"Actor: Don Simpson"

• Days Of Thunder | DVD | (31/07/2000) from £3.05   |  Saving you £12.94 (424.26%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This loud and fast 1988 effort by director Tony Scott (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Top Gun) has much more style than substance but it does effectively depict the edgy and dangerous world of stock car racing. Tom Cruise plays yet another cocky loner trying to find success and happiness, this time as stock car racer Cole Trickle, a driver with raw talent but no discipline who is desperate for guidance and sponsorship. They both materialise in the visage of world-weary Robert Duvall, who despite his better instincts sees a second chance at victory in the young driver. Featuring supporting roles by Nicole Kidman, as Cruise's physician and love interest, and Randy Quaid, as a bombastic sponsor, and with a screenplay by Robert Towne (Chinatown), Days of Thunder is a slickly packaged entertainment best suited for die-hard Tom Cruise fans and those who want an intense visual experience. --Robert Lane

• The 39 Steps | DVD | (19/06/2007) from £4.45   |  Saving you £11.54 (259.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A high point of Hitchcock's pre-Hollywood career, 1935's The Thirty-Nine Steps is the first and best of three film versions of John Buchan's rather stiff novel. Robert Donat plays Richard Hannay, who becomes embroiled in a plot to steal military secrets. He finds himself on the run; falsely accused of murder, while also pursuing the dastardly web of spies alluded to in the title. With a plot whose twists and turns match the hilly Scottish terrain in which much of the film is set, The Thirty-Nine Steps combines a breezy suavity with a palpable psychological tension. Hitchcock was already a master at conveying such tension through his cinematic methods, rather than relying just on situation or dialogue. Sometimes his ways of bringing the best out of his actors brought the worst out in himself. If the scene in which Donat is handcuffed to co-star Madeline Carroll has a certain edge, for instance, that's perhaps because the director mischievously cuffed them together in a rehearsal, then left them attached for a whole afternoon, pretending to have lost the key. The movie also introduces Hitchcock's favoured plot device, the "McGuffin" (here, the military secret), the unexplained device or "non-point" on which the movie turns. --David Stubbs

• Days of Thunder – 4K Ultra HD | Blu Ray | (08/06/2020) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Days of Thunder is newly remastered in 4K UHD with HDR, including new special features! From the engine roar and fever pitch of professional stock car racing, Days of Thunder explodes with some of the most spectacular racing action ever captured on film. Tom Cruise plays race car driver Cole Trickle, whose talent and ambition are surpassed only by his burning need to win. Discovered by businessman Tim Daland (Randy Quaid), Cole is teamed with legendary crew chief and car-builder Harry Hogge (Academy Award® winner Robert Duvall) to race for the Winston Cup at the Daytona 500. A fiery crash nearly ends Cole's career and he must turn to a beautiful doctor (Nicole Kidman) to regain his nerve and the true courage needed to race, to win and to live. Special Features: Filmmaker Focus: Days of Thunder Isolated Score

• A League Of Their Own | DVD | (13/03/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Penny Marshall's popular 1992 comedy sheds light on a little-known chapter of American sports history with its story of a struggling team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league was formed when the recruiting of soldiers during World War II resulted in a shortage of men's baseball teams. The AAGPBL continued after the war (until 1954), and Marshall's movie depicts the league in full swing, beginning when a savvy baseball scout (Jon Lovitz) finds a pair of promising new players in small-town Oregon sisters (Geena Davis, Lori Petty). The sisters are signed to play for the Rockford Peaches near Chicago, whose new manager (Tom Hanks) is a former home-run king who wrecked his career with alcoholism. They're all a bunch of underdogs, and Marshall (with a witty script by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) does a fine job of establishing a colorful team of supporting players including Madonna and (in her movie debut) Rosie O'Donnell. It's a conventional Hollywood sports story (Marshall's never been one to take dramatic risks) but the stellar cast is delightful and the movie's filled with memorable moments, witty dialogue and agreeable sentiment. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Descent | DVD | (20/03/2006) from £6.69   |  Saving you £12.29 (332.16%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A caving trip goes badly wrong for six girlfriends as they discover they're not alone in the dark.

• The Descent 2 Disc Special Edition | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £5.85   |  Saving you £14.14 (241.71%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A caving trip goes badly wrong for six girlfriends as they discover they're not alone in the dark.

• Along Came Jones | DVD | (16/08/2005) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Riding into Payneville easy-going cowboy Melody Jones is mistaken by the townsfolk for notorious gunman Monte Jarrad. The real Jarrad is hiding out wounded on the ranch of childhood sweetheart Cherry. She has the idea of sending Jones off to decoy the pursuing posse but once he's met Cherry Jones has other plans...

• Michael McDonald - In Concert | DVD | (29/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  With his distinctive throaty baritone Michael McDonald left an indelible signature in the 1970's with his vocal contributions to both Steely Dan and later The Doobie Brothers. After The Doobie Brothers disbanded in 1982 McDonald embarked on a solo career which produced such Top 10 hits as I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near) and Sweet Freedom. This Soundstage concert features Michael McDonald performing hits from his successful solo career. Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons from The Doobie Brothers as well as Ashford & Simpson joins McDonald on this sensational performance.

• The 39 Steps | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Hitchcock's first great romantic thriller is a prime example of the "macguffin" principle in action. Robert Donat is Richard Hannay, an affable Canadian tourist in London who becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy when a mysterious spy winds up murdered in Hannay's rented flat--and both the police and a secret organisation wind up hot on his trail. With only a seemingly meaningless phrase ("the 39 steps"), a small Scottish town circled on a map, and a criminal mastermind identified by a missing finger as clues, quick-witted Hannay eludes police and spies alike as he works his way across the countryside to reveal the mystery and clear his name. At one point he finds himself making his escape manacled to blonde beauty Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), whose initial antagonism is smoothed by Hannay's charm. It's classic Hitchcock all the way, a seemingly effortless balance of romance and adventure set against a picturesque landscape populated by eccentrics and social-register smoothies, none of whom is what he or she appears to be. Hitchcock would play similar games of innocents plunged into deadly conspiracies, most delightfully in North by Northwest, but in this breezy 1935 classic, Hitch proves that, as in any quest, the object of the search isn't nearly as satisfying as the journey. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Michael McDonald - Soundstage | DVD | (04/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Music from Michael McDonald formerly of the Doobie Brothers.

• Taking Chances | DVD | (15/11/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Taking Chances