"Actor: L 225"

• Q And A | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A grim, disheartening view of the underside of city life, Q & A is a legal drama with a disturbing twist. Not exactly a whodunit--the guilt of policeman Nick Nolte is established early on--the plot follows the closing of the circle around him. Leading the murder investigation is Timothy Hutton’s young, idealistic district attorney Al Reilly, who finds himself battling a fraudulent and cynical culture. Racism, corruption and political machinations are all added to the mix, resulting in a film that is just a little too dense and slow moving to capture the imagination. Director Sidney Lumet creates a feeling of enveloping darkness around Hutton, who slowly manages to let the light in and bring the truth to the surface. With an obviously small budget, the film has more of a made-for-television feel than that of a big blockbuster and some of the performances err too much on the side of cliché. The concept of the New York melting pot is fairly effectively dismissed by the film, painting a picture of distrust between communities that often spills into verbal and physical violence. Not quite as unremittingly bleak as Harvey Kietel’s Bad Lieutenant, Q & A is still a tough, dark piece of cinema. On the DVD: Q & A is very much a film of the night, with much of the action taking place either in the shadows or in rooms with harsh, artificial light. The picture on the DVD reflects that perfectly, although the lack of budget is hard to disguise. The soundtrack quality is good, if not startling, but there are no extras aside from the movie’s theatrical trailer. All in all, it’s a fairly average package. --Phil Udell

• Lowriders (Includes Digital Download) | DVD | (28/08/2017) from £4.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A young street artist in East Los Angeles is caught between his father's obsession with lowrider car culture, his ex-felon brother and his need for self-expression.

• Colonel Redl | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In the early part of the 20th Century Alfred Redl (Klaus Maria Brandauer) ruthlessly rises from his peasant background to become a high-ranking member of the Imperial Austrian Military. But when Redl is sent to spy on the Russian Empire his espionage is compromised by his secret double life as a homosexual. As the world perches on the brink of war Redl finds himself trapped in a web of deception where honor grandeur and greed can only be betrayed by one final shocking act of fate. Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine) co-stars in this remarkable epic written and directed by Istvan Szabo (Sunshine) that became Szabo and Brandauer's internationally acclaimed follow-up to their Oscar-winning classic Mephisto (1981 Best Foreign Language Film).

• Confidence | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £6.44   |  Saving you £11.55 (179.35%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A consumate con-man, Jake Vig (Edward Burns) has just pulled his biggest trick yet. But then he finds out he's conned an eccentric crime boss Winston King (Dustin Hoffman) and there'll be more than hell to pay.

• Shalako | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A group of ultra-civilised European aristocrats on a hunting tour of New Mexico have to face a violent conflict with the real West...

• Monteverdi: L'Orfeo -- Savall | DVD | (31/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  For this production of L'Orfeo, stage director Gilbert Deflo attempts to recreate the atmosphere of the first performance of Monteverdi's 1607 opera in the plush 19th-century setting of Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu. On the whole he's extremely successful: the scenery consists of painted flats which are used imaginatively (Caronte's cavern is a particular coup de theatre) and the delightful costumes look like ancient Hellenic robes viewed through a 17th century lens. What's most remarkable, though, is the sensitive level of recording, for the light orchestral textures and small voices only once, in the Caronte scene, seem to get swamped by the gilt and velvet. Jordi Savall, looking uncannily like Monteverdi himself, conducts with energy and draws some committed, focused playing from the band. Zanasi makes a fine Orfeo, but all the voices have all the graceful and limpid qualities that are standard now in early music, and the whole company gets the stylised acting manner demanded by the production just right without becoming too arch. On the DVD: L'Orfeo is presented in 16:9 anamorphic ratio, with a choice of Dolby Surround Sound or LPCM Stereo. Within the limitations of a live relay from a large theatre, the picture quality is excellent: the colours of the costumes seem particularly vivid. There are subtitles in English, French, German and Spanish. Special features include an interview with the stage director, an illustrated synopsis and a gallery of cast photos. --Warwick Thompson

• Solas | DVD | (26/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Lauded in its native Spain on its release, Benito Zambrano's Solas is a touching portrayal of loneliness and redemption. At its centre is the strained relationship between Maria and her mother Rosa, brought together by Maria's estranged father's illness. Rosa (brilliantly played by Maria Galiana) not only discovers a world very different from her village existence but also finds her daughter's life in disarray--racked with frustration, bitterness and fuelled by alcohol. As the film develops, the two find their relationship not only beginning to grow but also influenced by the arrival of their elderly neighbour, played by Carlos Álvarez Novoa. All three find a new purpose to their lives and, while students of feminism may find Maria's path a little debatable, Ana Fernádez brings the audience on her journey in heart touching fashion. The darkness of tone throughout only makes the subsequent brightness all the more blinding and the result is without doubt a deeply moving piece of cinema. --Phil Udell

• Knight's Tale, A / The Princess Bride / The Mask Of Zorro | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Knight's Tale: Heath Ledger is William Thatcher a peasant squire who breaks all the rules when he passes himself off as a nobleman and takes the jousting world by storm. The only thing that stands between William and his dream of becoming the world champion of this most extreme of competitions is the bad boy of the sport Count Adhemar. And when the two rivals go lance to head at the world finals to determine who will be named the ultimate champion you'd better arm yourself and hang on tight for the thrill ride of your life! Princess Bride: A young boy confined to bed with the flu is less than thrilled when his grandfather (Peter Falk) arrives to read him the story of The Princess Bride. It tells the adventures of Buttercup the most beautiful woman in the world and Westley the man she loves in the fairy-tale kingdom of Florin. When Buttercup is kidnapped Westley has to overcome some pretty tough obstacles if he is to rescue her from the clutches of three kidnappers - scaling the cliffs of insanity battling rodents of unusual size facing tortue in the Pit of Despair... True Love has never been a snap. Mask Of Zorro: With The slash of a steel blade and the mark of a 'Z' he defends the weak and exploits and avenges the wrongs committed against them... It has been twenty years since Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) successfully fought Spanish oppression in Alta California as the legendary romantic hero Zorro. He transforms troubled bandit Alejandro (Antonio Banderas) into his successor in order to stop the tyrannical Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) who robbed him of his freedom his wife and his precious daughter Elena (Catherine Zeta Jones) all those years ago.

• Neruda | Blu Ray | (10/07/2017) from £6.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Chile, 1948: Senator Pablo Neruda, diplomat and future Nobel Prize-winning poet, accuses the government of betraying the Communist Party and is swiftly impeached. Pursued by the police, Neruda and his artist wife are forced into hiding and an intimate game of cat and mouse begins. In Europe, the legend of the poet hounded by the policeman grows and artists led by Picasso call for his freedom. Neruda, meanwhile, inspired by his transformative new life as a fugitive, writes his epic collection of poems, Canto General, capturing the turmoil of a Latin America in crisis. Paying homage to a mercurial creator who is impossible to pin down in conventional biography, this playful, inventive feature by Oscar-nominated Pablo Larrain is the story of the escape, the investigation and the literary legend of a man once hailed as the greatest poet of the 20th century . Starring Luis Gnecco and Gael Garcia Bernal, the film plays out like a road movie, inviting us to soar alongside Neruda in his poetry, his memory, and his deeply held sometimes paradoxical political ideals.

• The Adventures Of Pluto Nash | DVD | (10/03/2003) from £5.49   |  Saving you £8.50 (154.83%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Adventures of Pluto Nash was shelved for nearly two years, and when it was finally released, hardly anyone noticed. In the interim, Eddie Murphy made the marginally better Showtime and started fishing for a career revival that wasn't a sequel to his previous hits. In the satirical, lunar-colony hash of Pluto Nash, Murphy's a variant of Casablanca's Rick Blaine in the year 2087, happily running the moon's hottest nightclub, refusing a buyout offer from a greedy gambler, and suffering the consequences with his sidekick robot (Randy Quaid in yet another thankless role) and newest employee (Rosario Dawson, before doing similar time in Men in Black II). A visual hybrid of Total Recall and A.I., this nearly laughless comedy would be a total write-off if it weren't for Murphy's stalwart attempt to jump-start the flagging humour. He's got the chops of a superstar, but only when his collaborators are on the same page. --Jeff Shannon

• Nazarin | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From acclaimed director Luis Bunuel comes another tale about morality and the church. Nazarin is one of Brunuel's quartet of adaptations of the great 19th century Spanish writer Benito Perez Galdos and with Simon Of The Desert forms the best of his explorations of religion. The story told in the manner of a Christian parable is about a humble and unworldly priest who attempts to live by the precepts of Christianity but is despised for his pains. The film was ambiguous enough to win the International Catholic Cinema Office Award - a supreme irony for the cinema's most famous anti-Catholic atheist - and also won the Grand Prix Internationale at the 1959 Cannes film festival// The theme of the impossibility of leading a pure Christian life was further explored in Viridiana (1961).

• The 355 UHD BR: 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (08/04/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Prime Suspect 3 | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £9.98   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Transferred from Southampton Row to the Soho Vice Squad D.C.I. Tennison's first priority in the new job is 'Operation Contract' - a large-scale clean-up of prostitutes in the area. However the charred body of 17 year old rent boy Colin Jenkins is discovered in the burnt-out flat of transexual cabaret artiste Vera (Peter Capaldi) and once again Tennison finds herself embroiled in the politics of the latest homicide case as she tackles homophobia and perceptions of gender and sex both within and outside the police force.

• Into the West | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  She's called 'Tir na nOg' because she came from a land under the sea. A magical white horse. Why she came was a mystery to all except Ossie and Tito two small boys who living day to day in a soulless slum with their dejected father Papa Reilly knew Tir na nOg had come for a special reason. When the horse is taken by the police and sold to a cruel farmer Hartnet the boys decide to steal Tir na nOg and escape to the west. But Ossie and Tito hadn't bargained for an agitated police force and a menacing posse of Hartnet's men. Only Papa Reilly can save his sons from ill fortune... but then maybe that was Tir na nOg's intention all along.

• What Have I Done To Deserve This? | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £8.57   |  Saving you £9.42 (109.92%)   |  RRP £17.99

  An erotic and bizarre black comedy which follows a typical Spanish housewife with rather atypical family problems! Nazis homosexuality drug dealing extra-marital affairs and a plot to forge Hitler's diaries: everything you'd expect from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar's fourth film!

• Price Of Glory | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £6.55   |  Saving you £13.44 (67.20%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Price of Glory a promising young boxer is knocked out of contention thanks to a sleazy manager who cashed out on his potential by pushing him into a big-money fight before he was ready. Thirteen years later that very same boxer, Arturo Ortega (Jimmy Smits), has three sons whom he's training to be boxers too. His schoolteacher wife wants to make sure they get good grades, but Arturo is sure that boxing is their best chance to get out of the barrio. Flash-forward another 10 years, and the training is paying off. The three boys, Jimmy (Clifton Collins Jr.), Sonny (Jon Seda), and especially Johnny (Ernesto Hernández) have grown into smart and talented boxers. Obviously, Arturo is a good and a tough trainer, but the question of whether he's got his own or his sons' best interests at heart arises when a slick promoter (Ron Perlman) offers him big money first for his sons' contracts and then for a series of title fights. Price of Glory does an admirable job of riding that conundrum throughout, offering no easy answers. There is solid acting throughout and it's nice to see such a Latino-heavy cast, but at just over two hours the pace lags and the central themes are repeated one or two too many times. Aside from a late subplot about corruption and violence that comes across as a bit contrived, this is a good family film about boxing. --Andy Spletzer, Amazon.com

• Otello - Verdi | DVD | (12/04/2004) from £15.85   |  Saving you £1.14 (7.19%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Filmed at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1995 this rendition of Verdi's 'Otello' is beautifully crafted by leading stars Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming. This was the first major success for Fleming at the Met and as this release illustrates she tackled the character of Desdemona wonderfully.

• Carlos Saura - Carmen / Flamenco / Tango | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  This box set features a collection of films directed by the Spanish maestro Carlos Saura. Tango: A 1998 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film Carlos Saura's incomparable vision of dance and music is woven around the Latin passion of the Tango. In this sensual motion picture evocatively photographed in stunningly rich and vivid colours by legendary Vittorio Storaro cinematographer of 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Last Emperor' tells the passionate struggle of choreograph

• Most Haunted - The Best Of Most Haunted Live Vol. 1 | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £8.64   |  Saving you £11.35 (131.37%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A double DVD with more than 5 hours of spine-tingling footage from the four top-rating 'Most Haunted' live events!

• Bear Club | DVD | (23/01/2006) from £14.98   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.07%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Parenthood is about to get a little hairier! Pedro (Jos Luis Garca-Prez) is an attractive and homosexual dentist who lives a sexually active lifestyle. He offers to take care of his 9 year-old nephew Bernardo (David Castillo) for two weeks while the child's mother Pedro's older sister Violeta (Elvira Lindo) goes off to India with her latest ""hippie"" boyfriend. Pedro modifies his sexual behavior but quickly finds out that Bernardo is extremely comfortable and mature in