"Actor: John Young"

• Sliding Doors | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Nice concept, shaky execution--that about sums up the mixed blessings of British actor Peter Howitt's intelligent but forgivably flawed debut as a writer-director. It's got more emotional depth than most frothy romantic comedies and its central idea--the parallel tracking of two possible destinies for a young London professional played by Gwyneth Paltrow--is full of involving possibilities. It's essentially a what-if scenario with Helen (Paltrow) at the centre of two slightly but significantly different romantic trajectories, one involving her two-timing boyfriend (John Lynch)and the other with an amiable chap (John Hannah) who represents a happier outcome. That's the film's basic problem, however: the two scenarios are so romantically unbalanced (one guy's a total cad, the other charmingly sincere) that Helen inadvertently comes off looking foolish and needlessly confused. Still, this remains a pleasant experiment and Howitt's dialogue is witty enough to keep things entertaining. It's also a treat for Paltrow fans; not only does the svelte actress handle a British accent without embarrassing herself but she gets to play two subtle variations of the same character, sporting different wardrobes and hairstyles in a role that plays into her glamorous off-screen persona. --Jeff Shannon

• Monty Python's Life Of Brian | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £5.32   |  Saving you £7.67 (144.17%)   |  RRP £12.99

  There is not a single joke, sight-gag or one-liner in Monty Python's Life of Brian that will not forever burn itself into the viewer's memory as being just as funny as it is possible to be, but--extraordinarily--almost every indestructibly hilarious scene also serves a dual purpose, making this one of the most consistently sustained film satires ever made. Like all great satire, the Pythons not only attack and vilify their targets (the bigotry and hypocrisy of organised religion and politics) supremely well, they also propose an alternative: be an individual, think for yourself, don't be led by others. "You've all got to work it out for yourselves", cries Brian in a key moment. "Yes, we've all got to work it our for ourselves", the crowd reply en masse. Two thousand years later, in a world still blighted by religious zealots, Brian's is still a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Aside from being a neat spoof on the Hollywood epic, it's also almost incidentally one of the most realistic on-screen depictions of the ancient world--instead of treating their characters as posturing historical stereotypes, the Pythons realised what no sword 'n' sandal epic ever has: that people are all the same, no matter what period of history they live in. People always have and always will bicker, lie, cheat, swear, conceal cowardice with bravado (like Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea), abuse power (like Pontius Pilate), blindly follow the latest fads and giggle at silly things ("Biggus Dickus"). In the end, Life of Brian teaches us that the only way for a despairing individual to cope in a world of idiocy and hypocrisy is to always look on the bright side of life. On the DVD: Life of Brian returns to Region 2 DVD in a decent widescreen anamorphic print with Dolby 5.1 sound--neither are exactly revelatory, but at least it's an improvement on the previous release, which was, shockingly, pan & scan. The 50-minute BBC documentary, "The Pythons", was filmed mainly on location in 1979 and isn't especially remarkable or insightful (a new retrospective would have been appreciated). There are trailers for this movie, as well as Holy Grail plus three other non-Python movies. There's no commentary track, sadly. --Mark Walker

• The Great Outdoors | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  When an unannounced uninvited and unwelcome family of fun-loving misfits converge upon a lakeside resort to join their relatives for a summer of relaxation the result is anything but restful. It's a vacationer's worst nightmare as wheeler-dealer Aykroyd his sexually repressed wife and eerie twin daughters 'join' the easygoing Candy and his straight-laced clan for a season of 'fun' in the sun. Unfortunately the only thing these two in-laws have in common is their intense dislike for each other. Soon it's brother-in-law against brother-in-law in an uproarious and hilarious fight to the finish to see which one really knows how to enjoy 'The Great Outdoors'.

• Footloose | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £3.95   |  Saving you £12.04 (304.81%)   |  RRP £15.99

  First released in 1984, Footloose now enjoys the same sort of semi-ironic nostalgic cachet as John Hughes' contemporary schlock-fests about angst-ridden teens with silly hair. This is partly due to the fact that, as breathtakingly predictable kids-against-the-squares romps go, it's really pretty tolerable, but it's mostly because of the soundtrack. The songs that appear in the film--notably Kenny Loggins' infectiously vapid title track, and gale-force screecher Bonnie Tyler's excruciating "Holding Out for a Hero"--are possessed of an awfulness so monolithic that they have transcended their era and become reliable floor-fillers at 80s nostalgia discos all over the western world. The plot, such as it is, sees the eerily androidal Kevin Bacon playing a hip rock & roll youth from the big city rebelling against the strictures of the conservative small town in which he finds himself living. Inevitably, he falls for the daughter of his nemesis, the local preacher (the latter, it has to be said, is played with some aplomb by John Lithgow, who very nearly wrings depth from a character otherwise straight out of the colour-by-numbers guide to movie-making). Inevitably, there are some dance sequences. Inevitably, the kids win out, and the grown-ups realise that maybe they aren't so bad after all. On the DVD: Footloose can be watched on disc, should you so desire, dubbed in German, Spanish, French or Italian. There also subtitles available in pretty well every European language, as well as Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Turkish. Other than that there are no extras. --Andrew Mueller

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- Two-disc set | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second best comedy ever made, Monty Python and the Holy Grail must give precedence only to the same team's masterpiece, The Life of Brian (1979). Even though most of this film's set-pieces are now indelibly inscribed in every Python fan's psyche, as if by magic they never seem to pall. And they remain endlessly, joyfully quotable: from the Black Knight ("It's just a flesh wound"), to the constitutional peasants ("Come and see the violence inherent in the system!") and the taunting French soldier ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"). Not forgetting of course the migratory habits of European and African swallows... The film's mock-Arthurian narrative provides a sturdy framework for the jokes, and the authentic-looking production design is relentlessly and gloriously dirty. The miniscule budget turns out to be one of the film's greatest assets: Can't afford horses? Use coconuts instead. No money for special effects? Let Terry Gilliam animate. And so on, from Camelot ("it's only a model") to the rampaging killer rabbit glove puppet. True it's let down a little by a rushed ending, and the jokes lack the sting of Life of Brian's sharply observed satire, but Holy Grail is still timeless comedy that's surely destined for immortality. On the DVD: Disc One contains a digitally remastered anamorphic (16:9) print of the film--which is still a little grainy, but a big improvement on previous video releases--with a splendidly remixed Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (plus an added 24 seconds of self-referential humour "absolutely free"!). There are two commentaries, one with the two Terrys, co-directors Jones and Gilliam, the other a splicing together of three separate commentaries by Michael Palin, John Cleese (in waspish, nit-picking mood) and Eric Idle. A "Follow the Killer Rabbit" feature provides access either to the Accountant's invoices or Gilliam's conceptual sketches. Subtitle options allow you to read the screenplay or watch with spookily appropriate captions from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part II. The second disc has lots more material, much of it very silly and inconsequential (an educational film on coconuts, the Camelot song in Lego and so on), plus a long-ish documentary from 2001 in which Palin and Jones revisit Doune Castle, Glencoe and other Scottish locations. Perhaps best of all, though, are the two scenes from the Japanese version with English subtitles, in which we see the search for the Holy sake cup, and the Ni-saying Knights who want... bonsai! --Mark Walker

• Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition) | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £7.55   |  Saving you £17.44 (230.99%)   |  RRP £24.99

  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!"". Oh these be trying times. Can these good knights pass the test of valour and cut down yon tree with herring? Or will they blow themselves to smithereens with the Holy H

• Serpico | DVD | (23/12/2002) from £4.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (220.44%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Sidney Lumet's tense thriller based on real events featuring an outstanding Al Pacino as an undercover officer who incurs the wrath of cop colleagues for exposing corruption within the force...

• Jurassic Park III (DVD) | DVD | (21/05/2018) from £3.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Return to the action-packed world of prehistoric dinosaurs in Jurassic Park III where man is up against dangerous predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Adventure runs wild when renowned palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) agrees to accompany a wealthy couple (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, InGen's former breeding ground for prehistoric creatures. After they are terrifyingly stranded, Dr. Grant soon discovers that his hosts are not what they seem and the island's native inhabitants are smarter, faster, fiercer and more brutal than he ever imagined. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, this visually stunning blockbuster features all-new dinosaurs and special effects that you need to see to believe. Special Features: The Making of Jurassic Park III Feature Commentary with Special Effects Team Photography Gallery Behind-The-Scenes Montage Guided Tour of the Stan Winston Studio A Visit to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) ILM's Computer Generated Dinosaurs Montana: Finding New Dinosaurs Storyboard Sequences Theatrical Trailers

• Deadwood The Movie | DVD | (07/10/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  1876, the Black Hills of South Dakota. In an age of plunder and greed, the richest gold strike in American History draws a throng ofrestless misfits to an outlaw settlement where everything and everyone has a price. Welcome to Deadwood ... a hell of a place to make your fortune.Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker and Keith Carradine star in Deadwood.

• Jurassic Park III (BD) | Blu Ray | (21/05/2018) from £5.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Return to the action-packed world of prehistoric dinosaurs in Jurassic Park III where man is up against dangerous predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Adventure runs wild when renowned palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) agrees to accompany a wealthy couple (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, InGen's former breeding ground for prehistoric creatures. After they are terrifyingly stranded, Dr. Grant soon discovers that his hosts are not what they seem and the island's native inhabitants are smarter, faster, fiercer and more brutal than he ever imagined. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, this visually stunning blockbuster features all-new dinosaurs and special effects that you need to see to believe. Special Features: Return To Jurassic Park : The Third Adventure Feature Commentary With Special Effects Team The Making Of Jurassic Park III The Dinosaurs The Special Effects The Sounds The Art Montana: Finding New Dinosaurs Tour Of Stan Winston Studio Spinosaurus Attacks The Plane Raptors Attack Udesky A Visit To Ilm Dinosaur Turntables Storyboards To Final Feature Comparison

• The Last Emperor | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £16.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (17.73%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Bernardo Bertolucci does the nearly impossible with this sweeping, grand epic that tells a very personal tale. The story is a dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the emperors of China. It follows his life from its elite beginnings in the Forbidden City, where he was crowned at age three and worshipped by half a billion people. He was later forced to abdicate and, unable to fend for himself in the outside world, became a dissolute and exploited shell of a man. He died in obscurity, living as a peasant in the People's Republic. We never really warm up to John Lone in the title role, but The Last Emperor focuses more on visuals than characterisation anyway. Filmed in the Forbidden City, it is spectacularly beautiful, filling the screen with saturated colours and exquisite detail. It won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• 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

• The Last Emperor | DVD | (10/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Bernardo Bertolucci's epic film tells the incredible story of Pu Yi who in 1908 at the age of three became ruler of nearly half of the world's population. He was the ""Son of heaven"" ""Lord of Ten Thousand Years"" and the last emperor of China. His reign was short and three years later a revolution ended three thousand years of imperial rule and a new republic was born. Allowed to remain in his palace and the enclosed walls of the Forbidden City he was unable to venture further than the city gates. Here he would stay for twelve years a prisoner protected from but also ignorant of the outside world. Eventually expelled by a republican warlord Pu Yi began an incredible journey of self discovery that would span a quarter of a century. Winner of nine Oscars The Last Emperor was one of the biggest and most ambitious productions ever undertaken. Director Bernardo Bertolucci and Producer Jeremy Thomas spent two years in negotiations before being granted the unprecedented permission to not only film in China but within the Forbidden City itself. The result was one of the most visually breathtaking and moving epics ever made.

• Secret Agent | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-7.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  One of Alfred Hitchcock's finest pre-Hollywood films, the 1936 Secret Agent stars a young John Gielgud as a British spy whose death is faked by his intelligence superiors. Reinvented with a new identity and outfitted with a wife (Madeleine Carroll), Gielgud's character is sent on assignment with a cold-blooded accomplice (Peter Lorre) to assassinate a German agent. En route, the counterfeit couple keeps company with an affable American (Robert Young), who turns out to be more than he seems after the wrong man is murdered by Gielgud and Lorre. Dense with interwoven ideas about false names and real identities, about appearances as lies and the brutality of the hidden, and about the complicity of those who watch the anarchy that others do, Secret Agent declared that Alfred Hitchcock was well along the road to mastery as a filmmaker and, more importantly, knew what it was he wanted to say for the rest of his career. --Tom Keogh

• Glory | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £7.25   |  Saving you £12.74 (175.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The negroes fought gallantly and were headed by as brave a Colonel as ever lived", was one Confederate soldier's eyewitness verdict on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers immediately after 247 of their 600-man regiment had fallen in bloody swathes beneath the withering fire from Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina in 1863. Glory is their story: the mustering of the first black regiment in the US Army, their battles with the Southerners as well as with the Northern military authorities, and their own moment of glory when they paid a terrible price for the opportunity to demonstrate to the world their courage. In telling this little-known story, director Ed Zwick single-handedly changed perceptions of the American Civil War: when a Grand Review of the Armies was held in Washington at the end of the war, none of the almost 180,000 coloured troops who fought for the Union were present; when that parade was restaged in 1990 a year after the movie was released, the 54th Massachusetts re-enactors were at the front of the procession. Zwick's stirring, factually accurate account is greatly enhanced by obsessive period detail and frighteningly realistic battle reconstructions (which were not to be surpassed in scale until 1993's Gettysburg). But Zwick also illuminates individual characters in the regiment with great sensitivity. As crucial as the military set-pieces are the scenes of the men together: talking in the tent or baring their souls in song. Denzel Washington, as the embittered ex-slave, gives a performance of real depth; he richly deserved his Oscar win for the heartbreaking flogging scene alone. Morgan Freeman brings great gravitas to his paternalistic role, and Matthew Broderick's idealistic Colonel Shaw is the centre around which the story revolves. With a clutch of remarkable lead performances, a sensitive and touching script, one of James Horner's finest musical scores, and a director with both the vision and heart to pull it off it's easy to agree with the backcover blurb: "Glory is one of the greatest war movies ever made". Without even a hint of hyperbole, it undoubtedly is. On the DVD: This is a superb looking (anamorphic) and sounding (Dolby 5.1) print, and the disc has some excellent additional features. Ed Zwick's commentary is insightful and extremely detailed: here's a director who obviously cares deeply about this movie. Of the three featurettes, one is a short-ish promo piece but the other two are genuinely impressive: there's a 20-minute "Making of" feature with major contributions from Zwick, Freeman and Broderick, and best of all a 45-minute "The True Story Continues" feature narrated by Freeman which tells the complete story of the 54th Massachusetts from beginning to end using footage from the movie as well as archive material and film of battle re-enactments. Also included are two deleted scenes, although a third scene which was shot for the movie but not used (the Frederick Douglass' speech) crops up in the "True Story" piece. James Horner's emotive score gets an isolated track all to itself and there are also some filmographies and trailers. All in all, this is a superb DVD. --Mark Walker

• Jurassic Park 3 | DVD | (28/11/2005) from £14.83   |  Saving you £1.16 (7.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) returns in this sequel, and after a plane crash finds himself once again leading a team of people as they try to avoid all sorts of deady new dinosaurs.

• Jurassic Park 3 | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £5.90   |  Saving you £10.09 (171.02%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) returns in this sequel, and after a plane crash finds himself once again leading a team of people as they try to avoid all sorts of deady new dinosaurs.

• Once Upon A Crime | DVD | (05/12/2016) from £7.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  An out of work actor (Richard Lewis) and a just-jilted woman (Sean Young) find they are competing to return a lost dachshund to it's owner and collect the $5,000 reward. They go from Rome to Monte Carlo together but when they find the owner, he has been murdered and they are the prime suspects, along with a compulsive gambler (John Candy) and a hideous American (James Belushi).

• Wake of the Red Witch (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £9.35   |  Saving you £0.64 (6.84%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Captain Ralls (John Wayne) is a ship's captain in the South Seas who is in a rivalry with Dutch shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye over money and the woman he loves Angelique Desaix (Gail Russell). The end reward is the gold carried by the shipping vessel the Red Witch.

• The Time Machine | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Based on the classic science fiction novel by H G Wells this is the story of a scientist and inventor who travels 800,000 years into the future where he discovers mankind has been divided into two races: the hunter and the hunted.