"Actor: Niall Buggy"

• Close My Eyes | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Two siblings raised by different parents reunite as adults only to discover a deep passion for one another. Over a hot summer in London things have changed since they last met and Natalie the older sister is married to a hugely wealthy man and languishing in the home countries whilst Richard is seeking escape from the anxieties and pressure of working life. Overwhelmed by their love they struggle to overcome their addiction not wishing to hurt those around them and yet seemingly unable to part.

• The Butcher Boy | DVD | (15/10/2007) from £6.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (109.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A classic Irish movie, The Butcher Boy is set in a small town in Ireland in the mid part of the twentieth century. It tells the story of Francis 'Francie' Brady, a schoolboy who lives with his mother and alcoholic father. In the early part of the book it becomes apparent that Francie's mother is abused both verbally and physically by her belligerent husband, on a frequent basis. Francie's father, Benny, was raised in a tough religious school in Belfast, and it is suggested that this experience left him mentally traumatised. This mental trauma has left Benny bitter and angry, and he takes this anger out on his wife, his fury fuelled by alcohol. Francie's mother considers suicide and is committed for a time to a mental health facility.

• Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (233.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The trials and tribulations of Stephen Dedalus a young man growing up in Ireland in the early part of the 20th century. He starts to feel a stranger in his own land as he starts to understand the nature of art and politics and he has to make a decision whether to accept exile in another land or stay and fight....

• Zardoz | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A box office failure at the time, John Boorman's 1974 cult science fiction film Zardoz is an entrancing if overly ambitious project that offers pointed commentary on class structure and religion inside its complex plot and head-movie visuals. Its healthy doses of sex and violence will involve viewers even if the story machinations escape them. Beautifully photographed near Boorman's home in Ireland's Wicklow Mountains by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001), its production design is courtesy of longtime Boorman associate Anthony Pratt, who creates a believable society within the film's million-dollar budget. A bewigged Sean Connery is Zed, a savage "exterminator" commanded by the mysterious god Zardoz to eliminate Brutals, survivors of an unspecified worldwide catastrophe. Zed stows away inside Zardoz's enormous idol (a flying stone head) and is taken to the pastoral land of the Eternals, a matriarchal, quasi-medieval society that has achieved psychic abilities as well as immortality. Zed finds as much hope as disgust with the Eternals; their advancements have also robbed them of physical passion, turning their existence into a living death. Zed becomes the Eternals' unlikely messiah, but in order to save them--and himself--he must confront the truth behind Zardoz and his own identity inside the Tabernacle, the Eternals' omnipresent master computer. --Paul Gaita

• Cruise of the Gods | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £7.12   |  Saving you £8.87 (124.58%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Both warmly funny and surprisingly touching, the one-off 90-minute BBC comedy Cruise of the Gods (2002) unites the twin comic talents of Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan for the first time. Brydon, whose Marion & Geoff brought him instant cult status and critical acclaim, plays Andy Van Allen, a washed-up actor who once enjoyed celebrity as the star of a TV science-fiction series but who is now down on his luck as a hotel porter. Desperate to rescue his self-esteem, but equally desperate to conceal his failure, he reluctantly embarks on a Mediterranean cruise for die-hard fans of the old show organised by uber-nerd Jeff Monks (David Walliams). To compound his humiliation, Van Allan's one-time costar, Nick Lee (Coogan), now a Hollywood big shot thanks to his starring role in Sherlock Holmes in Miami, gatecrashes the trip. Elements of both Marion & Geoff's agonising pathos and the squirm-inducing embarrassment of I'm Alan Partridge feature prominently here as the merciless portrayal of geeky fandom slowly gives way to a more gentle, affectionate portrait of people whose lives were inexplicably touched by the fantastically awful Children of Castor (imagine a camp cross between Blake's 7 and The Tomorrow People). Unlike the sympathetically pathetic ex-husband of Marion, here Brydon plays a cruelly cynical and embittered character, whose self-loathing contrasts painfully with the annoying ebullience of Coogan's superstar. The supporting cast are all a delight, too: witness lugubrious Philip Jackson, as alcoholic writer Hugh Bispham, clashing hilariously with Walliams' deadly earnest super-fan over the interpretation of names in the show, which turn out to be nothing more cryptic than anagrams of Bispham's favourite curries. James Corden and Helen Coker are emotionally fragile followers whose lives intertwine unexpectedly with their heroes, while Brian Conley and Jack Jones gamely provide cameos. --Mark Walker