"Actor: Lois"

• Five Easy Pieces | Blu Ray | (16/11/2020) from £21.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Following JACK NICHOLSON's breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider, director BOB RAFELSON (The King of Marvin Gardens) devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson plays the now iconic cad Bobby Dupea, a shiftless thirtysomething oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper-middle-class childhood home, blue-collar girlfriend (Nashville's KAREN BLACK, in an Oscar-nominated role) in tow, to see his estranged ailing father. Moving in its simplicity and gritty in its textures, Five Easy Pieces is a lasting example of early 1970s American alienation. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography László Kovács, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary featuring director Bob Rafelson and interior designer Toby Rafelson Soul Searching in Five Easy Pieces, a 2009 video piece with Rafelson BBStory, a 2009 documentary about the legendary film company BBS Productions, with Rafelson; actors Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Ellen Burstyn; directors Peter Bogdanovich and Henry Jaglom; and others Documentary from 2009 about BBS featuring critic David Thomson and historian Douglas Brinkley Audio excerpts from a 1976 AFI interview with Rafelson Theatrical trailer and teasers PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones

• James Bond - Goldfinger (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £3.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (325.82%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Heralded as the best Bond movie thus far Goldfinger features some of the most iconic moments in the series to-date. Who could forget Oddjob and his killer hat; Shirley Eaton doused in gold; Or one of the greatest comeback lines in history? James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?Auric Goldfinger: No Mr. Bond. I expect you to die! Special Agent 007 (Sean Connery) has just come face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time. And now he'll have to outwit and outgun this powerful tycoon to prevent him form cashing in on a devious scheme to raid Fort Knox - and obliterate the world economy!

• Moonraker | DVD | (01/10/2012) from £4.52   |  Saving you £8.47 (187.39%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Agent 007 (Roger Moore) blasts into orbit in this action-packed adventure that takes him to Venice, Rio de Janeiro and outer space. When Bond investigates the hijacking of an American space shuttle, he and beautiful CIA agent Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) are soon locked in a life-or-death struggle against Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale), a power-mad industrialist whose horrific scheme may destroy all human life on earth!

• James Bond - Octopussy (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £5.25   |  Saving you £11.74 (223.62%)   |  RRP £16.99

  James Bond (Roger Moore) may have met his match in Octopussy (Maud Adams) an entrancing beauty involved in a devastating military plot to destroy detente. From the palaces of India to a speeding circus train in Germany and a mid-air battle on the wing of a high-flying jet only Agent 007 can stop the nightmarish scheme!

• Dead Man Walking | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £7.73   |  Saving you £8.26 (106.86%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A serious film on a serious subject, Dead Man Walking (1995) is enriched by two excellent performances: Sean Penn as a murderer and rapist facing execution on Death Row, and Susan Sarandon as a nun who visits and befriends him. Tim Robbins, the writer and director of the film (and Sarandon's husband), based the film on a true story, and there's not much narrative tension since it's obvious Penn will not escape his fate. But the film is a clear-eyed look at the realities of capital punishment and its grisly rituals, which at the same time never sentimentalises the people or the issues. There is no shying away from the evil of the murderer's acts and their effects on the victims' families, but this is balanced against the heartlessness and cynicism of those in the prison system and their political masters. It's hard to say whether the film is ultimately against capital punishment; it certainly encourages you to think for yourself. On the DVD: The image and sound quality is excellent, in widescreen ratio 16:9. There's a theatrical trailer and a TV commercial for the film, which also has language tracks in English, French and Spanish and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Dutch and Hungarian. There's also an audio commentary on the film by director Tim Robbins which gives valuable insights into the political background of the film and the shooting process. --Ed Buscombe

• James Bond - Diamonds Are Forever (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Sean Connery made his final - officially-speaking - appearance as 007 in this riveting adventure which would lay the groundwork for Mr Moore's incarnation as the suave super-spy. While investigating mysterious activities in the world diamond market 007 (Sean Connery) discovers that his evil nemesis Blofeld (Charles Gray) is stock-piling the gems to use in his deadly laser satellite. With the help of beautiful smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) Bond sets out to stop the madman - as the fate of the world hangs in the balance!

• You Only Live Twice | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £6.00   |  Saving you £7.25 (152.95%)   |  RRP £11.99

  The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organisation SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilised Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius Willy Wonka?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert (Alfie). But the movie can't hold a candle to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, or Goldfinger. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.comOn the DVD: This was another troubled production according to the insightful "making of" documentary: director and producers luckily avoided boarding a plane out of Tokyo that crashed and killed everyone on board; the Japanese actresses couldn't speak English and one threatened suicide if she was dropped from the part; and the aerial cameraman filming the helicopter fight had his leg sliced off by a rotor blade. Maurice Binder's evocative main title designs are the subject of the second documentary, "Silhouettes", in which his colleagues voiceboth their admiration of his art and frustration at his chaotic working practices. The commentary is another edited selection of interviews with principal cast and crew. An animated storyboard sequence, trailers, radio spots and a handsome booklet add up to another winning entry in this series. --Mark Walker

• Creepshow 2 | Blu Ray | (11/04/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  For Creepshow 2, the quickie 1987 sequel to the Stephen King-scripted/George Romero-directed 1982 original, Romero shifted jobs to become the screenwriter, earning King (who also has a goony cameo as a trucker) a "based on stories by" credit. Cinematographer Michael Gornick stepped up to make an uninspiring directorial debut, turning out a conventional TV-look picture unlike the sometimes striking Creepshow. A frame story mixes live action and cartoon as a small boy leafs through the latest issue of his favourite horror comic while plotting revenge against neighbourhood bullies. A pun-dropping host called the Creep (played by Tom Savini when not a cartoon) introduces three anecdotes. In "Old Chief Wooden Head", George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour are kindly Western shopkeepers killed by tearaways and avenged by the wooden Indian which stands outside the place. In "The Raft", four obnoxious teens are terrorised on a lake by a hungry slime-monster. And in "The Hitch-Hiker", hit-and-run driver Lois Chiles is haunted by her squashed victim, who keeps reappearing in a progressively battered forms. Though King and Romero deliver a good mix of cynical and melodramatic dialogue, the stories are disappointingly thin and predictable, with especially weak punch-lines. Of the performers, only Chiles really works up the hysterical attack needed to play a comic book character. On the DVD: just a trailer. The picture is a fullscreen print that cuts off crucial details in the comic book panels. --Kim Newman

• When The Boat Comes In - Series 1 - Part 1 | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Land Fit for Heroes and Idiots. Ex-Sergeant Jack Ford returns home to Gallowshields on Tyneside after the end of World War One. It is time of economic depression and Jack finds his home town gripped by decline and unemployment. Jack soon falls in with the Seaton family and is determined to make his mark on the world. Originally broadcast on BBC in 1976 this double DVD release of When The Boat Comes In contains the first five episodes from the fondly remembered drama series.

• Five Easy Pieces | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £16.36   |  Saving you £-10.37 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This subtle, existential character study of an emotionally distant outcast (Nicholson) forced to confront his past failures remains an intimate cornerstone of American cinema of the 1970s. Written and directed with remarkable restraint by Bob Rafelson, the film is the result of a short-lived partnership between the filmmaker and Nicholson--the first was the zany formalist exercise, Head, while the equally impressive King of Marvin Gardens followed Five Easy Pieces. Quiet and full of long, controlled takes, this film draws its strength from the acutely detailed, non-judgemental observations of its complex protagonist, Robert Dupea--an extremely crass and frustrated oil worker and failed child pianist hiding from his past in Texas. Dupea spends his life drinking beer and sleeping with (and cheating on) his annoying but adoring Tammy Wynette-wannabe girlfriend, but when he learns that his father is dying in Washington State, he leaves. After the film transforms into a spirited road movie, and arrives at the eccentric upper-class Dupea family mansion, it becomes apparent that leaving is what Dupea does best--from his problems, fears and those who love him. Nicholson gives a difficult yet masterful performance in an unlikeable role, one that's full of ambiguity and requires violent shifts in acting style. Several sequences--such as his stopping traffic to play piano, or his famous verbal duels with a cranky waitress over a chicken-salad sandwich--are Nicholson landmarks. Yet, it's the quieter moments, when Dupea tries miserably to communicate and reconcile with his dying father, where the actor shows his real talent--and by extension, shows us the wounded little boy that lurks in the shell of the man Dupea has become. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com

• Stingray: The Complete Series | Blu Ray | (05/08/2024) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Stingray: The Complete Series Blu-Ray:Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's much-loved Supermarionation series - their first in colour - has been restored in High Definition from original 35mm film elements for this Blu-ray edition! ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR! It is 2065 and the World Aquanaut Security Patrol submarine Stingray patrols the Earth's oceans. Captained by the heroic Troy Tempest and his sidekick Phones, they report to Commander Sam Shore and his daughter Atlanta at their Marineville base. The adventures begin when Troy and Phones are captured by the undersea despot Titan - and their only chance of rescue is Titan's slave, Marina!

• Minority Report | Blu Ray | (17/05/2010) from £7.19   |  Saving you £12.80 (178.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Set in a future where killers are arrested before they commit murder, Tom Cruise stars as a detective accused of a murder that hasn't happened yet who must move quickly to solve the murder and prove his innocence.

• Moonraker | Blu Ray | (14/09/2015) from £5.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (200.33%)   |  RRP £17.99

  James Bond blasts into orbit in this pulse-pounding adventure that takes him from Venice to Rio de Janeiro to outer space! Roger Moore stars for the fourth time as Agent 007 and joins forces with NASA scientist Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) to prevent a power-mad industrialist (Michael Lonsdale) from destroying all human life on Earth

• Deadly Blessing | Blu Ray | (04/09/2017) from £15.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  They ll Build A Barn From Your Bones! Wes Craven unearths the darkness that festers beneath an isolated community in Deadly Blessing, a rural tale of mistrust and bloody murder from the director of Last House on the Left. When Martha marries into a close knit sect she finds herself shunned as an outsider by its fanatical members, but when her husband dies mysteriously while riding a tractor expressly forbidden as a tool of the devil, things take a darker turn. Marked as a incubus by her neighbours, time is running out for Martha and her visiting friends, as plagued by nightmares and fearing for their lives, they face the violent fury and retribution of old time religion. One of Hollywood s masters of terror presents a tale of rural horror and simmering evil from the golden age of video terror.

• Stingray - Complete Series | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £19.99   |  Saving you £40.00 (200.10%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Drums pound, building excitement; the music bursts into life with a cry of "Stingray! Stingray!" Who can resist? Especially when a dramatic voice announces, "Anything can happen in the next half hour!". Stingray (1964) was the show Gerry Anderson made just before he really hit the big time with Thunderbirds (1965), producing 39 episodes of the 21st-century adventures of Troy Tempest--tall, dark and handsome (his voice was based on James Garner) captain of the titular submarine. His mission: to protect the seas on behalf of WASP (World Aquanaut Security Patrol). With complex underwater model and puppet effects, this was ground-breaking television, especially as it was the first UK series to be made in colour, though for years it was only seen in black and white. Special effects director Derek Meddings later graduated to the James Bond movies, while Moneypenny herself (actress Lois Maxwell) voiced Atlanta Shore. Here, just as in the Bond movies, she played second fiddle in our hero's affections, the mute Marina becoming Stingray's sex-goddess. The end-credits even featured a song in her honour, "Aqua Maria", which became an international hit. As for the bad guys: half-man, half-fish Titan and his Terror Fish wage dastardly war against humanity and the peaceful underwater citizens of Pacifica. Four decades on the model and underwater sequences still impress, and surely much of the inspiration for the underwater city in The Phantom Menace came from locations in Stingray. Whether as bizarre 60s nostalgia, or winning a new generation of fans, Stingray remains eccentric cult family entertainment. --Gary S Dalkin

• Dr No (Special Edition) | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £5.78   |  Saving you £9.21 (159.34%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Released in 1962, this first James Bond movie remains one of the best and serves as an entertaining reminder that the Bond series began (in keeping with Ian Fleming's novels) with a surprising lack of gadgetry and big-budget fireworks. Sean Connery was just 32 years old when he won the role of Agent 007. In his first adventure James Bond is called to Jamaica where a colleague and secretary have been mysteriously killed. With an American CIA agent (Jack Lord, pre-Hawaii Five-O), they discover that the nefarious Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) is scheming to blackmail the US government with a device capable of deflecting and destroying US rockets launched from Cape Canaveral. Of course, Bond takes time off from his exploits to enjoy the company of a few gorgeous women, including the bikini-clad Ursula Andress. She gloriously kicks off the long-standing tradition of Bond women who know how to please their favourite secret agent. A sexist anachronism? Maybe, but this is Bond at his purest, kicking off a series of movies that shows no sign of slowing down. --Jeff ShannonEdition details Inside Dr. No (PG) Terence Young: Bond Vivant Audio commentary featuring director Terence Young and members of the cast and crew 1963 Dr No "featurette" Dr. No gallery of pictures Radio advertising Trailers for Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger Goldfinger and Dr. No TV advertising On the DVD: "He was James Bond," remarks several interviewees of the late Terence Young, the suave, globetrotting, hard-living director who played a major role in defining the look, humour and tailoring of the Bond movies, making the extras on this DVD something of a cinematic festschrift to his talents. Since this was the first film in the franchise, the "making of" featurette goes into some detail about the Ian Fleming novels and how Sean Connery came to be cast, and made-over, by Young. The featurette also has excerpts from one Young's last interviews, spliced together with observations from his daughter, Ursula Andress (Honey Rider) and many of the other actors, production-designer Ken Adam, composer Monty Norman and host of other talents who took part in the making of the film. Many of their quotes are integrated into the commentary track. Also included is an amusing black and white doc from 1963 narrated by a podgy guy with specs who appears to be cousin of Harry Enfield's Mr. Cholmondley-Warner. --Leslie Felperin

• For Your Eyes Only | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £4.89   |  Saving you £15.10 (308.79%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After the lavish, effects-heavy splash of Moonraker, the twelfth Bond film and the seventh with Roger Moore concentrates more on core car-chase-and-crumpet values, evoking an almost retro feel that harks back to the first pressings of the Bond vintage in the 1960s. Starting to look a little wrinkly around the edges by this point, Roger Moore toughens his usually smarmy act up here with a gratuitous bit of killing, casually kicking a baddie and his car over a precipice, reviving memories of the ruthless streak with which Sean Connery made his name. Good old-fashioned Cold War politics lie at the heart of the plot, concerning a weapons system hijacked in the Mediterranean Bond must rescue. He's assisted by the exquisite Carole Bouquet, the only actress in history who can claim to have been both a 'Bond girl' and the star of a Luis Buñuel movie (That Obscure Object of Desire). Sadly, this is the first film to lack Bernard Lee's spymaster M, the actor having died beforehand, although British comedienne Janet Brown is on hand for an amusing Margaret Thatcher impersonation. --Leslie FelperinOn the DVD: The first audio commentary here is another one of those edited selections of interviews with sundry cast and crew members, tied together by an over-earnest host. Producer Michael G Wilson and others provide a somewhat more illuminating second commentary track. Once again the best extra feature is the "making of" documentary, which gives an almost scene-by-scene breakdown of the movie. The animated storyboard sequences will appeal to filmmaking aficionados. Avoid, if at all possible, the Sheena Easton video of arguably the most forgettable Bond song of all time (both song and score were perpetrated by series newcomer Bill Conti, not the estimable John Barry). --Mark Walker

• East Of Eden / Rebel Without A Cause / Giant | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £41.95   |  Saving you £-0.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  Giant (1956): George Stevens' sweeping Oscar-winning epic about the cataclysmic effect the discovery of oil in Texas has on the lifestyle of the former cattle barons. Dean is Jett Rink a sullen-farm hand who becomes a millionaire overnight. Tough always angry restless bewildered and reckless Rink's animal charm and tycoon's magnetism means he always gets his way. But when he fails in love with Leslie he loses his way with an equal violence... East Of Eden (1955): J

• Agatha Christie's Death On The Nile | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-6.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Poirot (Peter Ustinov) has a set of murder suspects on a boat in the Nile after a rich heiress is killed. Can he find the culprit before they reach port?

• The Great Gatsby | DVD | (08/12/2003) from £11.19   |  Saving you £7.79 (95.00%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Perhaps no movie could capture F Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby in its entirety, but this adaptation, scripted by Francis Ford Coppola, is certainly a handsome try, putting costume design and art direction above the intricacies of character. Robert Redford is an interesting casting choice as Gatsby, the millionaire isolated in his mansion, still dreaming of the woman he lost. And Sam Waterston is perfect as the narrator, Nick, who brings the dream girl Daisy Buchanan back to Gatsby. The problem seems to be that director Jack Clayton fell in love with the flapper dresses and the party scenes and the jazz age tunes, ending up with a Classics Illustrated version of a great book rather than a fresh, organic take on the text. While Redford grows more quietly intriguing in the film, Mia Farrow's pallid performance as Daisy leaves you wondering why Gatsby, or anyone else, should care so much about his grand passion. The effective supporting cast includes Bruce Dern as Daisy's husband, and Scott Wilson and Karen Black as the low-rent couple whose destinies cross the sun-drenched protagonists. (That's future star Patsy Kensit as Daisy's little daughter.) The film won two Oscars--not surprisingly, for costumes and musical score. --Robert Horton