"Actor: M"

• The Red Squirrel | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Red Squirrel sees Jota, an ex-pop star with a penchant for doing nothing very much, standing on a bridge contemplating suicide. He’s pulled back to reality by a dramatic motorcycle accident and goes to help the victim, an attractive young woman apparently physically unscathed but with severe amnesia. At the hospital he is assumed to be her boyfriend, and so the deception begins, as he invents everything from her name (Lisa) through to the details of their imaginary four-year relationship. Though based on a lie, it gradually becomes real but is Lisa really an amnesiac or is she deceiving the deceiver? Who is the mysterious Felix, leaving pleas on a late-night radio programme to his missing, mentally disturbed 25-year-old wife, Sofia? As an array of incidental characters get drawn in, each seems to be practising their own deceit. This is a beautifully wrought, endlessly thought-provoking film, complemented by Alberto Iglesias's fabulous score. The two leads are superb: as Jota, Nancho Nova is both fey and hypnotic while Elisa (Emma Suárez) is wonderfully whimsical. Not surprisingly, it garnered a whole heap of awards, from Best Foreign Film at Cannes to Best Score at the Goya Awards. And the significance of the title? Red squirrels are, apparently, quick and cunning creatures; just like human beings. On the DVD: The Red Squirrel is presented in Dolby Digital original Spanish soundtrack with option of English subtitles and anamorphic widescreen print. The usual stuff is on offer as special features, including trailers for other world cinema films, filmographies of the director and two leading characters, and a concise but considered analysis of the plot.--Harriet Smith

• To Joy | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of Ingmar Bergman's key early works - directed when he was just 30 years old - To Joy explores some of the themes that would come to chracterise many of his later films: the incompatibility of spouses and the responsibility of artists. Marta and Stig both play in an orchestra conducted by Sonderby. Their relationship is a happy one and they soon decide to get married and have children. However things begin to turn sour when Stig begins a sordid affair that threatens to dest

• Poor White Trash | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Linda lives in a poor trailer park. Her teenage son needing money to go to college resorts to petty crime. However far from discouraging him Linda helps her son upgrade his criminal activities...

• Le Dernier Combat | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £9.95   |  Saving you £3.04 (30.55%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Le Dernier Combat (1983) finds Luc Besson setting out his directorial convictions in vividly direct terms. He honours the French New Wave through spartan, documentary-style presentation and--save for possibly the two most meaningful "Bonjours" in cinema history--the total absence of dialogue, appropriate for a film in which devastation has robbed survivors of the power of speech. The action centres on Pierre Jolivet, good-guy in a society where vigilantism and subjugation are the primary tools of survival. Gladiatorially clad Jean Reno makes a characteristic showing as his ruthless opponent, while Jean Bouise is the taciturn doctor who comes to Jolivet's aid. Eric Serra offsets the chill austerity with a motley score of modernist clichés and easy listening soundbites. To be honest, there's little about this film that could be considered ground-breaking, but if a Mad Max scenario filtered through European surrealist sensibilities appeals, then Le Dernier Combat will make absorbing viewing. On the DVD Le Dernier Combat's 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen picture has a suitably stark immediacy, enhanced by the surround sound option. There are no subtitles, hardly a stumbling block in this instance, and no special features apart from the chance to see trailers for two rather different Hollywood productions. There's no directorial commentary, which is a pity, as Besson's subsequent career has been an eventful one and it would have been good to hear him discuss it from the perspective of his first feature. --Richard Whitehouse

• Love (Szerelem) | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £35.12   |  Saving you £-22.13 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This tender black-and-white Hungarian drama takes place in the '50s. A woman's (Mari Torcsik) husband has been arrested by the Hungarian secret police and imprisoned as a dissident. The young wife lives with her mother-in-law (Lili Darvas) a sweet and magnetic woman appears to believe that her son has emigrated to America. Unable to do anything about her husband's imprisonment the daughter-in-law keeps the old woman's good cheer alive by concocting a series of letters from her husb

• Comic Book Confidential | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Hey gang! Check out this comic book movie!!! The only movie with your favourite artists and writers. See Marvel Master Stan Lee brings Spiderman's money worries to life! Hear underground artist Robert Crumb confess why he killed Fritz the Cat! Wonder at congressional hearings from the 1950s ""proving"" the link between comic books and juvenile delinquency! Comic Book Confidential is a funny smart eye popping history that finally gives comic books the respect they deserve.

• Albino Alligator | DVD | (20/12/2004) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Available for the first time on DVD! Deliberate sacrifice for deliberate gain. In Kevin Spacey's directorial debut three desperadoes are trapped by the police in a hole-in-the-wall bar after a robbery gone wrong. The situation escalates to boiling point with unexpected twists and violent consequences.

• Faust | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £27.99   |  Saving you £-8.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Shot in the UFA studios with a big movie star in the lead and all the special effects and production design resources any blockbuster of its time could wish for, FW Murnau's 1926 Faust represents a step up from his better-known Nosferatu. Oddly, Faust is a less familiar film than the vampire quickie and this release affords fans a chance to see what Murnau can do with an equally major fantasy story. Adapted neither from Marlowe's play Dr Faustus nor Goethe's verse drama, the script scrambles various elements of the legend and presents a Faust (Gosta Ekman) driven to summon the Devil by despair as a plague rages through the town, desperate to gain enough learning to help his neighbours. When this deal doesn't quite work out, because he is stoned by townsfolk who notice his sudden fear of the cross, Mephisto (Emil Jannings) offers Faust instead renewed youth and an opportunity to seduce a famously beautiful Italian noblewoman and then to return to his home village and get involved with the pure Gretchen (Camilla Horn). Like most versions of the story, it's episodic and some sections are stronger than others: the great stuff comes in the plague and initial deal sequences, though it picks up again for the tragic climax as Gretchen becomes the central figure and suffers horribly, freezing in the snows and burning at the stake. Jannings' devil, a gruesomely humorous slice of ham, is one of the great silent monster performances, reducing everyone else to a stick figure, and Murnau faces the challenge of topping his Nosferatu imagery by deploying a battalion of effects techniques to depict the many magical journeys, sudden appearances and transformations. On the DVD: Often seen in ragged, incomplete prints projected at the wrong speed, this is a decently restored version, running a full 115 minutes with a complete orchestral score. The original materials show some of the damage to be expected in a film of its vintage, but the transfer is excellent, displaying the imaginative art direction and camerawork to superb advantage. Aside from a nicely eerie menu, the sole extra is a full-length commentary originating in Australia: written by historian Peter Spooner but read by narrator Russell Cawthorne (who mispronounces the odd name). This provides an interesting wealth of background detail, such as Murnau's attempt to cast Hollywood's Lillian Gish as Gretchen, and delivers a balanced assessment of the film itself. --Kim Newman

• The Work Of Director Stephane Sednaoui | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £24.28   |  Saving you £-7.29 (-42.90%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Features nineteen music videos directed by Stephane Sednaoui. Tracklist: Mirwais - I Can't Wait Tricky - For Real Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue Mirwais - Disco Science R.E.M. - Lotus Bjork - Possibly Maybe Alanis Morissette - Ironic Tricky - Pumpkin Garbage - Queer Tricky - Hell is Around the Corner Massive Attack - Sly Youssou N'Dour & Nenah Cherry - Seven Seconds Bjork - Big Time Sensuality Bjork - Big Time Sensuality (new night version) Black Crowes - Sometimes

• R.E.M. - The R.E.M. Collection | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Featuring a triple pack containing: 'Tourfilm' - This is R.E.M.'s first filmed live concert when they were on the cusp of their breakthrough to international success. 'Parallel' - R.E.M. have always received great acclaim for the visual expression of their music. Here are eleven video clips from ten different directors that illustrate the band's vision and diversity in this area. 'This Film Is On' - Ten tracks from REM including: 'Near Wild Heaven' 'Losing My Religion' 'R

• America's Sweethearts / Mona Lisa Smile / My Best Friend's Wedding | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  America's Sweethearts (Dir. Joe Roth 2001): Gwen (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie (John Cusack) are America's Sweethearts two wildly popular celebrities who share their love on and off the screen in this farcical romantic comedy. A messy breakup sends Eddie to a New Age Hollywood healing center and Gwen into the arms of her current affair a Spanish bohunk short on charm (Hank Azaria). When their relationship troubles begin to threaten their superstar celebrity status and the release of their final film together the studio heads call in legendary press agent Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal) to helm the troubled film's press junket. Julia Roberts costars as Kiki Gwen's personal assistant and sister who has always lived to please her demanding diva sister. Once overweight and severely self-conscious Kiki's life revolves around her sister's ridiculous demands in this send up of ego-driven movie star vanity. Phillips manages to gather the warring superstars together at a remote desert location for the all important press junket where his best laid plans begin to unravel in this hysterical parody of the movie industry replete with neurotic actors eccentric crazed directors (Christopher Walken in a gem of a cameo) maniacal studio heads and gossip-starved press who will do anything or anyone for the next big story. Mona Lisa Smile (Dir. Mike Newell 2003): Set in 1953 Katherine Watson (Roberts) is a free-spirited graduate of UC Berkeley who accepts a teaching post at Wellesley College a women-only school where the students are torn between the repressive mores of the time and their longing for intellectual freedom. My Best Friend's Wedding (Dir. P.J. Hogan 1997): Julia Roberts Cameron Diaz Rupert Everett and Dermot Mulroney star in My Best Friend's Wedding a high-spirited romantic comedy that serves up something wild something new sometimes touching and sometimes truly hilarious! Roberts's dazzles as commitment-shy Julianne Potter who suddenly realises she is in love with her best friend Michael (Mulroney). There's just one catch - he's about to marry someone else. Now she has to win him back and with just four days the help of her resourceful boss (Everett) and the benefits of an extremely devious mind Jules will do anything to steal him back - except tell him the honest truth!

• My Blind Date With Life | DVD | (27/11/2017) from £11.20   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the director of the Academy Award nominated film Sophie Scholl, comes the inspiring true story of Saliya (Kostja Ullman, A Most Wanted Man), a promising student who becomes nearly blind as a teenager. Keeping his condition a secret, Saliya lands an apprenticeship in the most prestigious hotel in Munich. Through sheer determination and resilience, he exceeds all expectations. But when Saliya falls in love with Laura (Anna Maria Mühe, Big Girls Don't Cry), the elaborate deception he so carefully put together begins to fall apart.

• Mikey And Nicky | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After he steals money from the mob Nicky (John Cassavetes) finds out that they have put a contract on him. He turns to lifelong friend Mikey (Peter Falk) for help and advice. His friend it transpires is more Judas than saviour as it becomes clear that he might just be the triggerman Nicky has been dreading.This unusual gangster movie takes us 'Sopranos style' into the lives and pastimes of the gangsters we see.Elaine May (Ishtar) directs wonderful performances from Cassavetes and Falk with great back up from Ned Beatty William Hickney and Sandford Meisner.Down those dark streets these men will tread! Film noir and gangster style meet head on.

• Eva | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £8.98   |  Saving you £11.01 (122.61%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Years after a childhood accident leads to the death of his friend a 10 year old blind girl Bo moves to a remote island with his beautiful wife Eva. Troubled by nightmares that figure him as the killer close to him he is in a constant state of anxiety. Then one stormy night he is forced to confront his greatest fears and assume the responsisbility for the lives of those he loves as he rows his pregnant wife to the mainland. Released in 1948 this gripping film was the second Berg

• Narrow Margin | DVD | (26/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A Los Angeles District Attorney (Hackman) is attempting to take an unwilling murder witness (Acher) back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her they board a Vancouver-bound train only to find the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours as theitrain hurls through the beautiful but solated Canadian wilderness a deadly game of cat andmouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death...

• Who The #?&% Is Jackson Pollock? | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £3.64   |  Saving you £10.61 (445.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  She paid five bucks for it. Now she's asking fifty million. Teri Horton is a 73-year-old former long-haul truck driver with an eighth grade education. When she bought a painting in a thrift shop for five dollars she didn't know that it would pit her against the highest and mightiest people in the art world and perhaps change forever the way art is authenticated. Harry Moses' intriguing and humorous documentary about art authentication introduces everyday citizens who have stu

• Samurai X - Vol. 4 | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Known throughout all Japan as the Hitokiri Battousai (sword-bearing master assassin) Rurouni Kenshin is now a lost soul cursed to seek atonement for his bloody past. Even the peace that now exists as a result of Kenshin's sword brings him no solace driving him to wander far from those he loves. His wife Kaoru steadfastly awaits his return as she mourns his absence. Will Kenshin come home before she dies of grief?

• Der Fan | DVD | (08/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Teenager Simone appears to be like any other fan of a rock band. But soon her fixation on the band's lead singer 'R' takes over her life. Simone walks out of school breaks off with her friends and parents and as if sleepwalking somehow finds herself waiting for her idol as he appears on a TV show. As she sees him for the first time she is speechless unable to even ask for his autograph. He notices her and reaches out to touch her. Simone wants nothing more than to love and be lov

• Calamity Jane | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £10.93   |  Saving you £8.05 (101.39%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The TV movie remake of the classic 1953 Oscar winning western this tells the story of the famous cowgirl who could outshoot and top any man at everything in the west along with her up-and down romance with Wild Bill Hickok...

• Strike | DVD | (17/07/2000) from £19.65   |  Saving you £0.34 (1.73%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sergei Eisenstein's debut film is more than a landmark of Soviet cinema; it's easily one of the most thrilling and inventive films to emerge from the silent era of Russian film making. Eisenstein was a theatre director and stage designer with some very specific ideas about the cinema, and he put them into practice telling the story of a worker's strike in pre-Revolution Russia, portraying the struggle not of leader against leader, but of the proletariat against the factory owners, enlivened by a conspiratorial subplot involving a quartet of insidious spies sent to infiltrate the ranks of the workers. The subject matter is at times didactic and the acting often hammy and overwrought, but the technique is vibrant and the images striking. Eisenstein's compositions reflect the graphic boldness of contemporary poster art, mixing poetic realism with grotesque expressionism in a gripping style, and his famous montage editing style (to be perfected in his next film, Battleship Potemkin) is raw, experimental and energetic. Eisenstein's later films are more consistent and elegant, but none of them have the sheer cinematic invention and energy of this first film. The new score, composed and performed by the idiosyncratic Alloy Orchestra, combines a mix of martial and mood music on synthesiser with the driving percussion of drums, wood blocks, bells and wrecking yard of clanging metal objects--a dynamic soundtrack to one of the most auspicious directoral debuts ever. --Sean Axmaker