"Actor: John Spencer"

• The West Wing - Season 2 Part 2 (Episodes 12 To 22) | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The second series of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin's relentlessly erudite drama about life behind the scenes at the White House, continues here with the emphasis on President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis, a condition that he has hitherto concealed from the American electorate and most of his staff. Tensions grow between himself and the First Lady (Stockard Channing) as she realises, in the episode "Third State of the Union" that he intends to run for a second term in office. It becomes clear to Bartlet (Martin Sheen) that he must go public with his MS, and his staff are forced to come to terms with this, as well as deal with the usual plethora of domestic and international incidents, which apparently preclude any of them from having any sort of private lives, least of all love lives. These include crises in Haiti and Columbia, an obstinate filibuster and a Surgeon General's excessively frank remarks about the drugs situation. Thankfully, the splendid Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees) is on hand to make chief of staff Leo McGarry's life more of a misery in "The Drop-In". These episodes, though occasionally marred by a sentimental soundtrack and an earnest and wishfully high regard for the Presidential office, are masterclasses in drama and dialogue, ranging from the wittily staccato to the magnificently grave, capturing authentically the hectic pace of political intrigue and the often vain efforts of decent, brilliant people to do the right thing. "Two Cathedrals", which features flashbacks to Bartlet's schooldays and his thunderous denunciation of God following a funeral, is perhaps the greatest West Wing episode of all. On the DVD: The West Wing, Series 2 Part 2 features no extras, though the transfer is immaculate. --David Stubbs

• Albino Alligator | DVD | (20/12/2004) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Available for the first time on DVD! Deliberate sacrifice for deliberate gain. In Kevin Spacey's directorial debut three desperadoes are trapped by the police in a hole-in-the-wall bar after a robbery gone wrong. The situation escalates to boiling point with unexpected twists and violent consequences.

• Please Sir! - The Best Of Please Sir! | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £21.28   |  Saving you £8.71 (29.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Featuring the best episodes from series 2 and 3. British comedy at its best 'Please Sir' is fondly remembered by an entire generation of TV viewers. Starring John Alderton as the idealistic teacher Bernard Hedges who is put in charge of the worst class ever come back to school and relive the hilarity with 'Please Sir!'. They're Off: Bernard's class is taking his teaching methods a little too seriously when they place a bet based on what he told them in class. Appalled Bernard has to cancel the bet or the school will cancel him! Common Law: Bernard plays detective after Sharon is molested in the park on the way home from school. Prepared to be surprised because you'll be shocked at the identity of the culprit! Panalal Passes: By The first Parent Teacher Association meeting is a failure when only the parents of the new boy Panalal turn up. But when Bernard organises a second PTA meeting it's not the parents who are too lazy to turn up it's the teachers! The Sporting Life: The sports master has resigned and guess who they get to replace him! Unfortunately Bernard's swimming classes descend into chaos as Duffy's terrified of water and Dunstable just can't seem to keep those unusual swimming trunks on. Norman's Conquest: 5c decide to adopt an animal after watching a wildlife preservation programme. The adopted pet is named after Norman but what exactly is it and will it survive 5c? X Certificate: Determined that 5c will not just be the tea boys this Open Day Bernard and the class make a film about the school. It impresses no-one until a second interpretation catches the attention of a passing journalist... The Decent Thing: When Bernard spends a night with Sharon's mother he doesn't bargain on the consequences such as Sharon telling people that her mother is in the club again. Is Bernard about to have his first nervous breakdown? The Generation Gap: Class 5c becomes socially aware and take to promoting care in the community amongst the older residents. Unfortunately it's not necessarily the students who have to be co-operative as Potter finds out with Mr. De'Ath. The School Captain: The newly founded House system at Fenn Street runs into a few teething problems with election rigging and uncooperative students all whilst Bernard is trying to maintain his own reputation as Housemaster. Out Of The Frying Pan: Mrs. Savage has a rather unorthodox attitude towards lunchtime as she forces all of the school to eat in the local pub then resigns much to the confusion of Cromwell - but then he's never tried her cooking! Mixed Doubles: Abbott narrowly avoids a fight with a local yob but still manages to land a brick through a shop window. Maureen confesses her role to Bernard but will he do the right thing and tell the shopkeepers?

• The West Wing - Season 1 Part 2 | DVD | (22/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing, set in The White House, has won innumerable awards--and rightly so. Its depiction of a well-meaning Democrat administration has warmed the hearts of countless Americans. However, The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funny and moving of recent American TV series. In its first series, The West Wing established the cast of characters who comprise the White House staff. There's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), a recovering alcoholic whose efforts to be the cornerstone of the administration contribute to the break up of his marriage. CJ (Alison Janney) is the formidable press spokeswoman embroiled in a tentative on-off relationship with Timothy Busfield's reporter. Brilliant but grumpy communications deputy Toby Ziegler, Rob Lowe's brilliant but faintly nerdy Sam Seaborn and brilliant but smart-alecky Josh Lynam make up the rest of the inner circle. Initially, the series' creators had intended to keep the President off-screen. Wisely, however, they went with Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlet, whose eccentric volatility, caution, humour and strength in a crisis make for such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. Handled incorrectly, The West Wing could have been turgid, didactic propaganda for The American Way. However, the writers are careful to show that, decent as this administration is, its achievements, though hard-won, are minimal. Moreover, the brisk, staccato-like, almost musical exchanges of dialogue, between Josh and his PA Donna, for instance, as they pace purposefully up and down the corridors are the show's abiding joy. --David Stubbs

• Boys | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fleeing from a horrifically traumatic event Patty Vare (Winona Ryder) is on the run but is suddenly thrown from her horse and loses consciousness. When prep school rebel John Baker (Lukas Haas) discovers her he decides to help the beautiful and mysterious girl by hiding her in his dorm. Mutual attraction soon turns to romance and they explore the realms of young love. But time is against them as the police hunt her down to reveal the dark secret of her past.

• Copland | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £11.18   |  Saving you £6.81 (60.91%)   |  RRP £17.99

  After making a critically acclaimed debut with the low-budget independent drama Heavy, writer-director James Mangold took on this gritty crime drama, which was highly touted as Sylvester Stallone's long-awaited return to a serious dramatic role. With an illustrious cast of co-stars, including GoodFellas alumni Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Liotta, Stallone plays Freddy Heflin, the ineffectual sheriff of a New Jersey suburb that a group of corrupt New York cops have turned into their own off-duty criminal empire. Deaf in one ear and desperate to prove his worth, the sheriff takes on the cops with standoffish assistance from an Internal Affairs cop (De Niro), resulting in an explosive climactic showdown. The stellar cast can't be beat, and Stallone is quite good as the overweight cop whose pride is on the line. Mangold's script is wildly uneven, but Cop Land still packs a white-knuckled punch. --Jeff Shannon

• 200 American | DVD | (07/01/2006) from £12.82   |  Saving you £7.17 (55.93%)   |  RRP £19.99

  How Much Are You Worth? Conrad a director at a high-powered advertising agency is in mourning for his lost relationship. To ease the pain he hires a male prostitute Tyler for $200 and finds himself in danger of falling in love again. Although Conrad is getting more involved he understands things have to remain on a financial level and offers Tyler a job at the agency on condition that he has sex with him twice a week. But the effects of Tyler's entry into the workforc

• Just Before Dawn | DVD | (20/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Don't camp in the woods... Just Don't! Despite the local Ranger's ominous warning a party of three boys and two girls take a camping trip to the mountain. In the steamy backwoods they sense an atmosphere of mounting tension. Soon they realise there is some deadly horror lurking in the woods. The Ranger had been right! They meet a strange girl and her equally strange family. Then one of them is murdered... then another... and another... Will any of them survive those dark hour

• Please Sir! - The Best Of Please Sir! - Vol. 2 | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Sporting Life: The sports master has resigned and guess who they get to replace him! Unfortunately Bernard's swimming classes descend into chaos as Duffy's terrified of water and Dunstable just can't seem to keep those unusual swimming trunks on. Norman's Conquest: 5c decide to adopt an animal after watching a wildlife preservation programme. The adopted pet is named after Norman but what exactly is it and will it survive 5c? X Certificate: Determined that 5c will not just be the tea boys this Open Day Bernard and the class make a film about the school. It impresses no-one until a second interpretation catches the attention of a passing journalist...

• Please Sir! - The Best Of Please Sir! - Vol. 4 | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £4.28   |  Saving you £6.97 (230.79%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Out Of The Frying Pan: Mrs. Savage has a rather unorthodox attitude towards lunchtime as she forces all of the school to eat in the local pub then resigns much to the confusion of Cromwell - but then he's never tried her cooking! Mixed Doubles: Abbott narrowly avoids a fight with a local yob but still manages to land a brick through a shop window. Maureen confesses her role to Bernard but will he do the right thing and tell the shopkeepers?

• Please Sir! - The Best Of Please Sir! - Vol. 1 | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £20.97   |  Saving you £-10.98 (-109.90%)   |  RRP £9.99

  They're Off: Bernard's class is taking his teaching methods a little too seriously when they place a bet based on what he told them in class. Appalled Bernard has to cancel the bet or the school will cancel him! Common Law: Bernard plays detective after Sharon is molested in the park on the way home from school. Prepared to be surprised because you'll be shocked at the identity of the culprit! Panalal Passes: By The first Parent Teacher Association meeting is a failure when only the parents of the new boy Panalal turn up. But when Bernard organises a second PTA meeting it's not the parents who are too lazy to turn up it's the teachers!

• Please Sir! - The Best Of Please Sir! - Vol. 3 | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Decent Thing: When Bernard spends a night with Sharon's mother he doesn't bargain on the consequences such as Sharon telling people that her mother is in the club again. Is Bernard about to have his first nervous breakdown? The Generation Gap: Class 5c becomes socially aware and take to promoting care in the community amongst the older residents. Unfortunately it's not necessarily the students who have to be co-operative as Potter finds out with Mr. De'Ath. The School Captain: The newly founded House system at Fenn Street runs into a few teething problems with election rigging and uncooperative students all whilst Bernard is trying to maintain his own reputation as Housemaster.

• 4 Dogs Playing Poker | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An entry in the recent rash of crooks-falling-out cynical crime-comedy noirs, Four Dogs Playing Poker opens with a robbery at a wedding in Buenos Aires. Five friends pose as staff and guests to penetrate the secret collector's vault of lecherous father-of-the-bride George Lazenby and walk away with a valuable dancing-girl statue. Back in Los Angeles, the team are visited by their sponsor, hefty guest-star crook Forrest Whitaker, who tells them there's a question as to whether the statue is on the ship that's supposed to be smuggling it into the country. If it doesn't show up they'll have to cough up a million dollars between them or get killed. To underline the point and in the first of many "it-just-doesn't-make-sense" plot turns, Whitaker has his men shoot Tim Curry, organiser of the gang, in the leg and then, to show that trying to leave town is a bad idea, has him hung up dead in a meat locker with his feet chain sawed off (offscreen) by the comedy British double-act thugs. An unbelievably complicated scheme is hatched between the surviving four, two couples, whereby they each take out insurance policies that benefit the rest and pick cards and safety-deposit box-keys that identify one of them as the designated murderer and another as a victim. Naturally, suspicions simmer (one character, when asked if she distrusts her friends, replies "all my friends are thieves") and triple-crosses are hatched. The prolific Olivia Williams, in Lulu wig and American accent, emerges as the star, walking a knife-edge between imperilled heroine and cynical manipulator but she is ably supported by druggie, computer savvy Daniel London, hunky bartender Balthazar Getty and jittery insurance functionary Stacy Edwards. Familiar, if watchable. --Kim Newman

• The West Wing - Complete Seasons 1-3 (Amazon.co.uk Exclusive) | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  This box set containing the complete first three series of The West Wing is available exclusively from Amazon.co.uk. Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing, set in the White House, has won innumerable awards--and rightly so. Its depiction of a well-meaning Democrat administration has warmed the hearts of countless Americans. However, The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funniest and moving US TV series of all time. Martin Sheen leads a strong ensemble cast: his Jed Bartlet is such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. Handled incorrectly, The West Wing could have been turgid, didactic propaganda for The American Way. However, the writers are careful to show that, decent as this administration is, its achievements, though hard-won, are minimal. Moreover, the brisk, staccato-like, almost musical exchanges of dialogue, between Josh and his PA Donna, for instance, as they pace purposefully up and down the corridors are the show's abiding joy. --David Stubbs

• Nicholas Cage Collection - The Rock / Face/Off / Gone In 60 Seconds - Special Edition | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Gone In 60 Seconds - Director's Cut:Fasten your seatbelts for the extended ride of your life in this high-performance fuel-injected Gone In 60 Seconds Director's Cut from producer Jerry Bruckheimer (National Treasure Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl). Never-before-seen footage and amped-up sound add fuel to this already high-octane action hit starring Nicolas Cage Robert Duvall and sexy Angelina Jolie. A legendary car booster (Cage) thought he left the fast lane behind him - until he's forced out of retirement to save his kid brother from the wrath of an evil mobster. It's nothing less than a full-throttle race to pull off the ultimate car heist: 50 exotic beauties in 24 hours - and the cops are already onto them!The Rock:Academy Award winners Sean Connery (Entrapment) and Nicolas Cage (Gone in 60 Seconds Face/Off Con Air) star in this action-adventure blockbuster. Millions of lives hang in the balance after a military madman (Ed Harris - Apollo 13) seizes control of the island prison Alcatraz and threatens to launch deadly poison gas missiles at San Francisco. With time ticking away a chemical weapons expert (Cage) and a cunning federal prisoner (Connery) who happens to be the only man to have broken out of Alcatraz must now break in and disarm the missiles.Face/OffOscar winning superstar Nicolas Cage (Con Air) and screen icon John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) battle head to head in Face/Off... the ultimate cat and mouse thriller directed by the world's most acclaimed action film director John Woo (Mission Impossible 2). To avenge the senseless murder of his son FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta) undergoes radical new surgery allowing him to switch faces with the comatose terrorist Castor Troy (Cage) and assume his identity. But when Castor awakes and assumes Sean's identity the real Sean is thrust into an unimaginable nightmare fighting not only for his life but also those of his wife (Joan Allen) and daughter. Brilliant performances and mind-numbing visual effects make Face/Off the explosive action thriller you've got to see to believe.

• FX: The Series - Season 1 | DVD | (27/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  FX: The Series is loosely based on the two FX feature films which starred Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehy. Special effects wizard Rollie Tyler (Cameron Daddo) and his friend and co-worker Angie Ramirez (Christina Cox) are considered the best in their field. Alongside Leo McCarthy (Kevin Dobson) a detective in the NYPD and Rollie's long-time friend they use special effects and canny police work to bring down criminals who might otherwise have escaped justice. Featuring all

• Romance in Manhattan | DVD | (17/05/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A