"Actor: Michael Jackson"

• Mysterious Island | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Notable neither for its director nor its stars, Mysterious Island has been given the widescreen DVD treatment rather because of its special-effects man, the legendary Ray Harryhausen. And though his input here is minimal compared with other movies, his stop-motion contributions add zest to a cracking good yarn. A gang of American Civil War soldiers hijack a hot-air balloon and escape from the frying-pan of a military prison to the fire of a deserted tropical island. When a couple of English girls are washed ashore and a legendary nautical figure resurfaces, the scene is set for a ripping survival adventure, taking in weighty theories of political democracy, equality and cowardice, and still managing to add a healthy dollop of stirring music, dodgy accents, old-fashioned sexism, pirates, giant bees, a giant crab and a fearsome, err, giant chicken. Harryhausen's eighth feature contains all the elements that make his movies great, and the pacey script, based on the Jules Verne novel, has you gripped from the off. One of his more modern-feeling early films, the colour film stock, the exotic settings and wider stable of stars (black and English actors feature alongside a pre-Clouseau Herbert Lom) move it forward an era from his dated black-and-white schlock-fests. Gripping, erudite and easily on a par with the more well-known Sinbad and Argonauts movies, this is one to be marooned with. On the DVD: Mysterious Island's colour picture is bright, clean and crisp in this anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, and the Dolby digital mono soundtrack is clear enough. The theatrical trailer will please the kitsch fans, as will the featurette "This Is Dynamation" produced at the same time as the first Sinbad movie. The real corker here though is the generously lengthy documentary "The Harryhausen Chronicles". Narrated by Leonard Nimoy, it features a stellar cast of devotees (George Lucas among them) waxing lyrical about the influence of Harryhausen's films, and allows the man himself to ramble fascinatingly over clips of his filmic canon. If you're a fan, it's Harryhausen heaven. --Paul Eisinger

• Soul Food | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £13.82   |  Saving you £-0.83 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Soul Food is the kind of movie that seems to have been blessed throughout its low-budget production and it has got a quality of warmth and charm that fits perfectly with its authentic drama about a large African-American family in Chicago. Twenty-eight-year-old writer-director George Tillman Jr. drew autobiographical inspiration from his upbringing in Milwaukee, and on a well-spent $6.5 million budget he succeeded where similar films (including Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back) fell short: he depicts his many characters with such depth and sympathy that, by the time they have weathered several family crises, we've come to care and feel for them and the powerful ties that bind them together. As seen through the eyes of Tillman's young alter ego Ahmad (Brandon Hammond), the film primarily focuses on the rivalries and affections that rise and fall among Ahmad's mother (Vivica A. Fox) and her two sisters (Vanessa L. Williams and Nia Long). Through them, and through the weekly Sunday dinners cooked with love by their mother, Big Mama (Irma P. Hall), we witness marital bliss and distress, infidelity, success, failure ... in short, the spices of life both bitter and sweet. But when Big Mama falls into a diabetic coma, Ahmad watches as his family begins to fall apart without the stability and love that Big Mama provided with every Sunday meal. Tillman's touch can be overly nostalgic, melodramatic and cloyingly sentimental, but never so much that the movie loses its firm grip on reality. As a universal portrait of family life, Soul Food ranks among the very best films of its kind--believable, funny, emotional and always approaching its characters (well-played by a uniformly excellent cast) with a generous spirit of forgiveness and understanding. As satisfying as one of Big Mama's delicious dinners, Soul Food is the kind of movie that keeps you coming back for more. --Jeff Shannon

• Narrow Escape | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £5.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Based on a true story this film tells of the tireless efforts of a US naval ship crew to save an abandoned Korean / American baby from the post-Korean War political fallout.

• Blake's 7 - Series 2 | DVD | (17/01/2005) from £16.79   |  Saving you £33.20 (197.74%)   |  RRP £49.99

  In the third century of the second calendar after the chaos of the intergalactic wars a powerful dictatorship has risen to dynamic proportions and engulfed most of the populated worlds. Liberty has become a crime punishable by death and the majority of the population lives in a drug-induced state of docility. This tyrannical authority fulfils George Orwell's prophecy of 1984 to its most terrifying extremes. This government is known as the Federation. Each world has its share of rebe

• Michael Jackson - History Vols. 1 And 2 | DVD | (25/08/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-5.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  This limited edition deluxe Box Set - released for the first time in the UK to celebrate Michael Jackson's 50 anniversary on August 29 2008 - presents a compilation of his greatest short films spanning the decades of his career as the undisputed King of Pop. Along with being one of the most successful pop stars of all time Jackson also helped to revolutionise the music video art form hiring Hollywood filmmakers such as John Landis to direct what are essentially short narrative films. Disc 1 contains Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel in their original versions - over 12 min long each - which are exclusively available on this DVD. Black and White is also presented in its original non-censored version. In addition to short films Disc 2 features two unforgettable live performances notably that of Billie Jean at Motown's 25 anniversary celebrations where Michael premiered his world-famous trademark moonwalk. Available for a limited time only this Box Set is presented in a deluxe slipcase with matt varnish and is a must have for every Michael Jackson fan ! Tracklist: 1. Brace Yourself 2. Billie Jean 3. The Way You Make Me Feel 4. Black or White 5. Rock with You 6. Bad 7. Thriller 8. Beat It 9. Remember the Time 10. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough 11. Heal the World 12. Teaser 13. Billie Jean - Live at Motown 25 Anniversary Celebration 14. Beat It 15. Liberian Girl 16. Smooth Criminal 17. Performance at 1995 MTV Music Video Awards 18. Thriller 19. Scream (featuring Janet Jackson) 20. Childhood 21. You Are Not Alone 22. Earth Song 23. They Don't Care About Us 24. Stranger in Moscow 25. Blood on the Dance Floor 26. Brace Yourself

• The Wiz | Blu Ray | (07/09/2015) from £7.75   |  Saving you £8.24 (106.32%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Directed by Sidney Lumet (Serpico) and penned by Joel Schumacher (Batman and Robin), this lavish 1978 adaptation of the Broadway hit The Wiz was the biggest production filmed in New York City up to that point, utilising the newly revamped Astoria Studios and locations around the city. Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross (reprising his Tony-winning role as the Lion) star in this Academy Award-nominated musical for the whole family. The Wiz is probably the grandest take on L. Frank Baum's classic tale The Wizard of Oz. The production team created sets with a sense of urban magic and spectacle: a New York subway station literally comes to life, and the massive plaza between the World Trade Center towers is transformed into the Emerald City, featuring nearly 400 dancers with three costume changes. Like all good musicals, the Quincy Jones arrangements are highly hummable long after viewing (especially the funky "Ease On Down the Road" and the inspirational "Brand New Day"). In an era before MTV, the camera stays nearly stationary as Ross and Lena Horne vocally soar through their numbers. Their stage-like performances successfully make the leap to film, making The Wiz a testament to their singing talents and star presence. The then-thirtysomething Ross raised some eyebrows playing the traditionally teenaged Dorothy, but she and her supporting cast (including Richard Pryor as the Wiz) carry the tunes with an infectious verve that will appeal to folks of all ages. --Shannon Gee

• Spider-Man Triple: Home Coming, Far from Home & No Way Home (6 Discs - UHD & BD) | Blu Ray | (04/04/2022) from £59.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero's identity is revealed, bringing his Super Hero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk. When he enlists Doctor Strange's help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who've ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.

• Cher - Live In Concert | DVD | (06/12/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  In a career that's approaching four history-making decades..In an artist creative enough to succeed in every entertainment medium including: A successful singing career with hits in the 60's 70's 80's and 90's Two Top Ten - rated television shows A critically acclaimed appearance on the Broadway stage A succession of hit films including an Academy Award for ""Best Actress"". For all this and so much more Cher has given us reason to believe. With the incredible success of Beli

• Lord Peter Wimsey - The Nine Tailors | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the series of novels written by Dorothy L Sayers in the 1920s and 30s, Lord Peter Wimsey was dramatised for TV by the BBC between 1972-5. Ian Carmichael, veteran of British film comedy, played the genial, aristocratic sleuth; Glyn Houston was his manservant Bunter. The pair are similar to PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Bertie Wooster (whom Carmichael played in an earlier TV adaptation) though here the duo are equal in intelligence, breezing about the country together in Wimsey's Bentley and stumbling with morbid regularity upon baffling murder mysteries to test their wits. Those for whom this series forms hazy memories of childhood might be surprised at its somewhat stagy, lingering interior shots, the spartan paucity of music, the miserly attitude towards locations, especially foreign ones, and the rather genteel, leisurely pace of these programmes, besides which Inspector Morse seems like Quentin Tarantino in comparison. It seems that initially the BBC was reluctant to commission the series and ventured on production with a wary eye on the budget. The Britain depicted by Sayers is, by and large, populated by either the upper classes or heavily accented, rum-do-and-no-mistake lower orders, which some might find consoling. However, the acting is generally excellent and the murder mysteries are sophisticated parlour games, the televisual equivalent of a good, absorbing jigsaw puzzle. There were five feature-length adaptations in all. "The Nine Tailors" weaves an especially elaborate tale, involving jewel theft, campanology (the art of bell-ringing) and dual identity. --David Stubbs

• Die Hard With A Vengeance (Two Disc Collector's Edition) | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £7.96   |  Saving you £13.02 (261.97%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This time New York cop John McClane (Willis) is the personal target of the mysterious Simon (Jeremy Irons) a terrorist determined to blow up the entire city if he doesn't get what he wants. Accompanied by an unwilling civilian partner (Samuel L. Jackson) McClane careens wildly from one end of New York City to the other as he struggles to keep up with Simon's deadly game. It's a battle of wits between a psychopathic genius and a heroic cop who once again finds himself having a real

• Little Voice | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £5.88   |  Saving you £12.11 (205.95%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Michael Caine was robbed of an Oscar. He gives his finest performance in a decade as big-talking small-time agent Ray Say, a paunchy, pale life of the party hiding his desperation under gold chains and cool bravura. When he hears the almost magical voice of Jane Horrocks's meek little LV (short for Little Voice) fill her bedroom with the rich voice of Judy Garland, he sees his ticket to the big time. Little Voice is ostensibly LV's story, and in fact the original play was written for Horrocks, whose amazing vocal impressions of Garland, Shirley Bassey and Marilyn Monroe (among others) form the centrepiece performance of the film. But as directed by Mark Herman (Brassed Off), the story of this mousy girl who shuts herself in from a bellowing world is just as overwhelmed by the bombastic characters as LV herself. Brenda Blethyn babbles a blue streak as LV's overbearing mother, Mari, an ageing widow who escapes her unhappiness in carousing and becomes almost pathologically jealous when Ray's attentions turn from her to LV. As Ray puts his dreams on the line for LV's showcase, he reveals his true self: a venal man who spits and barks out his bottled-up anger in an astoundingly bile-filled delivery of Roy Orbison's "It's Over." The showstopping moment once again overwhelms LV's tale, but Caine's performance is so astounding it seems a fair trade. --Sean Axmaker

• Three Up, Two Down | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A pair of widowed grandparents are forced to cohabit in their children's basement. Daphne (Angela Thorne) is a snobby Cheltenham-bred lady while Sam (Michael Elphick) is the cockney wide boy who has designs on Daphne. First broadcast in 1985 this release includes all the episodes from Series One and Two of Three Up Two Down. Episode titles: Your Place Or Mine? Widower's Mite Ill Wind From Cheltenham Epping's Not Far Just Desserts Two Down One To Go Major Inconvenience Sweet

• The Lady and the Highwayman | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Newly wed to the evil and lecherous Drysdale (Ian Bannen) the beautiful Lady Panthea (Lysette Anthony) is saved on her wedding day by the dashing young highwayman the Silver Blade (Hugh Grant). As he rides into the moonlight she vows never to forget this mysterious stranger who must at the final outcome save her from certain death. As this lavish tale of greed treachery and blackmail weaves its fast-moving course through the sumptuous surroundings of King Charles II's (Michale York) palace a host of stars gather in an extravaganza of spectacular proportions set amidst a heart-stopping stage of duels to the death... and love.

• Pennies From Heaven | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £19.95   |  Saving you £10.04 (50.33%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Dennis Potter's astonishing six-part miniseries Pennies from Heaven remains one of the edgiest, most audacious things ever conceived for television. The story tells of one Arthur Parker (Bob Hoskins), a sheet-music salesman in 1930s England. Beaten down by economic hard times and the sexual indifference of his proper wife (Gemma Craven), Arthur cannot understand why his life can't be like the beautiful songs he loves. On a sales trip through the Forest of Dean, he meets a virginal rural woman (Cheryl Campbell) he suspects may be his ideal. Ruination follows. Punctuating virtually every scene is a vintage pop song--lip-synched and sometimes danced out by the characters. This startling innovation makes the contrast between Arthur's brutish life and his bourgeois dreams even more dramatic. Potter's dark vision digs into British stoicism, sexual repression, the class system and even the coming of fascism in Europe. But it is especially poignant on the subject of the divide between art and reality. Piers Haggard directs the long piece with deft transitions between songs and story. (It was shot partly on multi-camera video, partly on film.) The cast is fine, especially the extraordinary Cheryl Campbell, who imbues her character with keen intelligence and no small measure of perversity. Bob Hoskins triumphs in his star-making part, bringing a demonic energy to his small-time Cockney, nearly bursting his button-down vests with frustration and appetite. Pennies from Heaven was remade in 1981 for the big screen (with Steve Martin), in an interesting, Potter-scripted adaptation; it's one of the reasons the original has been unavailable on home video for so long. --Robert Horton

• Dame Elizabeth Taylor - A Musical Celebration | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £17.25   |  Saving you £-4.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Like all the best celebrity tributes, Dame Elizabeth Taylor: A Musical Celebration (2001) combines the essence of its subject--in this case, charity work for HIV and AIDS research and a legendary career in movies, both meriting every ounce of recognition--with the fascination of a spectacular car smash. The highlights are the screenings of trailers for some of her best films, including Giant and Butterfield 8 (she won an Oscar but derided the picture) and an archive interview in which she memorably describes a tiresome gossip columnist as "a frustrated old biddy". The live entertainment is far shakier than the event's inspiration, though. Presented by David Frost and Stephen Fry--an uneasy, fawning partnership-- there is some real quality: Andrea Bocelli (sending the guest of honour into transports of delight), John Barry conducting a couple of his most symphonic Bond themes and Reba McEntire, the powerhouse country and western diva-turned-Broadway actress. On the down side, Marti Pellow's self-congratulatory posing would make Robbie Williams seem a model of modesty, Jay Kay's attempts to jazz up a standard are woeful and Ute Lemper is at her most pretentious for a cacophonic "Mack the Knife". Michael Jackson's mute presence at Taylor's side emphasises the hypnotic strangeness of the whole affair, though the Dame herself takes the entire marvellously lurid spectacle in her stride. On the DVD: Dame Elizabeth Taylor: A Musical Celebration comes to DVD with no extra features. A Taylor filmography would have been useful. Otherwise, the 4:3 video aspect ratio reproduces the television gala feel and for sound quality, you can choose between LPCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.2 and DTS surround sound (best for that authentic, muddy Royal Albert Hall acoustic).--Piers Ford

• Little Voice | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Michael Caine was robbed of an Oscar. He gives his finest performance in a decade as big-talking small-time agent Ray Say, a paunchy, pale life-of-the-party hiding his desperation under gold chains and cool bravura. When he hears the almost magical voice of Jane Horrocks's meek little LV (short for Little Voice) fill her bedroom with the rich voice of Judy Garland, he sees his ticket to the big time.

• Michael Jackson - This Is It | Blu Ray | (22/02/2010) from £11.49   |  Saving you £16.49 (194.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Michael Jackson's "This Is It" will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place this summer.

• Baseketball | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  High school buddies Joe ""Coop"" Cooper & Doug Remer (""South Park"" creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone) invent a driveway game a combination of baseball and basketball. As they move into adulthood their increasingly popular game goes big-time with the help of eccentric billionaire Theodore Denslow (Borgnine) the founder of the National BASEketball League and owner of the Milwaukee Beers. After Denslow chokes to death on a hot dog the team is left in Coop's hands. The future of the ga

• The Wiz | DVD | (26/07/2004) from £8.08   |  Saving you £1.91 (23.64%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The fabulous land of Oz rocks in the spectacular musical based on the smash hit Broadway show. In this Motown production Dorothy is a shy Harlem kindergarten teacher who while searching for her lost dog Toto in a swirling blizzard is whisked to a wonderland to follow the yellow brick road. Director Sidney Lumet (Serpico Murder on the Orient Express) not content to merely film the stage production transforms the physical attributes of New York City into the fabulous land of Oz.

• Kill Bill 1 and 2 (Box Set) | DVD | (05/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! For the first time both parts of Quentin Tarantino's martial arts homage are available on this fantastic collection box set. Kill Bill - Volume 1: In part 1 of Quentin Tarantino's delirious revenge movie Uma Thurman plays 'The Bride' a woman seeking vengeance on those who massacred her wedding party... Inspired by countless Japanese swordplay actionfests (the classic Lady Snowblood among them) yakuza gangster thrillers (offering a ca