"Actor: John Paul"

• Violent Moment | DVD | (11/05/2015) from £7.98   |  Saving you £4.00 (66.78%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Lyndon Brook plays a man on the run from his own past in this taut British drama from the late '50s. Featuring the directorial debut of cult director Sidney Hayers and a screenplay by Oscar nominee Peter Barnes Violent Moment is featured here in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. The film elements were physically edited in the 1960s to replace the original titles with ones for the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series and it is from these film elements that this brand-new transfer has been made. The original titles are included as a separate special feature. Douglas Baines a wartime army deserter is lying low in a shabby flat with his girlfriend Daisy and the couple's small son Jiffy. Returning home with a toy for Jiffy's second birthday he learns that Daisy has had the boy adopted. When she refuses to tell him where the boy is he strangles Daisy and goes on the run... Special Features: Original Opening Titles Original Theatrical Trailer Image Gallery

• Masked And Anonymous | DVD | (10/05/2004) from £18.97   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Sometimes surprising, often baffling and occasionally entertaining, Masked and Anonymous is another in the long but not necessarily distinguished line of rock-star movie vehicles. Bob Dylan stars in this BBC Films coproduction as an alter ego of himself, ageing rocker Jack Fate, released from jail to play a benefit concert in an alternative America that is run down and ruled by a military dictator. When not singing he makes little impression, so it's fortunate that director Larry Charles surrounds him with a galaxy of excellent supporting players, including John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Penelope Cruz, Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Dern, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi and Val Kilmer--all of whom gave their services for free. The screenplay, cowritten by Dylan, is full of the kind of cryptic aphorisms familiar from his song lyrics: "What's bugging me?", remarks Jeff Bridges' character, "The absurdity of a lifetime of human labour, that's what's bugging me." "They have no ideology. They push both Jesus and Judas aside," says an anonymous bus driver, and there are plenty more didactic, speechy comments that even these veteran actors can't make sound natural or spontaneous. Better to focus on the music--both the songs Dylan performs on screen and those on the soundtrack, which consists mostly of foreign-language covers of Dylan classics. On the DVD: Masked and Anonymous on disc comes with a commentary track from director Larry Charles, who is good on the details of the shooting schedule, but vague about the movie's aspirations. There are some deleted scenes (none of which shed any more light on the plot), another Dylan performance, and a 20-minute "making of" featurette, with the many supporting stars waxing lyrical about the freewheeling shooting style and semi-theatrical staging. The anamorphic widescreen picture is unexceptional, as is the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, which naturally enough works best with the music. --Mark Walker

• Prime Suspect 5 - Errors Of Judgement | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison has been transferred to Manchester and finds herself in a world she does not know surrounded by people she cannot trust and invloved with a man she cannot have. Her latest case is destined only to make things worse...

• Eddie Murphy Box Set - Trading Places / Coming To America | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Eddie Murphy's 1988 vehicle Coming to America was probably the point at which his status as a mainstream big-screen comedian finally gelled, following the highly successful 48 Hours pairing with Nick Nolte. Never mind the hackneyed storyline: under John Landis's tight direction, he turns in a star performance (and several brilliant cameos) that is disciplined and extremely funny. Murphy plays an African prince who comes to New York officially to sow his wild oats. Privately, he is seeking a bride he can marry for love rather than one chosen by his parents. With his companion (Arsenio Hall, who pushes Murphy all the way in the comedy stakes), he settles in the borough of Queens and takes a job in a hamburger joint. A succession of hilarious satire-barbed adventures ensue, plus the required romantic conclusion. The script is crammed with ripe one-liners , but "Freeze, you diseased rhinoceros pizzle" has to be the most devastating hold-up line of all time. Film buffs will appreciate a brief appearance by Don Ameche as a down-and-out, but this is Murphy's film and he generates warmth enough to convert the most ambivalent viewer. On the DVD: The only--rather pointless--extra on offer is the original theatrical trailer which adds nothing apart from a rapid recap of the story. But the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation (the picture quality is diamond sharp) and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack recreate the original authentic cinematic experience. The choreography of 1980s pop diva Paula Abdul in the lavish wedding scenes and Nile Rodgers' pounding musical score are the main beneficiaries. --Piers Ford

• Picture Perfect / The Object Of My Affection | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £13.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (7.15%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The Object Of My Affection: Nina a social worker shares a cozy flat with her dear friend George who happens to be gay. When Nina becomes pregnant by her overbearing boyfriend she begs George to step into the breach - but is he ready to be a surrogate dad? Picture Perfect: As adorable as she is ambitious Kate is determined to turn her mid-level advertising job into an executive position - and equally determined to snare Sam the agency's ultra-suave Romeo who pref

• Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  After the death of her bullying husband the not-so aged and downtrodden housewife Thelma Caldicot (Pauline Collins) is shipped off to the Twilight Years Rest Home by her money-grabbing son and manipulative daughter in-law. Appalled by the conditions Mrs Caldicot decides to taker matters into her own hands...

• Sex Pistols - The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle | DVD | (13/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The film that incriminates its audience. The most notorious band in the world. In ten simple lessons manager Malcom McLaren tells their fabulous story. A dramatised history of the Sex Pistols the notorious band who began the new wave of rock. A humorous cynical look at the music industry. Tunes include: Anarchy in the UK God Save the Queen Pretty Vacant Who Killed Bambi and My Way...

• In Cold Blood | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Richard Brooks's In Cold Blood is a faithful 1967 screen adaptation of Truman Capote's extraordinary non-fiction book about the course of two killers in this world--their lives, their senseless slaughter of an entire family, and their executions. Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are remarkable as the murderers, but what has kept this film special over the decades is Brooks's blunt, clearheaded, and non-sensational approach to the story. (The term "semi-documentary" has been applied to Brooks's style on this film, and it's an entirely fair description.) The experience of watching In Cold Blood is naturally unsettling, but the director--as with Capote--leaves final judgments about justice to the beholder. --Tom Keogh

• Yellow Submarine | DVD | (01/02/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This restored, animated valentine to the Beatles offers viewers the rare chance to see a work that's been substantially improved by its technical facelift, not just super-sized with extra footage. Recognising that its song-studded soundtrack alone makes Yellow Submarine a video annuity, United Artists has lavished a frame-by-frame refurbishment of the original feature, while replacing its original monaural audio tracks with a meticulously reconstructed stereo mix that actually refines legendary original album versions. What emerges is a vivid time capsule of the late 1960s and a minor milestone in animation. The music represents the quartet's zenith--Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The story line, cobbled together by producer Al Brodax and a committee of writers, is a broad, feather-light allegory set in idyllic Pepperland, where the gentle citizens are threatened by the nasty, music-hating Blue Meanies and their surreal arsenal of henchmen, with the Beatles enlisted to thwart the bad guys. Visually, designer Heinz Edelmann mixes the biomorphic squiggles, day-glo palette and Beardsley-esque portraits of Peter Max with rotoscoped still photographs and film; Edelmann's animated collages also nod to Andy Warhol and Magritte in properly psychedelic fashion, which works wonderfully with such terrific songs. High-orthodox Beatlemaniacs can still grouse that the animated Fab Four are (literally) flat archetypes, but that's missing the sheer bloom of the music or the giddy, campy fun of the visuals. Making sense of the story is second to submerging blissfully in the sights and sounds of this video treat. --Sam Sutherland

• The Secret Craft | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £12.96   |  Saving you £-1.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  When Reese Hauser and his father relocate to a small Californian town the newcomer soon befriends the coolest kid in the school Zach. Zach introduces Reese to his beautiful but weird sister Ashley and her cute friend Pheobe. They invite Reese to visit an ancient stone which is set in a mystical clearing deep in the woods. The stone empowers the gang with a supernatural ability of their choice. Soon all four marvel in their new found power and turn the school into their own personal hell.

• Alien Quadrilogy | DVD | (10/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Zulu Dawn | DVD | (05/01/2004) from £9.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (40.04%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Cy Endfield cowrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst defeat of the British army by natives--the British contingent was outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film's opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached manner leads to one mistake after another and this is wryly illustrated in a moment when neither he nor his officers can be bothered to pronounce the name of the land they're in. That it's a beautiful land none the less is made clear by the superb cinematography, which drinks in the massive open spaces that shrink the British army to a line of red ants. Splendidly stiff-upper-lipped support comes from a heroic Burt Lancaster and a fluffy, yet gruff, Bob Hoskins. Although the story is less focused and inevitably more diffuse than the concentrated events of Rorke's Drift that followed soon after, Zulu Dawn is an unflinchingly honest depiction of British Imperial diplomacy. --Paul Tonks

• Crime Traveller - The Complete Series | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Meet the most unconventional investigative duo of any time - JEFF SLADE and HOLLY TURNER in the mystery adventure series Crime Traveller. Sleuths come and go working on intuition luck and clues but Slade and his science officer colleague Holly are armed with something extra in their fight against crime - their very own Time Machine. High speed chases and intriguing puzzles are solved with the aid of their unreliable Time Machine in this stylish fast-paced drama.

• Drum | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Set in 1860 in New Orleans this is the story of Drum the son of a plantation owner's beautiful wife and her black slave. Based on the novel by Kyole Onstott.

• The Fast Show - Series 3 | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £6.98   |  Saving you £11.01 (157.74%)   |  RRP £17.99

  These eight episodes from the Fast Show's third series brought us sparking new characters like the 13th Duke of Wybourne No Offence Taff Lad and the Hearty Hikers and treats in the shape of Swiss Toni Dave Angel Eco-Warrior and the Posh Cockneys to join old favourites like Suits You Chanel 9 Colin Hunt Ted and Ralph and the ever-increasing parade of catchphrase heroes.

• Reap the Wild Wind (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £9.92   |  Saving you £0.07 (0.71%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In this turbulent swashbuckler Cecil B. DeMille presents a tale of daring piracy and hot-blooded love! 1840s Key West is filled with salvage businesses thriving on the cargo of wrecked ships. Ship owner Loxi Claiborne suspects salvager King Cutler of foul play since he's always first on the scene at a wreck. Meanwhile Loxi's suitor Captain Jack Stuart is another suspect - at least to jealous lawyer Steve Tolliver. Who will be found guilty - and how - hinges on some amazing developments. Along with the star-studded cast (including Robert Preston and Susan Hayward) this glorious sea spectacle has stars of another kind. There are huge clipper ships gliding in the mist storms splintering them on the rocks and a giant squid in a memorable underwater battle. With Given DeMille's robust direction it all adds up to an Oscar for Special Effects

• Merlin | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £8.77   |  Saving you £1.22 (13.91%)   |  RRP £9.99

  What kind of guy was the wizard Merlin, anyway? He lives a long time, raises a boy to be a king, props up a Utopian empire with his magic and wisdom, and then watches as it all crumbles under such banal forces as vengeance and betrayal. This four-hour mini-series re-tells the story of Camelot and King Arthur from the perspective of the magic man who sacrifices a great deal to guide mortals toward a better destiny. Sam Neill plays Merlin as an accessible, flesh-and-blood fellow of real passion, powerless to undo the spell of a rival (Rutger Hauer) who has virtually imprisoned Merlin's great love, Nimue (Isabella Rossellini), but gifted enough to counter the treachery of Morgan Le Fey (Helena Bonham Carter) and the wicked Queen Mab (Miranda Richardson). The battle sequences and special effects are striking and original, and it is great fun to see such art-house movie actors as Richardson, Carter, Neill, etc., in fantasy entertainment the whole family can enjoy. (An unrecognizable Martin Short must be singled out, however, for a wonderful, largely dramatic performance as Mab's sidekick, Frik.) Directed by Steve Barron (The Adventures of Pinocchio), Merlin is a nice bit of glossy revisionism of a beloved legend. --Tom Keogh

• Cagney And Lacey - Vol. 1 | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Episodes from the multi-Emmy award winning TV show in which detectives Mary Beth Lacey and her partner Christine Cagney cop-operate in their personal and professional lives... Episodes Comprise: 1. Witness To An Incident 2. One Of Our Own 3. Beauty Burglars 4. High Steel 5. Hotline 6. Internal Affairs 7. Mr Lonelyhearts 8. Conduct Unbecoming 9. I'll Be Home For Christmas

• Pittsburgh / Dakota (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £13.48   |  Saving you £-3.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Pittsburgh (Dir. Lewis Seiler 1942): Charles 'Pittsburgh' Markham rides roughshod over his friends his lovers and his ideals in his trek toward financial success in the Pittsburgh steel industry only to find himself deserted and lonely at the top. When his crash comes he finds that fate has dealt him a second chance. Dakota (Dir. Joseph Kane 1945): John Devlin helps Dakota wheat farmers save their land from swindling entrepeneurs who hope to make a fortune selling it to the railroad for its right-of-way.

• Saturday Night Fever | Blu Ray | (17/07/2017) from £20.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The years have endowed Saturday Night Fever with a powerful, elegiac quality since its explosive release in 1977. It was the must-see movie for a whole generation of adolescents, sparking controversy for rough language and clumsily realistic sex scenes which took teen cinema irrevocably into a new age. And of course, it revived the career of the Bee Gees to stratospheric heights, thanks to a justifiably legendary soundtrack which now embodies the disco age. But Saturday Night Fever was always more than a disco movie. Tony Manero is an Italian youth from Brooklyn straining at the leash to escape a life defined by his family, blue collar job and his gang. Disco provides the medium for him to break free. It was the snake-hipped dance routines which made John Travolta an immediate sex symbol. But seen today, his performance as Tony is compelling: rough-hewn, certainly, but complex and true, anticipating the fine screen actor he would be recognised as 20 years later. Scenes of the Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge, representing Tony's route to a bigger world, now have an added poignancy, adding to Saturday Night Fever's evocative power. It's a bittersweet classic. On the DVD: Saturday Night Fever is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, both of which help to recapture the unique atmosphere of the late 1970s. The main extra is a director's commentary from John Badham, with detailed descriptions of casting and the improvisation behind many of the scenes, plus the unsavoury reality behind Travolta's iconic white disco suit. --Piers Ford