"Actor: Mario"

• Carmen - Georges Bizet | DVD | (10/05/2008) from £6.39   |  Saving you £-1.40 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  The sultry town of Seville is the setting for Bizet's celebrated opera. Carmen is the tale of a promising young soldier Don Jose who throws away his military future having succumbed to the bewitching charms of a gypsy woman. Immersed by a passionate desire for Carmen Don Jose slowly unravels culminating in a tragic and emotional finale.

• Il Giardino Armonico | DVD | (22/08/2000) from £3.31   |  Saving you £17.94 (875.12%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Il Giardino Armonico are one of the more deliberately abrasive groups playing baroque music on original instruments; their performances have a simultaneous toughness and delicacy miles away from the old-fashioned easy-listening approach to Baroque repertoire. These are performances--whether of fairly well-known Vivaldi concertos like "Il Gardellino" for flautino or "La Notte" for flute, or of comparatively obscure pieces like Merula's "Ciaccona a Tre"--that make the viewer sit up and concentrate. The short introductions to each piece are exemplary, telling us enough to intrigue and pay attention without giving us any surplus information. The performances were filmed on location in Sicily, whose ancient monuments and long beaches form a surprisingly effective backdrop to the music. The DVD has a facility for displaying the scores as the pieces are played, as well as subtitles in English, German, French and Dutch. --Roz Kaveney

• Stag | DVD | (26/11/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Ever felt the chill wind of déjà vu? You will with Stag, as its entire premise follows that of director Peter Berg's none-more-black comedy Very Bad Things to the letter--except that Stag actually came first. While Very Bad Things starred Cameron Diaz and Christian Slater and therefore got a cinema release, Stag stars (oh dear) Mario Van Peebles, ex-Brat Pack star Andrew McCarthy and Taylor Dayne, and therefore didn't grace the silver screen. Van Peebles plays Michael, the loyal best friend and housemate of Victor (John Stockwell) who is poised to leave the buddy fold for marriage and domesticity. So, being a pal, Michael organises a surprise stag party for Victor, and invites along a host of their old crowd--including, regrettably, drug dealer and racketeer Pete (McCarthy), and the obligatory pair of strippers, Serena and Kelly (Dayne and Jenny McShane). Of course, things swiftly turn rowdy, Kelly falls to her wholly accidental death, and the boys have to cover up the death fast. Having established this nightmarish scenario, Stag veers away from the Gap-ad Grand Guignol of Very Bad Things and instead attempts to juggle suspense, melodrama, and a fairly ponderous examination of modern-male morality. The results aren't particularly edifying, but they do display a certain conviction, even if it's never satisfactorily explained why Van Peebles spends the entire film without eyebrows. Them's the breaks. --Danny Leigh

• Super Speedway-Imax Film | DVD | (02/09/1998) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the best directors of IMAX films, Stephen Low (Titanica) has always been a race fan. After obtaining permission from CART, a governing body of Indy car racing and Newman/Haas racing (a Championship team co-owned by Paul Newman), Low found his stars for Super Speedway: the racing Andrettis, father Mario and son Michael. Mounting cameras fore and aft on the Andrettis' cars, IMAX offers a better vantage point than an ESPN camera, at a superior grade of clarity. Add to that the excellent sound and you can "feel" the bumps on the asphalt as the cars zoom in and out of corners. The large format can turn a pit stop into a dramatic 12 seconds as we see the driver's eyes dart away from his cockpit for a few brief seconds. We watch Michael Andretti on oval tracks and exciting road courses going over hills and sharp turns. There's even a spin--probably staged--from an angle we've never seen before. Although true race conditions were impossible (the camera is just too bulky), Low sneakily edits his film to stretch the imagination. On race day, several Indy cars drove alongside the camera car hours before the main event, passing and drafting each other with crowds whizzing past them. When edited with footage of the race, it feels like the real thing. Low takes a few off-beat choices in setting up his story. The first image is the biggest chicken you've ever seen. The last shot is a 1950s car (lovingly restored during the film) racing through perfect golden foliage on an autumn day. It gives his movie of modern technology a wonderful sense of nostalgia. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

• Monteverdi: L'Orfeo | DVD | (02/09/2013) from £12.55   |  Saving you £2.44 (19.44%)   |  RRP £14.99

  John Mark Ainsley leads the cast in Pierre Audi's production of Monteverdi's opera, recorded live at De Nederlandse Opera in 1997. Other cast members include Brigitte Balleys, Michael Chance, David Cordier and Mario Luperi. The conductor is Stephen Stubbs

• Elvira-Mistress of the Dark | DVD | (12/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Giordano - Andrea Chenier (Questa, Del Monaco, Stella) | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Mozart - Don Giovanni (Molinari-Pradelli) | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £23.82   |  Saving you £4.17 (17.51%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Mozart - Don Giovanni (Molinari-Pradelli)

• Ali | UMD | (01/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

• Step Up/Honey | DVD | (22/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Step Up (2006): Incredible dancing and awesome music fuel Step Up the exhilarating and inspiring movie starring Channing Tatum (She's The Man) who sizzles as Tyler Gage a rough and streetwise hunk with raw talent. When Tyler finds himself doing community service at a school for the performing arts he also finds Nora a beautiful and privileged classically trained dancer who's searching for a temporary replacement for her injured dance partner. Spying Tyler's smooth moves Nora decides to take a chance on him. But as they begin training tension builds tempers flare and the differences in their backgrounds explode - igniting this electrifying tale about not giving up on your dreams. Honey (2003): Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) is a struggling hip-hop dancer who's got all the moves talent and relentless passion to succeed. She's been waiting all her life to show the world her dance moves and now her dream is just a step away. Inspired by the energy and music of the streets she risks her shot at the big time to reach out take a chance and make it on her own terms...

• Verdi: Rigoletto | DVD | (02/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Opera in three in acts by Francesco Maria Piave. Music by Guiseppe Verdi

• Crazy Six | Blu Ray | (17/08/2015) from £14.49   |  Saving you £1.50 (10.35%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In the newly emergent countries of Eastern Europe Mafia families have taken control of all weapons and technology smuggling. Billie (ROB LOWE) is an American junkie who is trying to escape his problems and make some good money they call him Crazy Six because he is the sixth child of his family and he is crazy for drugs. Raul (ICE-T) is the drug lord who deals plutonium on his spare time. Things get ugly when Crazy Six and an Arabic-French gangster called Mao (MARIO VAN PEEBLES) steal the plutonium from the Mao. However when Mao double crosses him Crazy Six finds himself on the run from the Mafia with a US federal agent Dakota (BURT REYNOLDS) as his only ally.

• Manon Lescaut - Puccini | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  TDK presents a recording of Puccini's heart-breaking opera from one of the best opera houses of the world featuring star tenor Jose Cura and remarkable soprano Maria Guelghina as the two inseparable lovers. Riccardo Muti music director of La Scala at the time of this performance gives full weight to the alternation of social realism and private amatory psychology of crowds and intimacy body and spirit. And the director of this Milan production the famous Italian film director Liliana Cavani provides it with a realistic setting. Every scene looks like a genre painting from which Puccini's psychograms emerge musically. This forms the background for the two outstanding singer actors who take the lead roles.

• Very Best of Trance Music 2 | DVD | (29/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Tracklisting:01 David Kane - Club Sound02 Commander Tom - Attention03 Mario Lopez - The Sun Always Shines On TV04 Sequential One - Dreams05 Shaun Baker - Xplode 206 William Hawk - Return To Innocence07 Zhi-Vago - Dreamer08 Join Forces - Electro City09 Blank And Jones - Catch10 Niels Van Gogh - One Way Out11 Lazard - Living On Video12 Race feat. Who's Dat Girl - Fantasy13 DJ Analyzer Vs. D-JMC - We Belong14 Floorfilla - Technoromance15 Lexy And K-Paul - Wide Road16 666 - Alarma!17 Murphy Brown - Don't Stop The Rock18 Warp Brothers feat. Red Monkey - Blade19 TV Junkeez - Knightrider20 SMP Presents DJ T-Kay - The Flight

• The Flashing Blade - Vol. 1 | DVD | (20/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Flashing Blade is a tale of high adventure set in 1630 as the dashing Chevalier de Recci (Robert Etcheverry) undertakes a dangerous mission across occupied territory to avert war between France and Spain. This 13-episode serial was made for French television in 1967, and in dubbed form regularly shown on the BBC during school holidays from 1969 through the 1970s (usually when 1965's Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was having a rest). This release is aimed at that generation who, from the spine-tingling theme song onward, remember the show with tremendous affection. Like the classic Hollywood movie serials, each 23-minute episode packs in a couple of action sequences; some plot twists, a little comic relief and very variable acting and costumes. For a children's programme the story is remarkably complex, and takes a while to gather pace. The colours have faded, the use of classical music is clumsy, but the dubbing is surprisingly accomplished. The swashbuckling action is at odds with the more serious historical drama, but viewed with nostalgia The Flashing Blade is thoroughly entertaining vintage TV. --Gary S Dalkin

• Carmen | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  A gypsy woman working in a cigar factory in Seville catches the attention of a soldier. He obeys her every command and helps her avoid arrest even though she was under his command this in turn puts him in prison instead. After his release he then goes to search for Carmen in Lillas Pastia and he finds himself joining with Carmen at the cost of his military career. He struggles to keep up with the smugglers and at the same time preserve his claim on Carmen.

• Master P - MP Da Last Don - The Movie | DVD | (01/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  MP Da Last Don is the latest film from one of the most creative minds in rap music today. Master P is Nino Corleone and he takes you into the darkest shadows of the Cuban mob. Nino never wanted the life of a gangster but when his father Don Corleone is gunned down in the street he must answer the call for revenge. Now deceit back room deals and crooked cops threaten to destroy everything Nino loves.

• The Flashing Blade - Vol. 2 | DVD | (20/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Clad in a cape and armed with a sword the Flashing Blade - a fearless warrior who fights for the French - treads a skilful path between intrigues conspiracies and ruses while trying to win the glory to which he so ardently aspires. Episode 5: Isabelle suspects that the merchant who rescued her is not all that he seems to be. Episode 6: Francois on his quest for the agent who will help him to get his message through to the French falls in with a group of strolling players

• Wagner: Das Rheingold | Blu Ray | (27/04/2009) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  ARTH 101354; ARTHAUS MUSIK - Germania;

• Umberto Giordano - Andrea Chenier - Giordano | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £22.10   |  Saving you £2.89 (11.60%)   |  RRP £24.99