"Actor: Michael"

• The 80s Movie Club - For Tough Guys - Platoon/Raging Bull/Rain Man/Die Hard/Terminator | DVD | (01/10/2007) from £22.93   |  Saving you £12.06 (52.59%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Rain Man (Dir. Barry Levinson 1988): Dustin Hoffman joins Tom Cruise to bring a funny and moving tale of brotherly love to the screen. Heartless Charlie Babbitt expects a vast inheritance after his estranged father dies. But Raymond his institutionalised older brother someone he's been totally unaware of is willed the entire fortune instead. Raymond is an 'autistic Savant' with severely limited mental abilities in some areas but with genius gifts in others. When Charlie kidnaps Raymond the crazy cross-country drive back to Los Angeles teaches them both a few lessons in life. For as they overcome their mutual distrust of each other a deep bond is forged as they painfully share past memories present problems and a possible shining future together. Die Hard (Dir. John McTiernan 1988: New York cop John McClane facing Christmas alone flies to Los Angeles to see his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and their kids in an attempt to patch things up. He arrives at his wife's high tech office building in the middle of their Christmas party just as it is gatecrashed by the ruthless master criminal Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and a dozen fellow activists intent on relieving the Nakatomi Corporation of six hundred million dollars in negotiable bonds... Platoon (Dir. Oliver Stone 1986): Writer/director Oliver Stone has created a personal and searing testament to the men who fought the war in Vietnam. Seen through the eyes of a college drop-out the war is a real nightmare a private hell of fears from outside and in with enemies on both sides of the line. His platoon's allegiance is split between leaders Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Elias. Barnes is a scar-faced gung-ho fanatic bent on destroying the elusive Viet Cong and anyone who disagrees with him. Elias is a different type of soldier--he has lost faith in the war but not in man. Friction between the two sergeants leads to a second war as deadly as the one being waged against the enemy. Raging Bull (Dir. Martin Scorsese 1980): Raging Bull is arguably the finest work from the Scorsese and De Niro partnership. De Niro gives an amazing portrayal of a man whose animal side lurks just beneath the surface ever ready to erupt. Vivid and unremitting in its uncompromising brutality and honesty the fight sequences are famed for their realism. Violent throughout this film is a testament to Scorsese's and De Niro skills creating a thoroughly absorbing film about such an unlikable character. Renowned for throwing himself into the roles of the character De Niro went on a diet to gain fifty pounds during the production for the role of the faded star. Terminator (Dir. James Cameron 1987): In 2029 giant super-computers dominate the planet hell-bent on exterminating the human race! And to destroy man's future by changing the past they send an indestructible cyborg - a Terminator - back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) the woman whose unborn son will become mankind's only hope. Can Sarah protect herself from this unstoppable menace to save the life of her unborn child? Or will the human race be extinguished by one mean hunk of mutant metal?

• On The Buses - The Best Of Series 3 And 4 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £22.96   |  Saving you £-9.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Running from 1969 to 1973 On The Buses was one of the most successful comedy series ever made. Re-live the flares and wide collars with the On The Buses crew. 'On the Buses' is British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan Bob Grant as his chirpy conductor Jack and Stephen I'll 'ave you Butler! Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake who does his best to get the buses out on time while making their lives as miserable as possible. Episode titles: First Aid The Cistern Busmen's Perks The Snake.

• Back To The Future - Augmented Reality Edition | DVD | (23/04/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  From the Academy Award-winning team of Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis comes the hilariously original, ground breaking adventure that thrilled critics and audiences alike - and sparked one of the most successful movie trilogies ever!The year is 1985 - but not for long. Because teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is about to be blasted back to 1955 aboard the plutonium-powered DeLorean created by eccentric genius Doc Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). But when Marty accidentally keeps his parents-to-be from falling in love, it triggers a time shattering chain reaction that could vaporise his future - and leave him trapped in the past! Now, Marty's last hope is to change history - before the clock runs out in his only chance to get himself Back to the Future!

• Stargate S.G. 1 - Series 9 - Vol. 4 | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £5.38   |  Saving you £14.61 (73.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Step through the stargate with SG-1 a team of soldiers and scientists as they travel instantaneously to other planets to explore forge alliances defuse crises establish trade investigate ancient mysteries and defend Earth from such hostile forces as the Goa'uld and the Replicators. Episodes comprise: 12. Collateral Damage 13. Ripple Effect 14. Stronghold

• Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends: Best Of Friends | DVD | (02/09/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Best of ThomasTo celebrate the success of Thomas and Friends we have put together the very best 20 episodes from the classic live action to the all new animation. Watch Thomas and his friends in their most thrilling adventures featuring legendary storytellers Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis. It's Full Steam Ahead to the Best of Thomas! The Best of PercyThomas' best friend is the small green No.6 engine who loves to deliver the mail Percy! To celebrate the friendship between Thomas and Percy enjoy 20 fantastic Percy episodes. Peep Peep it's Percy! The Best of JamesThomas is often seen with the No. 5 red engine James! He has a fine scarlet coat and thinks of himself as a Really Splendid Engine. To celebrate the friendship between Thomas and James enjoy 20 fantastic James episodes. Bust my buffers it's James!

• The Longest Yard | UMD | (16/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• Blake 7 Series 3 - Limited Collector's Edition | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Intergalactic adventure with an interplanetary resistance group battling for survival against a totalitarian super-power. Roaming a universe of boundless space and restrictive discipline freedom-fighter Blake with the crew of spaceship Liberator is locked in combat with the all-powerful forces of the Federation. Episodes comprise: 1. Aftermath 2. Powerplay 3. Volcano 4. Dawn of the Gods 5. The Harvest of Kairos 6. City at the Edge of the World 7. Children of Auron 8. Rumou

• A Caribbean Dream | DVD | (12/02/2018) from £4.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A Caribbean Dream is a re-imagining of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Set in modern day Barbados, Theseus and Hippolyta are returning Nationals. This traditional tale takes a twist with the creation of new characters where Mechanicals are re-imagined as Fishermen, and Bottom as a Black Belly Sheep, along with Birdman and a Changeling Boy. Chaos and madness unfolds at night, exploring Caribbean folklore and culture. This is a unique and entertaining re-imagination of one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies.

• Mutant X, Series 1 Vol. 1 | DVD | (23/09/2002) from £5.11   |  Saving you £19.88 (389.04%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Mutant X takes the useful SF trope of the mutant minority persecuted by the state and adds potentially interesting spins on which it rarely delivers. The charismatic villain Mason Eckhart of the Genetic Security Agency (Tom McCamus) professes an ideology of service and sacrifice for which many mutants fall, unaware of his genocidal and exploitative real intentions--though his habit of dumping failed minions into glass tubes for subsequent vivisection might give them a clue. A quest for redemption underlies the apparent smugness of Adam (Michael Shea), the good guys' mentor who used to work for the GSA's front, research company Genomex. The shiny, pretty central quartet themselves--fierce acrobatic Shalimar, reliable density-shifter Jesse, laddish electro-boy Brennan and sensible mind-twister Emma--alternately rescue new mutants from Eckhart and neutralise those who are threats. After a couple of pilot episodes that pushed into OTT visual stylishness, the show has settled into mildly repetitive though watchable blandness: for the most part it avoids story arcs and a large cast of regulars in favour of plugging its characters into the stock plots of television SF, such as doubles, vengeance crusades and untrustworthy lovers. On the DVD: Mutant X Series 1, Volume 1 contains the following episodes: "The Shock of the New". Shopgirl Emma discovers her powers of persuasion have made her the target of murderous Mason Eckhart and his henchman Thorne. Rescued by Shalimar and Jesse, she refuses their offer of passage into the mutant underground and is attacked a second time. "I Scream the Body Electric". Captured while rescuing Emma, electricity-shooting Brennan is forcibly recruited into Eckhart's kidnap squads--can he be rescued or avoid corruption? "Russian Roulette". A gun that targets and destroys the DNA of mutants is being tested by Russian mercenaries. Mutant X needs it to cure Brennan and to stop Eckhart obtaining it. "Fool for Love". Shalimar falls for a GSA scientist whose cure for mutancy is more dangerous than either of them know. "Kiloherz". A fiery radical young mutant, Kiloherz, can travel in radio waves and inhabit electronic equipment. Mutant X need to save him from Eckhart and stop him doing too much damage. The DVDs also has trailers, Web links and interviews with Victoria Pratt (Shalimar) and producer Karen Wookey. --Roz Kaveney

• On The Buses: The Complete Series Boxset | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £99.95   |  Saving you £0.04 (0.04%)   |  RRP £99.99

  One of the most successful TV series ever made running from 1969 to 1973 On the Buses is great British comedy at its best. Starring Reg Varney as jack-the-lad bus driver Stan and Stephen Lewis as the long-suffering dim-witted Inspector Blake ('Blakey') who does his best to get the buses out in time whilst making their lives as miserable as possible. This behemoth of a release features every episode from all seven series!

• Sharpe's Honour | DVD | (15/01/2007) from £4.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (60.44%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Sean Bean stars as the dashing and daredevil Napoleonic hero Richard Sharpe Hero of Wellington's Spanish Army. But Sharpe unwittingly becomes caught up in a French plot; hie is convicted of the murder of a Spanish nobleman and sentenced to death this time he will need more than just his legendary courage to survive. In a desperate attempt to clear his name Sharpe is forced to venture deep into enemy territory to capture La Marquesa a beautiful French spy who alone can prove his innocence.

• The Twilight Zone - Season 1 | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Travel into the fifth dimension once again with The Twilight Zone testing the limits of reality and exploring the mysteries of the universe. Airing from 1985 to 1989 this critically acclaimed anthology series carried on the legacy of the original Rod Serling program and attracted a brand-new audience of fans. The series features major stars in compelling tales of intrigue by such noted writers as: Ray Bradbury Stephen King Harlan Ellison Rockne S. O'Bannon Arthur C

• Jimmy Neutron / Rugrats | DVD | (27/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Jimmy is trying to make contact with an alien civilization. Unbeknownst to him a satellite he launches (okay it's the kitchen toaster but it works!) is picked up by an alien species. In the dark of night the aliens fly their war ships-looking like a fleet of rubber chickens to earth and abduct all the parents in Jimmy's hometown of Retroville. So it's up to Jimmy to create a fleet of space ships from the rides at the town's new amusement park (hey

• Great Composers - Vol. 2 - Beethoven / Wagner | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The second volume of the BBC's excellent Great Composers series consists of two hour-long episodes devoted to Beethoven and Wagner respectively. The format in both cases is that of a standard "life and works" biography, but what makes these episodes so attractive is the high quality of the visual material and the engrossing nature of the insights offered from the contributors. For example, it's fascinating to hear the lead violin of the Lindsay Quartet discuss the personal significance of a certain Beethoven phrase just after Charles Rosen has drawn a parallel with the composer's use of form and the speeches of Robespierre. If this makes the whole project sound as wholesome and dull as dry muesli, everyone also seems alive to the human idiosyncrasies of the subjects: we learn, among other things, that the utterly humourless Cosima Wagner used to keep her husband's eyelashes and carry them around with her in a bag. The musical excerpts are both performed--by the Berlin State Opera Orchestra and other groups--and filmed with panache. Kenneth Branagh narrates. All in all, a good introduction to both composers.--Warwick Thompson

• Hell Ride | Blu Ray | (12/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  From Executive Producer Quentin Tarantino and Writer, Director, Producer and star Larry Bishop comes this lean, mean mayhem machine, fully loaded with the three B's: bikers, beer and booty! Out on DVD and Blu-ray on October 12.

• Andromeda - Season 1 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Based on an idea by Gene Roddenberry Andromeda confidently wears its debt to Star Trek on its sleeve, recalling the best sci-fi of Roddenberry's heyday. The two-part premiere "Under the Night" and "An Affirming Flame" make for a terrific introduction to the lead character, Captain Dylan Hunt, played by Kevin (ex-Hercules) Sorbo. He's a sympathetically flawed idealist in command of the Andromeda Ascendant, a massive 1.4 km long starship of the now-disbanded Systems Commonwealth. The fall of civilisation has meant that although she ought to be a relic she remains the zenith of technological advancement. In the series opener we see Captain Hunt in battle against 10,000 enemy ships, winning a bout of fisticuffs with a close friend turned enemy traitor, wrestling with the shock of being frozen in time for 300 years and then diplomatically negotiating his way out of a salvage rights battle for his ship. The Andromeda Ascendant's emotionally driven, life-like computer is desired by the Eureka Maru salvage vessel, and feisty Captain Beka Valentine can barely stop her engineer Harper from drooling about tinkering with her. The Maru's shipmates are similarly driven: Rev Bem (from another sworn enemy race) has a spiritual calling, while cutesy-pie Trance Gemini's motivations are part of her winning mysteriousness. One final addition is the show's muscle, Tyr, the enemy with a conscience. But it's Dylan's show all the way, though he's no flawless hero: in "To Loose the Fateful Lightning" he makes a really stupid mistake. On the DVD: the first box set contains the show's first five episodes. From the excellently animated menus there are links to some standard fare: trailers for each of the (uncut) episodes, a Web link, biographies of the seven leading cast and a 16-picture Production Design Gallery of the Andromeda Ascendant. Much more interesting are the mini interviews with Sorbo (nine minutes) and Producer/Writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe (eight minutes), an archive of deleted scenes and audio comments by Sorbo per episode. Picture is standard TV format 4.3 and sound is plain stereo. --Paul Tonks

• Faces Of Death | DVD | (15/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A 'mockumentary' hosted by Dr. Francis B. Gross a coroner. He is trying to show you the different 'faces' of people while dying. There are faked scenes of people getting killed intermixed with footage of real accidents. There are executions by decapitation (in an Arab country) and the electric chair. One scene shows a group of tourists in Egypt smashing a monkey's head while still alive and eating its brains. There are shots of animals eating people and satanic orgies using dead bodi

• Over the Edge | DVD | (26/05/2008) from £7.09   |  Saving you £-1.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  New Grenada is a planned community in the rolling plains west of Denver. It is a soulless oasis of split levels home coffee mornings and crushing blandness where the adults strive to attract investment and their neglected kids are left to make their own entertainment. When the youth centre closes at dusk this manifests in vandalism drug-taking theft and general hooliganism resulting in the accidental shooting of a police officer. When the town's parents gather the next night to discuss the degenerating situation they soon discover the kids have had all they can take. Starring Matt Dillon (Crash Wild Things) in his first screen role Over The Edge is a beautiful yet starkly realised social treatise about the rhythms of teenage life made at a time where youth crime was rampant across middle America. The vastness of the desert setting adds to the sense of hopelessness that engulfs the townsfolk and makes for a ground-breaking and memorial movie that introduced the troubled-teen cinematic genre.

• Shadow Hours | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  A semi-pretentious urban sleaze film, Shadow Hours offers Balthazar Getty--sporting a "BZAR" knuckle tattoo and a Charlie Sheen look as a recovering drug addict working nights in a Los Angeles filling station to support an angelic pregnant wife (Rebecca Gayheart). Getty is tempted to the wild side by sharp-suited mystery man Peter Weller, who takes him on a tour of nocturnal weirdsville: piercing clubs, bare-knuckle boxing arenas and big-money Russian roulette parlours. Getty comes to suspect that Weller is a perhaps-demonic serial killer who has been turning women's heads (literally) and calls in cop Peter Greene. But he also goes back to dealer Frederic Forrest to get back on drugs and is stuck with get-in-the-way boss Brad Dourif. The film has a good cast and the germ of an interesting idea, but ends up as just another drama about a backsliding rehab guy and nighttime folks. It works hard on being shocking without going all the way into Clive Barker territory, despite advice on extreme underground culture from shock-tactics queen Lydia Lunch and some nasty fishhook facial sculpture. The ending suggests Weller might be a semi-supernatural character, but cops out of dragging Getty all the way down to hell. Weller, who grabs most of the best lines ("I've seen things in this city make Dante's Inferno read like Winnie the Pooh"), is an interesting, ambiguous villain, but everyone else is very standardised. Writer-director Isaac H Eaton clearly has a large collection of David Lynch videos and watched Fight Club several times. On the DVD: Sound is presented in both 2.0 and 5.1, while the widescreen presentation looks a lot better than the full-frame video release. In addition, there's a trailer and a photo gallery montage of arty looking frame blow-ups scored with pounding weird-rock. --Kim Newman

• 2000 Maniacs | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £10.55   |  Saving you £2.44 (23.13%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Available "fully uncut" for the first time in the UK, Two Thousand Maniacs! is the second of director HG Lewis' "blood" trilogy. Though the "once-in-a-lifetime" title makes a promise no film could keep--only about 30 maniacs show up--and the level of gore is a notch or so down from Blood Feast--only four deaths--this is perhaps the director's most watchable film. The Brigadoon-derived plot nugget concerns a Deep South town (variously suggested to be in Georgia or Arkansas, but actually Florida) wiped out by Union raiders during the Civil War, which reappears once every 100 years to wreak "blood vengeance". For the centennial celebrations, Pleasant Valley lures Yankee tourists off the road and subjects them to gruesome fairground games--a cannibal BBQ, a "horse-race", a "barrel roll" and "teetering rock". The ideas are nasty, and Lewis even attempts subtlety by keeping the quartering and the spiked barrel inside mostly off screen, but the creepiest touch is the "aw-shucks" good humour with which the ghostly Confederate maniacs--led by a mayor who is the spitting image of Sergeant Bilko's Colonel Hall--treat their horrible sport. It has the usual Lewis drawbacks--mostly inept staging, acting that veers between the wooden ("Playmate" Connie Mason) and the amateurishly hammy (one of the worst child actors in film history), clumsy editing, community theatre production values--but his fans wouldn't have it any other way and the hayseed music is great! On the DVD: The full-screen image is as good as this ever will look, considering Lewis' primitive understanding of lighting cinematography, with rich scarlet blood, vividly ugly 1963 leisurewear and very few print imperfections. The features offer an imaginative "Welcome to Pleasant Valley Centennial" menu, with buttons like the target you have to hit to drop the "teetering rock" on the Yankee; lurid original trailer ("Two thousand maniacs crazed for carnage started bathing a whole town in pulsing, human blood ... brutal, evil, ghastly beyond belief"); filmographies for Lewis, Friedman and star William Kerwin (aka Thomas Wood); promotional art gallery; notes by aptly-monickered expert Billy Chainsaw, highlighting the connections with John Waters and Brigadoon; a teaser trailer for "the Herschell Gordon Lewis Collection"; a mass of trailers for other "Tartan terror" titles. The Lewis-Friedman commentary and mind-numbing outtakes reel available on the Region 1 DVD are sadly absent, but that release doesn't have this one's major bonus addition--the entire soundtrack album, with compositions by Lewis himself (including the immortal "Yee-Hah, the South's Gonna Rise Again") and Flatt and Scruggs (of Bonnie and Clyde fame). --Kim Newman