"Actor: Susan Wilson"

• Stepmom | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Although Stepmom was dismissed as a contender in the 1998 Oscar race, it's worth giving a second chance to this rather cogent, sharp-tongued look at second chances. Susan Sarandon's performance as a mum about to be replaced by her ex-husband's new girlfriend (played by Julia Roberts) has a lot of bite, and it's a shame the script opted to trivialise her plight in its final reel. Initially, the rancour that passes between divorced mum Jackie (Sarandon) and trendy fashion photographer Isabel (Roberts) rings true, aided by the sincerity of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) and the emotional plight of their children, who have the most to lose in their parents' divorce. As the drama makes clear, the children are the real victims in the agony that ensues between old and new love. Director Chris Columbus, who is adept at showing familial chaos (he directed Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone) with a sanitised minimum of lingering emotional damage, actually manages to dig a trifle deeper than usual in exploring the jealousy and hurt that occur when the baton is passed between a birth mum and the younger wife who steps into her shoes. Stepmom fortunately manages to touch on that chord--showing how an ambitious woman might feel hampered by the responsibility of children just because she's fallen in love with their dad--as well as the haunting grief that it causes their birth mum. It's an issue that haunts millions of second wives everywhere, and while Roberts conveys the confusion of being taken for granted in the melee that follows, it's Sarandon who walks off with the film. She's relentless in her fury, and everyone else in the film--the generally excellent Harris included--is sideswiped. It's just a shame that Hollywood once again wimps out in the end, solving the problem by giving Sarandon a terminal illness. Instead of allowing Jackie and Isabel's relationship to unfold on something less than a high note, the movie has to quell its best thing with a false payoff because it doesn't know what to do with real life. --Paula Nechak, Amazon.com

• Bull Durham | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Durham Bulls are in a slump and have spent a hefty sum of money acquiring an untested young pitcher in the hopes of reversing their standings. Crash Davis a 12-year veteran ballplayer who has spent most of his time bumming around as a minor league catcher is assigned to mature the rookie pitching phenom named ""Nuke."" But a beautiful and enigmatic team groupie comes between the tutor and his student enlightening both with her game of life love and verse.

• Erin Brockovich / Stepmom / Steel Magnolias | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Erin Brockovich (Dir. Steven Soderbergh 2000): Erin Brockovich was never trained or indeed meant to work in a lawyers office. Circumstances take this down-on-her-luck twice-divorced mother of three into a legal practice. Here she discovers some legal files that don't add up... On investigation she discovers an injustice and decides against the odds to take on the bad guys on behalf of a poor and very ill community. Stepmom (Dir. Chris Columbus 1998): Jackie (Susan Sarandon) is a divorced mother of two. Isabel (Julia Roberts) is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. It is the universal dilemma of the 'non-traditional family' they all love the children but the complex interplay between parents step-parents step-children ex-spouses and significant others is decidedly tricky. But when Jackie discovers she is ill both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest while they have the chance. Steel Magnolias (Dir. Herbert Ross 1989): A beautiful bittersweet comedy set in deep south Louisiana Steel Magnolias unites talents of America's finest actresses as six very special friends bonded together by mutual triumphs and tragedies. Despite their differences beautiful Shelby (Julia Roberts) her strong-willed mother M'Lynn (Sally Field) beauty parlour owner Truvy (Dolly Parton) elegant wealthy widow Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) sharp tongued Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) and mousey newcomer Anelle (Daryl Hannah) enjoy a friendship that spans the boundaries of age and status. Sharing each other's strength and loyalty they face their greatest fears and highest hopes with dry wit and a self-deprecating style...

• Dallas: Seasons 1 and 2 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £32.99   |  Saving you £18.00 (54.56%)   |  RRP £50.99

  Dallas: The Complete First and Second Seasons is an American equivalent to those British mini-series about historical chapters in that country's royal monarchy. Full of family in-fighting, political intrigue crossed with personal triumph or disappointment, and plenty of sensational infidelities and betrayals, Dallas is a captivating story of a wealthy oil family's power and travails. It is also uniquely fun and daringly absurd, albeit with a straight face; this hugely successful, primetime soap opera began in the late 1970s and ran 14 seasons in all, built on a handful of primary relationships that stretch credulity but never descend into self-parody. Not unexpectedly, Dallas begins with a Romeo and Juliet tale that instantly exposes an old feud between two families and strips the civilized veneer from several major characters. Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), youngest of three sons of independent oilman Jock Ewing (Jim Davis), arrives at the Ewing clan's Southfork ranch just outside Dallas, Texas, with a new wife, Pam Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal). Pam is the daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business rival of Jock's and one-time suitor of the Ewing matriarch, Eleanor (or "Miss Ellie", played by Barbara Bel Geddes). Pam's also the sister of a state senator, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), whose vendetta against the Ewings is played out in the legislature, imposing costly regulations on their business and holding committee investigations into questionable practices of company president J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). Pam's status as the newest Ewing causes an uproar in the family (besides being a Barnes, she also dated the Ewings' genial but lonely foreman, Ray Krebbs, played by Steve Kanaly) and prompts Dallas' charming villain, J.R., to make many Iago-like attempts, over the first two seasons, to drive her from Bobby's arms. Pam has a different set of problems with the other, jealous Ewing women, including J.R.'s possibly barren and alcoholic wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and teenage Lucy (Charlene Tilton), daughter of exiled Ewing son Gary (Ted Shackleford). With new and old resentments flying and everyone deeply suspicious of everyone else's motives (even the ailing Jock doesn't trust J.R.), there's plenty of drama to chew on. Still, storylines are often larger than the sum of these parts, with lots of kidnappings, marital affairs, plane crashes, and shootings ratcheting up suspense. Dallas is pure pleasure, a little guilty, perhaps, but not a sin. --Tom Keogh

• Dead Man Walking | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £7.73   |  Saving you £8.26 (106.86%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A serious film on a serious subject, Dead Man Walking (1995) is enriched by two excellent performances: Sean Penn as a murderer and rapist facing execution on Death Row, and Susan Sarandon as a nun who visits and befriends him. Tim Robbins, the writer and director of the film (and Sarandon's husband), based the film on a true story, and there's not much narrative tension since it's obvious Penn will not escape his fate. But the film is a clear-eyed look at the realities of capital punishment and its grisly rituals, which at the same time never sentimentalises the people or the issues. There is no shying away from the evil of the murderer's acts and their effects on the victims' families, but this is balanced against the heartlessness and cynicism of those in the prison system and their political masters. It's hard to say whether the film is ultimately against capital punishment; it certainly encourages you to think for yourself. On the DVD: The image and sound quality is excellent, in widescreen ratio 16:9. There's a theatrical trailer and a TV commercial for the film, which also has language tracks in English, French and Spanish and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Dutch and Hungarian. There's also an audio commentary on the film by director Tim Robbins which gives valuable insights into the political background of the film and the shooting process. --Ed Buscombe

• Tremors 3 - Back To Perfection | DVD | (05/10/2009) from £6.37   |  Saving you £3.62 (56.83%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Burt Grummer returns after travelling abroad killing carnivorous giant worms called 'Graboids' and their offspring to life in his home town and must deal with some crooked land developers a thrill-seeking guy named Jack Sawyer looking for wealth in this potential tourist town and a new strain of Graboids...

• When The Boat Comes In - Series 4 - Part 3 | DVD | (11/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jack loses his fortune in the Wall Street crash. He returns to Liverpool illegally with gangsters pursuing him across the Atlantic. He becomes involved in the Spanish Civil War and agrees to run arms for an ex-Sergeant Major. Episodes include: 'Action! Comrades In Arms!' and 'Roll Of Honour'.

• The Devil And Max Devlin | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  After stepping into the path of an oncoming bus the deceased Max Devlin strikes a bargain with the devil. Max will be restored to life providing he can convince three innocent people to sell their souls to the devil within two months. His targets have other ideas however in this devilishly comic fantasy featuring Marvin Hamlisch's music.

• When The Boat Comes In - Series 4 - Part 2 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £12.97   |  Saving you £7.02 (54.12%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jack Ford loses his Midas touch and becomes a victim of the Wall Street crash which forces him to leave New York with gangsters threatening his life. He returns illegally to Liverpool as a stowaway on a cargo boat which costs him every penny he has. He then sets about finding old friends and rebuilding his life... Episodes comprise: Oh My Charming Billy Boy / Friends Romans Countrymen / The Bright Young Things

• The President's Mistress | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A government agent finds himself in the middle of a deadly struggle when he discovers that his murdered sister was both mistress of the President of the United States and a Soviet agent.

• Manhunt | DVD | (05/07/2005) from £4.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A modern day western.... In this drama a man who is unjustly imprisoned escapes and soon the manhunt is on. After a stranger buys two horses at an auction in Tuscon he stops to water them on the property of rancher Ben Robeson. The unscrupulous rancher sees and easy mark so he accuses the stranger of stealing the horses from his stables and ultimately gets him thrown in jail for three years. Determined to get revenge against the rancher the stranger escapes with justice on his m