"Actor: Charles"

• The X Files: Providence | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £5.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (167.39%)   |  RRP £15.99

  As with earlier releases, The X-Files: Providence splices together two episodes, "Provenance" and "Providence", into a pseudo-movie. Again, the results fall way below the series average as the long-dead alien conspiracy business is flogged, with a lot of running around and ominous rumbling still not adding up to anything like an actual story. FBI agent Neal McDonaugh (of Minority Report) inexplicably survives a flaming motorcycle crash, leaving behind brass rubbings taken from an alien spaceship, then shows up and tries to murder Scully's psychokinetic baby, who is promptly kidnapped by a UFO cult. In Part 2, Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Reyes (Annabeth Gish) fend off enemies and friends within the bureau as they track down the cultists, who are having trouble with a spaceship they've dug up, and a typical pointless climax has things happen without the characters doing anything to contribute. Even at this late, post-Duchovny stage in the game, The X-Files has turned out some fine stand-alone episodes, but these dreary wallowings go a long way towards explaining why only diehards are still watching. After the child says "I made this" at the end of the credits, it's becoming very hard not to shout "well, clean it up then". On the DVD: The X-Files: Providence, as with Nothing Important Happened Today, arrives in a great-looking anamorphic widescreen transfer. There are two slight promotional "featurettes"--three-minute clips/talking heads promos focusing on the episode "Providence" and actor Cary Elwes' character. --Kim Newman

• Jacknife | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (20.28%)   |  RRP £5.99

  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

• Wing And A Prayer | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A group of eager young Navy pilots become frustrated when their superiors enact a non-combat strategy against the Japanese. To make matters worse the pilots must answer to a rigid unyielding commander (Ameche). Against all odds the men fly into action in the decisive Battle of Midway. Nominated for a 1944 Best Original Screenplay Oscar'' this stunning war drama uses actual combat footage to tell its engrossing story.

• Starman | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Starman is easily director John Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that ever earned him an Oscar nomination. While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best movie from Carpenter, die-hard romantics and anyone who cried while watching E.T. will vote in favour of the director's 1984 hit. Jeff Bridges is the alien visitor to Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat (don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with intelligent flair, sensitivity and lighthearted humour. If you're not choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be human. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com On the DVD: Starman on disc is presented in anamorphic widescreen transferred from NTSC and letterboxed at 2.35.1. The picture is clear and sharp with very little grain. The soundtrack is crisp, perfectly complementing the romantic nature of this film. The overriding reason to shell out on this special edition is the commentary from John Carpenter and Jeff Bridges, in which director and actor show a genuine affection for the film. Other extras are a featurette filmed around the original release in 1884, a music video starring Bridges and costar Karen Allen covering The Everly Brothers classic "All I Have to Do is Dream", and a trailer for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. --Kristen Bowditch

• Moonlighting - Series 4 - Complete | DVD | (22/06/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Sparks fly and fireworks ignite as TV's favorite private detectives Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis) unravel the secrets to pulse-pounding thrills and nonstop laughter in the complete fourth season of Moonlighting.

• The Paradine Case | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £12.07   |  Saving you £-6.08 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This minor 1948 film by Alfred Hitchcock beats a familiar Hitchcockian drum: an attorney (Gregory Peck), in love with the client (Alida Valli) he is defending on a murder charge, implicates himself in her guilt by trying to put the blame on another man. The no-one-is-innocent theme may be consistent with Hitchcock's best films and world view, but this is one of the movies that got away from his crucial passion for the plastic side of creative directing. Stuck in a courtroom for much of the story, the film is fit to burst with possibility but is pinned down like a freshly caught butterfly in someone's airless collection. --Tom Keogh

• Tycoon (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £6.12   |  Saving you £3.87 (63.24%)   |  RRP £9.99

  An action-packed romantic movie about an engineer's attempt to build a railroad tunnel in the Andes Mountains. Johnny Munroe is a tough builder who along with partner Pop Mathews has been hired by tycoon Frederick Alexander to pull off the difficult task. Although Johnny and Pop think that it would be far easier to lay the train tracks on a bridge spanning a river Frederick insists on a tunnel.

• Bond Remastered - Diamonds Are Forever (1-disc) | DVD | (12/03/2007) from £2.22   |  Saving you £7.77 (77.80%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Sean Connery made his final - officially-speaking - appearance as 007 in this riveting adventure which would lay the groundwork for Mr Moore's incarnation as the suave super-spy. While investigating mysterious activities in the world diamond market 007 (Sean Connery) discovers that his evil nemesis Blofeld (Charles Gray) is stock-piling the gems to use in his deadly laser satellite. With the help of beautiful smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) Bond sets out to stop the madman - as the fate of the world hangs in the balance!

• Otello - Verdi | DVD | (12/04/2004) from £15.85   |  Saving you £1.14 (7.19%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Filmed at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1995 this rendition of Verdi's 'Otello' is beautifully crafted by leading stars Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming. This was the first major success for Fleming at the Met and as this release illustrates she tackled the character of Desdemona wonderfully.

• The Longest Yard | Blu Ray | (16/05/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Thunderbirds: Volume 8 | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £10.49   |  Saving you £6.76 (73.24%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Filmed in VIDECOLOR--[explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax]--and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a)the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audience's affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catchphrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: The four episodes are: "Alias Mr. Hackenbacker", "Lord Parker's 'Oliday", "Ricochet" and "Give or Take a Million". Amazon.com

• A Queen Is Crowned | DVD | (30/07/2007) from £4.75   |  Saving you £5.24 (110.32%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The only full length Technicolor film of the Queen's coronation.

• Cop | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £34.29   |  Saving you £-21.30 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  He's a cop with the odds against him ... it's time to even the score James Woods stars as detective-sergeant Lloyd Hopkins an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. A tough brash womaniser but also a dedicated cop Hopkins gets himself assigned to a murder case where he becomes totally obsessed with finding the killer even at the expense of his own family. Based on the novel ""Blood On The Moon"" by crime fiction write James Ellroy whose 'L.A. Noir' series fea

• Entertaining Mr Sloane | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £11.75   |  Saving you £4.24 (36.09%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Featuring two of Britain's best character actors the late Beryl Reid and the late Harry Andrews this scintillating black comedy is based on Joe Orton's wonderful play of the same name. Reid is marvellous as aging nymphomaniac Kath and Harry Andrews provides a superb foil as her roue brother Ed who both attempt to secure the sexual services of their libidinous lodger Sloane (played by Peter McEnery). Soon both Kath and Ed are competing for his favour but when he starts playing them

• James Stewart Westerns - Destry Rides Again (1939)/Shenandoah/The Man From Laramie/Two Rode Together | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £25.07   |  Saving you £4.92 (19.63%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Destry Rides Again (Dir. George Marshall 1939): As Destry a mild-mannered deputy who doesn't like guns Stewart is called to restore order to the hopelessly corrupt frontier town of Bottleneck. Though reluctant to undertake such an enormous task he's soon roped into action after meeting the seductive Frenchy (Dietrich) an alluring saloon girl who belts out unforgettable show-stoppers like The Boys in the Back Room while winning the hero's heart. Shenandoah (Dir. Andrew V. McLaglen 1965): James Stewart stars as a Virginia farmer during the Civil War. He refuses to support the Confederacy because he is opposed to slavery yet he will not support the Union because he is deeply opposedito war. When his son is taken prisoner Stewart goes to search for the boy. Seeing first-hand the horrors of war he is at last forced to take his stand... The Man From Laramie (Dir. Anthony Mann 1955): Will Lockhart comes to a small town to find the man who sold rifles to the Apaches and caused the death of his brother a cavalry officer. Beaten and nearly killed by cohorts of the arms dealer he also becomes embroiled with a ranch baron and his overwrought son. Father and son are plotted against by their treacherous foreman who wants the ranch for himself. Two Rode Together (Dir. John Ford 1961): This is John Ford's criminally overlooked western and the first collaboration between Ford and James Stewart A group of children are held captive by the Indians. A Lieutenant enlists the help of a Texas Marshall in a rescue attempt. Based on the novel by Will Cook.

• It Started With Eve | DVD | (04/04/2011) from £10.48   |  Saving you £2.51 (23.95%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A young man asks a hat check girl to pose as his fiance in order to make his dying father's last moments happy...

• No Orchids for Miss Blandish | DVD | (24/07/2006) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  One of the most controversial films of the 1940s the gangster thriller No Orchids For Miss Blandish caused outrage amongst critics cinema audiences and censors alike on both sides of the Atlantic when it was first released in 1948. Virginal young heiress Miss Blandish (Linda Travers) is kidnapped by a couple of small time hoods only to find herself seized from them by gangster Slim Grissom (Jack LaRue). He isn't just interested in her for the ransom money - and neither are the other members of the Grissom gang. Despite her terrifying ordeal Miss Blandish finds herself perversely attracted to the gang leader. They plan to run off together but amongst gangsters life is cheap -and a double cross is always just around the corner. Based on the best-selling novel by James Hadley Chase No Orchids For Miss Blandish's mixture of sex sadism and gutter morals outraged the world. The book itself was ferociously condemned provoking George Orwell to defend it as 'a brilliant piece of writing'. It was also the most-read book amongst members of Britain's armed forces during the Second World.

• Seventh Heaven | DVD | (26/10/2009) from £14.84   |  Saving you £5.15 (34.70%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Seventh Heaven directed by Frank Borzage is a tender love story set in pre-World War I Paris which unites two unlikely people in becoming a highly popular twosome. It stars the pert and angelic Janet Gaynor opposite the tall but not-so-rugged Charles Farrell in their initial union their first of twelve movies in which they were to appear together. The film won three Oscars including the Best Actress award for Janet Gaynor and also the Best Director award for Frank Borzage.

• Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe | DVD | (10/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  All 12 episodes of the Flash Gordon series Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe are featured on this three DVD box set. Starring Buster Crabbe as Flash with Carol Hughes as Dale and Charles Middleton as the Evil Mind the Merciless.

• Friday Night Lights Season 1/Friday Night Light Feature Film Pack | DVD | (25/06/2012) from £12.44   |  Saving you £12.55 (100.88%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Friday Night Lights Season 1Friday Night Lights touches down on DVD with all 22 episodes in Season One! In the small town of Dillon, everyone comes together on Friday nights when the Dillon High Panthers play. But life is not a game; and the charismatic players, new coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), and the passionate fans find that their biggest challenges and obstacles come off the field in the compelling day-to-day dramas of their tight-knit community. From Peter Berg (Battleship) comes the critically acclaimed TV series starring Taylor Kitsch (Battleship).Friday Night Lights Feature FilmAcademy Award-winning* producer Brian Grazer (8 Mile) and director Peter Berg (The Rundown, Very Bad Things) team up with Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton (Bandits, Bad Santa) to create what Newsweek called one of the top ten films of the year. Friday Night Lights chronicles the 1988 season of a courageous bunch of friends, the Permian High Panthers, the most successful football team in Texas' history. For the young men of the team, every play is a chance to transcend their small town and the fleeting dream of gridiron stardom whose pinnacle may be reached by the time they turn 18. The movie paints a vivid portrait of Odessa and places like it across America where once a week during the fall season, the town and its hopes come alive beneath the dazzling Friday night lights.