"Actor: Adam Alexi Malle"

• Bowfinger | DVD | (01/05/2000) from £6.71   |  Saving you £3.28 (48.88%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bobby Bowfinger, a nearly bankrupt aspiring movie producer-director, is about to take one last shot at fame and fortune.

• The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £11.25   |  Saving you £8.74 (77.69%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With The Man Who Wasn't There the Coen brothers--those ironic geniuses of left-field bizarre--have pulled off another side-swerve into the unexpected. A movie "about a hairdresser who wants to become a dry-cleaner" as the brothers gleefully claim to have pitched it, it's set in 1949 in the small Northern California town of Santa Rosa (venue for Hitchcock's 1943 classic Shadow of a Doubt) and filmed in lustrous, deep-shadowy black-and-white--an affectionate, though never slavish, tribute to the great era of film noir. Not only in its austere monochrome but in its tone, it comes as a total contrast to the Coens' previous film, the cheerfully picaresque O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Though they toss in plenty of surreal gags, including a whole running thread about flying saucers (this is Roswell-era America, after all), the overall mood is quiet, reflective and even--something quite new for the Coens--compassionate. Their protagonist, barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton, proving himself one of the great chameleon actors of our time), is a man trapped by his own impassivity--inside him, a seething mass of emotion that he's utterly unable to express. In true Coen style, his frustration leads him into a fatal move that spirals disastrously out of control. Thornton is ably supported by a whole gallery of Coen regulars--Frances McDormand, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub--plus James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and an amazingly assured turn from Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World). The dialogue, as you'd expect, is masterly, while the brothers' regular collaborators Director of Photography Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner work wonders of period evocation, and Carter Burwell contributes a haunting score. On the DVD: The Man Who Wasn't There comes to DVD in a sharp, clean 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that captures all the depth and subtlety of Deakins' superb photography, impeccably matched by the crystal-clear Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. A lavish helping of extras includes a trailer and two TV spots, stills photo gallery, filmographies, a 16-minute "making of" featurette, an overlong (47 minutes) interview with Deakins, a batch of deleted scenes, and best of all, the voice-over commentary. This gives us not just Joel and Ethan, but Billy Bob as well, chatting and chortling and clearly enjoying every second of the movie they've made. Their enthusiasm is irresistible. –-Philip Kemp

• Hidalgo | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Viggo Mortensen stars as cowboy who travels to Saudi Arabia in 1890 to compete with his horse Hidalgo in a dangerous race for a massive prize.

• Treasure Buddies | DVD | (19/03/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Disney's irresistible talking puppies - Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Buddha and Mudbud - are back in an all-new movie that takes them halfway across the world to the ruins of ancient Egypt.

• Bowfinger/the Nutty Professor/Life | DVD | (14/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Bowfinger: How does Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) Hollywood's least successful director get Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) Hollywood's biggest star in his ultra low-budget film? Any way he can. With an ingenious scheme and the help of the eager nerd Jiff an ambitious and sexy wannabe (Heather Graham) and an over-the-hill diva (Christine Baranski) Bowfinger sets out to trick Kit Ramsey into the performance of a lifetime.... (Dir. Frank Oz 1999) The Nutty Professor: Eddie Murphy stars as Dr Sherman Klump a kind ""calorically challenged"" genetics professor who longs to shed his 400-pound frame in order to win the heart of beautiful Jada Pinkett. So with one swig of his experimental fat-reducing serum Sherman becomes ""Buddy Love"" a fast-talking pumped-up plumped-down Don Juan. Can Sherman stop his buff alter ego before it's too late or will Buddy have the last laugh? (Dir. Tom Shadyac 1996) Life: Eddie Murphy is the fast talking con-artist Rayford Gibson and Martin Lawrence is the conservative bank teller Claude Banks. The two are accidentally teamed up to become the funniest ""odd couple"" east of the Mississippi. In an effort to pay off Ray's debt and restore Claude's reputation they travel south on a bootlegging run for some quick cash. There is no limit to their comical misfortune as they are placed at the scene of a crime and their mistaken identity lands them right in front of the judge. This hysterical comedy gives a whole new meaning to friends for life. (Dir. Ted Demme 1999)