger, and Parker succumbs to his own self-importance, creating a film that's as fascinating as it is flawed. The film is, for better and worse, the fruit of three artists in conflict--Parker indulging himself, and Waters in league with designer Gerald Scarfe, whose brilliant animated sequences suggest that he should have directed and animated this film in its entirety. Fortunately, this clash of talent and ego does not prevent The Wall from being a mesmerising film. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof (in his screen debut) is a fine choice to play Waters's alter ego--an alienated, "comfortably numb" rock star whose psychosis manifests itself as an emotional (and symbolically physical) wall between himself and the cold, cruel world. Weaving Waters's autobiographical details into his own jumbled vision, Parker ultimately fails to combine a narrative thread with experimental structure. It's a rich, bizarre, and often astonishing film that will continue to draw a following, but the real source of genius remains the music of Roger Waters. --Jeff Shannon

• Planet of the Apes Triple | DVD | (27/11/2017) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Billed as a "re-imagining" of the original film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honourable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape make-up (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal--the dominance of apes over humans--into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right. While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. --Jeff Shannon

• Monarch Of The Glen Complete Series 1 to 7 | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £46.35   |  Saving you £-4.35 (N/A%)   |  RRP £42.00

  Based on the Highland novels by Compton Mackenzie, Monarch of The Glen follows the fortunes of Archie MacDonald (Alastair Mackenzie) who is carving out a life for himself as a restauranteur in London when he is summoned home to the Scottish Highlands after his father, The Laird of Glenbogle (Richard Briers), is injured in an accident..

• Only When I Laugh - Series 1 - 4 - Complete | DVD | (15/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £42.99

  Only When I Laugh was written by Eric Chappell (Rising Damp Home to Roost) and directed by Vernon Lawrence (Duty Free The Bounder). The series starred James Bolam (Beiderbecke) Peter Bowles (To the Manor Born) and Christopher Strauli (Raffles) as three congenital hypochondriac layabouts forever haunting the ward patrolled by the droll Doctor Thorpe (Richard Wilson - One Foot in the Grave). This 4 DVD collection includes every episode from all four series!

• Downton Abbey The Movie | DVD | (27/01/2020) from £5.21   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This autumn, the worldwide phenomenon DOWNTON ABBEY, becomes a grand motion picture event, as the beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance. Written by series creator Julian Fellowes and starring the original cast.

• The Queen | DVD | (12/03/2007) from £3.80   |  Saving you £16.19 (426.05%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Helen Mirren stars as Queen Elizabeth II in this drama set in the days following the death of Princess Diana.

• Tudors, The: The Complete Collection - S1-4 (DVD STD-12) (2019 REPACKAGE) | DVD | (26/08/2019) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Golden Globe® Award-winning Jonathan Rhys Meyers gives the performance of a lifetime as England's most notorious king in the thrilling hit drama series, THE TUDORS. King Henry VIII's fierce passion to secure England's world prominence and his own legacy leads him through a string of six wives, an ill-advised war with France, and ultimately a place in history as one of the world's most charismatic, most brutal, and most deeply human kings. The all-star cast includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Joely Richardson and Henry Cavill. Get all four seasons of heart-pounding action and edge-of-your seat intrigue in this critically-acclaimed series that redefined historical dramas. (BONUS DISC PACKAGING): Experience life in Tudor times with six featurettes, including Henry's Wives Club which takes a closer look at the women in his life: Reviving History find out how history was made relatable to modern audiences by the show's creator and its crew.

• The Bridge On The River Kwai | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £4.65   |  Saving you £18.34 (394.41%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Based on the true story of the building of a bridge on the Burma railway by British prisoners-of-war held under a savage Japanese regime in World War II, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is one of the greatest war films ever made. The film received seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Performance (Alex Guinness), for Sir Malcolm Arnold's superb music, and for the screenplay from the novel by Pierre Boulle (who also wrote Monkey Planet, the inspiration for Planet of the Apes). The story does take considerable liberties with history, including the addition of an American saboteur played by William Holden, and an entirely fictitious but superbly constructed and thrilling finale. Made on a vast scale, the film reinvented the war movie as something truly epic, establishing the cinematic beachhead for The Longest Day (1962), Patton (1970) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). It also proved a turning-point in director David Lean's career. Before he made such classic but conventionally scaled films as In Which We Serve (1942) and Hobson's Choice (1953). Afterwards there would only be four more films, but their names are Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr Zhivago (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970) and A Passage to India (1984). On the DVD: Too often the best extras come attached to films that don't really warrant them. Not so here, where a truly great film has been given the attention it deserves. The first disc presents the film in the original extra-wide CinemaScope ratio of 2.55:1, in an anamorphically enhanced transfer which does maximum justice to the film's superb cinematography. The sound has been transferred from the original six-track magnetic elements into 5.1 Dolby Digital and far surpasses what many would expect from a 1950s' feature. The main bonus on the first disc is an isolated presentation of Malcolm Arnold's great Oscar-winning music score, in addition to which there is a trivia game, and maps and historical information linked to appropriate clips. The second disc contains a new, specially produced 53-minute "making of" documentary featuring many of those involved in the production of the movie. This gives a rich insight into the physical problems of making such a complex epic on location in Ceylon. Also included are the original trailer and two short promotional films from the time of release, one of which is narrated by star William Holden. Finally there is an "appreciation" by director John Milius, an extensive archive of movie posters and artwork, and a booklet that reproduces the text of the film's original 1957 brochure. --Gary S Dalkin

• Scary Movie 3-Movie Collection | Blu Ray | (01/02/2021) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Get ready for 3 times the laughs, 3 times the terror and 3 times the stars with Scary Movie 1-3 on DVD! Rapid-fire jokes and funny bone-chilling suspense will keep you howling with laughter as Hollywood favourites take comedy to unprecedented levels in the first three instalments of this franchise spoof hit.

• The Blacklist - Season 3 | DVD | (01/08/2016) from £29.98   |  Saving you £5.01 (16.71%)   |  RRP £34.99

  In the third season of the hit drama The Blacklist, FBI Agent Elizabeth Liz Keen is now a fugitive and on the run with criminal mastermind Raymond Red Reddington. With Assistant FBI Director Harold Cooper under investigation, a conflicted Agent Donald Ressler leads the FBI Task Force on a massive manhunt for Liz and Red. As they struggle to stay one step ahead of their former colleagues and Liz immerses herself into Red's underworld of disreputable contacts and covert operations. Liz is on an unpredictable journey of self-discovery and all the pieces of her life, including her indefinable relationship with Tom, will be drastically challenged as she continues to believe Red holds all the answers. Click Images to Enlarge

• World War Z | Blu Ray | (21/10/2013) from £7.85   |  Saving you £19.14 (243.82%)   |  RRP £26.99

  Few monsters lend themselves better to allegory than the zombie. In the years since George Romero first set the shambling mold with Night of the Living Dead, filmmakers have been using the undead as handy substitutes for concepts as varied as mall-walking consumers, punk rockers, soccer hooligans, and every political movement imaginable. (All this, plus brain chomping.) World War Z, the mega-scale adaptation of Max Brooks's richly detailed faux-historical novel, presents a zombie apocalypse on a ginormous level never seen before on film. Somehow, however, the sheer size of the scenario, coupled with a distinct lack of visceral explicitness, ends up blunting much of the metaphoric impact. While the globe-hopping action certainly doesn't want for spectacle, viewers may find themselves wishing there was something more to, you know, chew on. Director Marc Forster and his team of screenwriters (including J. Michael Straczynski and Lost's Damon Lindelof) have kept the basic gist of the source material, in which an unexplained outbreak results in a rapidly growing army of the undead. Unlike the novel's sprawling collection of unrelated narrators, however, the film streamlines the plot, following a retired United Nations investigator (Brad Pitt) who must leave his family behind in order to seek out the origins of the outbreak. While the introduction of a central character does help connect some of Brooks's cooler ideas, it also has the curious effect of narrowing the global scale of the crisis. By the time of the third act, in which Pitt finds himself under siege in a confined space, the once epic scope has decelerated into something virtually indistinguishable from any other zombie movie. Even if it's not a genre changer, though, World War Z still has plenty to distinguish itself, including a number of well-orchestrated set pieces--this is a movie that will never be shown on airplanes--and the performances, with Pitt's gradually eroding calm strengthened by a crew of supporting actors (including Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, and a fantastically loony David Morse) who manage to make a large impression in limited time. Most importantly, it's got those tremendous early scenes of zombie apocalypse, which display a level of frenetic chaos that's somehow both over-the-top and eerily plausible. When the fleet-footed ghouls start dogpiling en masse, even the most level-headed viewer may find themselves checking the locks and heading for the basement. --Andrew Wright

• The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air: The Complete Series | DVD | (05/09/2016) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  It's the complete six-season classic that gave sitcoms street smarts all 147 episodes, nearly 57 hours in one big box set! Before shooting into the showbiz stratosphere with four Grammy Awards® and box-office hits Independence Day, Men in Black and I Am Legend, music and movie icon Will Smith first rose to stardom as a West Philadelphia kid who gets the uplift of a lifetime when he's sent to live with rich relatives on the West Coast. Talk about your culture clashes...and your audience pleasers: Fresh Prince regularly showed a flawed and conflicted African-American household that, despite internal differences, pulled together and made life work and laughter ring out. Over seven years, Smith...emerged as something more: a first-rate comedian with a deadpan stare...so spontaneous, so much at ease in front of the camera, that it's frequently hard to tell which of his lines are scripted and which are ad-libbed (Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly). From beginning to end, this prince gives you the royal comedy treatment!

• Big Little Lies: Season 2 | DVD | (06/01/2020) from £11.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  On the surface, in the tranquil seaside town of Monterey, California, everything seems the same. The mothers continue to dote, the husbands support, the children remain adorable and the houses are just as beautiful. But the night of the schoo lfundraiser changed all that, leaving the community reeling as the Monterey Five Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie bond together to pick up the pieces oftheir shattered lives.

• Mickey Blue Eyes | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £12.76   |  Saving you £1.23 (9.64%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Michael Felgate (Hugh Grant), an elegant, debonair Englishman who runs an auction house in New York, is head-over-heels in love for the first time in his life.

• Pretty in Pink | DVD | (14/10/2003) from £5.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.95%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The era of Molly Ringwald's profitable collaboration with writer-producer-director John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club) was at its peak with this 1986 film (directed by Howard Deutch but in every sense part of the developing Hughes empire). Ringwald plays a high-school girl on the budget side of the tracks, living with her warm and loving father (Harry Dean Stanton) and usually accompanied by her insecure best friend (Jon Cryer). When a wealthy but well-meaning boy (Andrew McCarthy) asks her out, her perspective is overturned and Cryer's character is threatened. As was the case in the mid-'80s, Hughes (who wrote the script and produced the film) brought his special feel for the cross-currents of adolescent life to this story. In its very commercial way, it is an honest, entertaining piece about growing pains. The attractive supporting cast (many of whom are much better known now) does a terrific job, and Ringwald and Cryer have excellent chemistry. --Tom Keogh

• World War Z | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £3.95   |  Saving you £16.04 (406.08%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.