"Actor: Ann Petersen"

• Houseboat | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Academy Award-nominated film has the legendary Cary Grant as a government attorney who can't seem to shake his bad fortune. Living on a houseboat widowed and left with three unruly kids Tom Winters (Grant) hires Cinzia (Sophia Loren) as a governess only for her to turn his life upside down!

• Pauline And Paulette | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £8.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (122.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  As a rule, Flemish-language films rarely make much of an international impact, but Pauline & Paulette is a refreshing exception. Director Lieven Debrauwer's debut is an affectionate coming-together of two sisters: the mentally-restricted Pauline, living in a world of flowers and fantasy, and Paulette, her life occupied with lingerie and operetta. The story focuses on the exasperation of Pauline as she is shunted between provincial Belgium and Brussels and the realisation of Paulette, having retired to the coast, that a sister in her life might not be a bad option after all. The interplay between veteran actresses Dora van der Groen and Ann Petersen is minutely observed in detail, with the remaining cast a triumph of ensemble acting, not least Rosemarie Bergmans as the sophisticated "other sister" Cecile and Idwig Stéphane as the pompous Albert. At just 72 minutes, the film is almost too taut for its own good, but if this was Debrauwer's way of avoiding the sentimental, so much the better. Witty and touching in equal measure, this is a film to savour. On the DVD: Pauline & Paulette has a 1.85:1 widescreen picture format that captures the flowers and clothing of Paulette's shop with gorgeous realism. There are subtitles in five languages. The original trailer is included, and there's an insightful running commentary from Debrauwer. --Richard Whitehouse

• Manhunter | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £14.96   |  Saving you £5.03 (33.62%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Released to box-office indifference in 1986, Manhunter introduced Hannibal Lecter and established the rules of the modern race-to-find-the-serial-killer thriller five years before The Silence of the Lambs packed cinemas everywhere. This was Michael Mann's third feature, reuniting William L Petersen and Dennis Farina from his debut Thief (1981) as FBI agents hunting the killer dubbed "The Tooth Fairy". Petersen's Will Graham is the man who put "Lecktor" (as it is spelt here) behind bars, and, as in Silence of the Lambs, he is forced to consult the Doctor, played here with understated malevolence by Brian Cox. Manhunter is an exceptionally well-photographed film: Mann's regular cinematographer Dante Spinotti creates sparse, elegantly framed, often monochromatically lit compositions essential to the shifting psychological moods. The performances are very good, and the typically 1980s, Vangelis-esque electronic score effectively sustains tension. Once the killer is introduced the scenes with Joan Allen have a genuinely unsettling, almost surreal quality, although there is at least one serious plot flaw--how does "The Red Dragon" get his letter to Lecter? Manhunter never packs the sheer excitement of Silence of the Lambs, nevertheless, it is a powerful and compelling thriller that remains far superior to the Anthony Hopkins-starring Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). On the DVD: Manhunter on disc has a revealing 10-minute conversation with Dante Spinotti in which he explains how he created the film's distinctive look. Also included is a more general 17-minute making-of documentary. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 image is generally very good, being just a little soft in one or two early scenes. The sound is listed as Dolby Digital 5.1, but appears to replicate the main stereo signal in the rear channels. Audio is nonetheless powerful and clear, though lacks the sheer edge and atmospherics of some more recent thrillers. --Gary S Dalkin

• Gremloids | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Not long ago in a galaxy too close for comfort the rebel alliance intercepted some secret transmissions from imperial leader Lord Buckethead. Buckethead and his alien cohorts mistakenly traced the transmissions to the planet Earth where they found a peculiar and frustrating new resistance at work. Now the fate of mankind is in the hands of a pest control expert a geriatric superhero and a speech impedimented alien with a coal-scuttle for a head in this outrageous comedy in the tradition of 'Spaceballs'!

• WSKI 106 | DVD | (19/12/2005) from £1.75   |  Saving you £15.24 (89.70%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Tanner Hall and Eric Iberg team up this year to bring you skiing most entertaining ski film to date WSKI106. With Poor Boyz Productions skiings leader in freestyle ski films skiings best skiers of today and tomorrow and one talented editor the two have created a new type of recipe for ski films today. WSKI106 is a 16mm ski film that brings you into the nine athletes ultra ego Tanner Hall CR Johnson Eric Pollard Dash Longe Rory Silva Kye Petersen S