"Actor: Alice Drummond"

• Love Letter, The | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £5.62   |  Saving you £12.37 (220.11%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Its ads portrayed The Love Letter as a wacky farce, while critics largely ignored it, presuming it to be a vanity project from Kate Capshaw (better known as Mrs. Steven Spielberg). But The Love Letter is neither; on the contrary, it's a low-key but surprisingly rich and touching film about love, illusions, and regret. Helen (Capshaw), a bookseller in a small seashore town, discovers an unsigned love letter that's fallen into the cushions of a couch in her store. The letter doesn't say who it's for, but Helen assumes it's for her and starts wondering who sent it. One would expect this to lead to a whirling comedy of mistaken identities, but after some amusing daydream moments, the movie follows its story with subtlety and nuance. The characters behave according to their own needs and desires, rather than the demands of standard Hollywood goofiness. The performances--from a cast including Tom Selleck, Tom Everett Scott, Ellen DeGeneres, newcomer Julianne Nicholson, and others--are uniformly unforced and natural. Viewers weary of the hyped-up, absurd emotional climaxes of most so-called romantic comedies will find a respite here. The Love Letter is a genuinely charming film. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Awakenings | DVD | (24/01/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the acclaimed book by neurologist Oliver Sacks, director Penny Marshall's hit 1990 drama Awakenings stars Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Sayer is a neurologist who discovers that the drug L-Dopa can be used to "unlock" patients in a mental hospital from the mysterious sleeping sickness that has left them utterly immobilized. Leonard (Robert De Niro) is one such patient who awakens after being in a comatose state for 30 years, leaving Sayer to guide Leonard in adjusting to the world around him. Penelope Ann Miller costars as the daughter of another patient, with whom Leonard falls tenuously in love. Earning Oscar nominations for best picture, actor and screenplay, this moving fact-based drama was a hit with critics and audiences alike. --Jeff Shannon

• Pieces Of April | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £5.72   |  Saving you £10.27 (64.20%)   |  RRP £15.99

  April Burns (Katie Holmes) invites her family to Thanksgiving dinner at her tiny apartment in New York. As they make their way to the city from suburban Pennsylvania, April must endure a comedy of errors in order to pull off the big event.