"Actor: James Ward"

• Children Of Dune | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Children of Dune is the sequel to the Sci-Fi Channel's Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), and surpasses that earlier mini-series in every way. The screenplay is again by John Harrison, who has combined Herbert's novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune into three 84-minute TV movies, and continues the labyrinthine space opera with little concession to the uninitiated. Indeed, this a very rare attempt to put the complexity of printed SF on screen, and if the result is sometimes rather hermetic it is perhaps inevitable when realising Herbert's Byzantine, pseudo-Shakespearean tragedy. The same tableaux-like qualities infuse the new Star Wars films and the similarities between Herbert's and Lucas' worlds have never been more obvious than here. Performances range from excellent--Julie Cox, Alice Krige, Alex Newman (much better here than in the first series) and James McAvoy--to a surprisingly wooden Susan Sarandon. The set-pieces are exceptional, with many individual images sufficiently memorable to stand comparison with the work of Ridley Scott. Production-wise this is surely the most beautiful mini-series ever made, with gorgeous lighting by cinematographer Arthur Reinhart, breathtaking set design from Ondrej Nekvasil and a ravishing score from Brian Tyler. By TV standards the CGI is first-rate and, though rarely looking real, establishes a credible science fictional universe. Even when rather baffling, the production achieves moments of dramatic grandeur and a sense of wonder not experienced in TV SF since Babylon 5. On the DVD: Children of Dune on DVD has one feature-length episode on each disc. The picture is presented at 1.77:1 anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs. Shot in high definition, its clarity and detail is superb with virtually no blemishes to the image at all. Colour has a painterly beauty that is remarkable. However, some shots look inaccurately framed, with what was presumably a 4:3 image being a little too closely cropped for widescreen presentation. It's a minor flaw and really only noticeable in some close-ups. Sound is a richly luxuriant Dolby Digital 5.1, which gives no ground to any modern blockbuster movie. Perfunctory extras are confined to the first disc and consist of an interesting but short look at the special effects (13 minutes), a storyboard comparison for one key scene and a photo gallery. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Manchurian Candidate | DVD | (31/07/2017) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  You will never find a more chillingly suspenseful, perversely funny, or viciously satirical political thriller than The Manchurian Candidate, based on the novel by Richard Condon (author of Winter Kills). The film, withheld from distribution by star Frank Sinatra for almost a quarter-century after President Kennedy's assassination, has lost none of its potency over time. Former infantryman Bennet Marco (Sinatra) is haunted by nightmares about his platoon having been captured and brainwashed in Korea. The indecipherable dreams seem to centre on Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), a decorated war hero but a cold fish of a man whose own mother (Angela Lansbury, in one of the all-time great dragon-lady roles) describes him as looking like his head is "always about to come to a point". Mrs Bates has nothing on Lansbury's character, the manipulative queen behind her second husband, Senator John Iselin (James Gregory), a notoriously McCarthyesque demagogue. --Jim Emerson

• The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-20.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Following the success of Karel Reisz's 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' Alan Sillitoe adapted another of his works for the screen this time a short story of a disillusioned teenager rebelling against the system to make Tony Richardson's 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' one of the great British films of the 1960s. Newcomer Tom Courtenay is compelling as the sullen defiant Colin refusing to follow his dying father into a factory job railing against the capitalist bosses and preferring to make a living from petty thieving. Arrested for burglary and sent to borstal Colin discovers a talent for cross-country running earning him special treatment from the governor (Michael Redgrave) and the chance to redeem himself from anti-social tearaway to sports day hero. With Colin a favourite to win against a local public school tensions build as the day approaches...

• Bertie And Elizabeth | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A portrayal of the life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother focusing on her courtship with the future King George VI the birth of their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret and the war years finally leading to Bertie's early death in 1952.

• Here Comes Mr Jordan | DVD | (05/02/2007) from £10.46   |  Saving you £2.53 (24.19%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a boxer (Robert Montgomery) is accidentally called to Heaven 50 years before his time it's upto celestial executive extraordinaire Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains) to straighten out the matter. When Columbia Pictures' financial advisors read the screenplay for the fantasy comedy HERE COMES MR. JORDAN they had their doubts as to its box-office potential. Screenwriter Sidney Buchman went directly to studio president Harry Cohn in an effort to convince him to make the film. Cohn liked the script's uniqueness and saying that all his bankers wanted was ""what sold last year "" told Buchman he'd make the picture. To play the saxophone-playing boxer Joe Pendelton Cohn decided to borrow Robert Montgomery from MGM. Although Mongomery had some initial doubts about his part he delivered what was to become an Oscar -nominated performance.

• Return From Witch Mountain | DVD | (22/03/2004) from £8.86   |  Saving you £7.13 (80.47%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An entire city teeters on the brink of nuclear disaster when greedy criminals manipulate a young boy's supernatural powers for their own devious gain.

• Path To War | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £15.17   |  Saving you £-9.18 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  As the successor to a martyred president Lyndon B. Johnson sought to transform America into a 'Great Society' of equal opportunity. Instead he became the symbol for the most unpopular war in U.S. history. Michael Gambon (as President Johnson) Donald Sutherland (as Clark Gifford) and Alec Baldwin (as Robert McNamara) star in a compelling drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams set inside the LBJ White House in the volatile years leading up to and during Vietnam. This HBO production was decorated director John Frankenheimer's final film.

• Critical Care | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £12.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Werner Ernst is an overworked intern who only wants what is best for his elderly comatose patient--until he falls for the ailing man's beautiful daughter Felicia. The seductive Felicia has ten million reasons to let her father ""die with dignity "" while her deeply religious sister has her own motives for keeping him alive. Caught between passion and duty Werner descends into a moral mine field where the physician's god-like powers of life and death depend on knowing right from wrong-

• Sling Blade | DVD | (06/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade, a mesmerizing drama with haunting overtones of To Kill a Mockingbird. Thornton plays a mentally retarded man who has spent 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for killing his mother and her lover. Released into the community from which he came, he befriends and protects a lonely boy regularly harassed and abused by his mom's boyfriend (a terrific performance by Dwight Yoakam). The story is ultimately about sacrifice, but Thornton certainly doesn't get twinkly about it. Some of the best material concerns the hero's no-big-deal efforts to integrate into a "normal" life: working, eating fast food, earning admiration for his handyman skills, and attaining a semblance of community among other damaged souls. John Ritter has a great part as a gay shopkeeper who tries to assuage his own loneliness by spilling his guts out to Thornton's uncomprehending character. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Coogan's Bluff | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £5.19   |  Saving you £0.80 (15.41%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Clint Eastwood is Walt Coogan, a deputy sheriff from Arizona on the loose in the urban jungle of New York. Searching for a violent prisoner he has let slip ("It's got kinda personal now"), Coogan, in Stetson and cowboy boots, runs up against hippies, social workers and a bluntly hostile New York police chief played by Lee J. Cobb. It's a key film in the Eastwood oeuvre, the one in which his definitive persona first emerges, marrying the cool, laid-back westerner of the Rawhide TV series and the Italian westerns to the street-wise, kick-ass toughness which would be further developed in the Dirty Harryfilms. Directed by Eastwood's mentor, Don Siegel, Coogan's Bluff has pace, style and its share of typical Eastwood one-liners (to a hoodlum: "You better drop that blade or you won't believe what happens next"). Like all Eastwood's successful movies, it cunningly plays it both ways. Coogan represents the old-fashioned conservatism of the west in conflict with the decadence of city life. Yet he's the perennial outsider, hostile to authority, a radical loner who gets the job done where bureaucracy and legal niceties fail. The film was to be the inspiration behind the TV series McCloud, in which Dennis Weaver took the Eastwood role. --Edward Buscombe

• Dumbo (Special Edition) | Blu Ray | (22/03/2010) from £8.30   |  Saving you £15.69 (189.04%)   |  RRP £23.99

  A Disney "classic" that actually is a classic, Dumbo should be part of your movie collection whether or not you have children. The storytelling was never as lean as in Dumbo, the songs rarely as haunting (or just plain weird), the characters rarely so well defined. The film pits the "cold, cruel, heartless" world that can't accept abnormality against a plucky, and mute, hero. Jumbo Jr. (Dumbo is a mean-spirited nickname) is ostracised from the circus pack shortly after his delivery by the stork because of his big ears. His mother sticks up for him and is shackled. He's jeered by children (an insightful scene has one boy poking fun at Dumbo's ears, even though the youngster's ears are also ungainly), used by the circus folk, and demoted to appearing with the clowns. Only the decent Timothy Q. Mouse looks out for the little guy. Concerns about the un-PC "Jim Crow" crows, who mock Dumbo with the wonderful "When I See an Elephant Fly", should be moderated by remembering that the crows are the only social group in the film who act kindly to the little outcast. If you don't mist up during the "Baby Mine" scene, you may be legally pronounced dead. --Keith Simanton

• Three Faces West & Shepherd of the Hills (John Wayne) | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Three Faces Of The West (Dir. Bernard Vorhaus 1940): A refugee physician and his daughter find themselves part of a group of townspeople who are trying to relocate out of the dust bowl region of the South Central U.S. John Wayne stars the group's tireless leader. Shepherd Of The Hills (Dir. Henry Hathaway 1941): When a stranger comes to an isolated mountain village and tempers the rough rage of its inhabitants one of the mountaineers (""The Duke"") is still suspicious of this mysterious interloper--and not incidentally still bitter over being deserted by his father as an infant.

• Patton (two-disc set) | DVD | (04/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the greatest screen biographies ever produced, Patton is a monumental film that won seven Academy Awards and gave George C Scott the greatest role of his career. It was released in 1970 when protest against the Vietnam War still raged in the States and abroad. Inevitably, many critics and filmgoers struggled to reconcile the events of the day with the film's glorification of US General George S Patton as a crazy-brave genius of World War II; how could a film so huge in scope and so fascinated by its subject be considered an anti-war film? The simple truth is that it's not--Patton is less about World War II than about the rise and fall of a man whose life was literally defined by war and who felt lost and lonely without the grand-scale pursuit of an enemy. George C Scott embodies his role so fully, so convincingly, that we can't help but be drawn to and fascinated by Patton as a man who is simultaneously bound for hell and glory. The film's opening monologue alone is a masterful display of acting and character analysis and everything that follows is sheer brilliance on the part of Scott and director Franklin J Schaffner, aided in no small part by composer Jerry Goldsmith's masterfully understated score. Filmed on an epic scale at literally dozens of European locations, Patton does not embrace war as a noble pursuit, nor does it deny the reality of war as a breeding ground for heroes. Through the awesome achievement of Scott's performance and the film's grand ambition, General Patton shows all the complexities of a man who accepted his role in life and (like Scott) played it to the hilt. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.comOn the DVD: The widescreen print of the movie (which was originally filmed using a super-wide 70mm process called "Dimension 150") is handsomely presented on the first disc, with a remastered Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. It is accompanied by a rather dry "Audio essay on the historical Patton" read by the president and founder of the General George S. Patton Jr. historical society. The second, supplementary disc carries a new and impressive 50-minute "making-of" documentary, with significant contributions from Fox president Richard Zanuck, as well as composer Jerry Goldsmith and Oliver Stone. Director Franklin J. Schaffner (who died in 1989) and star George C. Scott are heard in interviews from 1970. In the documentary, Stone provocatively complains that Patton glorified war and that President Nixon's enthusiasm for the movie was directly responsible for his decision to invade Cambodia. Also on this disc, in a separate audio-only track, is Jerry Goldsmith's magnificent music score--one of his greatest achievements--heard complete with studio session takes for the famous "Echoplex" trumpet figures. --Mark Walker

• Gulliver's Travels | DVD | (06/12/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ebulliently imaginative and far more cleverly presented than you would expect from a TV miniseries, this adaptation of Gulliver's Travels succeeds by never pandering to the lowest common denominator. Closely based on Jonathan Swift's 1726 classic, it is enhanced by dazzling special effects from Jim Henson Productions and a superb, multi-ethnic cast. The biggest surprise is Ted Danson in the title role--one of his best performances, even if he is the only person in England with an American accent. He conveys amusement, amazement and intelligence as he travels from one strange country into another. Not that anyone back in Blighty believes Mr Gulliver's tales of little people or giants. The story is told in flashback from an insane asylum, where he is forcibly confined. This far outshines several previous adaptations of Swift's satirical novel. --Rochelle O'Gorman, Amazon.com

• Clockwork Mice | DVD | (10/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The special relationship between a boy with a troubled past and a young teacher. Based on a screenplay by Rod Woodruff.

• Westworld: Season 2 | Blu Ray | (03/12/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Welcome back to Westworld, the Emmy®-winning drama series where the puppet show is over and the newly liberated hosts are coming for humankind. Created for television by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the first season of WESTWORLD explored a world in which every human appetite, not matter how noble or depraved, could be indulged. Delving into what it means to be human through the eyes of the lifelike AI hosts in the park, the series investigated the boundaries of an exotic world set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past. Meticulously crafted and artfully designed, Westworld offered its guests an unparalleled, immersive world where they have the freedom to become who they've always wanted to be or who they never knew they were. In the first season, the hosts didn't understand the nature of their reality. They didn't have an element of choice. All that changes with the pull of a trigger. In Season Two, chaos takes control as the rancher's daughter, Dolores Abernathy (series star EVAN RACHEL WOOD) takes charge, Maeve Millay (series star THANDIE NEWTON) is on a mission and the mysterious Man in Black (series star ED HARRIS) is back. A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness, the birth of a new form of life on Earth, and the evolution of sin, the series also stars JEFFREY WRIGHT, JAMES MARSDEN, TESSA THOMPSON, LUKE HEMSWORTH, RODRIGO SANTORO and more.

• When The Boat Comes In - Series 2 - Part 2 | DVD | (15/03/2004) from £17.03   |  Saving you £2.96 (17.38%)   |  RRP £19.99

  More from the classic BBC drama set on Tyneside at the end of the first world war starring James Bolam as the loveable rogue Jack Ford....

• Maureen O'Hara - Screen Goddess | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  The Quiet Man (Dir. John Ford 1952): John Ford's The Quiet Man celebrates one of Hollywood's most romantic and enduring epics. The first American feature to be filmed in Ireland's picturesque countryside Ford richly imbued this masterpiece with his love of Ireland and its people. Sean Thornton is an American who swears off boxing after accidentally killing an opponent. Returning to the Irish town of his birth he finds happiness when he falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate. Though he is sorely tempted to pick up the gloves against her brother the town bully Sean is determined not to use his fists. Mary Kate and Sean wed but her brother refuses to pay the dowry. Sean would rather walk away than accept this challenge. Even when his new wife accuses him of cowardice Sean stands firm. But when she boards a train to leave he is finally ready to take matters into his own hands. Rio Grande (Dir. John Ford 1950): John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are embroiled in an epic battle with the Apaches and each other in this John Ford classic. Lt Col. Yorke (Wayne) heads to the Rio Grande to fight a warring tribe. But Yorke faces his toughest battle when his unorthodox plan to outwit the elusive Apaches leads to possible court-martial. Locked in a bloody war he must fight to redeem his honour and save his family. Against All Flags (Dir. George Sherman 1952): In 1700 the pirates of Madagascar menace the India trade; British officer Brian Hawke has himself cashiered flogged and set adrift to infiltrate the pirate ""republic."" There Hawke meets lovely Spitfire Stevens a pirate captain in her own right and the sparks begin to fly; but wooing a pirate poses unique problems. Especially after he rescues adoring young Princess Patma from a captured ship. Meanwhile Hawke's secret mission proceeds to an action-packed climax. Rare Breed (Dir. Andrew V. McLaglen 1966): In the 1880s Englishwoman Martha Price (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) come to America to sell their prize Hereford bull at an auction. When he is purchased by Bowen a wild Scotsman (Brian Keith) the women hire a footloose cowhand named Burnett (James Stewart) to help them transport the animal to its new owner. So begins an adventure that tests the mettle of all involved as they battle killers cattle stampedes and each other. But when they reach Bowen's ranch even greater obstacles force them to summon up extraordinary courage if they and the prize bull are to survive... Our Man In Havana (Dir. Carol Reed 1959): Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness) a vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana is recruited by the British Intelligence Services. As he has nothing to report he invents facts and pretends to discover secret operations...with disastrous consequences. Carol Reed directs this adaptation of the Graham Greene story. Lady Godiva Of Coventry (Dir Arthur Lubin 1955): Fictionalized account of events leading up the famous nude ride (alas her hair covers everything) of the militant Saxon lady

• When The Boat Comes In - Series 2 - Part 3 | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £14.87   |  Saving you £5.12 (34.43%)   |  RRP £19.99

  More from the classic BBC drama set on Tyneside at the end of the first world war starring James Bolam as the loveable rogue Jack Ford....

• 27 Dresses/What Happens In Vegas/In Her Shoes | DVD | (08/06/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Titles Comprise: 27 Dresses centres around Jane (Ketherine Heigl) an idealistic romantic and completely selfless woman. Jane has always been good at taking care of others but not so much in looking after herself. Her entire life has been about making people happy - and she has a closet full of 27 bridesmaid dresses to prove it. One memorable evening Jane manages to shuttle between wedding receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn a feat witnessed by Kevin (James Marsden) a newspaper reporter who realizes that a story about this wedding junkie is his ticket off the newspaper's bridal beat. Jane finds Kevin's cynicism counter to everything she holds dear - namely weddings and the two lock horns. Further complicating Jane's once perfectly-ordered life is the arrival of younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman). Tess immediately captures the heart of Jane's boss George (Edward Burns). Tess enlists her always-accommodating sister to plan yet another wedding - Tess and George's - but Jane's feelings for George lead to shocking revelations... and maybe the beginning of a new life. What Happens In Vegas stars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher as Joy and Jack two strangers who wake up together to find that they've gotten married following a night of debauchery in Sin City. To make matters worse one of them has won a huge jackpot after playing the other's quarter! The newlyweds devise ever-escalating schemes to undermine each other and get their hands on the money - only to find themselves falling in love amid the mutual backstabbing. In Her Shoes: Flirty flaky party girl Maggie (Diaz) and plain dependable lawyer Rose (Collette) are sisters best friends and bitter rivals who seem to have only two things in common: DNA and size 8 feet. Only when their love-hate relationship veers towards the hate end of the spectrum do they accidentally discover they also share a long-lost grandmother (MacLaine) who enriches their lives and helps them make peace with each other - and themselves! Adapted for the screen by Oscar-winning writer Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) from Jennifer Weiner's bestselling novel.