"Actor: Brian Tarantina"

• Uncle Buck | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £5.95   |  Saving you £4.04 (67.90%)   |  RRP £9.99

  John Candy has one of his finest opportunities in this film by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) about a perpetual screw-up (Candy) who gets his act together enough to watch over his brother's kids effectively. The late actor scores big points resurrecting elements of his more decadent persona from SCTV days, but he also has some persuasively touching, sentimental moments. Hughes's direction is not as focused as it was only a few years before, but there's no mistaking his touch. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, biographies, Dolby sound, optional Spanish and French soundtracks. --Tom Keogh

• Uncle Buck | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £10.48   |  Saving you £2.51 (23.95%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Candy has one of his finest opportunities in this film by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) about a perpetual screw-up (Candy) who gets his act together enough to watch over his brother's kids effectively. The late actor scores big points resurrecting elements of his more decadent persona from SCTV days, but he also has some persuasively touching, sentimental moments. Hughes's direction is not as focused as it was only a few years before, but there's no mistaking his touch. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, biographies, Dolby sound, optional Spanish and French soundtracks. --Tom Keogh

• Donnie Brasco | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £5.94   |  Saving you £6.05 (101.85%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Based on a memoir by former undercover cop Joe Pistone (whose daring and unprecedented infiltration of the New York Mob scene earned him a place in the federal witness protection program), Donnie Brasco is like a de-romanticised, de-mythologised version of The Godfather. It offers an uncommonly detailed, privileged glimpse inside the world of organised crime from the perspective of the little guys at the bottom of Mafia hierarchy rather than from the kingpins at the top. Donnie Brasco is not only one of the great modern-day gangster movies to put in the company of The Godfather films and GoodFellas, but it is also one of the great undercover police movies--arguably surpassing Serpico and Prince of the City in richness of character, detail and moral complexity. Donnie (Johnny Depp, a splendid actor) is practically adopted by Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a gregarious, low-level "made" man who grows to love his young protégé like a son. (Pacino really sinks into this guy's skin and polyester slacks and creates his freshest, most fully realised character since his 1970s heyday.) As Donnie acclimates himself to Lefty's world, he distances himself from his wife (a terrific Anne Heche) and family for their own protection. Almost imperceptibly his sense of identity slips away from him. Questioning his own confused loyalties, unable to trust anybody else because he himself is an imposter, Donnie loses his way in a murky and treacherous no-man's land. The film is directed by Mike Newell, who also headed up Four Weddings and a Funeral and the gritty, true crime melodrama Dance with a Stranger. --Jim Emerson

• Summer Of Sam | DVD | (24/07/2000) from £6.36   |  Saving you £13.63 (214.31%)   |  RRP £19.99

  New York City's infamous summer of 1977 was a scene of disco divas and the culture clash between fashionable patrons of Studio 54 and the new wave of punk rockers who invaded Manhattan.

• City By The Sea | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (180.92%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The true story of Vincent Lamarca, whose father was executed for a 1950s kidnapping of a child, grew up to become a police officer, only to see his own son become a murderer.

• Jacob's Ladder | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £15.02   |  Saving you £0.97 (6.46%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In Jacob's Ladder, Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) thinks he is going insane. Or worse. When his nightmares begin spilling into his waking hours, Jacob believes he is experiencing the after-effects of a powerful drug tested on him during Vietnam. Or perhaps his post-traumatic stress disorder is worse than most. Whatever is happening to him, it's not good. Director Adrian Lyne sparks our interest and maintains high production values, but this confusing film chokes on its "surprise" ending. It owes much to Ambrose Bierce's haunting and more straightforward short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin, who also explored the "other side" in Ghost and My Life, Jacob's Ladder ultimately feels like an exercise in self-indulgence. A spirited performance by Elizabeth Peña outshines Robbins, who is surprisingly lethargic. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• The January Man | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The January Man is an odd comedy-thriller about the hunt for a serial killer that could just be a case of too many stars spoil the movie. The screenplay is by John Patrick Shanley, who won an Oscar for Moonstruck. The plot goes like this: a serial killer is terrorising Manhattan, targeting one woman a month, much to the horror of the mayor (a rabid Rod Steiger, more foam than substance) and the police commissioner Frank Starkey (Harvey Keitel). There's only one man to save their bacon: enter Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline), brother of Frank, who had been a cop but was kicked out of the force for his unorthodox ways. Being a heroic kind of guy, his next career move was as a firefighter and we first see him leaping out of a burning building, carrying a child under his arm. Kline agrees to go back on one condition: that he cooks dinner for his brother's wife (the fantastically haughty Susan Sarandon), a former girlfriend for whom he still holds a candle. The pace hots up, Nick finds himself a new girlfriend, the mayor's daughter Bernadette (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), whose main claim to fame is that her best friend was murdered by the serial killer. Oh, and of course he gets the guy, in the nick of time (literally). Confused? You won't be. The plot is an improbable potion of coincidences and divine inspiration but it's not complicated. Kline overcomes the shortcomings of the script with a charmer of a performance, but the real star is the funny, sly Alan Rickman. The January Man is worth seeing for some very fine individual turns (Sarandon is terrific), but in all honesty, it doesn't add up to a great movie, mainly because it can't quite decide what it wants to be, genre-wise, settling on an uneasy compromise of comedy and thriller. On the DVD: The January Man disc has absolutely no-frills. Picture and sound are perfectly adequate without being anything to write home about. And if you're looking for extra goodies, you'll be disappointed: there's the original theatrical trailer and a wide array of subtitle languages, but that's it. --Harriet Smith

• Donnie Brasco | DVD | (12/02/2018) from £13.45   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Posing as jewel broker Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone (Johnny Depp) is granted entrance into the violent mob family of aging hit man Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino). When his personal and professional lives collide, Pistone jeopardizes his marriage, his job life and, ultimately, the gangster mentor he has come to respect and admire. From acclaimed director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and featuring an extraordinary supporting cast including Michael Madsen, Anne Heche, Bruno Kirby and James Russo.

• The Jerky Boys | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £6.46   |  Saving you £8.53 (56.90%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When a former high school classmate brags about his mob connections the Jerky Boys -- a pair of thirtysomething slackers who pride themselves on devious prank phone calls -- decide to have a little fun in the mafia underworld. However when a cop mistakes the Jerky Boys for actual hit men their innocent game causes more trouble than they would've ever imagined.

• Resting Place | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £7.22   |  Saving you £4.03 (67.62%)   |  RRP £9.99

  When a life is lost a community is divided... When a black Army lieutenant slain in Vietnam is denied burial in his Georgia hometown's all-white cemetery an Army major (John Lithgow) gets involved. Discovering that the Lieutenant's unit had recommended him for a Silver Star the major seeks information to get the community to accept the man as a hero. What he discovers is that the Lieutenant's own men may have killed him...

• Better Living | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Fearless Tiger: After his brother dies of a drug overdose Lyle heads to Hong Kong and becomes a Kung Fu expert. Using his newfound martial arts skills Lyle seeks revenge on the Chinese gang that supplied the deadly drug. Dragon Fighter: After having his hands smashed young Kang becomes determined to develop the 'Heaven Legs' kung fu technique in an effort to gain revenge.