"Actor: Daniel London"

• Patch Adams | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: there are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics. Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch" but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humour and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease", he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range--the ever-cheerful, do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face--he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. --Jenny Brown

• Patch Adams | Blu Ray | (11/07/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: there are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics. Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch" but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humour and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease", he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range--the ever-cheerful, do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face--he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. --Jenny Brown

• Old Joy | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Two old friends reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range east of Portland, Oregon.

• Jumanji / Hook / Patch Adams | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jumanji (Dir. Joe Johnston 1995): When young Alan Parrish and his friend Sarah (Bonnie Hunt) begin to play a mysterious board game they don't realise its unimaginable powers until Alan is magically transported into the untamed jungles of Jumanji. Twenty-six years later Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) discover the dusty board and reawaken the game as they begin to play. Instantly the forces of Jumanji release a fully-grown bewildered Alan Parrish (Robin Williams) into their world. With each roll of the dice they must face the increasingly terrifying consequences until the game is finished and the victor had uttered the word Jumanji... Hook (Dir. Steven Spielberg 1991): Peter Pan - the hero who never grows old - has grown up! And he's even forgotten how to fly! Enter the magical mystical world of a hundred fun summers as the ageless avenger and faithful fairy Tinkerbell return to Never Never Land in search of Peter's forgotten childhood his lost children and a fearless confrontation with his evil pirate enemy - Captain Hook. Dustin Hoffman Robin Williams Juila Roberts and Bob Hoskins hook up for the fantasy flight for a lifetime as dream-maker Steven Spielberg brings this amazing tale of adventure to the screen. All children grow up...except one! Patch Adams (Dir. Tom Shadac 1998): Meet Patch Adams (Robin Williams) a doctor who doesn't look act or think like any doctor you've met before. For Patch humour is the best medicine and he's willing to do just about anything to make his patients laugh even if it means risking his own career. Based on a true story Patch Adams combines side-splitting humour with an inspiring story that transcends the traditional comedy.

• Agrippina - Handel | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £29.68   |  Saving you £-4.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Agrippina: Handel

• Cosi Fan Tutte | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £12.65   |  Saving you £2.34 (15.60%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Opera in two acts from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1975. Sung in Italian.

• 4 Dogs Playing Poker | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An entry in the recent rash of crooks-falling-out cynical crime-comedy noirs, Four Dogs Playing Poker opens with a robbery at a wedding in Buenos Aires. Five friends pose as staff and guests to penetrate the secret collector's vault of lecherous father-of-the-bride George Lazenby and walk away with a valuable dancing-girl statue. Back in Los Angeles, the team are visited by their sponsor, hefty guest-star crook Forrest Whitaker, who tells them there's a question as to whether the statue is on the ship that's supposed to be smuggling it into the country. If it doesn't show up they'll have to cough up a million dollars between them or get killed. To underline the point and in the first of many "it-just-doesn't-make-sense" plot turns, Whitaker has his men shoot Tim Curry, organiser of the gang, in the leg and then, to show that trying to leave town is a bad idea, has him hung up dead in a meat locker with his feet chain sawed off (offscreen) by the comedy British double-act thugs. An unbelievably complicated scheme is hatched between the surviving four, two couples, whereby they each take out insurance policies that benefit the rest and pick cards and safety-deposit box-keys that identify one of them as the designated murderer and another as a victim. Naturally, suspicions simmer (one character, when asked if she distrusts her friends, replies "all my friends are thieves") and triple-crosses are hatched. The prolific Olivia Williams, in Lulu wig and American accent, emerges as the star, walking a knife-edge between imperilled heroine and cynical manipulator but she is ably supported by druggie, computer savvy Daniel London, hunky bartender Balthazar Getty and jittery insurance functionary Stacy Edwards. Familiar, if watchable. --Kim Newman