"Actor: Michael Wood"

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 6 | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The complete sixth series of mirthful mismanagement mishaps from the hapless Gordon Brittas! After being crushed to death at the end of the last series Gordon Brittas spent a short time in Heaven which only served to annoy St Peter so much that he sent him back to earth to finish his mission. Gordon has spent the last six months being rebuilt in a Swiss clinic and returns to Whitbury Leisure Centre fighting fit after training runs in the Alps. Unfortunately in true Brittas fashio

• The Dresser | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £15.69   |  Saving you £-2.70 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The lives and relationships of those within a British traditional touring stage company provide the backdrop for the 'The Dresser' nominated for 5 Oscars in 1983 a compelling study of intense relationship between the leader of the company and his dresser. Sir (Albert Finney) a grandiloquent old man of the theater has given his soul to his career but his tyrannical rule over the company is now beginning to crack under the strain of age and illness as he prepares for his 227th

• Mysterious Island | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Notable neither for its director nor its stars, Mysterious Island has been given the widescreen DVD treatment rather because of its special-effects man, the legendary Ray Harryhausen. And though his input here is minimal compared with other movies, his stop-motion contributions add zest to a cracking good yarn. A gang of American Civil War soldiers hijack a hot-air balloon and escape from the frying-pan of a military prison to the fire of a deserted tropical island. When a couple of English girls are washed ashore and a legendary nautical figure resurfaces, the scene is set for a ripping survival adventure, taking in weighty theories of political democracy, equality and cowardice, and still managing to add a healthy dollop of stirring music, dodgy accents, old-fashioned sexism, pirates, giant bees, a giant crab and a fearsome, err, giant chicken. Harryhausen's eighth feature contains all the elements that make his movies great, and the pacey script, based on the Jules Verne novel, has you gripped from the off. One of his more modern-feeling early films, the colour film stock, the exotic settings and wider stable of stars (black and English actors feature alongside a pre-Clouseau Herbert Lom) move it forward an era from his dated black-and-white schlock-fests. Gripping, erudite and easily on a par with the more well-known Sinbad and Argonauts movies, this is one to be marooned with. On the DVD: Mysterious Island's colour picture is bright, clean and crisp in this anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, and the Dolby digital mono soundtrack is clear enough. The theatrical trailer will please the kitsch fans, as will the featurette "This Is Dynamation" produced at the same time as the first Sinbad movie. The real corker here though is the generously lengthy documentary "The Harryhausen Chronicles". Narrated by Leonard Nimoy, it features a stellar cast of devotees (George Lucas among them) waxing lyrical about the influence of Harryhausen's films, and allows the man himself to ramble fascinatingly over clips of his filmic canon. If you're a fan, it's Harryhausen heaven. --Paul Eisinger

• The Wind In The Willows | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £14.26   |  Saving you £-8.27 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Since it's first publication in 1908 Kenneth Grahame's THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS has become a best-seller throughout the world. In this unique film the award-winning animators of Cosgrove Hall have brought Grahame's characters Badger Mole Ratty and the flamboyant Toad of Toad Hall magically to life in a beautiful Edwardian country scene. Join these four lively characters in a wonderful production that captures all the fun and enchantment of a fairy tale adventure.

• The Russia House | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £8.96   |  Saving you £4.03 (44.98%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Intelligent casting, strong performances and the persuasive chemistry between Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer prove the virtues in director Fred Schepisi's well-intended but problematic screen realization of this John Le Carré espionage thriller. At its best, The Russia House depicts the bittersweet nuances of the pivotal affair between a weary, alcoholic London publisher (Connery) and the mysterious Russian beauty (Pfeiffer) who sends him a fateful manuscript exposing the weaknesses beneath Soviet defence technology. Connery's Barley is a gritty, all-too-human figure who's palpably revived by his awakening feelings for Pfeiffer's wan, vulnerable Katya, whose own reciprocal emotions are equally convincing. Together, they weave a poignant romantic duet. The problems, meanwhile, emanate from the story line that brings these opposites together. Le Carré's novels are absorbing but typically internal odysseys that seldom offer the level of straightforward action or simple arcs of plot that the big screen thrives on. For The Russia House, written as glasnost eclipsed the cold war's overt rivalries, Le Carré means to measure how old adversaries must calibrate their battle to a more subtle, subdued match of wits. Barley himself becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the manuscript because British intelligence chooses to use him as cat's paw rather than become directly involved. Such subtlety may be a more realistic take on the spy games of the recent past but it makes for an often tedious, talky alternative to taut heroics that Connery codified in his most celebrated early espionage role. If the suspense thus suffers, we're still left with an affecting love story, as well as some convincing sniping between British and US intelligence operatives, beautifully cast with James Fox, Roy Scheider and John Mahoney. Veteran playwright Tom Stoppard brings considerable style to the dialogue, without solving the problem of giving us more than those verbal exchanges to sustain dramatic interest. --Sam Sutherland

• Dawn of the Dead | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £5.06   |  Saving you £14.93 (295.06%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In this remake of George Romero's classic horror, a ragtag group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall as bloodthirsty zombies walk the earth.

• The Last Witch Hunter | Blu Ray | (07/03/2016) from £9.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (130.13%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Kaulder (Vin Diesel) is the only one of his kind remaining, and has spent centuries hunting down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost loved ones. However, unbeknownst to him, the Witch Queen has been resurrected and seeks revenge on Kaulder causing an epic battle that will determine the survival of the human race.

• Fury | 4K UHD | (28/05/2018) from £19.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany. Special features: Presented in SD or HD resolution 4K ultra HD: Tanks of Fury Documentary No Guts, No Glory: The Horrors of Combat Featurette Tiger 131 Featurette Heart of Fury Featurette Clash of Armour Featurette Theatrical Trailers Blu-Ray: Over 50 Minutes of Deleted & Extended Scenes Director's Combat Journal Armoured Warriors: The Real Men Inside the Shermans Featurette Taming the Beasts: How to Drive, Fire & Shoot Inside a 30-Ton Tank Featurette Blood Brothers Featurette

• One Tree Hill - Season 1 | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.16   |  Saving you £53.83 (659.68%)   |  RRP £61.99

  One Tree Hill: Season 1 marks the beginning of a genuinely engrossing series that maintains, for a long while, an unusual focus on a single, powerful conflict defining the destinies of two characters. Adolescent half-brothers Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan (James Lafferty) Scott have lived parallel lives in One Tree, North Carolina. They share a common father, Dan Scott (Paul Johansson), who has disregarded the existence of Lucas, his son by a one-time flame, Karen (Moira Kelly), whom he dumped years before to accept a basketball scholarship to college. While neglecting Lucas, Dan--whose hoop dreams never materialized--has spent his time almost perversely micro-managing every one of Nathan's moves on and off the court at his old high school, where the lad is currently an arrogant superstar under gruff-but-wise coach Whitey Durham (Barry Corbin). Nathan (whose mother is separated from Dan) is a child of privilege and has been raised to disregard teamwork, compromise, or the feelings of others. He regards Lucas, a basketball sensation on neighborhood playgrounds, as trash, and his own girlfriend, Peyton (Hilarie Burton), as a pretty bauble he can abuse and dismiss at will. Still, he's sympathetic; one can see glimpses of the human being struggling to emerge from under Dan's control. Meanwhile, Lucas helps Karen run her café, hangs out with platonic best friend Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz), and pines for Peyton (herself a punky misfit at heart). He also turns to surrogate dad Keith Scott (Craig Sheffer)--actually his uncle and Dan's older brother--for support, and sees himself as a perpetual and doomed outsider in One Tree. All that changes when Whitey invites Lucas to join the b-ball team that Nathan dominates, a move that challenges the status quo of multiple relationships in a small community. For about a third of its episodes, this series from creator Mark Schwahn (who wrote the hit film Coach Carter) stays true to the suspense surrounding Lucas's and Nathan's changes in fortune. Then a bit of padding follows to the end of the season; there are 22 episodes to fill out, after all. But even as various distractions (a kidnapping subplot, a car accident and coma for a major character) and random events creep in (Dan, rather incredibly, takes over the team from Whitey at one point, thus coaching both his sons), One Tree Hill remains highly watchable. The writing is shaped well and organic, while performances are consistently excellent. (It's especially good to see Sheffer, perhaps best known for A River Runs Through It, again.) --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Xanadu | DVD | (28/06/2004) from £10.12   |  Saving you £-0.13 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A wimpy remake of an already anaemic movie (the 1947 Rita Hayworth vehicle Down to Earth), this glitzy musical from 1980 improbably stars Olivia Newton-John as a heavenly muse sent here to help open a roller-derby disco. Gene Kelly is mixed up in this well-meaning but goofy effort to fuse nostalgia with late-70s glitter-ball trendiness, and he looks just plain silly. Directed by Robert Greenwald, the film doesn't even work as decent kitsch. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Hannnah and Her Sisters | Blu Ray | (28/08/2023) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  One of Woody Allen's best-loved films, this won three richly deserved Oscars* (for Michael Caine, Dianne West and the screenplay) and is a joy from start to perfectly-judged finish. Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful actress. She's also the emotional backbone of the family, and her sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne West) depend on this stability while also resenting it because they can't help but compare Hannah's seemingly perfect life with theirs. But with her husband Elliott (Michael Caine) becoming increasingly interested in Lee, it's clear that Hannah might have problems of her own. An unusually strong supporting cast includes Allen himself as Hannah's existentially-conflicted ex-husband and Max von Sydow as a perfectionist artist, but it's Caine who practically steals the film as a middle-aged man behaving like a lovesick teenager. It also has some of Allen's greatest one- liners, with a philosophical discussion about the nature of good and evil getting shot down with How should I know why there were Nazi's, I don't even know how the can opener works *Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Caine) *Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Wiest) *Best Writing, Screenplay, Written Directly for the Screen Product Features Theatrical Trailer

• The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Originally hatched in 1978 as a short film parody, The Rutles was later expanded into a 70-minute mockumentary about a trend-setting quartet of British mop-tops and became one of Eric Idle's better projects outside Monty Python. Taking the career (and hagiography) of The Beatles and inverting them quite nicely, Idle conjures up four doppelgangers who offer the familiar mannerisms but practically none of the intelligence of their models. If that sounds like the same gag that powered This is Spinal Tap (which emerged six years later), it is, with the crucial difference that Idle's lampoon is precise where Tap was consciously generic. In telling the saga of the Rutles, Idle (who doubles as earnest narrator and McCartney-esque Rutle Dirk McQuigley) works from a rich and immediately familiar trove of pop lore, and he has a ball revisiting and reinventing milestones from the Fab Four's fabled history. The attention to period detail helps elevate the gags further, but Idle's real secret weapon is Neil Innes, standing in as Ron Nasty, the Rutles' answer to John Lennon: it's Innes who serves as the musical architect for the wonderful Beatles parodies that give All You Need is Cash a delicious kick, and Innes--a one-time principal in the legendary Bonzo Dog Band--is gifted enough to capture the band's lyricism and energy as well as their shifting sense of style. With the blessing and on-camera participation of George Harrison, and wry cameos from Mick Jagger and Paul Simon, All You Need is Cash is a perfect companion to the Beatles' own glorious screen comedies and a great antidote to sanctimonious pop documentaries. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• The Gold Robbers: The Complete Series | DVD | (01/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This dynamic and tightly scripted drama centres on the search for the perpetrators of a multi-million-pound gold bullion robbery; Peter Vaughan stars as the C.I.D. officer doggedly tracking down all those who hold clues to the identity of the mastermind behind the raid. Vaughan's strong performance is supported by some of the key dramatic actors of the late `60s, including Joss Ackland, Alfred Lynch, George Cole, Bernard Hepton, George Innes, Roy Dotrice and Peter Bowles.

• Outlaws And Angels | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When outlaws on the lam invade the home of an unsuspecting, seemingly innocent, frontier family to hide out for the night, an unexpected game of cat and mouse ensues, leading to seduction, role reversal, and ultimately, bloody revenge. A fresh twist on the classic Western genre starring Chad Micheal Murray (TV's Agent Carter, House of Wax), Francesca Eastwood (True Crime, Final Girl), Teri Polo (Meet The Parents) and Luke Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums).

• Spider-Man Triple: Home Coming, Far from Home & No Way Home (6 Discs - UHD & BD) | Blu Ray | (04/04/2022) from £59.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero's identity is revealed, bringing his Super Hero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk. When he enlists Doctor Strange's help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who've ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.

• Airwolf - Complete Season 4 (5 disc set) | DVD | (08/09/2014) from £20.15   |  Saving you £19.84 (98.46%)   |  RRP £39.99

• One Tree Hill - Season 2 | DVD | (10/04/2006) from £5.56   |  Saving you £54.43 (978.96%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Fathers and sons. Husbands and wives. Lovers and liars. What a difference a school year makes. At first half-brothers Nathan and Lucas Scott were bitter rivals on and off the basketball court. Now they bond as brothers. But there's drama trauma devotion betrayal twists and turns to come. To protect those he loves Lucas moves in with Dan. Brooke and Peyton mend their friendship - and beginia year of romantic turmoil for both. Nathan and Haley's marriage frays. Newcomers t

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 2 | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The ultimate depiction of workplace perdition has to be Whitbury Leisure Centre in The Brittas Empire, despite the later claim of The Office to the title. And while David Brent seems all too uncomfortably real, Chris Barrie's Gordon Brittas carried the gung-ho officiousness of mediocre middle-management to its surreal conclusion. The Brittas Empire could never quite make up its mind if it was a quasi-realistic sitcom or a fantasy comedy, and it's this uneasy mixture that invites you to question whether there's anything terribly funny about unplanned single parenthood, childcare problems, assault in the workplace and women who are addicted to prescription drugs (see also Waiting for God) because of their partners' behaviour. Then, just as you're pondering all this, Brittas comes out with another mouthful of managerial psychobabble that makes you realise that only this kind of tragi-comic exaggeration is robust enough to stand up to Barrie's monstrous creation. This second series treads a fine line between the merely bleak and the really rather nasty with exquisite precision. It opens with the news that Brittas has been killed abroad in an industrial accident, prompting his tranquillizer-addled wife to mourn him for less time than it takes her to remarry--except, of course, that Brittas is alive and well. Along the way, receptionist Carole attempts to murder Brittas with a JCB when she mistakenly thinks he's assaulted her baby, which she keeps in a cupboard under her desk. On the DVD: The Brittas Empire, Series 2 carries all seven episodes on two discs, together with several extras including a gallery, a profile and a Brittas Management Quiz (don't ask!). --Roger Thomas

• Private's Progress | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  With a remarkable cast headlined by Ian Carmichael, Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price and Terry Thomas, WWII army comedy Private's Progress was one of the major British hits of 1956. Carmichael is Stanley Windrush, a naïve young soldier who during training falls in with the streetwise Private Cox (Attenborough). Windrush's uncle is the even more ambitiously corrupt Colonel Tracepurcel (Price), who plans to divert the war effort to liberate art treasures already looted by the Germans. The first half of the film is quite pedestrian, though the pace picks up considerably once the heist gets underway, and the cheery tone masks a really rather dark and cynical heart. Carmichael's innocent abroad quickly wears thin, but Attenborough and Price steal the film, as well as the paintings, with typically excellent turns. With a nod in the direction of Ealing's The Ladykillers (1955) the film also anticipates the attitudes of both The League of Gentlemen (1959) and Joseph Heller's novel Catch 22 (1961), though lacks the latter's greater sophistication. The cast also contains such British stalwarts as William Hartnell, Peter Jones, Ian Bannen, John Le Mesurier, Christopher Lee and David Lodge, and was sufficiently popular to reunite all the major players for the superior sequel, I'm Alright Jack (1959). On the DVD: Private's Progress is presented in black and white at 4:3 Academy ratio, though the film appears to have been shot full frame and then unmasked for home viewing so there is more top and bottom to the images than at the cinema. The print used shows constant minor damage and is quite grainy, though no more than expected for a low-budget film of the time. The mono sound is average and unremarkable, and there are no special features. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Ice Storm | DVD | (12/02/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Asian American director Ang Lee sums up America in the early 1970s by focusing on the arrival of the sexual revolution in the 'burbs. Isolationism within a family, consumerism, and selfishness are personified by a cast that captures the self-obsession within two New England families. As the children struggle awkwardly with adolescence, their parents stumble through sexual experimentation. In the days of Watergate and Vietnam, society is breaking boundaries and ignoring convention. Following suit, these families are eschewing polite barriers and social taboos, with disastrous results. The Ice Storm of the title refers not only to a natural phenomenon but is a (rather heavy-handed) metaphor for a pervasive emotional temperament. The entire cast delivers textured, finely nuanced performances. This movie lingers in the psyche not only for the scope of the tragedy at its conclusion, but for Lee's often humorous and stingingly accurate assessment of pop culture. Based on Rick Moody's novel, this won the best-screenplay award at Cannes in 1997. --Rochelle O'Gorman