"Actor: Ian MacDonald"

• Line of Duty - Series 1-6 Complete Box Set | DVD | (31/05/2021) from £39.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the creator and producers of Bodyguard. This thrilling British police drama has earned universal praise for its nail-biting action, complex characters, and intricate plotting (TV Guide). At anti-corruption unit AC-12, Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar, Blood) leads his team of DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston, The Nest) and DC Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure, This Is England) in investigating suspected cases of police corruption•and in the process, they begin to uncover a conspiracy that reaches to the heights of the force. Includes: Five behind-the-scenes featurettes, Actor filmographies, picture galleries.

• Line of Duty - Series 6 | DVD | (31/05/2021) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The hit police corruption drama from the makers of Bodyguard returns and Series Six of Line of Duty sees AC-12 facing their most enigmatic adversary so far: Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson, the senior investigating officer of a high-profile unsolved murder. Kelly Macdonald stars as DCI Davidson, whose unconventional conduct raises AC-12's suspicions and they begin to challenge the facts of the case and question whether she is doing everything in her power to find the perpetrator. The team conducts an urgent investigation, but upheavals within AC-12 itself threaten to tear their work apart. Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston return as Superintendent Ted Hastings, Detective Inspector Kate Fleming and Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott.

• Keep it Up Downstairs | DVD | (27/05/2013) from £11.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  With everyone - masters, mistresses, servants - endlessly bedding everyone else it is no wonder Cockshute Castle is bankrupt. A marriage of convenience for the son or daughter of the house with someone wealthy is called for, unless the son's newly invented thin india rubber membrane has some use.

• Intermission | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £5.38   |  Saving you £9.61 (178.62%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When a misguided young couple break up, their decision initiates a series of cataclysmic events affecting everyone around them in this urban love story about people adrift in their search of some kind of love.

• High Noon | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  One of the greatest Westerns ever made gets the deluxe treatment on this superior disc. Written by Carl Foreman (who was later blacklisted during the anticommunist hearings of the 1950s) and superbly directed by Fred Zinnemann, this 1952 classic stars Gary Cooper as just-married lawman Will Kane, who is about to retire as a small-town sheriff and begin a new life with his bride (Grace Kelly) when he learns that gunslinger Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is due to arrive at high noon to settle an old score. Kane seeks assistance from deputies and townsfolk, but soon realises he will have to stand alone in his showdown with Miller and his henchmen. Innovative for its time, the suspenseful story unfolds in approximate real time (from 10:40 a.m. to high noon in an 84-minute film), and many interpreted Foreman's drama as an allegorical reflection of apathy and passive acceptance of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist campaign. Political underpinnings aside, this remains a milestone of its genre (often referred to as the first "adult" Western), and Cooper is flawless in his Oscar-winning role. The first-rate DVD gives this landmark film all the respect it deserves, beginning with a digitally remastered transfer from the original film negative. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Apache | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £5.97   |  Saving you £7.02 (117.59%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Burt Lancaster stars in an action-packed western based on a thrilling true story. After years of bloody fighting with settlers on the American frontier Apache Chief Geronimo is forced to submit to a humiliating surrender. But his fiercest warrior Massai refuses to accept defeat. With enormous strength and razor-sharp cunning Massai battles the relentless U.S. Cavalry struggling to stay one step ahead of the highly-trained soldiers who have sworn to track him down. The pride of hi

• Line of Duty - Series 1-6 Complete Box Set | Blu Ray | (12/07/2021) from £61.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the creator and producers of Bodyguard. This thrilling British police drama has earned universal praise for its nail-biting action, complex characters, and intricate plotting (TV Guide). At anti-corruption unit AC-12, Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar, Blood) leads his team of DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston, The Nest) and DC Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure, This Is England) in investigating suspected cases of police corruption•and in the process, they begin to uncover a conspiracy that reaches to the heights of the force. Special Features: Five behind the scenes featurettes, Actor filmographies, picture galleries.

• Line of Duty - Series 6 - Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (31/05/2021) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Drama series following the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anti-corruption unit. Features English language and English subtitles.

• Hollow Man 2 | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £6.73   |  Saving you £9.26 (57.90%)   |  RRP £15.99

  There's more to terror than meets the eye... Christian Slater stars in the action-packed sequel to the box office hit Hollow Man as a volunteer soldier/assassin who goes mad after he turns invisible. A driven Seattle detective Frank Turner and the molecular biologist Maggie Dalton he's been assigned to protect find themselves on the run from an undetectable soldier gone rogue. He will destroy everything in his path in order to find the serum to save his life and punish the unscrupulous scientists and agents of the government responsible for this creation....

• The Kentuckian | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Burt Lancaster's one and only feature as star and director, The Kentuckian, has a bedrock American folk tale at its core, but scarcely a clue how to tell it. For all his balletic control as an actor-athlete, Lancaster shows no sense of how a film should move and breathe over an hour and a half, or how to make the characters' growth or changes of mind credible. It's the early 18th century--Monroe is president--and buckskin-clad Lancaster and his son (Donald MacDonald) are lighting out for Texas. "It ain't we don't like people--we like room more." They plan briefly to visit Lancaster's tobacco-dealer brother (John McIntire) in the river town of Humility, and then move on. But there are complications from a long-running feud, and some nasty baiting from a whip-cracking storekeeper (Walter Matthau in his film debut); the need to replace their "Texas money" after buying freedom for a bondservant (Dianne Foster); also the matter of deciding who's prettier, her or the local schoolmarm (Diana Lynn). Lancaster aims for some quaint Americana--a sing-along to the tinkling of a pianoforte, a jaw-dropping riverside production number--and there's one nifty bit of action based on how long it took to reload a flintlock rifle. But mostly this film just lies there in overlit CinemaScope. --Richard T Jameson

• Perfect Storm / Three Kings / Deep Blue Sea | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Perfect Storm: George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg lead a talented cast in this harrowing special-effects adventure that intercuts the plight of seafarers struggling to reach safe harbor with the heroics of air/sea rescue crews. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen The Perfect Storm tosses excitement your way in waves. Three Kings: The Gulf War is over. Operation Desert Storm is no more. Now three American soldiers have the opportunity of a lifetime; to become Three Kings. Amid the partying and confusion three soldiers disappear into the Iraqi desert to find millions in stolen Kuwaiti bullion and are plunged into the heart of a democratic uprising that spins the day - and their lives - out of control. Deep Blue Sea: Researchers on the undersea laboratory Aquatica have genetically altered the brains of captive sharks to develop a potential cure for Alzheimer's disease. There is one unexpected side effect. The sharks are getting smarter. Which could mean trouble for the researchers. And lunch for the sharks.

• Laurel and Hardy - Great Guns/Jitterbug/the Big Noise | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £16.50   |  Saving you £8.49 (51.45%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Great Guns (Dir. Monty Banks 1941): Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy join the army to protect their country...but who will protect the army from them? In Great Guns the comic team play a chauffeur and a gardener whose hypochondriac employer (Dick Nelson) a wealthy young man with little experience is drafted. Convinced that he needs them in order to survive in the service they join up as well. Of course the Texas cavalry post to which they're all assigned is made far worse for the wear by the presence of these well-meaning troublemakers and there is never a dull moment in this classic featuring two of the cinema's most revered comic actors! Jitterbugs (Dir. Malcolm St. Clair 1943): Considered the best of the Laurel and Hardy projects filmed at Twentieth Century Fox this energetic musical comedy also introduces singer Vivian Blaine. Stan and Oliver star as a traveling two-man jitterbug band who operate out of a dilapidated jalopy and form an unlikely partnership with a likable con man (Bob Bailey). When the trio joins a carnival they meet Susan a naive young singer (Vivian Blaine) whose mother has been swindled by grifters. Suddenly chivalrous the three orchestrate a sting operation using disguises - with Laurel dressed as Susan's disheveled aunt and Hardy as a rich Texan - to get the woman's money back. Although things don't go as planned the inimitable comedy duo provide nonstop laughs from start to finish in this delightful caper. The Big Noise (Dir. Malcolm St. Clair 1944): The zany antics of legendary comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy come to life in this romp about two phony private detectives. The duo play janitors accidentally hired as sleuths to protect a new super-bomb destined for the War Department in Washington D.C. However the bomb's inventor has loaded his house with crazy contraptions that entrap and confuse the protectors. Meanwhile next door is the biggest threat of all - a gang of crooks determined to get their hands on the inventor's deadly creation. Through a series of crazy misadventures our heroes end up in a remote-controlled airplane along with the bomb and head straight for trouble.

• The Corruptor | DVD | (31/01/2000) from £6.92   |  Saving you £13.07 (188.87%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Nick Chen (Chow Yun-Fat) is not your average New York cop. Working in Chinatown has its multifarious cultural nuances and its fair share of ubiquitous enticement, both of which are reflected in detective Chen's weary face. He had to get into bed with the highest echelons of the Chinese Mafia as a way of augmenting his own career, while maintaining a semblance of control over the dime-a-dozen hoods who proliferate on this turf. To make matters worse, he now has to break in rookie detective Danny Wallace (Mark Wahlberg), who has asked to be assigned to the Chinatown division. Apparently Wallace is infatuated with all things Chinese, or is suffering from "Yellow Fever," as his fellow colleagues would have us believe. Chen, not one to suffer fools gladly, takes young Wallace under his protective wing, oft-warning the shady powers of the neighbourhood not to sink Danny into their sordid pool of corruption. But before he knows it, both he and Wallace are caught in a deadly ring of double-crosses, shady-dealings, murders, and car chases. And all of this under the suspicious eye of Internal Affairs. Part Serpico and part Hard Boiled, this film seems at first to be a major departure from director James Foley's previous work. However, Foley has frequently revealed a keen eye and understanding for emotionally complex relationships, especially between teacher and pupil (Glengarry Glen Ross) or father and son (At Close Range). This movie is no different. In fact, Foley's meticulous attention to the relationship between the wise, morally burdened Chen, and the naove, innocent Wallace morphs this otherwise tedious plot into a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Hats off to Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg, whose sympathetic chemistry creates an authentic and deeply personal connection, a factor that proves crucial to the film's poignant, disturbing finale. --Jeremy Storey

• Hollow Man / Hollow Man 2 | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Hollow Man: What would you do if you were invisible? How far would you go? After years of experimentation Dr. Sebastian Caine (Bacon) a brilliant but arrogant and egotistical scientist working for the defense department has successfully transformed mammals to an invisible state and brought them back to their original physical form. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough Caine instructs his team to move on to Phase III: human experimentation. Using himself as the first subject the invisible Caine finds himself free to do the unthinkable. But Caine's experiment takes an unexpected turn when his team can't bring him back. As the days pass he grows more and more out of control doomed to a future without flesh as the Hollow Man. (Dir. Peter Verhoeven 2000) Hollow Man 2: There's more to terror than meets the eye... Christian Slater stars in the action-packed sequel to the box office hit Hollow Man as a volunteer soldier/assassin who goes mad after he turns invisible. A driven Seattle detective Frank Turner and the molecular biologist Maggie Dalton he's been assigned to protect find themselves on the run from an undetectable soldier gone rogue. He will destroy everything in his path in order to find the serum to save his life and punish the unscrupulous scientists and agents of the government responsible for this creation.... (Dir. Claudio Fah 2006)

• The Secret Life of Us : Series 1, Part 1 | DVD | (27/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Secret Life of Us follows eight twentysomethings sharing three apartments in a Melbourne residential block, and may well be Channel 4's best-kept secret. Buried in a mid-week late-night slot the show has nevertheless developed a cult following as an antipodean answer to This Life, though one mercifully free of amateurish shaky photography. This is actually a good-looking soap spiced with post-watershed language, sex, nudity and a refreshing dose of humour--think Sex and the City meets Coupling, or Dawson's Creek goes to The Book Group. The show takes a while to get going, introducing too many characters too quickly in disorientating fashion, but becomes engrossing entertainment filled with realistically young, aimless and confused, if not very likeable characters. Central to the show is Alex (Claudia Karvan, soon to become much more famous in Star Wars: Episode III) giving a strong performance as an emotional insecure doctor who sets things rolling by having a fling with her best friend's boyfriend. Samuel Johnson meanwhile is the highly sexed struggling novelist whose work in progress, the titular Secret Life of Us offers commentary on the ever more tangled web of romance, deception and friendship. It's Australian drama for those who have outgrown Melbourne's Neighbours. On the DVD: The Secret Life of Us comes to DVD in an anamorphically enhanced 16:9 transfer which looks fine, showing just a little graininess in the darker scenes. The sound is Dolby Prologic and is more than adequate given the small-scale, intimate nature of the production. There are optional subtitles. --Gary S Dalkin

• Demon House | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  From the director of Nightmare Man (1999) and sundry episodes of Due South and The Outer Limits TV series comes Demon House, a schlocky horror flick re-titled to disguise the fact that it's actually Night of the Demons III. Here we see yet another visit by a group of stupid teenagers to a house wherein lies a doorway to Hell. Amelia Kinkade returns as evil hostess Angela, but that's all there is to link back to the previous two movies--they even use an entirely different house! As for the plot: it's Halloween and two girls with car trouble hitch a lift from a vanload of clichéd "kids" who accidentally hold up a Kwik-E-Mart. They hide in the out-of-bounds funeral parlour, Hull House, which--you'll never guess--has a history of mysterious murders. Then, in a surprising twist, they begin to be picked off one-by-one and transformed into a variety of demons. A race ensues to see who will survive until sun-up. The camera trickery is right out of Sam Raimi's vastly superior Evil Dead trilogy, while even the titillating nudity is dispensed with in the first few minutes. At least the CGI credits sequence is impressive. On the DVD: Check out the extras: a trailer! 12 "interactive" chapters! 4:3 screen ratio! Plastic case! --Paul Tonks

• Man About The House | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This is the film based on the 1970s TV sitcom Man About the House, made during the same period with the same cast. At the time, the whole idea of a single man and two single women sharing a flat, however (more-or-less) platonically, seemed terribly naughty. The scriptwriters wickedly stirred things up even further by making Richard O'Sullivan's character a randy-but-gentlemanly heterosexual, despite being a catering student--after all, in the 70s everyone just knew that all chefs were roaring poofs. The trio's sex-starved landlady (Yootha Joyce) and her rodent-like, impotent husband (Brian Murphy) were later to get their own series, George and Mildred. The plot is a perfunctory affair, as property developers attempt and fail to demolish the street in which the protagonists live. That said, the script (cowritten by John Mortimer) isn't really narrative-driven anyway, it's purely an excuse for the characters to interact with the will-they-won't-they-ooh-they-are-a-bit relationship between Robin and Chrissie (Paula Wilcox) and practically invites the viewer to cheer them on. While the transition to the big screen caused the idea to lose much of its energy, as a dollop of comedy nostalgia Man About the House is still great fun. And if you don't laugh at the jokes, just check out the clothes, cars, hairstyles and makeup, not to mention all that cigarette smoking! --Roger Thomas

• Apache | Blu Ray | (01/12/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Strictly Sinatra | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £10.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (45.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Toni Cocozza is a small-time Scottish Italian club singer obsessed with Frank Sinatra. In the hope of finding stardom he falls in with a group of gangsters and is soon betraying his true friends.

• Screwed | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Screwedwas another nail in the coffin of former Saturday Night Livewisecracker Norm MacDonald, following his dismal previous film, Dirty Work. However, while Screwedisn't particularly funny (the jokes about dentures, dog poop and dead bodies are pretty much as old as the hills), the plot exerts a perverse interest; for most of the film, it's genuinely unpredictable. MacDonald plays Willard, the butler-chauffer, all-purpose flunky of Mrs. Crock, the wealthy, penny-pinching owner of a pastry company. Fed up with her abuse, Willard and his friend Rusty (David Chappelle from Blue Streak and 200 Cigarettes) conspire to kidnap her dog Muffin. But Muffin escapes and returns home; the ransom note is assumed to be for Willard himself. Rusty and Willard run with the idea, sending in a videotape of himself being held prisoner. When a detective starts getting a little too close, they panic and decide to fake Willard's death. Okay, none of it makes much sense, but in a world of ridiculously formulaic films which slavishly follow every screenwriting cliché Screwed seems like a brief oasis of narrative invention. Of course, it still isn't funny. And by the end, it's lost whatever spark of imagination that got it started. Too bad. It's written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the screenwriters responsible for Problem Child, but also for Ed Wood and The People vs Larry Flynt--they should stick to biographies. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com