"Actor: John C. Smith"

• Chicago | DVD | (04/08/2003) from £4.47   |  Saving you £7.52 (168.23%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Rene Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere star in the big screen version of the hit musical about a nighclub star who finds herself on Chicago's death row and recruits the town's slickest lawyer.

• Turner And Hooch | DVD | (12/02/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (200.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Much better than your average cop-and-dog movie (such as K-9), Turner and Hooch is really a love story about a control freak (Tom Hanks) who gradually resigns to the messy chaos of a sweet hulk of a pooch named Hooch. The excuse for this relationship is that the dog can identify a murderer and Hanks needs him, but the film is really about such hilarious moments as Hanks bathing Hooch with a long brush, and a wild chase through the streets when the sharp-eyed mutt spots his suspect. Layered over this is a healthy love story between Hanks and animal vet Mare Winningham, who share a terribly sexy scene together--while fully clothed--doing no more than making breakfast. (Hanks directed this scene, though Roger Spottiswoode directed the rest of the movie.) --Tom Keogh

• Bound | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Destined for cult status, this provocative thriller offers a grab bag of genres (gangster movie, comedy, sexy romance, crime caper) and tops it all off with steamy passion between lesbian ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) and a not-so-ditzy gun moll named Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who meets Corky and immediately tires of her mobster boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano). Desperate to break away from the Mob's influence and live happily ever after, the daring dames hatch a plot to steal $2 million of Mafia money. Their scheme runs into a series of escalating complications, until their very survival depends on split-second timing and criminal ingenuity. Simultaneously violent, funny and suspenseful, Boundis sure to test your tolerance for bloodshed but the film is crafted with such undeniable skill that several critics(including Roger Ebert) placed it on their top-10 lists for 1996. --Jeff Shannon

• The Four Feathers | DVD | (19/06/2007) from £6.29   |  Saving you £3.70 (58.82%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Far too many film versions of the The Four Feathers have been made over the years, which is especially surprising considering that this 1939 Korda brothers production is surely definitive. The film simultaneously celebrates and pokes fun at British imperialism, showing the kind of dogged stiff-upper-lippery that forged an empire, but also the blinkered attitudes and crass snobbishness of the ruling classes (and those plummy accents--did people ever really talk like that?). Whatever political subtext may or may not be read into it, though, the film is best celebrated for its magnificent vistas: partially made on location in the Sudan, as well as at the famous Denham Studios, this is British cinema from the days when it thought to rival Hollywood for sheer spectacle. Vincent Korda's production design and the glorious early colour cinematography are helped greatly by fellow Hungarian émigré Miklos Rozsa's epic score. John Clements is the notional hero, the man who is determined to show the world he is not a coward after resigning his commission (even though it would surely have saved everyone a lot of bother if he had just stuck with it) but the film is stolen by Ralph Richardson, magnificent as an officer struck blind and led to safety by Clements' Harry Faversham. The latter scenes when Richardson's Captain Durrance realises the truth and its implications are the most poignant and emotionally truthful in the film. C Aubrey Smith is delightful as the old buffer who relives his battles on the dinner table; to a modern audience, however, the "blackface" casting of John Laurie as the Khalifa strikes a discordant note. But adjusting some expectations for its vintage, this is a triumph of derring-do and far and away the most gripping version of this oft-told story on film. --Mark Walker

• Robocop Trilogy | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-7.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £32.99

  Paul Verhoeven was almost unknown in Hollywood prior to the release of RoboCop in 1987. But after this ultra-violent yet strangely subversive and satirical sci-fi picture became a huge hit his reputation for extravagant and excessive, yet superbly well-crafted filmmaking was assured. Controversial as ever, Verhoeven saw the blue-collar cop (Peter Weller) who is transformed into an invincible cyborg as "an American Jesus with a gun", and so the film dabbles with death and resurrection imagery as well as mercilessly satirising Reagan-era America. No targets escape Verhoeven's unflinching camera eye, from yuppie excess and corporate backstabbing to rampant consumerism and vacuous media personalities. As with his later sci-fi satire Starship Troopers the extremely bloody violence resolutely remains on the same level as a Tom and Jerry cartoon. The inevitable sequel, competently directed by Irvin Kershner, thankfully continues to mine the dark vein of anti-consumerist satire while being reflexively aware that it is itself a shining example of that which it is lampooning. Sadly the third instalment in the series, now without Peter Weller in the title role, is exactly the kind of dumbed-down production-line flick that the corporate suits of OCP might have dreamed up at a marketing meeting. Its only virtue is a decent music score from regular Verhoeven collaborator Basil Poledouris, whose splendid march theme returned from the original score. On the DVD: Packaged in a fold-out slipcase these three discs make a very collectable set. All are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic prints, although only the first movie has any extra material worth mentioning. Here the Director's Cut option allows the viewer to see Paul Verhoeven's more explicitly violent versions of Murphy's "assassination", ED-209's bloody malfunction and the shootout finale. These extended sequences are handily signposted in the scene selection menu, and the filming of them can be seen in a sequence of Director's Cut footage. Deleted scenes include "Topless Pizza" ("I'll buy that for a dollar!") and there are two contemporary "making of" featurettes plus a good, new half-hour retrospective. Both the latter and the director's commentary make abundantly clear the Reagan-era satire and are chock full of quotable lines from Verhoeven--"I wanted to show Satan killing Jesus"--and his producer--"Fascism for liberals". Stop-motion animator Phil Tippett gives a commentary on the storyboard-to-film comparisons, and there are the usual trailers and photos. Showing just how much the sequels are rated in comparison, the second and third discs have nothing but theatrical trailers and their sound is just Dolby 2.0 whereas the original movie has been remastered into Dolby 5.1.--Mark Walker

• The Four Feathers | DVD | (12/02/2007) from £10.98   |  Saving you £1.00 (11.12%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The young son of a war hero is branded a coward by his friends and fiance when he resigns his military commission shortly before his regiment is due to leave for action in the Sudan. He then disguises himself as an Arab and aids his former colleagues in an attampt to redeem himself of cowardice.

• Scarlet Empress | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £16.80   |  Saving you £-6.81 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Young Princess of Germany Sophia is taken to Russia to marry the Grand Duke Peter son of the domineering Empress in an attempt to improve the royal blood line. She dislikes her husband and so after the old Empress dies she engineers a coup d'etat with help of the military and becomes Catherine The Great.

• The Four Feathers | Blu Ray | (01/09/2014) from £12.98   |  Saving you £4.00 (36.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A classic tale of cowardice and bravery Alexander Korda's Oscar-nominated adaptation of A.E.W. Mason's iconic novel is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular of the early Technicolor films. With sweeping battle scenes and a tightly constructed script by Oscar-nominated R.C. Sherriff this is a bold military epic featuring evocative locations and a pounding score by Miklos Rozsa. Showcasing outstanding performances from both John Clements and Ralph Richardson The Four Feathers is featured here in a High Definition transfer made from original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Harry Faversham born into a distinguished military family automatically joins the army with three close childhood friends – Durrance Willoughby and Burroughs. Quickly feeling that he is unsuited to the army life and newly engaged to Ethne he resigns his commission only to be accused of cowardice by his friends. Each sends him the traditional white feather in contempt; the fourth is plucked from Ethne's fan. Realising the disgrace he has brought to himself and his family Harry sets out alone to the distant war to redeem himself... Special Features: Original theatrical trailer A Day at Denham newsreel film Archive 1975 interview with Ralph Richardson Image gallery

• Scarlet Empress | DVD | (05/05/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

• Chained Heat 2 | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• An Ideal Husband | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  If we men married the women we deserved...We should have a very bad time of it. 1890s high society provides the setting for Oscar Wilde's sparkling comedy of morals and manners in which an 'ideal' husband must fight to save both his marriage and reputation when a blackmailing adventures threatens him with a political scandal.