"Actor: Michael Pe a"

• The Sopranos: Series 1 (Vol. 1) | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there is the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his mid-level capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what is not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• Deadfall | DVD | (18/09/2006) from £5.48   |  Saving you £2.51 (45.80%)   |  RRP £7.99

  When Joe Dolan (Michael Biehn) accidentally kills his father in a scam gone bad his dying words lead Joe to his Uncle Lou (James Coburn). Lou is working on a con worth more than $2 million in diamonds. Eddie (Nicholas Cage) Lou's right hand man sees Joe as a serious threat and a rival for his girlfriend - the sexy Diane (Sarah Trigger). Diane seduces Joe into a love triangle that leads him to murder and desire. With millions in the balance Joe gets deeper and deeper into the diamond sting. Double cons lead to triple cons as Deadfall hurtles toward the most twisted scam of all and it's surprising conclusion. Joining the first rate cast of characters are stunning cameo appearances by Charlie Sheen Peter Fonda and Talia Shire.

• Rossini: Semiramide | DVD | (31/12/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Bel canto can be translated as "pretty singing", and that definition seems tailor-made for this production, which offers grace, charm, and a fine-tuned sense of style in abundance to compensate for its limited psychological and emotional impact. The four principal singers are all specialists in the bel canto style and this opera has played a key role in building their substantial reputations. For its sweeping musical imagination and technical wizardry, Rossini's epic about royal assassination and misdirected lust in the ancient Babylonian Empire deserves a place in any inclusive opera collection, and we are not likely to have a better video recording of Semiramide in the foreseeable future. June Anderson has an attractive appearance and sounds exactly right in the music's florid melodic lines. But she is not dramatically compelling as the wicked queen who had her husband killed and fell in love with a man who turned out to be her long-lost son, Arsace. Marilyn Horne rose to the highest levels of international fame in the role of that conflicted son, and her presence alone would be enough to give this video classic status. Her voice was a bit past its prime when this performance was recorded in 1991, but still there is no other voice quite like it, no other voice so suited to Rossini's heroic mezzo roles. Samuel Ramey is a close bass counterpart to Anderson: great tone, agile florid singing, and a rather wooden but visually appealing stage presence. Sanford Olsen has a small role and sings it near perfectly. James Conlon gets excellent musical results; John Copley's staging is massive and static. --Joe McLellan, Amazon.com

• G.I Joe, the Movie | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A 40 000-year-old race of snake people resurface and with help of Serpentor Desto Baroness and Dr. Mindbender plan to eliminate all of mankind and rebuild Cobrala. Once rulers of Earth the Snake people were driven underground by ice-age temperatures. While in exile they developed a plant whose spores turn ordinary men into mindless weak animals. The key to their plan is G.I. Joe's secret project -- the Broadcast Energy Emitter (B.E.T.). Only this device generates enough heat so that the spores can mature. Humankind's very existence depends on G.I. Joe but are they strong enough smart enough cunning enough to fight a warrior race with 40 000 years of experience? Don Johnson Burgess Meredith Sgt. Slaughter and others lend their amazing voice talents to this exciting animated feature.

• The Romantic Englishwoman | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £6.97   |  Saving you £-3.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A successful novelist faced with writer's block invites a handsome young German poet into to his home to provide input for his troubled screenplay. However little does the author know that the guest had previously embarked on an affair with his wife and wishes to continue their relationship...

• And Now You're Dead | DVD | (23/04/2001) from £3.59   |  Saving you £12.40 (345.40%)   |  RRP £15.99

  And Now You're Dead may nominally be a heist movie about two rival gangs out to steal a diamond, but in reality it's an excuse for a series of exceptional action set-pieces as only Hong Kong cinema knows how to do. The film is actually set in Prague and features both a mixed Chinese and European cast, and some fairly horrendous dubbing. Fortunately no one is going to be watching for the dialogue, and the plot--assorted gangsters betray each other, while others find friendship and redemption--has been replayed endlessly since John Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986). While Michael Wong makes an acceptable Chow Yun Fat substitute as professional thief Marty, Shannon Lee's ruthless assassin is a revelation. She is Bruce Lee's daughter, and having already appeared in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) and Blade (1998), she delivers perhaps the toughest action heroine since Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor in T2. It's a breathtaking performance, especially in a deliriously extended police station battle which recalls the original Terminator. Overlook the clumsy comic relief and the sub-Bond finale, and settle back to enjoy an insanely frenzied bloodbath packed with over-the-top stunts and razor-sharp martial arts. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Red Sun Rising | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £10.45   |  Saving you £-4.46 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  As the Japanese Mafia the Yakuza threatens to rip apart Los Angeles one cop crosses the Pacific to track down its most lethal killer.

• R.E.M. - This Film Is On | DVD | (18/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Ten tracks from REM including: 'Near Wild Heaven' 'Losing My Religion' 'Radio Song' 'Belong' 'Half A World Away' and 'Country Feedback'.

• Quatermass And The Pit | DVD | (29/08/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  We have met the enemy, and it is us: when a Martian spacecraft with a terrifying link to the origins of humanity is unearthed beneath a London tube station, only the esteemed Professor Bernard Quatermass (a very British--and possibly mad--precursor to Mulder and Scully) can save London's suddenly murderous population from itself. One of the most intelligently paranoid science fiction films ever produced, this pessimistic masterpiece functions as a dark flip side to the relatively optimistic alien-induced evolution theory presented in the later 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nigel Kneale's brilliant script (which posits a surprisingly plausible, otherworldly rationale for the existence of the supernatural) was later appropriated by acknowledged fan John Carpenter for his underrated Prince of Darkness. A must-see for horror and science-fiction aficionados. --Andrew Wright, Amazon.com

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Vol. 3 | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Episodes Comprise: 1. The Way Of Invisibility 2. Fallen Angel 3. Garbageman

• Memoirs Of An Invisible Man | DVD | (19/01/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Nick Halloway (Chase) is a sophisticated stock analyst until a freak accident at an industrial plant renders him invisible! Yet being invisible is not as easy as it sounds as he finds himself the object of a frenzied manhunt by a corrupt government official (Neill) who wants him to become an assassin...

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Vol. 4 | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A fourth volume of adventures with those heroes in a half-shell! Episodes Comprise: 1. The Shredder Strikes (Part One) 2. The Shredder Strikes (Part Two) 3. The Unconvincing Turtle Titan

• I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £15.38   |  Saving you £-5.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Just as silly as it sounds but twice as funny! This refreshingly effective British horror spoof throws caution to the wind and entrails to the floor when biker Noddy (Morrissey) buys a classic Norton with a dark history. Garage bound by day at night the satanic cycle fuels up on the blood of Hell's Angels traffic wardens and street walkers. What follows provides the hilariously imaginative re-working of every scene you'd expect from any self-respecting vamp flick but set on two wh

• Playing God | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £4.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (20.04%)   |  RRP £5.99

  From the outset, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was about conflict. Producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller challenged the utopian ideals of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe to create something totally different from its predecessors. That meant no familial camaraderie, squeaky-clean Federation diplomacy, or beige décor. Instead they wanted interpersonal friction, ruthless enemies (Gamma Quadrant Imperialists--The Dominion) and rebellion at every turn. The DS9 concept was originally facilitated by introducing the Cardassian/Bajoran war during The Next Generation's final days. After a muted first reception fans gradually came to accept the new look, but no one liked Star Trek without a starship and eventually the producers capitulated to viewers' wishes by introducing the USS Defiant (an apt name) in Season 3. Relying far less on technobabble than TNG, DS9 was unafraid to focus on matters of the spirit instead, demonstrating a ballsy independence from its parent shows. Taking up the gauntlet thrown down by Babylon 5, improved CGI space battles also became a fan favourite. Throughout the increasingly serialised story arc there were rebellious factions within the different establishments: Kira had belonged to the Shakaar resistance cell; the Maquis was Starfleet vs Cardassians; section 31 was a secret Starfleet group; the True Way was a Bajoran group opposed to peace; the Cardassians had their Obsidian Order and the Romulans their Gestapo-like Tal Shiar. Yet for all its constant bickering and espionage (even Bashir got to be James Bond), there was always some contemporary social commentary lurking: the Ferengi were used as a comedic foil to frown on materialistic greed; drugs were looked at via the Jem'Hadar foot soldiers' addiction to Ketracel White. Perhaps Sisko summed up the real heart of things: "Bajor doesn't need a man, it needs a legend". A future vision that retains a place for religion and spirituality turned out to be Deep Space Nine's first best destiny. --Paul Tonks

• The Anna Neagle Collection | DVD | (07/01/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Set Comprises: Derby Day: 1952 I Live In Grosvenor Square: 1945 The Lady Is A Square: 1959 The Lady With The Lamp: 1951 Sixty Glorious Years: 1938 Victoria The Great: 1937

• X The Unknown | DVD | (26/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A strange blob-like creature terrorises the inhabitants of a Scottish village.

• The Inner Life Of Martin Frost | DVD | (07/09/2009) from £15.05   |  Saving you £0.94 (6.25%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Inner Life Of Martin Frost

• Loggerheads | DVD | (05/12/2005) from £8.98   |  Saving you £6.01 (40.10%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A young gay drifter and his search for acceptance drives this heartfelt beautifully crafted tale of family rejection and unconditional love. In a North Carolina beach town lonely motel manager George (Michael Kelly) befriends a new arrival: the attractive vagabond Michael (Kip Pardue). While claiming to be in town to protect the endangered Loggerhead turtles Michael may actually be running away from something. Elsewhere in NC preacher's wife Elizabeth (Tess Harper) notices that a pair of gay men has just moved across the street. Elizabeth is appalled by this and another recent neighborhood development but her feelings are masking an even deeper disturbance. Another woman Grace (Bonnie Hunt) is also coming to terms with a deep down pain - she gave up a child for adoption many years ago. So she comes back to her hometown with hopes - and help from a pseudo-detective - to find him. Making his narrative feature debut Tim Kirkman (The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me) cleverly shuffles three sets of characters and timelines that eventually intersect in a powerful profound way. A humanistic and gifted auteur Kirkman coaxes sublime performances from all of his leads including earthy and sexy upcoming indie star Pardue.

• Wishmaster / Wishmaster 2 - Evil Never Dies / Wishmaster 3 - Devil Stone / Wishmaster 4 | DVD | (11/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  Wishmaster: Magically powerful. Supernaturally evil. The ancient entity known in human legend as the Djinn can grant a person's wildest dreams. And in the process it unleashes your darkest nightmares. The moral of this explosively terrifying special-effects-powered horror-fantasy spectacular: be careful what you wish for! Wishmaster 2 - Evil Never Dies:When a small-time thief Morgana Kuleshov is pinned down by gunfire during a botched heist her life is saved when the huge opal she's clutching deflects a bullet. Unknown to her this jewel imprisons a legendary monster known as the Djinn. The Djinn has the power to grant wishes and twist them into a person's worst nightmare capturing their soul. As the Djinn invades Morgana's nightmares she calls upon brother Gregory a priest for help. In a fight for humanity's future only Morgana and Gregory stand between the Djinn and an eternal dark age of horror and chaos. Wishmaster 3 - Devil Stone:The Djinn that evil genie is back and eager to grant you three wishes... Diana Collins (Cook) is a teaching assistant at a prestigious college where she studies comparative religion and mythology under Professor Barash (Connery). She inadvertently solves a mysterious puzzle left for one of Barash's colleagues unknowingly unleashing the evil Djinn a malicious genie who is eager to grant his waker three wishes in order to free his race and destroy mankind. The Djinn assumes Barash's body and begins his search for the person who woke him. He stops short of nothing in his pursuit systematically killing Diana's friends. In desperation Diana invokes the archangel warrior St. Michael as one of her three wishes. St. Michael's spirit possesses the body of her boyfriend Greg (Mehler) and a bloody battle ensues between the archangel Michael and the Djinn... Wishmaster 4 - The Prophecy Fulfilled: Perversity depravity and fear are at an all time high as the hell-raising Wishmaster unleashes his undying love and three wishes on a beautiful new victim. A victim whose crucial third wish is one that the Wishmaster cannot fulfill without leaving a trail of terror devastation and blood in his wake. Wishmaster 4 is a film that fulfills your deepest desire for a highly seductive thriller filled with unspeakable horror titillating forbidden passion and riveting suspense from beginning to nail-biting end!

• William And Mary | DVD | (15/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  William (Martin Clunes) likes Mary. Mary (Julie Graham) likes William. However the trials and tribulations of everyday life not least William's unusual job as an undertaker means that the path of love is destined not to run smooth...