"Actor: Michael Badalucco"

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 2 | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £69.99   |  Saving you £-8.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £61.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme-makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include the hapless efforts by Chris (Michael Imperioli) to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme-makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, and devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• Leon | DVD | (15/05/2000) from £7.98   |  Saving you £6.00 (120.24%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Seven classic films from acclaimed director Luc Besson are available on Blu-ray for the first time, including: "Leon" (Director's Cut)and "Nikita". Released on September 14.

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £13.89   |  Saving you £48.10 (346.29%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television seriesThe Sopranos is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home. This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegiate mob clan and his own nouveau-riche brood. The brilliant first series is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first year's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland

• O Brother, Where Art Thou? | DVD | (09/04/2001) from £5.21   |  Saving you £12.04 (304.81%)   |  RRP £15.99

  George Clooney stars in the latest film from the Coen brothers, a musical about a con on the run in the Deep South of the 1930s.

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 (Six Disc Set) | DVD | (29/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £61.99

  The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own nouveau riche brood. The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• The Practice (Season 1 and 2) | DVD | (27/02/2012) from £21.28   |  Saving you £18.71 (87.92%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Bobby Donnell is a young, passionate lawyer struggling to keep his small Boston law firm afloat. Full of idealistic dreams of defending the innocent, he quickly realises that being a good defence lawyer is more challenging than he ever expected. Along with his associate attorneys he walks a fine line between his own principles and his legal obligations to his clients. Striving for justice, Bobby squares off against formidable adversaries like tenacious and sexy prosecutor Helen Gamble, a relationship that catches fire both in and out of the court. The Practice ran for eight seasons winning 7 Emmy Awards and 3 Golden Globes and stars Dylan McDermott (Ally McBeal, Will and Grace), Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks), and Steve Harris (Law and Order). Special Features: Featurette – Setting Up The Practise Stills gallery

• The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £11.25   |  Saving you £8.74 (77.69%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With The Man Who Wasn't There the Coen brothers--those ironic geniuses of left-field bizarre--have pulled off another side-swerve into the unexpected. A movie "about a hairdresser who wants to become a dry-cleaner" as the brothers gleefully claim to have pitched it, it's set in 1949 in the small Northern California town of Santa Rosa (venue for Hitchcock's 1943 classic Shadow of a Doubt) and filmed in lustrous, deep-shadowy black-and-white--an affectionate, though never slavish, tribute to the great era of film noir. Not only in its austere monochrome but in its tone, it comes as a total contrast to the Coens' previous film, the cheerfully picaresque O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Though they toss in plenty of surreal gags, including a whole running thread about flying saucers (this is Roswell-era America, after all), the overall mood is quiet, reflective and even--something quite new for the Coens--compassionate. Their protagonist, barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton, proving himself one of the great chameleon actors of our time), is a man trapped by his own impassivity--inside him, a seething mass of emotion that he's utterly unable to express. In true Coen style, his frustration leads him into a fatal move that spirals disastrously out of control. Thornton is ably supported by a whole gallery of Coen regulars--Frances McDormand, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub--plus James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and an amazingly assured turn from Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World). The dialogue, as you'd expect, is masterly, while the brothers' regular collaborators Director of Photography Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner work wonders of period evocation, and Carter Burwell contributes a haunting score. On the DVD: The Man Who Wasn't There comes to DVD in a sharp, clean 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that captures all the depth and subtlety of Deakins' superb photography, impeccably matched by the crystal-clear Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. A lavish helping of extras includes a trailer and two TV spots, stills photo gallery, filmographies, a 16-minute "making of" featurette, an overlong (47 minutes) interview with Deakins, a batch of deleted scenes, and best of all, the voice-over commentary. This gives us not just Joel and Ethan, but Billy Bob as well, chatting and chortling and clearly enjoying every second of the movie they've made. Their enthusiasm is irresistible. –-Philip Kemp

• The Last Bet | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Scott Glen (Absolute Power Courage Under Fire Silence Of The Lambs Backdraft) in the role of Iggy the down on his luck New York detective. John Turturro (The Cradle Will Rock He Got Game The Big Lebowski Quiz Show) as the eccentric male nurse by day and Mafia hitman by night.Jimmy Smits (L A Law Stephen King's Tommyknockers) as the compulsive gambler who seemingly spends his life avoiding the New York 'bookies'.Elizabeth Perkins (Moonlight and Valentino The Flintstones Miracle on 34th St. Big) as the abused wife secretly hatching a hair brained plan to bump off her husband and collect on the insurance.Amy Brenneman (Heat Daylight Casper The Rock) as one of a trio of 3 hapless 'bookies' who will take a bet on anything and everything and worry about the odds after the event. Together they combine to bring to life the thrills spills drama intrigue and humour of this fascinating screenplay.IF YOU TAKE A GAMBLE ON ONE MOVIE THIS YEAR MAKE SURE IT'S THE LAST BET.

• Stolen Hearts | DVD | (28/01/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A romantic comedy about a young woman whose relationship reaches a crossroads - at exactly the wrong time. Roz is fed up with her long-standing partner part-time plasterer and sometimes petty thief Frank O'Brien. Reluctantly she agrees to accompany him to a luxury coastal resort where he is to pull off one last heist. There the odd couple frantically and ineptly try to fit in with the yacht-and-caviar crowd. Suddenly Roz experiences how the other half lives and worse still she

• The Last Bet | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £6.54   |  Saving you £-2.55 (-63.90%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A trio of New York bookies take bets on anything and everything worrying about the odds after the event. However a dedicated cop is ready to ensure that their books are about to be closed permamently...