"Actor: Robert Ito"

• Taxi Driver | DVD | (22/11/1999) from £6.63   |  Saving you £13.36 (201.51%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence. It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration ("I just knew I had to make this film", Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political and societal anxiety. Robert De Niro, as the tortured, ex-Marine cab driver Travis Bickle, made movie history with his chilling performance as one of the most memorably intense and vividly realised characters ever committed to film. Bickle is a self-appointed vigilante who views his urban beat as an intolerable cesspool of blighted humanity. He plays guardian angel for a young prostitute (Jodie Foster), but not without violently devastating consequences. This masterpiece, which is not for all tastes, is sure to horrify some viewers, but few could deny the film's lasting power and importance. --Jeff Shannon

• The Flashing Blade | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £15.98   |  Saving you £11.00 (78.63%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Flashing Blade is a tale of high adventure set in 1630 as the dashing Chevalier de Recci (Robert Etcheverry) undertakes a dangerous mission across occupied territory to avert war between France and Spain. This 13-episode serial was made for French television in 1967, and in dubbed form regularly shown on the BBC during school holidays from 1969 through the 1970s (usually when 1965's Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was having a rest). This release is aimed at that generation who, from the spine-tingling theme song onward, remember the show with tremendous affection. Like the classic Hollywood movie serials, each 23-minute episode packs in a couple of action sequences; some plot twists, a little comic relief and very variable acting and costumes. For a children's programme the story is remarkably complex, and takes a while to gather pace. The colours have faded, the use of classical music is clumsy, but the dubbing is surprisingly accomplished. The swashbuckling action is at odds with the more serious historical drama, but viewed with nostalgia The Flashing Blade is thoroughly entertaining vintage TV. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Rocketeer Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (14/05/2018) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In the tradition of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, ROCKETEER is a full-throttle blast of thrills, fun and dazzling special effects. Set in glamarous 1930s Hollywood, it tells the story of Cliff Secord, a down-on-his-luck pilot who stumbles upon an incredible invention - a top secret jetpack that allows him to soar through the skies like a human rocket. But before long, a sinister spy (Timothy Dalton) plots to steal the jetpack, thrusting Cliff into a dangerous mission that ultimately transforms him into an extraordinary hero.

• The Color Of Money | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £5.97   |  Saving you £9.02 (151.09%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Martin Scorcese handles directing duties in this 1986 sequel to the classic 1961 film The Hustler, which marks the return of Paul Newman to the role of pool shark Fast Eddie Felson. Anxious to break into the big time again, Eddie finds a talented protégé (Tom Cruise) to groom; but with the addition of the latter's manipulative girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and the wild streak in Cruise's character, the trio make for a fascinating portrait in group psychology. The cast is brilliant, the script by Richard Price (Clockers) is a paragon of tightly controlled character study and drama (at least in the film's first half), and Scorcese and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus make an ornate show of the collision and flight of pool balls through space--something of a metaphor for the dynamics among the three principals. The film is generally regarded as weaker in its second half, and rightly so, as everything that was interesting in the first place disappears. Still, Newman won a deserved Oscar for his performance. --Tom Keogh

• The Untouchables | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £4.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (260.52%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The DVD extras follow the adage that if one has lemons, make lemonade. This "special" edition has no commentary track, and no new input from stars Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Andy Garcia or writer David Mamet. Yet DVD director Laurent Bouzereau has an ace up his sleeve that makes the four new featurettes (about 50 minutes of content) worth listening to: candid talk. The usual, stiff promotional take is jettisoned as producer Art Linson and director Brian De Palma honestly talk about the film's origins, the tricks of shooting, and the casting of Robert De Niro. These refreshing comments (plus insight from the cinematographer Stephen H. Burum and actor Charles Martin Smith), and better-than-average vintage interviews makes for valuable watching--even if the footage is intercut too often with film clips. To top it all off, there's a new Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack. --Doug Thomas

• Nightwatch | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £6.12   |  Saving you £8.87 (144.93%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Ole Bornedal's thriller about a young law student who takes a job as a night watchman in a creepy morgue is long on style but comes up a little short on quality of storytelling. Bornedal sets things up in high style as Martin Bells (Ewan McGregor doing an American accent) makes his rounds in the middle of the night, with only corpses and his own paranoia for company. When bodies start coming in, the prostitute victims of a grisly serial killer, the imposing detective on the case (a hulking Nick Nolte) begins to suspect that Bells is the killer, as all clues start pointing to him. Coscripted by Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight) and adapted from Bornedal's 1994 Danish thriller, Nightwatch forsakes out-and-out thrills for a more moody approach with flickering lights, menacing shadows and echoing footsteps down long hallways. If only there was a little more energy before the highly effective denouement, which does get scares, even after the killer is revealed. Still, McGregor is supported by a stronger than average cast: in addition to Nolte, Josh Brolin does an amusing turn as McGregor's out-of-control best friend, Patricia Arquette fares well in the standard girlfriend role and the always creepy Brad Dourif makes the most of a sinister and funny bit part as the on-call doctor. You won't jump out of your seat but by the end of Nightwatch you will find yourself remarkably tense. --Mark Englehart

• The Real Ghostbusters - Adventures In Slime And Space | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £3.42   |  Saving you £2.57 (75.15%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Animated adventures with the Real Ghostbusters! Episodes comprise: 1. Adventures In Slime And Space 2. Ghost Busted 3. Knock Knock 4. Venkman's Ghost Repellers

• Topkapi | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £9.43   |  Saving you £6.56 (69.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This wonderful caper film manages to balance the right amount of intrigue suspense and humour created by the stellar cast including the extremely sexy and seductive Melina Mercouri and the wonderfully talented Peter Ustinov who was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role. A small-time con-man (Ustinov) with passport problems gets mixed up with a gang of world-class jewellery thieves plotting to rob the Topkapi museum in Istanbul. Turkish intelligence suspecting a

• Rocketeer | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £4.75   |  Saving you £10.24 (215.58%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on a retro-styled comic book hit of the 80s, this Disney film was meant to launch a whole line of Rocketeer films--but the series began and ended with this one. That's too bad because this underrated Joe Johnston film has a certain loopy charm. The story centres on a pre-World War II stunt pilot (Bill Campbell) who accidentally comes into possession of a rocket-propelled backpack much coveted by the Nazis. With the aid of his mechanic pal (Alan Arkin), he gets it up and running, then uses it to foil a plot by a gang of vicious Nazi spies (is there any other kind?) led by Timothy Dalton. Jennifer Connelly is on hand as the love interest but the real fun here is when the Rocketeer takes off. There's also a nifty battle atop an airborne blimp. --Marshall Fine

• Big Fish (2 Discs - UHD & BD SE) | Blu Ray | (17/05/2021) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Throughout his life, Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, portrayed by five-time Oscar ® nominee Albert Finney (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Erin Brockovich, 2000), he remains a huge mystery to his son, William (Billy Crudup). Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashback of his amazing adventures in this marvel of a movie. Special Features: Tim Burton Audio commentary Moderated by Mark Salisbury The Character's Journey Edward Bloom at Large Amos at the Circus Fathers and Sons The Filmmaker's Path Tim Burton: Storyteller Creature Features A Fairytale World The Author's Journey Original Cast Interviews & Behind the Scenes Easter Egg

• The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £18.72   |  Saving you £-5.73 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Brilliant brain surgeon Banzai has just made scientific history. Shifting his Oscillation Overthruster into warp speed he's the first man ever to travel to the Eight Dimension...and come back sane! But when his sworn enemy the demented Dr. Lizardo devises a plot to steal the Overthruster and bring an evil army of aliens back to destroy Earth Buckeroo goes cranium to cranium with the madman in an extra-dimensional battle that could result in total annihilation of the universe.

• The Untouchables | DVD | (04/06/2001) from £5.25   |  Saving you £10.74 (204.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualise the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters". In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing pot-boiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the film pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper Caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia) and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone's potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery's apartment and the train-station shootout partially modelled after the "Odessa steps" sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It's thrilling stuff, fuelled by Ennio Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and obvious. If you're inclined to be critical, the film gives you reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Lost Highway (1997) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (31/10/2022) from £28.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A mesmerizing meditation on the mysterious nature of identity, Lost Highway, DAVID LYNCH's seventh feature film, is one of the filmmaker's most potent cinematic dreamscapes. Starring PATRICIA ARQUETTE and BILL PULLMAN, the film expands the horizons of the medium, taking its audience on a journey through the unknown and the unknowable. As this postmodern noir detours into the realm of science fiction, it becomes apparent that the only certainty is uncertainty. Product Features New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director David Lynch, with new 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack Alternate uncompressed stereo soundtrack Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch, a feature-length 1997 documentary by Toby Keeler featuring Lynch and his collaborators Angelo Badalamenti, Peter Deming, Barry Gifford, Mary Sweeney, and others, along with on-set footage from Lost Highway Reading by Lynch and critic Kristine McKenna of excerpts from their 2018 book, Room to Dream Archival interviews with Lynch and actors Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, and Robert Loggia English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: Excerpts from an interview with Lynch from the 2005 edition of filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley's book Lynch on Lynch

• Quincey M.E. - Series 1 And 2 | DVD | (05/12/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.23

  Quincy M.E. the trailblazing series that almost single-handedly created the medical investigation genre comes to DVD for the first time in this gripping double pack featuring all the episodes from Seasons One and Two! Television icon Jack Klugman is the crusading and headstrong medical examiner Dr. Quincy in the the distinguished role that earned him 4 Emmy nominations. Aided by his loyal lab assistant Sam Fujiyama (Robert Ito) Quincy's not afraid to stand up fo

• Anastasia/Inn of the Sixth Happiness double pack | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £9.43   |  Saving you £5.56 (58.96%)   |  RRP £14.99

  An Ingrid Bergman double-bill comes to DVD with the classy pairing of Anastasia (1956) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). In Anastasia Bergman gives one of her memorable, haunting and haunted performances as an amnesiac chosen by a White Russian general (Yul Brynner) in 1928 to play the part of the long-rumoured but missing survivor of the Bolsheviks' murderous attack on the Czar's family. The twist is that Bergman's mystery woman seems to know more about the lost Anastasia than she is told. Based on the play by Marcelle Maurette and Guy Bolton, this film--directed by Anatole Litvak (Out of the Fog)--really does get under one's skin, not least of all because of its intriguing story but more so as a result of the strong chemistry between Bergman and Brynner. --Tom Keogh The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is an epic and extraordinary true story--or, at least, an extraordinary story based on a novel (Alan Burgess's The Small Woman) based on a true story. Gladys Aylward (an improbably mesmerising Ingrid Bergman) is a British would-be missionary with an obsession about China. As she has no experience, the Missionary Society won't let her go, but she goes anyway, alone, to a remote northern province. She is hated, then loved; finally she becomes both a significant political figure and the heroine of a miraculous escape in which she shepherds 100 children to safety across the mountains just ahead of a Japanese invasion. Curt Jurgens is suitably stony as Lin Nan, the half-Dutch, half-Chinese military officer who falls in love with her, and a visibly ailing Robert Donat (who died before this, his final film, was released) is the wily local mandarin who sees and makes use of her extraordinary abilities. Directed by Mark Robson, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is a sweeping, stirring tear-jerker, a big tale told in a big landscape with acres of orchestrated strings by Malcolm Arnold. It's a beautiful and beautifully made film that's a classic of the "everyone said I couldn't but I did it anyway" genre.--Richard Farr

• Urban Legends | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £17.53   |  Saving you £2.46 (14.03%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In this horror sequel a young film student makes a movie about urban legends, only to find her friends and crew start dying...

• Shaft: The TV Movie Collection | DVD | (10/11/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Be Cool | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  John Travolta returns as Chili Palmer in this sequel to 1995 comedy hit.

• Switching Goals | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £24.88   |  Saving you £-10.89 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Originally made for American TV, Switching Goals stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as super-identical twins who are actually total opposites. OK, it's not the freshest concept in the universe, but the teen divas (who also exec produce--as they did in their Passport to Paris) are an undeniable favourite with little girls. Here, they're Sam, the athletic one, and Emma, the fashion-conscious one. Their indulgent dad (Eric Lutes) coaches a soccer team and their workaholic mother (Kathryn Greenwood) is a psychologist. Look for a switch, the truth to be revealed, and all to end well. This TV movie should appeal to girls between 4 and 10, especially if any of them are handy on the soccer pitch.--N.F. Mendoza, Amazon.com

• Heist | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-2.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Gene Hackman stars as an ex-con who decides to pull off the biggest jewelry heist of his career, but mayhem ensues when the gang of jewel thieves he teams up with turn on him.