"Actor: Michael Arkin"

• Prom At The Palace | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £9.59   |  Saving you £10.40 (108.45%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the most remarkable things about this recording of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Prom at the Palace--quite apart from the musical goodies on offer--is the opportunity to glimpse inside the royal garden, and see what Her Majesty's principal home looks like from the back. Who would have guessed she had her own lake? Voyeurism aside, director Bob Coles also catches the palpable sense of occasion and excitement that surrounds the concert, with some swooping camera angles and shots of a very chuffed-looking crowd. The music, introduced by Michael Parkinson, is a mix of popular favourites (Zadok the Priest, "Jupiter" from The Planets, Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks) and a few lesser-known items such as Malcolm Arnold's The Nation's Dances. The outdoor acoustic is generally handled pretty well with some sensitive microphone placement, and the soloists all sound wonderful; Angela Gheorghiu stops the show with a passionate account of "Vissi d'Arte" (from Tosca) and 13-year-old clarinettist Julian Bliss gives a remarkably assured performance of Messager's fluffy salon-piece Solo de Concours. Occasionally the BBC Symphony Orchestra loses concentration and plays somewhat scrappily--the accompaniment to Figaro's aria "Largo al Factotum" is not all it should be--but overall this is a fine souvenir of a historic concert. On the DVD: Prom at the Palace has no special features on DVD. The arias in French and Italian are all subtitled in English. All profit from the sale of the DVD will be donated to the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Trust. --Warwick Thomson

• Small Time Crooks | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-10.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Woody Allen's latest comedy follows the misadventures of a couple who plan a daring robbery in New York.

• Jacknife | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (20.28%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on the acclaimed book by neurologist Oliver Sacks, director Penny Marshall's hit 1990 drama Awakenings stars Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Sayer is a neurologist who discovers that the drug L-Dopa can be used to "unlock" patients in a mental hospital from the mysterious sleeping sickness that has left them utterly immobilized. Leonard (Robert De Niro) is one such patient who awakens after being in a comatose state for 30 years, leaving Sayer to guide Leonard in adjusting to the world around him. Penelope Ann Miller costars as the daughter of another patient, with whom Leonard falls tenuously in love. Earning Oscar nominations for best picture, actor and screenplay, this moving fact-based drama was a hit with critics and audiences alike. --Jeff Shannon

• The Price Of Vengeance - In The Line Of Duty | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Detective Tom Williams investigating the affairs of local gangster Johnnie Moore is gunned down. An L.A cop is called in to continue the case and see that Moore goes to the gas chamber... Based on a true story.

• The Action Movies Collection (3 disc DVD) | DVD | (12/11/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Red Line - Fear Nothing Risk Everything (DVD) Presented by Daniel Sadek A Demolition Derby starring some of the most expensive cars on earth. Amsterdam Heavy - Gritty Urban Action Thriller Battleground - A distburbed vietnam war veteran lives on only to kill.

• Maigret - Series 2 - Episodes 4 To 6 | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Michael Gambon plays the extraordinary Belgian detective Inspector Maigret in this television adaptation of the novels by George Simenon. Intuitive intelligent and creative with a genius for human nature Maigret is like no other detective as he cunningly investigates crime and the human psyche. Episode titles: Maigret's Boyhood Friend Maigret and the Minister Maigret and the Maid.

• Fatal Attraction | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £17.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (-12.40%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Stylish and sexy Fatal Attraction took audiences to terrifying new heights with its thrilling story of a casual encounter gone terribly awry. Michael Douglas plays Dan Gallagher a New York attorney who has a tryst with seductive Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) while his wife (Anne Archer) is away. Dan later shrugs off the affair as a mistake and considers it over. But Alex won't be ignored. Not now not tomorrow not ever; even if it means destroying Dan's family to keep him...

• The Mole | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The BBC One television series Star Portraits with Rolf Harris is both a showcase for professional portrait artists and a revealing new way of profiling famous people. It's part art show part chat show. On this episode Rolf paints Michael Parkinson Charlie Dimmock David Dickinson and Meera Syal.

• The Ultimate Weapon | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £6.30   |  Saving you £-4.31 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Mercenaries Ben & Vince are assigned to destroy a stolen military arms cache held by a group of terrorists.

• Maigret - The Complete Series 1 And 2 | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  An absolute must for fans of Georges Simenon's beloved sleuth, Inspector Jules Maigret, this four-volume Maigret Collection is the finest detective series from Granada Television since the late Jeremy Brett gave us his definitive portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the 1980s. The masterful Michael Gambon is the latest in a long tradition of familiar leading men (from Jean Gabin to Richard Harris) who have played Simenon's blunt but humane, occasionally whimsical, and magnificently insightful investigator. Yet Gambon is perhaps uniquely suited to the part: a popular star with none of the baggage of a brand-name icon or the self-effacing obligations of a character actor. He captures perfectly Maigret's measured but hardly inscrutable presence in the eruptive underworld of Paris crime. Among the 12 episodes here is "Maigret and the Burglar's Wife", which does honour to Simenon's compassionate tale of a retiring thief whose accidental encounter with a corpse sets in motion one of Maigret's most intense psychological duels. The equally compelling "Maigret's Boyhood Friend" finds the detective on a case drawing suspicion to an old school chum, while "Maigret Sets a Trap" is a wonderful production of Simenon's puzzler about a serial killer whose patterns of motivation and action must be deciphered before he can be caught. --Tom Keogh

• Edwards Scissorhands - Limited Edition Steelbook (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (01/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In this modern fairy tale film directed by Tim Burton, Edward (Johnny Depp) is a gentle, naive creation with razor-sharp scissors for hands. When he is taken home by a kindly Avon lady (Dianne Wiest) to live with her family, his adventure in the pastel paradise of Suburbia begins!

• The Amicus Box Set - Limited Edition | DVD | (01/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A 5 DVD box set containing: 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors 'The House That Dripped Blood' 'Now the Screaming Starts' 'The Beast Must Die' and 'Asylum'.

• Maigret - Series 1 - Episodes 1 To 3 | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Michael Gambon plays the extraordinary Belgian Detective Inspector Maigret in this television adaptation of the novels by George Simenon. Inuitive intelligent and creative with a genius for human nature Maigret is like no other detective as he cunningly investigates crime and the human psyche. Episode titles: The Patience Of Maigret Maigret And The Burglar's Wife Maigret Goes To School.

• Dockers | DVD | (01/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Dockers is a landmark one-off drama suspended somewhere between Ken Loach and Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff. A striking Channel Four production Dockers dramatises the infamous struggle that developed when five Merseyside dockworkers were fired for refusing to work overtime with no pay, and gained the support of co-workers who wouldn't cross their picket line. As a result, those who stood in solidarity with the original five were sacked as well--500 in total--leading to a two-year stand-off. Co-written by award-winning screenwriters Jimmy McGovern (Cracker) and Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), the two-year ordeal is brought home with startling reality, not least because of the contribution of the real-life Liverpool dockers who helped develop the script in extensive writing workshops, lending the film an authenticity it might have otherwise lacked. While the narrative hangs around the moving central story of one family in which both father and son are caught up in the strike, dramatic conflicts develop on multiple levels: between father and son; between the families of the sacked workers (this is particularly well realised as one long-time friend, played by The Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson, turns scab); and between the workers and the union that betrays them. Ken Stott and Crissy Rock (Ladybird, Ladybird) are outstanding as the central working-class couple, old before their time at 47, and if nothing else, the film reveals one further reason why Liverpool loved Robbie Fowler quite so ferociously: during post-goal celebrations, Fowler lifts his jersey to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with a message of support for the wronged dockers, ensuring national attention for the action at a time when all hope seemed lost. --Tricia Tuttle

• Maigret - Series 1 - Episodes 4 To 6 | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Michael Gambon plays the extraordinary Belgian detective Inspector Maigret in this television adaptation of the novels by George Simenon. Intuitive intelligent and creative with a genius for human nature Maigret is like no other detective as he cunningly investigates crime and the human psyche. Episode titles: Maigret And The Mad Woman Maigret On Home Ground Maigret Sets A Trap.

• Maigret - Series 2 - Episodes 1 To 3 | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Michael Gambon plays the extraordinary French detective Inspector Maigret in this television adaptation of the novels by George Simenon. Intuitive intelligent and creative with a genius for human nature Maigret is like no other detective as he cunningly investigates crime and the human psyche. Episode titles: Maigret And The Nightclub Dancer Maigret And The Hotel Majestic Maigret On The Defensive.

• The Internecine Project | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Internecine Project is a fantastic conspiracy-thriller based on the novel by Mort W. Elkind and starring the late James Coburn. Former secret agent Robert Elliot is to be promoted as a personal advisor to the President of the USA. However there are people who know of the corruption in his past life. His solution to the problem is to have them assassinated...

• Hype! | DVD | (28/09/2009) from £18.88   |  Saving you £-3.89 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This documentary examines the Seattle music scene combined punk rock and heavy metal to create the grunge movement. More than just music it became a major social and fashion trend with a massive effect on American culture.

• Jacknife | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Made in 1989 and set 15 years after the end of the Vietnam War, Jacknife tells the story of alcoholic trucker Dave (Ed Harris) who lives with his sister Martha (Kathy Baker). Robert De Niro is Megs, Dave's ex-'Nam sidekick who re-enters his life on the promise of a fishing trip. Megs and Martha embark on a tentative courtship to the seething fury of Dave, who considers Megs "bad news". However, through wartime flashbacks it soon becomes clear that his hitting the bottle is a means of bottling up his feelings about Vietnam, Megs and their mutual buddy Bobby, killed in action. Ruminative and romantic, Jacknife slow-burns its predictable though satisfying way to its resolution, the three main players carrying the burdens of their roles with admirable restraint, especially Ed Harris, whose rage is internalised at the expense of his liver. There are echoes of The Deerhunter but this is not a film of that order or scale, as its low-budget synthesiser soundtrack signifies, feeling at times like a superior made-for-TV affair. On the DVD: A full-screen version with a ratio of 4:3. Neither sound nor picture quality are exactly a showcase for DVD technology, both being a little fuzzy, while the dubbing goes noticeably awry on 42 minutes. Special features are decidedly un-special: the original, lugubrious trailer plus "talent profiles" which are merely lists of the main players' previous films. --David Stubbs

• 6th Day, The / Gattaca / Flatliners | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The 6th Day: Superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger is Adam an ace pilot in the very near future who is having a serious identity crisis. An illegal corporation illegally cloned him and now they're trying to kill him to hide the evidence. Torn from his beloved family and faced with a shocking exact duplicate of himself Adam races against time to reclaim his life and save the world from the underground cloning movement. From the director of Tomorrow Never Dies The 6th Day also stars powerhouse actors Robert Duvall and Michael Rapaport. Prepare for a high-tech sci-fi blast with twice the Arnold and twice the action! Flatliners: A group of ambitious medical students are about to die... and live to describe the experience. Embarking on a daring and arrogant experiment the five aim to reach through the confines of life and touch the face of death. In their search for knowledge however the five discover the chilling consequences of daring to tamper with immortality! Gattaca: Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is an outsider a natural birth or In-valid living in a world in which designer people - forged in test tubes - rule society. Determined to break out of his imperfect genetic destiny and fulfil his dreams Vincent meets Jerome (Jude Law) a Valid willing to sell his prime genetic material for cash. Using Jerome's blood urine skin and hair samples Vincent is able to forge a new identity and pursue his goal of a mission to space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation and enjoy a blossoming romance with Irene (Uma Thurman) another Valid. However a week before his flight a Gattaca mission director is brutally murdered and Vincent finds himself pursued by a relentless investigator (Alan Arkin) threatening to expose his counterfeit life and reveal him as In-valid ending his dreams forever.