"Actor: Melissa"

• Conviction/ Never Let Me Go Double Pack | DVD | (04/06/2012) from £7.27   |  Saving you £5.72 (78.68%)   |  RRP £12.99

  ConvictionHilary Swank gives another tremendous performance--steely, determined, vulnerable--in the courtroom/family drama Conviction. The film is based on a real case, of Betty Anne Waters (Swank), who as a last resort puts herself through law school to take on the case of her brother, Kenny (Sam Rockwell, also outstanding). Kenny is convicted of murder, despite a weak prosecution case, but Betty Anne can't get any lawyer to explore a retrial or appeal. Director Tony Goldwyn (Dexter, Damages) keeps the action moving along crisply and believably, even during the almost interminable stretches of Kenny's imprisonment. The terrific script by Pamela Gray (Music of the Heart) weaves in occasional shadows of doubt about whether Kenny is actually innocent, so that a story that could be formulaic is anything but. The viewer isn't sure most of the way through Conviction if Kenny is guilty or not--but is completely swept up in Swank's incredible performance depicting Betty Anne's own conviction--that "you do anything for your family. Period." As she did in Boys Don't Cry, Swank puts her own gritty spin on a real-life character, whom she inhabits like a second skin. Her Betty Anne is a blue-collar pit bull, and her sheer determination is itself a force of nature. The supporting cast of Conviction also shines, including Minnie Driver as Betty Anne's law school pal, and an especially effective Juliette Lewis playing Kenny's broken-down ex-girlfriend, who's buried some secrets of her own. Also a standout is Melissa Leo as the policewoman whose initial arrest of Kenny might have been loaded with her own agenda. The chemistry, especially between Rockwell, a man very nearly defeated after years behind bars, and Swank, is palpable and will capture the viewer in intense dramatic territory that won't be soon forgotten. --A.T. Hurley Never Let Me GoIn adapting Kazuo Ishiguro's celebrated novel, director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and screenwriter Alex Garland (Sunshine) transform dystopian fiction into period drama by presenting an alternate past in which people routinely live beyond 100--at a cost to those who make it possible. In the 1970s, Kathy (Isobel Meikle-Small) and Ruth (Ella Purnell) attend Hailsham, a British boarding school where Miss Emily (Charlotte Rampling) holds sway--and no one ever mentions their parents. When new teacher Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky) arrives, she reaches out to the awkward Tommy (Charlie Rowe), with whom Kathy becomes close--until jealous Ruth steals him away. Then Lucy reveals what will happen when they leave. By the 1980s, Kathy (a poignant Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) live in the country until they're ready to fulfill their purpose. With Ruth and Tommy an item, Kathy becomes a carer, a sort of social worker. Over the years, the three go their separate ways until the 1990s, by which point their time will run out unless they can arrange for a deferral. Throughout, Romanek never presents alternate points of view; the audience experiences this brave new world only through the eyes of its sheltered protagonists. If the story raises issues that recall Orwell, the unhurried pace echoes The Remains of the Day, Merchant Ivory's Ishiguro adaptation. Similarly, Never Let Me Go is a work of great skill and compassion, but make no mistake: it's also very, very depressing. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Sabrina The Teenage Witch - Series 3 | DVD | (15/09/2008) from £18.56   |  Saving you £6.43 (34.64%)   |  RRP £24.99

  When Sabrina Spellman is informed by her aunts Hilda and Zelda that she is a witch on her 16th birthday she is hesitant to believe them. Having been sent to live with them in Massachusetts by her Warlock father and mortal mother Sabrina has to learn the tricks of magic in order to receive her witch's license. Along the way she gets into many scrapes while figuring out how certain spells work. She also has to keep the secret from her boyfriend Harvey friends Jenny and later Valerie stuck-up nemesis Libby and her ever-suspicious vice-principal Mr. Kraft.

• Sabrina The Teenage Witch - Series 5 | DVD | (14/09/2009) from £17.96   |  Saving you £20.02 (133.73%)   |  RRP £34.99

  When Sabrina Spellman is informed by her aunts Hilda and Zelda that she is a witch on her 16th birthday she is hesitant to believe them. Having been sent to live with them in Massachusetts by her Warlock father and mortal mother Sabrina has to learn the tricks of magic in order to receive her witch's license. Along the way she gets into many scrapes while figuring out how certain spells work. She also has to keep the secret from her boyfriend Harvey friends Jenny and later Valerie stuck-up nemesis Libby and her ever-suspicious vice-principal Mr. Kraft.

• Lowriders (Includes Digital Download) | DVD | (28/08/2017) from £3.85   |  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.

• 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.

• Nine Dead | DVD | (28/03/2011) from £4.19   |  Saving you £5.80 (58.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  I have brought the nine of you here for a reason. Your survival depends on you figuring out what that reason is. I will return every ten minutes and kill one of you until you figure out why I have brought you here or until you are all dead. Communication is the key to survival for nine strangers who have been abducted by a masked gunman and told that one of them will die every ten minutes until they discover how they are all connected. Can their differences and prejudices be put aside? Will they figure out the answer? Who lives and who dies? Only time will tell. You have ten minutes...

• Farscape 1.1 | DVD | (28/02/2000) from £5.98   |  Saving you £19.01 (317.89%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds--in Dolby Digital 5.1) like every penny made it to the screen. In this handsome box set, two discs contain the first four episodes of the first season, completely uncut. In "Premiere", astronaut John Crichton is inadvertently catapulted into a parallel universe where he is taken on board the bio-mechanical ship Moya and meets the inhabitants: D'Argo, a seven-foot-tall Luxan warrior, Zhaan, a blue-skinned Delvian priestess, and the diminutive slug-like Rygel, the Henson Creature Shop's proudest creation. Another humanoid (and potential love interest), formidable-yet-sexy Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, joins soon after. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up. In episode 2, "Throne for a Loss", Rygel's devious side is developed further as he gets the crew into trouble when he "borrows" a crystal crucial to the operation of the ship and is kidnapped by some unpleasant characters. Disc Two opens with the wittily titled "Back and Back and Back to the Future", the obligatory time-travel episode, followed by "I, E.T.", in which Crichton feels the force of his earlier comment: "Boy did Spielberg get it wrong. Close Encounters, my ass." On the DVD: Disc One includes a "making of" documentary, with comments from the cast, Brian Henson and producer Rockne S. O'Bannon (the man also responsible for Alien Nation and SeaQuest), plus a profile of principal character John Crichton. Disc Two profiles Aeryn Sun and has the original trailer and DVD-ROM extras (screensaver and weblinks). --Mark Walker

• Soul Survivors | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The story tells of Cassie, a college student plagued by hallucinations that her boyfriend has come back to life after he is killed in a car crash.

• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch - The Sixth Season | DVD | (22/03/2010) from £13.99   |  Saving you £21.00 (150.11%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Season 6

• Dark Matter - Season 1 & 2 Boxed Set | DVD | (10/10/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  In DARK MATTER Season One, the crew of the Raza, a derelict spaceship, awakens with no memories of who they are or how they got there. Facing threats at every turn, they have to work together to survive a voyage fuelled by vengeance, betrayal and hidden secrets. In Season Two, the crew find themselves prisoners on the Hyperion-8 Maximum Security Galactic Detention Facility. They are soon embroiled in an intergalactic conspiracy, seeking a mysterious device that may hold the key to victory in a looming all-out corporate war. With nonstop action and spectacular visual effects, DARK MATTER was made by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, the creators of the graphic novel of the same name and the executive producers and writers of STARGATE. This DVD set includes all 26 episodes from Seasons One and Two as well as 26 accompanying mini-featurettes.

• Vampires | DVD | (12/10/2015) from £6.19   |  Saving you £9.80 (158.32%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Responding to an advert looking for people to take part in a 30-day medical trial, 5 young couples arrive at an old castle in an unknown location. They are told that they cannot have any contact with the outside world or they'll forfeit their £20,000 prize money. Confident that they can win, the couples agree to the terms. However, shortly after their arrival, unexplainable events begin to occur within the castle. At first, the challengers dismiss it as a test of their nerves by the organisers but things soon take a sinister turn and the group is forced to fight for their survival

• Zombeak | DVD | (01/03/2010) from £6.15   |  Saving you £1.10 (22.49%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Zombeak

• Escapee | DVD | (27/02/2012) from £5.67   |  Saving you £7.32 (129.10%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Starring Dominic Purcell (Prison Break) as a psychotic criminal who escapes from a secure hospital and embarks on a murderous spree in search of a specific female target.

• Cradle Of Fear | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £19.98   |  Saving you £-13.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Cradle Of Fear is a modern horror anthology. A gruesome mix of four stories all linked by the tale of Kemper a child killer and eater who despite being incarcerated uses his ally in the outside world to reap revenge on those who imprisoned him. That ally is The Man (Dani Filth) a deranged dark spectral character who leaves a foul trail of death in his wake.

• Sabrina The Teenage Witch | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  She's young pretty athletic and turning sweet sixteen. It's on her 16th birthday that Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) will discover that she's been given the gift of magic! Discover Sabrina The Teenage Witch in the delightful movie that launched the successful TV series!

• Farscape: Complete Season 1 (Box Set) | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  The first series of Farscape was a revitalising tonic for TV SF. An ambitious coproduction of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape launched itself with a refreshing mix of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry to take a visual leap beyond other genre shows. The witty scripts, too, peppered with double-entendres and pop-culture references, are light years away from the staid style of Star Trek. Admittedly, the first season's basic premise is simply Buck Rogers updated (American astronaut John Crichton, played by Ben Browder, is catapulted to a far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew initially have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it all look and feel completely original. --Mark Walker

• Komodo | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £22.98   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  I think they're contesting our place in the food chain", quips an Imperilled teen at an especially low moment of Komodo, a regulation trapped-with-monsters straight-to-video quickie. There was a millennial blip of such nature-on-the-rampage horrors in the year 2000 and Komodo settles comfortably onto the shelf with King Cobra, Blood Surf, They Nest, Crocodile, Spiders and Octopus. If you've seen all of them, you'll probably want to see this too--but don't say we didn't warn you. Komodo familiarly packs a few no-name actors to an island supposedly off the shore of Carolina (actually somewhere in Australasia and has them menaced by CGI creatures, then fighting back and beating the beasts. Though the title gives away the nature of the menace, ex-effects technician-turned-director Michael Lantieri keeps the monsters off-screen and purportedly mysterious for half the running time. Teenage Patrick (Kevin Zegers) is traumatised by the deaths of parents (and his dog) and retreats into an amnesiac fugue, but his psychiatrist Victoria (Jill Hennessy) brings him back to the site of the tragedy to stir his memories. It turns out that the local evil oil company has always known that a bunch of giant, flesh-eating lizards were on the loose but kept quiet about it for nebulously nefarious purposes. Oates (Billy Burke), a rebellious company minion, hooks up with Patrick (who shows unexpected resourcefulness in whipping up lizard traps) and the shrink and they have a last-reel confrontation with the monsters that allow for some very distant echoes of Jurassic Park. The CGI and model work is seamless but the monsters have too little personality and, despite their voracious appetites, require all manner of contrivances to bring their victims within snapping distance. Nice bit at the end though with a gory if not dramatic finale. --Kim Newman

• The Butterfly Tree (2017) | Blu Ray | (24/09/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Eureka Entertainment to release THE BUTTERFLY TREE, a visually magical and heartfelt tale of love and loss starring Melissa George, as part of the MONTAGE PICTURES range in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition on 24 September 2018. Inspired by a friend whom director Priscilla Cameron lost to breast cancer, The Butterfly Tree is a sexual coming of age story which is both an emotionally seductive and beautifully immersive experience. Teenager Fin (Ed Oxenbould) and his father Al (Ewen Leslie) are both grieving the loss of Fin's mother, who committed suicide 3 years earlier. Al seeks comfort in the arms of other women, whilst Fin secretly blames him for his mother's death. When the exotic Evelyn (Melissa George) arrives in town, both father and son find themselves competing for her affections, and realise they must come to terms with their shared grief or risk losing each other forever. The debut feature from the Australian director is a heart-warming story which has received acclaim for its stunning visuals. Eureka Entertainment is proud to present the film in its UK debut as part of the Montage Pictures range of world cinema titles. Features: 1080p presentation (with a progressive encode on the DVD) DTS-HD MA 5.1 and LPCM Stereo soundtrack options Optional English subtitles Interviews with the cast & crew 12-page collector's booklet Alternate Sleeve

• Mr Woodcock | DVD | (28/01/2008) from £2.59   |  Saving you £17.40 (671.82%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Seann William Scott and Billy Bob Thornton star in this comedy about a man who finds his Mum is to marry the gym teacher who terrorised him at school.

• Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service - Series 2, Volume 1 | DVD | (20/07/2015) from £10.56   |  Saving you £-4.57 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Postman Pat Special Delivery Service features 8 new episodes including Postman Pat and Cowboy Colin Postman Pat and Big Bob Bell and Postman Pat and the Runaway Bees.