"Actor: Joann Johnson"

• City Of Angels | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (100.14%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Some critics complained that City of Angels could never compare to Wim Wenders's exquisite German film Wings of Desire, which served as the later film's primary inspiration. The better argument to make is that any such comparisons are beside the point, because Wings of Desire was a much more deeply poetic, artfully contemplative film, whereas City of Angels is an enchanting product of mainstream Hollywood. Meg Ryan stars as Dr. Maggie Rice, a heart surgeon who is grieving over a lost patient when an angel named Seth (Nicolas Cage) appears to comfort her. She can see him despite the "rule" that angels are invisible, and Seth's love for Maggie forces him to choose between angelic immortality and a normal human existence on earth with her. Featuring heavenly roles for TV veterans Andre Braugher and Dennis Franz, the film liberally borrows imagery from Wings of Desire, but it also creates its own charming identity. Cage and Ryan give fine performances as lovers convinced they are soul mates, and although the plot relies on a last-minute twist that doesn't quite work, this earnest love story struck a chord with audiences and proved to be one of the surprise hits of 1998. --Jeff Shannon

• Dream Horse | DVD | (13/09/2021) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Jan Vokes, a cleaner and bartender, recruits her reluctant husband Brian and local accountant Howard Davies to help her bring together a syndicate of villagers to breed a foal - which they raise on an allotment and name Dream Alliance. On the racetrack, he proves himself to be more than a match for the multi-million-pound race horses he comes up against - a true working-class champion, taking on the establishment at their own game. But much more than this, Dream begins to alter the lives of everyone in the syndicate, not least Jan's. He is everything to her: friend, confidant and an escape from a life of always putting other people's needs first. Dream Horse is a classic story of triumph against adversity, and a tale of how a woman strives to make her dream a reality in a place where hope is thin on the ground.

• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £13.89   |  Saving you £-3.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Dutiful cavalry officer Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) is reluctant to retire in the face of an imminent Native American uprising. His last official task is to escort the commander's wife and her niece to the Sudrow's Wells stagecoach stop but it proves to be a journey fraught with danger. This film the second in John Ford's cavalry trilogy is a masterpiece of the cinema and is acclaimed as one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (07/06/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• She Wore A Yellow Ribbon | DVD | (30/04/2001) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The second instalment of John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy, this meditative Western continues the director's fascination with history's obliteration of the past. It features one of John Wayne's more sensitive performances as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a stern yet sentimental war horse who has difficulty preparing for his impending military retirement. All things considered, he refuses to leave before fulfilling his obligation to the local Indian tribe. It's a film about honour and duty as well as loneliness and mortality. And Oscar-winner Winton C. Hoch beautifully photographs it in Remington-like Technicolor tones (you've never seen such stunning cloud-covered skies). The combination of melancholy and farce (Victor McLaglen makes a perfect court jester) evokes comparisons to Shakespeare. Best of all, the scene in which Wayne fights back tears when receiving a gold watch from his troops is unforgettably bittersweet. If you view the whole trilogy, it actually makes sense to save this for last. --Bill Desowitz, Amazon.com

• Soldier Girls | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £6.73   |  Saving you £3.26 (48.44%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Nick Broomfield travels to Fort Georgia where he follows the lives of a number of inductees as they go though Basic Army training. It soon becomes apparent some are far less suited to this rigorous lifestyle than others and in a fashion honed over several subsequent films Broomfield zeroes in on only the most interesting funny sad and strange figures there. Including those in charge!