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• Torque | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.17   |  Saving you £6.82 (95.12%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A biker must outride an FBI agent hot on his trail and two fearsome gang leaders out for his blood in this explosive slice of action.

• The Tragedy of Macbeth | Blu Ray | (18/04/2016) from £13.35   |  Saving you £14.64 (109.66%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Roman Polanski imbues his unflinchingly violent adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ruthless ambition and murder in medieval Scotland with grit and dramatic intensity. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis give performances charged with fury and sex appeal as a decorated warrior rising through the ranks and his driven wife, scheming together to take the throne by any means. Co-adapted by Polanski and the great theatre critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan, and shot against a series of stunning, stark British Isle landscapes, this version of Macbeth is among the most atmospheric and authentic of all Shakespeare films.

• Cleopatra | Blu Ray | (30/01/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Still the most expensive movie ever made, Cleopatra nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. It also scandalised the world with the very public affair of its two major stars, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. But Joseph L Mankiewicz's 1963 epic deserves to be remembered for more than its off-screen troubles. An extravagantly elaborate production, the sets and costumes alone are awe-inspiring; Mankiewicz's own literate screenplay draws heavily on the classics and Shakespeare; while the supporting cast, led by Rex Harrison as Caesar and Roddy McDowall as his nephew (and future emperor) Octavian, are all first-rate thespians and generally put in more convincing performances than either of the two leads. Mankiewicz's original intention was to make two three-hour films: the first being Caesar and Cleopatra, the second Antony and Cleopatra. But before the film’s completion, and following a boardroom coup worthy of Ancient Rome itself, legendary mogul Darryl F Zanuck took back control of Fox and insisted that Cleopatra be cut to a more economical length. A heartbroken Mankiewicz was forced to trim his six-hour vision down to four. This was the "roadshow" version shown at the film’s premiere and now restored here for the first time. Then following adverse criticism and pressure from cinema chains Zanuck demanded more cuts, and the final released version ran a mere three hours--half the original length. Capitalising on the feverish publicity surrounding Burton and Taylor, the shortened version played up both their on- and off-screen romance. This longer four-hour roadshow version allows for a broader view of the film, adding some depth to the politics and manipulation of the characters. But the director’s original six-hour edit has been lost. Perhaps one day it will be rediscovered in the vaults and Mankiewicz’s much-maligned movie will finally be seen the way it was meant to be. Until then, Cleopatra remains an epic curiosity rather than the complete spectacle it should be. On the DVD: this handsome three-disc set spreads the restored four-hour print of the movie across two discs. The anamorphic widescreen print looks quite magnificent and Alex North’s wondrous score comes up like new in Dolby 5.1 sound. There’s a patchy and only intermittently revealing commentary from Chris Mankiewicz, Tom Mankiewicz, Martin Landau and Jack Brodsky. Much better is the comprehensive two-hour documentary that occupies disc three, which tells in hair-raising detail the extraordinary story of a film production that became totally out of control. This is accompanied by some short archival material, but the documentary alone is a compelling reason to acquire this set. --Mark Walker

• Space: 1999 - The Complete Second Series | Blu Ray | (28/09/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All 24 episodes from the second series of the popular sci-fi show. In 'The Metamorph' a team of Eagle pilots are captured on the planet Psychon by the ruthless Mentor (Brian Blessed). 'The Exiles' has the Alphans revive two aliens who turn out to be rebel leaders. 'One Moment of Humanity' sees Helena (Barbara Bain) and Tony (Tony Anholt) abducted by an alien (Billie Whitelaw) who plans to use them as blueprints for killer androids. In 'All That Glisters' Koenig (Martin Landau) leads a mission to a nearby planet in search of a mineral vital to the life support system on Moonbase Alpha. 'Journey to Where' has Koenig, Helena and Carter (Nick Tate) attempt to teletransport themselves to 22nd century Texas and end up in 14th century Scotland instead. 'The Taybor' sees Alpha visited by a travelling trader who wants to add Maya (Catherine Schell) to his collection of beautiful artefacts. 'The Rules of Luton' finds Koenig and Maya in trouble with the locals during a visit to Luton. 'The Mark of Archanon' has the Alphans discover two aliens frozen beneath the surface of the moon. 'Brian the Brain' sees the moonbase visited by an old Earth spaceship piloted by a lone computer called Brian (voiced by Bernard Cribbins). 'New Adam New Eve' finds Koenig, Helena, Maya and Tony caught up in the plans of one Simon Magus (Guy Rolfe), a cosmic magician who is attempting to discover the secret of life. In 'Catacombs of the Moon' engineer Patrick Osgood (James Laurenson) searches for a rare metal essential for the construction of the replacement heart needed to save the life of his wife Michelle (Pamela Stephenson). 'The AB Chrysalis' has Alpha surrounded by a mysterious ring of moons. 'Seeds of Destruction' sees Alpha endangered by Koenig's evil double. 'The Beta Cloud' finds a huge and terrible creature (Dave Prowse) on the rampage at the moonbase. 'Space Warp' has Maya afflicted with a terrible sickness which causes her to transform into various space monsters. 'A Matter of Balance'

• The Untouchables | DVD | (04/06/2001) from £5.25   |  Saving you £10.74 (204.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualise the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters". In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing pot-boiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the film pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper Caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia) and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone's potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery's apartment and the train-station shootout partially modelled after the "Odessa steps" sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It's thrilling stuff, fuelled by Ennio Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and obvious. If you're inclined to be critical, the film gives you reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Hills Have Eyes | Blu Ray | (31/07/2017) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  THE LUCKY ONES DIED FIRST... Horror master Wes Craven achieved critical and commercial success with the likes of Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street but for many genre fans, the director s seminal 1977 effort The Hills Have Eyes remains his masterpiece. Taking a detour whilst on route to Los Angeles, the Carter family run into trouble when their campervan breaks down in the middle of the desert. Stranded, the family find themselves at the mercy of a group of monstrous cannibals lurking in the surrounding hills. With their lives under threat, the Carters are forced to fight back by any means necessary. As gruelling a viewing experience today as it was upon initial release, The Hills Have Eyes stands alongside the likes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead as one of the defining moments in American horror cinema.

• Californication: Season 6 | DVD | (14/04/2014) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (65.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  All 12 episodes from the sixth season of the adult comedy drama starring David Duchovny as Hank Moody, a successful author and university professor. For all his professional accomplishments, Hank struggles to balance the demands of his career, his relationships with his daughter (Madeleine Martin) and ex-girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone), and his insatiable appetite for drinking and beautiful women.

• Ally McBeal - Season 1 | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Meet Ally McBeal she over-analyses her relationships (and sometimes lack of) to the point of becoming emotionally neurotic. Sounds annoying? It can be. Sounds so-American? It can be. Sounds addictive? It will be... They are young successful lawyers some of them could even be called beautiful a lot of them could be called eccentric and they all work and play together. In this first season we are introduced to the Unisex (the bathroom they all share). Ally is living with Renee st

• Jingle All The Way | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £5.07   |  Saving you £2.92 (57.59%)   |  RRP £7.99

  It's Christmas Eve, and Arnold needs to find a Turbo Man action figure, the craze of the season. Only they're sold out, of course. So the race is on, and the Austrian Oak must do fierce battle with other shoppers and merchants alike, all for the prize toy with which to purchase his son's affections. All of which is unwittingly very sad, on the content level. But the film supposes itself to be amiable enough, on its own shabby terms, even when it climbs out of the screen and starts gnawing at your furniture. If the humour were to get broader it would make HDTV obsolete. The tone can only be termed good-naturedly mean-spirited. Goofy carnival music runs continuously in the background so we never forget that what we're seeing is, er, um, funny. All the action is composed of comic violence, like an unhip Warner Bros. cartoon. Do the filmmakers actually consider this cynical foray to be indicative of the Christmas spirit? Apparently so, because the resolution has Arnold winning quite inadvertently, and offers no clear alternative to the competitive commercialism that drives the film's attempts at humour. In a key scene that's meant to be touching, Arnold and his chief rival Sinbad sit down for a heart-to-heart in which we learn that receiving much-wanted Christmas presents in our formative years is responsible for our success in adulthood. You get that Turbo Man, you'll be a billionaire; don't get it, you'll be a loser. Such is the formidable challenge of parenthood, to cater to the child's whims while it can still make a difference. This is what's wrong with America. --Jim Gay, Amazon.com

• The Very Best Of The Royle Family | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spanning the three series of this superb sitcom, The Very Best of The Royle Family is a prime taster for those not familiar with the series. Co-created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, who star as Denise and Dave respectively, The Royle Family deserves its own comedic category. They had a hard fight persuading the BBC to leave a laughter track off the show, which would have disrupted its unique ambience and chemistry. Never departing from the house of lazy, good-for-nothing but defiantly sardonic Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) and wife Barbara (Sue Johnston), The Royle Family chronicles the everyday chat and banal comings and goings of this Northern household, which barely qualifies as "working" class, since mostly they are slumped on the sofa in front of the telly in a cathode-induced stupor. Confused viewers waiting for something to "happen" in the conventional sitcom manner will be disappointed. What they'll get instead is an irresistible stream of dialogue that captures unerringly the humdrum cadences of "ordinary" people. These episodes capture the Royles in customary, festive mood--Denise's marriage, Christmas, baby David's birthday party and so forth--which is good, as we get to see more of Liz Smith's magnificent Nana. As each seemingly inconsequential scene vividly illustrates, this is hardly a romanticised family. Denise is an appallingly negligent mother, there's probably never been a green vegetable in the house, most of their friends, including Darren, are well dodgy, and mum Barbara is unfairly put-upon ("Eh, I've been so busy this morning I haven't had time to smoke", she laments at one point). Yet undoubtedly, unlike their regal counterparts, this Royle Family are close-knit, somehow getting by. The family that watches telly together stays together. On the DVD: The Very Best of the Royle Family, disappointingly, has no extra features. --David Stubbs

• Roswell | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £9.73   |  Saving you £5.26 (54.06%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on real-life events, the mystery of the Roswell UFO and its passengers is as compelling as it is controversial. New Mexico, 1947. Mac Brazel finds unidentifiable wreckage scattered across his farmland. Intelligence officer Jesse Marcel is summoned from the nearby Roswell Air Force base and sensationally declares the debris is from a crashed UFO. But no sooner has the story broken than it's silenced by the Pentagon. And so begins one of the greatest mysteries of modern times. DVD features: The UFO Chronicles Factual accounts and theories of many major UFO events of the century Stills Gallery

• They Call Me Mr Tibbs! | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £12.74   |  Saving you £0.25 (1.96%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In this suspenseful sequel to In The Heat Of The Night Sidney Poitier reprises his role as the intrepid investigator who this time must solve a puzzling murder in the City by the Bay. Featuring an original score by Quincy Jones and co-starring Martin Landau and Edward Asner They Call Me Mister Tibbs! is an absorbing mystery that ranks as one of the best. When a prostitute is murdered in San Francisco's ritzy Nob Hill district an anonymous tip implicates minister and political

• Wagner - Die Meistersinger (Stein, Horst) | DVD | (15/05/2006) from £19.95   |  Saving you £-4.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Stage and directed by Richard Wagner's grandson Wolfgang at the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1984 this production of Wagner's only comedy dispenses with the common cliches to reveal the humanity of each character. Here Beckmesser is no longer a foolish caricature but a cultivated intellectual; Stolzing emerges as a thoughtful individual rather than aggressive aristocrat; and Hans Sachs sheds his solemn patriarchal veneer to become a likeable middle-aged man.

• Studio Classic: Classic War Movies | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Von Ryan's Express (1965): Colonel Joseph Ryan of the US Army Air Forces is shot down in Italy and taken to a prison camp populated by the Royal Army's 9th Fusiliers and run by sadistic commandant Battaglia. With the recent passing of their commanding colonel the 9th Fusiliers under Major Eric Fincham must now answer to the new senior officer of the prisoners Ryan. Also in the camp are several American prisoners who don't cotton to Major Fincham's stubborn passive resistance

• Shackleton - The Complete Series (1983) | DVD | (13/03/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Directed by BAFTA-nominee Martyn Friend (New Tricks) and produced by BAFTA-nominee John Harris (The Singing Detective), the series also proved popular in the US, where it was nominated for a CableACE award in 1985 for Best Movie or Mini-series. Shackleton was shot on location in Greenland and features cinematography from BAFTA-winner David Whitson (The Voyage of Charles Darwin), who is no stranger to creating atmospheric journeys of historical figures. The chilling original music score was composed by Francis Shaw. Undeterred by the dangers faced by Roald Amundsen (first to reach the South Pole) and Robert Falcon Scott and his team (who perished on their treacherous journey), Shackleton, in 1914, chooses to lead a team on their famous journey aboard the Endurance. However, when disaster strikes and the ship is trapped and crushed by pack-ice, Shackleton and five of his men must embark on a desperate 800-mile journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia with only the James Caird, a 20-foot lifeboat, to protect them against the furious Southern Ocean. Based on the true stories, recorded in Shackleton's own journals which he kept during his expeditions, this series does not shy away from the harsh realities the men faced in the Antarctic from dwindling supplies to emergency amputations and provides a gripping account of the dangers, frustrations and suffering the determined explorers endured. Unlike recent film and TV adaptations of the story, the BBC's 1983 drama delivers a widely acknowledged true account of the events as they unfolded. It opens with Shackleton planning the expedition and reveals the challenges he faced in finding sponsors. It presents the perilous journey on the James Caird and the South Georgia mountain crossing in keeping with journal records. And, unlike later versions, the BBC's Shackleton delves into his complex relationships with those around him as they all battle to succeed and survive. David Schofield stars as Ernest Shackleton in a remarkable early performance. He would later go on to star in the epic blockbusters: Gladiator, The Walking Dead and Pirates of the Caribbean. David Rodigan (A Woman called Moses) is outstanding as Shackleton's trusted deputy Frank Wild. This critically acclaimed, fact-based drama will definitely appeal to an audience interested in historical biopics and true-life adventures. Generally, fans of brilliantly cast and well-written drama with high production values will be thrilled to hear of Shackleton's long-awaited DVD release.

• Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - Series 1 | DVD | (22/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.16

  With its campy combination of lightweight adventure and Spandex disco chic, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is a nostalgic throwback to post-Star Wars opportunism. Series co-creator Glen A. Larson was incapable of originality, and former soap star Gil Gerard (in the title role) was a bland incarnation of the comic-strip hero, so the much-anticipated series premiered on September 20, 1979, with serious disadvantages. Although the two-hour pilot "Awakening" had tested successfully as a theatrical release, Gerard and the show's producers could never agree on a stable tone for the series, which presents Capt. William "Buck" Rogers as a jovial space cowboy who is accidentally time-warped from 1987 to 2491. Earth is engaged in interplanetary war following a global holocaust, and Buck's piloting skills make him an ideal starfighter recruit for the Earth Defense Directorate, where his closest colleagues are Dr. Huer (Tim O'Connor), squadron leader Col. Wilma Deering (former model Erin Gray, looking oh-so-foxy), the wisecracking robot Twiki (voiced by cartoon legend Mel Blanc), and a portable computer-brain named Dr. Theopolis, who's carried by Twiki like oversized bling-bling. The series struggled through an awkward first season, with routine plots elevated by decent special effects and noteworthy guest stars including Jamie Lee Curtis, ill-fated Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten (appearing, with her voice dubbed over, less than a year before her tragic murder), Batman alumnus Julie Newmar, Buster Crabbe (veteran of vintage Buck Rogers movie serials), and several others in a show that favored vamps and vixens over credible science fiction. A full-scale overhaul resulted in a disastrous second season, but devoted fans still gravitate to Hawk (Thom Christopher), the charismatic alien "birdman" who was introduced with new characters and a new, space-faring search for lost tribes from Earth (with echoes of Larson's own Battlestar Galactica). Behind-the-scenes squabbles continued, and by mid-season of 1981, NBC pulled the plug on a breezy, still-engaging series that suffered from uneasy chemistry and never realized its full potential. Existing somewhere between Galactica and Lost in Space in the TV sci-fi food chain, this Buck--with a dearth of DVD extras--now functions as a cheesy stroll down memory lane. --Jeff Shannon

• Das Boot -- Superbit | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Das Boot is a graphic and gripping tale that follows the daring patrol of U-96 one of the famed German U-Boats known as ‘The Grey Wolves’. Prowling the North Atlantic they challenged the British Navy at every turn. The crew abroad the U-96 is portrayed in a desperate life-and-death struggle coping with life beneath the waves quickly gives way to terror when confronting the enemy...

• Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (DVD + Digital Copy) | DVD | (18/07/2011) from £8.00   |  Saving you £11.99 (60.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Martin Lawrence returns as Master of Disguise--well, just one disguise, honestly, but he's really, really good at it--FBI agent Malcolm Turner in the second sequel to 2000's blockbuster Big Momma's House. Here, the agent must throw on the padding to pose as the housemother at an exclusive Female School of the Arts, in an attempt to ferret out a murderous Russian Mobster. The twist? This time he's forced to bring his stepson (Tropic Thunder's Brandon T. Jackson) along with him. The presence of Jackson makes this genially mellow sequel feel like a low-impact passing of the torch, with Lawrence (who also executive produced) seemingly content to let his younger co-star handle most of the cross-dressing comedic heavy lifting (ballet lessons, slumber parties, etc.). Only a scene where Big Momma faces off in a game of Twister against an equally gargantuan security guard (an uncredited and very funny Faizon Love) really feels of a piece with the earlier films. Stranger still is the inclusion of a half-dozen musical numbers, including one in a lunchroom that blossoms into full-out High School Musical territory. Awkward as these song-and-dance interludes often are, the filmmakers should deserve some credit for attempting to inject some form of new energy into a scenario that could definitely use a boost. Longtime fans of the franchise and Lawrence, however, may wonder if someone at Fox accidentally let Glee into the telepod. --Andrew Wright

• The Professionals: Mk IV | DVD | (26/06/2017) from £24.32   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Long-awaited, long-overdue: The Professionals as you have never seen them before. Bodie and Doyle need little by way of introduction, but if the series had at all escaped you since its debut in 1977 their boss George Cowley, head of CI5, couldn't put it more succinctly than his opening gambit: anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I've got special men experts from the army, the police, from every service. These are The Professionals . Featuring the perfect ensemble cast of Martin Shaw, Gordon Jackson (completely against type here) and the much-missed Lewis Collins, the series ran for 57 action-packed episodes and made an immediate impact on British and then international audiences which has sustained 35 years. But the series has never looked this good. Painstakingly restored from the camera-original negatives the series could have been made yesterday. No matter how many times you have seen The Professionals, this is a new experience, like seeing it for the first time. FEATURES ON THIS NEW EDITION Brand-new restorations of all 18 episodes in series four and five from the camera-original negatives Brand-new 5.1 tracks from original sound elements Remastered original as-broadcast mono tracks Remastered music-only tracks featuring Laurie Johnson's original scores Photo galleries featuring hundreds of rare and previously unseen images Restoration featurette ATV Today: two newsclips featuring Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins The Professionals Serving the Professionals: outtakes from a 1982 NAAFI promo Then and Now The Location Files PDF PDF material featuring scripts and memorabilia All episodes are presented in their original production order English HOH subtitles

• Maze | Blu Ray | (22/01/2018) from £3.73   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on the true story of the 1983 mass breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze high-security prison in Northern Ireland. As Larry Marley (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), the chief architect of the escape, schemes his way towards pulling off this feat, he comes into contact with prison warder, Gordon Close (Barry Ward). Initially Larry and Gordon are confirmed enemies, born on opposite sides of Northern Ireland's political divide, but when Larry realises that Gordon may be unwittingly useful for his escape plan, a slow seduction begins. Larry intends to use and manipulate Gordon in order to get closer to his goal but what follows is a tense, and intriguing drama in which an unlikely relationship is forged between two enemies that will have far reaching consequences for both of them.