"Actor: Lou Wilson"

• Stepmom | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Although Stepmom was dismissed as a contender in the 1998 Oscar race, it's worth giving a second chance to this rather cogent, sharp-tongued look at second chances. Susan Sarandon's performance as a mum about to be replaced by her ex-husband's new girlfriend (played by Julia Roberts) has a lot of bite, and it's a shame the script opted to trivialise her plight in its final reel. Initially, the rancour that passes between divorced mum Jackie (Sarandon) and trendy fashion photographer Isabel (Roberts) rings true, aided by the sincerity of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) and the emotional plight of their children, who have the most to lose in their parents' divorce. As the drama makes clear, the children are the real victims in the agony that ensues between old and new love. Director Chris Columbus, who is adept at showing familial chaos (he directed Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone) with a sanitised minimum of lingering emotional damage, actually manages to dig a trifle deeper than usual in exploring the jealousy and hurt that occur when the baton is passed between a birth mum and the younger wife who steps into her shoes. Stepmom fortunately manages to touch on that chord--showing how an ambitious woman might feel hampered by the responsibility of children just because she's fallen in love with their dad--as well as the haunting grief that it causes their birth mum. It's an issue that haunts millions of second wives everywhere, and while Roberts conveys the confusion of being taken for granted in the melee that follows, it's Sarandon who walks off with the film. She's relentless in her fury, and everyone else in the film--the generally excellent Harris included--is sideswiped. It's just a shame that Hollywood once again wimps out in the end, solving the problem by giving Sarandon a terminal illness. Instead of allowing Jackie and Isabel's relationship to unfold on something less than a high note, the movie has to quell its best thing with a false payoff because it doesn't know what to do with real life. --Paula Nechak, Amazon.com

• Erin Brockovich / Stepmom / Steel Magnolias | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Erin Brockovich (Dir. Steven Soderbergh 2000): Erin Brockovich was never trained or indeed meant to work in a lawyers office. Circumstances take this down-on-her-luck twice-divorced mother of three into a legal practice. Here she discovers some legal files that don't add up... On investigation she discovers an injustice and decides against the odds to take on the bad guys on behalf of a poor and very ill community. Stepmom (Dir. Chris Columbus 1998): Jackie (Susan Sarandon) is a divorced mother of two. Isabel (Julia Roberts) is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. It is the universal dilemma of the 'non-traditional family' they all love the children but the complex interplay between parents step-parents step-children ex-spouses and significant others is decidedly tricky. But when Jackie discovers she is ill both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest while they have the chance. Steel Magnolias (Dir. Herbert Ross 1989): A beautiful bittersweet comedy set in deep south Louisiana Steel Magnolias unites talents of America's finest actresses as six very special friends bonded together by mutual triumphs and tragedies. Despite their differences beautiful Shelby (Julia Roberts) her strong-willed mother M'Lynn (Sally Field) beauty parlour owner Truvy (Dolly Parton) elegant wealthy widow Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) sharp tongued Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) and mousey newcomer Anelle (Daryl Hannah) enjoy a friendship that spans the boundaries of age and status. Sharing each other's strength and loyalty they face their greatest fears and highest hopes with dry wit and a self-deprecating style...

• The Adventures of Huck Finn | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Adventures Of Huck Finn is an action-packed adaptation of Mark Twain's classic adventure. The unforgettable story of two unlikely friends a mischievous boy and a runaway slave on a wild trip down the mighty Mississippi River. On their treacherous journey to freedom they come across an entertaining assortment of diverse characters and face one incredible adventure after another. You won't want to miss this sensational telling of Twain's classic tale - a fun-filled mix of thrills and adventure!

• Green Card | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £11.25   |  Saving you £3.74 (33.24%)   |  RRP £14.99

  In the delightful romantic comedy Green Card, Georges (Gérard Depardieu), a composer and one-time petty thief who grew up in poverty, attempts to escape his life in Paris and begin anew in America by illegally marrying Bronte (Andie MacDowell), a prim and repressed young lady from a privileged life in Connecticut. Bronte, who has agreed to the scheme for her own self-serving reasons, is exasperated when the Immigration & Naturalisation Service investigates their case, and she and Georges, whom she detests, must spend time together studying each other's lives to avoid disaster. The fallout is infinitely better handled than any run-of-the-mill Hollywood romantic comedy, and the very ending itself stops deliciously short of where Hollywood would feel compelled to drag the story. Fine performances are given by MacDowell, Depardieu--who is fiercely charming pounding the keyboard of a Steinway at an upper class Manhattan dinner party--and Bebe Neuwirth, who is perfect as an upper-class child turned artist who revels in her irresponsibility. --James McGrath, Amazon.com

• Curb Your Enthusiasm - Series 2 | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  It's more of the same for Larry David's sitcom from HBO, and for fans, that's a good thing. The show--largely extemporized--follows suit of David's former series, Seinfeld: it's a show about nothing, just the everyday life of the star going about his pseudo-real world. But David's show has far more edge (thanks, in part, to airing on cable TV) with all the bad luck, embarrassing situations, and dreadful behavior as its premiere season. The closest thing to an arc is David's season-long pitch to the networks for a new show starring former Seinfeld stars Jason Alexander and Julia-Louis Dreyfus. Each network is lampooned, especially HBO, which David has a bad history with in this alternate world. Sure to repel those with soft funny bones, Curb's acerbic comedy allows jokes where David is accidentally framed--if ever so briefly--as a child molester, wife abuser, or murderer. But for those who do love his shtick, there are big laughs, especially when we bump into characters as unbridled as David, like a fellow writer who is quite protective of his dad's invention, the Cobb salad. Many comic actors pop up, some as "themselves" (Richard Lewis, Rob Reiner) and others as characters (Rita Wilson, Ed Asner) along with the delights of co-stars Cheryl Hines as David's wife and his affable manger, Jeff Garlin. There are several touchstone bits: what a thong brief can do to a relationship, a run-in with pro wrestler, Larry's first baptism, and one very collectible doll. To pick one episode to capture this second season--and its grandstanding nature--it would be "Shaq," in which the NBA star is accidentally tripped, changing David's usual bad luck with gut-busting results. --Doug Thomas

• Angels In America | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £9.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (40.04%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Tony Kushner's prize-winning play Angels in America became the defining US theatrical event of the 1990s, an astonishing mix of philosophy, politics, and vibrant gay soap opera that summed up the Reagan era for an entire generation of theatre-goers. Post-9/11 would seem to be too late for a film version--philosophy and politics don't always age well--but this 2003 HBO adaptation, ably directed by Mike Nichols, provides a time capsule of the '80s and reveals the deep emotional subcurrents that will give the play lasting power. The story centers around Prior Walter (Justin Kirk) and Louis Ironson (Ben Shenkman), a gay couple that falls apart when Prior grows ill as a result of AIDS. But cancer is not the only thing invading Prior's life: He begins to have religious visions of an angel (Emma Thompson) announcing that he is a prophet. Louis, who doesn't cope well with disease and suggestions of mortality, leaves and starts a relationship with Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), a closeted Mormon who works for Roy Cohn (Al Pacino)--the real-life right-wing lawyer, notorious for his ruthless behind-the-scenes machinations. Add in Joe's depressed and hallucinating wife Harper (Mary Louise Parker), his determined but open-minded mother Hannah (Meryl Streep), a fierce drag queen/nurse named Belize (Jeffrey Wright, reprising his celebrated performance from the Broadway production), and you've still only begun to discover the wealth of characters and storylines in Kushner's ambitious work. The powerhouse cast (also featuring James Cromwell, Michael Gambon, and Simon Callow) is uniformly superb. The script has its weaknesses--some of the fantastic elements, including Prior's journey to Heaven towards the end, fall flat--but even what doesn't work is bristling with ideas and a ferocious desire to capture human existence in this time and place. --Bret Fetzer

• A Cinderella Story - If The Shoe Fits | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tessa Golding (Sofia Carson) is hired as an assistant by her Stepmother, Divine and her stepsisters, Olympia and Athena to accompany them to The Royal Lagoons Resort for an audition. The stepsisters audition to play Cinderella for Reed West, a famous singer, who is putting on a show called, Cinderella-Live. Meanwhile, Tessa befriends a makeup artist, Georgia, who convinces Tessa to audition as Bella Snow so her stepsisters/stepmother can't get in the way. Bella Snow lands the part, but now Tessa maintain her secret identity and still cater to her stepsisters. (Elena Song- Writer)

• Ooh... You Are Awful! | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £8.49   |  Saving you £4.50 (53.00%)   |  RRP £12.99

  ... but I like you! After cheating the Mafia out of a fortune comedy conman Dick Emery trusts his partner to stash the loot in a Swiss bank. As the number of the account is tattooed on the rear of one of his girlfriends a cheeky undercover operation begins. The bottom line is to photograph the evidence for posterity or he'll make a complete ass of himself. And Dick Emery butting in with all his other impersonations could mean another bum rap!

• The Animal | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £6.45   |  Saving you £13.54 (209.92%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This comedy stars Rob Schneider ("Deuce Bigalow")as a police cadet who, after nearly dying in a car accident while driving through a remote area, is rescued by a strange beast who performs surgery on him in a barn, using animal parts as transplants.

• The King of Staten Island (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (14/09/2020) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Scott (Pete Davidson) has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He's now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guysOscar (Ricky Velez), Igor (Moises Arias) and Richie (Lou Wilson)and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley). But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life. Over 2 1/2 hours of Bonus Features including: Feature Commentary with Director/ Co-Writer Judd Apatow and Actor/Co-Writer Pete Davidson Alternate Endings (Which Didn't Work!) Deleted Scenes Gag Reel Line-O-Rama The Kid From Staten Island Judd Apatow's Production Diaries You're Not My Dad: Working with Bill Burr Margie Knows Best: Working with Marisa Tomei Friends with Benefits: Working with Bel Powley Sibling Rivalry: Working with Maude Apatow Best Friends: Working with Ricky, Moises, & Lou Papa: Working with Steve Buscemi Friends of Firefighters Stand-Up Benefit Scott Davidson Tribute The King of Staten Island Official Trailer Who is Pete Davidson? The Firehouse Pete's Casting Recs Pete's Poppy (Grandpa) Video Calls

• Zelig | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  With his ability to blend into any bizarre situation Leonard Zelig played an important part in every major historical event of the twentieth century. But only now can the amazing truth be told in Woody Allen's unique mockumentary about the hilarious exploits of a celebrity non-entity...

• Down From The Mountain | DVD | (05/11/2001) from £14.54   |  Saving you £5.45 (37.48%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Down from the Mountain is a treasurable record of a unique event: a live concert from Nashville featuring the artists and songs from the Coen Brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Anyone who was delighted by that enchanting film and its traditional Americana soundtrack will find this concert an irresistible delight. It's not just a rehashing of the songs from the film, however, but an opportunity for some of the finest names in Bluegrass to perform a variety of traditional songs. Here we have Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris playing separately before coming together for an a cappella rendition of "(Didn't Leave) Nobody but the Baby". Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley chills the spine with his lonesome "O Death", while bluesman Chris Thomas King wails "John Law Burned Down the Liquor Sto'". There are other marvellous performances from old-timey stalwarts The Cox Family and The Whites, more Gospel-infused singing from the Fairfield Four, and impressively authentic fiddling from John Hartford. Oddly, the only song not to be heard is the original film's standout item, "Man of Constant Sorrow". The concert is also available on CD. On the DVD: The disc's packaging is misleading, as it only lists 12 songs when there are several more in the concert, all of which are listed and can be accessed from the menu. There's a good 25-minute backstage documentary also included, plus some liner notes from the Coens. --Mark Walker

• In Cold Blood (1967) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (04/04/2022) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Truman Capote's best seller, a breakthrough narrative account of real-life crime and punishment, became an equally chilling film in the hands of writer-director RICHARD BROOKS (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). Cast for their unsettling resemblances to the killers they play, ROBERT BLAKE (Lost Highway) and SCOTT WILSON (The Great Gatsby) give authentic, unshowy performances as Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who in 1959 murdered a family of four in Kansas during a botched robbery. Brooks brings a detached, documentary-like starkness to this uncompromising view of an American tragedy and its aftermath; at the same time, stylistically In Cold Blood is a filmmaking master class, with clinically precise editing, chiaroscuro black-and-white cinematography by the great CONRAD L. HALL (American Beauty), and a menacing jazz score by Quincy Jones. Special Features New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack New interview with cinematographer John Bailey on the film's cinematography New interview with film historian Bobbie O'Steen on the film's editing New interview with film critic and jazz historian Gary Giddins on the film's music by Quincy Jones New interview with writer Douglass Daniel on director Richard Brooks Interview with Brooks from 1988 from the French television series Cinéma cinemas Interview with actor Robert Blake from 1968 from the British television series Good Evening with Jonathan King With Love from Truman, a short 1966 documentary featuring novelist Truman Capote, directed by Albert and David Maysles Two archival NBC interviews with Capote: one following the author on a 1966 visit to Holcomb, Kansas, and the other conducted by Barbara Walters in 1967 Trailer PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara

• The Animal | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £8.96   |  Saving you £0.02 (0.34%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This comedy stars Rob Schneider ("Deuce Bigalow")as a police cadet who, after nearly dying in a car accident while driving through a remote area, is rescued by a strange beast who performs surgery on him in a barn, using animal parts as transplants.

• The King of Staten Island (DVD) | DVD | (14/09/2020) from £3.46   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Scott (Pete Davidson) has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He's now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guysOscar (Ricky Velez), Igor (Moises Arias) and Richie (Lou Wilson)and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley). But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life. Bonus Features Feature Commentary with Director/ Co-Writer Judd Apatow and Actor/Co-Writer Pete Davidson Alternate Endings (Which Didn't Work!) Deleted Scenes Gag Reel

• Crimewave (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (28/08/2023) from £11.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After the colossal success of The Evil Dead, director Sam Raimi teamed up with the Coen brothers (fresh from Blood Simple) to make his next film, Crimewave, an unusual mixture of screwball comedy, film noir and B-movie homage. Raimi's film tells the bizarre story of a security-system installer, Vic (Reed Birney), who finds himself in the electric chair when he falls in love with Nancy (Sheree J Wilson), a femme fatale on the run from two bumbling exterminators 'of all sizes' (Paul L Smith, Popeye, and Brion James, Blade Runner). A notoriously troubled production which flopped upon its original release, Crimewave can now be enjoyed as a riotously entertaining showcase for Raimi and the Coens, which also benefits from a highly amusing performance from cult-horror star Bruce Campbell. Product Features High Definition remaster Four feature presentations: the 87-minute international version with a selection of three alternative titles (Broken Hearts and Noses, The XYZ Murders, and Crimewave); and the 82-minute US theatrical cut Original mono audio Audio commentary with actor-producer Bruce Campbell and filmmaker Michael Felsher (2013) Audio commentary with Sam Raimi expert James Flower (2021) The Crimewave Meter (2013, 16 mins): Bruce Campbell revisits his early collaborations with writer-director Raimi Leading Man (2013, 16 mins): actor Reed Birney talks about Crimewave and his wider career Made in Detroit (2013, 9 mins): producer-actor Edward R Pressman discusses the making of the film Rank Outsider (2021, 10 mins): critic and author Kim Newman remembers the original UK release Too Much for Comfort (2021, 8 mins): appreciation by comedian, musician and writer Rob Deering On-set footage (1983, 12 mins): rare behind-the-scenes material from Reed Birney's personal archive Promotional reel (1984, 14 mins): previously unseen digest version with unique voice-over, intended for industry use US theatrical trailer US home video trailer French theatrical trailer Image galleries: promotional materials and behind-the-scenes photography The XYZ Murders script gallery: complete pre-production screenplay New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Shackles | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Welcome to the schol of hard knocks. Ben a struggling teacher in his 30s is desperately trying to get his life back in order to win back his ex-wife. After abundant struggle and a haunting past an old friend gets him a teaching position at Riker's Island Prison. Meanwhile Gabriel a 17-year-old drug-dealer is arrested and sent to the same prison. Ben is having terrible luck with his teaching program and is given an ultimatum that he must have more students or the program w

• What's Up Tiger Lily? | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £23.99   |  Saving you £-21.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  We took a Japanese film made in Japan with Japanese actors and actresses and I took out all the soundtrack and knocked out all the voices and I wrote a comedy. The result is a movie where people are running around doing all these James Bondian things but what's coming out of their mouths is something wholly other. It was done before actually in Gone With the Wind but not many people know that. Those were Japanese people actually and we dubbed in American voices Southern voices. But that was years ago. - Woody Allen

• Supernova | DVD | (26/12/2000) from £3.59   |  Saving you £12.40 (77.50%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The makers of Supernova are apparently counting on the fact that generational turnover renders old formulas fresh again for new audiences. This is the only explanation for a sci-fi thriller that could charitably be called a "homage" to Ridley Scott's trend setting Alien. A medical rescue ship responds to a distress call from a mining colony and finds only one survivor: a strange young man (Peter Facinelli), who comes aboard carrying an even stranger alien artefact. But the plot of this film, which was directed and then disowned by Walter Hill, grows confused as it tries to explain the sinister force that will lead to a star transforming to supernova status, causing a universe-shattering explosion. Some nice sexual tension between James Spader (as the recovering drug-addict co-pilot) and Angela Bassett (as the ship's doctor). Notable mostly, however, for the eerie resemblance, both physical and vocal, between Facinelli and Tom Cruise. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Midnight Sting | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fresh out of jail motor-mouth con man Gabriel Cane (Woods) sets up a bet with local gangster John Gillon (Dern) in which ageing prize fighter 'Honey' Roy Palmer must knock out 10 opponents within 24 hours. The con is on but exactly who is scamming who?