"Actor: King"

• National Security | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £5.96   |  Saving you £0.03 (0.50%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Although it's enjoyable as a brainless diversion, National Security is one of those forgettable entertainments that denies its own considerable potential. It's a police action comedy in the mould of Beverly Hills Cop, tailored to the buddy-flick formula and laced with racial tensions of the post-Rodney King era. It's set in Los Angeles, where dedicated cop Hank (Steve Zahn) does jail time for allegedly beating Earl (Martin Lawrence), whose only real assailant was an overzealous bumblebee. As fate and lazy screenwriting would have it, the two adversaries reunite as security guards, teaming up to crack a team of violent smugglers led by bleached-blond Eric Roberts (further proof that this movie's got nothing new to offer). Routine stunts distract from the comedy's mostly untapped resource: Lawrence pointedly riffs on racial profiling, and his prolific ad-libs play well against Zahn's by-the-book straight man. If their partnership had been allowed to develop more believably, National Security might have been more than a blip on the box-office radar. --Jeff Shannon

• Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best - Series Two | DVD | (16/01/2012) from £20.23   |  Saving you £5.76 (28.47%)   |  RRP £25.99

  The Hairy Bikers continue their mission to savour Britain’s best family recipes as they travel up and down the country in search of mums and their recipe books – often handed down from generation to generation. On the way, they hear the stories and prepare the food, heart-warming, stomach-filling family favourites including Meat and Potato Pie, Grandma Lassie’s Dock Pudding, Welsh Cakes, Saltfish and Ackee, Dutch Pea Soup, Tortillas, Stuffed Cabbage, Chicken Pie, Paella, Diggers and more… much more! In each episode the mums join the Bikers at the Recipe Fair to share their best recipes, while members of the public bring theirs; and food historian Gerard Baker tests cooking skills of the Bikers – and the unsuspecting public. It’s a feast of cooking fun as the Hairy Bikers continue to prove without a doubt that Mums Know Best!Bonus Feature: The Hairy Bikers Mums Know Best at Christmas. The Bikers are looking for Christmas-minded Mums and festive foods as they prepare an unforgettable feast with homemade decorations and a special Christmas Recipe Fair.

• Starlings | DVD | (09/07/2012) from £15.28   |  Saving you £4.71 (30.82%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Meet the Starlings: Granddad has recently moved in, following a rabble rousing incident at the old folks' home. Rather than see him unhappy, his son Terry and wife Jan, decide to put him up in their already crammed family home. Making room for him is Charlie, their 16 year old football crazy tomboy daughter; work-shy, reptile enthusiast, Gravy, beautiful Bell (and her brand new baby, Zac, who arrives bang on time for the first episode.Then there's Bell's ex-boyfriend, Reuben, desperate to get back together with her. Uncle Loz, Granddad's long lost son, is the artist of the family. Last but not least, Jan's nephew, Fergie who offers to bivouac in the garden, after being made homeless when his long suffering partner chucks him out.

• Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For (Blu-ray 3D) | Blu Ray | (30/01/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Monte Carlo/ Ramona and Beezus Double Pack | DVD | (04/06/2012) from £6.24   |  Saving you £8.01 (160.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Monte CarloA graduation trip to Paris and a case of mistaken identity coincide to give three Texan girls an overseas adventure they'll never forget. Friends Grace (Selena Gomez) and Emma (Katie Cassidy) are going on a trip to Paris to celebrate Grace's graduation, but find themselves saddled with Emma's soon-to-be stepsister Meg (Leighton Meester), who's just about as different from Emma and Grace as is humanly possible. The trip starts out rushed and much less glamorous than the girls anticipated, but when Grace is mistaken for British heiress Cordelia Winthrop Scott, the girls suddenly find themselves in the lap of luxury and wind up at a charity event in Monte Carlo. Along the way, each of the girls meets a boy who helps them to mature and discover what's truly important in their lives. This movie has essentially been done before (think The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Cheetah Girls 2), and even with the star power of Gomez, this rendition pales in comparison. Throw in the unlikely pairing of Cassidy and Gomez as friends and contemporaries despite their significant age difference, and the abrupt personality switch that Meester's character undergoes, and the whole film comes off as pretty unbelievable to those over 12-years-old. However, tweens are likely to find the characters and situation enticing enough, especially when combined with the draw of Disney Channel icon Gomez, to earn the film a passing score. (Ages 10 to 12) --Tami Horiuchi Ramona and BeezusBeverly Cleary fans will love Ramona and Beezus, a peppy, affectionately directed film based on the series of Cleary's children's books, starring the adorable, awkward Ramona Quimby. Ramona and Beezus manages to appeal to three distinctly different audiences--tweens, because of its heroine, played with winsome agility by the adorable Joey King; teens, because of the presence of actress-singer Selena Gomez as Beezus (short for Beatrice), the hapless Ramona's older sister; and adults, because of the great casting of the girls' parents, Bridget Moynahan and especially John Corbett. There's also a romantic sub-story involving Ramona's Aunt Bea, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, and a neighbour, Hobart (Josh Duhamel). But the star of this film, as with the Cleary books, is Ramona, the imaginative, active, creative, and sometimes lost-in-her-own-world 9-year-old, whose best intentions have a funny way of nearly always going awry. Ramona and Beezus is adapted from several of Cleary's books, and readers will recognise many of Ramona's escapades and mishaps. And perhaps surprisingly, they knit together to make a fine, cohesive family film--the cast interacts well together, especially King and Gomez, whose sisterly chemistry is adorable. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, including a really, really bad cooking incident, and the most creative accidental paint job ever perpetrated on a Jeep. But there's pathos too, and real family emotion, and there are a few teary scenes that make Ramona and Beezus that much more endearing. My 10-year-old companion pronounced it "awesome," "believable," and "really, really funny, with good music." Beverly Cleary fans of all ages will agree. --A.T. Hurley

• Love And Action In Chicago | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £6.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Eddie Jones (Courtney B. Vance) is a professional hit man for the US government. He is the most efficient and enthusiastic eliminator they have ever hired. His female boss Middleman (Kathleen Turner) wants Eddie to have a life outside of the job. She sets him up on a blind date with a beautiful friend Lois (Regina King). She has no idea of what Eddie does for a living and is soon madly in love with him. When Lois is caught in the middle of a hit Eddie is forced to tell her the truth.

• Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons - Vol. 2 - Episodes 7 To 12 | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £9.42   |  Saving you £6.57 (69.75%)   |  RRP £15.99

  First broadcast in 1967, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was the most grown-up of all Gerry Anderson's SuperMarionation adventures. There are gadgets and toy-friendly machines galore, of course--like the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, the Angel Aircraft and Cloudbase itself--but, unlike the colourful fantasies of Stingray and Thunderbirds, this series' concern with an implacable, vengeful enemy, conspiracies and double-agents drew its inspiration from James Bond and the Cold War spy dramas of the 1960s. Special effects whiz Derek Meddings imbues the action sequences with a truly Bondian grandeur and, like the sinister Spectre of the Bond films, the Martian Mysterons seem all the more hostile for their unseen presence, their agents infiltrating every organisation dedicated to their destruction just as it seemed the Soviets were doing at the time. The indestructible Captain Scarlet is killed then resurrected every week (though not like South Park's Kenny), and more often than not the unstoppable Mysterons emerge triumphant, and always undefeated. The varied cast of Spectrum agents and their voice characterisations also aim at verisimilitude (Captain Scarlet, voiced by Francis Matt hews, sounds like a grim Cary Grant), while the puppetry is more realistic than ever. Now with newly remastered picture and Dolby 5.1 surround sound, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons still looks and sounds like the epitome of 60s cool. --Mark Walker

• Enemy Of The State | DVD | (05/01/2001) from £7.64   |  Saving you £5.35 (70.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after a chance meeting with a college buddy (Jason Lee) at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the lawyer, he's just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman's assassination. Hot on the tail of this tape is a ruthless group of National Security Agents commanded by a belligerently ambitious fed named Reynolds (Jon Voight). Using surveillance from satellites, bugs and other sophisticated snooping devices, the NSA infiltrates every facet of Dean's existence, tracing each physical and digital footprint he leaves. Driven by acute paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a clandestine former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman) and Enemy of the State kicks into high-intensity hyperdrive. Teaming up once again with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun director Tony Scott demonstrates his glossy style with clever cinematography and breakneck pacing. Will Smith proves that there's more to his success than a brash sense of humour, giving a versatile performance that plausibly illustrates a man cracking under the strain of paranoid turmoil. Hackman steals the show by essentially reprising his role from The Conversation--just imagine his memorable character Harry Caul some 20 years later. Most of all, the film's depiction of high-tech surveillance is highly convincing and dramatically compelling, making this a cautionary tale with more substance than you'd normally expect from a Scott-Bruckheimer action extravaganza. --Jeremy Storey

• Divas - VH1 - Live | DVD | (07/12/1998) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Strutting through the audience, the indomitable Tina Turner opens VH1's Divas Live 99 by launching into "Simply the Best", proving she still is. She and honorary diva Elton John belt out an energetic version of "The Bitch is Back", but the highlight is when Turner teases the captivated audience during the slow, sultry opening of "Proud Mary". A sexy dervish on stage, Turner easily out-swaggers her younger backup singer-dancers. Cher joins her to wrap up the classic hit, then segues into her own set in which she seems breathless, but you can't help admire her staying power (four decades!) and forgive her. Diva-in-training Leann Rimes performs "How Do I Live" with a sure, powerful voice. Next to her, Brandy is pleasant but unexciting. Her breathy rendition of "Everything I Do I Do for You" is disappointing, but it picks up when Faith Hill enters. Adding a passion and conviction that young Brandy can't yet muster, Hill grounds the song. Über-diva Whitney Houston gives us the drawn-out vocal gymnastics for which she's famous. Self-effacing she's not, but the girl can hold a note like nobody's business. Mary J Blige matches Houston in a charged "Ain't No Way". Divas Live 99 is a benefit for Save the Music, VH1's project to stress the importance of music education in American public schools. Though not as stunning as the previous year's Divas Live, it's still an enjoyable concert from some of music's favourite performers. --Dana Van Nest, Amazon.com

• Ariadne Auf Naxos | DVD | (02/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Strauss's opera 'Ariadne Auf Naxos' performed by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Artists include: Jessye Norman Kathleen Battle Tatania Troyanos and James King. Conducted by James Levine.

• The House Of Mirth | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £15.98   |  Saving you £-5.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The crushing pressures of social conformity have always been a central concern of Terence Davies' movies, so Edith Wharton's astringent novel of innocence destroyed makes an ideal choice for him. Set in the edgy, nouveau riche ambience of 1900s New York, the story traces the downfall of the lovely but imprudent Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson) in a world where hypocrisy and predatory vice lurk behind genteel facades. Wharton (whose later novel The Age of Innocence was brilliantly filmed by Martin Scorsese) has an acute feel for the subtleties of social nuance, the way insiders and outsiders are defined, and Davies skilfully renders these hints and insidious judgments in cinematic terms. Working to a tighter budget than most period dramas, he turns his limitations to advantage. The film's never in danger of being swamped by the gorgeousness of its sets and costumes, or turned into an exercise in easy nostalgia. The northern austerity of Glasgow effectively stands in for New York. Throwing off the mantle of Scully (from The X-Files), Gillian Anderson gives a powerful and wholly convincing performance as Lily, movingly despairing as her options are closed off one by one; and there's a fine portrayal of self-satisfied brutality from Dan Aykroyd as the chief agent of her downfall. --Philip Kemp

• Bad Girls - Series 2 | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Few television dramas of recent years have managed to combine quality and popularity as successfully as Bad Girls. Series two of the women's-prison drama offers essentially more of the same, but the formula is so well honed that it would be churlish to complain. The main characters and storylines are still there, with the relationship that began between Nikki and Helen (Mandana Jones and Simone Lahbib) at the end of the first series brought eloquently and stylishly to centre stage--a result of both superb writing and performance. The show is given fresh impetus by the constant introduction of new characters. The resulting plot lines see the growing influence of the superb Yyvonne, the unhinged prison officer Di and a new wing governor Karen Betts added to the equation, all with explosive results. The mixture of humour and drama is, as ever, played to perfection.On the DVD: Having set an impressive standard with the DVD release of series one, Bad Girls continues to lead the field for television drama releases. Again the packaging of the four-disc set is handy but extremely stylish and comes with a whole series of extras. The documentary this time follows the cast on a promotional trip to South Africa and there are two galleries of photographs, deleted scenes, production and cast notes and a mass of outtakes that beg the question how they ever actually managed to make one programme, let alone the 13 included here, without the whole cast convulsing with laughter. --Phil Udell

• Higher Learning | DVD | (06/01/2003) from £16.79   |  Saving you £-3.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Director John Singleton's Higher Learning follows three very different freshman students in their first term of university who find themselves having to reassess their lives and confront such thought-provoking issues as prejudice racism and sexism... Former high school track star Malik Williams finds that instead of cruising through his first year of an athletic scholarship he's actually going to have to run faster and harder in order to make the grade. Naive Kirstin Conne is il

• Prisoner Cell Block H - Best Of Prisoner Cell Block H | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  For the women of Wentworth life is tough on the 'inside'. Battling the system and often each other the women must learn to adjust to life behind bars the best they can. Captured in this box set are three DVDs jam-packed with some of the best episodes from the entire series. Sit back and enjoy over nine hours of Wentworth drama... Episodes comprise: 1. The Early Years: Bea Smith rules the roost in this collection of early episodes featuring the famous tunnel escape

• Cowboy | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £6.03   |  Saving you £13.96 (231.51%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Cowboy is both a sturdy Delmer Daves picture--his third with Glenn Ford, following Jubal and 3:10 to Yuma--and also one of the most offbeat Westerns ever. It must be the most true to form too, with Frank Harris's memoirs as the source and a picaresque screenplay by Edmund H. North and Dalton Trumbo (a blacklistee, credited only posthumously). There's a pileup of oddities and complications at the outset, with Chicago hotel clerk Harris (Jack Lemmon) already in mid-romance with a daughter of the Mexican aristocracy (Anna Kashfi--Mrs Marlon Brando at the time), and Texas cattleman Tom Reese (Ford) storming in to commandeer an entire floor of the hotel for him and his drovers so they can party 'till, well, the cows come home. Partying is curtailed when Reese loses big at cards; Harris bails him out with his savings, and Reese finds he's taken on not only an unwanted partner but a tenderfoot besides. Soon everyone is headed south. Cowboy merits its bedrock title. This is a rare Western in which the job of breaking horses, trail herding, and so on, figures as a dynamic aspect of the storytelling. The film also has a blunt and original way of looking at death, not as a genre convention but as something abrupt, ungainly, and often absurd, in both senses of the word. (This applies equally to men and cattle, by the way.) The camerawork is trim, angular, and somehow precarious, and the jagged editing hustles the very eventful proceedings to a close in barely an hour and a half. Saddle up. --Richard T. Jameson, Amazon.com

• Back Home | DVD | (27/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  World War II has ended and evacuess are returning home to their families. One such evacuee is Rusty Dickinson who is met at the docks by her mother Peggy after spending five years away in America. It has been a time of dramatic transformation and everyone must learn to adapt to both the changes in the family and their surroundings. Peggy has a new found independence she has spent the war working for the Women's Voluntary Service raising Charlie - the younger brother whom Rusty

• Stonewall | DVD | (01/08/2016) from £7.79   |  Saving you £7.20 (92.43%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Stonewall is a drama about a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall riots. Danny Winters is kicked out of his parents home and flees to New York, where he befriends Ray and a group of street kids. As Danny and his friends experience discrimination, endure atrocities and are repeatedly harassed by the police, we see a rage begin to build. This emotion runs through the entire community of young gays, lesbians, drag queens and trans people who populate the Stonewall Inn and erupts in a storm of anger. With the toss of a single brick, a riot ensues and a crusade for equality is born.

• Submerged | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £4.96   |  Saving you £15.03 (303.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  He found the enemy...but on the wrong side! Chris Kody (Steven Seagal) the world's best mercenary is freed from prison... but there is a catch. Kody must use his lethal weapons and fighting skills to stop a group of terrorists who have taken over a nuclear submarine...

• The Anderson Tapes | DVD | (06/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An early example of the techno-thriller, The Anderson Tapes--sharply directed by Sidney Lumet from the novel by Lawrence Sanders--follows just-out-of-stir Duke Anderson (a balding Sean Connery) as he plots the heist of an entire New York apartment building, enlisting a crew that includes Martin Balsam as a vintage 1971 gay stereotype and a very young Christopher Walken in perhaps the first of his jittery crook roles. The gimmick is that Anderson has been out of circulation so long that he doesn't realise his mafia backers are only supporting him because they feel nostalgic for the days before they were boring businessmen and that the whole setup is monitored by a criss-crossing selection of government and private agencies who don't care enough to thwart the robbery, which instead becomes unglued thanks to a gutsy young radio ham. With a cool Quincy Jones score, very tight editing, a lot of spot-on cameo performances from the likes of Ralph Meeker as a patient cop, this hasn't dated a bit: it's wry without being jokey and suspenseful without undue contrivance. On the DVD The Anderson Tapes offers a nice anamorphic transfer, a few trailers and various foreign language options. --Kim Newman

• Bill Wyman - Bill Wyman's Blue Odyssey | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-2.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Over 3 hours of footage featuring Bill Wyman personally interviewing such luminaries as BB King Buddy Guy and Sam Phillips in a global journey documenting the history of blues music. Plus footage of The Rolling Stones performing the Robert Johnson classic 'Love In Vain'.