"Actor: Michael Oliver"

  • Johann Strauss: Simplicius -- Zurich Opera/Welser-Most [2000]Johann Strauss: Simplicius -- Zurich Opera/Welser-Most | DVD | (21/02/2003) from £6.07   |  Saving you £18.92 (311.70%)   |  RRP £24.99

    This is a superb performance of excellent, long-forgotten music. Simplicius was lost for more than a century, but when it was recovered (including a few patches for missing parts), the Zurich Opera House welcomed it back with a production worthy of a historic event. Johann Strauss II, like most comic geniuses, had a lifelong wish to produce something deeply serious. Parts of Simplicius come close to that goal, but then a delectable tune in 3/4 time pops up and we are back in the realm of the waltz king, enjoying it all the more because of the contrast. In both styles, the music is wonderful and Franz Welser-Most conducts with exactly the right touch. The absurdist set designs of Johann Engels and the stage direction of David Pountney sometimes call Hieronymus Bosch to mind. This production puts detailed plot summaries on the screen during the overture and at other strategic point--a good idea because the plot is complicated and slightly absurd. It is set during the Thirty Years War and is full of hidden identities, unreasonable rules and sudden plot twists. Besides various tangled love pairings, and the idiocies of war, the plot centres on the figure of Simplicius, a holy simpleton like Candide or Parsifal, and his comic encounters with the realities of love and war. The story is full of colourful characters, all sung and acted with distinction. Michael Volle is a hermit who has raised his son Simplicius (Martin Zysset) in isolation from humanity until, at age 20, he is abducted by soldiers and comes into contact with reality. Other vivid performances are given by Rolf Haunstein as a rather absurd general, Elizabeth Magnuson as his silly daughter, Oliver Widmer as an astrologer, and Louise Martini as Schnappslotte, who sells liquor to the soldiers. Martina Jankova steals the show as her daughter Tilly, and Liliana Nikiteanu makes much of a small role as a Swedish spy. --Joe McLellan

  • Dick Turpin's Greatest AdventureDick Turpin's Greatest Adventure | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

    Originally broadcast in 1981 this five-part story has Turpin and his highway companion Swiftnick encountering treachery and danger at every turn as they try to help an American lady Jane Harding who is on a mission to depose the corrupt governer of Maryland. Written by the legendary Richard Carpenter Dick Turpin's Greatest Adventure is a fast-paced action story with strong support from a number of guest stars such as: Patrick MacNee Michael Deeks Susan Hampshire Oli

  • Mrs Dalloway [1998]Mrs Dalloway | DVD | (24/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

    Vanessa Redgrave plays Clarissa Dalloway an MP's wife whose life is thrown into crisis when a lover she rejected 30 years ago makes an unexpected appearance at a party she is hosting at her elegant London home prompting bittersweet memories of her youth. Marleen Gorris the Oscar winning director of Antonia's Line brings to life Virginia Woolf's groundbreaking 1925 novel which itself inspired Michael Cunningham's Pultizer Prize-winning novel 'The Hours'. Beautifully filmed in

  • Sleepaway Camp 3 - Teenage Wasteland [DVD]Sleepaway Camp 3 - Teenage Wasteland | DVD | (25/04/2016) from £7.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

    After murdering a young girl, Angela Baker assumes her identity and travels to Camp New Horizons, built on the grounds of the camp she terrorized the year before, and starts killing again.

  • Butley [1976]Butley | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

    His wife just left him for another man; and so did his boyfriend.... Ben (Bates) is a man full of energy that he doesn't know what to do with. He's lost a grip on what gives his life purpose he's not sure that teaching is of any use or that he's even meant to be a teacher and he's feasting off the dregs of his relationships. In this first American Film Theatre Collection release Harold Pinter makes a very impressive directorial debut creating intricate characterisations in a movi

  • Problem Child/Problem Child 2/Problem Child 3Problem Child/Problem Child 2/Problem Child 3 | DVD | (09/04/2007) from £25.00   |  Saving you £-10.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

    Problem Child: Ben Healy (John Ritter) and his social climbing wife Flo adopt Junior a fun-loving seven year old. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares. But is he really just a little angel trying to get out? Find out in this hilarious satire on modern-day family life. Problem Child 2: Junior the monster is now back as him and Ben his adoptive father move to Mortville 'the world's capital of divorce'. There Ben falls in love with a beautiful but mean-minded rich woman Lawanda Dumore who wants to marry him and eliminate Junior. As Junior and his new friend Trixie (she's another monster the daughter of Annie another woman) try to avoid this disaster and get their parents in love they get into a lot of trouble as we notice that ONE monster was already a headache TWO of them is really the apocalypse! Problem Child 3: That little devil Junior is back once more and he's just as naughty as ever! In this the third edition in the hilarious Problem Child series Junior is persuaded to join in with other children in various fun activities - including dancing. His father's plan appears to work when yes - Junior falls in love! - with the beautiful and ever popular Tiffany. But this only incites Junior to greater heights of mayhem-making as he sets about getting rid of the competition for Tiffany's affection.

  • DARYL [1985]DARYL | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £11.97   |  Saving you £-2.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

    Escaping from a maximum security research facility D.A.R.Y.L. (Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform) is rescued and adopted by the Richardsons. All is happy until D.A.R.Y.L.'s actual parents two scientists come to claim him. The Richardson's soon realize that their adopted son is a lot more than mere flesh and blood...

  • Sleepaway Camp 3 - Teenage Wasteland [Blu-ray]Sleepaway Camp 3 - Teenage Wasteland | Blu Ray | (25/04/2016) from £12.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (38.49%)   |  RRP £17.99

    After murdering a young girl, Angela Baker assumes her identity and travels to Camp New Horizons, built on the grounds of the camp she terrorized the year before, and starts killing again.

  • Year One [DVD]Year One | DVD | (02/11/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

    When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers (Jack Black and Michael Cera) are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world in Sony Pictures' comedy "Year One".

  • Velvet Goldmine [1998]Velvet Goldmine | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-14.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

    Somewhat misleadingly described by many as a mock-biopic based on the life of David Bowie, Velvet Goldmine is so much more than that. Journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) who sets out to discover whatever happened to Ziggy Stardust-like Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), the famous bisexual glam star who crashed and burned spectacularly, but in the process helped Arthur awaken his own sexuality. It's an insane homage to 1970s glam rock in the UK as only American, who knew the movement from a distance, would make; it's a tribute to film director Nicolas Roeg's best work, particularly Performance and the Bowie-vehicle The Man Who Fell to Earth; it's a sci-fi movie about an alternative reality (the film's "present" is a 1984 that never existed and frustratingly never clearly explained); it's a queer Citizen Kane with lashings of eye-glitter, a complete mess, an absolute delight and a chance to see Ewan McGregor naked in case you didn't catch him in The Pillow Book as the Iggy Pop-like Curt Wild, Slade's lover/protégé.Director Todd Haynes, who made the incredibly spare Safe and a biopic about Karen Carpenter with Barbie dolls, crams in everything--including the kitchen sink, all the washing-up and half the larder--as if terrified he'll never get another chance to shoot even a commercial again. The pacing drags like catwalk-queen's glittery taffeta train at times, but then glorious swooping musical numbers and clever bits of allusive business arrive that will brighten the day of many a pop-fan and film-buff. Never anything less than ruthlessly inventive and demanding of patience and an open mind, it's one for connoisseurs. Viewers who prefer easy-viewing eye candy are well advised to stick with fluff like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. --Leslie Felperin

  • X-Men: Beginnings Trilogy [DVD]X-Men: Beginnings Trilogy | DVD | (10/07/2017) from £4.99   |  Saving you £14.92 (299.00%)   |  RRP £19.91

    Although the superhero comic book has been a duopoly since the early 1960s, only DC's flagship characters, Superman and Batman (who originated in the late 1930s) have established themselves as big-screen franchises. Until now--this is the first runaway hit film version of the alternative superhero X-Men universe created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others. It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape introducing all the characters, and this is the exception. X-Men drops us into a world that is closer to our own than Batman's Gotham City, but it's still home to super-powered goodies and baddies. Opening in high seriousness with paranormal activity in a WW2 concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden zapping people with his "optic beams", Rebecca Romijn-Stamos shape-shifting her blue naked form, and Ray Park lashing out with his Toad-tongue. The big conflict is between Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (who has retractable claws and amnesia), and Anna Paquin's Rogue (who sucks the life and superpowers out of anyone she touches). The plot has to do with a big gizmo that will wreak havoc at a gathering of world leaders, but the film is more interested in setting up a tangle of bizarre relationships between even more bizarre people, with solid pros such as Stewart and McKellen relishing their sly dialogue and the newcomers strutting their stuff in cool leather outfits. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics' fans engaged, but it feels more like a science fiction movie than a superhero picture. --Kim Newman

  • He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe - Vol. 3He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe - Vol. 3 | DVD | (15/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

    ""By the power of Greyskull! I have the power!!!"" More episodes from the adventure of Adam prince of Eternia as he tries to keep his alter ego of He-Man secret when defending his planet from the evil Skeletor... Episodes Comprise: 1. Like Father Like Daughter 2. Colossor Awakes 3. A Beastly Sideshow 4. Reign Of The Monster 5. Daimar The Demon 6. Creatures From The Tar Swamp

  • Oliver Twist [1983]Oliver Twist | DVD | (18/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

    Clive Donner's take on the classic Dickens tale of an orphan boy who escapes the horrors of the orphanage only to be taken in by a band of thieves and pickpockets...

  • Born And Bred - Series 4Born And Bred - Series 4 | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

    The complete fourth series of the popular BBC drama series starring Richard Wilson and Maggie Stead. Episodes Comprise: 1. The Great Leap Forward 2. Flying Home 3. Community Spirit 4. Never Seek To Tell 5. Apple Day 6. The Milk Of Human Kindness 7. Love Is Where It Falls 8. The Element Of Surprise 9. A Wrathful God 10. Someone To Watch Over Me

  • Simon Birch [1999]Simon Birch | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £29.00   |  Saving you £-14.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

    Simon is the smallest kid in town but has always known that he was born to do something big while at the same time his best friend Joe is searching for the identity of his father. Together these two share the ups and downs that will forever bind them together.

  • TimebombTimebomb | DVD | (11/04/2005) from £35.32   |  Saving you £-22.33 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

    Eddy Kay is wired to explode! Director Avi Nesher (Turn Left At The End Of The World The Taxman) demonstrates his flair for suspense and adrenaline-pumping spectacle in this gripping story of one man's quest for the truth. When watchmaker Eddie Kaye played by action veteran Michael Biehn survives a mysterious attempt on his life he begins to suffer flashbacks to a violent past he can't remember. Fearing for his sanity he turns to psychiatrist Dr Anna Nolmar (Patsy Ken

  • The Magnet [1950]The Magnet | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £6.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (100.14%)   |  RRP £13.99

    A classic Ealing film of half-truths whispers and wild imaginations! Centred on Johnny Brent (James Fox) a boy who fleeces a younger child out of his beloved magnet. In its place he offers an 'invisible' timepiece and there begins the chain of chaos in which the young swindler absconds from his home with the mistaken belief that he has somehow caused the young child's death. Unbeknownst to him he has become the town hero and as the unsung victor remains on the run the community ar

  • A Man Called Gannon [DVD]A Man Called Gannon | DVD | (21/03/2016) from £4.98   |  Saving you £11.00 (552.76%)   |  RRP £12.99

    Golden Globe winner Anthony ˜Tony' Franciosa stars as Gannon, a thick-skinned cowboy wandering the harsh plains of Kansas. He comes to the rescue of Jess Washburn (Michael Sarrazin), who is about to be run over by a train, and vows to teach him the ropes of cowboy living. The duo soon walk into a heated conflict involving Beth (Judi West), a widow who is determined to corral a huge herd of cattle and reap the rewards. Beth wants to cut off her late husband's land, unfazed by the likelihood of destroying her neighbours' pastures. Jess and Gannon fi nd themselves on opposite sides of this vicious range war, and there's much more than just territory involved This exhilarating Western quite literally pushes the limits of its genre, and features a spectacular soundtrack from the composer behind The Graduate, The Goonies and Tootsie. An all-star cast also includes Emmy nominee Susan Oliver (Peyton Place), John Anderson (Psycho) and Gavin Macleod (The Love Boat).

  • King Arthur - PurcellKing Arthur - Purcell | DVD | (29/08/2005) from £28.93   |  Saving you £6.06 (20.95%)   |  RRP £34.99

    A dramatic opera in five acts.A performance from the Salzburger Festspiele recorded live at the Felsenreitschule 24-28 July 2004.

  • Born And Bred - Complete Boxed Set Series 1-4Born And Bred - Complete Boxed Set Series 1-4 | DVD | (04/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

    GP Arthur Gilder has lived in the Lancashire village of Ormston all of his life. His son Tom who is also a doctor lives in Manchester. Arthur misses his family and is determined to hand the practice over to Tom. However following in his father's footsteps is the last thing on Tom's mind - until he retraces his steps to the picturesque home where he grew up. Series 1: 1. The Best Man 2. Nothing Like The Son 3. The Inspector Calls 4. Buried Treasure 5. Brother In Arms 6. Judgment Day Series 2: 1. Lost Souls 2. Home To Roost 3. Blood Relations 4. Fertility Rites 5. His Brother's Keeper 6. Old Flames 7. The Miracle Of Ormston 8. The Magnificent Colin 9. The Last Hurrah (Part 1) 10. The Last Hurrah (Part 2) Series 3: 1. A Very Ormston Christmas 2. A Little Touch Of Harry 3. No Regrets 4. A Small Flourish 5. Thick As Thieves 6. The Doctor Is Now Departing 7. And Is There Honey Still For Tea? 8. More Than You Know 9. A House Divded 10. Something Old Series 4: 1. The Great Leap Forward 2. Flying Home 3. Community Spirits 4. Never Seek To Tell 5. Apple Day 6. The Milk Of Human Kindness 7. Love Is Where It Falls 8. The Element Of Surprise 9. A Wrathful God 10. Someone To Watch Over Me

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