"Actor: Victor Truro"

• 9.1/2 Weeks | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £8.25   |  Saving you £4.74 (57.45%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Frequently given short shrift as soft porn (which it is) and as mindless (which it isn't), director Adrian Lyne's follow-up to Flashdance (insert own joke here) is a thoughtful, smutty film about a bad sexual relationship. It follows the two-month affair between Elizabeth, an art-gallery dealer, and John, a Wall Street executive. The relationship spirals downward into raunchier sex (filmed, by the way, quite nicely) but principally is about two adults doing adult things but not acting anything like real adults. Attempts at actual human connection, about the longing to be "good", are present here and make this an above-average erotic film. Rourke is just honing his scumbag, bad-boy persona; but it doesn't overwhelm. At least there's lots and lots of Kim Basinger. --Keith Simanton, Amazon.com

• Manhattan | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Manhattan, Woody Allen's follow-up to Oscar-winning Annie Hall, is a film of many distinctions: its glorious all-Gershwin score, its breathtakingly elegant black-and-white, widescreen cinematography by Gordon Willis (best-known for shooting the Godfather movies); its deeply shaded performances; its witty screenplay that marked a new level in Allen's artistic maturity; and its catalogue of Things that Make Life Worth Living. Allen's "Rhapsody in Gray" concerns, as his own character puts it, "people in Manhattan who are constantly creating these real, unnecessary, neurotic problems for themselves, because it keeps them from dealing with more insoluble, terrifying problems about the universe". It's a romantic comedy about infidelity and betrayal, the rules of love and friendship, young girls (a radiant and sweet Mariel Hemingway) and older men (Allen), innocence, and sophistication. (a favourite phrase is used to describe a piece of sculpture at the Guggenheim: "It has a marvellous kind of negative capability".) The film's themes can be summed up in two key lines: "I can't believe you met somebody you like better than me", and "It's very important to have some kind of personal integrity". OK, so they may not sound like such sparkling snatches of brilliant dialogue, but Manhattan puts those ideas across with such emotion that you feel an ache in your heart. --Jim Emerson

• Prancer | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £5.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (33.39%)   |  RRP £7.99

  A reindeer doesn't have to fly to be magical to someone, and Prancer proves the point in an unassuming and plainspoken way. This 1989 family film stars Rebecca Harrell as nine-year-old Jessica, a motherless schoolgirl raised (and largely ignored) by her bereaved and embittered father (Sam Elliot), an apple farmer. While Jessica's dad struggles to keep food on the family table, the little heroine worries over the fate of a wounded reindeer she meets and wistfully identifies as a member of Santa's sled crew. The story may sound overly precious, but the film is grittier and more realistic than that. Far more concerned with wobbly family relationships than gilded escapism, Prancer is a rare family film that can entertain without invoking fluffy enchantment. It was followed 12 years later by a sequel, Prancer Returns. --Tom Keogh

• 9.1/2 Weeks / Showgirls / Body Of Evidence | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  9 1/2 Weeks: Elizabeth (Basinger) is a Soho gallery worker romantically uninvolved since a painful divorce. John (Rourke) is a wealthy commodities broker emotionally alone no matter who he's with. A chance meeting draws them into each other's worlds. Obsession takes them further into a mutual world of eroticism and emotional awakenings. Showgirls: Leave your inhibitions at the door and experience the sensation of Showgirls Las Vegas the pleasure capital of the world where stardom can be found..at a price. Fuelled by naked ambition Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) is willing to pay that price working as a stripper and lap-dancer in the seedy back room of the Cheetah Club. She is soon discovered by Cristal (Gina Gershon) the seductive star of the biggest sexiest show in Vegas who together with her lover Zack (Kyle MacLachlan) gives her the chance to fulfil her wildest dreams. Behind the glamour lies the sordid side to the nightlife full of traps set with lust and jealousy. Body Of Evidence: Seductive gallery owner Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) is accused of a unique crime - using violent sex to murder a wealthy businessman. Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe) is the lawyer trying to defend her helpless to resist her extraordinary brand of lovemaking...