"Actor: John A"

• Shackleton | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Shackleton is not a biopic of the great Anglo-Irish explorer but a dramatisation of the failed trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-16. As written and directed by Charles (Longtitude) Sturridge the production, filmed on real ice floes in Greenland, stays remarkably close to the facts, capturing the look of the surviving expedition photos of Frank Hurley (collected in the book South With Endurance) with great fidelity. Kenneth Branagh makes no attempt at an authentic accent but otherwise gives a powerful impression of a most commanding personality. When the expedition ship Endurance became locked in the Antarctic ice Shackleton vowed to bring every man home alive, and against virtually impossible odds, including a 700-mile journey in an open boat through some of the worst seas in the world, he did just that. This superlative mini-series realises the story with production values and cinematography which would not disgrace a big-budget feature (Hurley's own 1919 documentary film can be seen on video in South). Intense physical drama, strong performances and Adrian Johnston's fine score combine here to deeply moving effect, marred only a little by a rushed conclusion. With Roland Huntford, author of the definitive Shackleton biography, as production advisor, this easily stands as the benchmark for all future comparable films. --Gary S Dalkin

• Top Cat Vol.5 | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £5.59   |  Saving you £2.40 (42.93%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Top Cat remains a favourite cartoon of many for its slyly subversive yet comically light-hearted anti-authoritarian themes. Set in the trash-strewn alleyways of New York City the animated series centres around charismatic con-man Top Cat and his gang of lowlife felines as they dodge nemesis Officer Dibble in their eternal quest for get-rich schemes.

• Herostratus (DVD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (24/10/2011) from £15.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (25.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When Max, a young poet (played by the iconic Michael Gothard) hires a marketing company to turn his suicide-by-jumping into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary gesture, and his motivations are revealed as a desperate attempt to seek attention through celebrity. Unseen since its limited release in 1967, this audacious and prescient - yet criminally overlooked - work by experimental filmmaker Don Levy left a profound mark on the landscape of late-1960s British cinema, with echoes of its visual style evident in the more celebrated work of such notable directors as Stanley Kubrick, Nicolas Roeg and Michael Winner.

• True Believer | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £6.92   |  Saving you £13.07 (188.87%)   |  RRP £19.99

  True Believer is an effective mystery by thrillmeister director Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy), that allows star James Woods to do some real acting as he conveys his character's denial and sense of disappointment in himself. Eddie Dodd (Woods) is a former '60s radical lawyer who now spends his time cynically defending drug dealers for the big bucks. But an idealistic young protégé (Robert Downey Jr.) convinces him to take one case from the heart: a young Chinese immigrant unjustly accused in a gang slaying. Woods (complete with add-on ponytail) fairly hums with energy once he gets cooking here. Playing the been-there-done-that mentor--not to mention legal gadfly--gives him plenty of opportunity to run off at the mouth with spicy one-liners and zingers. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• The Muppet Show - Series 2 | DVD | (05/11/2007) from £9.50   |  Saving you £21.49 (226.21%)   |  RRP £30.99

  Kermit the Frog is the manager of a cabaret-style theatre house which invariably has more drama behind the stage than actually on it! He has to contend with wannabe-comedian bears the smothering advances of Miss Piggy crabby regular theatre patrons homicidal chefs livestock not to mention making the weekly guest star feel welcome.

• Trader Hornee | DVD | (26/04/2008) from £6.73   |  Saving you £-0.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A jungle adventure with a difference - a safari that includes much boy-girl girl-boy girl-girl stuff and lots lots more. Hamilton Hornee is the private detective hired by a bank to find the missing child of a famed African explorer. 15 years previously her parents were slain in the jungle by savage natives and he's to establish if by some miracle she has survived. If the girl is found she will now be 21 years of age and will inherit the multi-million dollar estate of her father. Hornee and his Girl Friday Jane head the search party which includes Max and Doris Matthews cousins of the late wealthy explorer. If the missing girl is not found they get to inherit the money. Also on the safari are Tender Lee a columnist looking for the story of a lifetime and Stanley Livingston a zoologist who's trying to prove the existence of Nabucco the legendary great white gorilla. In Africa Hornee hires as a guide Kenya Adler a famed hunter and explorer who is now a bit past his prime. Soon the expedition is captured by the Meshpokas people who are ruled by the beautiful young blonde haired white goddess Algona and are the most feared natives in all the Dark Continent. Stanley Livingston finds his great white gorilla which turns out to be a British Commissioner in an ape-suit who in reality is a notorious escaped Nazi war-criminal. Algona discovers she's the missing child and frees all the captives except one; Horne... she keeps him for her own amusement! Good Bawdy Fun.

• A Private Function | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The story's setting is 1947 England where hard-hit Brits won't let mandatory food rationing keep them from celebrating the wedding of the future queen to Lt. Phillip Mountbatten. But there may be no public banquet for citizens in a Yorkshire town. The contraband guest of honour they've pampered and fattened has been pignapped!

• Necromancer | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Classic cult horror from 1988. When simple revenge is not enough! Julie, a sweet blonde co-ed, is assaulted by a pair of rich kids, Paul and Carl, one night in the school auditorium. To keep her quiet, the rapists threaten to tell her boyfriend about her past affair with her drama professor (Russ Tamblyn). Finally, at the advice of her best girl friend, Julie goes to see a medium--a woman who's a specialist in demonology. Thus begins Julie's introduction to the mysterious world of the occult as The Necromancer.

• The Fighting Seabees (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £4.90   |  Saving you £5.09 (103.88%)   |  RRP £9.99

  All-American hero John Wayne takes a crew of construction workers and turns them into one of WWII's toughest fighting forces in this action-packed war classic. But first he has to convince the army brass to let his civilians bear arms and then he's got to whip them into combat shape. Now Wayne is fighting for his life on a different battlefield when he's brought up on court-martial charges for leading his troops in an all-out assault against the Japanese. It's Wayne at his best playing the kind of rough-and-tumble man of honor that made him a legend and Hollywood's biggest star. An entertaining combination of strong supporting performances by Daniel O'Keefe and ravishing about-to-be superstar Susan Hayward.

• Bagpuss: The Complete Series | Blu Ray | (09/10/2023) from £27.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  TBC

• Hidden Agenda | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  American activists Paul Sullivan (Dourif) and his fiancee Ingrid Jessner (McDormand) journey to Belfast to probe allegations of brutal human rights abuses by British security forces. When Paul is killed under mysterious circumstances the official reports list him as an I.R.A. accomplice. But Ingrid and British policeman Paul Kerrigan (Cox) question the findings and begin to uncover a shocking high-level conspiracy. Now with their safety in jeopardy they must decide whether to risk

• The Office - An American Workplace - Season 9 | DVD | (15/09/2014) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-5.28 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.71

  A fly-on-the-wall docu-reality parody about modern American office life The Office delves into the lives of the workers at Dunder Mifflin a paper supply company in Scranton Pennsylvania. The recent departure of regional manager Michael Scott has left many vying for the coveted position including a few internal candidates. One startling move that did transpire during the interview process was the hiring of the weirdly charming and manipulative Robert California (James Spader Boston Legal). The loyal and often times unmotivated staff include sales rep Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) who shares his working space with Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) the arrogant assistant to the regional manager whose responsibilities have expanded as the new owner of the office building. Special Features: Deleted Scenes: Promos Stairmageddon Paper Airplane A.A.R.M. Finale The Office: A Look Back Finale Table Read

• Sirens | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £17.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Sirens is an affectionate, semi-fictional comedy of manners set in 1930s Australia. In an audacious stroke of casting Hugh Grant plays a stereotypically awkward and diffident Englishman, in this case a Church of England priest. The priest is despatched into the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in an effort to press the Good Word upon Norman Lindsay, an artist whose lurid works are scandalising the upright citizenry. Lindsay--capably played here by Sam Neill--really existed and though he fancied himself as a dashing Bohemian artist, his paintings were dreadful. Sirens sees Grant's rigidly decent young priest and his equally prim wife (Tara Fitzgerald) gradually tempted further and further into the rustic bacchanalia that Lindsay has founded up in the bush. This sensual world is represented by Lindsay's young muses, played by supermodel Elle MacPherson, a pre-Ally McBeal Portia De Rossi and Kate Fischer. The three are more or less unclothed for most of the film, and spend what seems an unnecessary amount of time washing each other in rock-pools. This may or may not reflect awareness on the part of the producers that the film's predictable plot and overwrought dialogue weren't going to fill a lot of seats without some help. On the DVD: Sirens is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, but there are no extra features.--Andrew Mueller

• The Sons Of Katie Elder | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £4.96   |  Saving you £8.03 (161.90%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Wayne recovered from his first bout of cancer to appear in 1965's The Sons of Katie Elder as the brother of Dean Martin, Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson Jr. All four characters are wandering souls prone to trouble, but after the funeral of their frontier mother, they set out to avenge her death. Directed by Henry Hathaway (Wayne's director on True Grit), the film moves like a conventional, latter-day Western, with good performances from Wayne and Martin, who'd already costarred with the Duke in Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo. There's also nice support from Dennis Hopper (who had a legendary conflict with Hathaway on this film), Strother Martin and George Kennedy. --Tom Keogh

• The Borrowers | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £14.13   |  Saving you £-4.14 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The popular children's books by Mary Norton have been filmed before, but never with as much imagination and ingenuity as you'll find on display in this delightful fantasy film released to critical praise in 1998. The eponymous Borrowers are a family of tiny people who live in the walls and under the floorboards in the homes of "normal-sized" humans; they earn their by "borrowing" the household items (string, food crumbs, buttons, and so on) needed to furnish their tiny hiding places and provide their meals. The little Clock family lives happily undisturbed in the home of an aged aunt, but when the aunt dies and her will is stolen by an unscrupulous lawyer (John Goodman), the Clocks face eviction and the frightening hazards of the outside world. Under the ingenious direction of Peter Hewitt, this simple, straightforward movie mixes comedy, adventure, and suspense with some of the cleverest special effects you've ever seen, taking full advantage of effects technologies to immerse you in the world of the tiny people. A climactic chase scene in a milk-bottling plant is a visual tour de force, and the movie's smart and dazzling enough to entertain parents and children alike. After its modest success in cinemas, The Borrowers stands a good chance of becoming a home-video favourite. --Jeff Shannon

• Up the Elephant and Round the Castle: The Complete Series | DVD | (03/10/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Comedian Jim Davidson consolidated his phenomenal rise to fame with this hit early-eighties sitcom, starring as a happy-go-lucky Cockney who inherits a house but finds owning his own 'castle' brings its own set of problems. With guest stars including Linda Robson and The Bill's Christopher Ellison, Tony Scannell and Kevin Lloyd, this set contains all three series. Jim London is jobless, and he doesn't have much luck with the ladies, either. But he gets his first real break when his Auntie Min bequeaths him her house in South London's Elephant and Castle. 17 Railway Terrace might be small, but bachelor Jim's thrilled to have his own place at last. Sadly, he also inherits a cantankerous, unseen but oft-heard lodger, nosy neighbours and unwanted admirers and an army of dodgy visitors in need of Jim's help and/or a bed for the night...

• The Cruel Sea | Blu Ray | (13/06/2011) from £14.39   |  Saving you £5.60 (38.92%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Nicholas Monsarrat's novel is an unflinching, realistic and emotionally involving account of naval life during the Second World War in which the "heroes" are the men, the "heroines" the ships and the "villain" is not so much the German U-Boats lurking below as "the cruel sea" itself. This 1953 film has become a classic of British cinema largely because it is a straightforward, no-frills adaptation of the book and retain's much of the original's compelling yet almost understated dramatic focus. On convoy duty in the North Atlantic, the crew of HMS Compass Rose face as a matter of routine the threat of destruction from U-Boats as well as a constant struggle against the elements. The convoys themselves are Britain's only lifeline and their loss would lead to certain defeat, but in the early years of the war the ships sent to protect them can do almost nothing to prevent the U-Boat attacks. Jack Hawkins gives one of his finest performances as Captain Ericson, the commander who has to balance destroying the enemy against saving the lives of the men under his care. In one unforgettable scene--a crucial turning point for all the characters--he must decide whether to depth charge a suspected submarine despite the presence of British sailors in the water. As with the book, the individual officers and their lives are carefully delineated, helped by the strength of a cast of (then) young actors (notably Donald Sinden and Denholm Elliot). Ultimately what makes The Cruel Sea such an undeniable classic is that it has neither the flag-waving jingoism nor the war-is-hell melodrama so common to most war movies: instead it relates in an almost matter-of-fact way the bitterness of the conflict at sea fought by ordinary men placed in the most extraordinary of circumstances. --Mark Walker

• Fun With Dick And Jane | DVD | (09/01/2006) from £9.59   |  Saving you £3.40 (35.45%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bonnie and Clyde they ain't. George Segal and Jane Fonda star in this hilarious send-up of upper middle-class mores and the price people are willing to pay to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. Just as they're putting in a new pool at the house that has sunk them deep into debt Dick is fired from his high-paying job as an executive. Housewife Jane isn't too worried at first figuring she'll go to work and they'll just tighten their belts for awhile but it quickly becomes appa

• Music For Montserrat | DVD | (01/12/2008) from £13.41   |  Saving you £1.58 (10.50%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Performances: Phil Collins - Take Me Home Arrow & His Band - Hot Hot Hot Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes Jimmy Buffett - Volcano Mark Knopfler - Brothers in Arms Mark Knopfler - Money for Nothing Sting - Message in a Bottle Sting - Magic Elton John - Your Song Elton John - Live like Horses Elton John - Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me Eric Clapton - Broken Hearted Eric Clapton - Layla Eric Clapton - Same Old Blues Paul McCartney - Yesterday Paul McCartney -

• TT: Closer to the Edge (Single Disc) | DVD | (02/07/2012) from £9.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (100.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy is the greatest motorcycle road race in the world, the ultimate challenge for rider and machine. It has always called for a commitment far beyond any other racing event, and many have made the ultimate sacrifice in their quest for victory. TT3D Closer to the Edge is a story about freedom of choice, the strength of human spirit and the will to win. It's also an examination of what motivates those rare few, this elite band of brothers who risk everything to win the race.