"Actor: John Brown"

• Earth vs The Flying Saucers | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £14.49   |  Saving you £-1.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Notable neither for its director nor its stars, Earth vs the Flying Saucers has been given the widescreen DVD treatment rather because of its special-effects man, the legendary Ray Harryhausen. A Twilight Zone styled voiceover introduces Dr Marvin Russell and his wife of two hours as they're buzzed by an overhead flying saucer--the first of many. When a translation device reveals the saucer-occupants' fiendish plan to take over the world, it's time for a good old army-alien punch-up. Cue screenfuls of avuncular patriarchs, loads of techno-flannel space-speak and plenty of gratuitous American-monument destruction. A by-numbers B-movie, this is only really notable for Harryhausen's stop-motion FX work--and though this, his fifth feature, isn't a patch on his later Technicolor masterpieces, his trick of demolishing facsimiles of recognisable landmarks is cited by many premier filmmakers as being hugely influential on their work. This is very much of its time, the saucer-people arousing few of the thrills engendered by his later creations (Sinbad's Cyclops, for example). And with Cold War fears now just a memory, the Ruskies, or rather aliens, can no longer prevail upon a zeitgeist of xenophobic paranoia for their power. On the DVD: Earth vs the Flying Saucers's black-and-white picture is clean and crisp in this anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer and the Dolby digital mono soundtrack is clear enough. The theatrical trailer will please fans of kitsch, as will the featurette "This Is Dynamation" produced at the same time as the first Sinbad movie. The real corker here though is the generously proportioned documentary "The Harryhausen Chronicles": narrated by Leonard Nimoy, it features a stellar cast of devotees (George Lucas among them) waxing lyrical about the influence of Harryhausen's films, and allows the man himself to ramble fascinatingly over clips of his filmic canon. If you're a fan, it's Harryhausen heaven. --Paul Eisinger

• The Man Who Sued God | DVD | (01/12/2003) from £6.48   |  Saving you £4.77 (91.38%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Man Who Sued God defies simple definition, managing to be several types of movie all at the same time. As a theological-romantic-comedy-drama, it's in a somewhat unique category all of its own. Perhaps only Billy Connolly could carry off a central role that combines slapstick with raging anger, puppy-dog disappointment and strong language delivered in his distinctive accent. These facets of performance are used and abused in a tale that feels like it really ought to be based on a true story, but isn't. Connolly's life as a fisherman is sunk by the destruction of his boat by a bolt of lightning. The insurance company won't pay up because it falls under that age-old excuse of being an "Act of God". So Connolly decides to sue the deity. The premise raises issues about how the law and the church have apparently conspired together. But at heart the film is a simple character study, so any pondering on legal or theological implications will have to be done on your own time; the screen is occupied with family issues, underhand dealings and a maybe-maybe romance with Judy Davis. Big Yin fans at least will enjoy the Connolly's composite character. --Paul Tonks

• Kids | DVD | (29/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Larry Clark's controversial Kids is a film about New York City adolescents walking the AIDS tightrope, but it's also an unblinking look at the dehumanising rituals of growing up. It really doesn't add up to more than the sum of its various shocks--virgin-busting, skinny-dipping, male callousness--overlayed with middle-class disapproval. Clark is hectoring us for cutting kids loose at a terrible time in modern American history, but so are a lot of other people who also offer alternatives and ideas. The film does nothing to push us toward new thoughts, new solutions, new dreams. It is more like a window onto our worst fantasies about what our children are doing out there on the streets. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens Classics | DVD | (22/08/2017) from £22.48   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The acclaimed BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, Barnaby Rudge (1960) is now available to own on DVD for the first time. Starring John Wood (War Games) , Barbara Hicks (Brazil), Timothy Bateson (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and BAFTA-nominee Joan Hickson. On a stormy night in 1775 a ragged stranger (Nigel Arkwright) wanders into the Maypole Inn. Edward Chester (Bernard Brown), whose horse is lame, leaves the inn on foot to meet his beloved Emma Haredale (Eira Heath) at a masked ball. Joe Willet (Alan Hayward), quarrels with his father, Maypole landlord John (Arthur Brough), and joins the army, only saying goodbye to Dolly (Jennifer Daniel), the pretty daughter of locksmith Gabriel Varden (Newton Blick). Varden s household includes his formidable wife (Joan Hickson) and dithering maid Miss Miggs (Barbara Hicks). Simple-minded Barnaby Rudge (John Wood) wanders in and out of the story, chattering with his pet raven Grip. Barnaby s mother Mary (Isabel Dean) is visited by the stranger, and feels compelled to protect him. As the stories interweave, Barnaby is caught up in the Gordon Riots, a violent demonstration against Catholics. Jailed with the ringleaders, will he hang for their actions? Michael Voyseys 1960 BBC adaptation remains the only TV portrayal of Dickens tantalizing gothic drama.

• Ballers: Season 4 | DVD | (04/02/2019) from £9.96   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Spencer Strasmore and an endearing group of colleagues, rivals and pro-football clients return for a new season of HBO's hit comedy from Steve Levinson (Entourage) that digs deeper into the extravagant, high-stakes, big-money world of professional football. This season, having refused to compromise his principles by joining an alliance with the filthy-rich Anderson brothers to move a football franchise to Las Vegas, Spencer (Dwayne Johnson) and his partner Joe Krutel (Rob Corddry) set their sights on expanding their firm's foothold in the client-management business, weighing an opportunity to purchase an extreme-sports LA outfit run by the fiercely autonomous Lance Klians (Russell Brand). Meanwhile, Ricky Jerret (John David Washington) eyes a comeback while chafing at his new life as a father; Charles (Omar Benson Miller) faces the myriad challenges of being a general manager; Vernon (Donovan W. Carter) continues his profligate ways, to the chagrin of his sidekick Reggie (London Brown); and Jason (Troy Garity) tries to set Spencer up with a high-school prodigy, Quincy Crawford, and his equally impressive mother Jayda.

• Elvis Presley - Aloha From Hawaii | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Elvis Presley's performing career, punctuated by its extra-musical achievement as the first global satellite broadcast devoted to a single entertainer. Both the broadcast and its companion album captured the King in his most grandiose persona, fuelled by Hollywood scale and Vegas glitz, as a caped pop superhero.He may have looked trim, but posthumous accounts (especially Peter Guralnick's Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, the second volume in his definitive biography) confirm what a second look suggests--on this evening, Elvis was alternately overwhelmed and distracted, bravura renditions of signature songs (most triumphantly, the "American Trilogy" medley originated by Mickey Newbury) offset by less-focused readings. Fans may still savour a generous and diverse song list, but viewed beside Presley's earlier, more consistent performances (including a rehearsal the previous night, since released as The Alternate Aloha Concert), this legendary concert anticipates Presley's imminent decline.In this remastered version, three songs have been deleted due to music clearance issues, while four songs taped after the actual show have been inserted. A fifth bonus track, "No More," makes its first appearance on video. --Sam Sutherland

• Ballers: The Complete Third Season | DVD | (04/12/2017) from £20.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All ten episodes from the third season of the American football comedy starring Dwayne Johnson. Retired NFL players and former teammates with the Miami Dolphins Spencer Strasmore (Johnson) and Charles Greane (Omar Benson Miller) struggle to adapt to life after football. Spencer takes up a job as a financial manager for NFL players, while Charles starts working at a car dealership and begins to wonder whether he chose to retire too early. In this season, Spencer looks to move in on the lucrative Las Vegas market. The episodes are: 'Seeds of Expansion', 'Bull Rush', 'In the Teeth', 'Ride and Die', 'Make Believe', 'I Hate New York', 'Ricky-Leaks', 'Alley-Oops', 'Crackback' and 'Yay Arena'.

• Strangers On A Train (1951) | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (133.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. It's not just a ripping-good thriller but a film student's delight and a perversely enjoyable battle of wits between tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and his mysterious, sycophantic admirer, Bruno (Robert Walker), who proposes a "criss-cross" scheme of traded murders. Bruno agrees to kill Guy's unfaithful wife, in return for which Guy will (or so it seems) kill Bruno's spiteful father. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. Strangers on a Train remains one of Hitchcock's crowning achievements and a suspenseful classic that never loses its capacity to thrill and delight. --Jeff Shannon

• Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Det. Superintendent Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) has been transferred to Manchester and is about to embark on one of the toughest times in her life. Initially asked to lecture school children on law and order she is soon demanding a meatier task. The murder of a drug dealer is the crime she is expected to solve but when a 14 year old boy confesses to the killing despite no evidence to connect him to the crime Tennison's instinct tells her there is a more likely prime suspect.

• Elvis Presley - Elvis - Aloha From Hawaii | DVD | (14/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii

• American Splendor | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £7.39   |  Saving you £12.60 (170.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of American comic book writer Harvey Pekar.

• One Million Years B.C. | Blu Ray | (24/10/2016) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This spectacular prehistoric adventure was promoted as Hammer's 100th production and gave the world the iconic image of star Raquel Welch in a fur-lined bikini. The highlight of the movie was the stop-motion dinosaurs that were subsequently added by legendary special effects animator Ray Harryhausen. The result was Hammer's biggest commercial success, the most famous dinosaur epic until the release of Jurassic Park 26 years later.

• Shaft (1971) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (27/06/2022) from £25.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  While the Black Power movement was reshaping America, trailblazing director GORDON PARKS (The Learning Tree) made this groundbreaking blockbuster, which helped launch the blaxploitation era and gave the screen a new kind of badder-than-bad action hero in John Shaft (Embassy's RICHARD ROUNDTREE, in a career-defining role), a streetwise New York City private eye who is as tough with criminals as he is tender with his lovers. After Shaft is recruited to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Harlem mob boss (Amazing Grace's MOSES GUNN) from Italian gangsters, he finds himself in the middle of a rapidly escalating uptown vs. downtown turf war. A vivid time capsule of seventies Manhattan in all its gritty glory that has inspired sequels and multimedia reboots galore, the original Shaft is studded with indelible elementsfrom Roundtree's sleek leather fashions to the iconic funk and soul score by ISAAC HAYES. Special Features New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Alternate uncompressed stereo soundtrack remastered with creative input from Isaac Hayes III In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features Shaft's Big Score!, the 1972 follow-up to Shaft by director Gordon Parks New documentary on the making of Shaft featuring curator Rhea L. Combs, film scholar Racquel J. Gates, filmmaker Nelson George, and music scholar Shana L. Redmond Behind-the-scenes program featuring Parks, actor Richard Roundtree, and musician Isaac Hayes Archival interviews with Hayes, Parks, and Roundtree ¢ New interview with costume designer Joseph G. Aulisi New program on the Black detective and the legacy of John Shaft, featuring scholar Kinohi Nishikawa and novelist Walter Mosley A Complicated Man: The Shaft Legacy (2019) Behind-the-scenes footage from Shaft's Big Score! Trailers English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by film scholar Amy Abugo Ongiri

• Texas Terror | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sheriff John Higgins quits and goes into prospecting after he thinks he has killed his best friend in shooting it out with robbers...

• The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £18.72   |  Saving you £-5.73 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Brilliant brain surgeon Banzai has just made scientific history. Shifting his Oscillation Overthruster into warp speed he's the first man ever to travel to the Eight Dimension...and come back sane! But when his sworn enemy the demented Dr. Lizardo devises a plot to steal the Overthruster and bring an evil army of aliens back to destroy Earth Buckeroo goes cranium to cranium with the madman in an extra-dimensional battle that could result in total annihilation of the universe.

• The Astronaut's Wife | DVD | (24/04/2000) from £5.38   |  Saving you £14.61 (271.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An intriguingly creepy premise but failed execution marks The Astronaut's Wife, a stylish and ultimately bland thriller about a pretty, young woman whose pretty, young astronaut husband comes back from his most recent space mission a little... odd. Before that fated space trip, Spencer (Johnny Depp) and Jillian (Charlize Theron) were a sunny, happy couple with matching blonde hairdos and a predilection for romping in the sack from extremely clever camera angles. However, after a communications blackout brings Spencer and his partner back down to earth prematurely, things are a little... peculiar. Spencer's partner goes bonkers and has a heart attack; on top of that, the partner's wife takes a fatal shower with a plugged-in radio. Getting out of the space biz, Spencer accepts a job as a corporate exec in New York, and as a welcome to the Big Apple for his comely wife, he molests her at the company cocktail party. Soon enough, Jillian is pregnant, but as you might expect, this pregnancy (twins, don't you know) is a little... unusual. Writer-director Rand Ravich takes his sweet time getting from extremely obvious plot point A to even more obvious plot point B, stretching out the development particulars in mind-numbing, suspense-killing fashion. Even Joe Morton, as a sinisterly psychotic NASA official, can't liven things up--you know you're in bad thriller territory when the biggest scare comes from a light suddenly being switched off. Theron, sporting a Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby style haircut, sleepwalks beautifully through the movie, but she did this role much, much better in The Devil's Advocate. Depp, with a cornpone Southern accent, is about as realistic as his peroxided hair. Ravich does the viewer no favours with a hackneyed ending straight out of a B-grade paperback horror novel in which the most shocking moment is Theron's sudden emergence as a brunette. With Blair Brown as a jaded socialite who offers to help out Theron by providing do-it-yourself abortion pills, and a lovely Donna Murphy as the suicidal wife who figures it all out before everyone else. -- Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

• The Haunting In Connecticut | Blu Ray | (09/05/2018) from £8.99   |  Saving you £16.00 (177.98%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Based on a true story. The Haunting in Connecticut charts one family’s real-life encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlour where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner’s clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover. Now unspeakable terror awaits when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the dead, returns to unleash horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.

• Godzilla x Kong Monsterverse 5-Film Collection | Blu Ray | (24/06/2024) from £98.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Godzilla: In this gritty, realistic sci-fi action epic, Godzilla returns to its roots as one of the world's most recognized monsters. Directed by Gareth Edwards and featuring an all-star international cast, this spectacular adventure pits Godzilla against malevolent creatures that, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence. Kong: Skull Island: When a scientific expedition to an uncharted island awakens titanic forces of nature, a mission of discovery becomes an explosive war between monster and man. Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly star in a thrilling and original new adventure that reveals the untold story of how Kong became King. Godzilla: King of the Monsters: The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-speciesthought to be mere mythsrise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance. Godzilla Vs. Kong: Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titansinstigated by unseen forcesis only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: The epic battle continues! The cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an allnew adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.

• Monogram Cowboy Collection: Volume 3 | DVD | (05/07/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Richard Pryor | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A 4 disc box set featuring a quartet of the finest films starring motormouth funnyman Richard Pryor! R.I.P Ritchie... Car Wash ((Dir. Michael Schultz 1976): An earthy irreverent but affectionate look at a typical day in Los Angeles car wash! An ensemble piece which interweaves the lives of employees customers and passers-by Car Wash stars a galaxy of gifted actors most of whom are relatively unknown to movie goers and spotlights an array of guest stars in vivid cameo rol