"Director: John Patterson"

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 3 | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £9.99   |  Saving you £52.00 (520.52%)   |  RRP £61.99

  The Sopranos is more than just a suburban Godfather, it's a modern-day I, Claudius with all the consanguineous conflict of the Caesars translated to New Jersey. At the beginning of the third series--just as brilliant and compelling as the first two--the Soprano clan are under close surveillance from the FBI; but, as ever, that's the least of their problems. Anthony Jnr is getting into trouble at school, Meadow's romantic liaisons at college are a cause of friction, Carmela is having a crisis of conscience and Tony trades one dangerously neurotic mistress for another. Livia's death does nothing to help Tony's psychological problems, and his relationship with therapist Dr Melfi is increasingly strained, especially after she undergoes a shocking ordeal of her own. There's tension in Tony's other "family", too, as Christopher finally gets made but then chafes at the extra responsibility, much to Paulie's disgust. In one magnificent episode (directed by Steve Buscemi) the two become stranded in the snow-filled woods overnight where all their mutual resentment boils over even as they both freeze. But Tony's real problems emerge from the Aprile family: Jackie Jnr is becoming a dangerous loose cannon, actively encouraged by his borderline psychotic stepfather Ralphie (a marvellous Joe Pantoliano), whose erratic behaviour threatens to ignite a deadly feud ("He disrespected the Bing", says Tony after punching him). When Jackie Jnr and Meadow become an item, both of Tony's dysfunctional families collide with devastating consequences. On the DVD: The Sopranos, Series 3 arrives in a neat fold-out four-disc set, with four episodes on a double-sided first disc and three each on the remainder. The contents are an improvement on previous releases, with three separate episode commentaries, which are all informative and worthwhile: costar and sometime writer Michael Imperioli (Christopher) talks us through his own script for "The Telltale Moozadell"; Steve Buscemi appears on his directorial effort, "Pine Barrens"; and series creator David Chase chooses the penultimate episode, "Amour Fou". In addition there's a tiny three-minute backstage featurette. Picture and sound are up to par as ever. --Mark Walker

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £13.89   |  Saving you £48.10 (346.29%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television seriesThe Sopranos is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home. This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegiate mob clan and his own nouveau-riche brood. The brilliant first series is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first year's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland

• The Sopranos - Complete Collection | Blu Ray | (08/09/2014) from £46.65   |  Saving you £12.85 (27.55%)   |  RRP £59.50

  Tony Soprano is the head of two families and sometimes the pressure is too much to bear. As head of the Sopranos crime family he deals with conniving underbosses rival families and the occasional dead body. As husband to his wife Carmela and father to his two children Meadow and Anthony Jr. he deals with financial difficulties infidelity and trying to keep his professional life from colliding with his family life. Episodes Comprise: Season 1 The Sopranos 46 Long Denial Anger Acceptance Meadowlands College Pax Soprana Down Neck The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti Boca A Hit is a Hit Nobody Knows Anything Isabella I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano Season 2 Guy Walks Into A Psychiatrist's Office Do Not Resuscitate Toodle-F**king-Oo Commendatori Big Girls Don't Cry The Happy Wanderer D-Girl Full Leather Jacket From Where To Eternity Bust-Out 11. House Arrest The Knight In White Satin Armor Funhouse Season 3 Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood Proshai Livushka Fortunate Son Employee of the Month Another Toothpick University Second Opinion He Is Risen The Telltale Moozadell To Save Us All From Satan's Power Pine Barrens Amour Fou Army of One Season 4 For All Debts Public and Private No Show Christopher The Weight Pie-O-My Everybody Hurts Watching Too Much Television Mergers and Acquisitions Whoever Did This The Strong Silent Type Calling All Cars Eloise Whitecaps Season 5 Two Tony's Rat Pack Where's Johnny All Happy Families Irregular Around the Margins Sentimental Education In Camelot Marco Polo Unidentified Black Males Cold Cuts The Test Dream Long Term Parking All Due Respect Season 6 Members Only Join The Club Mayham The Fleshy Part of the Thigh Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request Live Free or Die Luxury Lounge Johnny Cakes The Ride Moe n' Joe Cold Stones Kaisha Soprano Home Movies Stage 5 Remember When Chasing it Walk Like a Man Kennedy and Heidi The Second Coming The Blue Comet Made in America Special Features: Season 1 Audio Commentary with Creator/Writer/Director David Chase and Peter Bogdanovich David Chase Interview (77:30) Featurette #1 Family Life (4:12) Featurette #2 Meet Tony Soprano (3:30) Season 2 Audio Commentary with: Director Tim Van Patten Director Henry J. Bronchtein and Producer Ilene Landress Director Allen Coulter and Producer Ilene Landress Director John Patterson Behind-the-Scenes Featurette: The Real Deal (04:51) Behind-the-Scenes Featurette: A Sit-Down with The Sopranos (13:36 Season 3 Audio Commentary with: Writer/Cast Member Michael Imperioli Director Steve Buscemi Series Creator/Writer David Chase Behind-the-Scenes Featurette w/host Karen Duffy (3:46) Season 4 Audio Commentary with: Writer Terence Winter Writer/Cast Member Michael Imperioli Writers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess Series Creator/Writer David Chase Season 5 Audio Commentary with: Director Rodrigo Garcia Director Peter Bogdanovich Director Steve Buscemi Director Mike Figgis Cast Member Drea de Mattteo Season 6A Audio Commentary with: Cast Members Edie Falco Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler Writer Matthew Weiner Writer Terence Winter and Cast Members Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico Series Creator/Writer David Chase Season 6B Audio Commentary with: Cast Member Steven R. Schirripa Cast Member Dominic Chianese Cast Member Robert Iler Cast Members Stevie Van Zandt and Arthur Nascarella Making Cleaver (7:50) The Music of the Sopranos (16:28) Sopranos Bonus Disc Special Features:: Supper with The Sopranos Part I (36:50) Supper with The Sopranos Part II (38:02) Lost Scenes (Season 1 Episode 1): Tony and Dr. Melfi discuss Gotti Guiliani and his Mother (01:33) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 1): Meadow asks Carmela about Tony's feud with his mother. Carmela and Meadow go to see Livia in the hospital and are greeted by Janice and a bodyguard etc. (04:07) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 1): Pussy Silvio Paulie and the guys discuss Tony's relationshiop with his mother. (01:02) Lost Scenes (Season 3 Episode 10): Pussy is cornered in a heroin bust. (02:17) Lost Scenes (Season 4 Episode 3): Tony and Melfi discuss prejudice against Italians. (01:59) Lost Scenes (Season 5 Episode 3): Paulie calls Tony to ask for a meeting. They meet and Paulie asks for a sit-down with Feech. (02:24) Lost Scenes (Season 6A Episode 1): Junior is paranoid about a car parked on the street. (00:36) Lost Scenes (Season 6A Episode 8): Tony tells Vito it's safe to come home. (02:22) Lost Scenes (Season 6A Episode 11): Phil stops by to visit Vito's house and check the place out. (01:45) Lost Scenes (Season 6B Episode 1): Tony and Bobby play with fireworks. Janice asks where her hat is. (00:47) Alec Baldwin Interviews David Chase: Cut to the Chase (21:13) Alec Baldwin Interviews David Chase: Anatomy of the Mob (22:02) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 2): Janice tells Livia she's not going to be defeated that easily. (01:51) Lost Scenes (Season 2 Episode 6): Tony rants to his family about Richie being at the funeral. (00:51) Defining A Television Landmark (45:29)

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 (Six Disc Set) | DVD | (29/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £61.99

  The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own nouveau riche brood. The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• Carnivale - Series 2 | DVD | (08/07/2005) from £13.85   |  Saving you £26.14 (188.74%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Into each generation is born a creature of light and a creature of darkness. 1934. The Dustbowl. The last great age of magic. In a time of titanic sandstorms vile plagues drought and pestilence - signs of God's fury and harbingers of the Apocalypse - the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. The battle will take place in the Heartland of an empire called America. And when it is over man will forever trade away wonder for reason. A sweeping epic that is bot

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 4 | DVD | (11/03/2003) from £14.49   |  Saving you £47.50 (76.60%)   |  RRP £61.99

  Unlike the previous three, this fourth series of The Sopranos largely eschews an overriding story arc in favour of developing several interrelated plot strands, most of which are then left dangling tantalisingly at the end. This year Tony's many extra-marital affairs finally come home to roost, even as he faces challenges to his leadership from within and without. Paulie Walnuts simmers with resentment over his perceived neglect, a resentment only exacerbated by Christopher's promotion; while Christopher's growing drug habit undermines Tony's trust in him. Paulie makes overtures to Johnny Sack and the New York family; Sack himself bears a deadly grudge against Ralph Cifaretto, and also embroils Tony in a dispute between the two families. Ralph and Tony clash over a shared interest in both a race horse and a goomar--you just know it's going to end in something much worse than tears. The women have as many problems, though: Adriana has reluctantly turned FBI informer, a drug-addled Christopher squashes her dog, and she has to confess that she can't have children; Carmela falls maddeningly, frustratingly in love with one of Tony's closest companions; Janice inveigles herself into Bobby's affections in a display of breathtaking emotional manipulation; while Meadow can no longer conceal the disgust she feels about her father's business, and Dr Melfi is increasingly sidelined, since Tony's behavioural issues have become, to all practical purposes, untreatable. The whole ends on a downbeat note as personal disillusionment overshadows the mob politics. With the imminent arrival of Steve Buscemi to the cast, the fifth series is primed to be an explosive one. --Mark Walker

• The Sopranos: Complete Series 2 | DVD | (29/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• Hart To Hart - Season 2 | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  ""This is my boss Jonathan Hart - a self-made millionaire. He's quite a guy. This is Mrs. H. She's gorgeous. She's one lady who knows how to take care of herself. By the way my name is Max. I take care of both of them which ain't easy; 'cause when they met... it was murder!"" - Max (Lionel Stander) Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers are Jonathan and Jennifer Hart a pair of wealthy amateur sleuths in Hart To Hart. As a self-made millionaire and head of Hart Industries Jonathan Hart (Wagner) would seem to have it all. He and and his beautiful wife Jennifer (Powers) a former freelance journalist are able to live the high life. However their inquisitiveness and love for hard work still keeps the Harts active and busy. And as amateur sleuths they seem to always be finding themselves on the brink - or right in the middle - of danger. Their fabulous wealth makes it easy for the Harts to travel far and wide sometimes just for pleasure and sometimes on a case. From London Paris and Athens to Hawaii Mexico and Asia to New York Chicago and Los Angeles Jonathan and Jennifer - along with their trusty gravelly-voiced butler cook and chauffeur Max (played by Lionel Stander) - always seem to be where the action is. A lovely - and loving - couple the Harts never lose faith in each other as they take on the tough cases that they always seem to find...or that find them! Featuring all the episodes from Season 2! Episodes Comprise: 1. Murder Murder on the Wall 2. What Murder? 3. This Lady Is Murder 4. Murder Is a Man's Best Friend 5. 'Tis the Season to be Murdered 6. Murder Wrap 7. Murder in Paradise 8. Ex-Wives Can Be Murder 9. Murder Is a Drag 10. Hart-Shaped Murder 11. Slow Boat to Murder 12. Murder in the Saddle 13. Homemade Murder 14. Solid Gold Murder 15. Getting Aweigh with Murder 16. The Murder of Jonathan Hart 17. The Latest in High Fashion Murder 18. Operation Murder 19. Murder Takes a Bow 20. Blue Chip Murder

• She Said No | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £4.68   |  Saving you £1.31 (27.99%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Beth Early is trying to get over her broken marriage. She attends the local college where she meets Martin Knapek a successful lawyer. One night after accepting his lift home she is subjected to a brutal assault. At his trial he is freed and Beth is then faced with a libel suit for wrongly accusing him of rape... Based on a true story...

• Darkness Before Dawn | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £9.97   |  Saving you £-3.98 (-66.40%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A nurse secretly addicted to methadone inspires strength in her patients who are ignorant of her condition. But her marriage to a reformed addict threatens to lift the lid on her secret life... Based on a true story...

• Grave Secrets | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Shag and Jean Williams spend 20 years of savings to build the ideal suburban home only to find they're not the only ones living in it Their housing development was built on an old graveyard called Black Hope! Based on a true story.

• She Said No | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £7.95   |  Saving you £-4.96 (-165.90%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Beth Early is trying to get over her broken marriage. She attends the local college where she meets Martin Knapek a successful lawyer. One night after accepting his lift home she is subjected to a brutal assault. At his trial he is freed and Beth is then faced with a libel suit for wrongly accusing him of rape... Based on a true story...

• The Sopranos - Complete HBO Series - Deluxe Edition | DVD | (24/11/2008) from £114.90   |  Saving you £15.09 (13.13%)   |  RRP £129.99

  Tony Soprano tries to be a good family man on two fronts - to his wife kids and widowed mother - and as a capo in the New Jersey mob. But when the pressures of work and family life start giving him panic attacks Tony begins seeing a therapist. These visits he keeps to himself because Tony has already identified his biggest problem - if one family doesn't kill him the other one will. The groundbreaking dramatic series from writer-producer David Chase stars James Gandolfini Lorraine Bracco Edie Falco Michael Imperioli and Nancy Marchand in an inside look at the family life of a modern-day mob boss. Part satirical loving homage to the influences of the great American gangster films part darkly comedic study of a New Jersey Italian-American family it is has become one of the most admired television series of all time.

• Popeye And Son - Attack Of The Sea Hag | DVD | (11/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Strongman sailor Popeye and his spindly girlfriend Olive Oil have finally got themselves hitched. They star with their son Popeye Jr. Popeye Olive and Junior live in the seaside town of Sweethaven where Popeye runs a health club and Olive teaches aerobics. Son Junior is a chip off the old block. He and his best friends enjoy a childs dream of endless summer activities; swimming diving and surfing. The only fly in the ointment is Popeye's archrival Bluto and his son Tank. Adventures with Popeye in 'Attack Of The Sea Hag' 'Happy Anniversary' 'The Sea Monsters' 'Poopdeck Pappy And The Family Tree' 'Bluto's Wave Pool' and 'Here Today Goon Tomorrow'.

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vols. 1-3) | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £32.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• Survival On The Mountain | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Based on a true story this film documents the terrifying experience of an American couple trapped in an avalanche in the Himalayas as they struggle to survive. Ron (Dennis Boutsikaris) and Debbie Plotkin (Markie Post) plan a fortieth birthday trip to go hiking in Nepal leaving their children at home with Debbie's mother and step-father. When Debbie's mother Judy expresses concern about the dangerous nature of this adventure Debbie reassures her that they will be hiking well b

• The Sopranos: Series 1 (Vol. 2) | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there is the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his mid-level capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what is not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• Darkness Before Dawn | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-9.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Sometimes you have to strip away everything before you find the truth... Darkness Before Dawn is a story of love determination and ultimately survival. It is the story of a woman trapped in a private hell -- with only the man she loves to save her. Mary Ann Thompson (Meredith Baxter Family Ties A Passion For Innocence) is a nurse at a methadone clinic who's haunted by a troubled past. She escapes from her sad childhood memories under the veil of drug addition. The deception is so successful that no one suspects her of being a junkie. When Mary Ann falls for one of her patients Guy Grand (Stephen Lang Manhunter Last Exit to Brooklyn) her problems begin to escalate. She inspires him to kick his heroin habit while hiding her own addiction. The two soon marry and are determined to live a clean life. But when their baby is born addicted to heroine Mary Ann's worst nightmare becomes a reality.

• The Sopranos: Series 2 (Vols. 4-6) | DVD | (25/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £33.99

  The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent, with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of supporting characters. Sadly, the programme makers were forced to throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger, who takes up with the twitchy, Scarface-wannabe Richie Aprile, brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in Tony's ass. Other running sub-plots include soldier Chris (Michael Imperioli) hapless efforts to sell his real-life Mafia story to Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his performance, and of the programme makers, is that, despite Tony being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the Government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around. Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its televisual era. --David Stubbs

• The Sopranos: Series 1 (Vol. 6) | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £16.79   |  Saving you £-1.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there is the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his mid-level capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what is not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com