"Actor: Warren Jones"

• The Wild Bunch | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £11.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (30.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Here's how director Sam Peckinpah described his motivation behind The Wild Bunch at the time of the film's 1969 release: "I was trying to tell a simple story about bad men in changing times. The Wild Bunch is simply what happens when killers go to Mexico. The strange thing is you feel a great sense of loss when these killers reach the end of the line." All of these statements are true, but they don't begin to cover the impact that Peckinpah's film had on the evolution of American movies. Now the film is most widely recognized as a milestone event in the escalation of screen violence, but that's a label of limited perspective. Of course, Peckinpah's bloody climactic gunfight became a masterfully directed, photographed, and edited ballet of graphic violence that transcended the conventional Western and moved into a slow-motion realm of pure cinematic intensity. But the film--surely one of the greatest Westerns ever made--is also a richly thematic tale of, as Peckinpah said, "bad men in changing times." The year is 1913 and the fading band of thieves known as the Wild Bunch (led by William Holden as Pike) decide to pull one last job before retirement. But an ambush foils their plans, and Peckinpah's film becomes an epic yet intimate tale of betrayed loyalties, tenacious rivalry, and the bunch's dogged determination to maintain their fading code of honor among thieves. The 144-minute director's cut enhances the theme of male bonding that recurs in many of Peckinpah's films, restoring deleted scenes to deepen the viewer's understanding of the friendship turned rivalry between Pike and his former friend Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), who now leads a posse in pursuit of the bunch, a dimension that adds resonance to an already classic American film. The Wild Bunch is a masterpiece that should not be defined strictly in terms of its violence, but as a story of mythic proportion, brimming with rich characters and dialogue and the bittersweet irony of outlaw traditions on the wane. --Jeff Shannon

• Trigger Point | Blu Ray | (04/04/2022) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Counter terrorism policing and the terrifying work of the Metropolitan Police Bomb Disposal Squad are the breath-taking backdrop for new high octane thriller, Trigger Point. Starring Vicky McClure and producer by Jed Mercurio. When a series of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) are found in the City, Expo officer Lana Washington is pushed to breaking point dealing with them, as well as her feelings for her fellow officer Nutkins and the growing suspicion that the Bomber may be someone she knows.

• The Gat-Trick! Wales Grand Slam Glory 2019 | DVD | (10/06/2019) from £8.94   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  On March 16th 2019, history was made. Wales won the Guinness Six Nations - rugby's Greatest Championship - and in doing so, completed the Grand Slam. Moreover, Warren Gatland became the first ever coach to win three Grand Slams in the Five/Six Nations era - the Gat-Trick! This film charts his team's progress throughout the Championship; from Gatland's thoughts prior to the opening fixture, to his and his team's Grand Slam celebrations, and everything in between. Key figures such as Gatland, coach Shaun Edwards, captain Alun Wyn Jones, and many others, take us through Welsh ups and downs throughout the Championship: from the incredible comeback versus France in Paris, to one of Wales's most dominant displays ever against Ireland. Exclusive behind-the-scenes access gives a unique take on the Guinness Six Nations Championship, and reveals exactly what's required to win a Grand Slam.

• Forbidden Planet | Blu Ray | (07/12/2020) from £14.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Forbidden Planet is the granddaddy of tomorrow, a pioneering work whose ideas and style would be reverse-engineered into many cinematic space voyages to come. Leslie Nielsen plays the commander who brings his space-cruiser crew to Planet Altair-4, home to Dr Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), his daughter (Anne Francis), a dutiful robot named Robby and a mysterious terror. Featuring sets of extraordinary scale and the first all-electronic musical soundscape in film history, Forbidden Planet is in a movie orbit all its own. Special Features: Deleted Scenes and Lost Footage 2 Follow-Up Vehicles Starring Robby the Robot Feature Film The Invisible Boy The Thin Man TV Series Episode Robot Client TCM Original Documentary Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us 2 Featurettes: Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet, Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon Excerpts from The MGM Parade TV Series Theatrical Trailers of Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy

• Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - 5 Little Pigs | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Poirot is called in to investigate a fourteen year old murder... A woman was hanged for poisoning her husband to death. Her only daughter has come of age and is back from living overseas. She must find out if there was a mis-carriage of justice all those years ago if she is to have any future. Her late father was an artist reknowned for having affairs with his models. The family home was full of visitors. Who else had a motive?

• Stripes | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The story of a man who wanted to keep the world safe for democracy...and meet girls. When John Winger (Bill Murray) loses his job his car his apartment and his girlfriend-all in one day-he decides he only has one option: volunteer for Uncle Sam. Way over their head they eventually learn the ropes and manage to take a top-secret U.S. recreational vehicle behind the Iron Curtain on a road trip...

• The Wild Bunch (2 Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Nine men who came too late and stayed too long! The year is 1913 just one year short of World War 1. Disguised as U.S. soldiers a gang rides into a Texas border town. Silently they enter and rob the railroad company but an ambush lies in wait. When the gang emerges the company's hired gunmen open fire. Men women and children are caught in the crossfire. The gang escape to their hideout in the desert where they find that the loot for which they fought so hard is worthless. With the railroad company hard on their heels the gang lead by Pike head for the apparent safety of the Mexican revolutionaries and representatives of the ruling Government. As a result of these separate meetings Pike and his gang are forced to re-examine the principles that had until then ruled their lives.

• Forbidden Planet | Blu Ray | (07/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Marilyn Horne: A Portrait | DVD | (17/07/2001) from £31.70   |  Saving you £-11.71 (-58.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  As one of America's most treasured and delightful opera singers, mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne was justly lauded in this 1994 profile, originally made for the South Bank Show arts programme. At work as one of the finest bel canto singers of the 20th century or at rest looking poignantly back at her career--the making of the film coincided with her 60th birthday--Horne is splendid company. She was born with singing in her blood, trying her hand at everything from the church choir to jingles, pirate pop singles--she did a mean Kay Starr impersonation--and supplying a singing voice for Dorothy Dandridge in the 1954 film of Carmen Jones before embarking on a career as a classical artist. Horne effectively learned her trade during four years at Gelsenkirchen, going on to form a legendary singing partnership with Joan Sutherland and blazing a trail for the mezzo soprano roles--Arsace in Semiramide has been her signature--through the world's greatest opera houses. But for all her success, Horne has retained a down-to-earth openness which permeates this documentary and has rendered her equally at home on the recital stage or in grand opera costume. She speaks with simple brilliance about the singer's technique and about her desire to broaden the appeal of opera. A fascinating portrait of one hell of a dame. On the DVD: At just 52 minutes, the original programme is too short to do Horne full justice. Even so, the film is packed with enough archive footage to whet the appetite of the novice fan. The sound format is Dolby Digital 2.0--adequate enough to do justice to Horne's extraordinary range and genius for ornamentation, and the picture format can be adjusted from the standard 4:3 to 1.78:1 although both do little more than replicate the look and feel of the original television transmission. Detailed booklet notes compensate for the lack of extras on the DVD itself--a biography or career chronology would have been more than handy. --Piers Ford

• Drum Along Circle | DVD | (11/10/2004) from £18.05   |  Saving you £1.94 (9.70%)   |  RRP £19.99