"Actor: Al Brown"

• The Stranger | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, "is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture. I did it to prove that I could put out a movie as well as anyone else." True, set beside Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, or even The Trial, The Stranger is as close to production-line stuff as the great Orson ever came. But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. The shadow of the Second World War hangs heavy over the plot. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi, Franz Kindler, to a sleepy New England town where he's living in concealment as a respected college professor. The script, credited to Anthony Veiller but with uncredited input from Welles and John Huston, is riddled with implausibilities: we're asked to believe, for a start, that there'd be no extant photos of a top Nazi leader. The casting's badly skewed, too. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn't wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive--and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. What's more, Spiegel chopped out most of the two opening reels set in South America, in Welles' view, "the best stuff in the picture". Still, the film's far from a write-off. Welles' eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty's skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clock tower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever. On the DVD: not much in the way of extras, except a waffly full-length commentary from Russell Cawthorne that tells us about the history of clock-making and where Edward G was buried, but precious little about the making of the film. Print and sound are acceptable, but though remastering is claimed, there's little evidence of it. --Philip Kemp

• When We Were Kings (Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (22/10/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• House II | DVD | (28/01/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (-54.00%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When exploring the house left to him Jesse discovers his great great grandfather alive and kicking thanks to a magical skull which gives its owner immortality. Such an important piece is converted by many. When the skull is taken Jesse and his friends must battle monsters in order to return it to Gramps to save his life.

• City of Lies | Blu Ray | (08/06/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Scourge Of The Worlds - A Dungeons And Dragons Adventure | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons and Dragons Adventure is not a film sequel to Dungeons and Dragons (2000), but the DVD equivalent of an interactive role-playing novel. There are over 900 short digitally animated sequences, leading every so often to a choice to be made with the remote control, resulting after about 90 minutes in one of four possible endings. Just as the original D&D was inspired by The Lord of the Rings, the scenarios here are Tolkien rehashed: a newly arisen darkness is seeking an ancient ultimate weapon, against which stand a human warrior, Regdar, a halfling, Lidda and an elven wizard, Mialee. The CGI is closer to Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles than the pseudo-realism of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the electronic score is tiresome and the contemporary American voice acting, using such expressions as "head's up" and "…or something", is laughable. What of the interactive element? Essentially it offers two equally uninteresting paths at the end of every major scene--uninteresting because it's impossible to care what happens to the marionette-like stereotypes no matter what they do. While the adventure does offer plenty of well-choreographed cartoon-style action, interacting with Scourge of Worlds is ultimately about as much fun as watching someone else play a computer game--and that's just the first time through. On the DVD: Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons and Dragons Adventure fills the DVD with the 900-plus animated sequences, presumably leaving no room for extras. The only options are between stereo sound and far more involving Dolby Digital 5.1. The image appears to have been taken directly from a digital master and is flawless, the images only limited by the TV-standard computer rendering. --Gary S Dalkin

• Fast Times At Ridgemont High | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The script for Fast Times at Ridgemont High is based on filmmaker Cameron (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) Crowe's time as a reporter for Rolling Stone. He was so youthful looking that he was able to go undercover for a year at a California high school and write a book about it. The film launched the careers of several young actors, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates and, above all, Sean Penn. The story line is episodic, dealing with the lives of iconic teen types: one of the school's cool kids, a nerd, a teen queen and, most enjoyably, the class stoner (Penn), who finds himself at odds with a strict history teacher (a wonderfully spiky Ray Walston). This is not a great film but very entertaining and, for a certain age group, a seminal film experience.--Marshall Fine, Amazon.com On the DVD: Amy (Clueless) Heckerling and Cameron Crowe's commentary is revealing and indicative of a time where nudity on celluloid was shocking rather than the norm as they talk about the issues which contributed to the film's original X-rating, as well as all the actors who originally auditioned for the roles. The transfer quality is high with little grain, and although the soundtrack is in mono rather than Dolby 5.1 it is not detrimental to the film. There's a retrospective documentary called "Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High" featuring new interviews with most of the cast and crew, plus a highly original feature about the locations used in the film, how they looked in 1982 and how they look now. For fact buffs there's the usual mix of biographies, theatrical trailer and production notes.--Kristen Bowditch

• The Last Sect | DVD | (15/10/2007) from £9.75   |  Saving you £3.24 (33.23%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A modern group of seductive vampires are using the best source for fresh victims: the internet. While Van Helsing's descendent tracks them a young journalist is getting more than she bargained for from her story.

• Nightmare on Elm Street (Blu-ray + DVD Combi) | Blu Ray | (25/10/2010) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) returns in A Nightmare on Elm Street, a contemporary re-imagining of the horror classic.

• The Ugly | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £14.62   |  Saving you £-12.63 (-634.70%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Seven' meets 'The Silence of the Lambs' in a hip psycho-chiller combining macabre humour and disturbing horror. Simon Cartwright is a self confessed murderer whose switchable victims don't conform to any set pattern. Celebrity lawyer Dr Karen Shoemaker wants to get inside his head to either certify him insane or prove he's cured. And so starts a grisly journey into Simon's past with terrifying repercussions for Karen's present as fantasy and reality mix in the dark corridors of twisted madness. It's not a pretty picture!

• Two Can Play That Game | DVD | (03/03/2003) from £4.97   |  Saving you £15.02 (302.21%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When it comes to matters of the heart, keeping her man happy and committed is all in a day's work for Shante Smith.

• Extreme Prejudice | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £14.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A Texas Ranger stands on one side of the border aimed at cleaning up the Mexican drug traffic. A ruthless narcotics kingpin who'll stop at nothing to get his way stands on the other. Friends since childhood now they are deadly adversaries...

• The Dirty Dozen (2 Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £17.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Train them! Excite them! Arm them!...Then turn them loose on the Nazis! Atten-hut! Twelve jailbirds will earn their freedom... if they survive a suicide mission against the Nazi brass. Tough-as-nails Lee Marvin leads a nothing-to-lose convict squad in this all-time action trendsetter. They don't make 'em like this anymore!

• Ski School 2 | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  More fun on the sunny slopes as our struggling ski instructor does anything to win his dream girl (Playboy model Wendy Hamilton) save the world and ski!

• Kennedy | DVD | (25/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

• Enter the Void | Blu Ray | (30/05/2022) from £59.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Eight years after the controversial and shocking Irreversible, director Gaspar Noé cemented his reputation as the enfant terrible of New French Extremity with perhaps his most challenging film to date a hallucinatory meditation on life, death and rebirth, shot entirely in the first person. American siblings Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) and Linda (Paz de la Huerta, The Limits of Control) eke out a shared existence in Tokyo he by dealing drugs, she by working as a stripper. However, tragedy strikes when a deal turns sour and Oscar is shot by the police. As his lifeless body lies on the floor of a public toilet, his soul floats high above the neon-drenched Tokyo streets, observing the effect of his death on his sister and reliving the events in his life that brought him to this juncture. Described by Noé himself as a psychedelic melodrama, Enter the Void boasts mesmerising cinematography by the award-winning Benoît Debie (Climax, Spring Breakers) and a hypnotic soundtrack of experimental and electronic music. Powerful and transcendent, it offers viewers an immersive cinematic experience like no other. Product Features High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of both the 143-minute UK theatrical cut and the full-length 161-minute director's cut Original lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo soundtracks Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Enter the Sensorium, a brand new visual essay on the film by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicolas Brand new video interview with typography designer and long-term Noé collaborator Tom Kan 8 deleted scenes Archival Making of Special Effects featurette Archival Vortex featurette Archival DMT Loop featurette French and international theatrical trailers 8 teaser trailers 3 unused trailers Image gallery Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring two choices of artwork Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jon Towlson and Rich Johnson, and an oral history of the film by Steven Hanley Fold-out double-sided poster featuring two choices of artwork Six double-sided, postcard-sized artcards

• Fist Of The North Star | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Experience a brand-new feature-packed presentation of the World's ONLY live-action adaptation of the Manga sensation Fist of the North Star. Made with the full cooperation of leading man Gary Daniels this 2-Disc Special Collectors' Edition features a host of special features that will appeal to action fans everywhere.

• A Nightmare on Elm St 2010/Final Destination/House of Wax Triple Pack | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £8.53   |  Saving you £11.46 (57.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Freddy's back in the update of Wes Craven's classic tales of the hideously disfigured dream-stalker and his prey.

• The Bill - The Complete Series 2 | DVD | (26/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The complete second series of ITV's long running crime drama The Bill is packed with more hard hitting storylines gritty acting and internal conflict down at Sun Hill. Episodes comprise: 1. Snouts and Red Herrings 2. Suspects 3. Lost 4. Home Beat 5. Hostage 6. This Little Pig 7. Ringer 8. Public and Confidential 9. Loan Shark 10. With Friends Like That...? 11. Whose Side Are You On? 12. The Chief Super's Party

• Flubber | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £17.46   |  Saving you £2.53 (14.49%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Disney couldn't resist the temptation to remake 1961's popular comedy The Absent Minded Professor, so they cast Robin Williams as Professor Philip Brainard (a role vaguely related to the character originated by Fred MacMurray), and the result is a comedy that, frankly, doesn't fully deserve its modest success. It's admittedly clever to a point, and certainly the digitally flubberised special effects provide the kind of movie magic that's entertaining for children and adults alike. The professor can't even remember his own wedding day (much to the chagrin of his fiancée, played by Marcia Gay Harden), and now his academic rival (Christopher McDonald) is trying to steal his latest and purely accidental invention-flying rubber, or ... flubber. The green goo magnifies energy and can be used as an amazing source of power, but in the hands of screenwriter John Hughes it becomes just another excuse to recycle a lot of Home Alone-style slapstick humour involving a pair of bumbling would-be flubber thieves. There's also a floating robot named Weebo and some catchy music by Danny Elfman to accompany dancing globs of flubber, but the story's too thin to add up to anything special. Lightweight fun, but, given the title, it lacks a certain bounce. Of course, that didn't stop Disney's marketing wizards from turning it into a home video hit. --Jeff Shannon

• Straight Outta Compton - Director's Cut | Blu Ray | (26/02/2018) from £46.04   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In the mid 1980's, NWA emerged from the streets of Compton, California, revolutionizing Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood. Bonus Features Becoming NWA NWA: The Origins Impact