"Actor: D R I"

• A Love To Hide | DVD | (13/04/2009) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-5.01 (-33.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  After witnessing the death of her parents at the hands of the Nazis a young Jewish girl tries to survive by taking shelter from an old friend. The gestapo soon track her down and she is forced to flee once more to the support of a childhood vacation friend who passes her off as an employee of the family business. However the girls presence soon gets her protectors into trouble themselves.

• Angel: Complete Season 1 | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Taking the Spin-off genre to the extreme, Angel attempts to replicate the success of Buffy by taking the heartthrob as the lead. Spin-off shows rarely match the success of their parent programmes, especially in the superhero/fantasy genre (cf. The Girl From UNCLE, The Bionic Woman, The Green Hornet--Frasier being the notable exception). Characters who were perfectly useful as supporting figures dwindle when forced in the spotlight, and Angel takes a special risk by building an entire series around a character who is: (a) supposed to be a mystery man; (b) a vampire who once spent half a season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a dastardly villain who killed without remorse; and (c) played by David Boreanaz, who is well up on handsome and broody but still can't do an Irish accent to save his life and is visibly learning this acting lark as the series progresses. The premise is that Angel, the vampire with a soul, has finally admitted he'll never get it together with Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), unless a reunion crossover episode or two are scheduled. He moves to Los Angeles, a city haunted not only by demons and vampires but lawyers and agents. Angel sets up as a private investigator and solves cases with a supernatural aspect, partnered with Doyle (Glenn Quinn), a half-demon with a proper Irish accent and the useful psychic ability to know when someone is in trouble (thereby predicting any given week's plot), and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), another Buffy refugee here trying to reinvent herself as a struggling big-city single girl. Far less consistent than its parent show, but also not saddled with quite so much of a continuing story arc, Angel has a very different feel, cued by its effective semi-Goth violin theme tune and lots of film noir-ish LA street scenes, with a dose of cynical inside-the-entertainment-industry stuff. It has its share of familiar ideas (such as a Fight Club episode) and simply daft premises (a demon-centred show which allegorises the debate about female circumcision , for example). Angel alienated a lot of initial fans by killing off its most appealing regular a third of the way into the run, dusting off hideous English comic stereotype Wesley the Watcher (Alex Denisof) as a replacement. However, it also comes up with some ingenious moments: in a two-parter guest-starring sometime Buffy villainess Faith (Eliza Dushku), the show finally delivers something scary and emotionally powerful as Angel proves he can solve cases his ex-girlfriend can't. Meanwhile, the last couple of episodes--which beef up a satanic law firm as regular foes and resurrect a long-dead character as a major troublemaker for the future--go from promising to delivering. --Kim NewmanOn the DVD: the DVD set is only moderately generous with features, compared to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series DVDs. There are two episodes with commentaries--creators Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt discussing the series' genesis and "City Of ". Added to this Jane Espenson, the resident queen of farce, talks us through the haunted apartment episode "Rm w/a Vu". Also included are four featurettes--introductions to the characters of Angel and Cordelia, a series one overview and a discussion of the show's demons--scripts for the two Faith episodes, cast biographies and a gallery of stills and blue-prints. Most importantly, given the way Angel was butchered by Channel 4 for an inappropriately early time slot, the show's violence and strong language are offered uncut. Presented in English and French Dolby Surround Sound 2.0 and with an aspect ratio of approx 1.33:1 --Roz Kaveney

• Doctor Zhivago | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £6.32   |  Saving you £8.67 (137.18%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The mini-series treatment suits Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak's sprawling novel of a Russian physician-poet whose comfortable life is upended by the revolution. And this near-four-hour Granada TV production lucidly demonstrates that Pasternak was one heck of a storyteller: the torment of Zhivago (Hans Matheson) as he must choose between his well-bred childhood sweetheart (Alexandra Maria Lara) and the tragically beautiful Lara (Keira Knightley) remains compelling. The TV treatment can't match the epic sweep of David Lean's feature film, of course, with its cast of thousands and astonishing production design. Devotees of that 1965 version will undoubtedly yearn for Maurice Jarre's tinkly hit "Lara's Theme", too; here, Ludovico Einaudi's score is serviceable by comparison. Matheson, too, is serviceable in the title role, but the uncannily gorgeous Knightley and a supremely decadent Sam Neill (as her dreadful seducer) keep their characters vital. The limitations of the small screen duly noted, the frosty location shooting is handsome. Given the choice, see the Lean film on the big screen every time; but this is a sturdy introduction to a classic story. --Robert Horton

• Life Is A Long Quiet River | DVD | (11/05/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  ''‰tienne Chatiliez's satirical comedy tells the story of two babies accidentally switched at birth. One goes on to live with an upper middle class family while the other to a poor one. Twelve years later the mistake is discovered...

• Communion | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When Whitley Strieber's bestselling book Communion--quickly followed by this film adaptation--posited the notion of alien abduction, it did so to an eager audience who had yet to be bombarded with similar scenarios by The X-Files. Although somewhat eccentric in his general behaviour already, "Whit" (Christopher Walken) becomes ever stranger as he is gripped by increasing paranoia. One night at his family's country cabin he was unaccountably "visited". It's hard not to be as confused and frightened as he is when viewing the apparent corroborating evidence: recurring dreams, fleeting images, shadowy masked faces, vague comments from his young son and the occasional splitting headache. One of the strong points of Strieber's tale has always been the trepidation with which he approached it. The doctor's appointments and plucking up the courage to be hypnotised all offer a genuine reaction to inexplicable circumstance, and this is aided enormously by one of Walken's most mesmerising performances. He's well supported by Lindsay Crouse as his wife, Joel Carson as a thankfully believable yet cute son and an ambiguous musical theme from Eric Clapton. On the DVD: Given that a Region 1 Special Edition exists, this is a disappointing bare-bones DVD transfer. The picture is in full-screen 4:3 and the sound in Dolby 2.0 Stereo. The only extras are a few pages of filmography for director Philippe Mora, Christopher Walken, Lindsay Crouse and Frances Sternhagen. --Paul Tonks

• Sinister | DVD | (11/02/2013) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Aenigma | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £22.76   |  Saving you £-6.77 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Ugly and awkward Kathy is the victim of a cruel trick played by snobbish students at her school. She runs away not seeing the car approaching. In a coma at the local hospital Kathy's body lies dying but her spirit is determined to get revenge in the most horrific way...

• Venom | DVD | (16/05/2011) from £10.78   |  Saving you £9.21 (85.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  He never hurt a soul until the day he died. From the director of I know What You Did Last Summer and the scribe of Scream comes Venom a voodoo horror tale set deep in the swamps of Louisiana centered around a group of teenagers trying to uncover the truth behind a friend's mysterious death. What they discover is an evil force worse than they could have possibly imagined and now they are the ones running for their lives.

• Best Of British Thrillers | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  First ever DVD box set release of the famous Victorian theatre and film actor - Tod Slaughter who died in 1956. Includes: 1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 2. Crimes at the Dark House 3. Maria Marten: The Murder in the Red Barn

• Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas / Where The Buffalo Roam | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £19.90   |  Saving you £0.09 (0.45%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (Dir. Terry Gilliam 1998): (Widescreen 2.35 Anamorphic / Dolby Digital 5.1) It is 1971: journalist Raoul Duke barrels towards Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race accompanied by a trunkful of contraband and his slightly unhinged Samoan attorney Dr. Gonzo. But what is ostensibly a cut-and-dry journalistic endeavor quickly descends into a feverish psychedelic odyssey and an excoriating dissection of the American way of life. Director Terry Gi

• Combat America | DVD | (18/12/2006) from £4.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (60.12%)   |  RRP £7.99

  '1st Lieutenant Clark Gable' provides the voice-over for this World War II US Army Airforces Film that tells the story of the 351st Bombardment Group AAF. Amongst remarkable footage taken from the combat planes in action 'Combat America' provides a rare portrait of the planes and the men that flew them both working and at rest.

• Handel - Rodelinda | DVD | (21/01/2008) from £16.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (47.09%)   |  RRP £24.99

• All The Real Girls | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £7.84   |  Saving you £12.15 (154.97%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From the young director of 2000's critically acclaimed "George Washington" comes a love story set in a small country town in Southern America.

• AKA Cassius Clay | DVD | (18/05/2002) from £6.22   |  Saving you £9.77 (157.07%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Made in 1970, just as he was reaching the end of a three-year exile from boxing, AKA Cassius Clay is a documentary about Muhammad Ali's life and career. Produced by Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton--who would go on to manage Mike Tyson--it includes reams of Jacobs' vast collection of fight footage, some of it familiar, some quite rare, such as flickery images of his earliest bouts. The film intersperses an account of Ali's career with good natured, if combative, sections to camera featuring Ali and future Tyson trainer Cus D'Amato, who plays devil's advocate, arguing with the ex-champ that he would never have beaten Joe Louis in his heyday, or (more dubiously) his own protégé Floyd Patterson. Watching footage of his 1967 bout against Cleveland Williams here, it's hard to believe any champion before or since could have beaten Ali at his height. Ali's familiar story is competently related here (though narrator Richard Kiley has the mildly disconcerting air of a Bond villain): his 1960 Olympic triumph; his defeat of Sonny Liston who was expected to annihilate the young 22-year-old blowhard in 1964; his conversion to the Nation of Islam; and the plainly vindictive decision on the part of the authorities to revise his draft status and call him up for service in Vietnam. Ali refused and faced the possibility of a five-year jail sentence as well as being stripped of his title. The principle pleasure of AKA Cassius Clay is watching Ali in full verbal flow. His maniacal teasing of Liston was a psychological knockout blow. "The man's too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty, like me!" On the DVD: extras comprise scene selections and the original trailer. The reproduction is visually adequate, with the sepia tones of the fight footage holding up well; but the dubbing in places is poor. --David Stubbs

• In Their Skin | DVD | (27/05/2013) from £10.67   |  Saving you £8.31 (108.20%)   |  RRP £15.99

  After the death of their daughter, the Hughes family decide to move to their isolated cottage to try and rebuild their life together. They soon find their patience quickly tested by the overly friendly advances of their neighbours - a family that bear a striking resemblance to themselves. Starring Selma Blair, In Their Skin will shred your nerves, haunt your mind and definitely make you think twice about inviting people to dinner ever again...

• The Goalie's Anxiety At The Penalty Kick (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (28/05/2018) from £9.59   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A loose adaptation of a novelette by author Peter Handke, this early effort from director Wim Wenders follows penalized goalie as he makes his way through the city after missing penalty kick and getting suspended from a game.

• Premiers Desirs | DVD | (04/09/2006) from £39.02   |  Saving you £-24.03 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Though better known for his still photography than for his work in film David Hamilton explores similar themes in each medium. With the stunningly shot Premiers Desirs Hamilton turns once again to familiar ideas and images. The film - which revolves around three young girls adjusting to adolescence and their own sexuality after being stranded by a boat wreck in the Mediterranean - explores issues of innocence purity and sexuality. While many object to Hamilton's subject ma

• Black Caesar | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fred Williamson is imposing tough and unflappable as a street kid who muscles his way into the big-time mob racket in this super-slick drama from writer/director Larry Cohen which became a smash hit of the Blaxploitaion genre and spawned a successful sequel (Hell Up In Harlem). Tommy Gibbs (Williamson) has always had it tough. Growing up on the streets without a father and trying to make his mother proud Tommy resorts to running errands for The Man. But when a crooked cop beats h

• Melies - A Trip to the Moon (Restored) | DVD | (26/11/2012) from £29.95   |  Saving you £-13.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Originally released in 1902, this legendary 16-minute film is widely considered to be one of the most important works in film history. Created just six years after the invention of cinema this is where narrative cinema truly began. George Melies masterpiece features six members of the Astronomers' Club, fired into space by a giant cannon, on a strange and wonderful journey to the moon to meet its inhabitants. The colour version of A Trip to the Moon, hand-painted frame by frame, was considered lost for many years, until a print, in a desperate condition, was found in Spain in 1993. It is this version which has been meticulously restored - one of the most sophisticated and expensive restorations in the history of cinema. The luminous resulting film is accompanied by a new original soundtrack by French duo AIR. Accompanying the film is a 60 minute documentary, The Extraordinary Voyage, detailing the restoration process and featuring words from esteemed directors such as Michel Gondry, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Michel Hazanavicius.

• Rawhide: The Complete First Season | Blu Ray | (31/03/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A