"Actor: Allison Dean"

• Coming To America | DVD | (07/05/2001) from £4.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (223.03%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Eddie Murphy's 1988 vehicle Coming to America was probably the point at which his status as a mainstream big-screen comedian finally gelled, following the highly successful 48 Hours pairing with Nick Nolte. Never mind the hackneyed storyline: under John Landis's tight direction, he turns in a star performance (and several brilliant cameos) that is disciplined and extremely funny. Murphy plays an African prince who comes to New York officially to sow his wild oats. Privately, he is seeking a bride he can marry for love rather than one chosen by his parents. With his companion (Arsenio Hall, who pushes Murphy all the way in the comedy stakes), he settles in the borough of Queens and takes a job in a hamburger joint. A succession of hilarious satire-barbed adventures ensue, plus the required romantic conclusion. The script is crammed with ripe one-liners , but "Freeze, you diseased rhinoceros pizzle" has to be the most devastating hold-up line of all time. Film buffs will appreciate a brief appearance by Don Ameche as a down-and-out, but this is Murphy's film and he generates warmth enough to convert the most ambivalent viewer. On the DVD: The only--rather pointless--extra on offer is the original theatrical trailer which adds nothing apart from a rapid recap of the story. But the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation (the picture quality is diamond sharp) and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack recreate the original authentic cinematic experience. The choreography of 1980s pop diva Paula Abdul in the lavish wedding scenes and Nile Rodgers' pounding musical score are the main beneficiaries. --Piers Ford

• Coming to America 4K | Blu Ray | (01/03/2021) from £17.06   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Join EDDIE MURPHY on an unforgettable comic quest to the New World. As an African Prince, it's time for him to find a princess...and the mission leads him and his most loyal friend (ARSENIO HALL) to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies, and lots of trouble. Keep an eye out for both Murphy and Hall in some unforgettable cameo roles! Newly remastered in 4K with HDR, from a supervised restoration by director John Landis, Coming to America is an essential comedy classic for your collection. Special Features Prince-ipal Photography: The Coming Together of America Fit For Akeem: The Costumes of Coming To America Character Building: The Many Faces of Rick Baker Composing America: The Musical Talents of Nile Rodgers A Vintage Sit-Down with Eddie & Arsenio Theatrical Trailer Photo Gallery

• Eddie Murphy - Raw / Coming To America / Trading Places | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Raw (1987): Uncensored. Uncut. Irresistible! 'Raw' the record-setting No 1 stand up concert film of all time is Eddie Murphy doing what he does best: making people laugh! Filmed live at New York's Felt Forum Murphy delights shocks and entertains with dead-on celebrity impersonations observations on '80s love sex and marriage a remembrance of Mum's hamburgers and much more. Take a front-row centre seat for the hottest show in town and the hottest comedian in recent ent

• Best Seller | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £4.15   |  Saving you £10.10 (349.48%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Flynn has directed some good, tough, pacy thrillers and Best Seller, along with the 1973 The Outfit, can claim to be the best of them. It kicks off with not one but two slam-bang action sequences and then, having grabbed our attention, pitches us straight into its twisty plot premise. Brian Dennehy, reliably watchable as ever, plays an ageing cop-turned-novelist who has hit a writer's block since his wife died. James Woods at his most suavely sinister is a hitman with dirt to dish on the head of a big corporation. Woods proposes a Faustian pact. He provides Dennehy with the full crooked story on the mobster-turned-corporate boss and the cop writes it up. Dennehy gets a best seller; Woods gets his revenge and comes out looking like a hero. The dialogue, courtesy of screenwriter and horror-movie director Larry Cohen (It's Alive; Q--The Winged Serpent), is satisfyingly hard-boiled and slips in plenty of subversive sideswipes at rampant capitalism. ("It's the American Way, Dennis," says Woods, detailing how he helped his boss rise via robbery and murder. "I'm a businessman, an executive.") This certainly isn't the only movie to get mileage out of the symbiotic relationship between cop and crook (see Michael Mann's Heat), but it works several neat variations on the theme, with Dennehy and Woods both at the top of their respective forms. If the film never quite lives up to its potential--the required final confrontation between the two principals doesn't materialise and Victoria Tennant is thrown away as Dennehy's love-interest--it remains a way better than average thriller with its roots deep in the best B-movie traditions. On the DVD: Best Seller on disc has no extras apart from the theatrical trailer. The transfer is good and clean, and preserves the original's full-width framing. --Philip Kemp

• Squeal | DVD | (21/02/2011) from £5.38   |  Saving you £0.61 (10.20%)   |  RRP £5.99

  When band members are stranded on a country road excitement of their first tour is diminished by the horrors of a science experiment gone awry. Their pig-human hybrid mutant captors have many horrors in store but true revulsion does not descend until daylight when the extent of their work is revealed.