Drama

• Animal Factory | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £4.97   |  Saving you £11.02 (221.73%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Poignant prison drama following 21-year-old Ron Deckeras he enters a Pennsylvania state penitentiary. Protected by prison vet Earl Copen, the pair plan an escape which will either set them free or cost them their lives in the process.

• 5X2 | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  All marriages are a mystery to outsiders they say and Franois Ozon's new film succeeds in shining a light on one such mystery while somehow keeping its essential core of unknowability intact. 5x2 shows five scenes from a modern marriage in reverse order like Pinter's Betrayal. We see its disintegration from the final calamity to its genesis and gain a stunning insight into an ordinary middle-class relationship: that of Marion (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Gilles (Stphane F

• The Last Kingdom season 1-4 boxset (DVD) | DVD | (12/10/2020) from £39.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Witness the birth of England as you've never seen in the acclaimed series The Last Kingdom from the makers of Downton Abbey. At the end of the 9th century many of the separate kingdoms, which we now call England, have fallen in bloody conflict with invading Danes. Against this turbulent backdrop lives our hero, Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon). Born the son of a Saxon nobleman, he is captured by the Danes and raised as one of their own. For many years fate binds him to Alfred (David Dawson), Saxon King of Wessex. Uhtred must fight for Alfred's dream of uniting the kingdoms. Suffering great personal tragedy, Uhtred is torn between the country of his birth and the people of his upbringing. After Alfred's death, the turbulent reign of the new King Edward threatens his father's dream more than ever. Uhtred confronts a difficult choice - if he deserts Alfred's legacy, the future of the English people will be changed forever. Also starring Millie Brady, Eliza Butterworth, Emily Cox, Ian Hart, Rutger Hauer, Timothy Innes, Matthew Macfadyen, Harry McEntire, Toby Regbo, Tobias Santelmann and Adrian Schiller.

• Dead End | DVD | (12/07/2005) from £12.61   |  Saving you £0.38 (3.01%)   |  RRP £12.99

  On the mean streets of New York's Lower East Side Drina (Sylvia Sidney) hopes to save her brother from a life of crime. But notorious hoodlum Baby Face Martin (Bogart) has come back to his old haunts looking for trouble and threatening to drag the boy down with him. Drina turns to her childhood friend Dave (Joel McCrea) for help. But can he stop Martin without becoming just like him?

• Breathless | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Breathless, Jim McBride's 1983 remake of Au Bout de Souffle rewrites Godard's existential hipster as a vain, style-obsessed hood and in the process loses some of the point. Godard's hero was a translation and productive misunderstanding of a quintessentially American sort of delinquent; because it is a retranslation, Gere's intelligent, nervy performance as Jesse Lujack suffers by comparison, however admirable it is taken in itself. McBride's direction strokes Gere's face and body lovingly--his every foxy smile, or glance at himself in a mirror, is played for passionate significance. This is also a good-looking film: the back alleys of LA and sunset over the Mojave desert have rarely looked as good. Valerie Kaprisky's Monica is inevitably given secondary importance; the decision to make the woman who goes along with Jesse's wild final ride on a whim an exchange student makes her at once more and less like her equivalent in the Godard--she has a touching exoticism that is at the same time somehow beside the point. The DVD includes the original theatrical trailer. --Roz Kaveney

• Buffalo Soldiers | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £5.35   |  Saving you £4.64 (86.73%)   |  RRP £9.99

  An Army-base comedy about soldiers "with nothing to kill except time", Buffalo Soldiers invites casual comparison to Catch-22 and M*A*S*H. It's 1989: the Berlin Wall is falling, completing the Cold War's thaw and Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix)--a clerk with the 317th Supply Battalion, stationed in west Germany--combats boredom with a variety of black-market schemes, from cooking heroin for the base's corrupt MPs to dealing stolen arms to the highest bidder, in addition to having a shallow affair with the two-timing wife (Elizabeth McGovern) of his outgoing commander (Ed Harris). Elwood's new CO (Scott Glenn) clamps down on his illegal activities while protecting his daughter (Anna Paquin) from Elwood's advances. Fine casting and positive buzz couldn't prevent this movie's ironic fate: acquired by Miramax one day before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Buffalo Soldiers was shelved for nearly two years, by which time this dark and defiantly amusing exercise in political incorrectness--based on the novel by Robert O'Connor--had been overshadowed by world events. --Jeff Shannon

• The Last Kingdom season 1-5 | Blu Ray | (16/05/2022) from £53.59   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Witness the birth of England as you've never seen in the acclaimed series The Last Kingdom from the makers of Downton Abbey. At the end of the 9th century many of the separate kingdoms, which we now call England, have fallen in bloody conflict with invading Danes. Against this turbulent backdrop lives our hero, Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon). Born the son of a Saxon nobleman, he is captured by the Danes and raised as one of their own. For many years fate binds him to Alfred (David Dawson), Saxon King of Wessex. Uhtred must fight for Alfred's dream of uniting the kingdoms. Suffering great personal tragedy, Uhtred is torn between the country of his birth and the people of his upbringing. After Alfred's death, the turbulent reign of the new King Edward threatens his father's dream more than ever. Uhtred confronts a difficult choice - if he deserts Alfred's legacy, the future of the English people will be changed forever.

• Mo' Better Blues | DVD | (11/09/2017) from £8.15   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington gives a riveting performance in Spike Lee s breathtaking film on music and love. Talented trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Washington) is obsessed by his music and indecisive about his girlfriends Indigo (Joie Lee) and Clarke (Cynda Williams). But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend Spike Lee, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined. Stunning cinematography, a rousing score and superlative performances come together in this unforgettable feast for the senses.

• The Romantics (DVD) | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.75   |  Saving you £11.24 (236.63%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Seven close friends reunite to watch two of their own tight clique tie the knot. However, problems soon arise when the long-lived rivalry between the bride (Paquin) and the maid of honor (Holmes) is tested.

• Proof | Blu Ray | (31/10/2022) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Jocelyn Moorhouse's Australian cinema masterpiece introduced audiences to the talents of Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving. Remastered and approved by Jocelyn Moorhouse and Cinematographer Martin McGrath, Proof reaches Blu-Ray™ for the first time. Blind from birth, Martin (Hugo Weaving) trusts no-one except the camera that has replaced his eyes. By taking photos, Martin has proof that the world he senses is the same as other people see. Martin has never trusted anyone enough to describe his photos to him, until he meets Andy (Russell Crowe), a young kitchen hand whose honesty and kindness touches him. That is, until Martin's jealous housekeeper (Genevieve Picot), sets out to destroy their trusting relationship with a cold act of revenge. Product Features The Siege of Barton's Bathroom - short film directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse: Elly Barton lives in a barren suburban housing estate where there is only one tree left standing. Now the neighbours want to cut it down, but what no-one seems to understand is that it is Elly's tree - and she is not going to let anybody touch it. Pavane (1983) - short film written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse: Jocelyn Moorhouse's first short completed whilst studying at AFTRS shows a talent in the making. Original Theatrical Trailer

• Sweet Smell of Success | Blu Ray | (30/03/2015) from £18.72   |  Saving you £2.53 (14.49%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A classic from the late 1950s, The Sweet Smell of Success looks at the string-pulling behind-the-scenes action between desperate press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and the ultimate power broker in that long-ago showbiz Manhattan, gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Written by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets (who based the Hunsecker character on the similarly brutal and power-mad Walter Winchell), the film follows Falco's attempts to promote a client through Hunsecker's column--until he is forced to make a deal with the devil and help Hunsecker ruin a jazz musician who has the nerve to date Hunsecker's sister. Shooting on location, mostly at night, director Alexander MacKendrick and cinematographer James Wong Howe capture this New York demi-monde in silky black and white, in which neon and shadows share a scarily symbiotic relationship--a near-match for the poisonous give-and-take between the edgy Curtis and the dismissive Lancaster. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Doom Patrol: Season 2 | Blu Ray | (22/02/2021) from £16.15   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  DC's strangest group of heroes: Cliff Steele aka Robotman (Brendan Fraser), Larry Trainor aka Negative Man (Matt Bomer), Rita Farr aka Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby), Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), and Victor Stone aka Cyborg (Joivan Wade) are back again to save the world that is if they can find a way to grow up both figuratively and literally. Following the defeat of Mr. Nobody, the Doom Patrol now find themselves mini-sized and stranded on Cliff's toy race car track. Here they begin to deal with their feelings of betrayal with Niles Caulder aka The Chief (Timothy Dalton), while confronting their own personal baggage. And as each member faces the challenge of growing beyond their own past traumatic experiences, they must come together to embrace and protect the newest member of the family, Dorothy (Abigail Shapiro), Caulder's daughter, whose powers remain a mysterious but real threat to bringing on the end of the world. Doom Patrol: The Magic of Makeup - The prosthetics wizards of Doom Patrol's make-up department reveal the secrets that help bring characters like Larry and Dorothy to life. We'll also highlight some of the menagerie of characters they've enjoyed working on across both seasons. Doom Patrol: Season 2 - Come Visit Georgia PSA with Carey Meyer, Production Designer.

• Billy Elliot | Blu Ray | (19/09/2011) from £21.95   |  Saving you £-1.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Inside every one of us is a special talent waiting to come out. The trick is finding it. Starring Julie Walters and newcomer Jamie Bell the film (based on a real-life story) follows the progress of little Billy Elliot a motherless 11 year-old from a poor Durham pit village. When young Billy chooses ballet classes over boxing lessons his life is changed forever. He decides to keep the lessons secret from his father a coal miner but when his ballet instructor persuades him to try out for the Royal Ballet School in London Billy must make the choice between family responsibilities and his dreams... Billy Elliot received plenty of recognition at the Academy Awards picking up nominations for Best Supporting Actress Best Director and Best Screenplay.

• Licorice Pizza | Blu Ray | (06/06/2022) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  California's San Fernando Valley, 1973. Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) is a precocious high schooler and child star who meets - and is immediately besotted with - Alana (Alana Haim), a twenty-something photographer's assistant trying desperately to find herself. The two of them form an unlikely bond, and soon begin running around the Valley together taking part in Gary's many haphazard schemes.

• Vice | Blu Ray | (03/06/2019) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From Adam McKay, the Oscar-winning co-writer and director of The Big Short and featuring transformative performances from Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell and Steve Carell, Vice is the unmissable, hilarious and most relevant film of the year. The untold and epic true story of how Dick Cheney, a bureaucratic Washington insider, quietly became the most powerful man in the world as Vice-President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.

• The League of Gentlemen | DVD | (13/01/2020) from £16.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A disgruntled veteran recruits a group of disgraced colleagues to perform a bank robbery with military precision

• American History X | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.95   |  Saving you £5.04 (63.40%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), the charismatic leader of a group of young white supremacists, lands in prison for a brutal, hate-driven murder. Upon his release, ashamed of his past and pledging to reform, Derek realises he must save his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), from a similar fate. A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in a family.

• Lars And The Real Girl | DVD | (18/08/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A delusional young guy (Ryan Gosling) strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.

• Wilde | Blu Ray | (14/12/2015) from £6.93   |  Saving you £11.06 (159.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Wilde could easily have been nothing more than another well-dressed literary film from the British costume drama stable, but thanks to a richly textured performance from Stephen Fry in the title role, it becomes something deeper--a moving study of how the conflict between individual desires and social expectations can ruin lives. Oscar Wilde's writing may be justifiably legendary for its sly, barbed wit, but Wilde the film is far from a comedy, even though Fry relishes delivering the great man's famous quips. It takes on tragic dimensions as soon as Wilde meets Lord Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie, the strikingly beautiful but viciously selfish young aristocrat who wins Oscar's heart but loses him his reputation, marriage and freedom. Fry is brilliant at capturing how the intensity of Wilde's love for Bosie threw him off balance, becoming an all-consuming force he was unable to resist. Jude Law expertly depicts both Bosie's allure and his spitefully destructive side, there are subtle supporting performances from Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle and Zoe Wanamaker, and the period trappings are lavishly trowelled on. But this is Fry's show all the way: from Oscar the darling of theatrical London to Wilde the prisoner broken on the wheel of Victorian moralism, he doesn't put a foot wrong. It feels like the role he was born to play. --Andy Medhurst

• Secrets & Lies | Blu Ray | (02/03/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  If a film fan had never heard of director Mike Leigh, one might explain him as a British Woody Allen. Not that Leigh's films are whimsical or neurotic; they are tough-love examinations of British life--funny, outlandish and biting. His films share a real immediacy with Allen's work: they feel as if they are happening now. Leigh works with actors--real actors--on ideas and language. There is no script at the start (and sometimes not at the end). Secrets and Lies involves Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an elegant black woman wanting to learn her birth mother's identity. She will find it's Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), who is one of the saddest creatures we've seen in film. She's also one of the most real and, ultimately, one of the most loveable. Timothy Spall is Cynthia's brother, a giant man full of love who is being slowly defeated by his fastidious wife (Phyllis Logan). There is a great exuberance of life in Secrets & Lies, winner of the Palme D'Or and best actress (Blethyn) at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival--not Zorba-type life but the little battles fought and won every day. Leigh's honest interpretation of daily life is usually found only on the stage. Secrets & Lies is more realistic than a stage production, however, especially when Leigh shows us uninterrupted scenes. Critic David Denby states that Leigh has "made an Ingmar Bergman film without an instant of heaviness or pretension." If that sounds like your cup of tea, see Secrets & Lies. --Doug Thomas