"Actor: Paul Shaffer"

• The Return Of Spinal Tap | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Return of Spinal Tap is based around Tap's performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992. In between the footage of Messrs St Hubbins, Tufnell and Smalls performing in front of a huge crowd enthusiastically determined to go along with the joke, there are clips purporting to investigate the band's humble origins in the East London suburb of Squatney, and updates from "rockumentary" director Marty Di Bergi and hapless record plugger Artie Fufkin (from the original film). It is the latter component which is the real strength of Return. Though the concert footage faithfully rehashes many of the film's most treasured jokes (the malfunctioning props, the dancing midgets), the real satirical strength of This is Spinal Tap was never its treatment of heavy metal music (which, after all, is hardly a difficult target). What the first movie did best was illuminate the egomania, paranoia, delusion and stupidity that are the cornerstones of rock 'n' roll as it is lived. The Return of Spinal Tap is a worthy companion piece. --Andrew Mueller

• Win Win | DVD | (30/01/2012) from £3.59   |  Saving you £16.40 (82.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Writer-director Tom McCarthy excels at tales about men who feel isolated from their surroundings. In Win Win, it's Kyle (Alex Shaffer, recalling the young Sean Penn), a teenager who enters the life of New Jersey attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti). Flaherty's journey begins when he represents Kyle's grandfather, Leo (Burt Young), who suffers from dementia. When Flaherty finds out about the substantial fee, he signs up as Leo's guardian, because he's been having trouble paying his bills. He and his wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan), meet Kyle when the kid shows up on his grandfather's doorstep. Kyle's mother (Melanie Lynskey) is in rehab and her boyfriend is abusive, so Kyle wants to live with Leo. Because Mike placed him in a retirement home--against the man's wishes--he agrees to host Kyle for a few weeks, during which Mike learns about his wrestling skills and invites him to join the high-school team he coaches with Stephen (Jeffrey Tambor). His best friend, Terry (Bobby Cannavale), offers to assist the duo to get his mind off his ex (the one plot line that doesn't work). When Kyle's mother shows up to collect her son and cash in on her father's situation, Mike risks losing everything he has gained. Win Win doesn't surprise as much as The Station Agent, which featured Cannavale, or cut as deep as The Visitor, but Giamatti and Ryan make for a believable suburban couple, doing their best to make ends meet in the face of an unsympathetic economy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Win Win | Blu Ray | (30/01/2012) from £14.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (66.71%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Writer-director Tom McCarthy excels at tales about men who feel isolated from their surroundings. In Win Win, it's Kyle (Alex Shaffer, recalling the young Sean Penn), a teenager who enters the life of New Jersey attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti). Flaherty's journey begins when he represents Kyle's grandfather, Leo (Burt Young), who suffers from dementia. When Flaherty finds out about the substantial fee, he signs up as Leo's guardian, because he's been having trouble paying his bills. He and his wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan), meet Kyle when the kid shows up on his grandfather's doorstep. Kyle's mother (Melanie Lynskey) is in rehab and her boyfriend is abusive, so Kyle wants to live with Leo. Because Mike placed him in a retirement home--against the man's wishes--he agrees to host Kyle for a few weeks, during which Mike learns about his wrestling skills and invites him to join the high-school team he coaches with Stephen (Jeffrey Tambor). His best friend, Terry (Bobby Cannavale), offers to assist the duo to get his mind off his ex (the one plot line that doesn't work). When Kyle's mother shows up to collect her son and cash in on her father's situation, Mike risks losing everything he has gained. Win Win doesn't surprise as much as The Station Agent, which featured Cannavale, or cut as deep as The Visitor, but Giamatti and Ryan make for a believable suburban couple, doing their best to make ends meet in the face of an unsympathetic economy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• XX/XY | DVD | (26/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When New York animator Coles (Ruffalo) meets Sam (Stange) the attraction is immediate. And when Sam invites her hot friend Thea (Robertson) to bed with them it's a dream come true...until ugly secrets destroy the carefree threesome. Ten years later their very different lives converge again and Coles realizes how much he still loves Sam but can he risk everything to tell her the naked truth?

• Fats And Friends | DVD | (15/10/2007) from £4.92   |  Saving you £9.33 (254.92%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Hosted by Paul Shaffer. It's the jam session of a lifetime as the three greatest rock 'n' roll piano players in the world share the stage for the first and only time. Filmed at the historic Storyville nightclub in New Orleans Fats Domino And Friends features three performers who virtually defined rock 'n' roll piano in the '50s - the immortal Fats Domino Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles - strutting their stuff individually and collectively and joined onstage by Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood drummer extraordinaire Steve Jordan and music director and host Paul Shaffer. This historic concert contains: Remixed and remastered footage for pristine sound. And 17 songs - every one a classic: Fats Domino: The Fat Man Walking to New Orleans Blueberry Hill Shake Rattle & Roll So Long C.C. Rider and Sentimental Journey Jerry Lee Lewis: (with Ron Wood): I Am What I Am Great Balls of Fire and Whole Lotta Shakin Going On Paul Shaffer Ron Wood and All-Star Band: A Certain Girl Ray Charles (with Paul Shaffer Ron Wood and All-Star Band): I've Got a Woman and Drown in My Own Tears Fats Jerry Lee and Ray (with Wood Shaffer and All-Star Band): The Lewis Boogie Low Down Dog Jambalaya (On the Bayou) and Swanee River Rock (Talkin Bout That River)