"Actor: Alan"

• A Soldier's Story | DVD | (17/08/2009) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (-66.60%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charles Fuller adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play for the big screen in 1984. The film version, A Soldier's Story is essentially a murder mystery, played out against a background of inter and intra-racial conflict at a Second World War training camp. To the consternation of his white opposite number at the camp, a black captain (Howard W Rollins) arrives to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar). Suspicion immediately falls on a pair of bigoted white officers but as the tale unfolds in a series of flashbacks, it soon becomes clear that a different kind of prejudice is also at work. Assisted by some excellent performances, director Norman Jewison opens the story out from its stage roots. There's a wonderful baseball scene (filmed on location at Little Rock) in which the double standards of Dennis Lipscomb's fidgety white captain are exposed with neat irony; he'll cheer his successful black team all the way home in the name of sport. His gradual, forced liberalisation provides the film with an important comic element. A Soldier's Story wears its heart on its sleeve without being superficial in any way. It's a compelling tale, well told and often highly entertaining, in which nobody gets off lightly, least of all the good guy. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation helps give an epic feel to what could, in other hands, have been a claustrophobic production. The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music--an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary--is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. --Piers Ford

• Jumanji | UMD | (23/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• ALICE IN W'LAND DVD SPECIFIC (HMV&PLAY) | DVD | (04/06/2010) from £6.25   |  Saving you £13.74 (219.84%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Tumble down the rabbit hole with Alice for a fantastical adventure from Walt Disney Pictures and Tim Burton. Inviting and magical, Alice In Wonderland is an imaginative new twist on one of the most beloved stories of all time. Alice (Mia Wasikowska), now 19 years old returns to the whimsical world she first entered as a child and embarks on a journey to discover her true destiny. This Wonderland is a world beyond your imagination and unlike anything you've seen before. The extraordinar...

• Eighteen | DVD | (27/07/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Pip is a young street kid trying to deal with life in the big city. On his eighteenth birthday he receives a tape of his grandfather's World War II memoirs which awakens the ghosts of a long lost time and place. His grandfather graphically narrates the story of the day he turned eighteen fleeing German forces through the woods of France with a dying comrade hanging on for life. Soon Pip finds that his own contemporary life story is beginning to parallel that of his grandfathers. He stumbles into an unlikely alliance with Clark a gay street hustler on the make and Jenny an aspiring social worker who tempts him emotionally. He also forges a relationship with a local priest in whom he confides his deepest darkest secrets: The death of his brother and the heinous act his father committed against him before his demise. Generations apart but both lost in their own environments at eighteen years of age Pip and his grandfather have a supernatural connection that surpasses time itself.

• Hell Town | DVD | (02/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A carefree cowhand finally wants to settle down but before he can he gets involved with rustlers...

• The Swap | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Passion Deceit Blackmail. Robert DeNiro plays Sammy Nicoletti an adult film director who is murdered. His brother Vito vows to find the killer and avenge Sammy's death. When Vito is released from prison he begins his own investigation encountering deceit and blackmail. The final days of Sammy's life unfold from a party on long Island back to the big city. As Vito draws nearer to the truth his own life hangs precariously in the balance. This suspenseful drama comes crashi

• Demon Strike | DVD | (22/12/2003) from £11.68   |  Saving you £-5.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A must have for any kung fu fan - watch as Hwang Jang-Lee and Leung Ka Yan battle it out for the first and only time in their prolific careers.

• Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone | UMD | (20/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  The story of a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards with unique magical powers of his own. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry he finds the home and family he has never had.

• The History Of Football | DVD | (23/08/2004) from £8.05   |  Saving you £4.94 (61.37%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Presented by Alan Green a 'History of Football' captures more than 100 years of the drama passion excitement and despair that only The Beautiful Game can evoke. Coming into the 20th century Preston North End were the finest team in the country. As we move into the New Millennium it is another team from the North West of Engalnd Manchester United who along with London club Arsenal are dominating the game. In the intervening 100 years the game of Association Football has prod

• Casino | HD DVD | (29/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  No one stays at the top forever. Robert De Niro Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci star in Martin Scorsese's riveting look at how blind ambition white-hot passion and 24-carat greed toppled an empire. Las Vegas in 1973 is the setting for this fact-based story about the Mob's multi-million dollar casino operation - where fortunes and lives were made and lost with a roll of the dice... In an era of over-the-top glitz Sam 'Ace' Rothstein (De Niro) is riding high as front man for the Mob's multi-billion dollar Las Vegas operation. To protect their 'investment' the bosses send in Ace's boyhood pal - hot-headed enforcer Nicky Santoro (Pesci). It's a winning hand: Ace's brain and Nicky's muscle... until sexy wildcard Ginger McKenna (Stone) turns up the heat. This gripping fact-based tale boasts extraordinary performances a sizzling soundtrack and a dizzying look beneath the glamorous facade beyond the closed doors and behind the eyes of the men and women whose fortunes - and lives - were made and lost with the roll of a dice. Sharon Stone's performance so impressed the Academy that they granted her first and only Oscar (thus far) for a magnificent performance as the glamorous hustler Ginger McKenna.

• Shane - Paramount Originals (includes Limited Edition reproduction film poster) | DVD | (23/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Director George Stevens' legendary rendition of the archetypal Western myth earned six Academy Award nominations and made Shane one of the timeless classics of American cinema. Based on Jack Schaefer's novel the story brings Alan Ladd a drifter and retired gunfighter to the assistance of a homestead family terrorised by an ageing cattleman and his hired gun. In fighting a last decisive battle Shane sees the end of his own way of life. Mysterious moody and atmospheric th

• M.A.S.H. - Seasons 1 To 3 | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £69.99

  Relive some of your favourite M*A*S*H moments with this triple season DVD box set! Season 1: 1. M*A*S*H - The Pilot 2. To Market To Market 3. Requiem For A Lightweight 4. Chief Surgeon Who? 5. The Moose 6. Yankee Doodle Doctor 7. Bananas Crackers and Nuts 8. Cowboy 9. Henry Please Come Home 10. I Hate A Mystery 11. Germ Warfare 12. Dear Dad 13. Edwina 14. Love Story 15. Tuttle 16. The Ringbanger 17. Sometimes You Hear The Bullet 18. Dear Dad Again 19. The Long John Flap 20. The Army-Navy Game 21. Sticky Wicket 22. Major Fred C. Dobbs 23. Cease Fire 24. Showtime Season 2: 1. Divided We Stand 2. 5 O'Clock Charlie 3. Radar's Report 4. For the Good of the Outfit 5. Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde 6. Kim 7. L.I.P. 8. The Trial of Henry Blake 9. Dear Dad... Three 10. The Sniper 11. Carry On Hawkeye 12. The Incubator 13. Deal Me Out 14. Hot Lips and Empty Arms 15. Officers Only Henry in Love 16. For Want of a Boot 17. Operation Noselift 18. The Chosen People 19. As You Were Crisis 20. George Mail Call 21. A Smattering of Intelligence Season 3: 1. The General Flipped at Dawn 2. Rainbow Bridge 3. Officer of the Day 4. Iron Guts Kelly 5. O.R. 6. Springtime 7. Check-Up 8. Life With Father 9. Alcoholics Unanimous 10. There is Nothing Like a Nurse 11. Adam's Ribs 12. A Full Rich Day 13. Mad Dogs and Servicemen 14. Private Charles Lamb 15. Bombed 16. Bulletin Board 17. The Consultant 18. House Arrest 19. Aid Station 20. Love and Marriage 21. Big Mac 22. Payday 23. White Gold 24. Abyssinia Henry

• The Professionals - Vol. 3 | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £11.91   |  Saving you £-2.93 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Thrown together to join George Cowley's new C15 organisation....Hard men no patience nor time for subtleties. Charged with combating terrorists criminals and corruption wherever they find it. Capable of using any means necessary. The only people they can trust are themselves... Close Quarters: Following an encounter with desperate terrorists a holidaying Bodie finds himself trapped in a country house where he and his girlfriend must try to raise help. Can Bodie summon Doyle or will he and Julia die hard? Look After Annie: When a left-leaning preacher's life is threatened Cowley sends in Bodie and Doyle to protect her. Yet to the CI5 agents it soon becomes clear that their boss' involvement is something rather more than purely professional... When The Heat Cools Off: In 1971 Doyle put a man away for murdering his partner; only now Bill Haydon's daughter claims to have new evidence that changes everything. How clear can Doyle's mind be when the ghosts of the past and the girl of the present are haunting him? Stakeout: The presence of Bodie and Doyle in a bowling alley isn't the R n' R it might appear; the death of a CI5 agent has warned of a possible nuclear threat. Detailed to surveillance the lads are going spare waiting for the villain to strike...

• Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | UMD | (19/05/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  After years of rumours, it turns out that Tim Burton was the perfect visionary to film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and the result is a macabre and moving musical movie as enthralling as anything Burton has ever done. The show's mix of gothic horror, Grand Guignol, very dark humor, and witty and beautiful music never was the stuff of traditional musical comedy, but it's a powerful work, and perhaps the richest of the late 20th century. In the movie, Burton's frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp, plays Todd, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 19th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber). Helena Bonham Carter, another Burton mainstay, is Mrs. Lovett, the barber's partner-in-unspeakable-crime. It's no surprise that Depp is an excellent choice to convey Todd's brooding intensity and volcanic rage, but he can also sing a score that is so challenging it has often played in opera houses (though not with the same style as the Broadway original, Len Cariou, and he occasionally lapses into pop style). Bonham Carter is small of voice and lacks the humour of the original Broadway Lovett, Angela Lansbury, but she sings on pitch, in rhythm, and in character at the same time, which is no small feat for a Sondheim show. Aficionados will regret the loss of certain musical passages--"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is just an instrumental overture and the chorus is gone altogether, among others, but the reassuring presence of orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and conductor Paul Gemignani ensures that the music feels right and sounds great. And the film's depiction of a Victorian London hellhole, with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and costumes by Colleen Atwood, also looks and feels right. The excellent cast is filled out by Alan Rickman as the villainous Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as his seedy Beadle, Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young lover Anthony, Jayne Wisener as his object of affection, and Ed Sanders as the young Toby. For fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp who don't think they like musicals, Sweeney Todd should be a revelation (though not for the squeamish, as the gore is intense and completely appropriate). For fans of Broadway and Sondheim, it's hard to imagine getting a better adaptation than this. The fact that there's no newly composed Oscar-bait song sung by a Josh Groban-type over the end credits only makes it better. --David Horiuchi

• In A Stranger's Hand | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Wealthy Jack Bauer (Urich) comes to the aid of a mother Laura McKillin whose daughter has been abducted. Together to their horror they discover a dedicated ring of professional child snatchers...

• Jackanory - Peter Pan | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The classic J.M. Barrie tale as told by Jan Francis.

• Haunted Homes : Complete Series 2 (Exclusive To Amazon.co.uk) | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Follow psychic Mia Dolan as she investigates mysterious phenomena in ordinary houses around the UK. Assited by paranormal investigator Mark Webb and sceptic Dr Chris French she attempts to find the reasons for the disturbances beginning with a Nottinghamshire family who are kept awake at night by the sound of children crying!

• Love Actually | DVD | (23/01/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.08

  An ensemble comedy from the makers of "Notting Hill" following a whole host of separate but intertwining stories of love in London.

• The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse | UMD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The locals of Royston Vasey head to the big screen in this movie based on the cult TV series.

• Manchester United - Own Goals and Gaffes | DVD | (26/11/2007) from £16.42   |  Saving you £1.57 (8.70%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Would Man U believe it?! Its not always glory glory Man United. Sometimes things don't go to plan and the Theatre of Dreams can become the Theatre of Screams! United-mad fans Alan Halsall and Andy Whyment (Tyrone and Kirk from Coronation Street) introduce the very best - and very worst - of calamitous clangers and hilarious howlers both for and against the Reds from over the years. Including the daftest own goals the craziest keeper catastrophes the dodgiest defending and those misses that left the strikers as red-faced as the United shirt! One United. One Love. Lots of Laughter.