"Actor: Mary McDonnell"

• Dances With Wolves | DVD | (23/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Dances with Wolves is the film that sent director-producer-actor Kevin Costner on his hubristic way; yet it is such a resonant and powerful film that we can almost forgive him for inflicting upon us his later "epic" The Postman. Here Costner plays a Union solder stationed at the far edges of the West, and left there to rot at his post. He finally sees the wisdom of the Lakota Sioux and finds peace within their community. But his decision to "go native" is greatly frowned upon by his military commanders, and the subsequent culture clash forms the backbone of the narrative. The story is told simply, and wastes not one word of dialogue, while the South Dakota locations provide a magnificent backdrop. Costner is sympathetic and accessible as an American Everyman who awakens to himself and the world around him... --Rochelle O'Gorman, Amazon.com

• Independence Day: Theatrical And Extended Cut | 4K UHD | (30/05/2016) from £19.42   |  Saving you £0.35 (1.80%)   |  RRP £19.77

  If you’ve got your high definition television set up, and your Blu-ray player or Playstation 3 at the ready, then surely home cinema demo material rarely comes in better shape than Independence Day. The spectacular 1996 blockbuster stars Will Smith in the early part of his movie career and, of course, tells the tale of invaders from other worlds bringing mighty ships to the Earth. And particularly in the first half, Independence Day wrings so much tension and style from their arrival that few films have equalled it since. The sheer spectacle of set pieces such as the blowing up of the White House, or the massive battle in the skies, simply deserves to be seen and enjoyed in high definition. Independence Day, of course, does go a bit daft as it goes about wrapping up its simple-yet-compelling premise, but it’s really very hard not to forgive it. So ambitious were the effects at the time that they still stand up now, and as far as science fiction blockbusters go, this remains one of the finest in recent memory. Of course, high definition does it wonders. The film looks razor-sharp, and coupled with a punchy sound mix, Independence Day is quite superb demo material. That it’s also a fun blockbuster too is an added, and very welcome treat. --Jon Foster

• Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  ""47 875 survivors in search of a home called Earth."" ""The cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan."" The Sci-fi Channel's hottest TV series returns as Battlestar Galactica 2.0 blasts onto DVD. As the epic second season begins the fight to save humanity rages on - even as civil war looms within the fleet between the followers of President Roslin and Commander Adama. Relive all the intensity and exciteme

• Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Series | Blu Ray | (21/09/2009) from £37.19   |  Saving you £-2.19 (N/A%)   |  RRP £35.00

  The complete set of all five series of the TV smash hit Battlestar Galactica. Following a devastating attack on their homeworlds the only surviving humans of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol cross the galaxy in a space convoy headed by the Battleship Galactica. In hot pursuit are the ruthless Cylons powerful robots who turned on their human creators and brought about the near annihilation of mankind. The voyagers' last hope is to find the fabled 13th colony: Earth. But with their nemeses in hot pursuit and the revelation that the artificial machines now have the ability to take human form it's going to be very far from an easy quest.

• Matewan | Blu Ray | (04/04/2022) from £13.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Written and directed by John Sayles, this wrenching historical drama recounts the true story of a West Virginia coal town where the local miners' struggle to form a union rose to the pitch of all-out war in 1920. When Matewan's miners go on strike, organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his film debut) arrives to help them, uniting workers white and black, Appalachia-born and immigrant, while urging patience in the face of the coal company's violent provocations. With a crackerjack ensemble castincluding James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, and Will Oldhamand Oscar-nominated cinematography by Haskell Wexler, Matewan taps into a rich vein of Americana with painstaking attention to local texture, issuing an impassioned cry for justice that still resounds today.

• Donnie Darko (film only) | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £4.98   |  Saving you £-1.73 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Highschooler Donnie is plagued by visions of a giant evil rabbit who orders him to commit acts of violence and predicts the impending end of the world.

• Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Series | DVD | (25/01/2010) from £59.99   |  Saving you £-35.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (25 Discs)

• Dances with Wolves (Three Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (11/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Kevin Costner's 1990 epic won a bundle of Oscars for a moving, engrossing story of a white soldier (Costner) who singlehandedly mans a post in the 1870 Dakotas, and becomes a part of the Lakota Sioux community who live nearby. The film may not be a masterpiece, but it is far more than the sum of good intentions. The characters are strong, the development of relationships is both ambitious and careful, the love story between Costner and Mary McDonnell's character is captivating. Only the third-act portrait of white intruders as morons feels overbearing, but even that leads to a terribly moving conclusion. Costner's direction is assured, the balance of action and intimacy is perfect--what more could anyone want outside of an unqualified masterpiece? --Tom Keogh

• Independence Day 2 Film Collection | Blu Ray | (14/11/2016) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Independence Day One of the biggest box office hits of all time delivers the ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all-out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of mankind. Independence Day: Resurgence Twenty years after mysterious aliens nearly wiped out humankind, they're back with a vengeance in the explosive sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence! Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth developed a vast defence program to protect the planet. But nothing could prepare us for the next invasionand only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can save our world from extinction!

• Battlestar Galactica - The Mini Series | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £8.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (44.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Despite voluminous protest and nitpicking criticism from loyal fans of the original TV series (1978-80), the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica turned out surprisingly well for viewers with a tolerance for change. Originally broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel in December 2003 and conceived by Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus Ronald D Moore as the pilot episode for a "reimagined" TV series, this four-hour mini series reprises the basic premise of the original show while giving a major overhaul to several characters and plot elements. Gone are the flowing robes, disco-era hairstyles, and mock-Egyptian fighter helmets, and thankfully there's not a fluffy "Daggit" in sight... at least, not yet. Also missing are the "chrome toaster" Cylons, replaced by new, more formidable varieties of the invading Cylon enemy, including "Number Six" in hot red skirts and ample cleavage, who tricks the human genius Baltar! into a scenario that nearly annihilates the human inhabitants of 12 colonial worlds. Thus begins the epic battle and eventual retreat of a "ragtag fleet" of humans, searching for the mythical planet Earth under the military command of Adama (Edward James Olmos) and the political leadership of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), a former secretary of education, 43rd in line of succession and rising to the occasion of her unexpected Presidency. As directed by Michael Rymer (Queen of the Damned), Moore's ambitious teleplay also includes newfangled CGI space battles (featuring "handheld" camera moves and subdued sound effects for "enhanced realism"), a dysfunctional Col. Tigh (Michael Hogan) who's provoked into action by the insubordinate Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), and a father-son reunion steeped in familial tragedy. To fans of the original BG series, many of these changes are blasphemous, but for the most part they work--including an ominous cliffhanger ending. The remade Galactica is brimming with smart, well-drawn characters ripe with dramati! c potential, and it readily qualifies as serious-minded science fiction, even as it gives BG loyalists ample fuel for lively debate. --Jeff Shannon

• Donnie Darko - Director's Cut (Two Disc Set) | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Highschooler Donnie is plagued by visions of a giant evil rabbit who orders him to commit acts of violence and predicts the impending end of the world.

• Battlestar Galactica: Razor | DVD | (26/12/2007) from £13.05   |  Saving you £2.94 (22.53%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A two-hour Battlestar Galactica special that tells the story of the Battlestar Pegasus several months prior to it finding the Galactica.

• Independence Day | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £3.90   |  Saving you £8.09 (207.44%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Sequel to the 1996 blockbuster 'Independence Day'. Enemy aliens return to earth.

• Donnie Darko | Blu Ray | (09/01/2017) from £16.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Donnie Darko is a thought-provoking, touching and distinctive offering from relative newcomer, Richard Kelly (II). It's 1988 in small-town America and Donnie, a disturbed teenager on medication and undergoing psychoanalysis for his blackouts and personality disorders, is being visited by a being in a rabbit suit whom he calls Frank. It's this anti-Harvey that saves Donnie from being crushed to death when an airplane engine falls from the sky onto his house. This is the beginning of their escalating relationship, which, as Donnie follows Frank's instructions, becomes increasingly violent and destructive. Added to this is Frank's warning of the impending apocalypse and Donnie's realisation that he can manipulate time, leading to a startling denouement where nearly everything becomes clear. "Nearly everything", because Donnie Darko is a darkly comic, surreal journey in which themes of space, time and morality are interwoven with a classic coming-of-age story of a teenage boy's struggle to understand the world around him. The film leaves the viewer with more questions than it answers, but then that's part of its charm. Performances are superb: Jake Gyllenhaal underplays the mixed-up kid role superbly and Donnie's episodes of angst positively erupt out of the screen. There are also some starry cameos from Mary McDonnell as Donnie's long-suffering mother, Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham, the personal-development guru with a terrible secret, and Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore as Donnie's progressive teachers. Undoubtedly too abstruse for some tastes, Donnie Darko's balance of outstanding performances with intelligent dialogue and a highly inventive story will reward those looking for something more highbrow than the average teenage romp. --Kristen Bowditch

• Dances With Wolves | DVD | (12/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Rewarded for his heroism in the Civil War Lt. John Dunbar (Costner) wants to see the American Frontier before it is gone. He is assigned to an abandoned fort where a Sioux tribe is his only neighbour. Overcoming the language barrier and their mutual fear and distrust Dunbar and the proud Indians gradually become friends. Eventually he falls in love with the beautiful Stands With A Fist (McDonnell) a white woman raised by the tribe. He learns the culture of the Sioux lives with them and even experiences the breathtaking excitement of a buffalo hunt but his knowledge of the fate that will ultimately befall the tribe torments him. Finally he is faced with a crucial decision that will cause him to examine his heart and soul before making a heroic choice that determines his destiny.

• Independence Day | Blu Ray | (30/05/2016) from £7.93   |  Saving you £10.06 (126.86%)   |  RRP £17.99

  In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Day is the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesn't even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day is a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the film's heroes--played by Will Smith--just happens to run across the president's injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smith's character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. --Tom Keogh

• Donnie Darko | Blu Ray | (13/12/2021) from £29.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fifteen years before Stranger Things combined science fiction, Spielbergian touches and 80s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the template and the high-water mark with his debut feature, Donnie Darko. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium. Donnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend, a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days, 06 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowly avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank's maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum. Described by its director as The Catcher in the Rye as told by Philip K. Dick, Donnie Darko combines an eye-catching, eclectic cast pre-stardom Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, heartthrob Patrick Swayze, former child star Drew Barrymore, Oscar nominees Mary McDonnell and Katharine Ross, and television favourite Noah Wyle and an evocative soundtrack of 80s classics by Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears and Duran Duran. This 4K restoration by Arrow Films allows a modern classic to receive the home video treatment it deserves.

• Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (2004) | Blu Ray | (24/03/2025) from £56.66   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Donnie Darko | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Highschooler Donnie is plagued by visions of a giant evil rabbit who orders him to commit acts of violence and predicts the impending end of the world.

• Dances With Wolves | Blu Ray | (26/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Rewarded for his heroism in the Civil War Lt. John Dunbar (Costner) wants to see the American Frontier before it is gone. He is assigned to an abandoned fort where a Sioux tribe is his only neighbour. Overcoming the language barrier and their mutual fear and distrust Dunbar and the proud Indians gradually become friends. Eventually he falls in love with the beautiful Stands With A Fist (McDonnell) a white woman raised by the tribe. He learns the culture of the Sioux lives with them and even experiences the breathtaking excitement of a buffalo hunt but his knowledge of the fate that will ultimately befall the tribe torments him. Finally he is faced with a crucial decision that will cause him to examine his heart and soul before making a heroic choice that determines his destiny.