Drama

• The Stranger | DVD | (29/04/2015) from £12.15   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The legendary story that hovers over Orson Welles' The Stranger is that he wanted Agnes Moorehead to star as the dogged Nazi hunter who trails a war criminal to a sleepy New England town. The part went to Edward G. Robinson, who is marvellous, but it points out how many compromises Welles made on the film in an attempt to show Hollywood he could make a film on time, on budget and on their own terms. He accomplished all three, turning out a stylish if unambitious film noir thriller, his only Hollywood film to turn a profit on its original release. Welles stars as unreformed fascist Franz Kindler, hiding as a schoolteacher in a New England prep school for boys and newly married to the headmaster's lovely if naive daughter (Loretta Young). Welles, the director, is in fine form for the opening sequences, casting a moody tension as agents shadow a twitchy low-level Nazi official skulking through South American ports and building up to dramatic crescendo as Kindler murders this little man, the lovely woods becoming a maelstrom of swirling leaves that expose the body he furiously tries to bury. The rest of the film is a well designed but conventional cat-and-mouse game featuring an eye-rolling performance by Welles and a thrilling conclusion played out in the dark clock tower that looms over the little village. --Sean Axmaker

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 2 Part 2 | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £16.62   |  Saving you £23.37 (140.61%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Thanks to its focus on more single-case episodes, the second half of CSI's second series is an even more highly concentrated dose of forensic puzzle-solving from the Vegas science sleuths. With the whole team working together on one puzzle crime (or series of crime puzzles), the group dynamic is elaborated and the audience drawn deeper into each investigation. The first three episodes are all single cases: "Identity Crisis" sees the return of Grissom's nemesis, serial killer Paul Millander; in "The Finger", Catherine is caught up in an elaborate kidnap plot; while in "Burden of Proof", a stray body in a "body farm" leads to a difficult case of child abuse. After a brief return to the two-investigation-per-episode format, the team unite once more for one of their most intriguing cases, "Chasing the Bus", in which they must unravel the mystery of a bus crash in the desert. "Stalker" is possibly the show's most terrifying episode to date, with a woman found murdered behind the safely locked doors of her apartment. The season concludes with "Cross Jurisdictions", a rather unsubtle way of introducing the spin-off show CSI: Miami and, finally, "The Hunger Artist", a somewhat strained attempt to comment on our society's obsession with glamour and self-image, which is most notable for Grissom's devastating discovery that his hearing problems are not only congenital, but irreversible. --Mark Walker

• Nebraska | Blu Ray | (14/04/2014) from £37.78   |  Saving you £-10.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £26.99

  In Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" a father and son steer the American road comedy into a vanishing Midwest on the trail of a dubious fortune - and in search of an understanding of each other that once seemed impossible.

• Tangerine | DVD | (28/03/2016) from £8.45   |  Saving you £7.54 (89.23%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn't been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, she and her best friend Alexandra embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the rumour.

• Crime Scene Investigation - New York - Season 1 Part 1 | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £5.98   |  Saving you £34.01 (568.73%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The latest spin-off series from C.S.I. in which New York forensic detectives employ the very latest hi-tech methods to catch criminals in the Big Apple... The head of the lab is no-nonsense First Grade Detective Mac Taylor (Sinise) taking a scientists eye to crime Mac believes that everything is connected no matter how big or small. Originally from Chicago his military background fast-tracked him through the force leading him ultimately to the crime lab. Mac's trusted second in

• Empire | DVD | (14/09/2015) from £5.98   |  Saving you £19.01 (317.89%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A sexy and powerful new family drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne.

• Agnes of God - Collector's Edition | Blu Ray | (10/06/2019) from £11.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Agnes Of God (1985). Import from France with English soundtrack and subtitles. When young nun Sister Agnes (Meg Tilly) is put on trial for giving birth to and then killing a baby in the Quebec convent where she lives and works, subsequently claiming to have no knowledge or memory of either event, it is up to psychiatrist Dr Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda) to decide whether she is mentally responsible for her actions. Martha comes up against the convent's mother superior, Sister Miriam Ruth (Anne Bancroft), who doubts whether the answer can be found in psychology, believing that it is a matter of Christian faith whether Agnes' actions constitute a murder or a miracle. This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate.

• Paparazzi | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £8.99   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  When a bunch of photographers almost kill him and his family, a Hollywood star sets out to exact revenge.

• Australia / a Good Year | DVD | (04/08/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Australia: Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) is an English aristocrat who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land only to still face the bombing of Darwin Australia by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier. A Good Year: When high-flying English businessman Max Skinner (Crowe) inherits the vineyard in Provence where he grew up with his uncle Henry (Albert Finney) he arrives at his new property with the express intention of promptly selling it only to meets an American woman who claims that the land is actually hers...

• The Brokenwood Mysteries Series 1-8 | DVD | (07/11/2022) from £69.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries, from Series 1-8.

• Gypsy | DVD | (28/11/2005) from £5.06   |  Saving you £14.93 (295.06%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It's Emmy Grammy and Golden Globe-winner Bette Midler in the role she was born to play. The superstar of Beaches Ruthless People Down & Out in Beverly Hills and For the Boys delivers a ""standing room only"" performance as Mama Rose the ultimate vaudeville stage mother. Rose's blind ambition for her two daughters forces one to desert her and the other to emerge as the world's most famous striptease artist - Gypsy Rose Lee. Based on the actual memoirs of Ms. Lee and directed by the late Emile Ardolino (Sister Act Dirty Dancing) this musical motion picture extravaganza is true to the original Broadway production... including the glorious Jerome Robbins choreography and the memorable Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim score. The classics are all here - from ""Everything's Coming Up Roses"" to ""Let Me Entertain You"" and as a special bonus the complete version of Gypsy's classic overture. Spectacular performances by Ms. Midler and her supporting cast - Peter Riegert Cynthia Gibb (as the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee) and Ed Asner - will leave you asking for an encore!

• Painted Boats | DVD | (11/01/2010) from £9.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (60.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A drama following the lives of two families who live on colourfully painted canal boats.

• The Untouchables | DVD | (04/06/2001) from £5.25   |  Saving you £10.74 (204.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualise the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters". In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing pot-boiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the film pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper Caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia) and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone's potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery's apartment and the train-station shootout partially modelled after the "Odessa steps" sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It's thrilling stuff, fuelled by Ennio Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and obvious. If you're inclined to be critical, the film gives you reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Ozu Collection - The Gangster Films (2-DVD) | DVD | (18/03/2013) from £25.65   |  Saving you £4.34 (16.92%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The latest volume in the BFI's ongoing releases of the works of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu focuses on his crime films. These rare, silent works mix the thrills of western filmmaking with compositions that served as a forerunner to his renowned, mature, post-war style. All films are here presented with newly commissioned scores by Ed Hughes. Episode Comprise: Walk Cheerfully That Night's Wife Dragnet Girl Special Features: The only surviving fragment of A Straightforward Boy

• Juliet Bravo - Series 4 | DVD | (22/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Inspector Kate Longton (Anna Carteret) takes up the mantel from Inspector Jean Darblay (Stephanie Turner) in the fourth series of Juliet Bravo Episodes Comprise: 1.Teamwork 2.Teacher's Pet 3.Retribution 4.Solvent Solution 5.Who's Your Friend 6.Mates 7.Bad Seed 8.Doors 9.Guilt 10.John The Lad 11.Who Says The War Is Over? 12.Off Duty 13.Simple Simon 14.Backtrack

• James Stewart - It's A Wonderful Life/Harvey/Rear Window/Mr. Smith Goes To Washington | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £25.63   |  Saving you £4.36 (17.01%)   |  RRP £29.99

  It's A Wonderful Life (Dir. Frank Capra 1946): Starring the unforgettable James Stewart as George Bailey the man who receives the greatest Christmas gift of all. A superb ensemble cast includes Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore this high spirited Christmas tale is Directed by the immortal Frank Capra and ranks as an all-time favourite of fans and critics alike. Harvey (Dir. Henry Koster 1950): James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd a wealthy alcoholic whose sunny disposition and drunken antics are tolerated by most of the citizens of his community. That is until Elwood begins to claim that he has a friend named Harvey who is an invisible six foot rabbit. Elwood's snooty socialite sister Veta determined to marry off her daughter Myrtle to a respectable man begins to plot to keep Elwood's lunacy from interfering. Rear Window (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock 1954): Alfred Hitchcock amply demonstrates why he's been called The Master of Suspense with this both witty and macabre tale of voyeurism and murder starring two of cinema's all-time favourites James Stewart and Grace Kelly. L. B. Jeffries (Stewart) a photographer with a broken leg takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbours during a summer heat wave. But things really hot up when he suspects one neighbour of murdering his invalid wife and burying the body in a flower garden. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Dir. Frank Capra 1939): James Stewart Jean Arthur and Claude Rains star in this award-winning 1939 classic about an idealistic small-town politician who heads to Washington and suddenly finds himself single-handedly battling ruthless politicians out to destroy him.

• Far And Away | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £5.01   |  Saving you £0.98 (19.56%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Filmed in the widescreen splendour of "Panavision Super 70" and blessed with the finest production values that Hollywood clout can buy, this tale of spunky Irish immigrants forgot one crucial ingredient: a decent screenplay. The film is entertaining enough, and director Ron Howard brings his technical proficiency to the simple plot, culminating in a dynamic, breathtaking depiction of the Oklahoma land rush of 1893. But the movie is really just a vacuous vehicle for married stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as (respectively) the poor tenant farmer and rich landlord's daughter who flee Ireland to be American pioneers. The scenery and the stars are never less than stunning, but Howard falls short of the mark in his attempt to match the epic sweep of films by David Lean. On the other hand, this movie is certainly never boring even if it rarely makes sense, and Lean's own Irish epic, Ryan's Daughter, is a snoozer by comparison. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Pillow Book | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £13.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Drowning by Numbers) continues to delight and disturb us with his talent for combining storytelling with optic artistry. The Pillow Book is divided into 10 chapters (consistent with Greenaway's love of numbers and lists) and is shot to be viewed like a book, complete with tantalising illustrations and footnotes (subtitles) and using television's "screen-in-screen" technology. As a child in Japan, Nagiko's father celebrates her birthday retelling the Japanese creation myth and writing on her flesh in beautiful calligraphy, while her aunt reads a list of "beautiful things" from a 10th-century pillow book. As she gets older, Nagiko (Vivian Wu) looks for a lover with calligraphy skills to continue the annual ritual. She is initially thrilled when she encounters Jerome (Ewan McGregor), a bisexual translator who can speak and write several languages, but soon realises that although he is a magnificent lover, his penmanship is less than acceptable. When Nagiko dismisses the enamoured Jerome, he suggests she use his flesh as the pages which to present her own pillow book. The film, complete with a musical score as international as the languages used in the narration, is visually hypnotic and truly an immense "work of art". --Michele Goodson

• Lie With Me | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £6.39   |  Saving you £-0.40 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Sexually adventurous Lelia connects with men through spontaneous fleeting encounters. At a crowded house party she meets the equally impulsive David. Stunned by the effect of this brief but lust-drenched liaison they begin a heated game of seduction that soon explodes into a full-blown rampant affair...

• Girl With Green Eyes (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (17/12/2018) from £14.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In Dublin, two shop assistants share a room. One, Kate (Rita Tushingham), is a quiet, rather naïve young woman, while the other, Baba (Lynn Redgrave), is vivacious and ebullient with an eye for the boys. But when the two befriend a quiet, middle-aged writer (Peter Finch, Network, he makes a beeline for the shy, and lonely Kate. A bittersweet story of an extraordinary romance. Beautifully scripted by Edna O'Brien from her own best-selling novel, and brilliantly directed by regular Woodfall collaborator Desmond Davies. This film went on to win a Golden Globe whilst both Tushingham, and Redgrave (for only her second credited performance) were nominated for BAFTAs. Special features: Presented in High Definition Rita Tushingham on Girl With Green Eyes (2018, 7 mins): the actor recalls her time on the film Film Poetry: Desmond Davis (2018, 24 mins): director Desmond Davis discusses his career, including his work on Woodfall Food For a Blluuusssshhhhh (1959, 31 mins): surrealist-influenced student film by Free Cinema pioneer Elizabeth Russell The Peaches (1964, 16 mins): coming-of-age fantasy by Walter Lassally Illustrated booklet with new writing by Melanie Williams and Michael Brooke, plus full film credits