"Actor: Keith David"

• Edward G. Robinson - Scarlet Street / The Stranger | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In a way, Scarlet Street is a remake. It's taken from a French novel, La Chienne (literally, "The Bitch") that was first filmed by Jean Renoir in 1931. Renoir brought to the sordid tale all the colour and vitality of Montmartre; Fritz Lang's version shows us a far harsher and bleaker world. The film replays the triangle set-up from Lang's previous picture, The Woman in the Window, with the same three actors. Once again, Edward G Robinson plays a respectable middle-aged citizen snared by the charms of Joan Bennett's streetwalker, with Dan Duryea as her low-life pimp. The plot closes around the three of them like a steel trap. This is Lang at his most dispassionate. Scarlet Street is a tour de force of noir filmmaking, brilliant but ice-cold. The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, "is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture". But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi to a sleepy New England town where he's living in concealment as a respected college professor. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as the Nazi Franz Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn't wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive--and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. Still, the film's far from a write-off. Welles' eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty's skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clocktower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever. On the DVD: sparse pickings. Both films have a full-length commentary by Russell Cawthorne which adds the occasional insight, but is repetitive and not always reliable. The box claims both print have been "fully restored and digitally remastered", but you'd never guess. --Philip Kemp

• Pitch Black | HD DVD | (12/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The daylight can burn you but the darkness will kill you. From the mind of the writer of 'The Fugitive' comes the pulse-pounding sci-fi thriller 'Pitch Black'. Experience the psychological terror when a group of marooned passengers must face a pack of terrifying creatures whose only weakness is the light. With little power and dwindling numbers the doomed passengers turn to a vicious convict (Vin Diesel) with an appetite for destruction and eerie eyes that can guide them through the darkness.

• Transporter 2 | UMD | (27/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Mercenary Frank Martin, who specializes in moving goods of all kinds, heads home to the United States.

• Armageddon | UMD | (07/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £18.99

• Joe 90 - Vol. 4 - Episodes 19 To 24 | DVD | (11/11/2002) from £14.83   |  Saving you £1.16 (7.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Joe McClaine is a seemingly ordinary 9 year old boy. However his father has developed a marvellous method of transferring special brain patterns into his son's mind that allows Joe to acquire incredible skills. Soon Joe becomes an agent for the World Intelligence Network and uses his extraordinary enhancements to serve justice around the world... Another stunning Supermarionation series from the Gerry Anderson team that brought you 'Thunderbirds' 'Captain Scarlet' and 'Stingray'

• The 5th Commandment | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £8.48   |  Saving you £7.51 (88.56%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The 5th Commandment (Fifth)

• Coraline with Limited Edition 3D Lenticular Sleeve | DVD | (12/03/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Neil Gaiman adapts his own fantasy novel for this stop-motion animated adventure from the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. 11-year old Coraline (Dakota Fanning) must escape an alternate reality where her parents dote on her when this seemingly perfect world starts to turn bad. From Henry Selick the visionary director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling book, comes this spectacular stop-motion animated adventure! Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) is bored until she finds a secret door and discovers an alternate, better, version of her life on the other side. When this seemingly perfect world turns dangerous, Coraline must use her resourcefulness, determination and bravery to save her family.

• The Stranger | DVD | (18/10/1999) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The legendary story that hovers over Orson Welles' The Stranger is that he wanted Agnes Moorehead to star as the dogged Nazi hunter who trails a war criminal to a sleepy New England town. The part went to Edward G. Robinson, who is marvellous, but it points out how many compromises Welles made on the film in an attempt to show Hollywood he could make a film on time, on budget and on their own terms. He accomplished all three, turning out a stylish if unambitious film noir thriller, his only Hollywood film to turn a profit on its original release. Welles stars as unreformed fascist Franz Kindler, hiding as a schoolteacher in a New England prep school for boys and newly married to the headmaster's lovely if naive daughter (Loretta Young). Welles, the director, is in fine form for the opening sequences, casting a moody tension as agents shadow a twitchy low-level Nazi official skulking through South American ports and building up to dramatic crescendo as Kindler murders this little man, the lovely woods becoming a maelstrom of swirling leaves that expose the body he furiously tries to bury. The rest of the film is a well designed but conventional cat-and-mouse game featuring an eye-rolling performance by Welles and a thrilling conclusion played out in the dark clock tower that looms over the little village. --Sean Axmaker

• Beef 2 | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Platinum-selling documentary Beef earned critical and popular success by exploring the history and evolution of verbal warfare in Hip Hop Beef II continues that tradition of informative unbiased and entertaining Hip Hop journalism by bringing the new beefs in the game Featuring: 50 Cent D12 Nelly Ice Cube DMX and other Hip Hop royalty with exclusive archival footage of Eminem LL Cool J and Cypress Hill

• Joe 90 - Vol. 3 - Episodes 13 To 18 | DVD | (11/11/2002) from £17.79   |  Saving you £-1.80 (-11.30%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Joe McClaine is a seemingly ordinary 9 year old boy. However his father has developed a marvellous method of transferring special brain patterns into his son's mind that allows Joe to acquire incredible skills. Soon Joe becomes an agent for the World Intelligence Network and uses his extraordinary enhancements to serve justice around the world... Another stunning Supermarionation series from the Gerry Anderson team that brought you 'Thunderbirds' 'Captain Scarlet' and 'Stingra

• Dirty | UMD | (05/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• Bruckheimer Action Collection | DVD | (22/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  A collection of high-octane action films from uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer! Featured titles: 1.Pirates Of The Caribbean 2.King Arthur - Director's Cut 3.National Treasure 4.Pearl Harbor 5.Con Air 6.The Rock 7.Enemy Of The State 8.Crimson Tide 9.Gone In 60 Seconds - Director's Cut 10.Armageddon Please refer to individual titles for individual castings and synopses'.

• Beef Ii | UMD | (29/08/2005) from £16.61   |  Saving you £-1.62 (-10.80%)   |  RRP £14.99

• Pitch Black | Blu Ray | (25/06/2013) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-12.22 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.77

  Pitch Black is a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations, even though it owes a major debt to Alien and its cinematic spawn. As he did with The Arrival, director David Twohy revitalises a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit to its visceral thrills. Under casual scrutiny, the plot's logic crumbles like a stale cookie, but it's definitely fun while it lasts. A spaceship crashes on a desert planet scorched under three suns. The mostly doomed survivors include a resourceful captain (Radha Mitchell), a drug-addled cop (Cole Hauser) and a deadly prisoner (Vin Diesel) who quickly escapes. These clashing personalities discover that the planet is plunging into the darkness of an extended eclipse, and it's populated by hordes of ravenous, razor-fanged beasties that only come out at night. The body count rises, and Pitch Black settles into familiar sci-fi territory. What sets the movie apart is Twohy's developing visual style, suggesting that this veteran of straight-to-video schlock may advance to the big leagues. Like the makers of The Blair Witch Project, Twohy understands the frightening power of suggestion; his hungry monsters are better heard than seen (although once seen, they're chillingly effective), and Pitch Black gets full value from moments of genuine panic. Best of all, Twohy's got a well-matched cast, with Mitchell (so memorable with Ally Sheedy in High Art) and Diesel (Pvt. Caparzo from Saving Private Ryan) being the standouts. The latter makes the most of his muscle-man role, and his character's development is one more reason this film works better than it should. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Witchouse 2 | DVD | (03/05/2010) from £13.48   |  Saving you £-0.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  She can't (and won't) drive 55.... Stephen King's novel about the twisted love affair between a boy and his car gets transferred to the screen, courtesy of suspense master John Carpenter. Although lacking some of the more outré supernatural elements of the source material, this high-octane cinematic tune-up more than delivers the goods, horror-wise (Christine's midnight rampages will never be forgotten)--as well as being a sly exposé of the random cruelties within the high-school pecking order. Keith Gordon (who has gone on to become a stellar director in his own right, with films such as A Midnight Clear and Mother Night to his credit) gives a wonderfully controlled central performance. Carpenter's atmospheric original score is backed up by a well-chosen collection of rock classics, including George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (the titular character's all-too-apt theme song). --Andrew Wright

• Flipping | DVD | (12/06/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Set in the dangerous and often deadly world of Hollywood’s organised crime scene “Flipping” is a stylish and provocative film noir action thriller. Hooker Shot Dennis and Michael Moore are all enforcers in a small time syndicate run by the cool but psychopathic Leo. Proving themselves time and time again as the executors of Leo’s deranged madness the crew soon believe themselves to be indispensable to Leo and subsequently hatch a plan to reward themselves

• The Stranger | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, "is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture. I did it to prove that I could put out a movie as well as anyone else." True, set beside Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, or even The Trial, The Stranger is as close to production-line stuff as the great Orson ever came. But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. The shadow of the Second World War hangs heavy over the plot. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi, Franz Kindler, to a sleepy New England town where he's living in concealment as a respected college professor. The script, credited to Anthony Veiller but with uncredited input from Welles and John Huston, is riddled with implausibilities: we're asked to believe, for a start, that there'd be no extant photos of a top Nazi leader. The casting's badly skewed, too. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn't wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive--and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. What's more, Spiegel chopped out most of the two opening reels set in South America, in Welles' view, "the best stuff in the picture". Still, the film's far from a write-off. Welles' eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty's skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clock tower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever. On the DVD: not much in the way of extras, except a waffly full-length commentary from Russell Cawthorne that tells us about the history of clock-making and where Edward G was buried, but precious little about the making of the film. Print and sound are acceptable, but though remastering is claimed, there's little evidence of it. --Philip Kemp

• Meeting A Bullet | DVD | (31/01/2005) from £5.18   |  Saving you £7.81 (60.10%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Their mistake was leaving him alive... A dirty cop accuses a young guy of being involved in a string of mob-related murders from Miami to Los Angeles. Meanwhile the kid is weaving his way through mob drive-bys car thefts and petty crimes in L.A.

• Mr And Mrs Smith / Life Or Something Like It | DVD | (25/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Mr And Mrs Smith (Dir. Doug Liman 2005): A sexy action packed thrill ride about a bored married couple who discover that they are enemy assassins... Life Or Something like It:(Dir. Stephen Herek 2002): Lanie Kerrigan (Jolie) is a beautiful blonde reporter for a Seattle news station. With a baseball-superstar boyfriend a wonderful apartment and a job opportunity with a national network in New York Lanie's life is all going according to plan. The only thorn in her side is the cameraman and ex-lover she's been teamed with called Pete (Burns). Pete is funny charming and utterly disinterested in a career much to Lanie's disbelief but the pair have an undeniable chemistry that Pete exploits at every turn. Everything changes for Lanie in an instant when she meets homeless Prophet Jack (Shalhoub) for an interview. After he gives her routine predications about the weather and football scores he breaks the ominous news that she will be dead in seven days...

• The Stranger | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, "is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture. I did it to prove that I could put out a movie as well as anyone else." True, set beside Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, or even The Trial, The Stranger is as close to production-line stuff as the great Orson ever came. But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. The shadow of the Second World War hangs heavy over the plot. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi, Franz Kindler, to a sleepy New England town where he's living in concealment as a respected college professor. The script, credited to Anthony Veiller but with uncredited input from Welles and John Huston, is riddled with implausibilities: we're asked to believe, for a start, that there'd be no extant photos of a top Nazi leader. The casting's badly skewed, too. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn't wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive--and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. What's more, Spiegel chopped out most of the two opening reels set in South America, in Welles' view, "the best stuff in the picture". Still, the film's far from a write-off. Welles' eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty's skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clock tower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever. On the DVD: not much in the way of extras, except a waffly full-length commentary from Russell Cawthorne that tells us about the history of clock-making and where Edward G was buried, but precious little about the making of the film. Print and sound are acceptable, but though remastering is claimed, there's little evidence of it. --Philip Kemp