"Director: Thomas"

• Rameau - Les Indes galantes / Petibon · Agnew · Croft · Hartelius · Rivenq · de Niese · Panzarella · Le Roi · Les Arts Florissants · Christe - Serban (Opéra de Paris 2004) | DVD | (27/06/2005) from £26.44   |  Saving you £4.81 (19.10%)   |  RRP £29.99

  William Christie and Les Arts Florissants propel this exuberant production of Jean-Phillipe Rameau's second opera to great heights. Andrei Serban's extravagant highly baroque staging presents the four exotic love stories vibrantly. In Le Turc Genereux Osman sets free his captive Emilie whom he loves so that she may be reunited with her former lover Valere; Les Incas De Perou is all about the rivalry of the Inca Huascar and the Spaniard Don Carlos both in pursuit of Princess Phani; Les Fleurs offers a Persian love intrigue as the Sultana Fatime tries to detect whether her husband Tacmas has his eye on the lovely Atalide; and Les Sauvages takes us to North America where a Spaniard and a Frenchman compete for the love of Zima daughter of a native chief who prefers one of her own people.

• That's Carry On | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films two of the film's best loved stars Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood Film Studios to unwrap some rib-tickling moments to the series. From the original military mayhem of 'Carry On Sergeant' through to the really ancient archaeological gags of 'Carry On Behind' our saucy hosts get their titters out for this laugh-a-second gallop through the most successful series of British comedy films ever made. With a cast

• Carry On Cruising | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £10.42   |  Saving you £3.57 (34.26%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Well, the gang's all here, but Carry On Cruising isn't one of the classics of the series. This may be partly due to the film's well-intentioned stab at some sort of authenticity, being set as it is on a genuine cruise liner rather than in a studio full of cheap sets. It swiftly becomes apparent that the cramped environment isn't well suited to the kind of slapstick which is usually a key ingredient in any Carry On film. Veteran couch spuds will recall that the TV series Triangle was similarly disadvantaged, except that it wasn't supposed to be funny. As ever, though, the brilliant cast-in-residence manage to make the most of the situation. The plot, such as it is, deals with the tribulations which beset a world-weary captain (James) when he realises he's been saddled with a crew of misfits and incompetents (practically everybody else) on a cruise which is of course supposed to offer its passengers every comfort and convenience. If there's a single outstanding performance it has to be that of Lance Percival's chef, whose cheeriness as he presides over his various culinary experiments is extremely funny in a menacing sort of way. On the DVD: The DVD issue has no additional features. --Roger Thomas

• High Bright Sun | DVD | (16/01/2012) from £8.98   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Set in Cyprus in 1957, against the background of Cyprus' determined struggle for independence from British rule, Dirk Bogarde stars as a British Intelligence Officer whose sense of duty imperils the life of the woman he loves. Betty Box produces and Ralph Thomas directs in their ninth collaboration with Bogarde.

• Fighting Temptations, The / Save The Last Dance | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Save the Last Dance enjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic film that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise render it forgettable. Since there's nothing new here, you'll appreciate the original quirks in a character-based plot that's just around the corner from Flashdance, and just as familiar. Sara (Julia Stiles) gave up a promising ballet career when her mother was killed while rushing to attend her daughter's crucial audition to Juilliard; Sara blames herself for the accident, and at her new, mostly African-American high school in Chicago, she's uncertain of her future. Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) has no such doubts; his own future is bright, and his attraction to Sara is immediate; they connect (predictably), and Sara's dormant funk emerges, with Derek's coaching, as she learns hip-hop dancing in a local club. Obligatory subplots are equally routine: Derek's sister (Kerry Washington) is a single mom struggling with her child's absentee father; Derek's best friend (Fredro Starr) feels trapped in his gangster lifestyle; and Sara's once-estranged father (Terry Kinney) is doing his best to correct past mistakes. Within the confines of this standard follow-your-dream drama, director Thomas Carter capitalises on a script that allows these characters to be real, intelligent, and thoughtful about their lives and their futures. It's obvious that Stiles's dancing was intercut with that of a professional double, but that illusion hardly matters when the rest of the film's so earnestly positive and genuine. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Dr. Dolittle / Dr. Dolittle 2 / Cheaper by the Dozen/ Cheaper by the Dozen 2 | DVD | (30/01/2012) from £13.48   |  Saving you £6.51 (48.29%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Titles Comprise:Dr Dolittle: Treat yourself to a healthy dose of Eddie Murphy's untamed animal magnetism in the smash hit comedy that'll make you 'roar, howl and hoot with laughter!' A successful physician and devoted family man, John Dolittle (Murphy) seems to have the world by the tail, until a long-suppressed talent he possessed as a child - the ability to communicate with animals - is suddenly reawakened... with a vengeance! Now every creature within squawking distance wants the good doctor's advice, unleashing an outrageous chain of events that turns his world upside down! Featuring an all-star menagerie of voice talent (including Chris Rock, John Leguizamo, Norm MacDonald, Albert Brooks, Garry Shandling and Ellen DeGeneres), this wild and wooly free-for-all is your prescription for hilarious hijinks and mischievous fun!Dr Dolittle 2: Eddie Murphy returns as the doctor, who has now garnered some measure of fame for his communication abilities, at least among the animal kingdom. Dolittle is also dealing with his rebellious teenage daughter (Raven Symone). But he drops everything when he's summoned by 'The Beaver,' the Godfather figure of the local forest, to help the animals preserve their home by stopping an overly aggressive lumber company. To save the forest, Dolittle has to take a trained performing bear (also an endangered species, who is endearingly voiced by Steve Zahn)--and introduce him to the wild to find a mate.Cheaper By The Dozen: Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) lead a suprisingly idyllic life but when they get the chance to pursue their dream jobs and move the super-sized clan to the big city. The zany chaos begins as the dozen siblings revolt, turning house and home upside down!Cheaper By The Dozen 2: Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return as heads of the Baker family who, while on holiday, find themselves in competition with a rival family of eight children, headed by Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy)...

• Carry On Jack | Blu Ray | (07/07/2014) from £8.00   |  Saving you £14.99 (187.38%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Carry On Jack was the 1963 offering from a team which had, by then, become a repertory company with special guests dropping in for a dose of innuendo. "What's all this jigging in the rigging?" demands Kenneth Williams, this time playing a ship's captain, and the scene is set for 90 minutes of ribaldry involving cross-dressing, press-ganging and plank walking. The plot scarcely matters. It's set after the Battle of Trafalgar and the sea is awash with Spanish galleons and pirates as the British navy sets about defending its shores with as much incompetence as possible. Sally, a barmaid at the Dirty Duck (Juliet Mills in feisty principal boy mode), knocks Bernard Cribbins on the head and steals his uniform so that she can go in search of her childhood sweetheart. He is promptly press-ganged and they end up on the same ship. Williams, on the brink of his ascendancy as a star turn, just about keeps the mannerisms under control enough to build the character of the naïve and neurotic captain. Familiar Carry On faces on top form include Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale, while Peter Gilmore--in his pre-Onedin Line days--appears as a pirate. Peter Rodgers' script is not quite vintage Carry On but the jokes keep coming and it's all good, clean fun. On the DVD: This was one of the first Carry On films to be made in colour. The print is in reasonable condition. The picture quality, apart from a couple of scratchy scenes of sailing ships that were probably drafted in from stock footage, is fair, as is the sound. But apart from the scene index there are no extras on the disc. Given the cult status of the Carry On films, and the wealth of documentary material which has been made about them and their stars, you'd think something extra could have been offered with the DVD releases to make them a more worthwhile alternative to the video. --Piers Ford

• The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael | DVD | (06/09/2010) from £8.45   |  Saving you £7.54 (89.23%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Three teenage boys are led into violence and temptation on a journey that will shock their sleepy community yet also express its deepest jealousies and divisions. The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael is a brutal and unflinchingly honest portrayal of life in a post-9/11 world. Filmed in long stylised takes the narrative is elliptical and poetic yet infused with a dark and ironic wit.

• Johnny English / I Spy / Tuxedo | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £69.95   |  Saving you £-49.96 (-249.90%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Johnny English (Dir. Peter Howitt 2003): Bumbling British intelligence officer Johnny English has to step into the breach when all his fellow agents are suddenly bumped off. With the machinations of mysterious millionaire Pascal Sauvage becoming increasingly threatening it's up to Johnny to save the crown jewels and the very fate of the Royal family I-Spy (Dir. Betty Thomas 2002): When the 'Switchblade' the most sophisticated stealth fighter plane ever created is stolen the US government brings in their top spy Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) to track it down. What he doesn't expect is to be teamed up with Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy) a cocky boxing champion. The duo's mission is to retrieve the plane from the hands of one of the world's most notorious illegal arms dealers Arnold Gundars (Malcolm McDowell) without getting themselves killed! Tuxedo (Dir. Kevin Donovan 2002): Cabbie-turned-chauffeur Jimmy Tong (Jackie Chan) learns there is really only one rule when you work for playboy millionaire Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs): never touch Devlin's prized tuxedo. But when Devlin is temporarily put out of commission in an explosive accident Jimmy can't resist trying on the tux and soon discovers that this extraordinary suit may be more black belt than black tie! Suddenly thrust into a dangerous world of espionage paired with a rookie partner (Jennifer Love Hewitt) even less experienced than he is Jimmy becomes an unwitting if impeccably dressed secret agent.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks Triple Pack | Blu Ray | (02/07/2012) from £7.98   |  Saving you £27.01 (77.20%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and The Chipmunks is a hilarious adventure packed with toe-tapping tunes and fur-flying fun! When struggling songwriter Dave Seville (Jason Lee) opens his home to a talented trio of chipmunks named Alvin, Simon and Theodore, they become overnight music sensations. But a greedy record producer (David Cross) intends to exploit the 'boys' and send them on a grueling concert tour just to line his own pockets. Now Dave must use a little human ingenuity - and a lot of 'munk mischief' - to get his family back before it's too late. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Pop sensations Alvin, Simon and Theodore end up in the care of Dave Seville's twenty-something nephew Toby (Levi). The boys must put aside music superstardom to return to school, and are tasked with saving the school's music program by winning the $25,000 prize in a battle of the bands. But the Chipmunks unexpectedly meet their match in three singing chipmunks known as The Chipettes - Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. Romantic and musical sparks are ignited when the Chipmunks and Chipettes square off. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked This Easter Holiday, invite your kid's favourite Chipmunk franchise, into your home for a fun, new family adventure! Hugely successful family franchise is back for some cheeky squeaky Easter fun! With more catchy songs, more fun and great exotic locations, the chipmunks and the chippettes are back and bigger than ever on Triple Play and DVD. Playing around while aboard a cruise ship, the Chipmunks and Chippettes accidentally go overboard and end up marooned in a tropical paradise. They discover their new turf is not as deserted as it seems...

• Unfaithful 3 | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

• Carry On Constable | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The fourth entry in the Carry On series. Police Sergeant Wilkins (Sid James in his Carry On debut) has a new batch of inept recruits on his hands whose idea of covert surveillance involves dressing up in drag. Bumbling PCs include Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Kenneth Connor and Leslie Phillips.

• Hidden | DVD | (10/10/2011) from £14.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (66.82%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Brian decides to go on a tour of his mother's addiction treatment centre after she died and so he and a group of his friends did just that. However, while they are there, they discover that his mother had invented a machine that cured people of their addictions but in doing so, materialised their addictions as mutants. Now, with the mustants after them, Brian and his friends must try and escape with their lives.

• In The Flesh - Series 1-2 | Blu Ray | (09/06/2014) from £20.00   |  Saving you £4.99 (24.95%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In The Flesh is set in a small village in the North of England post-zombie uprising as rehabilitated zombies are reintroduced back into society. Now known as PDS Sufferers (Partially Deceased Syndrome) they have been caught treated and armed with their flesh cover-up and special contact lenses are returning to their friends and families who previously thought them dead. The series follows our hero Kieren Walker a 17 year old who committed suicide four years ago when his best mate Rick died serving in Afghanistan. He's now returning to a village where he always felt like an outsider and a family who never got to say goodbye. We follow Kieren as he struggles to cope with fitting back in with the guilt of what he did in his untreated state and the sudden reappearance of Rick a fellow PDS Sufferer. The boy that Kieren thought was dead is alive and the boy Rick thought was alive is dead.

• 1960s Great British Movies | DVD | (22/09/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Boxset of four classic films from the 1960s. 'No Love for Johnnie' (1961) stars Peter Finch as an MP whose thirst for greater power leads him to political intrigue. Johnnie Byrne (Finch) aspires to the big time and his hopes are raised when his party triumphs in a general election. As Johnnie is overlooked for a role on the front benches his personal life also hangs in the balance as his wife (Rosalie Crutchley) decides to leave him. When Johnny is approached by a couple of fellow backbenchers for help in a scheme that may destabilise the government but advance their careers, Johnny is faced with a difficult decision. 'The Beauty Jungle' (1964) is a British comedy drama in which a young woman finds a new career as a beauty queen. Attractive typist Shirley Freeman (Janette Scott) is encouraged by newspaper journalist Don Mackenzie (Ian Hendry) to enter a beauty pageant while on holiday. After winning she decides to quit her job and become a full time contestant, proving to be very successful. However, her success won't last forever... 'The High Bright Sun' (1964) is set in Cyprus in 1957 against the backdrop of Cyprus's determined struggle for independence from British rule. Dirk Bogarde stars as a British Intelligence Officer whose sense of duty imperils the life of the woman he loves. 'Flame in the Streets' (1961) is a hard-hitting melodrama about racial tensions in early 1960s England starring John Mills and Sylvia Sims. Jacko Palmer (Mills) is a union man who has to confront the prejudices of his members when a black foreman (Earl Cameron) is appointed and the members threaten to strike. When he discovers that his daughter (Sims) wants to marry Jamaican schoolteacher Peter Lincoln (Johnny Sekka) however, Jacko must confront his own prejudices and become a bigger man.

• Carry On Behind | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £7.66   |  Saving you £2.33 (30.42%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The discovery of valuable archaeological remains beneath a holiday caravan site is the cause of the mayhem in Carry On Behind. That said, the sub-"plots", which involve Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas as a pair of randy fishermen, a couple sharing their caravan with an outsize dog (no, it's not like that...), the obligatory giggling dolly birds and so on are all typical grist to the Carry On mill. The location is of course as bleakly miserable as such a place could ever be and will bring a frisson of familiarity to many Brits. Widely held to be one of the best in the series, the film would in fact have been a rather lacklustre effort were it not for the superbly over-the-top presence of Elke Sommer, whose performance as the strapping assistant to archaeologist Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) seems like a wonderful hybrid of Ute Lemper and Charlie Dimmock. --Roger Thomas

• Win Win | DVD | (30/01/2012) from £3.59   |  Saving you £16.40 (82.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Writer-director Tom McCarthy excels at tales about men who feel isolated from their surroundings. In Win Win, it's Kyle (Alex Shaffer, recalling the young Sean Penn), a teenager who enters the life of New Jersey attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti). Flaherty's journey begins when he represents Kyle's grandfather, Leo (Burt Young), who suffers from dementia. When Flaherty finds out about the substantial fee, he signs up as Leo's guardian, because he's been having trouble paying his bills. He and his wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan), meet Kyle when the kid shows up on his grandfather's doorstep. Kyle's mother (Melanie Lynskey) is in rehab and her boyfriend is abusive, so Kyle wants to live with Leo. Because Mike placed him in a retirement home--against the man's wishes--he agrees to host Kyle for a few weeks, during which Mike learns about his wrestling skills and invites him to join the high-school team he coaches with Stephen (Jeffrey Tambor). His best friend, Terry (Bobby Cannavale), offers to assist the duo to get his mind off his ex (the one plot line that doesn't work). When Kyle's mother shows up to collect her son and cash in on her father's situation, Mike risks losing everything he has gained. Win Win doesn't surprise as much as The Station Agent, which featured Cannavale, or cut as deep as The Visitor, but Giamatti and Ryan make for a believable suburban couple, doing their best to make ends meet in the face of an unsympathetic economy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• No Kidding | Blu Ray | (20/05/2019) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles.

• Great British Crime Box Set | DVD | (31/03/2014) from £8.39   |  Saving you £12.86 (180.37%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This fine collection of Crime films from the 1950’s and 1960’s stars some of Britain’s finest actors including Stanley Baker Joan Collins Yvonne Mitchell James Robertson Justice and Nigel Patrick. The Informers (1963) sees Scotland Yard battle organised crime in this tough Police drama a forerunner to the 1970’s TV series ‘The Sweeney’. Checkpoint (1956) stars Stanley Baker in a taut industrial espionage thriller set in the world of sports car racing. An attempt to headhunt an Italian car designer ends in theft corruption and murder. Sapphire (1959) is a BAFTA winning crime drama directed by Basil Dearden. Nigel Patrick and Michael Craig are Scotland Yard detectives investigating a murder on Hampstead Heath and their enquiries lead them on a manhunt through both the black and white communities where they encounter distrust and prejudice. Turn the Key Softly (1953) starring Joan Collins as one of three women who leave prison on the same day. Over the course of 24 hours each faces a struggle with herself to avoid a return criminal ways.

• Doctor At Sea | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £7.98   |  Saving you £4.00 (66.78%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The second of the popular Doctor series sees doctor Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) keen to escape the boredom of medical practice ashore and the threat of matrimony. Sparrow signs up as a medical officer onboard the cargo ship SS Lotus pleased to be free of any female distractions. However Sparrow soon falls foul of the ship's skipper fearsome captain Hogg (James Robertson Justice) and worse still lands in jail after a drunken celebration on arrival in South America. Two new passeng