"Actor: John M"

• Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 1 | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £3.99   |  Saving you £22.26 (815.38%)   |  RRP £24.99

  And now for something completely different...

• Persuasion | DVD | (01/11/1999) from £12.95   |  Saving you £7.04 (54.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After a slow beginning, in which the complex tangle of relationships is initially confusing, this BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's last novel, Persuasion, develops into an elegant romantic comedy. Austin combines a subtle dissection of the folly of class with a slow-burning, intensely passionate love story. Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) has loved Captain Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) ever since she was persuaded to reject him years before. Now he has returned from the Napoleonic wars, but will love be allowed to blossom? Especially when Anne is surrounded by the selfish, petty-minded Mary, misguided by Lady Russell, and burdened by a father obsessed with fairness of countenance above all other considerations. Excepting a basic booklet, on-screen character biographies and a Dolby Digital soundtrack, there is nothing to distinguish this DVD from the video version. The picture is very good, but showing some grain, not exceptional, so unless you have a large television there is little advantage over tape. In any format, what makes this adaptation work is the sharp screenplay by Nick Dear and the naturalistic style of director Roger Mitchell (who joined the A-list with Notting Hill, 1999), together eliciting fine performances from the ensemble cast. Less flamboyant than Pride and Prejudice (1995), this is a civilised treat. --Gary S Dalkin

• Walking with Dinosaurs | DVD | (14/04/2014) from £4.30   |  Saving you £15.69 (364.88%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For the first time in movie history audiences will truly see and feel what it was like when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Walking With Dinosaurs is the ultimate immersive big screen adventure for families. Meet dinosaurs more real than you've ever seen as you take off on a thrilling prehistoric adventure where Patchi an underdog dinosaur triumphs against all odds to become a hero for the ages.

• Footloose / Flashdance | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £6.76   |  Saving you £13.23 (195.71%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Footloose Teenager Ren MacCormack sends ripples through Bomont a small Midwestern town that could stand some shaking up when he arrives from Chicago with his mother Ethel to settle with her relatives. The adults tend to view him with suspicion as a possible contaminant from the outer world. Some of his male peers eye him as a threat and most of the girls just plain eye him. It's a tough time for Ren whose father deserted him and his mother leaving them financially and

• Verdi-Don Carlo | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £19.29   |  Saving you £5.69 (34.91%)   |  RRP £21.99

• Black Rain | DVD | (04/09/2000) from £6.97   |  Saving you £6.02 (86.37%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. -- Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• State Of Play - Series 1 | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £6.39   |  Saving you £13.60 (212.83%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Stephen Collins is an ambitious politician. Cal McAffrey is a well-respected investigative journalist and Stephen's ex-campaign manager. En route to work one morning Stephen's research assistant mysteriously falls to her death on the London Underground. It's not long before revelations of their affair hit the headlines. Meanwhile a suspected teenage drug dealer is found shot dead. These (apparently unconnected) events expose a dangerous habit within modern government of dancing too

• The Princess Diaries | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £6.04   |  Saving you £11.95 (197.85%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A precocious 16-year-old girl discovers that she is the princess of a small European country after her mother confesses to a one-night fling with a member of the royal family. As heir to the throne she's pressed into taking princess lessons from her gran.

• Sabrina | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £3.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (300.75%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Audrey Hepburn is the delightful, young, eponymous Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur who is hopelessly in love with David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy younger son in the rich Long Island household her father works for. In order to help her forget her woes, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris. While there, she befriends a baron who provides a bit of culture--and the encouragement to snip off her childlike ponytail. Upon her return to New York, Sabrina is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is entranced by her. However, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) has arranged David's marriage to Elizabeth Tyson in order to seal a business merger and thus must steer David away from Sabrina. To do this, Linus takes on the task of wooing her for himself. Full of great dialogue ("A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven") and wonderful performances, this film is a romantic masterpiece. Also enjoyable is the 1995 remake, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. --Jenny Brown

• All Gas and Gaitors | DVD | (02/11/2009) from £15.62   |  Saving you £0.37 (2.37%)   |  RRP £15.99

  All 11 surviving episodes of the classic TV comedy. All Gas And Gaitors is a sitcom centred on the ecclesiastical rivalries at St. Oggs a 13th Century cathedral. Episode titles: The Bishop Rides Again The Bishop Gets The Sack The Bishop Sees A Ghost The Bishop Loves His Neighbour The Bishops Heats The System The Bishop Warms Up The Bishop Entertains The Bishop Gives A Present The Bishop Shows His Loyalty The Bishop Has A Rest The Bishop Loses His Chaplain

• Strangers - The Complete Series | DVD | (19/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Don Henderson stars as the eccentric police Detective DCI George Bulman in this gritty and violent series from the 1970's.

• Jabberwocky | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £8.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (44.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A medieval comedy-adventure starring Michael Palin and directed by Terry Gilliam, Jabberwocky is an episodic adaptation of Lewis Carrolls surreal poem. Having previously directed Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975) with Terry Jones, Jabberwocky marked Gilliams solo directorial debut--is it coincidental that Jones is killed by the titular monster in the opening scene? Palin plays the naive Dennis Cooper, a man seeking his fortune just as the Jabberwocky is laying waste to the country. Its much the same world as Holy Grail, with all the trappings of the romantic Hollywood epic being liberally coated with literal and metaphorical muck. Palins character causes unwitting mayhem wherever he goes--one stand-out scene involves the destruction of a maintenance shop for damaged knights-in-armour--though as much humour comes from exposing the foibles of the people he meets. And those people constitute a roll call of contemporary British comedy: Harry H Corbett as a sex-mad squire, Warren Mitchells Mr Fishfinger, plus Annette Badland, Max Wall, John Le Mesurier, Rodney Bewes, John Bird, Neil Innes and John Gorman. Jabberwocky lacks the hilarity of Holy Grail, but is a consistently amusing, exceptionally atmospheric, gleefully gory yarn which points the way to Gilliams Time Bandits (1981) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). On the DVD Jabberwocky is distinguished by an engaging and enthusiastic commentary from Gilliam and Palin, in which they delight in the amazing cast and ponder how such a handsome film was made. Otherwise the extras are a short sketch-to-screen comparison, three posters and three trailers (only one for Jabberwocky). Transferred anamorphically enhanced at 1.77:1, the picture is variable, with many beautifully lit indoor scenes looking fine, while other exterior, daylight shots appear washed out. There is some minor print damage. The sound is a revelation for a low-budget 1970s film originally released in mono. Given a full Dolby Digital 5.1 remix the tremendously detailed, rich and involving soundscape really brings Gilliams world alive and puts many much more recent and expensive titles to shame. --Gary S Dalkin

• Killing Season | DVD | (18/08/2014) from £3.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (300.75%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Sharing the screen for the first time in motion picture history Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro and two-time Oscar® nominee John Travolta star in the nail-biting Killing Season. Two veterans of the Bosnian War - one an American named Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) the other a former Serbian soldier Emil Kovac (John Travolta) - engage in a tense action-packed cat and mouse game against the backdrop of America's most forbidding and remote landscape - the Appalachian mountain wilderness.

• Heartbeat - The Complete Series 18 | DVD | (03/02/2014) from £30.76   |  Saving you £19.23 (62.52%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Set in rural North Yorkshire during the 1960s, Heartbeat's combination of crime and medical storylines, charismatic regular characters and wonderfully nostalgic soundtrack made it staple Sunday-night viewing for two decades, with the series' many prestigious awards including Best Performing Peak-Time Drama and several ITV Programme of the Year awards. Attracting a peak audience of 14 million, Heartbeat garnered a devoted following and remains prime-time viewing world-wide. Thi...

• My Fair Lady | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £8.96   |  Saving you £8.03 (89.62%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Hollywood's legendary "woman's director", George Cukor (The Women, The Philadelphia Story), transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really star wattage that keeps My Fair Lady exciting--that and such great songs as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night". Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined suitor. --Tom Keogh

• Monty Python Almost Everything Box-set | DVD | (02/02/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  Monty Python's Flying Circus Complete Series 1: 1. Whither Canada? 2. Sex and Violence 3. How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away 4. Owl-Stretching Time 5. Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century 6. The BBC Entry for the Zinc Stoat of Budapest 7. You're No Fun Anymore 8. Full Frontal Nudity 9. The Ant an Introduction 10. Untitled 11. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Goes to the Bathroom 12. The Naked Ant 13. Intermission Monty Python's Flying Circus Complete Series 2: 1. Dinsdale! 2. The Spanish Inquisition 3. Deja Vu 4. The Buzz Aldrin Show 5. Live from the Grill-o-Mat 6. It's a Living 7. The Attila the Hun Show 8. Archaeology Today 9. How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body 10. Scott of the Antarctic 11. How Not to Be Seen 12. Spam 13. Royal Episode 13 Monty Python's Flying Circus Complete Series 3: 1. Njorl's Saga 2. Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular 3. The Money Programme 4. Blood Devastation Death War and Horror 5. The All-England Summarise Proust Competition 6. The War Against Pornography 7. Salad Days 8. The Cycling Tour 9. The Nude Man 10. E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease 11. Dennis Moore 12. A Book at Bedtime 13. The British Showbiz Awards Monty Python's Flying Circus Complete Series 4: 1. The Golden Age of Ballooning 2. Michael Ellis 3. The Light Entertainment War 4. Hamlet 5. Mr. Neutron 6. Party Political Broadcast And Now For Something Completely Different (1971): England was such a proper place - until the day the Python arrived. Monty Python that is a Flying Circus that slithered up the funnybone of an entire nation and gave it fits of laughter. Here's Monty Python's first feature film - a hilarious collection of their very best twits skits and bits from their popular TV series. The Holy Grail (1974): Yoiks! Here be the Python's tale of good King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his knights as they quest for the Holy Grail. Watch as they face great odds and silly sods. See them wage battle against the fierce Killer Rabbit (Run Away! Run Away!) and (oh horrors!) see them confront the dreaded Knights Who Say Ni!. The Life Of Brian (1979): You could say this is one of the greatest comedies ever but the Monty Python team said it first! Life of Brian is all about (and here's the big surprise) the life of Brian who was born in a Bethlehem manger next door to Jesus. Three wise men believe he is the messiah but it becomes apparent that he is only Brian. Live At The Hollywood Bowl (1982): Live lewd and unleashed for the first time the Pythons take on the legendary Hollywood Bowl in a sell out show that serves up some of their best known songs and sketches in addition to brand new material that never appeared in the Flying Circus TV series. The Meaning Of Life (1983): Those six pandemonium-mad Pythons are back with their craziest adventure ever! These naughty lads offer the usual tasteful sketches involving favorite bodily parts and functions the wonders of war the miracle of birth and a special preview of what's waiting for us in Heaven.

• Three To Tango | DVD | (18/12/2000) from £5.85   |  Saving you £8.14 (139.15%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Matthew Perry stars as an aspiring architect given the additional job by a big client of spying on his mistress (Neve Campbell). As he begins to fall for her it becomes clear that everyone thinks he's gay, but does he really want to jeopardise his career

• Double Trouble | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £9.32   |  Saving you £4.67 (50.11%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A case of mistaken identity has Elvis and a beautiful girl enmeshed in a smuggler's plot and an attempted murder in Europe.

• Long Shot (Flipside 034) (DVD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (26/06/2017) from £18.13   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  LONG SHOT (BFI Flipside 034) (DVD + Blu-ray) A film by Maurice Hatton THE FLIPSIDE: rescuing weird and wonderful British films from obscurity and presenting them in new high-quality editions. Rarely seen in the last 40 years our latest Flipside marks the release of this important and funny slice of Scottish cinema. A budding Scottish film producer tries to get his ambitious Aberdeen-set western financed, and while he attracts some major stars and directors to the film, he finds that with their support come more and more script changes... Filmed around the 1977 Edinburgh Film Festival, Long Shot is a deadpan satire about the trials and tribulations of British independent filmmaking, with terrific cameos from Charles Gormley, Wim Wenders, Susannah York, Stephen Frears, Alan Bennett and John Boorman. Extras: Scene Nun, Take One (Maurice Hatton, 1964, 26 mins): short film starring Susannah York and directed by Maurice Hatton Sean Connery's Edinburgh (1982, 28 mins): short film starring the iconic actor. The film was sponsored by the City of Edinburgh District Council and aimed at increasing tourist trade Hooray for Holyrood (Ross Wilson, 1986, 50 mins): Scottish Television short presented by Robbie Coltrane celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Edinburgh Film Festival Booklet with new writing from Bill Forsyth, Vic Pratt and Dylan Cave, plus full film credits

• Four Weddings And A Funeral | DVD | (29/07/2005) from £6.34   |  Saving you £9.65 (152.21%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When it was released in 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral quickly became a huge international success, pulling in the kind of audiences most British films only dream of. It's proof that sometimes the simplest ideas are the best: in terms of plot, the title pretty much says it all. Revolving around, well, four weddings and a funeral (though not in that order), the film follows Hugh Grant's confirmed bachelor Charles as he falls for visiting American Carrie (Andy McDowell), whom he keeps bumping into at the various functions. But with this most basic of premises, screenwriter Richard Curtis has crafted a moving and thoughtful comedy about the perils of singledom and that ever-elusive search for true love. In the wrong hands, it could have been a horribly schmaltzy affair, but Curtis' script--crammed with great one-liners and beautifully judged characterisations--keeps things sharp and snappy, harking back to the sparkling Hollywood romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s. The supporting cast, including Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow and Rowan Atkinson (who starred in the Curtis-scripted television show Blackadder) is first rate, at times almost too good: John Hannah's rendition of WH Auden's poem "Funeral Blues" over the coffin of his lover is so moving you think the film will struggle to re-establish its ineffably buoyant mood. But it does, thanks in no small part to Hugh Grant as the bumbling Charles (whose star-making performance compensates for a less-than-dazzling Andie MacDowell). Though it's hardly the fault of Curtis and his team, the success of the Four Weddings did have its downside, triggering a rash of far inferior British romantic comedies. In fact, we had to wait until 1999's Notting Hill for another UK film to match its winning charm--scripted, yet again, by Curtis and starring Grant. --Edward Lawrenson