"Actor: Roberto"

• Mozart: Don Giovanni -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (12/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  In this Zurich Opera House staging of Mozart’s darkly comic cautionary fable Don Giovanni the lighting and stage design keep the characters shaded in half-shadow: even Zerlina’s wedding feels like a subdued affair here, and the Don’s banqueting room is a suitably gloomy venue for the Stone Guest’s climactic visit for a spot of dinner and damnation. Both this staging and video director Brian Large’s filming play no tricks with the audience’s expectations, opting for a largely traditional presentation of this tragedy of swaggering bravado, cuckolded lovers and revenge from beyond the grave. Nikolaus Harnoncourt brings all the sensitivity of his historically informed approach to the orchestra pit. Heading a very strong cast are Rodney Gilfry, defiantly strong-voiced but also haughtily handsome as the seducing Don, and Cecilia Bartoli, a mercurial presence as Donna Elvira. Their scenes together crackle and fizz, even when Bartoli’s extremely ripe vibrato contrasts a little uncomfortably with Harnoncourt’s authenticity. Liliana Nikiteanu makes for a pretty, naïve Zerlina, convincingly torn between her Masetto (Oliver Widmer) and the animalistic attraction of the Don. Laszlo Polgar’s Leporello is wheedling and base, but still the inheritor of his master’s charisma; Isabel Rey and Roberto Sacca are solid as the colourless moralists Anna and Ottavio; while Matti Salminen’s powerful Commendatore isn’t expected to do anything more than stand still and declaim. Overall this is an excellent musical performance, unexceptionally staged. On the DVD: Don Giovanni on disc has a good 24-minute "Behind the Scenes" feature, including interviews with Cecilia Bartoli, Harnoncourt, Gilfry and Isabel Rey. There’s also a trailer for other ArtHaus releases. The 16:9 picture sometimes struggles to bring definition to the dimly lit sets; sound though is crisp and clean PCM stereo or Dolby 5.1. There are subtitles in five languages. --Mark Walker

• Verdi - Falstaff / Graham Vick, Bernard Haitink, Royal Opera House | DVD | (10/10/2001) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Graham Vicks production of Falstaff opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes, especially Falstaff's unusually hideous get-ups, go several steps beyond the Breughelian effect Vicks intended. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections. --Roz Kaveney On the DVD: The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is powerful and filled with detail, capturing the excitement of the performance and the atmosphere of the Royal Opera House superbly. The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 widesceen image is very clear, and while given the source inevitably not up to the highest feature film standards, is among the best live classical titles yet released on DVD. The bold colours are particularly well realised, though the red lighting of the Garter Inn scenes causes the image to falter a little. There are optional subtitles in English, French and German. These are presented directly over the picture and would be easier to read had they been a little larger, or outlined in some way. The special features consist of a brief synopsis by James Naughtie, taken directly from the original television broadcast, a minute-long "comment" by conductor Bernard Haitink and short but interesting interviews with Bryn Terfel and director Graham Vick. Finally there is a nine-minute episode from the series of short BBC films, Covent Garden Tales on the 1999 modernisation of the Royal Opera House. --Gary S Dalkin

• Guigo Offline | DVD | (08/04/2019) from £11.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The son of divorced parents, twelve-year-old Guigo is preoccupied with his cell phone and young love. On a fishing trip with his best friend Tullius, his father Roberto and Roberto's new friend Paul, he s shocked to learn he has no internet access and no way to text his crush. Things get even more overwhelming when he learns that Paul is his father's new boyfriend. Package also included MIDNIGHT WITH ADAM, a sexy short charting a newly out young man's struggle with his feelings towards his seeminlgy unnatainable straight best friend.

• Manzotti: Excelsior (Live Recording From The Teatro Degli Arcimboldi Milano 2002) | DVD | (18/01/2010) from £19.66   |  Saving you £5.33 (21.30%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Excelsior

• Mozart: Cosi fan tutte | DVD | (30/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Mozart's third and final opera with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, the hugely ambitious dramatic comedy Così fan Tutte (roughly translated as: "They're All Like That"), is brought passionately to life in a first-class production conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and featuring one of the great starring roles for Cecilia Bartoli. Filmed live at the Zurich Opera House in February 2000 on a set which visualises the subtitle "The School for Lovers", the plot revolves around two army officers arguing about the fidelity of their brides, then setting out to test their chastity. Despite the often playful humour, this is not only psychologically telling music-making, but reveals Mozart exploring the structure of opera, discarding convention to mix large ensemble sections with arias for as many different combinations of singers as possible. With Liliana Nikiteanu attractively contrasted with Bartoli, and thoroughly convincing performances by Roberto Sacca (Ferrando) and Oliver Widmer (Guilelmo), this Così has a freshness and flow which, coupled with the timeless romantic themes, feels very contemporary. On the DVD: the presentation, which includes an interesting 22-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, is spread over two DVDs. There is a multi-language booklet minus libretto, though there is the option to watch with English subtitles. Given the difficult live stage lighting conditions the 16:9 anamorphically enhanced picture is as good as can be expected. There are both stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, though the latter gives the voices a disconcertingly disembodied character, leaving the former to be preferred. The total running time is approximately 213 minutes, not 275 minutes stated on the packaging. --Gary S Dalkin

• Django Kill! | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £7.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (87.61%)   |  RRP £14.99

  In the ultra-violent Spaghetti Western Django Kill! Tomas Milian stars as The Stranger a half-breed bandit left for dead by his double-crossing gang members who have made off with the gold they have stolen from a US army detachment. Rising from the grave he sets about seeking revenge aided by a pair of mystic Native Americans and armed only with a pistol and a supply of golden bullets. The Stranger's quest leads him to a strange town known only as The Unhappy Place. There he fin

• Three Businessmen / Highway Patrolman | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £13.89   |  Saving you £6.10 (30.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Three Businessmen (1998): Two lone businessmen Bennie and Frank find themselves alone one night in the dining room of a large Victorian hotel in Liverpool England. Abandoned by the staff of the weird dining room they tentatively join forces and go in search of food - in a city neither of them knows. But restaurant after restaurant fails them. Without realising their destination Bennie and Frank travel half way around the planet via public transport. Prattling on about cred

• Donizetti - Roberto Devereux (Haider, Dbs, Gruberova) | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £17.75   |  Saving you £-0.76 (-4.50%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In this new production of one of Donizetti's most powerful works, filmed in 2005 at Munich's Bavarian State Opera, Edita Gruberova, the reigning queen of bel canto, gives the performance of her career as Elizabeth I, driven to madness by the betrayal of her lover, Robert Devereux.

• Airplane Mode | DVD | (14/10/2019) from £6.21   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  En route to the world's largest social media convention in Australia, Logan Paul is scared to death; today is his first time flying. All of his worst nightmares come true when the passengers refuse to switch their phones to airplane mode, causing the plane's controls to go haywire and electrocuting the pilots. Amidst the chaos, Juanpa Zurita (Logan's foreign exchange brother) has one goal: to lose his virginity or die trying. It's up to Logan to overcome his fears, defeat a Russian psychopath on the loose, and save the day. Co-starring Chloe Bridges, Amanda Cerny, King Bach, Nick Bateman, Lele Pons, Roman Atwood, Casey Neistat, Brittany Furlan, and many more, the internet is about to crash and explode Logan knows he will save his fandom .

• Soccer Superstars: World Cup Heroes - Roberto Mancini | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £6.39   |  Saving you £5.60 (46.70%)   |  RRP £11.99

  This documentary features one of Italian football's greatest players striker Roberto Mancini. With a smattering of top quality footage of Mancini in action this is ideal viewing for fans of the player and the game.

• Real Madrid Football Team | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An in-depth look at the history and the players that have made Real Madrid one of the most revered club teams in the world.

• Los Debutantes | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £3.49   |  Saving you £16.50 (472.78%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From the heart of Santiago's criminal underworld comes the year's most prolific gangster thriller. In a world ruled by murder drug trafficking and prostitution survival depends on betrayal and trust is a luxury you cannot afford. Tarantinoesque in its directorial style 'Los Debutantes' is the gripping tale of 24-year-old Silvio (Nestor Cantillana) and his 17-year-old brother who leave the poverty of their small town lives in search of their fortunes in the city of Santiago.

• Crimebusters | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A morally dubious duo feature in this hilarious escapade as they fall out with a mob who run a harbour complex. They resort to crime and plan a supermarket robbery which not surprisingly goes haywire.

• Between Your Legs | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £9.98   |  Saving you £5.01 (50.20%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Radio talk show worker Miranda uses daily dog walking as an excuse to cruise for extra-marital encounters. And successful scriptwriter Javier is a phone sex junkie. When the two meet at a sex addiction clinic to undergo therapy they embark on a steamy affair with psychological suspenseful and shocking ramifications. Meanwhile Miranda's husband Felix is investigasting a murder case that inexplicably becomes linked to his wife's affair. You'll be hooked by the opening credit sequence and then you'll be swept away by the sheer bravura style non-stop sexual antics and powerful luridness of this highly erotic study in compulsive obsession - with a startling and unexpected twist ending.

• Rescue Under Fire (DVD) Edition | DVD | (24/09/2018) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Eureka Entertainment to release RESCUE UNDER FIRE, an adrenaline-fueled action thriller based on true events, on DVD from 24 September 2018. The crew of a medical helicopter crashes in Afghanistan whilst attempting to assist an ambushed patrol of Spanish and American troops. The Spanish army has only one night to organise the rescue of the crew and injured, but what seems routine turns into hell once they receive the order to rescue the helicopter as well. Things only get worse when during the night a huge concentration of insurgents begin surrounding them. The debut feature from director Alfredo Martínez, a multi-award-winning writer who has worked behind the scenes on numerous Hollywood blockbusters including Oblivion and Walt Disney's 2016 smash hit, The Jungle Book. Rescue Under Fire is an incredibly tense and exciting action thriller that should not be missed

• Johnny Stecchino | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Marx Brothers meet The Godfather when the bumbling Dante (Roberto Benigni) discovers that there's nothing organized about organized crime in this hilarious tale of mistaken identity that reveals why Benigni has become Italy's most popular film comedian. A naive schoolbus driver Dante finally meets the passionate woman of his dreams. Unfortunately she only wants him for his body; his dead body. Dante doesn't realize he looks just like mobster Johnny Stecchino and that femme fatale Maria (Nicoletta Braschi) is setting him up to be the victim of a hit so that she and husband Johnny can escape the crime world. The dim-witted innocent doesn't catch on fast; every time a round of gunfire goes off Dante thinks he's being hunted for shoplifting a banana! 'Johnny Stecchino' .

• Tchaikovsky Gala (Swan Lake/Sleeping Beauty/The Nutcracker) Roberto Bolle / La Scala | DVD | (24/11/2008) from £15.27   |  Saving you £7.72 (50.56%)   |  RRP £22.99

• El Bonaerense | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £7.33   |  Saving you £12.66 (172.71%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Zapa is a young locksmith who works in a quiet sleepy part of Buenos Aires. Life is slow and the hours pass slowly untill one day he is sent on a job opening a safe in an office only to find that the next day he is arrested for robbing the establishment. His uncle bails him out and suddenly he has a new job a new love interest and his life has become stranger than fiction....

• Various Composers - Metropolitan Opera Gala (Levine) | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Metropolitan Opera Gala Live Recording (selections): Metropolitan Opera House New York 27 April 1996.Highlights from: Les Pecheurs de perles - Louise - The Ghosts of Versailles - Don Pasquale - Rusalka - Andrea Chenier - Faust - Romeo et Juliette - Giuditta - L'amico Fritz - Cosi fan tutte - Le nozze di Figaro - Don Giovanni - Les Contes d'Hoffmann - La Perichole - Die Fledermaus - Der Rosenkavalier - Samson et Dalila - Eugene Onegin - Un ballo in maschera - Don Carlo - Ernani - I lombardi - Luisa Miller - Rienzi Tannhauser - Tristan und Isolde - Die Walkure - Gotterdammerung - Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.

• Fedora - Giordano | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Italian composer Umberto Giordano's opera 'Fedora' has all of the qualities of a thrilling murder mystery. On this Bel Canto Society release of an impassioned 1998 performance soprano Mirella Freni lends her remarkable voice to the title role and tenor Sergei Larin provides powerful support.