"Actor: John B"

• Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg -- Australian Opera / Mackerras | DVD | (20/02/2004) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is Wagner's most life-affirming opera, a romantic comedy about life and love in 16th century Nürnberg with none of the mythological characters and settings of the composer's other operas. The story concerns a knight, Walther Von Stolzing (here sung by Paul Frey) who must win the hand of the woman he loves, Eva (Helena Doese) by competing in a competition to become the Master Singer of the city. Against him are various romantic rivals, while in the role of his eventual mentor is the shoemaker Hans Sachs (Donald McIntyre). Doese brings just the right innocent femininity to one of only two important female roles--the other is filled by Rosemary Gunn as her governess, Magdalene. Paul Frey is fine as the romantic young knight, but the opera belongs to the great New Zealand Wagnerian bass-baritone, Donald McIntyre. His performance is richly insightful as only one so steeped in the world of the composer could be. The staging is deliberately unspectacular, the colours muted to the natural earth tones of the Middle Ages, focusing all attention on the characters, drama and exhilarating music. Though running three-and-a-half hours, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an excellent introduction to Wagner's art; especially as presented in this 1990 performance in an engagingly direct and unpretentious style, one that draws the audience in and makes for highly effective small-screen viewing. On the DVD: Die Meistersinger is presented on two DVDs to maximise picture quality over the 227-minute playing time. The image is 4:3 and is typical of a 1990 live opera performance recorded on video, being perfectly acceptable while revealing all the faults of the medium. The stereo sound is very good without being exceptional. There are optional subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish but no extras. --Gary S Dalkin

• Star Blazers - The Quest For Iscandar - Part 1 | DVD | (01/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  It's 2199 and radiation from constant Gamilon bombing threatens to destroy life on Earth. Space Cruiser Argo races against time to find the planet Iscander and bring back Cosmo-DNA which can reverse the contamination. The Argo engages in spectacular battles with an enemy fleet commanded by Desslok of Gamilon. On board officers Derek Wildstar and Mark Venture wage their own private war. Chief Mechanic Sandor is revealed to be a Cyborg and Captain Avatar weakened by radiation poisoning is kept alive by Dr. Sane the ship's doctor. A quirky robot called IQ-9 takes over when the human crew need help. All this while Queen Starsha waits on Iscandar with a man from Earth the Star Blazers have given up for dead.... Please note: this is a NTSC disc.

• The Great McGonagall | DVD | (19/10/2009) from £8.08   |  Saving you £-2.09 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  William Topaz McGonagall (Milligan) is an unemployed Scottish weaver who decides to devote his life to poetry. Falling in love with Queen Victoria (here played by Peter Sellers) he donates his major poetic works to her and despite many rejections dreams of one day becoming Poet Laureate...

• American Ballet Theatre Now | DVD | (08/03/2001) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  America's leading ballet soloists display highlights from their repertoire.

• Krakatoa East Of Java | DVD | (01/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Captain Chris Hanson has recruited an over-the-hill deep-sea diver a claustrophobic inventor and a troop of beautiful Polynesian pearl divers to plunder the sunken wreck of the Arianna. But their mission seems doomed even before they leave the dock! The local government orders Hanson to transport 30 criminals to a prison on a nearby island. As they sail towards the treasure they encounter strange lights on the horizon bizarre sounds from the darkness intense heat and thousands of dead fish littering the ocean surface. Are they bad omens or merely freaks of nature?

• The Ice Harvest | DVD | (06/07/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

• V For Vendetta | UMD | (31/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £18.99

• Prime Suspect 4 - The Lost Child | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison's return to London's Southampton Row is complicated by personal upheaval and an investigation into the disappearance of a child...

• Love On The Land | DVD | (15/05/2004) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-16.99 (-170.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  An epic drama spanning forty years in the lives of Thomas and Kate Linthorne through their trials and tribulations while raising their children during the period after the Civil War. As they rise from poverty to wealth this story captures the power of love and the meaning of sacrifice. When Thomas Linthorne sets out to start a new life he acquires a large piece of land and goes on a search for the woman of his dreams. He rescues Kate from an abusive relationship and they develop a strong love for one another. Kate is unaware of the threat that is standing before her when a beautiful married woman moves in next door. Thomas' choices threaten to destroy his family his marriage and his life. Adapted from George Dell's critically acclaimed novel 'The Earth Abides'.

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Blu-ray 3D + 2D Limited Steelbook German Import | Blu Ray | (29/11/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Lexx - Season 2 - Vol. 2 | DVD | (18/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A "Light Universe" and a "Dark Zone" keep good and bad apart for the characters of Lexx, even though it's often hard to tell the difference between the two in this offbeat and unique sci-fi show that delights in its own nastiness. The episodes in this second collection from the second series are: "Stan's Trial", "Love Grows", "White Trash", "791" and "Wake the Dead". In "Stan's Trial", he's still desperate for some "bingo bongo yum yum time", which blinds him to a sting operation laid at the Celes Pleasure Liner. His alleged traitorous past finally catches up, and the events of "Giga Shadow" are made clear. A new, shorter title sequence opens the gender questioning "Love Grows". The Lexx accidentally eats a rubbish dumper and the toxic cargo has an adverse effect on everyone--to say the least. Their sex organs are swapped! A cliffhanger surprise leads directly into "White Trash", where we find the yokel clan family have been stowed away since before the destruction of The Cluster. On a crashed ship a cyborg pilot has been decapitated, which gives 790 an idea. While Kai and Xev find a hold full of prisoners with their hearts removed, 791 is born--with more than just a little personality re-programming. This homage to Alien ends with Xev's immortal line: "You may still only be a head 790. But you're the best head I ever had." Then we're back into spoof territory as "Wake the Dead" enjoys turning The Lexx into the stomping ground for a crazed teen killer. Still asleep from a joyride begun 287 years before, the group of "deserving" kids are dispatched with glee in a great performance by Michael McManus. There's even a shower murder with a musical nod to Psycho from composer Marty Simon. And we finally see a Lexx toilet--and its tongue! On the DVD: the most exciting extra for fans is a commentary from Brian Downey (Stan) and writer Lex Giggeroff on the episode "Wake the Dead". They have great fun discussing Xenia Seeberg's wigs and confirm that this was indeed pitched as a "teen slasher flick". Also featured is a gallery of nine stills, some hilarious text "Faxx" about all five episodes, biographies of Stan and Lyekka, and a "Story So Far" re-cap. The 10-minute "Making of Lexx the Series Part 2" documentary is the same as the VHS release. --Paul Tonks

• The Longest Day (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  On June 6 1944 the Allied Invasion of France marked the beginning of the end of Nazi domination over Europe. The attack involved 3 000 000 men 11 000 planes and 4 000 ships comprising the largest armada the world has ever seen. Presented in its original black & white version The Longest Day is a vivid hour-by-hour re-creation of this historic event. Featuring a stellar international cast and told from the perspectives of both sides it is a fascinating look at the massive preparations mistakes and random events that determined the outcome of one of the biggest battles in history. Winner of two Oscars (Special Effects and Cinematography) the Longest Day ranks as one of Hollywood's truly great war films.

• Beverly Hills Cop II | Blu Ray | (17/05/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Bob The Butler | DVD | (25/06/2007) from £9.98   |  Saving you £6.01 (60.22%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Likable Bob (Tom Green) just can't hold down a job and finds employment alphabetically by using the phonebook. Once in the ""B's "" he stumbles upon ""Butler School"" and is soon hired by Anne (Brooke Shields) single mother of 2 and business owner who desperately needs help...

• Tripfall | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  A summer vacation turns into a nightmare as rising executive Tom Williams (John Ritter) takes his beautiful wife Gina (Rachel Hunter) and his children on a long-awaited break. Tom and his family are thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse when they are kidnapped by a vicious gang led by the psychotic Mr Eddie (Eric Roberts) the last in a line of white trash criminals lured to the west coast by the promise of easy pickings. Tom is given an ultimatum find $1.2 million or his family will die! But all is not what it seems as it becomes clear to Tom that the sadistic Eddie has no intention of turning his family free. Unable to ask for help Tom must summon up every ounce of moral and physical courage to save his family from almost certain death!

• Time Bandits | UMD | (06/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Charles Munch Conducts Berlioz L'enfance Du Christ | DVD | (28/02/2005) from £20.56   |  Saving you £2.43 (10.60%)   |  RRP £22.99

• Taggart - Vol. 36 - Fearful Lightning | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Karen is found electrocuted at the church during a storm seemingly struck by lightning. Her boss the spiritualist Martin Strange becomes a prime suspect when the same happens to three more associates and the team is left with a race against time to prevent another murder.

• Wartime Stories | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £50.99

  A wonderfully evocative three DVD box set which features three films each telling a wartime story. Goodnight Mister Tom: John Thaw (Inspector Morse) stars as the widowed and cantankerous Tom Oakley in this charming film adaptation of the prize-winning children's novel by Michelle Magorian. When the Second World War is declared Tom finds that his quiet life in the village of Little Weirwold is set to change when nine-year old Willie Beech (Nick Robinson) is evacuated from Lo

• Bad Santa | UMD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When washed-up crooked and corrupt department store Santa Willie T. Stokes (Academy Award Winner Billy Bob Thornton Best Screenplay 1996 Sling Blade) isn't making appearances at shopping malls he's a safecracker who makes an annual big score on Christmas Eve. But when Willie and his midget partner Marcus (Tony Cox Me Myself & Irene) come to Phoenix for their next heist they fall under the suspicious eye of Bob (John Ritter Tadpole) the store manager and Gin (Bernie Mac Ocean's Twelve) a savvy mall detective. Willie also has to deal with an 8-year-old misfit who believes that the frequently-intoxicated and foul-mouthed Willie is the real Santa.A bawdy laugh-out-loud experience Bad Santa is the ultimate festive movie for people who don't like Christmas.