"Actor: John Simon"

• Pitch Black/Dark Fury/the Chronicles of Riddick | DVD | (03/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Pitch Black Owing a major debt to Alien and its cinematic spawn, Pitch Black is a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations. As he did with The Arrival, director David Twohy revitalizes a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit to its visceral thrills. Under casual scrutiny, the plot's logic crumbles like a stale cookie, but it's definitely fun while it lasts. A spaceship crashes on a desert planet scorched under three suns. The mostly doomed survivors include a resourceful captain (Radha Mitchell), a drug-addled cop (Cole Hauser), and a deadly prisoner (Vin Diesel) who quickly escapes. These clashing personalities discover that the planet is plunging into the darkness of an extended eclipse, and it's populated by hordes of ravenous, razor-fanged beasties that only come out at night. The body count rises, and Pitch Black settles into familiar sci-fi territory. What sets the movie apart is Twohy's developing visual style, suggesting that this veteran of B-movie schlock may advance to the big leagues. Like the makers of The Blair Witch Project, Twohy understands the frightening power of suggestion; his hungry monsters are better heard than seen (although once seen, they're chillingly effective), and Pitch Black gets full value from moments of genuine panic. Best of all, Twohy's got a well-matched cast, with Mitchell (so memorable with Ally Sheedy in High Art) and Diesel (Pvt. Caparzo from Saving Private Ryan) being the standouts. The latter makes the most of his muscle-man role, and his character's development is one more reason this movie works better than it should. --Jeff Shannon Dark Fury Taking a page from The Animatrix, Dark Fury is part of a new trend of bridging theatrical sequels. As an official product of a franchise, the 35-minute anime benefits from having the original actors voice the characters, including Vin Diesel as Riddick. This story opens with the new action hero and the two other survivors of Pitch Black already caught by a giant spaceship filled with dread. The sinewy leader has a unique--and creepy--jail for master villains and she has her sights set on Riddick. The film--indeed the series--is indebted to animator Peter Chung, who brings his techno style from his Aeon Flux series. His smooth animation for Riddick doesn't reinvent the character as much as give him a new, appealing fluidity. As anime goes, there's nothing really new here--plenty of action, cool killers, and dramatic spurts of blood--but it's a building block for how this genre might enliven movie series and sequels in the future. --Doug Thomas The Chronicles of Riddick Bigger isn't always better, but for anyone who enjoyed Pitch Black, a nominal sequel like The Chronicles of Riddick should prove adequately entertaining. Writer-director David Twohy returns with expansive sets, detailed costumes, an army of CGI effects artists, and the star he helped launch--Vin Diesel--bearing his franchise burden quite nicely as he reprises his title role. The Furian renegade Riddick has another bounty on his head, but when he escapes from his mercenary captors, he's plunged into an epic-scale war waged by the Necromongers. A fascist master race led by Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), they're determined to conquer all enemies in their quest for the Underverse, the appeal of which is largely unexplained (since Twohy is presumably reserving details for subsequent "chronicles"). With tissue-thin plotting, scant character development, and skimpy roles that waste the talents of Thandie Newton (as a Necromonger conspirator) and Judi Dench (as a wispy "Elemental" priestess), Twohy's back in the B-movie territory he started in (with The Arrival), brought to vivid life on a vast digital landscape with the conceptual allure of a lavish graphic novel. But does Riddick have leadership skills on his resumé? To get an answer to that question, sci-fi fans will welcome another sequel. --Jeff Shannon

• Midnight Man | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £6.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Married and supposedly retired from duty Sean Dillon (Rob Lowe) is dragged back into the dangerous world of international espionage when a plan is discovered by Brigadier Ferguson (Kenneth Cranham) to kill off the British Royal Family. Dillon must discover who is behind the plot but the suspects are many and varied. Is the IRA involoved Middle East fundamentalists or old guard Russian leaders tightening their fingers on the trigger that will set Britain on the road to a Republic? The stage is set for a deadly game of cat and mouse between former comrades turned adversaries. In such a barren climate of cold hearts can love survive and good finally triumph over evil?

• Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) | Blu Ray | (24/10/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Just when you thought they couldn't get any cooler...your favourite prehistoric pals from Ice Age and Ice Age 2: The Meltdown are back in an all-new, ginormous animated adventure for ALL ages...in 3D!This time around, Manny and the herd discover a lost world of ferociously funny dinosaurs, including a cranky T-Rex who's got a score to settle with Sid. Meanwhile, Scrat goes nuts over the beautiful Scratte, but is she trying to win his heart-or steal his acorn?Featuring an all-star voice cast, including Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah, Ice Age 3 Dawn Of The Dinosaurs delivers more thrills, more chills, and more mammoth-sized laughs for everyone! This fantastic 3D release is playable as a standard 2D Blu-ray and also includes the DVD and a digital copy for your portable media device!

• Midsomer Murders - Last Year's Model | DVD | (05/02/2007) from £4.98   |  Saving you £12.01 (241.16%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Annie Woodrow is arrested for the murder of her old school friend Frances Trevelyan. Ten months later her case comes to court and although Barnaby was the arresting officer he is still not convinced that the full story has come out. It is likely that the prosecution will suggest that Annie was obsessed with Frances' husband John - that she is a deluded stalker who would stop at nothing including murder to obtain the object of her desire. But Annie has always denied having any feelings for John and he too has denied any sort of relationship with her. Barnaby is not so sure.

• Midsomer Murders - Midsomer Life | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £5.40   |  Saving you £11.59 (214.63%)   |  RRP £16.99

  The Midsomer Life magazine and the Morecroft Hotel in Midsomer Sonning become the latest setting for DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Ben Jones to solve a case.

• Bouncers | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Get ready for a look at the world of nightclub bouncers the men behind the velvet rope responsible for weeding out the beautiful people from the average joes and ejecting undesirables and troublemakers - if necessary by brute force. Featuring the legendary Lenny McLean a veteran of over 20 000 barroom brawls with the battle scars to prove it. Some are in it for the excitement some for the women and some for the violence. After all when push comes to shove You gotta do what you gotta do.

• The Uncanny | Blu Ray | (28/05/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Psycho - 50th Anniversary Special Edition Steelbook | Blu Ray | (09/08/2010) from £26.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  After 50 years the ultimate nightmare returns in stunning high definition on Blu-ray with superior picture spine-chilling sound plus a host of extras. More chilling than ever before Alfred Hitchcock's landmark masterpiece of the macabre stars Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. No one knows that better than Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) the ill-fated traveller whose journey ends in the notorious shower scene. First a private detective (Martin Balsam) then Marion's sister (Vera Miles) search for her as the horror and suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed.

• Under The Piano | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Dealers | DVD | (31/01/2000) from £9.43   |  Saving you £-2.44 (-34.90%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Every morning Daniel Pascoe (McGann) pilots his seaplane from his luxury home to the Docklands - the financial capital of the world. Pascoe is a city high flier and high roller. A man used to winning. But when things go wrong he has to pay the price. That's when he discovers he's merely another pawn in the game that's far bigger than he could ever imagine. To stay in the game he decides to take the biggest gamble of his life. Dealers is a yuppie thriller that cleverly evokes the be

• Doomwatch | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A remote island village... A team of intrepid scientists... A terrifying secret... The mysterious island village of Balfe is experiencing unexplainable phenomena... from grossly oversized sea-life to half-buried bodies in the dark woods to strange Neanderthal like men suffering from a rare disfiguring disease. Is this town afflicted by radioactive waste contaminating their water? Is there a vengeful mutant monster lurking in the woods? Or worse are the townsfolk being punished by an act of God for their past sins? It is up to Dr. Del Shaw and the dedicated scientists at Doomwatch headquarters to discover the cause of these horrific mutations. Infuriating local villagers who cling to their secluded island's survival Dr. Shaw (Ian Bannen) and local school teacher Victoria Brown (Judy Geeson) risk their lives to uncover the truth behind the strange happenings no matter how frightening or dangerous it may be. Based on the British television series of the same name Doomwatch is a haunting telltale film that just might be hazardous to your health!

• Prime Suspect 4: Scent of Darkness | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £9.97   |  Saving you £3.02 (30.29%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Det. Superintendent Jane Tennison's (Helen Mirren) relationship with psychologist Patrick Schofield (Stuart Wilson) has developed into a promisingly happy affair. When a series of murders take place which resemble those investigated in the first Prime Suspect she is faced with a possible miscarriage of justice and promptly suspended. Are they copy-cat crimes or is George Marlow (Tim Woodward) innocent as he always insisted? Prevented from working possibly betrayed by her lover and haunted by the past Tennison is forced to re-examine her most fundamental beliefs about her life and work.

• Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Target | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Spy satellite code name Iris One has been launched by the U.S. in a desperate attempt to curb the ruthless drug cartels and Delta Force is back in action attacking and destroying the stockpiles of illegal drugs wherever in the world they may be hidden. But when the Delta team wipes out a billion-dollar stash of cocaine belonging to Colombian drug lord Umberto Salvatore they've taken on more than they bargained for. At a gathering of crime lords in Italy Salvatore unveils a daring plot to bring the United States to its knees and he enlists the aid of the world's gangster elite to pull it off. Meanwhile Salvatore's men hijack the most sophisticated stealth submarine in the U.S. fleet the USS Roosevelt and rig the on-board missiles to fire if the sub is attacked. Delta Force is reassembled to take out Salvaltore and at all costs stop the submarine with its chemical weapons payload aimed at the United Nations building and an unsuspecting New York City. The clock is ticking the action is getting hotter and millions of lives are in the hands of a vicious madman...Delta Force is the only answer!

• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy | UMD | (05/09/2005) from £12.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (46.19%)   |  RRP £18.99

• The Naked Country | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £9.97   |  Saving you £-5.98 (-149.90%)   |  RRP £3.99

  BAsed on a novel by Morris West this is a classic American cowboy tale set in Australia's exotic outback with the aborigines pitted against a rancher Lance Dillon because he is on their land. After a renegade Aborigine Mundara kills one of Lance's Brahma bull's and a ranch hand who gets involved Mundara spears the fleeing Lance in the shoulder but does not catch up with him to finish the job. The story of Lance's survival is the focus of the film along with a parallel story of his wife Mary temporarily falling for Lance's opposite Sgt Neil Adams. The characters of the two men and Mundara arew contrasted against a setting of conflict that escalates out of control.

• The Lord of the Rings -- Limited Edition Box Set | DVD | (26/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is a bold, colourful, ambitious failure. Severely truncated, this two-hour version tackles only about half the story, climaxing with the battle of Helm's Deep and leaving poor Frodo and Sam still stuck on the borders of Mordor with Gollum. Allegedly, the director ran out of money and was unable to complete the project. As far as the film does go, however, it is a generally successful attempt at rendering Tolkien's landscapes of the imagination. Bakshi's animation uses a blend of conventional drawing and rotoscoped (traced) animated movements from live-action footage. The latter is at least in part a money-saving device, but it does succeed in lending some depth and a sense of otherworldly menace to the Black Riders and hordes of Orcs: Frodo's encounter at the ford of Rivendell, for example, is one of the film's best scenes thanks to this mixture of animation techniques. Backdrops are detailed and well conceived, and all the main characters are strongly drawn. Among a good cast, John Hurt (Aragorn) and C3PO himself, Anthony Daniels (Legolas), provide sterling voice characterisation, while Peter Woodthorpe gives what is surely the definitive Gollum (he revived his portrayal a couple of years later for BBC Radio's exhaustive 13-hour dramatisation). The film's other outstanding virtue is avant-garde composer Leonard Rosenman's magnificent score in which chaotic musical fragments gradually coalesce to produce the triumphant march theme that closes the picture. None of which makes up for the incompleteness of the movie, nor the severe abridging of the story actually filmed. Add to that some oddities--such as intermittently referring to Saruman as "Aruman"--and the final verdict must be that this is a brave yet ultimately unsatisfying work, noteworthy as the first attempt at transferring Tolkien to the big screen but one whose virtues are overshadowed by incompleteness. --Mark Walker

• Hornblower - The Duchess And The Devil | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £6.95   |  Saving you £3.04 (30.40%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Based freely on the classic novels by C.S. Forester, Hornblower is a series of TV films following the progress of a young officer through the ranks of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The series greatest asset is the handsome and charismatic Ioan Gruffudd in the lead role, surely a major star in the making. For television films the production values are very good, though as Titanic, Waterworld and The Perfect Storm demonstrated, filming an aquatic adventure is a very expensive business, and it is clear that the Hornblower dramas simply make the best of comparatively small budgets. No more faithful to Forester's books than the 1951 Gregory Peck classic Captain Horatio Hornblower, the real inspiration seems to have come from the success of Sharpe, starring Sean Bean, which likewise featured a British hero in the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, while rather more easy going than the real British navy of the time, the Hornblower saga delivers an entertaining adventure, greatly enhanced by the presence of such guest stars as Denis Lawson, Cheri Lunghi, Ronald Pickup and Anthony Sher. "The Duchess and the Devil" has Hornblower and his men taken prisoners of war.--Gary S Dalkin

• The Incredible Hulk - Season One Part Two (Marvel Originals Series - 90s) | DVD | (10/11/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the comics written by Stan Lee The Incredible Hulk details the adventures of Dr. David Banner - a nuclear research scientist - who in a dreadfull accident is subjected to a massive overdose of gammer radiation. Miraculously Banner survives... But he is forever changed! Now whenever angered or distressed the mild-mannered scientist finds himself transforming into a powerful seven-foot green creature known as the Incredible Hulk...

• Scarecrow | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Pushed to the edge by bullies girls and his mother's white-trash boyfriend; lonely teenager Lester finally makes a friend in the Sheriff's daughter Judy. But when he sees her kiss another boy at a party that's the last straw. He picks a fight with his mom's boyfriend and as their fight rages out of control Lester is brutally slain and left hanging from a spooky tree in the middle of a cornfield. One year later as young people are mysteriously slaughtered Judy discovers that Leste

• Doomwatch | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99