"Actor: Dustin Hoffman"

• The Cobbler | DVD | (04/01/2016) from £7.48   |  Saving you £13.77 (221.38%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Max Simkin (Adam Sandler) repairs shoes in the same New York shop that has been in his family for generations. Disenchanted with the grind of daily life, Max stumbles upon a magical heirloom that allows him to step into the lives of his customers and see the world in a new way. Sometimes walking in another man's shoes is the only way one can discover who they really are.

• Sleepers | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.90   |  Saving you £11.09 (226.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The first thing you need to know about Sleepers is that it's based on a novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing this, Sleepers becomes problematic because it's too neat, too clean, too manipulative in terms of legal justice and dramatic impact to be truly convincing. And yet, with its stellar cast directed by Barry Levinson, it succeeds as gripping entertainment, and its tale of complex morality--despite a dubious emphasis on homophobic revenge--is sufficiently provocative. It's about four boys in New York's Hell's Kitchen district who are sent to reform school, where they must endure routine sexual assaults by the sadistic guards. Years after their release, the opportunity for revenge proves irresistible for two of the young men, who must then rely on the other pair of friends (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), a loyal priest (Robert De Niro), and a shabby lawyer (Dustin Hoffman) to defend them in court. Despite the compelling ambiguities of the story, there's never any doubt about how we're supposed to feel, and the screenplay glosses over the story's most difficult moral dilemmas. At its best, Sleepers grabs your attention and pulls you into its intense story of friendship and the price of loyalty under extreme conditions. The movie's New York settings are vividly authentic, and Minnie Driver makes a strong impression as a long-time friend of the loyal group of guys. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Midnight Cowboy | DVD | (01/02/2000) from £10.85   |  Saving you £2.14 (19.72%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The first, and only, X-rated film to win a best picture Academy Award, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy seems a lot less daring today (and has been reclassified as an R), but remains a fascinating time capsule of late-1960s sexual decadence in mainstream American cinema. In a career-making performance, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive Texas dishwasher who goes to the big city (New York) to make his fortune as a sexual hustler. Although enthusiastic about selling himself to rich ladies for stud services, he quickly finds it hard to make a living and eventually crashes in a seedy dump with a crippled petty thief named Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman, doing one of his more effective "stupid acting tricks," with a limp and a high-pitch rasp of a voice). Schlesinger's quick-cut, semi-psychedelic style has dated severely, as has his ruthlessly cynical approach to almost everybody but the lead characters. But at its heart the movie is a sad tale of friendship between a couple of losers lost in the big city, and with an ending no studio would approve today. It's a bit like an urban Of Mice and Men, but where both guys are Lenny. --Jim Emerson

• Rain Man | Blu Ray | (21/02/2011) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Dustin Hoffman joins Tom Cruise to bring a funny and moving tale of brotherly love to the screen. Heartless Charlie Babbitt expects a vast inheritance after his estranged father dies. But Raymond his institutionalised older brother someone he's been totally unaware of is willed the entire fortune instead. Raymond is an 'autistic Savant' with severely limited mental abilities in some areas but with genius gifts in others. When Charlie kidnaps Raymond the crazy cross-country drive back to Los Angeles teaches them both a few lessons in life. For as they overcome their mutual distrust of each other a deep bond is forged as they painfully share past memories present problems and a possible shining future together.

• Chef | Blu Ray | (03/11/2014) from £19.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The UV copy is only available in the UK and Ireland. When Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau; Iron Man) suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman; Rain Man ), he is left to figure out what's next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara; TVs Modern Family), his friend (John Leguizamo; Kick-Ass 2) and his son (Emjay Anthony; It's Complicated) to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen - and zest for life and love. Also starring Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers Assemble).

• Sphere | DVD | (23/10/1998) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes Sphere, an equally derivative and flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. You're supposed to find awe and mystery in Crichton's story about a team of scientists and scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician (Samuel L Jackson), biochemist (Sharon Stone), and an astrophysicist (Live Schreiber), and when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they don't know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts and perceptions, and before long the scientists' undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions and creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the sphere's purpose, and why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, and it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere looks and feels like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Joan Of Arc | Blu Ray | (24/08/2020) from £8.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Joan is a child when she has a violent and supernatural prophecy, before discovering her village being destroyed by the English army and her sister attacked and murdered before her very eyes. She is taken in by distant relatives but from then on, religion and prayer are her only solace. Some years later, Charles VII (John Malkovich) receives a request from the young adult Joan (Milla Jovovich) for an army to lead into battle against the occupying English forces, as she believes that God is speaking to her through her visions to bring peace to the land. Her resolve overcomes the initial disbelief of those around her and despite being tormented by The Conscious (Dustin Hoffman) she is successful in forcing the English to retreat and Charles VII becomes the King of France. But when she asks for more reinforcements to take Paris, he refuses and conspires to allow her capture so as not to threaten his new position. Director Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element) offers a bold portrayal of the religious martyrdom of Joan of Arc, now fully restored.

• All The President's Men | DVD | (13/02/2006) from £7.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (112.64%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In the Watergate Building lights go on and four burglars are caught in the act. That night triggered revelations that drove a U.S. President from office. Washington reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) grabbed the story and stayed with it through doubts denials and discouragement. The entire President's Men is their story. The film also explores a working newspaper where the mission is to get the story - and to get it right.

• Last Chance Harvey | DVD | (02/11/2009) from £4.98   |  Saving you £13.01 (261.24%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson star in this beguiling romance as two strangers meet in London and change one another's lives forever

• Outbreak | DVD | (11/05/1998) from £13.56   |  Saving you £0.43 (3.17%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When Warner Brothers was unable to secure the rights to Richard Preston's terrifying non-fiction book The Hot Zone (purchased by a rival studio), they took the basic idea of a fatal virus on the loose in the US, added Dustin Hoffman and director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot) and produced an unusual thriller--a surprise hit--called Outbreak. The other picture, slated to star Robert Redford and Jodie Foster, fell through. The premise of Outbreak, which owes something to Elia Kazan's 1950 plague-scare movie, Panic in the Streets, is as terrifying as it is timely. As developers slash their way deeper into the previously unexplored tropical rainforests, they are exposed to radically new forms of life, including diseases, that in these days of commonplace international travel could turn into deadly epidemics almost before we know it. Hoffman's character and his estranged wife (Rene Russo) are disease experts called in to identify the unknown killer, which was carried into the country by an illegally smuggled monkey. The best sequence shows the disease spreading--through recycled air on a passenger jet or a sneeze in a crowded cinema. The final chase is pretty conventional but the cast is terrific, including Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., J.T. Walsh and Zakes Mokae. --Jim Emerson

• Finding Neverland | DVD | (14/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet star in a biopic of "Peter Pan" author James Barrie.

• Hook | DVD | (24/04/2000) from £6.98   |  Saving you £13.01 (186.39%)   |  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

• Midnight Cowboy | Blu Ray | (02/05/2011) from £11.47   |  Saving you £4.52 (39.41%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When Joe Buck (Jon Voight) a good-looking naively charming Texas Cowboy makes his way to the big apple to seek his fortune the only wealth he finds is in the friendship of Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) a scrounging sleazy small-time con man with big dreams. Living on the tattered fringe of society these two outcasts develop an unlikely bond - one that transcends their broken dreams and get-rich-quick schemes. Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

• Kung Fu Panda 2 | DVD | (14/11/2011) from £4.90   |  Saving you £15.09 (307.96%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Kung Fu Panda 2 we find Po now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five...but how long can the dream last?

• Kramer vs Kramer | DVD | (02/05/2011) from £4.38   |  Saving you £1.61 (36.76%)   |  RRP £5.99

  It might have started out as a small, rather arty divorce drama but Kramer vs Kramer was the biggest cinema hit of 1979. It confirmed Dustin Hoffman's status as a major star in a performance that combined his trademark twitchy intensity with deep sensitivity. And it provided Meryl Streep with a pivotal role in her rise to big-screen greatness. Both won Oscars, as did director Robert Benton and the film itself scooped the Best Picture award. Kramer vs Kramer has worn well into the 21st century. Although clearly of its time--by the late 1970s, microscopic relationship analysis had become the theme of commercial cinema--it stands on the strength of its central performances. Hoffman's Ted Kramer is a vision of the Graduate grown up: serious, focused and thrown by anything that threatens his upwardly mobile professional trajectory. The news that his wife, who he has failed to notice teetering on the edge of a breakdown, is leaving him and their son sends him into a tailspin. The film is as much about his resilience and fulfilment as it is the story of a divorce and custody battle. Justin Henry is extraordinary as Billy, the boy caught in the middle, and turns in a remarkably complex, thoughtful performance, which is light years from the archetypal all-American kid you might anticipate. And in just a handful of scenes, Streep is mesmerising as Joanna, the deserting wife and mother who you just can't bring yourself to hate. Yes, this is soap opera. But it belongs up there with all the finest cinematic human dramas. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation ensures a theatrically authentic experience, with some fantastic shots of New York city coming into their own. The mono sound is adequate for the relative intimacy of most of the dialogue. But the real bonus is the retrospective documentary in which director and writer Benton, producer Stanley Jaffe and the cast look back with touching satisfaction at a piece which clearly meant a great deal to them all. Hoffman's initial reluctance (he was going through a real-life divorce) to get involved, the process of working with a gifted child actor and Streep's desire to make Joanna understood are all recalled in fascinating detail. --Piers Ford

• All The President's Men | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It helps to have one of history's greatest scoops as your factual inspiration, but journalism thrillers just don't get any better than All the President's Men. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford are perfectly matched as (respectively) Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose investigation into the Watergate scandal set the stage for President Richard Nixon's eventual resignation. Their bestselling exposé was brilliantly adapted by screenwriter William Goldman, and director Alan Pakula crafted the film into one of the most intelligent and involving of the 1970s paranoid thrillers. Featuring Jason Robards in his Oscar-winning role as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, All the President's Men is the film against which all other journalism movies must be measured. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Little Fockers - Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (18/04/2011) from £6.24   |  Saving you £21.75 (348.56%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) has finally begun to earn the respect of his ex-CIA father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro) but one important test still lies ahead: will Greg prove that he has what it takes to be the family's next Godfocker ... or will the circle of trust be broken for good? Returning co-stars Owen Wilson Blythe Danner Teri Polo Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand are joined by newcomers Jessica Alba Laura Dern and Harvey Keitel in this hysterical family affair

• Joan Of Arc: The Messenger | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £9.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Over the years, many film directors have attempted to tell the story of legendary 15th-century heroine Joan of Arc, a simple country girl who claimed she was inspired by God to lead the French troops in a victorious assault on the mighty English army. Luc Besson's 1999 epic might not be the best version of her life, but it's certainly the biggest. The movie cost a reported $60 million. Even if you are terminally unimpressed by the scale of such recent blockbusters as Gladiator, your eyes will pop out at the sheer number of bodies (living and dead) that Besson has assembled for the dynamic battle scenes. The lavish sets and costumes are almost equally gobsmacking, though neither will show to maximum advantage on the small screen. That's a pity because size is the only thing Joan of Arc really has going for it--as a human drama, it falls completely flat.The historical Joan was eventually made a saint by the Catholic Church, and earlier biopics tended to treat her celestial visions as literal fact. It was probably a mistake for Besson and his co-screenwriter Andrew Birkin to take a more psychological approach and present them as figments of her hysterical imagination. It makes it hard to work up the necessary empathy when the spectacle revolves around a confused and neurotic babe who couldn't organise a Tupperware party, let alone a vast military campaign. Milla Jovovich (the star of Besson's previous The Fifth Element and formerly his wife) doesn't help matters with her shrill and amateurish performance. But a couple of the supporting players are passably amusing--John Malkovich camps it up energetically as Charles, the dispossessed French king whom Joan reinstates, while Faye Dunaway wears outlandish headgear and carries on like a science-fiction creation in the role of his scheming mother-in-law. (The less said the better about Dustin Hoffman's pompous turn as Joan's personified conscience.) Besson keeps to the same glossy visual style even when the Maid is burning at the stake, but it isn't enough to prevent this empty shell of a movie from being a colossal yawn. --Peter Matthews

• Straw Dogs | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £5.93   |  Saving you £0.06 (1.01%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Tootsie | DVD | (01/10/2007) from £7.22   |  Saving you £2.77 (38.37%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Michael Dorsey is fine actor but an irreproachable perfectionist who can hardly make ends meet; the best he can do for his wallet is take on a couple of jobs as a part-time drama coach and a part-time waiter. But when with the help of a few accessories (including rouge and a padded bra) he transforms himself into Dorothy Michaels everything changes. Dorothy lands a hot job on a soap opera monopolizes the covers of glossy magazines and wins thousands of adoring fans. But when he falls head-over-heels for his co-star Julie (Jessica Lange) he's got a real problem: How can he tell Julie he loves her when she thinks he's a she? Michael desperate to relinquish his disguise proceeds as a she and endures a battle with his agent played by Pollack who refuses to end his contract with the soap; a fight with his best friend who is a woman; unwanted sexual advances from a fellow soap actor; and sweet affections from Julie's father.