"Actor: David Cann"

• Turner And Hooch | DVD | (12/02/2001) from £6.00   |  Saving you £8.99 (149.83%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Much better than your average cop-and-dog movie (such as K-9), Turner and Hooch is really a love story about a control freak (Tom Hanks) who gradually resigns to the messy chaos of a sweet hulk of a pooch named Hooch. The excuse for this relationship is that the dog can identify a murderer and Hanks needs him, but the film is really about such hilarious moments as Hanks bathing Hooch with a long brush, and a wild chase through the streets when the sharp-eyed mutt spots his suspect. Layered over this is a healthy love story between Hanks and animal vet Mare Winningham, who share a terribly sexy scene together--while fully clothed--doing no more than making breakfast. (Hanks directed this scene, though Roger Spottiswoode directed the rest of the movie.) --Tom Keogh

• Jam | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With Jam, the TV follow-up to his Radio 1 series Blue Jam, Chris Morris focuses more on unease more than the satire of Brass Eye. Indeed, it's a moot point whether Jam can actually be categorised as comedy at all. Each sketch is steeped in a heavy brine of dark, ambient music (including Bark Psychosis, David Sylvian and Brian Eno), grainy imagery, fast-cut editing and slo-motion. Its mirthless, Kafka-esque scenarios feel like an attempt to morph into some new species of post-comedy that is more like the stuff of nightmares. The credits, in which Morris stalks the moving camera, uttering Lear-esque words of foreboding immediately announce that this "sketch show" is a galaxy apart from The Two Ronnies. The appalled look on actor Kevin Eldon's face in the opening sketch of the series, as a young couple invite him to endure being buggered by a mutual acquaintance ("I need a break"), sets the tone. Rape, chemotherapy, wanton urination--as a naked "Robert Kilroy-Silk" goes insane in a sketch full of detestation for the oleaginous TV presenter--and recurring sketches involving callously authoritarian NHS doctors, all go to make up these annals of the bizarre and perverse. Ultimately, Jam doesn't quite work, not on TV anyway. The repetition of the same, small cast over and over, broken up too briefly by Morris' own appearances (as a "country gentleman" living outside his house, for instance), coupled with the gruelling treatment of the sketch material makes for a psyche-probing, jaw-dropping experience--but in parts also a nullifying and strangely predictable one. Morris's "failures" are far more interesting than most people's successes. --David Stubbs

• Brass Eye | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £9.17   |  Saving you £10.82 (117.99%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Chris Morris' Brass Eye is a brilliantly funny spoof on current affairs media that carries on where his previous The Day Today left off. The show ran for one single, contentious series in 1997, to be followed by an even more controversial one-off in 2001. While these episodes might cause offence to those not versed in Morris' satirical methods, and while one occasionally suspects his work is informed by a dark seam of malice and loathing rather than a desire to educate, Brass Eye remains vital satire, magnificently hilarious and, in its own way, fiercely moral viewing. Brass Eye satirises a media far too interested in generating dramatic heat and urgency for its own sake than in shedding light on serious issues. Morris mimics perfectly the house style of programmes such as Newsnight and Crimewatch, with their spurious props and love of gimmickry. Meanwhile his presenter--an uncanny composite of Jeremy Paxman, Michael Buerk and Richard Madeley among others--delivers absurd items about man-fighting weasels in the East End and Lear-esque lines such as "the twisted brain wrong of a one-off man mental" with preposterously solemn authority. Much as the media itself is wont to do, each programme works itself up into a ridiculous fever of moral panic. Most telling is the "drugs" episode, in which, as ever, real-life celebrities, including Jimmy Greaves and Sir Bernard Ingham, are persuaded to lend their name to a campaign against a new drug from Eastern Europe entitled Cake. The satirist's aim here isn't to trivialise concern about drugs but to point up the media's lack of attention to content. A response to the ill-conceived News of the World witch-hunt, in the wake of the Sarah Payne affair, the 2001 "paedophilia" special was the most supremely controversial of the series. It followed the usual formula--duping celebs such as Phil Collins into endorsing a campaign entitled "Nonce Sense", urging parents to send their children to football stadiums for the night for their own safety and mooting the possibility of "roboplegic" paedophiles--and prompted the sort of hysterical and predictable Pavlovian response from the media that Brass Eye lampoons so tellingly. On the DVD: Brass Eye on DVD includes brief outtakes, such as "David Jatt" interviewing celebrities about breeding hippos for domestic purposes, an hilarious exchange with Jeffrey Archer's PA ("He's a very wicked little man") as well as trailers for the paedophilia special.--David Stubbs

• Tommy Boy | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Party animal Tommy Callahan is definitely a few cans short of a six pack. But after seven years Tommy's finally earned his diploma - and a cushy job at Callahan Auto Parts. Returning home Tommy gets some more great news: his dad is marrying a real '10' and Tommy will get the stepbrother he always wanted. But as fast as you can say 'Who killed the keg?' the family business starts tanking. Now Tommy's got to hit the road with his dad's right-hand man a smug number-cruncher. And what

• Sapphire And Steel - Assignments 1-3 | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  One of the oddest shows ever mounted for mainstream UK television, Sapphire & Steel was one of ITV's many short-lived attempts at grabbing the sci-fi cult status of the BBC's Doctor Who. Ex-Man From U.N.C.L.E. David McCallum and ex-Avenger Joanna Lumley play human-looking incarnations of the eponymous substances, mysterious investigators working at the behest of an apparent God of Order and zipping about TARDIS-like to cope with anomalies in the time-stream that manifest as apparent supernatural forces in remote English locales like an isolated farmhouse (Adventure One), a deserted rural railway station (Adventure Two) and a high-rise block of flats (Adventure Three). McCallum and Lumley play their "medium atomic weights" with blank style and a few touches of baffled humour, not to mention visual flair in the case of Lumley's blue fashions and occasional glowing eyes. But the lengthy serial format, strictly limited guest casts and claustrophobic confinement to studio floor sets tend to mean individual serials straggle on with a great deal of repetition, providing longeurs as six or eight-part stories seem to take forever to get moving and then resolve. Shot on video, with a few strange 1970s effects (evil follow-spots, floating pillows), this remains prime cult material, though it's hard to sit still for more than one episode at a time. It will take an extremely devoted fan to get through all three adventures in under six months. On the DVD: Sapphire & Steel on disc has to be reckoned a disappointment when compared with the wealth of extra material included on the Gerry Anderson or Doctor Who DVDs. This set stretches only to a few press releases and a TV Times article from the launch of the series that tries hard to build up a mystique about the show which it would take some years to actually acquire. There are basic bios of the two stars, and some unresonant stills. Image quality-wise, this looks much the same as previous VHS releases: shot on video, with only a few tiny film inserts for Adventure Three (on the roof of a London building), the series' transfer to DVD is plagued by artefacting of various kinds (some of which can just about be passed off as visual effects), but then again so were the original transmissions. The pristine look is especially unfortunate in exposing the extremely ordinary trickery as far less terrifying than the onscreen characters make them out to be. --Kim Newman

• Coraline/Monster House/9 | DVD | (20/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Coraline: Neil Gaiman adapts his own fantasy novel for this stop-motion animated adventure from the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. 11-year old Coraline (Dakota Fanning) must escape an alternate reality where her parents dote on her when this seemingly perfect world starts to turn bad. From Henry Selick the visionary director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling book comes this spectacular stop-motion animated adventure! Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) is bored until she finds a secret door and discovers an alternate better version of her life on the other side. When this seemingly perfect world turns dangerous Coraline must use her resourcefulness determination and bravery to save her family. Monster House: Even for a 12-year old D.J. Walters has a particularly overactive imagination. He is convinced that his haggard and crabby neighbor Horace Nebbercracker who terrorizes all the neighborhood kids is responsible for Mrs. Nebbercracker's mysterious disappearance. Any toy that touches Nebbercracker's property promptly disappears swallowed up by the cavernous house in which Horace lives. D.J. has seen it with his own eyes! But no one believes him not even his best friend Chowder. What everyone does not know is D.J. is not imagining things. Everything he's seen is absolutely true and it's about to get much worse than anything D.J could have imagined.... 9: When 9 (The Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood) first comes to life he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they'll soon come to learn the very future of civilization may depend on them.

• Amber - The Complete Series | DVD | (30/06/2014) from £8.01   |  Saving you £13.24 (196.15%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When 14 year old Amber Bailey fails to return home after not turning up at her best friends’ house as arranged a long and drawn-out search is mounted. Her recently separated parents Ben and Sarah pushed increasingly into the harsh public glare of the media spotlight are plunged into an unthinkable nightmare which only grows with each passing day. As the days months and years go by the mystery deepens and disturbing new clues come to light raising more questions than answers. And as the nation becomes gripped with the story of the missing teen all people can do is wonder – what on earth really happened to Amber?

• Rawhead Rex | DVD | (29/07/2003) from £9.96   |  Saving you £-3.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Rawhead Rex is a demon trapped in the depths of hell and waiting for release. He is held by an ancient seal imprisoned for centuries in a barren field near Rathmore in Ireland. He is about to be set free by accident and he is ravenous....

• Sapphire And Steel - Assignments 4-6 | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  Starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum Sapphire And Steel was one of the most enigmatic and acclaimed of all ITC-produced adventures. It continues to baffle and delight viewers twenty years later. Sapphire (Lumley) and Steel (McCallum) are the mysterious agents charged with protecting the Universe from the malevolent forces of Time with their uncanny powers. Assignment IV an evil amorphous entity uses photographs to move between time dimensions. It takes over a junkshop and entraps the inhabitants. A golden anniversary party where the guests are being killed off is the subject of Assignment V. Sapphire and Steel meet another element/detective Silver at an abandoned petrol station in Assignment VI and become embroiled in mystery.

• Lynda La Plante - The Commander - Vols. 4-6 | DVD | (07/07/2008) from £13.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (78.63%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This three disc set contains three feature length episodes of the cutting edge television drama penned by Lynda La Plante. Starring Amanda Burton as Commander Clare Blake who has been assigned to the Serious Crime Group of the Metropolitan Police where she commands the Murder Review Group. Her team includes D.C.I. Mike Hedges who seems determined to make life difficult for his new boss. Episodes Comprise: 1. The Devil You Know 2. Fraudster 3. Windows of the Soul

• Angel: Series 1 (Standard plastic case packaging) | DVD | (01/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Angel - Season 1 Box Set [Repackaged]

• Kangaroo Jack / Kangaroo Jack - G'day USA | DVD | (24/04/2006) from £22.96   |  Saving you £-8.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Kangaroo Jack: He stole the money and he's not giving it back! Two childhood friends a New York hairstylist and a would-be musician get caught up with the mob and are forced to deliver $50 000 to Australia but things go haywire when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo! (Dir. David McNally 2003 Cert. PG) Kangaroo Jack - G'Day USA! When poachers kidnap Jackie Legs from the Australian Outback Louis Charlie and Jessie leap into action! Their attempts to save thei

• On The Beat / Man Of The Moment | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1962's On the Beat, Norman Wisdom's Pitkin, the most famous incarnation of his riotous buffoon character, is dreaming of something better as usual. Pitkin wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a policeman, but being decidedly on the short side, has to settle for washing police cars. Of course it's not long before Norman is impersonating an officer of the law. Wisdom also plays his nemesis here, the German General Schreiber, as well as the chief suspect in a series of jewel robberies which only Pitkin's chaotic antics can solve. Terence Alexander effectively reprises his character from The Square Peg (1958), and Wisdom regular David Lodge, previously seen costarring in The Bulldog Breed (1960), is also on hand, though otherwise the supporting cast is less stellar than before. By the time of 1955's Man of the Moment, Wisdom was firmly established as Britain's favourite movie comedian, his shy, helpful and good-natured "gump" character forever unintentionally causing catastrophe in the great tradition of Charlie Chaplin. However, while Chaplin ventured into politics in Modern Times (1936) for satirical purposes, when Norman's minor civil servant here accidentally becomes the UK delegate at a conference in Geneva the emphasis is on farce and pratfalls. The plot sees Norman sticking up for the rights of the fictional kingdom of Tawaki against less-than-honest government interests, while his new-found status brings the attention of the ladies, including the return of his Trouble in Store (1953) costar Lana Morris. Continuing his collaboration with veteran director John Paddy Carstairs, the film is a polished laughter machine that continues to entertain. --Gary S Dalkin

• Pasty Faces | DVD | (11/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  They'll go far....too far. Joe and Mickey share a flat in Glasgow both are struggling actors who don't possess a lot of self-motivation. Joe owes money to loan sharks which means men with short haircuts and low intelligence threaten him with a near death experience if the debt isn't paid by next Tuesday. Mickey's pal Steve (Gary Cross) sends a postcard from LA raving about the place and persuading them to come over - They'll think you're Ewan McGregor's brother. With the heavies closing in and a taxi waiting Joe and Mickey escape to the airport and the hope of the so-called 'American Dream'.

• Raise The Titanic | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Adapted from Clive Cussler's international best-seller 'Raise the Titanic' depicts the amazing efforts of an American special agent to recover vital material for the United States' defence. It was believed that the mighty 'unsinkable' ship contained vital material which could be used to make the US impregnable to atomic attack. The ship is down too deep for divers so the only solution is to raise it. The Herculean project must be managed in absolute secrecy despite interference from a rival nation and the need to invent technology never before conceived. The extraordinary task is interlaced with the stories of the people and the forces working against them.

• Mad Dog And Glory | DVD | (11/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

• The River King | DVD | (24/07/2006) from £8.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (44.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  It's the truth that haunts us.... Abel Grey is sent to investigate the death of a boy from an exclusive local school who is found floating in the river. Fearing scandal the school insists it was suicide. But after discovering from the boy's girlfriend Carlin that he was being badly bullied Abel suspects that a dangerous schoolboy initiation has gone horribly wrong and he secretly solicits the help of a sympathetic teacher Betsy. He is warned off the investigation by hi

• Ghost Rig | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £9.13   |  Saving you £-3.14 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A group of young environmental activists have boarded an abandoned North Sea oil rig and prepare to broadcast to the world in a protest against the rigs pending destruction. But the rig is not as empty as they first thought.The rig workers had summoned up an evil entity which inhabits the bodies of the living moving from person to person as it's will leaving the host dead. Locked in a battle for survival the group are forced to confront the evil.Can they work out who is possessed and deliver the final few to safety or will this evil entity escape and be released upon an unsuspecting world?

• The Churchills | DVD | (23/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Drawing on Winston's own letters and memoirs family archives and on the reminiscences of his close relations and allies 'The Churchills' strips away the myths and misconceptions about Winston Churchill and his family over three generations.

• Swann | DVD | (05/01/2004) from £12.94   |  Saving you £0.05 (0.39%)   |  RRP £12.99

  From the novel by Carol Shields: Sarah is an author researching for a book on Mary Swann a little known poet who was axed to death by her husband who then shot himself. Sarah meets Rose the last person known to have seen Swann and who is compiling Mary's works into a museum. They uncover information of significance the more so when thefts occur at the museum. They follow an unexpected trail....