"Actor: John B"

• Empire Of The Sun - Special Edition | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £7.49   |  Saving you £9.50 (55.90%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Roundly dismissed as one of Steven Spielberg's least successful efforts, this very underrated film poignantly follows the World War II adventures of young Jim (a brilliant Christian Bale), caught in the throes of the fall of China. What if you once had everything and lost it all in an afternoon? What if you were only 12 years old at the time? Bale's transformation, from pampered British ruling-class child to an imprisoned, desperate, nearly feral boy, is nothing short of stunning. Also stunning are exceptional sets, cinematography and music (the last courtesy of John Williams) that enhance author J.G. Ballard's and screenwriter Tom Stoppard's depiction of another, less familiar casualty of war. In a time when competitors were releasing "comedic", derivative coming-of-age films, Empire of the Sun stands out as an epic in the classic David Lean sense--despite confusion or perceived competition with the equally excellent The Last Emperor (also released in 1987, and also a coming-of-age in a similar setting). It is also a remarkable testament to, yes, the human spirit. And despite its disappointing box-office returns, Empire of the Sun helped to further establish Spielberg as more than a commercial director and set the standard, tone and look for future efforts Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. --N.F. Mendoza

• The Four Minute Mile | DVD | (27/03/2006) from £6.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  In 1954 four athletes across three continents were trying to run a mile under the milestone 4 minute mark - a feat then thought impossible. With two supremely gifted athletes emerging as front runners: England's Roger Bannister and Australia's John Landy a race into the history books was on...Based on Roger Bannister's sporting achievement this film is a story of dedication perseverance and glory.

• Survivors - The Complete Series 3 | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Conceived by Dr Who's Terry Nation 'Survivors' is a groundbreaking and startlingly realistic television drama series. First aired in 1975 at the height of the Cold War the post-apocalyptic storylines immediately gripped the imagination of the British public and remains compelling viewing to this day. Episodes comprise: 1. Manhunt 2. A Little Learning 3. Law Of The Jungle 4. Mad Dog 5. Bridgehead 6. Reunion 7. The Peacemaker 8. Sparks 9. The Enemy 10. The Last Laugh 11. Long

• Kinsey | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £3.90   |  Saving you £16.09 (412.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Liam Neeson stars as American sociologist and sexual pioneer Alfred Kinsey in this biopic.

• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2 Disc) | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £4.01   |  Saving you £20.98 (523.19%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The love life of a woolly mammoth - handled with U-rated delicacy - drives this sequel to the first computer-animated romp in the age of prehistoric mammals. While the first Ice Age took a delightful premise and suffocated it with a formulaic plot - in which a mammoth named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano, Everyone Loves Raymond), a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo, Moulin Rouge!), and a sabre-tooth tiger named Diego (Denis Leary, Rescue Me) helped an abandoned human infant return to its tribe (basically, Three Mammals and a Baby) - the sequel takes the now-familiar setting, gives it a shapeless, episodic storyline, and yet somehow becomes pretty darn entertaining. Faced with the threat of a flood from melting ice, our heroic trio are on the run to escape from their blossoming valley. On the way, they meet a female mammoth (Queen Latifah, Bringing Down the House) who thinks she's an opossum and get menaced by some freshly defrosted carnivorous fish. Add into the mix a herd of lava-worshipping mini-sloths, some Busby Berkeley-style vultures, and more ingenious slapstick featuring the acorn-crazed Scrat, and Ice Age: The Meltdown will amuse even jaded adults. --Bret Fetzer

• Fimbles - Smelly Jelly! | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  More fun with the Fimbles. Join Rockit and the Fimbles in a series of adventures which involve delivering the post finding a shoe and playing hide and seek.

• Harley Davidson And The Marlboro Man | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sheathing itself in bad taste, this film flaunts its tackiness, its machismo, and its very stupidity, which of course makes for a lot of dopey fun. Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) returns to his roots, the LA of 1996 (the film was set in the near future, as it was made in 1991). Burbank has become an airport, a new drug called Crystal Dream is all the rage and Harley's favourite bar is being torn down. To save it, he and the Marlboro Man (Don Johnson, at his most engaging) concoct an armed robbery that goes awry. Instead of cash, they end up with a shipment of Crystal Dream. Hunted by a drug dealer's goons, the two bark, fight, drink and squint at each other as they try to get themselves out of their mess. This is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for the monster-truck crowd, with plenty of breasts, choppers, broken pool cues and empty bottles. It's impossible to blame this film for being so emphatically trashy; its creators would consider that a compliment, anyway. --Keith Simanton, Amazon.com

• Fair Stood The Wind For France ... A Love Story | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  David Beames and John Flanagan star in this 1981 BBC adaptation of H.E. Bates' war time drama Fair Stood The Wind For France. When John Franklin crash lands his Wellington bomber in occupied France at the height of the Second World War he is concerned for the safety of his crew and worried about his own badly injured arm. His crew escapes but the family of a mill owner risk their lives to Franklin in their home until he regains his health. during the following balmy summer months the pilot's situation is further complicated by his feelings for Francoise the daughter of the house. As German patrols move in his only chance of survival is to flee from France.

• The Big C - Season 2 | DVD | (20/08/2012) from £6.70   |  Saving you £18.29 (272.99%)   |  RRP £24.99

  As the failure of her chemotherapy sends her in search of a clinical trial that could save her life, Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney) returns to work and lands a job coaching the high school swim team. But just as she begins getting her life back on track and agrees to house a student whose family is moving to Africa, her husband, Paul (Oliver Platt), loses his job and their health insurance. Meanwhile, Cathy must confront a fellow trial patient’s difficult battle with cancer and the baby that her best friend is having with her mentally unstable brother, Sean (John B. Hickey), all while her son, Adam (Gabriel Basso), struggles with his emerging sexuality. And in the wake of a Thanksgiving dinner gone awry, a series of tragic events serves to underscore the harsh realities of the difficult road ahead for Cathy. Season two guest stars include Alan Alda, Cynthia Nixon, Hugh Dancy and Parker Posey.

• Digby - the Biggest Dog in the World | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  ""Everybody's Favourite Shaggy Dog Story!"" Young Billy can't keep Digby the lovable sheepdog he brought home from the pound so he decides to leave him with animal expert Jeff (Jim Dale). But while Jeff's back is turned Digby accidentally drinks a top secret chemical which makes him grow... and grow... and grow! The gigantic Digby is soon being chased all over the country. The army think he dangerous and want to blow him up. Two thieves are trying to sell him to the circus! In this frantic and hilarious race against time Billy and the hapless Jeff must get to Digby with the antidote or lose him forever. With and all star cast including Spike Milligan and Victor Spinetti Digby The Biggest Dog In The World is a classic adventure story for the whole family. Available for the first time on DVD!

• Monsters, Inc. --Widescreen Two Disc Collector's Edition | DVD | (07/09/2002) from £9.94   |  Saving you £15.05 (151.41%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The monsters in Monsters, Inc. are just so incredibly cute--and they know it. Whereas Woody, Buzz and pals in the Toy Story saga were filled with self-doubt about just how much the children in their lives would continue to love them, here our heroic monsters and their impossibly lovable human ward Boo have no such worries, at least when it comes to the cinema audience. And that's why Monsters, Inc., for all its wondrous computer-animated artistry, its smart humour and its family-friendly appeal, doesn't quite capture the naïve charm of its predecessors. Nevertheless, John Goodman and Billy Crystal, as scare-champions Sulley and Mike, are a great double-act whose comedy never goes over kids' heads but still reaches up to make their parents laugh. The film's central conceit--that monsters in the bedroom closet are just doing a night's work in order to generate power from screams for the city of Monstropolis--is funny and cleverly worked out; and kids will of course love the fact that the monsters are mortally afraid of the very children they are trying to frighten. The animation is extraordinarily detailed (Sulley's fur is a marvel in itself) and the set-piece action sequences top anything that has gone before for sheer audaciousness. But overall Pixar play things very safe, from the hissable villain to the end credit "outtakes". A bolder film might have taken inspiration from The Nightmare Before Christmas; instead, a little of that Disney disease of knowing cuteness seems to have crept into the formula. --Mark Walker

• The Kentuckian | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £14.35   |  Saving you £-1.36 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Burt Lancaster's one and only feature as star and director, The Kentuckian, has a bedrock American folk tale at its core, but scarcely a clue how to tell it. For all his balletic control as an actor-athlete, Lancaster shows no sense of how a film should move and breathe over an hour and a half, or how to make the characters' growth or changes of mind credible. It's the early 18th century--Monroe is president--and buckskin-clad Lancaster and his son (Donald MacDonald) are lighting out for Texas. "It ain't we don't like people--we like room more." They plan briefly to visit Lancaster's tobacco-dealer brother (John McIntire) in the river town of Humility, and then move on. But there are complications from a long-running feud, and some nasty baiting from a whip-cracking storekeeper (Walter Matthau in his film debut); the need to replace their "Texas money" after buying freedom for a bondservant (Dianne Foster); also the matter of deciding who's prettier, her or the local schoolmarm (Diana Lynn). Lancaster aims for some quaint Americana--a sing-along to the tinkling of a pianoforte, a jaw-dropping riverside production number--and there's one nifty bit of action based on how long it took to reload a flintlock rifle. But mostly this film just lies there in overlit CinemaScope. --Richard T Jameson

• An American Tail/An American Tail 2 - Fievel Goes West | DVD | (26/12/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An American Tail: Fievel is a young Russian mouse and he and his parents are on their way to America. Why? Well they believe that America is the land of no cats. On the journey to America though Fieval loses his parents and arrives in the New World all alone. To add further misery in Fieval America is not all what it is cracked up to be...there are cats there to! Fieval never gives up hope though and with his new found friends he begins a search for his parents all the time dodging the cats he thought he'd be long rid of. An American Tail 2: Look out pardners there's a new mouse in town! Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan. Unaware of this the Mousekewitz's begin their journey west while their true cat friend Tiger follows intent on following his girlfriend gone in the same direction.

• Sniper 3 | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £7.41   |  Saving you £8.58 (115.79%)   |  RRP £15.99

  He only needs one shot... Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett has over seventy confirmed kills in his long and illustrious career. The US Marine Corps' most decorated sniper has taken out warlords drug lords assassins and bitter foes. This time he's going after a friend. Paul Finnegan and Beckett fought side-by-side in the jungles of Vietnam. And in a tragic turn of events that's also where Finnegan lost his life. Or so Beckett believed for all these years... But Finnegan's

• Doctor Who - Spearhead From Space | DVD | (29/01/2001) from £9.96   |  Saving you £10.03 (100.70%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spearhead from Space" launched Doctor Who into the 1970s with not only a new Doctor, Jon Pertwee, but a new assistant, the scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and a regular place in the show for UNIT and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney). It also marked the debut of the programme in colour and saw the Doctor stranded on Earth after Patrick Troughton's last adventure, "The War Games" (1969). Not only that, but it proved the only serial in the show's history to be entirely shot both on film and location, giving it a uniquely cinematic feel. Regenerating in a country hospital, the Doctor finds himself helping the Brigadier investigate an unusual meteorite and its links with a sinister doll factory. The Autons are cybernetic killers--anticipating The Terminator by some 15 years--and the sequence in which they break through high-street shop windows to slaughter pedestrians remains a chilling highpoint of Doctor Who's entire history. Things do turn silly with a subplot involving a waxworks museum, while the ultimate battle with the Nestine consciousness is more likely to induce laughter than fear, but as vintage television nostalgia this is fast-moving splendidly characterised entertainment. --Gary S. DalkinOn the DVD: The remastered picture and sound are exceptional for a 1970 TV show. Obviously in 4:3 and mono, this DVD offers technical quality easily as good as many feature films. There is a very friendly, if not especially informative, commentary from Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John, and subtitles that offer background facts and figures. With an amusing five-minute recruiting film for UNIT, repeat trailers and a gallery including previously unpublished photos, this excellent DVD is a Doctor Who fan's dream come true. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Who Was That Lady? | DVD | (18/09/2006) from £8.39   |  Saving you £4.60 (54.83%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A wayward chemistry professor (Curtis) and his friend (Martin) imitate spies in a desperate attempt to justify a kiss between Curtis and one of his students to his jealous wife JANET Janet Leigh. The situation becomes chaotic once the pair are mistaken for genuine FBI agents by real Russian spies!

• A Touch of Frost: Series 2 | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £10.71   |  Saving you £14.28 (133.33%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second series of investigations featuring the gruff detective. Episodes comprise: 'A Minority Of One' 'Widows And Orphans' 'Nothing To Hide' and 'Stranger In The House'.

• Great Balls Of Fire | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £14.28   |  Saving you £-1.29 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The meteoric rise to fame of living legend Jerry Lee Lewis; the escapades that shot him to the top of the charts as well as his controversial third marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin threatened to wreck his career...

• Undefeatable | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £12.14   |  Saving you £-4.16 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Out of the ring into the fire...in a fight to the finish! All action martial arts film in which a woman is hell-bent on getting revenge on the man who attacked and raped her sister....

• Never Let Go | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £11.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Remembered dimly as Peter Sellers' only venture into "serious" acting, Never Let Go has a lot of other things to recommend it, mostly because it manages to include a lot of the lurid elements that gained it an X certificate in 1960. It has a near-demented melodrama plot, as two desperate obsessives collide in a bizarre feud. Richard Todd, doing meek and put-upon, is a sales rep for smug Peter Jones' cosmetics firm whose life is turned upside-down when his Ford Anglia, bought on hire purchase and uninsured, is stolen by teddy boy Adam Faith. Looking like an inhabitant of Royston Vasey in The League of Gentlemen, Sellers plays a grinning, jumped-up spiv who runs a legitimate garage which is a front for the car thieves and is sugar daddy to teenage tartlet Carol White. Typical of Sellers' demonic rottenness is a scene in which he breaks down-and-out Melvyn Johns' heart by stamping on his beloved terrapin. "Peanut" Todd's crusade to get back his motor (catchphrase "what about my car?") brings trouble too: he gets repeatedly beaten up, abandoned by his wife (Elizabeth Sellars) and dragged to the edge of madness for a final punch-up in a garage. With a delightfully sleazy, jazzy John Barry score, lots of local colour in the caffs and gaffs of criminal London circa 1960 and a parade of welcome character actors (John le Mesurier, David Lodge, Noel Willman, Nigel Stock), this has its soapy spells, but it's a fascinating relic. On the DVD: Never Let Go's menu plays under Faith's theme song ("When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again--Oh Yeah Oh Yeah!"). The print is slightly letterboxed but looks a few generations away from the master with some careless transfer work that greys shadows and overexposes some scenes. --Kim Newman