"Actor: John Mo"

• The Coen Brothers Collection | DVD | (29/08/2011) from £37.95   |  Saving you £-27.02 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.93

  Academy Award Winners Joel and Ethan Coen have been writing directing editing and producing some of the most original films to come out of Hollywood. This box set contains six of their most unique and imaginative classics including their most recent hit A Serious Man. Titles Comprise: A Serious Man: Larry Nidus is a good man. He is a loving husband a committed father and a dedicated professor who always does the fair and just thing in the face of daily temptations. But one day everything starts to go wrong. His wife leaves him for reasons she can't explain and her smug new lover manages to convince Larry that he should be the one to move out of the house and into a cheap motel - all for the children's benefit of course. Burn After Reading: An outrageous spy comedy about murder blackmail sex addiction and physical fitness! When a disc filled with some of the CIA's most irrelevant secrets gets in the hands of two determined but dim-witted gym employees the duo are intent on exploiting their find. But since blackmail is a trade better left for the experts events soon spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control resulting in a non-stop series of hilarious encounters! The Big Lebowski: It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated... and they'd really rather be bowling. 'The Dude' Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and laid-back. That is until he becomes a victim of mistaken identity two thugs breaking into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski the Pasadena millionaire. In hope of getting a replacement for his soiled carpet 'the Dude' visits his wealthy namesake and with buddy ex `Nam' vet. Walter Sobchak he is swept into a labyrinthine comedy/thriller of extortion embezzlement sex dope German Nihilists White Russians mysterious cowboys Shomer Shabbos bowling and sever The Hudsucker Proxy: Hudsucker Industries is flourishing. Profits are stupendous and stock is at an all-time high. So when their founder Waring Hudsucker leaps to his death from the 44th floor his board of directors is thrown into panic. Hudsucker has not left a will and his majority shareholding in the company must therefore soon be offered for sale to the public. But scheming Vice President Sidney J. Mussburger has a plan. He'll install a complete imbecile as Chairman and devalue the stock to a level where the rest of the board can acquire controlling interests for themselves. Barton Fink: Between Heaven and Hell There's Always Hollywood! John Turturro shines in the lead role in Barton Fink the Coen Brothers' hilarious satire set in the 1940s Hollywood. Fink is a New York playwright who reluctantly relocates to Hollywood to write screenplays. Ordered to write a low budget screenplay about wrestling Fink manages to type one sentence and then...nothing! Although his chatty insurance salesman neighbour Charlie helps out by teaching Fink about wrestling the clock ticks the temperature rises and Fink's life spins more and more out of control. Intolerable Cruelty: From the Coen brothers comes this witty sharp comedy about a man who wins in court and courts to win! Divorce attorney Miles Massey has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth wants it all. A hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues when Miles falls for Marilyn with each one trying to outsmart the other. Underhand tactics deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes...

• The Flintstones | DVD | (13/12/1999) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This pleasant, lightweight live-action version of the popular cartoon is about as good as you might expect. The kids should love the broad humour and the Henson Studios creatures but like The Addams Family movies, the look and the cast are the best things going for it. Considering that the nature of the material is so sparse, the thinly plotted story works better than other TV-to-movie fare. Our fabulous Stone Age man is promoted per a calculated move by a scheming exec (Kyle MacLachlan, whose casting ensured at least one cute guy). As a comedy, the humour is one-note and flat for anyone older than 12. The special-effects creatures look wondrous, though not as seamless as in other movies, such as in Roger Rabbit. The most joyous moments come during the full-scale re-creations of the famous credits. The Flintstones provided a major launching pad for Halle Berry as a vamping secretary. --Doug Thomas

• Serendipity | DVD | (17/04/2011) from £10.54   |  Saving you £9.45 (89.66%)   |  RRP £19.99

  John Cussack and Kate Beckinsale star in this romantic comedy about Jonathan and Sara, who first met ten years ago when he fell in love at first site. However Sara believes in destiny, and its only now that she's prepared to see if he is hers!

• The Lavender Hill Mob | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £6.10   |  Saving you £10.89 (178.52%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Directed by Charles Crichton, who would much later direct John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob is the most ruefully thrilling of the Ealing Comedies. Alec Guinness plays a bowler-hatted escort of bullion to the refineries. His seeming timidity, weak 'r's and punctiliousness mask a typically Guinness-like patient cunning. "I was aware I was widiculed but that was pwecisely the effect I was stwiving to achieve". He's actually plotting a heist. With more conventionally cockney villains Sid James and Alfie Bass in tow, as well as the respectable but ruined Stanley Holloway, Guinness' perfect criminal plan works in exquisite detail, then unravels just as exquisitely, culminating in a nail-biting police car chase in which you can't help rooting for the villains. The Lavender Hill Mob depicts a London still up to its knees in rubble from World War II, a world of new hope but continued austerity, a budding new order in which everything seems up for grabs; as such it could be regarded as a lighter hearted cinematic cousin to Carol Reed's 1949 masterpiece The Third Man. The Lavender Hill Mob also sees the first, fleeting on-screen appearance of Audrey Hepburn in the opening sequence. --David Stubbs

• We Need To Talk About Kevin | DVD | (27/02/2012) from £8.95   |  Saving you £9.04 (101.01%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Based on the million-selling Orange Prize winning novel by Lionel Shiver and directed by acclaimed film-maker Lynne Ramsay, We Need To Talk About Kevin is an emotional thriller starring Academy Award Winner Tilda Swinton, Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly, & Ezra Miller.Eva (Tilda Swinton) puts her ambitions and career aside to give birth to Kevin. The relationship between mother and son is difficult from the very first years. When Kevin is 15, he does something irrational and unforgivable in the eyes of the community. Eva grapples with her own feelings of grief and responsibility. Did she ever love her son? And how much of what Kevin did was her fault?

• The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £13.66   |  Saving you £-7.67 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  First screened on BBC2 in 1978, at a time when the standing of The Beatles was at its lowest, The Rutles--All You Need is Cash is the original and (pace This is Spinal Tap) best "rockumentary" spoof. Codirector Eric Idle was then enjoying success with Rutland Weekend Television, while his script displays the same feeling for the inane non-sequitur evident in his Monty Python work. The band's progress from "penniless, untalented nobodies" to "rich, untalented somebodies" is vividly brought to life--with dialogue adapted from actual Beatles interviews and newsreels, and a roster of songs sounding uncannily close to Beatles originals thanks to "Nasty" Neil Innes' genius for pastiche. Interviews with a suitably primed Mick Jagger and Paul Simon give added realism, as do cameos from George Harrison (one-time Beach Boy Rikki Fataar plays his Rutles double Stig) and Stones guitarist Ron Wood. Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi make characterful, pre-Blues Brothers appearances. On the DVD: The Rutles--All You Need is Cash has come up well in this DVD transfer. The fullscreen 4:3 ratio picture and mono sound wear their age well, enhanced by the extra scenes included. There's further interview material with Jagger and Simon, and a specially recorded, though wholly unfunny, DVD introduction from Idle, who also contributes a running commentary. All in all, this is an ideal way to get to know, or renew acquaintance with, a film that brings the swinging 60s back down to earth. --Richard Whitehouse

• Dawson's Creek: Complete Season 1 | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £39.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Even viewers who consider themselves beyond their teen-angst years might find Dawson's Creek compelling. In the first series we are introduced to Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who for years have watched movies and slept in the same bed; but they find that as they enter high school their relationship will inevitably change. That becomes especially clear when Dawson is immediately attracted to Capeside's sexy new arrival, Jen (Michelle Williams). Meanwhile, their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) pursues an unachievable love object. Creator Kevin Williamson based Dawson's Creek on his own youth, and even though the characters may not really look or sound 15 years old, the Dawson-Joey-Jen interplay--especially embodied by the sad-eyed and cynical (but still adorable) Joey and the smart but emotionally inept Dawson--gives the show its heart. And just like Williamson's fresh take on the teen-horror genre, Scream, Dawson's Creek has a winking self-awareness, for example when Dawson says they're having a "90210 moment" or explains that they use big words because they watch too many movies. Highlights of the first series include Dawson's discovery that his perfect home life may not be so perfect, an unwelcome reminder of Jen's past, the Breakfast Club takeoff "Detention", the Scream takeoff "The Scare", a beauty contest in which two unlikely competitors square off, and the heart-rending finale. --David Horiuchi

• The Last Samurai (Two Disc Edition) | DVD | (07/05/2004) from £8.54   |  Saving you £7.45 (87.24%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When an American military officer is hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country's first army in the 1870s, he is unexpectedly impressed by the Imperial Samurai warriors and their way of life.

• Battleground | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £5.56   |  Saving you £8.43 (151.62%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Director William Wellman (The Big Heat) offered up this 1949 treatment of the Battle of the Bulge, which won Oscars for best screenplay and best cinematography. The film concentrates on the camaraderie and the divisions between the troops as they prepare for the big offensive. Told in a taut narrative, the men of the 101st, led by Van Johnson, wait out the winter in the Ardennes forest to confront the German army in what would be the last major offensive of World War II. The men are demoralised and trapped, with no hope of support from the Allies as they are forced to band together and defend their position. A classically assembled war drama that nevertheless manages to be both engrossing and entertaining, Battleground is a mainstay of the genre. --Robert Lane

• Violent Night | Blu Ray | (06/11/2023) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the producers of Nobody and John Wick comes a bare-knuckle, coal-dark holiday action-comedy that says you should always bet on red. When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound taking everyone inside hostage, they are not prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus. David Harbour (Stranger Things) stars as St. Nick, delivering some serious season's beatings to save the family and the spirit of Christmas. Product Features Deleted and Extended Scenes Quarrelin' Kringle Santa's Helpers: The Making Of VIOLENT NIGHT Deck the Halls with Brawls

• Later With Jools Holland - Later - Giants | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £14.84   |  Saving you £5.15 (34.70%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Later... with Jools Holland--Giants is a collection of classic live performances from a decade of the late-night BBC music show. Everyone will have their favourites and, no doubt, differing opinions on what constitutes a musical "giant". What is indisputable here is the sheer volume and variety of artists and styles on offer. The 32 performers range from Pete Towshend to Blondie; Paul Weller to Willie Nelson; Leonard Cohen to Jeff Beck; Page and Plant to Ronnie Spector and the Divine Comedy. The acts vary in quality--Brian Ferry's posturing, staccato rendition of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and Georgie Fame's futile, asthmatic efforts to keep up with the beat on "Yeh! Yeh!" are notable low points--but thankfully the few weaker moments are more than compensated for by tour de force performances from the likes of Al Green, REM, Tony Bennett, Dusty Springfield and George Benson. Your enjoyment will obviously depend on a desire to see these greats play, but where else are you going to get both Robbie Williams belting out an impromptu performance of "Suspicious Minds" and Solomon Burke singing "Cry to Me" from an enormous golden throne? On the DVD: Later... with Jools Holland--Giants comes with a desirable selection of interviews with 10 of the featured performers. Sadly, they are tantalisingly short--never longer than three minutes, some little more than a minute--and never stretch beyond Holland's stock questions or brief, if entertaining, anecdotes. Also included are: a "playlist" feature, which allows you to select six of your favourite tracks and play them in an order of your choice, normal track selection, subtitles and a credit list. --Paul Philpott

• Regan | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £13.38   |  Saving you £-0.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Before The Sweeney there was Regan. Rough, tough and politically incorrect in the way that only the best '70s dramas can be, Regan was a pilot film for The Sweeney - one of the major television successes of the last fifty years. Featuring John Thaw as the irascible Detective Inspector Regan and Dennis Waterman as his loyal 'oppo', Detective Sergeant Carter, Regan was an immediate critical and ratings hit, resulting in four series of The Sweeney and two successful feature films. For the first time ever, Regan has been remastered and restored in High Definition for this Blu-ray release and has never looked better. Jack Regan is a good copper, but his tough, intuitive style is becoming unfashionable in a Scotland Yard seeking a new image. When a policeman is mysteriously murdered, Regan breaks all the rules to find the killer - but he finds there are men in the Flying Squad prepared to break him.

• Robocop Trilogy | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-7.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £32.99

  Paul Verhoeven was almost unknown in Hollywood prior to the release of RoboCop in 1987. But after this ultra-violent yet strangely subversive and satirical sci-fi picture became a huge hit his reputation for extravagant and excessive, yet superbly well-crafted filmmaking was assured. Controversial as ever, Verhoeven saw the blue-collar cop (Peter Weller) who is transformed into an invincible cyborg as "an American Jesus with a gun", and so the film dabbles with death and resurrection imagery as well as mercilessly satirising Reagan-era America. No targets escape Verhoeven's unflinching camera eye, from yuppie excess and corporate backstabbing to rampant consumerism and vacuous media personalities. As with his later sci-fi satire Starship Troopers the extremely bloody violence resolutely remains on the same level as a Tom and Jerry cartoon. The inevitable sequel, competently directed by Irvin Kershner, thankfully continues to mine the dark vein of anti-consumerist satire while being reflexively aware that it is itself a shining example of that which it is lampooning. Sadly the third instalment in the series, now without Peter Weller in the title role, is exactly the kind of dumbed-down production-line flick that the corporate suits of OCP might have dreamed up at a marketing meeting. Its only virtue is a decent music score from regular Verhoeven collaborator Basil Poledouris, whose splendid march theme returned from the original score. On the DVD: Packaged in a fold-out slipcase these three discs make a very collectable set. All are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic prints, although only the first movie has any extra material worth mentioning. Here the Director's Cut option allows the viewer to see Paul Verhoeven's more explicitly violent versions of Murphy's "assassination", ED-209's bloody malfunction and the shootout finale. These extended sequences are handily signposted in the scene selection menu, and the filming of them can be seen in a sequence of Director's Cut footage. Deleted scenes include "Topless Pizza" ("I'll buy that for a dollar!") and there are two contemporary "making of" featurettes plus a good, new half-hour retrospective. Both the latter and the director's commentary make abundantly clear the Reagan-era satire and are chock full of quotable lines from Verhoeven--"I wanted to show Satan killing Jesus"--and his producer--"Fascism for liberals". Stop-motion animator Phil Tippett gives a commentary on the storyboard-to-film comparisons, and there are the usual trailers and photos. Showing just how much the sequels are rated in comparison, the second and third discs have nothing but theatrical trailers and their sound is just Dolby 2.0 whereas the original movie has been remastered into Dolby 5.1.--Mark Walker

• Platoon | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £6.10   |  Saving you £13.89 (227.70%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Winning a raft of awards, not least of which four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, Oliver Stone's Platoon was a box-office smash heralding Hollywood's second wave of Vietnam war films. Where predecessors The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979) were elaborate epics, Platoon simply showed the daily reality of the war from the point of view of ordinary soldiers. Stone's own service in Vietnam gives his work a unique authenticity. Charlie Sheen gives his best performance to date, enduring a series of increasingly large-scale and bloody battles which retrospectively make one wonder why Saving Private Ryan was hailed as so new. Against this gruelling verity the film falters over the symbolic conflict between good and evil sergeants played by Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger. Even though this was also based in real life, it strikes a too conventionally Hollywood-like note in a film which otherwise maintains much of the raw power of Stone's other film from 1986, Salvador. Johnny Depp fans should look out for an early appearance by the star. Stone would return to Vietnam with the more sophisticated Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven and Earth (1993). On the DVD: The 50-minute documentary "Tour of the Inferno" goes beyond the usual "making-of" to present a personal account both of the film and of Stone's own time in Vietnam. Likewise the two audio commentaries--one by Stone, the other by Captain Dale Dye, fellow veteran and military technical advisor--range between the making of the film and the degree to which the actors came to inhabit their parts, to their own wartime experiences. Both commentaries bring a fresh level of appreciation and understanding to the film. Also included is the original trailer and three TV commercials, together with well-presented stills galleries of behind-the-scenes photos and poster art. Following a credit sequence marred by dirt on the print, the anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 image is sharp and clear. The many night scenes are very dark but remain easily comprehensible. The three-channel Dolby Digital sound is suitably raw and powerful, though an early sequence featuring rain in the jungle suffers from very distracting repeated drop-outs in the left channel. --Gary S Dalkin

• Next Friday | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £7.95   |  Saving you £12.04 (151.45%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Written by and starring Ice Cube, this sequel to his 1995 smash Friday is an engaging farce that plays on the ludicrous charm of the original. It's Next Friday and Craig Jones (Ice Cube) has to pay the consequences for despatching Debo, the neighbourhood bully, to jail at the close of the first film. Hearing a rumour that Debo is to break out of the pen, Craig's father decides it would be safer if he holed up at his cousin Day-Day's house in the 'burbs. But as Craig finds out, this is one suburb that is filled with as much drama as the ghetto. Craig's Uncle Elroy is a layabout lottery winner with a sexually voracious young wife who has designs on her nephew. Day-day (Mike Epps) is being stalked for child support by a pregnant former girlfriend and lives in fear of his boss Pinky, a former pimp who runs a record store. His neighbours, a trio of pumped-up Chicano gangsters, are out for his blood after Craig is caught flirting with their sister Karla, and to top everything, Elroy's house is due to be repossessed in 24 hours due to tax violation. The ensuing hilarity centres around Craig's attempts to raise the necessary funds by fair means or foul. Much to Ice Cube's credit, this silly and scabrous comedy is laugh-out-loud funny without lapsing into American Pie-style frat-boy humour. On the DVD: The main feature is presented in 16:9 anamorphic format in an immaculate print with the choice of either Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1 sound and optional English subtitles. Among the special features is an alternate ending which features several small dialogue changes and a re-appearance by Cube's love interest Karla that provides a more satisfying conclusion than the actual ending to the film, which has been left intentionally open for a possible sequel, Friday After Next. Music videos by Ice Cube ("You Can Do It") and Lil' Zane ("Money Stretch") seem to have been included as an incentive to buy the all-star rap soundtrack. Additional features include a theatrical trailer and cast and crew filmographies. The "making-of" featurette advertised on the sleeve does not app ear anywhere on the disc. --Chris Campion

• Contact | DVD | (25/09/1998) from £8.95   |  Saving you £5.04 (56.31%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The opening and closing moments of Robert (Forrest Gump) Zemeckis's Contact astonish viewers with the sort of breathtaking conceptual imagery one hardly ever sees in movies these day--each is an expression of the heroine's lifelong quest (both spiritual and scientific) to explore the meaning of human existence through contact with extraterrestrial life. The movie begins by soaring far out into space, then returns dizzyingly to earth until all the stars in the heavens condense into the sparkle in one little girl's eye. It ends with that same girl as an adult (Jodie Foster)--her search having taken her to places beyond her imagination--turning her gaze inward and seeing the universe in a handful of sand. Contact traces the journey between those two visual epiphanies. Based on Carl Sagan's novel, Contact is exceptionally thoughtful and provocative for a big-budget Hollywood science fiction picture, with elements that recall everything from 2001 to The Right Stuff. Foster's solid performance (and some really incredible alien hardware) keep viewers interested, even when the story skips and meanders, or when the halo around the golden locks of rising-star-of-a-different-kind Matthew McConaughey (as the pure-Hollywood-hokum love interest)reaches Milky Way-level wattage. Ambitious, ambiguous, pretentious, unpredictable--Contact is all of these things and more. Much of it remains open to speculation and interpretation but whatever conclusions one eventually draws, Contactdeserves recognition as a rare piece of big-budget studio film making on a personal scale. --Jim Emerson

• South Pacific | DVD | (20/03/2006) from £4.19   |  Saving you £8.80 (210.02%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Blessed with a treasure of timeless songs South Pacific combines the passionate heartwarming romance of a naive young Navy nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) and an older French plantation owner (Rossano Brazzi) with South Seas splendour and a world at war while the breathtaking score is highlighted by some of the most romantic songs ever written.

• Sweet Charity (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (27/09/2021) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The feature debut of the great Bob Fosse based on the Broadway hit, Sweet Charity is a musical re-imagining of Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, starring the wonderful Shirley MacLaine as a taxi dancer looking for love and escape in hippy-era New York. Special Features: 4K restoration Three presentations of the film: with original overture (150 mins); without overture (149 mins); and with alternative ending (145 mins) Alternative 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround soundtrack options Audio commentary with film historians Lee Gambin, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Cara Mitchell (2020) The John Player Lecture with Shirley MacLaine (1971, 81 mins): archival audio recording of the celebrated actor in conversation at London's National Film Theatre From Stage to Screen: A Director's Dilemma (1969, 9 mins): original promotional film featuring interview material with Bob Fosse and rare behind-the-scenes footage The Art of Exaggeration (1969, 8 mins): original promotional film profiling the work of famed costume designer Edith Head Interview with Sonja Haney (2020, 70 mins): audio recording of the dance assistant in conversation with Lee Gambin Now and Then: Sammy Davis Jr (1968, 23 mins): archival interview featuring the actor and singer in conversation with broadcaster Bernard Braden Super 8 version: original cut-down home-cinema presentation Image gallery: publicity and promotional material Original theatrical trailer New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• Dawson's Creek - Season 6 | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £15.98   |  Saving you £19.01 (118.96%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Dawson (James Van Der Beek) returns to Boston after working as an assistant director in Los Angeles over the summer and reunites with Joey (Katie Holmes) who has spent a relatively angst-free summer in Capeside. However there are plenty of obstacles to overcome for the long-time star-gazers. Meanwhile Pacey is trying to make it in the world of business without selling his soul; Jack worries that Professor Freeman might be aware of his crush; and could Audrey have developed a drin

• The Fan | DVD | (25/10/1999) from £8.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (123.35%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Denzel Washington is a disillisioned soldier of fortune who grows close to a child he is paid to protect. When she is abducted, his fiery rage is unleashed on those he feels responsible, and he stops at nothing to save her.