"Actor: Frances Shaw"

• 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

• Six Feet Under 1-5 : The Complete DVD Collector's Edition | DVD | (10/04/2006) from £49.99   |  Saving you £0.57 (1.14%)   |  RRP £50.56

  Every Day Above Ground Is A Good One. All the episodes of the quirky drama series created by American Beauty writer Alan Ball that takes a darkly comical look at members of a dysfunctional Pasadena family that runs an independent funeral home. Season 1: 1. Pilot 2. The Will 3. The Foot 4. Familia 5. An Open Book 6. The Room 7. Brotherhood 8. Crossroads 9. Life's Too Short 10. The New Person 11. The Trip 12. A Private Life 13. Knock Knock Season 2:

• Six Feet Under - The Complete Fourth Season | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £50.99

  There's a new pecking order at the Fisher & Diaz funeral home but Nate Ruth David and Claire still try to make every day above ground a good one. Death and dysfunction are par for the course in The Complete Fourth Season of Six Feet Under. Episodes comprise: 1. Falling Into Place 2. In Case Of Rapture 3. Parallel Play 4. Can I Come Up Now 5. That's My Dog 6. Terror Starts At Home 7. The Dare 8. Coming And Going 9. Grinding The Corn 10. The Black Forest 11. The Bomb Shelter

• Six Feet Under - The Complete Fifth Season | DVD | (04/10/2006) from £16.77   |  Saving you £33.22 (198.09%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Alan Ball's incredible drama series comes to an end in this the concluding season of Six Feet Under Episodes Comprise: 1. A Coat of White Primer 2. Dancing For Me 3. Hold My Hand 4. Time Flies 5. Eat a Peach 6. Rainbow of Her Reasons 7. The Silence 8. Singing For Our Lives 9. Ecotone 10. All Alone 11. Static 12. Everyone's Waiting

• The Tragedy of Macbeth | Blu Ray | (18/04/2016) from £13.35   |  Saving you £14.64 (109.66%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Roman Polanski imbues his unflinchingly violent adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ruthless ambition and murder in medieval Scotland with grit and dramatic intensity. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis give performances charged with fury and sex appeal as a decorated warrior rising through the ranks and his driven wife, scheming together to take the throne by any means. Co-adapted by Polanski and the great theatre critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan, and shot against a series of stunning, stark British Isle landscapes, this version of Macbeth is among the most atmospheric and authentic of all Shakespeare films.

• The Pretty One | DVD | (16/06/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Laurel (Kazan) has always been the odd wallflower choosing to live at home with her father while her glamorous identical twin Audrey (Kazan) possesses the confidence and appeal to succeed in the big city. When tragedy strikes and Laurel is mistaken for her twin sister she makes the impulsive decision to assume her sister's identity and become The Pretty One. As she eases into her new independent existence Laurel discovers that she's capable of accomplishments she had never before had dreamed of: excelling in a career maintaining friendships and even finding love. Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks) Jake Johnson (TV's 'New Girl') and Ron Livingston (Drinking Buddies) star in this quirky comedic drama about family ties and second chances.

• Six Feet Under: Complete Series 2 | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £21.98   |  Saving you £31.00 (155.08%)   |  RRP £50.99

  In some ways, HBO's Six Feet Under plays kid brother to the Sopranos: it's spunkier, less refined, chancier and a bit of a punk. Nevertheless, the show, set in the southern California mortuary Fisher and Sons, deserves its place in the pantheon of great television series. The initial series was a showcase for the most original characters, including tight-lipped brother David (Michael C Hall) coming out of the closet, emotionally trippy mom Ruth (Frances Conroy) and the most complex girlfriend on the face of the planet, Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). Slowly, the major force in series two 2 is the unassuming lead, Peter Krause. Part of the long line of good-looking actors who never get respect because they make it look too easy, Krause finds the perfect blend of optimism and wonderful, bittersweet anguish as Nate, the prodigal son. The opening series' happy ending is forgotten as relationships change, the business is still under fire from the evil conglomerate Kroehner, and a lively dream sequence is just around the corner. As with the first series, creator Alan Ball lets many others direct and write the show, but his stamp is all over it. The eccentricities of the characters are shaped, and not always suddenly. Take daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose), who sheds her bad boyfriend only to find more complex relationships on her road to discovering her own groove. One person in the mix is Ruth's beatnik sister (Patricia Clarkson, in an Emmy-winning role). She's a joyous embodiment of thriving--if ageing--counter-culture. Another new character is Nate's old girlfriend, the granola-loving Lisa (Lili Taylor). With Brenda heading down another destructive course, Nate is at more than one crossroads by series' end. For fans who groove with the wild, serio-comedic world of the Fishers (and let's face it, many didn't), the second series goes down like a fine meal of fusion cuisine. --Doug Thomas

• Prick Up Your Ears | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £7.97   |  Saving you £0.02 (0.25%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Based on John Lahr's biography of the same name and co-written by Alan Bennett, Prick Up Your Ears charts the 16-year relationship between the monstrously talented but deeply selfish playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman), author of West End farces such as Loot and What the Butler Saw, and his neurotic but nevertheless wronged lover and collaborator Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina). Halliwell introduced Orton to art, literature and gay sex only to see his protégeacute; outstrip his mentor with innate and rampant talent for sexual conquest. By turns hilarious and excoriatingly painful, it's as much a tribute to an anti-hero of our times-Orton's ruthless frankness and anarchic mindset helped form the basis of what's called the "queer" sensibility today--as it is a portrait of the Swinging 60s just after the reform of anti-homosexuality laws irrevocably changed society. The modern-day framing device has Lahr (Wallace Shawn) researching his book through interviews with Peggy Ramsay (Vanessa Redgrave), Orton's agent and the diary he wrote, a nimble device which ends up drawing a provocative parallel between Orton and Halliwell's relationship and that of Lahr and his wife (Lindsay Duncan). Director Stephen Frears, fresh off the back of the also-gay-themed My Beautiful Laundrette, nimbly balances our sympathies for both the protagonists while the leads give what may in retrospect look like the standout performances of their careers: Oldman was never more feral and charming, while Molina, foppishingly fretting over his wig and decrying that his lover "even sleeps better than I do" is simply heartbreaking. --Leslie Felperin

• Shakespeare Complete Collection | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A quintet of the finest Shakespeare adaptations in one box set! Featuring 'The Taming Of The Shrew' 'King Lear' 'Macbeth' 'Henry V' and 'Hamlet'. The Taming Of The Shrew: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sparkle in Shakespeare's comic look at male chauvinism and women's lib. Petruchio journeys to Padua in search of a wealthy wife encountering the fiery Katharina a self willed shrew who leads Petruchio on a merry chase with Katharina as determined to maintain her indepen

• The Escort | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £10.48   |  Saving you £5.50 (73.43%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A struggling French writer living alone in London joins a male escort agency and begins to push back the boundaries of his normal life, but with dangerous consequences.

• Communion | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When Whitley Strieber's bestselling book Communion--quickly followed by this film adaptation--posited the notion of alien abduction, it did so to an eager audience who had yet to be bombarded with similar scenarios by The X-Files. Although somewhat eccentric in his general behaviour already, "Whit" (Christopher Walken) becomes ever stranger as he is gripped by increasing paranoia. One night at his family's country cabin he was unaccountably "visited". It's hard not to be as confused and frightened as he is when viewing the apparent corroborating evidence: recurring dreams, fleeting images, shadowy masked faces, vague comments from his young son and the occasional splitting headache. One of the strong points of Strieber's tale has always been the trepidation with which he approached it. The doctor's appointments and plucking up the courage to be hypnotised all offer a genuine reaction to inexplicable circumstance, and this is aided enormously by one of Walken's most mesmerising performances. He's well supported by Lindsay Crouse as his wife, Joel Carson as a thankfully believable yet cute son and an ambiguous musical theme from Eric Clapton. On the DVD: Given that a Region 1 Special Edition exists, this is a disappointing bare-bones DVD transfer. The picture is in full-screen 4:3 and the sound in Dolby 2.0 Stereo. The only extras are a few pages of filmography for director Philippe Mora, Christopher Walken, Lindsay Crouse and Frances Sternhagen. --Paul Tonks

• Female Perversions | DVD | (05/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Female Perversions is the provocative and stimulating story of Eve Stephens a successful attorney struggling under the tremendous pressures of power promiscuity and a destructive sister. Consumed by wild sexual fantasies she is unable to feel satisfied by either her male or female lovers. She uses them to fuel her all consuming desire for sexual fulfilment regardless of the damage she is doing to those around her. In a truly shocking exploration of female perversion Swinton delivers a riveting performance that ranks alongside her stunning portrayal of `Orlando'. Dare to let yourself go... where you've never been before.

• The Possession Of David O'Reilly | DVD | (09/08/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Paranormal Possesion