"Director: Ethan Coen"

• Blood Simple | DVD | (01/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid Weird Tales and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance) and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client, and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, Blood Simple established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose The Evil Dead had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --Tom Keogh

• Intolerable Cruelty | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £3.99   |  Saving you £16.00 (401.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Fabulously successful LA divorce attorney Miles Massey is missing something from life when he meets much-divorced Marilyn Rexroth. Cue the mother of all battles of the sexes as the two square off, personally and professionally.

• The Coen Brothers Collection | Blu Ray | (14/11/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.00

  Titles Comprise:A Serious Man: An original and darkly humorous story about one ordinary man's quest to become a serious man. Physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) can't believe his life: His wife is leaving him for his best friend. His unemployed brother won't move off the couch. Someone is threatening his career. His kids are a mystery, and his neighbour is tormenting him by sunbathing nude.Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family, delinquent behaviour and mortality.The Big Lebowski: The Big Lebowski is a hilariously quirky comedy about bowling, a severed toe, White Russians and a guy named...The Dude. Jeff The Dude Lebowski doesn't want any drama in his life... heck, he can't even be bothered with a job. But, he must embark on a quest with his bowling buddies after his rug is destroyed in a twisted case of mistaken identity. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro, experience the cultural phenomenon of The Dude.Barton Fink: New York 1941: Socially Concious scriptwriter Barton Fink (John Turturro) has made it big on Broadway, now Tinsel Town is taking notice. Hired by Hollywood to write a wrestling picture, Barton quits the city smog for movie stardom.L.A. has got the Barton Fink feeling - Barton Fink has got writer's block. Enlisting the help of able assistant Audrey (Judy Davis) and amiable neighbour Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), Fink finds the real-life inspiration he seeks comes from the most sinister of sources.Burn After Reading: An all-star cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich come together in this outrageous spy comedy about murder, blackmail, sex addiction and physical fitness!When a disc filled with some of the CIA's most irrelevant secrets gets in the hands of two determined, but dim-witted, gym employees, the duo are intent on exploiting their find, but since blackmail is a trade better left to the experts events soon spiral out of everyone and anyone's control, resulting in a non-stop series of hilarious encounters!Intolerable Cruelty: Top divorce attorney Miles Massey (George Clooney) has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) wants it all. When Miles falls for the unattainable Marilyn, a hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues. Underhanded tactics, deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes.

• The Hudsucker Proxy | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Hudsucker Industries is flourishing. Profits are stupendous and stock is at an all-time high. So when their founder Waring Hudsucker leaps to his death from the 44th floor his board of directors is thrown into panic. Hudsucker has not left a will and his majority shareholding in the company must therefore soon be offered for sale to the public. But scheming Vice President Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) has a plan. He'll install a complete imbecile as Chairman and devalue the stock to a level where the rest of the board can acquire controlling interests for themselves. Enter inexperienced college leaver Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) a modest mail-room worker who suddenly finds himself elevated to Company Chairman. Not surprisingly such a tale of rags-to-riches soon attracts considerable interest from the press in the form of gorgeous star reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh). As stock values plummet everything appears to be going according to plan - until Norville actually does the unimaginable and invents a brilliant company-saving idea... something that captures the imagination of an entire nation.

• Burn After Reading | Blu Ray | (09/02/2009) from £9.99   |  Saving you £17.00 (212.77%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An all-star cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich, come together in this outrageous spy comedy about murder, blackmail, sex addiction and physical fitness!

• True Grit/No Country for Old Men | Blu Ray | (17/12/2012) from £13.98   |  Saving you £16.00 (133.44%)   |  RRP £27.99

  True Grit: Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is determined to avenge her father’s blood by capturing Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) the man who shot and killed him for two pieces of gold. Just fourteen she enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn (Academy Award® winner Jeff Bridges)* a one-eyed trigger-happy U.S. Marshal with an affinity for drinking and hardened Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Academy Award® winner Matt Damon)** to track the fleeing Chaney. Despite their differences their ruthless determination leads them on a perilous adventure that can only have one outcome: retribution. No Country For Old Men: Acclaimed filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen deliver their most gripping and ambitious film yet in this sizzling and supercharged action-thriller. When a man stumbles on a bloody crime scene a pickup truck loaded with heroin and two million dollars in irresistible cash his decision to take the money sets off an unstoppable chain reaction of violence. Not even West Texas law can contain it. Special Features: True Grit: Mattie's True Grit From Bustles to Buckskin - Dressing for the 1880s Re-Creating Fort Smith The Cast No Country For Old Men: The Making of No Country For Old Men Working with The Coens Diary of a Country Sheriff

• A Serious Man | Blu Ray | (29/03/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Academy Award winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen bring their famously wicked sense of humour to this every day tale about a moral man who sees the world inexplicably turn against him in this darkest of comedies.

• Best Pictures Box Set (No Country For Old Men/A Beautiful Mind/American Beauty) | DVD | (19/01/2009) from £9.50   |  Saving you £6.49 (68.32%)   |  RRP £15.99

  No Country For Old Men: Approaching retirement Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is one of the last links to the history of Texas' Old West and the men who patrolled the frontiers of decency and lawlessness. These days though he feels less and less able to comprehend the new breed of violent criminals that have drifted into his jurisdiction. Violent men like Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem): an enigmatic psychopathic and obsessively compulsive killer who determines the fate of his victims with a quick flip of a coin. Chigurh an ex-special-forces operative turned hit man has been hired to track down two million dollars in cash taken from the scene of a drug-deal gone awry and whoever spirited it away. That man is Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin): a financially struggling hardened Vietnam veteran who stumbled upon the money and a substantial amount of heroin amongst a sea of bloody corpses and a bullet-strewn truck whilst hunting antelope in the desert near the Mexican border. A Beautiful Mind: A Beautiful Mind begins with Nash (Russell Crowe) at Princeton where he struggles to think of an original idea and the stroke of genius that will make him matter. Nash is eccentric socially awkward and extremely competitive. Eventually he finds the inspiration for his innovative and influential work on game theory. He's chosen for a post at MIT which includes crucial code-breaking work for the US government. There he meets a beautiful and brilliant student Alicia (Jennifer Connelly). They marry but their happiness is threatened... American Beauty: Marking the feature film directorial debut of award-winning theatre director Sam Mendes this funny moving and shocking journey through life in suburban America follows the trials and tribulations of Lester (Kevin Spacey) and Carolyn (Annette Bening) an upper-middle-class couple whose marriage - and lives - are slowly unraveling. Lester's wife hates him his daughter Jane regards him with contempt and his boss is positioning him for the axe. So Lester decides to make a few changes in his life; the freer he gets the happier he gets which is even more maddening to his wife and daughter. But Lester is about to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price. Winner of five Academy Awards: Best Picture Director Actor Screenplay and Cinematography.

• The Coen Brothers: Director's | Blu Ray | (04/06/2018) from £99.21   |  Saving you £-54.22 (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Academy Award® Winners Joel and Ethan Coen* have been writing, directing, editing and producing some of the most original films to come out of Hollywood. This box set contains eight of their most unique and imaginative classics, including Hail, Caesar and A Serious Man. Re-visit characters like The Dude (Jeff Bridges The Big Lebowski) and Linda and Chad (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt Burn After Reading) as they are swept up in comedy thrillers of extortion and embezzlement. From their inspired re-imagining of True Grit to the sinister No Country for Old Men; from the bona fide Soggy Bottom Boys of O Brother Where Art Thou? to the underhand tactics, deception and undeniable attraction of George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones in Intolerable Cruelty - this collection is an endlessly entertaining assembly of the worldwide critically acclaimed Coen Brothers masterpieces! Brilliantly clever and containing a multitude of stars, this box set is smart, funny and inspired.

• The Coen Brothers Collection 2010 | DVD | (29/03/2010) from £38.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (28.21%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Titles Comprise: Hudsucker Proxy: Hudsucker Industries is flourishing. Profits are stupendous and stock is at an all-time high. So when their founder Waring Hudsucker leaps to his death from the 44th floor his board of directors is thrown into panic. Hudsucker has not left a will and his majority shareholding in the company must therefore soon be offered for sale to the public. But scheming Vice President Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) has a plan. He'll install a complete imbecile as Chairman and devalue the stock to a level where the rest of the board can acquire controlling interests for themselves. The Big Lebowski: 'The Dude' Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and laid-back. That is until he becomes a victim of mistaken identity two thugs breaking into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski the Pasadena millionaire. In hope of getting a replacement for his soiled carpet 'the Dude' visits his wealthy namesake and with buddy ex 'Nam' vet. Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) he is swept into a labyrinthine comedy/thriller of extortion embezzlement sex dope German Nihilists White Russians mysterious cowboys Shomer Shabbos bowling and severed toes... Barton Fink: John Turturro shines in the lead role in Barton Fink the Coen Brothers' (Miller's Crossing Fargo) hilarious satire set in the 1940s Hollywood. Fink is a New York playwright who reluctantly relocates to Hollywood to write screenplays. Ordered to write a low budget screenplay about wrestling Fink manages to type one sentence and then...nothing! Although his chatty insurance salesman neighbour Charlie (John Goodman) helps out by teaching Fink about wrestling the clock ticks the temperature rises and Fink's life spins more and more out of control. Intolerable Cruelty: Divorce attorney Miles Massey has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth wants it all. A hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues when Miles falls for Marilyn with each one trying to outsmart the other. Underhand tactics deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes... Blood Simple: Deep in the heart of Texas a jealous bar owner hires a private eye to kill his wife and her lover. The sleazy hitman double-crosses the husband killing him instead and pocketing the cash. The perfect crime or so it seems but disposing of the corpse is not so simple. Blood Simple uncoils its film noir plot with audacious style dense atmosphere and blood-curdling twists. Burn After Reading: When a disc filled with some of the CIA's most irrelevant secrets gets in the hands of two determined but dim-witted gym employees the duo are intent on exploiting their find. But since blackmail is a trade better left for the experts events soon spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control resulting in a non-stop series of hilarious encounters! From Joel and Ethan Coen the Academy Award winning directors of No Country For Old Men and The Big Lebowski comes this brilliantly clever and endlessly entertaining movie that critics are calling smart funny and original. A Serious Man: Larry Nidus is a good man. He is a loving husband a committed father and a dedicated professor who always does the fair and just thing in the face of daily temptations. But one day everything starts to go wrong. Academy Award winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen bring their famously wicked sense of humor to this every day tale about a moral man who sees the world inexplicably turn against him in this darkest of comedies.

• True Grit/No Country for Old Men (Double Pack) | DVD | (14/11/2011) from £8.58   |  Saving you £4.41 (51.40%)   |  RRP £12.99

  True Grit:True Grit is a powerful story of vengeance and valour set in an unforgiving and unpredictable frontier where justice is simple and mercy is rare. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), is determined to avenge her father's blood by capturing Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who shot and killed him for two pieces of gold.Just fourteen, she enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn Academy Award Winner Jeff Bridges), a one-eyed, trigger-happy U.S. Marshall with an affinity for drinking and hardened Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Academy Award Winner Matt Damon) to track the fleeing Chaney. Despite their differences, their ruthless determination leads them on a perilous adventure that can only have one outcome: retribution.No Country For Old Men:The Academy Award winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's violent, poetic and darkly funny crime novel No Country For Old Men sees The Coen Brothers produce their finest thriller to date. Set amongst the wild, empty, and imposing landscape of 1980s Texas, No Country For Old Men is a masterly tale of the good, the deranged, and the outright doomed.Approaching retirement, Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is one of the last links to the history of Texas' Old West and the men who patrolled the frontiers of decency and lawlessness. These days, though, he feels less and less able to comprehend the new breed of violent criminals that have drifted into his jurisdiction. Violent men like Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem): an enigmatic, psychopathic, and obsessively compulsive killer who determines the fate of his victims with a quick flip of a coin. Chigurh, an ex-special-forces operative turned hit man, has been hired to track down two million dollars in cash taken from the scene of a drug-deal gone awry and whoever spirited it away. That man is Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin): a financially struggling hardened Vietnam veteran who stumbled upon the money and a substantial amount of heroin amongst a sea of bloody corpses and a bullet-strewn truck whilst hunting antelope in the desert near the Mexican border.McCarthy's melancholic and muscular prose is a perfect match for the Coen brothers' unique brand of poker-faced irony. The narrative ellipses entwine with the Coens' modern noir nonchalance and dark humour to highlight and explore the similarities and differences of Moss, Chigurh, and Bell as they try to track one another down. With dark intelligence and an unstoppable array of sly wit, No Country For Old Men is reminiscent of Joel and Ethan Coen's early neo-noir motion picture Blood Simple and their much-lauded Academy Award winning Fargo and is a cat-and-mouse chase epic that engages and excites from beginning to end.

• True Grit/No Country for Old Men/Shutter Island (Triple Pack) | DVD | (14/11/2011) from £9.43   |  Saving you £6.56 (69.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  True Grit:True Grit is a powerful story of vengeance and valour set in an unforgiving and unpredictable frontier where justice is simple and mercy is rare. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), is determined to avenge her father's blood by capturing Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who shot and killed him for two pieces of gold.Just fourteen, she enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn Academy Award Winner Jeff Bridges), a one-eyed, trigger-happy U.S. Marshall with an affinity for drinking and hardened Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Academy Award Winner Matt Damon) to track the fleeing Chaney. Despite their differences, their ruthless determination leads them on a perilous adventure that can only have one outcome: retribution.No Country For Old Men:The Academy Award winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's violent, poetic and darkly funny crime novel No Country For Old Men sees The Coen Brothers produce their finest thriller to date. Set amongst the wild, empty, and imposing landscape of 1980s Texas, No Country For Old Men is a masterly tale of the good, the deranged, and the outright doomed.Shutter Island:Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese (The Departed) once again teams up with Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond) in this spine-chilling thriller that critics say sizzles with so much suspense that it's hot to the touch.When U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) arrives at the asylum for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, what starts as a routine investigation quickly takes a sinister turn. As the investigation unfolds and Teddy uncovers more shocking and terrifying truths about the island, he learns there are some places that never let you go.

• The Coen Brothers: Director's Collection (DVD) | DVD | (04/06/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Academy Award® Winners Joel and Ethan Coen* have been writing, directing, editing and producing some of the most original films to come out of Hollywood. This box set contains eight of their most unique and imaginative classics, including Hail, Caesar and A Serious Man. Re-visit characters like The Dude (Jeff Bridges The Big Lebowski) and Linda and Chad (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt Burn After Reading) as they are swept up in comedy thrillers of extortion and embezzlement. From their inspired re-imagining of True Grit to the sinister No Country for Old Men; from the bona fide Soggy Bottom Boys of O Brother Where Art Thou? to the underhand tactics, deception and undeniable attraction of George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones in Intolerable Cruelty - this collection is an endlessly entertaining assembly of the worldwide critically acclaimed Coen Brothers masterpieces! Brilliantly clever and containing a multitude of stars, this box set is smart, funny and inspired.

• Burn After Reading / The Big Lebowski / Intolerable Cruelty | DVD | (14/09/2009) from £17.97   |  Saving you £2.02 (10.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Titles Comprise: Burn After Reading: When a disc filled with some of the CIA's most irrelevant secrets gets in the hands of two determined but dim-witted gym employees the duo are intent on exploiting their find. But since blackmail is a trade better left for the experts events soon spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control resulting in a non-stop series of hilarious encounters! From Joel and Ethan Coen the Academy Award winning directors of No Country For Old Men and The Big Lebowski comes this brilliantly clever and endlessly entertaining movie that critics are calling smart funny and original. The Big Lebowski: 'The Dude' Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and laid-back. That is until he becomes a victim of mistaken identity two thugs breaking into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski the Pasadena millionaire. In hope of getting a replacement for his soiled carpet 'the Dude' visits his wealthy namesake and with buddy ex 'Nam' vet. Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) he is swept into a labyrinthine comedy/thriller of extortion embezzlement sex dope German Nihilists White Russians mysterious cowboys Shomer Shabbos bowling and severed toes... Intolerable Cruelty: Divorce attorney Miles Massey has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth wants it all. A hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues when Miles falls for Marilyn with each one trying to outsmart the other. Underhand tactics deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes...

• Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas/The Big Lebowski/Burn After... | DVD | (09/09/2013) from £21.58   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fear and Loathing in Las VegasWhen a writing assignment lands journalist Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and sidekick Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) in Las Vegas they decide to make it the ultimate business trip. But before long business is forgotten and trip has become the key word.Fuelled by a suitcase full of mind-bending pharmaceuticals Duke and Honzo set off on a fast and furious ride through non stop neon surreal surrounding and a crew of the craziest characters ever (Including cameo appearances by Cameron Diaz Christina Ricci Gary Busey and many others). But no matter where misadventure leads them Duke and Gonzo discover that sometimes going too far is the only way to go.Capturing the insane madness of Hunter S. Thompson's literary classic was the challenge that director Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys) openly embraced.Buy The Ticket. Take The Ride!Big LebowskiBurn After Reading

• Shutter Island / No Country For Old Men | DVD | (30/05/2011) from £19.67   |  Saving you £-6.68 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Shutter Island Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Casino) directs this exceptional adaption of Dennis Lehane’s novel Shutter Island. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a riveting performance as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. Teddy has been paired up with newly assigned partner Detective Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a murderess who has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island located in Boston Harbour. Upon arriving the two detectives are forced to surrender their weapons and then are taken to meet the head psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) who explains how impossible it is for anyone to make it out of the island. The longer the two detectives are on the island the more uneasy Teddy begins to feel as they begin to uncover much more than expected and come to realise that Rachel may not even exist. But what is the real reason they have been assigned to this island? No Country For Old Men From Academy Award winning directors Ethan and Joel Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski) comes this Oscar winning thriller based on the critically acclaimed novel from Cormac McCarthy. No Country for Old Men tells the story of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a hunter who stumbles upon the crime scene of a drug deal gone wrong. He decides to flee the scene with a suitcase full of money, which was inadvertently left behind, putting his life in jeopardy. Llewelyn now finds himself in a cat and mouse chase with Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem – In an Oscar winning role), a violence-driven criminal who intends to stop at nothing in order to get back the money.

• Miller's Crossing / Road To Perdition | DVD | (31/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Miller's Crossing: The year is 1929. The place is a gangster-ridden American city run by Leo (Albert Finney). But the real power lies with Tom (Gabriel Byrne) the power behind the man. Their friendship is severed when they both fall in love with the same woman (Marcia Gay Harden) and a bloody gang war erupts... Road To Perdition: Two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan a father fighting to keep his only son from traveling the Road To Perditio

• Big Lebowski | Blu Ray | (25/06/2013) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-12.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.30

  The Big Lebowski, a casually amusing follow-up from the prolifically inventive Coen brothers (Ethan and Joel), seems like a bit of a lark and the result was a box-office disappointment. It's lazy plot is part of its laidback charm. After all, how many movies can claim as their hero a pot-bellied, pot-smoking loser named Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who spends most of his time bowling and getting stoned? And where else could you find a hair-netted Latino bowler named Jesus (John Turturro) who sports dazzling purple footgear, or an erotic artist (Julianne Moore) whose creativity consists of covering her naked body in paint, flying through the air in a leather harness, and splatting herself against a giant canvas? Who else but the Coens would think of showing you a camera view from inside the holes of a bowling ball, or an elaborate Busby Berkely-styled musical dream sequence involving a Viking goddess and giant bowling pins? The plot--which finds Lebowski involved in a kidnapping scheme after he's mistaken for a rich guy with the same name--is almost beside the point. What counts here is a steady cascade of hilarious dialogue, great work from Coen regulars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, and the kind of cinematic ingenuity that puts the Coens in a class all their own. --Jeff Shannon

• Burn After Reading | DVD | (14/03/2016) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £14.99

  After the dark brilliance of No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading may seem like a trifle, but few filmmakers elevate the trivial to art quite like Joel and Ethan Coen. Inspired by Stansfield Turner's Burn Before Reading, the comically convoluted plot clicks into gear when the CIA gives analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) the boot. Little does Cox know his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton, riffing on her Michael Clayton character), is seeing married federal marshal Harry (George Clooney, Swinton's Clayton co-star, playing off his Syriana role). To get back at the Agency, Cox works on his memoirs. Through a twist of fate, fitness club workers Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt in a pompadour that recalls Johnny Suede) find the disc and try to wrangle a "Samaratin tax" out of the surly alcoholic. An avid Internet dater, Linda plans to use the money for plastic surgery, oblivious that her manager, Ted (The Visitor's Richard Jenkins), likes her just the way she is. Though it sounds like a Beltway remake of The Big Lebowski, the Coen entry it most closely resembles, this time the brothers concentrate their energies on the myriad insecurities endemic to the mid-life crisis--with the exception of Chad, who's too dense to share such concerns, leading to the funniest performance of Pitt's career. If Lebowski represented the Coen's unique approach to film noir, Burn sees them putting their irresistibly absurdist stamp on paranoid thrillers from Enemy of the State to The Bourne Identity. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• A Serious Man | DVD | (14/03/2016) from £9.97   |  Saving you £5.02 (33.50%)   |  RRP £14.99