"Actor: Ken McCluskey"

• The Commitments | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £11.90   |  Saving you £-5.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Available for the first time ever on Blu-ray, from acclaimed director Alan Parker comes the award-winning film that took the world by storm. Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) knows he's the world's greatest band manager.... now he just needs a band. Auditioning everyone he can find, Jimmy gathers ten of the most talented, least experienced musicians from the rough streets of working-class Dublin with a plan to launch the greatest Irish Soul band in the world. It s a joyful mixture of great characters, super dialogue and wonderful music (The Sun); foul-mouthed, fast-talking and very funny (Time Out); with a soundtrack from soul paradise (Daily Telegraph. One of the greatest films in the last 50 years (BBC Movie Connections), Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your working class hands together for the saviours of soul... The Commitments. 25th Anniversary Special Edition comes with a digital copy - yours to download, watch and own. SPECIAL FEATURES Digital Copy 25 Years Later: All-New Interviews with Alan Parker and Cast Audio Commentary with Alan Parker Four Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes Music Video Image Galleries Collectible Booklet

• The Commitments - 25th Anniversary Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (19/09/2016) from £19.95   |  Saving you £5.04 (25.26%)   |  RRP £24.99

  As enjoyable now as it was when it was originally released at the start of the 90s, Alan Parker’s The Commitments is the tale of an Irish soul band, from start through to very messy finish. There are several reasons why it works so well. The first is a corking script by Roddy Doyle (who wrote the book the film is based on) in conjunction with British sitcom legends Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (Dad’s Army, among many other credits). Extremely witty and the rock-solid foundation for the film, the script is then enhanced by a selection of super performances from then-unknown actors (most of whom have never enjoyed the same success again). And then there’s the factor that the film is most fondly remembered for, the quite brilliant music. Not for nothing did The Commitments generate two top-selling soundtrack albums, and the inspired choice of classic numbers are as enjoyable to hear now as they were then. From "Mustang Sally" and "Chain of Fools" through to the quite sublime take on "Try A Little Tenderness", you wouldn’t say the music makes the film, but it does significantly lift it. In short, The Commitments is a film that time has been kind to, and one that remains as downright entertaining and enjoyable as it always was. This Special Edition DVD is a great way to get into it all over again…--Simon Brew

• The Commitments | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £6.95   |  Saving you £6.04 (86.91%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An irresistible, comic drama from director Alan Parker (Evita, Mississippi Burning), overflowing and alive with passion, humor and music, The Commitments showcases some old R&B standards in a new light. A headstrong, fast-talking, ambitious young Dubliner (Robert Arkins) fancies himself a promoter of talent, and sets about assembling and packaging a local Irish R&B band. His group of self-absorbed, backbiting, but stunningly talented individuals begin to succeed beyond his wildest dreams, until petty jealousies and recrimination threaten to scuttle the whole deal. A moody, vivid and soulful exploration of the Dublin club scene as well as a showcase for some wonderful unknown actors, the film (and its wonderful soundtrack) also features the actual band covering classic soul tunes from the likes of Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. It's that combination of soul and soul music that makes The Commitments a special little film. --Robert Lane, Amazon.com --This text refers to the VHS edition of this video

• The Big Tease | DVD | (12/03/2001) from £21.25   |  Saving you £-7.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Anyone who's suffered the misfortune of stumbling upon Kevin Allen's nauseous debut Twin Town--a ramshackle Trainspotting transposed to the cinematic slag heap of Swansea--will be pleasantly surprised by this gentle sophomore effort. The Big Tease follows gay Glaswegian hairdresser Crawford Mackenzie (Craig Ferguson), a flamboyant character who stays just the right side of caricature, as he heads to LA to represent bonny Scotland in the World Freestyle Hairdressing Championship. Only there's a hitch: once in Hollywood, Crawford discovers he's only been invited to be a spectator at the event, which means the huge hotel bill he's racked up will have to come out of his own pocket. Undeterred, the stubborn stylist sets about gaining a union card and, ultimately, entry to the competition, frantically trying to establish Beverly Hills contacts with a mind to pulling a few much-needed strings. Allen's movie is an interesting hybrid, half Hollywood satire (the greed, the self-importance, the insincerity) and half sports-movie with a twist (events inevitably lead to a climactic showdown, as Crawford goes blade-to-blade with the wonderfully pompous Norwegian champ). And yet, by and large, it works, the loquacious Ferguson giving us someone to hold onto in a slippery world populated by disdainful creeps, his probity alone ensuring our heartfelt support come competition night. The filmmakers' decision to opt for a "mockumentary" format à la The Blair Witch Project and Drop Dead Gorgeous also pays dividends, for it is Crawford's candid confessions to camera that allow us to navigate beyond his carefully constructed plumage and discover the person beneath.--Jamie Graham