"Actor: J.T. Walsh"

• Breakdown 4K UHD | Blu Ray | (21/10/2024) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All roads lead to excitement with Kurt Russell in Breakdown, the non-stop thrill ride that's a movie of nerve-frying intensity...Kurt Russell's best performance yet (Rex Reed, New York Observer). Jeff Taylor (Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are headed toward a new life in California when their car's engine dies on a remote highway. Amy accepts a ride from a helpful trucker (J.T. Walsh) while Jeff waits with the car. But when Jeff shows up at the agreed rendezvous, he finds his wife's not there. The localsaren't talking; the police aren't much help. With no one to turn to, Jeff battles his worst fears and begins a desperate, danger-ridden search to find Amybefore it's too late!

• Good Morning, Vietnam | DVD | (13/05/2002) from £5.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.94%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Good Morning Vietnam is a more than usually human take on America’s most controversial war, an often poignant and always entertaining fictionalisation of the Vietnam years of DJ Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams). Cronauer is employed as the voice of the US Armed Forces radio in South East Asia, but it soon emerges that his idea of entertaining the troops and the Army’s are poles apart. This isn’t a biopic--director Barry Levinson doesn’t give any detail of Cronauer’s life before Vietnam--instead it’s about Cronauer discovering a better understanding of the war, the people and himself. Interspersed with the radio sequences is a gentle plot which follows Cronauer as he teaches English to some Vietnamese kids, falls for a local girl and narrowly misses being killed in a terrorist attack. However, it is the sheer frenetic genius of Williams’ largely improvised radio monologues that account for the film’s box office success. On the DVD: Good Morning Vietnam gets the special edition DVD with digitally remastered audio and picture. Extras include a couple of previews--both the theatrical and a teaser trailer--as well as a production diary which contains interviews with director Levinson, crew and the real Cronauer. But the best feature by far is the "Raw Monologues": introduced by Levinson, this featurette shows the process that Robin Williams went through to improvise the radio slots and is a valuable insight into the comedic talents of the film’s star.--Kristen Bowditch

• Breakdown | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £14.97   |  Saving you £-8.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Tautly directed and superbly photographed, this crowd-pleasing thriller from 1997 is indebted to Steven Spielberg's Duel but more closely resembles Dead Calm in its strengths and weaknesses. Kurt Russell plays a stressed-out husband whose wife (Kathleen Quinlan) disappears after their car breaks down in the desert. Tracking down her whereabouts leads to an interstate theft and kidnapping ring, and as Russell pursues--and is pursued by--a vicious redneck played to perfection by J T Walsh (in one of his final film roles), the movie succumbs to several tense but utterly conventional action sequences. That doesn't stop the movie from being an above-average nail-biter. It is so effectively directed by co-writer Jonathan Mostow that even the more surreal situations seem plausible and altogether unsettling. Russell's performance is key to the film's success--he's smart enough to be admirable and we can readily identify with his frustration, confusion and torment. Through him, Breakdown takes on the edgy quality of a wide-awake nightmare. --Jeff Shannon

• A Few Good Men | DVD | (18/02/2002) from £6.03   |  Saving you £13.96 (231.51%)   |  RRP £19.99

  As Good as it Gets is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s, for all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear) and particularly a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behaviour. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com Astonishingly, Jack Nicholson's legendary performance as a military tough guy in A Few Good Men really amounts to a glorified cameo: he's only in a few scenes. But they're killer scenes, and the film has much more to offer. Cruise also shines as a lazy lawyer who rises to the occasion, and Demi Moore gives a command performance. Director Rob Reiner poses important questions about the rights of the powerful and the responsibilities of those just following orders in this classic courtroom drama. --Alan Smithee, Amazon.com

• Miracle On 34th Street | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £4.94   |  Saving you £5.05 (102.23%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This remake of the popular heartwarming Christmas classic captures all the joy of the original version. A little girl who has been raised not to believe in fantasy fairy tales and Santa Claus meets a department-store Santa who claims he's the real Kris Kringle. Her mother insists that it can't be true--that Kris is only a nice old man who isn't all too sane. But soon things start happening that may make both of them change their minds... and have faith in magic once again.

• The Last Seduction | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £15.97   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Linda Fiorentino is like a home-grown apocalyptic nightmare in The Last Seduction as the sizzling, sexy dame who thinks "sharing" is a dirty word. Fiorentino, a master of the double-cross, hooks up with naive Peter Berg, a nice guy desperate for a little adventure. There are endless twists to this cleverly vicious story, but the real draw is Fiorentino, whose performance is brilliant. She is the everywoman you never want to meet: cool as ice, passionate, tough, self-satisfied, smart, and amoral. Bill Pullman is a surprise as a Machiavellian doctor who is almost her match. Definitely not a date flick, as this represents one vicious battle in the sex wars. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• The Client | DVD | (11/05/1998) from £16.97   |  Saving you £-2.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The exceptionally fine cast--Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, J T Walsh, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony Edwards, William H. Macy, Anthony LaPaglia, Ossie Davis and Brad Renfro--goes a long way toward making The Client one of the more solidly enjoyable screen adaptations of a John Grisham southern gothic legal thriller. Teen-hearthrob Renfro is a natural, playing a kid whose life is in jeopardy after he witnesses the death of a Mob lawyer. Susan Sarandon is the attorney who decides to look after the boy; nobody can match her when it comes to playing strong and protective maternal figures (Thelma and Louise, Lorenzo's Oil, Dead Man Walking). Sarandon won her fourth Oscar nomination as best actress for this role, before finally winning the following year for Dead Man Walking. Author Grisham was so impressed with former window dresser/fashion designer/screenwriter-turned-director Joel Schumacher's work on this movie that he later asked him to direct A Time to Kill. --Jim Emerson

• The Negotiator | DVD | (14/06/1999) from £7.67   |  Saving you £6.32 (82.40%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Although it eventually runs out of smart ideas and resorts to a typically explosive finale, this above-average thriller rises above its formulaic limitations on the strength of powerful performances by Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Both play Chicago police negotiators with hotshot reputations, but when Jackson's character finds himself falsely accused of embezzling funds from a police pension fund, he's so thoroughly framed that he must take extreme measures to prove his innocence. He takes hostages in police headquarters to buy time and plan his strategy, demanding that Spacey be brought in to mediate with him as an army of cops threatens to attack, and a media circus ensues. Both negotiators know how to get into the other man's thoughts, and this intellectual showdown allows both Spacey and Jackson to ignite the screen with a burst of volatile intensity. Director F Gary Gray is disadvantaged by an otherwise predictable screenplay, but he has a knack for building suspense and is generous to a fine supporting cast, including Paul Giamatti as one of Jackson's high-strung hostages, and the late JT Walsh in what would sadly be his final big-screen role. The Negotiator should have trusted its compelling characters a little more, probing their psyches more intensely to give the suspense a deeper dramatic foundation, but it's good enough to give two great actors a chance to strut their stuff. --Jeff Shannon

• Backdraft | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £5.98   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.17%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A somewhat contrived screenplay doesn't stop this thriller from serving up some of the most spectacular fire sequences ever committed to film. Like any Ron Howard production Backdraft is impressively slick and boasts a stellar cast, including Kurt Russell and William Baldwin. The actors play sibling rivals who have been at odds since the death of their firefighter father years earlier. Robert De Niro is the veteran fire inspector who is tracking a series of mysterious and deadly arsons and Donald Sutherland is effectively creepy as the former arsonist who understands the criminal psychology of pyromaniacs. Rebecca De Mornay, Scott Glenn and Jennifer Jason Leigh are featured in supporting roles. Backdraft is a triumph of stunt work and flaming special effects. --Jeff Shannon

• Tequila Sunrise | DVD | (25/09/1998) from £5.38   |  Saving you £8.61 (160.04%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Robert Towne is one of Hollywood's most celebrated screenwriters, but because his directorial efforts have been few and far between, anticipation was high when this star-powered crime story was released in 1988. Critical reaction was decidedly mixed, but there's plenty to admire in this silky, visually seductive film about a drug dealer (Mel Gibson) whose best friend from high-school (Kurt Russell) is now working for the Los Angeles sheriff's drug detail. Their personal and professional conflicts are intensified by their love for the same woman, a waitress (Michelle Pfeiffer) at the Italian restaurant they both frequent. There's a big deal going down with a drug lord (the late Raul Julia), but as it twists and turns, Towne's story is really more about personal loyalties and individual honour. And even if it doesn't quite hold together, the movie's got a fantastic look to it (courtesy of the great cinematographer Conrad Hall), and the three stars bring depth and dimension to their well-written roles. --Jeff Shannon

• The Russia House | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Intelligent casting, strong performances and the persuasive chemistry between Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer prove the virtues in director Fred Schepisi's well-intended but problematic screen realization of this John Le Carré espionage thriller. At its best, The Russia House depicts the bittersweet nuances of the pivotal affair between a weary, alcoholic London publisher (Connery) and the mysterious Russian beauty (Pfeiffer) who sends him a fateful manuscript exposing the weaknesses beneath Soviet defence technology. Connery's Barley is a gritty, all-too-human figure who's palpably revived by his awakening feelings for Pfeiffer's wan, vulnerable Katya, whose own reciprocal emotions are equally convincing. Together, they weave a poignant romantic duet. The problems, meanwhile, emanate from the story line that brings these opposites together. Le Carré's novels are absorbing but typically internal odysseys that seldom offer the level of straightforward action or simple arcs of plot that the big screen thrives on. For The Russia House, written as glasnost eclipsed the cold war's overt rivalries, Le Carré means to measure how old adversaries must calibrate their battle to a more subtle, subdued match of wits. Barley himself becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the manuscript because British intelligence chooses to use him as cat's paw rather than become directly involved. Such subtlety may be a more realistic take on the spy games of the recent past but it makes for an often tedious, talky alternative to taut heroics that Connery codified in his most celebrated early espionage role. If the suspense thus suffers, we're still left with an affecting love story, as well as some convincing sniping between British and US intelligence operatives, beautifully cast with James Fox, Roy Scheider and John Mahoney. Veteran playwright Tom Stoppard brings considerable style to the dialogue, without solving the problem of giving us more than those verbal exchanges to sustain dramatic interest. --Sam Sutherland

• Miracle on 34th Street | Blu Ray | (04/11/2013) from £6.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (28.61%)   |  RRP £8.99

  In this modern update of the beloved 1947 classic six-year-old Susan has doubts about childhood's most enduring miracle - Santa Claus. But after meeting a special department store Santa who's convinced he's the real thing Susan is given the most precious gift of all - something to believe in. Starring Richard Attenborough Elizabeth Perkins Dylan McDermott and Mara Wilson as Susan this uplifting and joyous film will make believers out of the entire family!

• Misery | Blu Ray | (12/10/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Last Seduction | Blu Ray | (26/01/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Whew. Linda Fiorentino is like a home-grown apocalyptic nightmare as the sizzling, sexy dame who thinks "sharing" is a dirty word. Fiorentino, a master of the double-cross, hooks up with naive Peter Berg, a nice guy desperate for a little adventure. There are endless twists to this cleverly vicious story, but the real draw is Fiorentino, whose performance is brilliant. She is the Everywoman you never want to meet: cool as ice, passionate, tough, self-satisfied, smart, and amoral. Bill Pullman is a surprise as a Machiavellian doctor who is almost her match. Definitely not a date flick, as this represents one vicious battle in the sexual wars. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• Tin Men | DVD | (17/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Cruise back to Baltimore 1963 to the time and turf of a rare American breed: The 'Tin Man' (aluminium siding salesman). Two less-than-honest rivals in the tin game (Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito) meet in a fender bender but their bruised egos and quick tempers turn the minor accident into a major vendetta against each other's symbols of success - their prized Cadillacs. In what would seem to be a coup de grace Dreyfuss decides to seduce DeVito's neglected wife (Barbara Hershe

• Nixon | DVD | (01/01/2001) from £10.27   |  Saving you £5.72 (55.70%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Nixon takes a riveting look at a complex man whose chance at greatness was ultimately destroyed by his passion for power - when his involvement in conspiracy jeopardized the nation's security and the presidency of the United States! With a phenomenal all-star cast.

• House Of Games | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut House of Games is mesmerising study of control and seduction between two kinds of detached observers: a gambler who is also a con artist and a psychotherapist who is also an emerging pop-psych guru in the book market. The latter (played by Lindsay Crouse) meets the former (Joe Mantegna) when one of her clients is driven to despair from his debts to the card shark. Mantegna's character agrees to drop the IOUs in exchange for Crouse's attention at the seedy House of Games in Seattle, a mecca for conmen to talk shop and hustle unsuspecting customers. The shrink gets so caught up in the arcane rules and world view of her guide over subsequent days that she observes--with no false rapture--various stings in progress inside and outside the club. Mamet's story finally becomes a fascinating study of two people protecting and extending their respective cosmologies the way rival predators fight for the same piece of turf. The psychological challenge is compelling; so is the stylised dialogue, with its pattern of pauses and hiccups and humming meter. Mostly shooting at night, Mamet also gave Seattle a different look from previous filmmakers, turning its familiar puddles into concentrations of liquid neon and poisonous noir. --Tom Keogh

• Pleasantville | DVD | (25/10/1999) from £7.39   |  Saving you £12.60 (170.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Fantastical writer Gary Ross (Big, Dave) makes an auspicious directorial debut with this inspired and oddly touching comedy about two 90s kids (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) thrust into the black-and-white TV world of Pleasantville, a Leave It to Beaver-style sitcom complete with picket fences, corner malt shop and warm chocolate chip cookies. When a somewhat unusual remote control (provided by repairman Don Knotts) transports them from the jaded real world to G-rated TV land, Maguire and Witherspoon are forced to play along as Bud and Mary Sue, the obedient children of George and Betty Parker (William H Macy and Joan Allen). Maguire, an obsessive Pleasantville devotee, understands the need for not toppling the natural balance of things; Witherspoon, on the other hand, starts shaking the town up, most notably when she takes football stud Skip (Paul Walker) up to Lover's Lane for some modern-day fun and games. Soon enough, Pleasantville's teens are discovering sex along with--gasp!--rock & roll, free thinking and soul-changing Technicolour. Filled with delightful and shrewd details about sitcom life (no toilets, no double beds, only two streets in the town), Pleasantville is a joy to watch, not only for its comedy but for the groundbreaking visual effects and astonishing production design as the town gradually transforms from crisp black and white to glorious colour. Ross does tip his hand a bit about halfway through the film, obscuring the movie's basic message of the unpredictability of life with overloaded and obvious symbolism, as the black-and-white denizens of the town gang up on the "coloureds" and impose rules of conduct to keep their strait-laced town laced up. Still, the characterizations from the phenomenal cast--especially repressed housewife Allen and soda-shop owner Jeff Daniels, doing some of their best work ever--will keep you emotionally invested in the film's outcome and waiting to see Pleasantville in all its final Technicolor glory. --Mark Englehart

• Red Rock West | DVD | (18/08/2000) from £35.60   |  Saving you £-15.61 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With Red Rock West and The Last Seduction, writer-director John Dahl established himself as America's leading maker of tough, twisted, funny little neo-noir pictures. Red Rock West is a spare, tight reworking of noir-ish motifs--the lone man caught in a web of circumstance and betrayal, the rich femme fatale, the corrupt policeman, the wounded military veteran, the homicidal psychopath--that brings to mind such classics as Detour, Out of the Past and Bad Day at Black Rock. Cage--warming up for his career-peak (so far) performance in Leaving Las Vegas a few years later--plays an unemployed former Marine (his leg injured in the truck-bombing of the base in Beirut) who stumbles into a nightmarish situation when he stops at a bar in the isolated Wyoming town of Red Rock West. With one fateful step, he's trapped; and no matter how hard he tries, he just can't seem to leave town. The late JT Walsh is (as always) splendidly corrupt as the bar owner who harbours some deadly secrets, and Dennis Hopper does a variation on his patented Blue Velvet/River's Edge psycho that suits the treacherous environs of Red Rock West just fine. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• Breakdown (1997) Blu-Ray (Imprint Limited Edition #29) | Blu Ray | (05/03/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A