"Actor: Michael B"

• The Last Valley | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  James Clavell's The Last Valley is a heartfelt film of paradise found and lost in the midst of the bloody Thirty Years War, a senseless religious conflict long since degenerated into a rabble of looters preying on peasants. It's also a triumph of passion over style. Michael Caine stars as the Captain, a happily tolerant leader whose army of mercenaries--a mix of Protestants and Catholics--murders, pillages and rapes side by side for whichever faction is paying more at the time. Omar Sharif is Vogel, a lone refugee whose flight from the marauding band leads them all to a beautiful village in the mountains. The Captain and Vogel make an unlikely pair: the shrewd mercenary with the dream of peace, and the philosopher-peasant hanging on to his own life in the face of certain death--and their alliance to preserve this Eden and her people stands in contrast to the soldiers who soon become splintered by greed, lust and religious zealotry. Clavell isn't exactly subtle, but his sense of irony is biting: one Christian soldier is ready to lead a mob in righteous battle after a perceived blaspheme, and in the next scene attacks and rapes an innocent Christian maiden he's sworn to protect. The film falters in clumsy battle scenes and awkward dramatic staging, but Caine's complex characterisation of the guarded Captain and Sharif's haunted performance keep the story alive, and the beautiful photography fixes the film like a jewel into its setting. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Godzilla | DVD | (29/03/2010) from £12.94   |  Saving you £-6.95 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go, you've got to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods, although its critical drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a shameless, uninspired crowd-pleaser that's content to serve up familiar action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects, and if you expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers. There's really no other way to approach it--you just have to accept the fact that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are unapologetic plagiarists, incapable of anything more than mindless spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that it's unworthy of comment, apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of Michael Lerner as New York's mayor, whose name is Ebert and who closely resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun, and for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood entertainment. --Jeff Shannon

• Billion Dollar Brain | DVD | (25/07/2022) from £8.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Secret agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is blackmailed into working for MI5 again on his wildest - and most dangerous - assignment yet. An insane oil billionaire, intent on destroying Communism by starting a new world war, is close to achieving his goal with the help of the world's largest, and most powerful, computer. Harry is the only man who may be able to stop him; but as he races from London to Finland to Latvia to Texas and back, he must determine who of his supposed allies is the one he can actually trust, a sexy Russian agent, Soviet colonel or an American mercenary. Legendary filmmaker Ken Russell directed this third and final film in the great Harry Palmer series. The wonderful supporting cast includes Karl Malden, Ed Begley and Francoise Dorleac.

• The Day the Earth Stood Still | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The very epitome of a cult SF classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still is more often referenced than seen, which is a pity since it remains even now one of the most thought-provoking examples of the genre. The title is a misnomer, a mere tease to entice 1950s audiences into the cinema in the expectation of seeing another sensationalist B-movie about murderous aliens (i.e. Communists). In fact, Robert Wise's film of Edmund North's screenplay is a thoughtful Cold War allegory about a Christ-like visitor (Michael Rennie) who comes to Earth preaching a message of salvation for mankind, only to be spurned, killed then finally resurrected (significantly, Rennie's character Klaatu adopts the pseudonym "Mr Carpenter" while on the run from the authorities). Aside from its philosophical message, the film also boasts memorable imagery--notably the giant robot Gort--a much-quoted catchphrase in "Klaatu barada nikto", and one of composer Bernard Herrmann's most admired scores, featuring the theremin and other electronic instruments that must have sounded very otherworldly back in 1951. The result is a bona fide landmark in cinema SF with a central message about "weapons of mass destruction" that's still uncannily relevant today. On the DVD: The Day the Earth Stood Still has been splendidly restored for its DVD incarnation from the original 35 mm print, and the results are demonstrated in the "Restoration Comparison" feature. Also included is a fascinating 1951 newsreel showing Klaatu receiving a certificate of merit amid stories of Communist threats, the Korean war and beauty pageants ("Pomp and pulchritude on parade in Atlantic City"). Best of all is an absorbing commentary track with director Robert Wise in conversation with Nicholas Meyer (both men have Star Trek movies on their CV). --Mark Walker

• Four Flies on Grey Velvet | Blu Ray | (28/04/2025) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Dario Argento describes FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET as a deeply personal exploration of his inner turmoil: I decided to let loose, gocrazy, and unleash all my creativity and personal nightmares. Psychoanalysis plays a major role in the film because it's partly autobiographical rather Freudian, in fact. Both Argento and lead actor Michael Brandon, in exclusive interviews for this edition, reveal how the director found his alter ego in Brandon, channelling his own paranoia to create an unsettling psychological thriller. The result is a shocking, knife-edge whodunit with a stunning twist. Introspection becomes art in Argento's hands, making FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET essential viewing for anyone seeking a glimpse into the director's psyche. It concludes Argento's iconic ˜Animal' trilogy, paving the way for ˜Suspiria' and his later expressionistic masterpieces that earned him the title ˜Master of Horror.' Celebrated rock musician Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) is thrust into a nightmare. Framed for a brutal stabbing, he soon finds himself ensnared in a web of senseless murders. The only clue to the deranged killer lies in a cryptic image captured on a victim's retina. Roberto's desperate search for truth will push him to the brink of madness, culminating in a shocking climax. With Argento's signature blend of terror and visual opulenceand Ennio Morricone's haunting score FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET reaches an unforgettable slow-motion finale in breath-taking cinematic style. This Full HD 1080P is encoded from the 4K-restoration of original video and audio materials, finally presenting Maestro Argento's vision as he wishes it to be experienced - preferably in a completely dark room! SPECIAL FEATURES New Exclusive Interview with Dario Argento New Exclusive Interview with star Michael Brandon Interview with Writer & Assistant Dir. Luigi Cozzi English Opening & End Credits English & Italian Theatrical Trailers English TV-Spot Photo Gallery New English Subtitles & SDH Inside a Serialised Limited Collector's O-Card Edition Highly anticipated, long awaited 4K-Restored sourced Full HD release of this pivotal Argento film. The last of his Animal Trilogy and harbinger of his SUSPIRIA masterpiece(which follows together with other 5 Argento films on Shameless UHD soon). Argento himself declares on this disc's unique exclusive interview that 4 FLIES his is most deeply personal work: for fans who wish to understand Dario Argento: this IS THE film..! Film's lead, Michael Brandon, also in a world-unique interview on this edition, concurs that he became Argento alter-ego in that film, with both exploring the director's avowed paranoia!

• Arrival | Blu Ray | (20/03/2017) from £10.35   |  Saving you £-3.36 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team led by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity's very existence.

• Love Soup | DVD | (21/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Tamsin Greig and Michael Landes star in this romantic comedy drama penned by sitcom legend David Renwick. Love Soup looks at what happens when your first love is a distant memory but you haven't yet found the one. Dealing with the parallel lives of a perfectly matched couple who have yet to meet each other the comedy-drama follows their hopes fears and dating disasters as they try to remain sane in a world from which they each feel increasingly excluded. Tamsin Greig (Green Wing) plays Alice Chenery an account manager for a perfume company in a London department store struggling to maintain a flat in Brighton she cannot afford. Michael Landes who has starred in The Wonder Years and The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air plays Gil Raymond a successful American comedy writer who has fled his home country in search of artistic integrity and a lasting relationship.

• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest | Blu Ray | (16/02/2009) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A nice rest in a state mental hospital beats a stretch in the pen right? Randle P. McMurphy (Nicholson) a free-spirited con with lightning in his veins and glib on his tongue fakes insanity and moves in with what he calls the nuts. Immediately his contagious sense of disorder runs up against numbing routine. No way should guys pickled on sedatives shuffled around in bathrobes when the World Series is on. This means war! On one side is McMurphy. On the other is soft-spoken Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) among the most coldly monstrous villains in film history. At stake is the fate of every patient on the ward...

• Almost Famous | DVD | (10/04/2002) from £9.90   |  Saving you £19.08 (276.12%)   |  RRP £25.99

  Inspired by director Cameron Crowe's own experiences and set in the 1970s, the film follows a fifteen year old wannabe journalist who gets the opportunity to interview and go on the road with a hard living rock band.

• Shining Through | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £9.95   |  Saving you £-3.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on a novel by Susan Isaacs, Shining Through is uncomfortably close to Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. This World War II drama concerns a love affair between a spy (Michael Douglas) and a secretary (Melanie Griffith) that goes south when duty turns him cold and pushes her into dangerous, behind-the-lines intelligence work. Liam Neeson plays the gentleman Nazi unwittingly providing Griffith with cover as domestic help. The best parts of the film are the twists and turns in the romance (Douglas is very good at playing a character who can turn off all feeling at will) at the beginning; the German scenes are less compelling despite such high stakes for the heroine. The climax--taking us back to Notorious whether it wants to or not--is quite gripping, largely due to Douglas's performance.--Tom Keogh

• The King's Speech | Blu Ray | (09/05/2011) from £11.35   |  Saving you £11.64 (102.56%)   |  RRP £22.99

  The King's Speech tells the story of the relationship between Britain's reluctant King George VI, plagued by a nervous stammer, and the unorthodox Australian speech therapist who helps him.

• Mission Without Permission | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £4.91   |  Saving you £11.08 (225.66%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Mission Impossible y'know for kids! This Hollywood remake of the Danish blockbuster 'Klatretosen' sees 12 year old Maddy (Kristen Stewart) and her friends using all their skills to raise money (by 'appropriating' money from a bank's vault protected by hi-tech security!) for an operation that may help Maddy's father walk again...

• Dark Angel: Complete Season 1 | DVD | (24/02/2003) from £19.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (100.05%)   |  RRP £39.99

  One of TV's more interesting tough-girl action shows, Dark Angel is a distinctive blend of the personal, the adventurous and the politically aware. Cocreators James Cameron (yes, that James Cameron) and Charles Eglee present a complex scenario of biological super-science and social collapse in which their gene-manipulated heroine and hacker/journalist hero can genuinely make a difference. In this first series they also provide an adversary who is a lot more than just a conventional villain. Jessica Alba is impressive as Max, bred and trained as a super-soldier but reclaiming her individual humanity; Michael Weatherly is scruffily attractive as Eyes Only, who sits semi-paralysed in his eyrie above Seattle uncovering crime, corruption and other skulduggeries and sending the woman whom he hopelessly loves out on deadly errands. Jon Savage has real authority as Lydeker, a man who has stretched his conscience to breaking point, but is not personally corrupt. Some of the best episodes here--"Prodigy" for example--are ones in which Lydeker and Max are forced into temporary alliance. Early on the relationship between Max and the other workers at Jam Pony--the courier firm that provides her with a cover identity--is a little forced, but later on the two parts of Max's life are more successfully integrated: "Shorties in Love", for example, is a genuinely touching tale about Diamond, the doomed criminal ex-lover of Max's lesbian roommate. Dark Angel was never a perfect show, but at its occasional best it manages to be simultaneously funny and dramatic. On the DVD: Dark Angel, Series 1's Region 2 DVD is ungenerous with special features, providing only short interviews with James Cameron and Charles Eglee and with the stars, and giving us a preview of the Dark Angel computer game. The episodes are presented in widescreen and have excellent Dolby Digital sound which gives vivid presence to both the dialogue and the hard-driving contemporary rock score that is part of the show's style. --Roz Kaveney

• Flashdance (Special Collectors Edition) | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £3.88   |  Saving you £6.11 (157.47%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Adrian Lyne's Flashdance a young woman Alex (Jennifer Beals) strives to achieve success as a classical dancer but economic forces require her to work as a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night. Standing in her way is an abundance of profound social obstacles not the least of which is her boss at the welding factory Nick (Michael Nouri) who is also her boyfriend. Alex strives to be accepted into a prestigious ballet academy and she is furious when she realizes t

• The Queen's Castle | DVD | (11/11/2005) from £2.83   |  Saving you £21.42 (1,364.33%)   |  RRP £22.99

  For the best part of a millennium Windsor Castle has been at the heart of the national story; the awesome fortress; family home; treasure chest; and burial ground for the Royal dynasty who went on to take its name. But there is another unseen side to the Castle which the tourists never see... It is the real Windsor - home workplace playground and paradise. The Queen's Castle explore this hidden world in all its glory. This year for the first time ever Windsor ha

• Lovecraft Country: Season 1 | DVD | (22/02/2021) from £7.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A young African-American travels across the U.S. in the 1950s in search of his missing father.

• The Founder | DVD | (12/06/2017) from £7.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The incredible true story of how Ray Kroc (Academy Award nominee Michael Keaton, Spotlight, Birdman), a salesman from Illinois, met Mac (John Carroll Lynch, Jackie) and Dick McDonald (Nick Offerman, 22 Jump Street), who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. So impressed by the brothers' 'speedy system' Kroc risked his marriage, bankruptcy and his reputation to create a billion-dollar empire that revolutionised the world. From director John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks, The Blind Side) and writer Robert D. Siegel (The Wrestler) comes a stunning and shocking portrayal of the man whose hunger for the American Dream ate away everything he knew.

• Streets Of Fire | DVD | (03/08/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Bombers motorcycle gang headed by the vicious Raven Shaddock kidnap diva Ellen Aim. Her hope for rescue lies with unlikely heroes: soldier of fortune Tom Cody and his sidekick the two-fisted beer-guzzling McCoy. Joined by Ellen's manager Billy Fish the trio plunge headfirst into a world of rain-splattered streets hot cars and deadly assassins.

• Batman | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £9.75   |  Saving you £10.24 (105.03%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After a young boy witnesses his parents' murder on the streets of Gotham City he grows up to become Batman a mysterious figure in the eyes of Gotham's citizens who takes crime-fighting into his own hands. He first emerges out of the shadows when the Joker appears - a horribly disfigured individual who is out for revenge on his former employer and generally likes to have a good time but the identity of the bat is unknown. Perhaps millionaire Bruce Wayne and photographer Vicki Vale have a good chance of finding out?

• Hanover Street | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £10.85   |  Saving you £2.14 (19.72%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Written and directed by Peter Hyams 'Hanover Street' stars Harrison Ford as David a WWII American bomber pilot who meets and falls in love with a beautiful nurse during an air raid in London. Unbeknownst to him she is married. David is then shot down behind enemy lines while accompanying a British agent into France. In the midst of danger David comes to realise that the agent is his lover's husband...