"Actor: Terry Young"

• Monty Python's Life Of Brian | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £5.32   |  Saving you £7.67 (144.17%)   |  RRP £12.99

  There is not a single joke, sight-gag or one-liner in Monty Python's Life of Brian that will not forever burn itself into the viewer's memory as being just as funny as it is possible to be, but--extraordinarily--almost every indestructibly hilarious scene also serves a dual purpose, making this one of the most consistently sustained film satires ever made. Like all great satire, the Pythons not only attack and vilify their targets (the bigotry and hypocrisy of organised religion and politics) supremely well, they also propose an alternative: be an individual, think for yourself, don't be led by others. "You've all got to work it out for yourselves", cries Brian in a key moment. "Yes, we've all got to work it our for ourselves", the crowd reply en masse. Two thousand years later, in a world still blighted by religious zealots, Brian's is still a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Aside from being a neat spoof on the Hollywood epic, it's also almost incidentally one of the most realistic on-screen depictions of the ancient world--instead of treating their characters as posturing historical stereotypes, the Pythons realised what no sword 'n' sandal epic ever has: that people are all the same, no matter what period of history they live in. People always have and always will bicker, lie, cheat, swear, conceal cowardice with bravado (like Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea), abuse power (like Pontius Pilate), blindly follow the latest fads and giggle at silly things ("Biggus Dickus"). In the end, Life of Brian teaches us that the only way for a despairing individual to cope in a world of idiocy and hypocrisy is to always look on the bright side of life. On the DVD: Life of Brian returns to Region 2 DVD in a decent widescreen anamorphic print with Dolby 5.1 sound--neither are exactly revelatory, but at least it's an improvement on the previous release, which was, shockingly, pan & scan. The 50-minute BBC documentary, "The Pythons", was filmed mainly on location in 1979 and isn't especially remarkable or insightful (a new retrospective would have been appreciated). There are trailers for this movie, as well as Holy Grail plus three other non-Python movies. There's no commentary track, sadly. --Mark Walker

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- Two-disc set | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second best comedy ever made, Monty Python and the Holy Grail must give precedence only to the same team's masterpiece, The Life of Brian (1979). Even though most of this film's set-pieces are now indelibly inscribed in every Python fan's psyche, as if by magic they never seem to pall. And they remain endlessly, joyfully quotable: from the Black Knight ("It's just a flesh wound"), to the constitutional peasants ("Come and see the violence inherent in the system!") and the taunting French soldier ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"). Not forgetting of course the migratory habits of European and African swallows... The film's mock-Arthurian narrative provides a sturdy framework for the jokes, and the authentic-looking production design is relentlessly and gloriously dirty. The miniscule budget turns out to be one of the film's greatest assets: Can't afford horses? Use coconuts instead. No money for special effects? Let Terry Gilliam animate. And so on, from Camelot ("it's only a model") to the rampaging killer rabbit glove puppet. True it's let down a little by a rushed ending, and the jokes lack the sting of Life of Brian's sharply observed satire, but Holy Grail is still timeless comedy that's surely destined for immortality. On the DVD: Disc One contains a digitally remastered anamorphic (16:9) print of the film--which is still a little grainy, but a big improvement on previous video releases--with a splendidly remixed Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (plus an added 24 seconds of self-referential humour "absolutely free"!). There are two commentaries, one with the two Terrys, co-directors Jones and Gilliam, the other a splicing together of three separate commentaries by Michael Palin, John Cleese (in waspish, nit-picking mood) and Eric Idle. A "Follow the Killer Rabbit" feature provides access either to the Accountant's invoices or Gilliam's conceptual sketches. Subtitle options allow you to read the screenplay or watch with spookily appropriate captions from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part II. The second disc has lots more material, much of it very silly and inconsequential (an educational film on coconuts, the Camelot song in Lego and so on), plus a long-ish documentary from 2001 in which Palin and Jones revisit Doune Castle, Glencoe and other Scottish locations. Perhaps best of all, though, are the two scenes from the Japanese version with English subtitles, in which we see the search for the Holy sake cup, and the Ni-saying Knights who want... bonsai! --Mark Walker

• Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition) | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £7.55   |  Saving you £17.44 (230.99%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Yoiks! Here be the Python's tale of good King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his knights as they quest for the Holy Grail. Watch as they face great odds and silly sods. See them wage battle against the fierce Killer Rabbit (""Run Away! Run Away!"") and (oh horrors!) see them confront the dreaded Knights Who Say ""Ni!"". Oh these be trying times. Can these good knights pass the test of valour and cut down yon tree with herring? Or will they blow themselves to smithereens with the Holy H

• Monty Python's Life Of Brian | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £5.02   |  Saving you £14.97 (298.21%)   |  RRP £19.99

  That rarest of rare treasures, Monty Python's Life of Brian is both achingly funny and seriously satirical without ever allowing one to overbalance the other. There is not a single joke, sight gag or one-liner that will not forever burn itself into the viewer's memory as being just as funny as it is possible to be, but, extraordinarily, almost every line and every indestructibly hilarious scene also serves a dual purpose, making this one of the most consistently sustained film satires ever made. Like all great satire, the Pythons not only attack and vilify their targets (the bigotry and hypocrisy of organised religion and politics) supremely well, they also propose an alternative: be an individual, think for yourself, don't be led by others. "You've all got to work it out for yourselves", cries Brian in a key moment. "Yes, we've all got to work it our for ourselves", the crowd reply en masse, "Tell us more". Two thousand years later, in a world still blighted by religious zealots, Brian's is still a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Aside from being a neat spoof on the Hollywood epic, it's also almost incidentally one of the most realistic on-screen depictions of the ancient world--instead of treating their characters as posturing historical stereotypes, the Pythons realised what no sword 'n' sandal epic ever has: that people are all the same, no matter what period of history they live in. People always have and always will bicker, lie, cheat, swear, conceal cowardice with bravado (like Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea), abuse power (like Pontius Pilate), blindly follow the latest fads and giggle at silly things ("Biggus Dickus"). In the end, Life of Brian teaches us that the only way for a despairing individual to cope in a world of idiocy and hypocrisy is to always look on the bright side of life. --Mark Walker

• The Lost Weekend | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £11.27   |  Saving you £-1.28 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Don Birnam long-time alcoholic has been ""on the wagon"" for ten days and seems to be over the worst; but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother Wick and girlfriend Helen he begins a four-day bender. In flashbacks we see past events all gone wrong because of the bottle. But this bout looks like being his last...one way or the other. Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Actor Best Screenplay Best Director and Best Film.

• Don Henley - Live Inside Job | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £9.38   |  Saving you £5.61 (59.81%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Don Henley helped define the 70's as a member of the enormously successful rock band the Eagles before launching an impressive solo career that includes such hits as 'Dirty Laundry' 'The Boys Of Summer' and 'All She Wants To Do Is Dance'. On May 25 2000 he returned to his Texas roots for a remarkable concert recorded before an enthusiastic audience at Fair Park Music Hall in Dallas. This rock legends live performance captures all the passion satire and originality that fans around the world most treasure in his influential music. Track listing:- Dirty Laundry; Sunset Grill; Workin' It; Taking You Home; The Boys Of Summer; Lilah; Everything Is Different Now; The End Of The Innocence; All She Wants To Do Is Dance; New York Minute; Talking To The Moon; They're Not Here They're Not Coming; The Heart Of The Matter; Desperado; The Long Run; My Thanksgiving; Hotel California

• Monty Python: The Movies (Box Set) | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £28.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (38.13%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This Monty Python Movie Box Set contains all four Python movies: And Now for Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)--the two-disc set--Monty Python's Life of Brian--including a 50-minute documentary--and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

• Monty Python Movies Box Set | DVD | (10/04/2017) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-14.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Monty Python goes to the movies in this DVD boxset packed with three of their classic cinematic adventures. Enjoy ˜And Now For Something Completely Different', ˜Monty Python and the Holy Grail' and ˜Life of Brian'. And Now For Something Completely Different Monty Python's Flying Circus is regarded as a milestone In British Comedy, This, their first feature film, is an anthology of the funniest sketches from the legendary BBC television series. Pick one of your favourites from among many, including the famous Say No More, Nudge, Nudge sequence, the Hell's Grannies and The Dead Parrot. Monty Python and the Holy Grail After a chance meeting with a rather irate God, King Arthur and his Knights of The Round Table are set the sacred task of retrieving the all powerful Holy Grail. On their long quest they encounter a number of terrifying hazards the taunts of the abusive French Knight, disgruntled peasants, the Knights who say ˜Ni' and the deadly rabbit with the big pointy teeth. (Double Disc Set) Life of Brian The Pythons deliver a scathing, anarchic satire of both religion and Hollywood's depiction of all things biblical with their third film. The setting is Judea 33 A.D., a time of poverty and chaos, with no shortage of messiahs, followers willing to believe in them, and exasperated Romans trying to impose some order. (Double Disc Set)

• Don Henley - Live Inside Job | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Don Henley helped define the 70's as a member of the enormously successful rock band the Eagles before launching an impressive solo career that includes such hits as 'Dirty Laundry' 'The Boys Of Summer' and 'All She Wants To Do Is Dance'. On May 25 2000 he returned to his Texas roots for a remarkable concert recorded before an enthusiastic audience at Fair Park Music Hall in Dallas. This rock legend's live performance captures all the passion satire and originality that fans around the world most treasure in his influential music. Tracklist: 'Dirty Laundry' 'Sunset Grill' 'Workin' It' 'Taking You Home' 'The Boys Of Summer' 'Lilah' 'Everything Is Different Now' 'The End Of Innocence' 'All She Wants To Do Is Dance' 'New York Minute' 'Talking To The Moon' 'They're Not Here They're Not Coming' 'The Heart Of The Matter' 'Desperado' 'The Long Run' 'My Thanksgiving' and 'Hotel California'.

• The Lost Weekend | Blu Ray | (25/06/2012) from £31.98   |  Saving you £-7.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  "I'm not a drinker--I'm a drunk." These words, and the serious message behind them, were still potent enough in 1945 to shock audiences flocking to The Lost Weekend. The speaker is Don Birnam (Ray Milland), a handsome, talented, articulate alcoholic. The writing team of producer Charles Brackett and director Billy Wilder pull no punches in their depiction of Birnam's massive weekend bender, a tailspin that finds him reeling from his favorite watering hole to Bellevue Hospital. Location shooting in New York helps the street-level atmosphere, especially a sequence in which Birnam, a budding writer, tries to hock his typewriter for booze money. He desperately staggers past shuttered storefronts--it's Yom Kippur, and the pawnshops are closed. Milland, previously known as a lightweight leading man (he'd starred in Wilder's hilarious The Major and the Minor three years earlier), burrows convincingly under the skin of the character, whether waxing poetic about the escape of drinking or screaming his lungs out in the D.T.'s sequence. Wilder, having just made the ultra-noir Double Indemnity, brought a new kind of frankness and darkness to Hollywood's treatment of a social problem. At first the film may have seemed too bold; Paramount Pictures nearly killed the release of the picture after it tested poorly with preview audiences. But once in release, The Lost Weekend became a substantial hit, and won four Oscars: for picture, director, screenplay, and actor. --Robert Horton

• Monty Python And The Holy Grail | UMD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

• MONTY PYTHON: DAS LEBEN DES BR | Blu Ray | (22/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Punk | DVD | (05/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Two films that capture the very essence of Punk. Released simultaneously with the definitive punk CD collection and what is without doubt the most comprehensive and most beautifully produced punk book ever published PUNK.RUDE BOY: Rude Boy takes in the mood of England circa 1978. The Clash tour an England plagued by economic decline unemployment and fascist demonstrations and play some of their best music ever.PUNK IN LONDON: Featuring The Clash and some of punks most important bands including The Adverts X-Ray Spex Subway Sect The Boomtown Rats The Jam Chelsea and the outrageous Wayne County and the Electric Chairs.