"Actor: Ward"

• Black Sabbath Story | DVD | (26/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It is possible that Black Sabbath enjoy a higher global profile now that at any point in the group's long history. This, of course, is largely due to singer Ozzy Osbourne's undignified but profitable decision to allow MTV to portray him as a sort of heavy metal Grandpa Simpson. Possibly as a result of his immense celebrity, Osbourne didn't find the time to be interviewed for this retrospective documentary. However, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward are on hand to provide a telling of events which, while never as entertaining as Osbourne's familiar routine, is at least more coherent. Osbourne is irrepressibly present in the archive performance footage collected here, shot at various points between 1970 and 1978. The early stuff is especially interesting, proving beyond doubt that Sabbath--whether they realised it or not--had much more in common with the prototypical punks like The Stooges and the MC5, who were then starting to make waves in America, than they have with the uncountable long-haired and leather-trousered heavy metal bozos who have attempted to fill Sabbath's shoes since. On the DVD: The Black Sabbath Story is presented in widescreen. Sound is available in Dolby 5.1 Surround or Dolby Digital. The menu of extras is a little confusing to negotiate, but includes further interviews with band members, a gallery of Sabbath albums, and a long re-telling of Sabbath's very early history by former manager Jim Simpson.--Andrew Mueller

• Voltron - Vol. 1 | DVD | (05/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  As the bitter war between the Galaxy Alliance and the Drule Empire continues the Stellar Ship Explorer finds a new world to build on....

• Shelby Lynne - Suit Yourself | DVD | (08/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Back in the day it would be considered a pretty good sounding bootleg and not an artistic and production risk as it's being hailed. Balancing low profile recording with a handful of musicians including Heartbreaker's keyboardist Benmont Tench; former Wallflower guitarist Michael Ward and engineer/bassist Brian Harrison with her emotions in full flare producer Lynne takes the sparse demo approach giving the listener the overall sense of being there as the music is made.

• Up In The World | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In 1956 the title of his latest film, Up in the World accurately described Norman Wisdom's career. This was the great British comedian's fourth hit in as many years, this time finding himself employed as window cleaner to Lady Banderville (Ambrosine Phillpotts). Apart from having hundreds of windows to polish, things would be going fine for Norman if it weren't for the endless practical jokes played by Lady Banderville's son, Sir Reginald (Michael Caridia). However, when the irritating Regie is kidnapped, Norman has the chance to prove himself a hero, and it just might impress Jeannie Andrews too, his beautiful co-star Maureen Swanson, then making a name for herself in A Town Like Alice and The Spanish Gardener (both 1956). By now Norman Wisdom was set on a winning formula, working with much the same team as on his three previous smashes, including Jerry Desmonde as Major Willoughby, who had starred in both Trouble in Store (1953) and Man of the Moment (1955). Later, in Carry On Regardless (1961) Desmonde would make a single appearance with another British comedy institution, and interestingly Ambrosine Phillpotts would be there in the same film. Norman meanwhile, would go on to his good fortune in Just My Luck (1957). --Gary S. Dalkin

• First Do No Harm (Fatal Love BONUS) | DVD | (12/09/2011) from £5.38   |  Saving you £-0.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  She went looking for help. What she found was a miracle.Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice, The French Lieutenant's Woman), two-time Oscar-winner and regarded by many as the most brilliant actress of her generation, gives a magnificent performance (for which she was Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominated) as a mother fighting for her epileptic son's right to a possible miracle cure in this heart-rending and inspiring drama.

• Butt-Ugly Martians - Three Episodes | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The Butt Ugly Martians return in three explosive episodes in which they continue to fool the great Emporor Bog and his trenchman Dr Damage and remain on Earth. Their mission is to destroy the planet but their real intention is to save the world. Including Episodes: Koo Foo: While watching a news report on television the Butt Ugly Martians see what is believed to be a recently discovered pyramid in the Sahara - only they regognise it as a Koo Foo ship. The Koo Foo have long been considered extinct and were once the most feared aliens in the entire Universe bloodthirsty renegades who were responsible for the extinction of many races of aliens. What if one or more are still alive in the ship? Mike In Space: While sending a tribute from the 'invasion' to Emporor Bog the Butt Ugly Martians shrink the gifts so that they fit into the transporter. But they are unaware that they have shrunk Mike aswell and accidentally send him to the Bog Star. Whilst trying to rescue Mike the Butt Uglies become ensnared in a double-crossing scheme set up by Emporor Bog. Will Mike return to Planet Earth safely? Will the Butt Uglies be found in Emporor Bog? Will Stoat Muldoon discover the Butt Uglies? Bog In Charge: The kids get Muldoon to help rescue the Butt Uglies. Shocked at the alien invasion forces Muldoon vows to fight to the end to help protect the planet. The Butt-Uglies have a plan that should trick Bog into an attack that they think will result in the capture of the Martian Emperor but htey also need to deal with Muldoon. Can they get rid of Bog for good and escape Muldoon?

• Shall We Dance/Sweet Home Alabama | DVD | (20/08/2007) from £12.13   |  Saving you £7.86 (64.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Shall We Dance (Dir. Peter Chelsom) (2004): An overworked Chicago accountant (Gere) tired of the boring routine that his life has become sees a beautiful dance teacher (Lopez) through a window and decides to start taking lessons from her in order to get to know her better and as the joy of dancing enters his life he discovers that it might just be the secret to saving his troubled marriage. As the accountant's skill as a dancer improves he eventually signs up for the Chicago Crystal Ball Dance Competition. Will he win? Sweet Home Alabama (Dir. Andrew Tennant) (2002): Melanie Carmicheal (Reese Witherspoon) is a New York fashion designer with the ideal glamourous life; beautiful successful and newly engaged to perfect-on-paper bachelor Andrew (Patrick Dempsey). All would be perfect if not for her past life with Jake (Josh Lucas) the redneck husband she married in high school who refuses to give her a divorce. When the too-good-to-be-true Andrew son of Mayor Kate Hennings (Candice Bergen) sweeps her off her feet by proposing Melanie goes back to her roots to track down her estranged husband and fix the only obstacle in her path to her future happiness. Initially frustrated by her old memories Melanie slowly warms to and accepts her past as a necessary part of her future...

• Catchfire | DVD | (18/06/2001) from £21.95   |  Saving you £-15.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Previous UK releases of Catchfire have listed the pseudonymous Allan Smithee as director, but this version proudly opens with "a Dennis Hopper film". Also known as Backtrack, it offers a plot that advances by illogical leaps and bounds while whole scenes seem to go astray. With prominently billed actors getting almost nothing to do while major players go un-credited, a bland music score that might have been laid in from another film entirely and an ending that makes a lot of noise without actually resolving much, the film certainly has its bad points. However, it's also one of Hopper's more eccentric films, and more fun than Colors or The Hot Spot (which he had no trouble owning up to), partly because the director also takes a quirky lead role and his own personal interests are stirred by the modern art frills of the chase plot. The film opens with LA-based conceptual artist Jodie Foster, looking chunkily terrific just before her adult career took off, suffering a minor breakdown on the freeway and happening on a gangland execution. Pint-sized mob boss Joe Pesci sets his killers on her but the crooks ineptly murder Foster's boyfriend (Charlie Sheen, taking a very early bath). Pesci calls in Hopper, a professional hitman who immerses himself in Foster's life and art in order to track her down only to develop an obsessive crush on the woman. When he finds her, he gives her the choice between getting rubbed out or becoming his property. Hopper retains the knack for finding odd-looking byways of rural America, but is uncomfortable with helicopter chases and shoot-outs. The leads, despite great chunks of missing story, are both interesting--Foster sexily vulnerable and Hopper doing a wry New York drawl as the sax-playing hit man. Catchfire also offers an amazing supporting cast of the director's friends, including Dean Stockwell, Vincent Price, Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Tony Sirico (The Sopranos), Bob Dylan (with a chainsaw), Helena Kallianotes (Five Easy Pieces), Julia Adams (The Creature from the Black Lagoon), and John Turturro.On the DVD: the film itself comes in a good-looking widescreen transfer, but the lack of special features let the disc down, with only feeble notes for three cast members (and no Smithee filmography). --Kim Newman

• Lorenzo's Oil | DVD | (24/12/2001) from £27.86   |  Saving you £-14.87 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• Serial Killer | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  On a rainy night in a dark alley award-winning journalist Nelson Keece witnesses a vicious murder. Although horrified his curiosity takes over when this cold-blooded killer forces Nelson to interview him. Now the tension mounts as fast as the body count rises while the killer stalks the streets. This film's disturbing portrayal of the killer the cop and the writer is shocking and not to be forgotten.

• The Time Of Your Life | DVD | (01/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  When James Cagney starred in the movie adaptation of The Time of Your Life in 1948, it was hotly been debated whether William Saroyan’s stage play was really filmable at all. Because of its small cast, because all the action takes place on a single claustrophobic set, because the "plot" consists entirely of sub-plots, and because Saroyan’s "dirty sentimentality" isn’t to everyone’s taste, such doubts are still understandable today. However, accept the movie for what it is--a play in a box--and you’ll be captivated. The story revolves around a slightly down-at-heel bar-restaurant, where a group of disparate characters come and go as their stories gradually unfold. They include an ex-prostitute desperately seeking a new life, a dancer looking for a break into showbusiness, a down-and-out who discovers a vocation as a pianist, a beer-sodden cowboy and a villainous "stoolie" who, needless to say, gets his comeuppance. This gaggle of misfits is presided over by an enigmatic, champagne-drinking philanthropist (brilliantly played by Cagney) who gently nudges them towards their goals while indulging his own fascination with the minutiae of daily life. Throughout this quietly delightful picture the audience are not told why he’s this way, but it is possible to make an educated guess. On the DVD: The Time of Your Life might be a classic, but it apparently warrants no extra features. The black and white picture is 4:3. --Roger Thomas

• Creature | DVD | (03/08/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A crew of scientists arrives on a far cold planet to examine archaic artefacts of unknown origin. They discover that the German enemies have already a ship there. When they seek their help after a failed landing they only find the German's bodies obviously slaughtered by one of the archaic creatures awoken to new life. Now the alien is after them.

• Small Time Obsession | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Erroneously labelled a "gangster film", the independently made British film Small Time Obsession is in fact a thought-provoking essay on generation gaps and loyalties. London's Polish District is the setting, where four long-term friends are used to filling time and their pockets with petty crime. Michael (Alex King) has come to realise he has increasingly less in common with the others, and also with his parents who own a delicatessen. Life's big decisions elude Michael. His exclusively Polish-speaking father wants him to take over the family business, his greyhound Bullitt is starting to win prizes at the track and he's also secretly in love with Ali (Juliette Caton). Unfortunately she's already spoken for by tough guy Chris (Jason Merrells). This love triangle hardly has time to sort itself out since Chris is inadvertently embroiling them all in more Big Time crime. Although the circumstances inevitably lead to bouts of violence , what's refreshing here is that character relationships genuinely resonate with believability. First time writer/director Piotr Szkopiak tells the story with several shades of sympathetic subtlety, sensitively portraying the problems of a generation torn between inheriting their parents' displaced traditions and "fitting in".On the DVD: In this anamorphic widescreen presentation the dirty grey backdrop of London seems to rise up and swamp the characters. A 14-minute documentary ("Behind the Obsession") talks about those locales and how the director and distributor marketed the film. As well as a trailer, the extras package includes numerous text pages devoted to: cast and crew biographies, Production Notes, Locations, Media Reviews and the Polish Community. --Paul Tonks

• Trouble In Store | DVD | (15/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Perhaps surprisingly, the British comedy legend Norman Wisdom has made just 20 films, from his debut in Date With a Dream (1948) to the thriller Double-X (1992). From 1948 on he had his own TV series, Wit and Wisdom, but 1953 was the real turning point. Not only was his son Nicholas born, but he became an instant movie star with the release of Trouble in Store. Playing a character called Norman he brought his familiar stage and television personality to the big screen as a young man with the ambition to become a window dresser in a major department store. Ever loveable victim of his own clumsiness, all Norman's efforts to improve himself result in chaos. That is, until he meets Sally (Lana Morris), the girl of his dreams. Then things turn disastrous. Co-starring Margaret Rutherford, Trouble in Store introduced Wisdom's self-penned song which would become his theme, "Don't laugh at Me ('Cause I'm a Fool)". The film became a massive box-office hit and won Wisdom a BAFTA Award. Very much of its time, yet still highly entertaining, this video release provides the opportunity to nostalgically revisit and reassess one of Britain's greatest stars. Wisdom's follow-up was another substantial hit, One Good Turn (1954). --Gary S. Dalkin

• Christmas Story: 30th Anniversary | Blu Ray | (05/11/2013) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Set in a 1940s-era Midwestern town and told from the viewpoints of a seven-year-old boy, who only wants one thing for Christmas a Red Ryder BB gun the episodic tale chronicles not only his schemes to convince his mother and father to buy him one, but also offers a warmly nostalgic look into 1940s middle-class American life. From the stories of, and narrated by, Jean Shepherd.

• Predator/Chain Reaction | DVD | (19/03/2007) from £8.96   |  Saving you £0.03 (0.30%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Predator (Dir. John McTiernan 1987): It sees the heat of their bodies. It smells their fears. It hunts for sport. It kills for pleasure. In a place without rules - the hunter has become the hunted. Deep inside the jungles of Latin America Schwarzenegger's team of elite commandos are being slaughtered by a mysterious predator. No longer are they hunters - they are the prey... of an alien whose only instinct is to kill. One by one it strikes with inhuman ferocity. Now to survive with the jungle as their only ally they face their greatest challenge: to stay alive. Chain Reaction (Dir. Andrew avis 1996): A student machinist (Keanu Reeves) finds himself caught in a maze of secret government cover-ups high tech espionage and murders after working on a groundbreaking scientific experiment. Eddie Kasalivich (Reeves) and Lily Sinclair (Rachel Weisz) are part of a team of scientists who have developed a revolutionary new source of energy. But no sooner have they finishes celebrating their triumph than their lab is destroyed and the head of their team killed. Named as the main suspects Eddie and Lily quickly realise their only hope lies with a powerful and mysterious bureaucrat (Morgan Freeman) who may or may not be on their side.

• Voltron - Defender Of The Universe - Volume 1 | DVD | (20/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Voltron: Defender Of The Universe is the futuristic tale of a time when the universal forces of good have consolidated into the Galaxy Alliance. Its mission: to explore the universe to help those in trouble and to fight the dark forces of evil. Featuring 4 complete episodes: In Search of New Worlds Many First Day on a New World Building a New World Goodbye New World.

• Postal | DVD | (20/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Postal is directed by the notorious Uwe Boll and adapted from the highly successful computer game of the same name.

• District 8 | DVD | (26/09/2016) from £9.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  After a disastrous chemical weapon explosion, an eight mile quarantine zone is put in place in the Nevada Desert, called Territory 8. Dr. Eli Dolton (Michael A. Tushaus) works in a research facility situated in the zone, along with the weapon's creator Dr. Tao Xing (Heung Wong), as he tries to find a cure for those affected by the disaster. Meanwhile, a group of their fellow survivors, who want to escape the district, turn their hostile attentions to the research facility in search of a way out.

• Red Team | DVD | (28/08/2000) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Investigating the mysterious deaths of two notorious mass murderers FBI Special Agent Jason Chandler (Patrick Muldoon) finds that half a dozen more of the FBI's most wanted serial killer suspects have recently disappeared without trace. He soon comes to the incredible conclusion that there's a killer slaughtering serial killers!