"Actor: Joel Carlson"

• Nip/Tuck - Season 2 | DVD | (30/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £50.99

  The turbulent lives of two handsome and high-priced Miami plastic surgeons may be one of the more unusual premises for a television series, but the FX Channel's Nip/Tuck combines sudsy sex and biting wit with the emotional quandaries involved in body modification in a way that makes for an engrossing--and occasionally gross--hourlong drama. The show benefits greatly from its two leads--Dylan Walsh as the troubled "good" surgeon and Julian McMahon as his predatory (but equally troubled) "bad" partner--as well as Joely Richardson as Walsh's wife and Roma Maffia as the surgeons' nurse. If Nip/Tuck does have a stumbling point, it's in its occasionally glib dialogue (series creator Ryan Murphy was a writer for the verbally flashy high school series Popular), which can clash with an episode's more dramatic and poignant moments. The show also doesn't shy away from showing the more gruesome aspects of plastic surgery, but viewers can often see more stomach-churning images on the top-rated CSI. But the strength of the performances and the originality of the premise make these rough spots manageable for viewers looking for an interesting spin on the usual "doctor show." --Paul Gaita

• Nip/Tuck - Season 3 | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £8.53   |  Saving you £41.46 (486.05%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon return as the elite plastic surgery team of Sean McNamara and Christian Troy, whose skill at giving others perfect bodies contrasts with their own imperfect lives.

• 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

• Communion | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Adapted from author Whitley Strieber's best-selling book about his contact with an alien race Communion is an intriguing and compelling work of science fiction - or should that be science fact? Suffering from writer's block New Yorker Strieber (Christopher Walken) heads to a cabin in the woods to focus on his latest work. There he undergoes a series of strange experiences which he blocks from his memory. Later under the influence of hypnosis Strieber realises that he has been in contact with beings from another world...