"Actor: Richard Curtis"

• Monteverdi: L'Incoronazione di Poppea | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £2.96   |  Saving you £23.29 (1,370.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1642) marks one of the very foundations of opera. Revolving around real historical characters, the Roman emperor Nero, his love for Poppea, the betrayal of the empress Octavia, and death of the philosopher Seneca, Monteverdi pits human love, ambition and intrigue against the fates. The set, a symbolic part-globe, and the costumes drawn from various ages suggest--very much in the way of the surreal film of Shakespeare's Titus (1999)--that the concerns of ancient Rome are timeless. With the emphasis on the text (the music alone does not hold the attention for 150 minutes) conductor Jacobs depends upon an excellent cast to bring the production alive. Patricia Schumann dominates the stage, her Poppea is warm, sensual and likeable, without being entirely trustworthy, an effective counterpart to Richard Croft's Nero. Darla Brooks brings just the right degree of vivacious gullibility to Drusilla, while Curtis Ryam offers eccentric comedy as Arnalta. As Ottone Jeffrey Gall is a man acutely tormented by love. Recorded at the 1993 Schwetzinger Festspiele, there is no sign of an audience, the many close-ups suggesting this performance was specially given for video. On the DVD: There are subtitle options for English, French and German, but no special features. The booklet is well documented but does not contain the libretto. The sound is good PCM stereo while the 4:3 image (not 16:9 as stated on the packaging) is better than video but otherwise unremarkable. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Shootdown | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £5.92   |  Saving you £-1.93 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  At 32 000 feet a Korean 747 passenger jet is blown open by a Soviet missile. The mangled aircraft manages to stay airborne for a few minutes but then plummets into the frigid Japanese sea with no survivors. Officials try to keep the story out of the press but soon the entire world knows. Nan Moore the mother of a passenger from the aircraft begins to search out the answers to her son's meaningless death and she finds that her own government may even be responsible. Nan Moore will stop at nothing not even the law to face the frightening questions and to find the vital answers that are raised through her determination.

• Bloody Wednesday | DVD | (29/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  After losing his job a young man holes up in a ramshackle hotel where after being terrorised his mind begins to run riot and turns to a bloody revenge against those he perceives to have slighted him...

• Bloody Wednesday (DVD) | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

• The Ultimate Warrior (1975) / Westworld (1973) / Escape from Zahrain (1962) / Taras Bulba (1962) (4 YUL Brynner Films) - Official WB Region 2 PAL 4-DVD Release, Plays in English Without subtitles | DVD | (01/06/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A