"Actor: Joseph Maher"

• My Stepmother is an Alien | Blu Ray | (13/12/2021) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  He married a girl from out of town Way out of town. Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters), Kim Basinger (The Nice Guys) and Jon Lovitz (Southland Tales) star in a fish-out-of-water comedy with a sci-fi twist that questions whether a romance between two star-crossed lovers who are literally worlds apart can ever work. When widowed astronomer Steve Mills (Aykroyd) inadvertently causes a gravitational disruption in deep space, a race of hyper-advanced alien lifeforms sends one of their own to investigate, disguised in the alluring human form of Celeste (Basinger). Tasked with seducing the lovelorn Steve in a bid to gain access to his scientific research, Celeste finds herself falling for the man she's been sent to swindle. But they've reckoned without Steve's young daughter Jessie (Alyson Hannigan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who's none too thrilled by the prospect of a new mother especially not one from another planet. Funny and touching in equal measure, My Stepmother is an Alien is an offbeat and at times surprisingly risqué comedy that confirms the adage that what unites us is far greater than what divides us even if what divides us happens to be an entire galaxy. Special Edition Contents Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation Original lossless 2.0 stereo audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Brand new audio commentary by critic Bryan Reesman Cosmetic Encounters: Directing My Stepmother is An Alien, a brand new interview with director Richard Benjamin Original trailer Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch First Pressing Only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Amanda Reyes

• For Pete's Sake | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £25.00   |  Saving you £-12.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  For Pete's Sake is a bright-eyed romantic comedy about a young couple, the eternally optimistic Henrietta (Barbra Streisand) and her husband Pete (Michael Sarrazin), who works by day as a cab driver while studying at night school. Money is tight, a fact constantly brought home to them by Pete's successful but tedious brother, Fred (William Redfield) and his bitchy wife Helen (Estelle Parsons, quite superb here). When Pete hears of an opportunity to make money on the stock market (on pork bellies, of all things) he's desperate to get his hands on $3,000, believing it will make everything come right. After conventional sources have turned them down, Henrietta secretly turns to a loan shark on the understanding that he'll be paid back in a week. The comedy arises when the shares in pork do a belly flop and her contract is sold on to increasingly dubious characters at increasingly exorbitant rates of interest. Thus, we have her taken on by a high-class madam and getting embroiled in bomb-planting and cattle-rustling. As a vehicle for Streisand-the-actress rather than Streisand-the-singer, it certainly works (though she does perform the vapid title-song), her manic comedic skill chiming well with the demands of her character in this amiable piece of froth. On the DVD: For Pete's Sake is pretty thin on the special features front: theatrical trailers; a director's commentary (reasonably worthwhile); and basic filmographies. The picture has come up surprisingly well given its age, and though it's in mono, there are no complaints about the sound either. --Harriet Smith

• The Evil That Men Do | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Holland (Charles Bronson) a professional killer is persuaded to come out of retirement when his friend a Latin American journalist is tortured to death by his country's dictator - the sadistic Dr. Clement Moloch. The journalist's widow Rhiana (Theresa Saldana) and her daughter Sarah provide cover for Holland by posing as his family. As Holland gets closer to Moloch and his coterie he begins to fear more for 'his' family's safety and insists they leave so he can get on with his deadly mission but the idealistic Rhiana is determined to witness the death of her husband's killer.

• My Stepmother Is An Alien | DVD | (02/05/2005) from £11.08   |  Saving you £-5.09 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The title pretty much says it all, folks: A gorgeous ET cosies up to an eccentric scientist (a disarmingly straight Dan Ackroyd) in an attempt to save her dying planet and falls in love in the process. Much wackiness ensues. Art it ain't, but this likably lightweight film does deliver the laughs, with assured leading performances (for once, Kim Basinger's formica loveliness is utilised as an effective comedic asset), a surprisingly bawdy sense of humour and a riotous supporting turn by a then dewy-fresh Jon Lovitz. --Andrew Wright

• Heaven Can Wait | DVD | (24/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The whimsical comedy-romance Heaven Can Wait is a delightful example of the small sub-genre of afterlife comedies. The film, which teams then lovers Warren Beatty and Julie Christie for a third time following McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971) and Shampoo (1975), is not a remake of the 1943 supernatural film of the same name, but of the Robert Montgomery classic Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941). Here Beatty is American football player Joe Pendleton, who accidentally dies, decades too early, and is incarnated in a new body which, until recently, was occupied by a ruthless multi-millionaire. James Mason is superb as a most authoritative angel (Mr Jordan), heading a fine cast including Charles Grodin, Buck Henry and Jack Warden. In a sub-plot paralleling The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and revisited in You've Got Mail (1998), Julie Christie plays an English woman outraged that one of the former millionaire's companies is destroying her village, while simultaneously falling in love with the man now occupying the hated millionaire's mortal coil. Much comic and romantic misunderstanding follows, as well as some appealing slapstick, courtesy of Dyan Cannon. Aided by a lovely musical score by Dave Grusin, this is a beautifully played and thoroughly charming bittersweet fantasy about the transcendent power of love. It is a joy for romantics everywhere. On the DVD: Heaven Can Wait comes to DVD in a good 1.77:1 ratio transfer which exhibits just a little grain in some darker scenes. The print shows some very minor, occasional damage, but nothing to complain about in a film of this vintage. The sound is the original mono mix, which is perfectly serviceable. The only extra is the theatrical trailer. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Evil That Men Do | DVD | (19/03/2007) from £5.96   |  Saving you £7.03 (54.10%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Most criminals answer to the law. The world's most savage executioner must answer to Bronson! Holland (Charles Bronson) a professional killer is persuaded to come out of retirement when his friend a Latin American journalist is tortured to death by his country's dictator - the sadistic Dr. Clement Moloch. The journalist's widow Rhiana (Theresa Saldana) and her daughter Sarah provide cover for Holland by posing as his family. As Holland gets closer to Moloch and his coterie he begins to fear more for 'his' family's safety and insists they leave so he can get on with his deadly mission but the idealistic Rhiana is determined to witness the death of her husband's killer.

• I.Q. | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by momentarily pretending to be a great physicist...