"Actor: Charlie Robinson"

• Hook | DVD | (24/04/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Hook is Steven Spielberg's most spectacular film of the 90s. It is also seriously underrated, arguably the equal of ET, (1982) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, (1977). An unofficial sequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Hook adopts the startling premise of what happened after "the boy who never grew up", grew up. Robin Williams, in his career best performance, is the corporate suit forced to remember he once was "The Pan", returning to Neverland to battle nefarious Captain Hook (a splendid Dustin Hoffman), for his children's love. This is a ravishingly beautiful, stunningly designed film, at once highly imaginative and with a genuinely magical atmosphere which ranges from exquisite, delicate fantasy to slapstick tomfoolery. There is fine support from Maggie Smith, Julia Roberts and Bob Hoskins, and John Williams' rapturously romantic score is yet another career high. Slated upon release, and dubbed a flop though it grossed $200 million, Hook reacted against the "greed is good" 80s by upholding family values and responsibility while evoking a genuine sense of wonder. Only the somewhat pantomime final showdown disappoints, but alongside Legend, (1985)and Labyrinth, (1986), Hook is ripe for reassessment as a fantasy classic. The DVD transfer is superb and the disc, though not packed with additional features, has some interesting extras. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Queer As Folk | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £7.04   |  Saving you £17.95 (254.97%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Television has become so much a part of our lives that it rarely surprises us anymore, so when a series like Queer as Folk comes along--truly shocking and genuinely touching--it's an event to be remembered. Originally broadcast as eight half-hour episodes on Channel 4, QAF follows the lives of three men through life, love and all the travails of such in Manchester. That the protagonists are all gay--and Nathan (Charlie Hunnam) is just 15 years old--is treated as matter of course, and were it not for the fact that every character who is introduced is so vividly realised, it would be the only point. The ultimate triumph of QAF is not that the explicit, explosive subject matter is handled (mostly) tastefully, or that it made it on screen at all--it's that the characters are so intriguing that the unflinching looks at sex and relationships almost fade completely into the background. The series certainly starts with a bang: in the first episode, young Nathan is deflowered, Stuart (Aiden Gillen) becomes a father and Vince (Craig Kelly) pines away with an unrequited love that quickly establishes itself as the series' main theme. (That Vince spends half of QAF with a boyfriend complicates the situation some.) Nathan has already come to terms with his sexuality by the time the series starts, but that doens't mean that the rest of his family--or his fellow students--have; Stuart, the biggest (or, at least, busiest) stud in town, and QAF's approaches 30 and starts to re-examine his life; and Vince has to live with the rest of them. The parents, families, friends and co-workers of all involved get plenty of screen time, and occasionally steal the scenes themselves--especially Denise Black (hairdresser Denise Osbourne from Coronation Street). The DVD includes a Photo Gallery and a handful of interviews, which add little to the package. --Randy Silver

• Queer As Folk - Definitive Collector's Edition | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A drama which follows the lives of three men living in Manchesters gay village. Stuart is rich and gorgeous Vince is funny and Nathan is young and wild as he finds his own identity.... This special collector's box set contains all the episodes from series 1 and 2.

• Hi 5 - Action Heroes | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Enter an exciting world where you will discover how to be a hero the Hi-5 way! So become a true team player with the team from Hi-5... Ready Set GO! Kellie has a rock climbing adventure and climbs a mountain to save Chats! Tim discovers that with the right music he can be a super hero too! Charli becomes a cheerleader with a new Hi-5 Cheer! Kathleen floats in the sky on a hot air balloon adventure! And Nathan becomes a game showhost in What's that Action?