"Actor: Sam Brown"

• Double Platinum | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £26.32   |  Saving you £-20.33 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A soapy backstage melodrama originally produced for network broadcast, Double Platinum downplays showbiz verisimilitude to turn on the tears. With 60s soul queen Diana Ross and 90s pop princess Brandy sharing production credit as well as billing, this formulaic tearjerker focuses on its stars' dramatic chops more than their musical prowess, a choice that won't deter their respective audiences, even as it disappoints less partisan music fans who might have hoped for a stronger musical component.Olivia King (Ross) is the former St. Louis housewife who abandoned her family for pop stardom, only to return 18 years later determined to meet, and reconcile with, her daughter, Kayla (Brandy), now nurturing her own footlight fantasies. But when the prodigal mom finally does reveal herself to the bright, feisty teen, Kayla is outraged and then hard-boiled. Olivia's offer to help the undeniably talented girl make industry contacts is accepted, with the bitter caveat that the superstar should abandon any hopes of a true maternal bond with her embittered daughter. The usually imperious Olivia meekly accepts those terms, while the secretly yearning Kayla keeps up her tough-cookie cover, but the plot telegraphs its ultimate destination, even as the tears flow.Both stars acquit themselves well in the story's stormier clashes, and the emotional tug of the story is well engineered to soak hankies. Less credulous viewers will be hampered by the original songs--when Ross steps on-stage, her regal demeanour and flashy (if occasionally silly) gowns support her supposed status as a legend, but the utterly forgettable, generic songs she mouths deflate that image. That said, viewers less interested in the actual music than the glitzy idea of the two characters may well be content to wallow in the waterworks of a story that could as easily have been titled Divas: The Next Generation. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• Duke Ellington - Live in Montreal 20 April 1964 | DVD | (10/07/2006) from £12.98   |  Saving you £12.01 (48.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

• John Wayne Most Wanted Collection | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Born Marion Morrison in 1907 John Wayne would become one of the greatest and most enduring screen legends in the history of cinema. It was in these early westerns that he developed his famous screen image. When director John Ford spotted this emerging talent and cast him as the Ringo Kid in 'Stagecoach' 'The Duke's' future was sealed. Rainbow Valley: John Martin is a government agent working undercover. Leading citizen Morgan calls in gunman Galt who blows Martin's cover..

• Tear It Down | DVD | (24/01/2000) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-7.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Tear It Down' is a powerful action thriller set against the backdrop of the decrepit Diplomat Hotel the haunt of junkies hookers and other assorted low-lifes. Checking himself into the same room that he shared with his bride in a more opulent era Matthew Westin puts a gun to his head and is ready to pull the trigger when his suicide attempt is halted as he finds himself dodging bullets fired from the adjoining room. Shell-shocked Westin investigates and discovers a hitman on the verge of shooting a terrified young woman Carrie who has had a contract put out on her by a gangster Nathan (Glenn Plummer) her former boyfriend...