"Actor: Rob Bowen"

• Venom: Let There Be Carnage | DVD | (03/01/2022) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of Marvel's greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, written by Kelly Marcel with the story by Tom Hardy & Marcel, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

• Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £9.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (100.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Some comedies secure cult status after just one episode. The first series of Phoenix Nights, created by and starring Bolton-born comic Peter Kay, is one of those rare gems that few saw on first showing but that everyone was soon talking about. Wheelchair-bound Brian Potter (Kay) runs the Phoenix, a shabby social club populated by an assortment of wonderfully observed characters. It's grim up North and despite the best efforts of the staff to inject life into the proceedings--be it an alternative comedy night, a version of Robot Wars in Potter's beloved Pennine Suite or a Wild West extravaganza--each evening's entertainment always ends badly. Undaunted, the Phoenix denizens continue to strive for their dream: a world in which "clubland never dies". Even though Kay is the focus of the show (having also directed and penned the series), this is no star vehicle; the hapless security guards, the club entertainer Jerry, and Ray Von the dodgy DJ all combine in an ensemble comedy the like of which hasn't been seen since Fawlty Towers. You have to watch it a couple of times just to catch all the visual gags, let alone pick up on all the nuances of the brilliantly written script. If you missed it first time round, now's your chance to own one of the best British sit-coms of recent years. On the DVD: Phoenix Nights on disc comes with a plethora of extras to enjoy. "One Man and His Horse" is behind the scenes footage of Trigger and his handler (who is almost as entertaining as his charge); there are some great deleted scenes, trailers for the first series and an episode-by-episode sequence of outtakes where the cast hilarity is definitely contagious. A commentary from Kay and some of the team consists more of reminiscence than information, but is well worth a listen. --Kristen Bowditch

• Phoenix Nights: Series 1 and 2 | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Created by and starring Bolton-born comic Peter Kay, Phoenix Nights is one of those rare gems that few saw on first showing but that everyone was soon talking about. The first series introduces wheelchair-bound Brian Potter (Kay), who runs the titular Phoenix, a shabby social club populated by an assortment of wonderfully observed characters. It's grim up North and despite the best efforts of the staff to inject life into the proceedings--be it an alternative comedy night, a version of Robot Wars in Potter's beloved Pennine Suite or a Wild West extravaganza--each evening's entertainment always ends badly. Undaunted, the Phoenix denizens continue to strive for their dream: a world in which "clubland never dies". The beginning of the second series sees Brian Potter's beloved Phoenix Club lying in ashes and the staff scattered to the four winds. Even club compere Jerry St Clair is reduced to singing "Come get your black bin bags" to the tune of Men in Black in the local supermarket. But not even being barred from having a licence for the rest of his natural life can deter the northern Svengali from reopening the club and making it bigger and better than before--even if that means making Jerry the licensee and offering up-market Chinese nosh. --Kristen Bowditch

• Venom: Let There Be Carnage | Blu Ray | (03/01/2022) from £5.94   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of Marvel's greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, written by Kelly Marcel with the story by Tom Hardy & Marcel, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

• Venom: Let There Be Carnage | Blu Ray | (03/01/2022) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of Marvel's greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, written by Kelly Marcel with the story by Tom Hardy & Marcel, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

• M.A.S.H. - Single Disc Edition | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £9.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (80.80%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Ensemble drama from acclaimed director Robert Altman centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer (Neve Campbell) who's poised to become a principal performer.

• Phoenix Nights Box Set | DVD | (20/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Series 1 and 2 of Peter Kay's acclaimed TV comedy Phoenix Nights. Legendary social club owner Brian Potter and his band of staff and regulars are determined to make the Phoenix Club successful no matter what. Nothing will get in their way...

• Iron Eagle | DVD | (08/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Iron Eagles (short of Top Gun) is close to being the definitive boys' movie of the 1980s. An 18-year-old (Jason Gedrick) gets instruction from an old vet (Louis Gossett Jr) in how to fly an F-16 jet and kick butt in the Middle East, all while listening to his Walkman and--oh, yeah--saving his father from terrorist clutches. Gossett wears his tough-love face while the kids run rampant. Speaking of children, young guys must have like this comic-book movie, as its success spawned three sequels. But watch out for the Reagan-era jingoism and political reductiveness. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• M.A.S.H. | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ensemble drama from acclaimed director Robert Altman centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer (Neve Campbell) who's poised to become a principal performer.

• Jackie Brown - 2 Disc Collector's Edition | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. The film is more "rum" than "punch", though, with a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell (Samuel L Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend Louis (Robert De Niro) is just taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties are in question between his old partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Federal Agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a late-40-ish flight-attendant (Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing she's working for them. Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little except that it allows him to heap on black culture and language, something he has a gift and passion for, though the film is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the soundtrack. Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film after decades of work. --Doug Thomas

• Magnolia - Two Disc Set (1999) | DVD | (02/10/2000) from £9.16   |  Saving you £1.83 (19.98%)   |  RRP £10.99

  24 hours in L.A.; it's raining cats and dogs. Two parallel and intercut stories dramatize a man about to die: both men are estranged from a grown child, both want to make contact, and neither child wants anything to do with dad.

• Less Than Zero | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Less Than Zero is adapted from the dreary, pointless late-80s novel by literary poseur Bret Easton Ellis, which focused on listless, shiftless, drug-sniffing, sex-swapping, dead-end California teens with too much money and time on their hands--though the movie is not nearly as interesting as that. This is mostly due to the ridiculously cleaned-up script and lifeless direction, which whitewashes the baser depravity and replaces it with perversion-lite and fashion shows. It doesn't help that director Marek Kanievska is saddled with Brat Pack lesser (make that least) lights Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz. The only things that lift this film above the muck are the performances by James Spader as a particularly heinous drug dealer and Robert Downey Jr as a rich-kid addict with no self-control. --Marshall Fine

• Phoenix Nights: Series 1 | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £14.43   |  Saving you £5.56 (38.53%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Legendary social club owner Brian Potter and his hapless band of staff and regulars are determined to make Phoenix Club a success no matter what. Not even a racist folk band an unforeseeable psychic or a drunken horse will get in the way of their dream that 'Clubland will never die'.

• Venom 1&2: (2018) & Let There Be Carnage (4 Discs - UHD & BD) | Blu Ray | (03/01/2022) from £44.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of Marvel's greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, written by Kelly Marcel with the story by Tom Hardy & Marcel, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

• Jackie Brown | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £7.95   |  Saving you £10.04 (55.80%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. The Academy Awards saw it the same way, giving Forster the film's only nomination. The film is more "rum" than "punch" and will certainly disappoint those who are looking for Tarantino's trademark style. This movie is a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell (Samuel L Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend--a loose term with Ordell--Louis (Robert De Niro) is just taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties are in question between his old partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Fed Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a late-40-ish flight-attendant (Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing she's working for them. The end result is rarely in doubt, and what is left is two hours of Tarantino's expert dialogue as he moves his characters around town. Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little except that it allows Tarantino to heap on black culture and language, something he has a gift and passion for. He said this film is for an older audience although the language and drug use may put them off. The film is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the musical score. Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film after decades of work. --Doug Thomas

• M.A.S.H. (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ensemble drama from acclaimed director Robert Altman centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer (Neve Campbell) who's poised to become a principal performer.

• Iron Eagle | DVD | (25/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Iron Eagles (short of Top Gun) is close to being the definitive boys' movie of the 1980s. An 18-year-old (Jason Gedrick) gets instruction from an old vet (Louis Gossett Jr) in how to fly an F-16 jet and kick butt in the Middle East, all while listening to his Walkman and--oh, yeah--saving his father from terrorist clutches. Gossett wears his tough-love face while the kids run rampant. Speaking of children, young guys must have like this comic-book movie, as its success spawned three sequels. But watch out for the Reagan-era jingoism and political reductiveness. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com