"Actor: John M"

• Fallen | DVD | (23/10/1998) from £5.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (133.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Although it received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike when released in 1998, this supernatural thriller benefits from a sustained atmosphere of anticipation and dread, and its combination of detective mystery and demonic mischief is handled with ample style and intelligence. Under the direction of Gregory Hoblit (who fared better with Primal Fear), Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who witnesses the gas-chamber execution of a serial killer (Elias Koteas). But when another series of murders begins, Hobbes suspects that the killer's evil spirit has survived and is possessing the bodies of others to do its evil bidding. Even Hobbes's trusted partner (John Goodman) thinks the detective is losing his grip on reality, but the dire warnings of a noted linguist (Embeth Davidtz) confirm Hobbes's far-out theory, and his case intensifies toward a fateful showdown. Although its idea is better than its execution, and the story's film noir ambitions are never fully accomplished, this slickly directed thriller has some genuinely effective moments in which evil forces are entwined into the fabric of everyday reality. Among the highlights is a memorable scene in which Detective Hobbes must track the killer as the evil spirit is transferred between many people via physical contact. Even if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, it's an intriguing hybrid that resides in the same cinematic neighbourhood as Seven and The Silence of the Lambs with a cast that also includes Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. Included on the DVD is a full-length audio commentary by director Hoblit, screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and producer Charles Roven. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Watership Down (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (17/03/2025) from £16.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Rob Roy | DVD | (01/02/2000) from £5.49   |  Saving you £10.50 (191.26%)   |  RRP £15.99

  One of the most invigorating period adventures to hit the big screen in decades, this lavish, brilliantly directed film drew critical and audience raves when it was released in 1995. Inspired by historical fact and larger-than-life legend, the intelligently scripted story takes place in Scotland in 1713, when Highland farmer and clan leader Rob Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson) is forced to borrow money from the duplicitous aristocrat Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) to help his clan survive a harsh winter. When Montrose's vile henchman (Tim Roth) schemes to dishonour MacGregor and his wife (Jessica Lange) and take the money for himself, the rugged Highlander must take courageous action to preserve his integrity. What follows--along with some of the finest sword-fighting ever filmed--is a tale of courage and valour destined to become an enduring movie classic. Tim Roth received a well-deserved Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor) for his indelible performance as the foppish but deadly villain Cunningham, and both Neeson and Lange bring an earthy, sensual quality to their passionate roles. Boasting a wealth of breathtaking scenery and high-intensity action, Rob Roy is further blessed by a splendid supporting cast (including Brian Cox and Eric Stoltz), and the lush soundtrack by Carter Burwell strikes a perfect balance of romanticism and vigorous dramatic energy. --Jeff Shannon

• Outland | DVD | (30/01/2013) from £4.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (200.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Outland is another in a long line of Westerns retooled for science fiction. Writer-director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, 2010, Timecop) re-stages High Noon in outer space, with Sean Connery as O'Neil, the marshal for a settlement on one of Jupiter's moons. While investigating the deaths of some miners, O'Neil discovers that mine boss Peter Boyle has been giving his workers an amphetamine-like, work-enhancing drug that keeps them productive for months--until they finally snap and go berserk. When Boyle sends killer henchmen to neutralize the lawman, O'Neil is unable to get the miners to back him up. Outland is no classic but it offers solid suspense in an otherworldly atmosphere. It also stars Frances Sternhagen, James B. Sikking (Howard on television's Hill Street Blues) and John Ratzenberger (later to become famous as Cliff on the sitcom Cheers). --Jim Emerson

• Super Buddies | DVD | (04/11/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Watch the fur fly as a new breed of super hero is born in Disney's fun-filled epic adventure. An ordinary day at Fernfield Farms turns extraordinary when Budderball Mudbud B-Dawg Buddha and Rosebud discover mysterious rings that grant them each a unique super power. Before you can say 'Buddies assemble ' the pups unleash their amazing abilities and race to the rescue when a shape-shifting bully from outer space threatens the planet. But can they succeed in kicking major tail without revealing their new secret identities? p>A must-own movie event packed with laughter action and incredible new characters Super Buddies proves that when you use your wits and work together you don't need super powers to be a super hero!

• The Last Emperor | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £16.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (17.73%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Bernardo Bertolucci does the nearly impossible with this sweeping, grand epic that tells a very personal tale. The story is a dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the emperors of China. It follows his life from its elite beginnings in the Forbidden City, where he was crowned at age three and worshipped by half a billion people. He was later forced to abdicate and, unable to fend for himself in the outside world, became a dissolute and exploited shell of a man. He died in obscurity, living as a peasant in the People's Republic. We never really warm up to John Lone in the title role, but The Last Emperor focuses more on visuals than characterisation anyway. Filmed in the Forbidden City, it is spectacularly beautiful, filling the screen with saturated colours and exquisite detail. It won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• Underdog | DVD | (16/06/2008) from £4.74   |  Saving you £12.51 (359.48%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A dog with special super powers decides to confide in the young boy who became his owner and friend.

• Diamonds Are Forever | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (60.44%)   |  RRP £7.99

  After the poor reception given to George Lazenby in Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sean Connery was no doubt lured back to the series with a gadget-stuffed briefcase full of cash (most of which he allegedly gave to charity) for this wry, snappily made seventh instalment in the series. Some of its secret weapons include a smart script, a Las Vegas setting providing plenty of neon reflections on windscreens for a memorable car chase through the Strip, and the comely Jill St. John as Tiffany Case, a diamond cut-above most of the preceding Bond girls. (Apart from Diana Rigg in Her Majesty's Secret Service, that is). Blofeld and his fluffy white cat are on hand to menace 007--it's the Nehru jackets and steely surface-look of this one in particular that the Austin Powers spoofs are sending up. Blofeld's initial cover as a reclusive Howard Hughes-like millionaire points to how the series was catching up with more contemporary figures and issues. Other highlights include two truly ferocious, karate-kicking female assassins and a sizzling moon-buggy chase across the dunes. --Leslie FelperinOn the DVD: The mind boggling possibility of casting Adam West (TV's Batman) as Bond was seriously mooted because the suits at United Artists wanted to Americanise the franchise, th e documentary reveals. Sean Connery was eventually persuaded to return but demanded a record fee to reprise his role, and then donated all the cash to his charitable foundation, the Scottish International Education Trust. The rags to riches story of larger-than-life producer Albert R Broccoli is told in the second documentary. The commentary is another in the series of edited selections from interviews with cast and crew, which are exhaustive in the wealth of detail offered but a little exhausting to sit through. Sundry trailers, radio and TV spots plus a few deleted scenes complete the comprehensive selection. --Mark Walker

• The Alan Clark Diaries | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £12.70   |  Saving you £0.29 (2.28%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Television drama based on the diaries of MP Alan Clark an outspoken and flamboyant character who made his impact in the political arena during the 1980's and 1990's. Various scandals affairs and career fluctuations are seen through his eyes painting a vivid and sometimes controversial picture of the workings of government and the Thatcher administration.

• Powell & Pressburger Boxset | DVD | (20/11/2006) from £26.43   |  Saving you £-2.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.94

  This box set features a collection of Powell And Pressburger finest films. Includes: 1. The Tales of Hoffman (1951) 2. Black Narcisus (1946) 3. A Matter of Life & Death (1946) 4. The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) 5. A Canterbury Tale (1944) 6. I Know Where I am Going (1945) 7. 49th Parallel (1941) 8. The Battle of the River Plate (1956) 9. Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) 10. They're A Weird Mob (1966) 11. The Red Shoes (1948)

• Unchained | Blu Ray | (16/04/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When an attempted robbery goes wrong, three career criminals make a run for it, hiding out in an abandoned industrial building as they wait to make their next move. Unfortunately they're not alone in the warehouse - when the group discover De Niro, a vicious attack dog who's been left behind by an underground fight circuit, they realise the biggest threat may actually lie inside their safe house. Trying to keep their distance from this new danger, and aware that the chance of escape is narrowing, the group are left considering the choices that led them to this moment, fighting for their lives as the law closes in. From the Producers of The Expendables 1 & 2, London Has Fallen, Automata, Real Steel, Shoot Em Up and Ironclad! Antonio Banderas (Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Shrek 2) Double Oscar nominee, John Malkovich (Burn After Reading) Oscar Winner, Adrien Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Predators, King Kong

• Mechanic: Resurrection | Blu Ray | (26/12/2016) from £7.17   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The UV copy is only available in the UK and Ireland. The Mechanic thought he'd escaped his former deadly life and disappeared. But now somebody's found him, and kidnapped the woman he loves. Neither one of them will get out alive unless he completes a diabolical list of assassinations of the most dangerous men in the world. Mechanic 2: Resurrection, starring Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Yeoh.

• Armchair Theatre: Volume 2 | DVD | (03/09/2012) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Armchair Theatre was ITV's flagship drama anthology series. Initially screened between 1956 and 1973, it was hugely popular, with viewing figures occasionally reaching twenty million, and became a byword for quality in televised drama.Pioneering, immensely influential and sometimes challenging in its content, the series consistently drew upon a wide range of talent. Armchair Theatre became a showcase for the post-war generation of British writers who sought to place sensitive social topics - in particular the British class system - under the microscope. Throughout, the series featured a number of powerful, award-winning plays, and its lasting influence was a testament to producer Sydney Newman's passionate belief in television's potential to bring high-quality drama to the viewing public. This collection brings together a further eight plays, initially broadcast between 1970 and 1974. Featuring scripts by Donald Churchill (Spooner's Patch), P.J. Hammond (Sapphire and Steel) and Roger Marshall, whose play ties into an episode of his most memorable series Public Eye, the programmes include accomplished performances from, among others, John Thaw, Anton Rodgers, Kenneth Haigh, Bill Maynard, Susannah York, Gordon Jackson and Warren Clarke.

• Marc Polo | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  First broadcast in 1982 this Emmy award winning epic adventure cost a staggering ten million dollars and featured an all-star Oscar winning cast. Filmed on location in Italy Morocco Nepal and China this lavish mini-series was the first Western production to film in China after WWII and took over thirteen months to complete. An epic in every sense of the word. Born in Venice in 1254 Marco Polo was just 17 when he set off with his father and uncle to travel the Silk Road to China. Their adventurous journey through Asia which lasted three and half years took them through uncharted territory and went down in history as one of the greatest exploratory journeys of all time. Marco then spent 17 years in Peking as the guest of the Great Khan winning the trust and respect of the Emperor for whom he carried out various diplomatic missions. Marco took great care to understand and record the culture language traditions and customs of the people he met during his long travels and as a result became one of history's legendary explorers.

• Carousel | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £6.20   |  Saving you £9.79 (157.90%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The 1956 screen adaptation of Carousel, like its immediate predecessor Oklahoma!, boasted then state-of-the-art widescreen cinematography, stereophonic sound, a starring romantic duo with on-screen chemistry, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein imprimatur. Adding to its promise was a source (the venerable Ferenc Molnar play Liliom) that had already been filmed three times. Contributing to the lustre are the coastal Maine locations where 20th Century Fox filmed principal photography. Yet unlike the original Broadway production, and despite evident craft, Carousel proved a box-office disappointment. Why? Hindsight argues that movie-goers of the 1950s may have been unprepared for its tragic narrative, the sometimes unsympathetic protagonist, and a spiritual subtext addressing life after death. Whatever the obstacle, Carousel may well be a revelation to first-time viewers. The score is among the composers' most affecting, from the glorious instrumental "Carousel Waltz" to a succession of exquisite love songs ("If I Loved You"), a heart-rending secular hymn ("You'll Never Walk Alone"), and the expectant father's poignant reverie, "Soliloquy". Top-line stars Shirley Jones (as factory worker Julie Jordan) and Gordon MacRae (as Billy Bigelow, the carnival barker who woos and weds her) achieve greater dramatic urgency here than in the more successful Oklahoma!. MacRae in particular attains a personal best as the conflicted Billy, whose anxiety and wounded pride after losing his job are crucial to the plot. It's Billy's impatience to support his new family that drives him to an ill-fated decision, which transforms the fable into a ghost story. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• The Four Feathers | DVD | (19/06/2007) from £3.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (150.38%)   |  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

• Midnight Run | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is a tough ex-cop turned bounty hunter. Jonathan ""The Duke"" Mardukas (Charles Grodin) is a sensitive accountant who embezzled $15 million from the Mob gave it to charity and then jumped bail. Jack's in for a cool $100 000 if he can deliver the Duke from New York to L.A. on time. And alive. Sounds like just another Midnight Run (a piece of cake in bounty hunter slang) but it turns into a cross-country chase. The FBI is after the Duke to testify - the Mob is after him for revenge - and Walsh is after him to just shut up. If someone else doesn't do the job the two unlikely partners may end up killing each other in this hilarious action-filled blockbuster from producer-director Martin Brest (Beverly Hills Cop).

• Perfect | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Where love is a dance and beauty is everything... John Travolta is a writer for Rolling Stone; Jamie lee Curtis is a beautiful aerobics instuctor. When he investigates health clubs as the singles bar of the '80's sparks fly and a sizzling romance heats up.

• The Elephant Man | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £4.89   |  Saving you £13.10 (267.89%)   |  RRP £17.99

  You could only see his eyes behind the layers of makeup in The Elephant Man but those expressive orbs earned John Hurt a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his moving portrayal of John Merrick, the grotesquely deformed Victorian man. Inarticulate and abused, Merrick is the virtual slave of a carnival barker (Freddie Jones) until dedicated London doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins in a powerfully understated performance) rescues him and offers him an existence with dignity. Anne Bancroft co-stars as the actress whose visit to Merrick makes him a social curiosity, with John Gielgud and Wendy Hiller as dubious hospital staffers won over by Merrick. David Lynch earned his only Oscar nominations as director and co-writer of this sombre drama, which he shot in a rich black-and-white palette, a sometimes stark, sometimes dreamy visual style that at times recalls the offbeat expressionism of his first film, Eraserhead. It remains a perfect marriage between traditional Hollywood historical drama and Lynch's unique cinematic eye, a compassionate human tale delivered in a gothic vein. The film earned eight Oscar nominations in all and though it left the Oscar ceremony empty-handed, its dramatic power and handsome yet haunting imagery remain just as strong today. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com On the DVD: Being black and white, it's easier to judge the digital transfer in terms of shade and thankfully this print looks just fine. There's a little confusion over the sound, however, which is advertised as Stereo on the box but says Mono on the Audio Menu. It certainly seems to be a basic Dolby stereo but it's a shame Lynch hasn't given it the personal touch since he's obsessed with mixing his films' sound himself. From the nicely thought-out animated menus there's a gallery of 20 photos and a misguiding, dramatic theatrical trailer. The only other extra is a 64-page book of which only 10 pages relate directly to the film (the rest re-tell Lynch's career and the real Elephant Man's life). --Paul Tonks

• Will Hay - Comic Icons Collection | DVD | (29/10/2007) from £12.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Titles Comprise: Radio Parade Of 1935 (Dir. Arthur B. Woods 1934) The Ghost Of St. Michael's (Dir. Marcel Varnel 1941) The Black Sheep Of Whitehall (Dir. Basil Dearden/Will Hay 1942) Dandy Dick (Dir. William Beaudine 1935)