"Actor: Frances Davis"

• Macbeth | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Roman Polanski's adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth remains one of the most infamous for a number of reasons: the copious amounts of bloody gore, its expert use of location settings (filmed in North Wales) and Lady Macbeth's nude sleepwalking scene. Despite its notoriety, though, this does remain one of the more compelling film adaptations of the Scottish tragedy, if one of the more pessimistic takes on the story of Macbeth and his overreaching ambition. If you think the play is normally a bit of a downer, you haven't seen Polanski's bleak version of it, made in reaction to the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson "family". Jon Finch (Hitchcock's Frenzy) is a forceful Macbeth, bringing out the Scot's warrior instincts, and Francesca Annis is a memorable Lady Macbeth but the main thrust of the film belongs to Polanski's and noted British playwright and critic Kenneth Tynan's take on the play: extremely violent, nihilistic and visceral; this is down-in-the-dirt, no-holds-barred Shakespeare, not fussy costume drama. Pay close attention to the end, a silent coda that puts a chilling twist on all the action that has come beforehand and foreshadows more tragedy to come. --Mark Englehart

• The Party | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £11.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (100.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Though this film is a relatively minor one in the massive canon of Peter Sellers, it has moments of absolute hilarity. Written and directed by Blake Edwards, one of Sellers' most fertile collaborators, the film stars Sellers as a would-be actor from India (let them try to get away with that today) who is a walking disaster area. After ruining a day's shooting as an extra on a film, he finds himself unintentionally invited to a big Hollywood party. That's pretty much it as far as plot goes, but Edwards and Sellers know how to milk a simple idea for an unending string of slapstick gags. The result is a film that is episodic and sketchy but also frequently loony in an inspired way. --Marshall Fine

• Nomadland BD | Blu Ray | (28/06/2021) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Following the closure of a gypsum mine in the Nevada town she calls home, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road in this exquisite film (Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal). Exploring an unconventional life as a modernday nomad, Fern discovers a resilience and resourcefulness unlike any she's known before. Along the way, she meets other nomads who become mentors in the vast landscape of the American West. From Searchlight Pictures, written for the screen and directed by Chloé Zhao, based on the book by Jessica Bruder, the film also stars David Strathairn and features real-life nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells. Special Features: The Forgotten America Telluride Premiere Q&A Deleted Scenes

• The Mutilator | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• The Lady Says No | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £-0.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

• Night Train Murders | Blu Ray | (10/11/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Cider With Rosie | DVD | (03/03/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on a memoir of English writer Laurie Lee and featuring narration by Lee himself, this made-for-television adaptation begins in wartime 1918 with Lee's family moving to the Gloucestershire countryside. Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) shines as the matriarch of this large blended family, a compassionate and distracted woman who pines for the brood's missing father. The movie takes Lee from a young boy sleeping in his mother's bed through his girl-obsessed adolescence, fondly dealing with an assortment of relatives, schoolmates and villagers along the way. Lee doesn't actually have cider with girlfriend Rosie until a few minutes before the 82-minute movie ends, but in the meantime Charles Beeson, directing from an adaptation by John Mortimer, has offered up a gentle homage to long-passed era. --Kimberly Heinrichs, Amazon.com

• Heart | DVD | (17/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Eddie Brennan once a boxer with a killer right is now a has-been who loads trucks for a living. A worn out boxer who dreams of making a comeback seems the perfect candidate for a rigged fight against an up and coming young fighter...