"Actor: Norman"

• The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990) | DVD | (01/06/2006) from £6.50   |  Saving you £7.49 (115.23%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Is it time, after the anonymous disaster of Mission to Mars, to give Brian De Palma's famously doomed film of Tom Wolfe's bulky novel Bonfire of the Vanities another chance? The uproarious ins and outs of the film's troubled production have become well-known via Julie Salamon's account of its making, The Devil's Candy, and fans of that might want to flick between page and screen to see just when Melanie Griffith caused untold continuity problems by having her breasts inflated. Techno buffs will surely appreciate the pointless but somehow wonderful trickery of an extended tracking shot at the outset that exists only to last a few seconds longer than the one in Orson Welles Touch of Evil (1958). Tom Hanks was rather better cast than was generally allowed, as "master of the universe" Sherman McCoy, who comes a cropper after a hit-and-run accident, since his nice-guy act shows intriguing cracks. And even Bruce Willis does his best on a hiding to nothing as the drunken writer. It is funny in parts, agonising in others, and misses Wolfe's tone--but somehow its failures might make it as symptomatic of the long-gone excesses of the early 90s as the novel was of the 80s. --Kim Newman

• The Victim | DVD | (10/04/2006) from £10.98   |  Saving you £4.00 (44.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This BAFTA-nominated film starring the great Dirk Bogarde in one of his career-best performances also includes excellent support from Sylvia Syms and Denis Price. The police are after Jack Barrett (Peter McEnery). He has stolen 2 300 from the building construction firm that employs him as a wages clerk. Despite being an ordinary young man of twenty-three years of age he is scared out of his wits by the crisis that is mounting - and they are circumstances beyond his control - Barret

• Serpico (50th Anniversary Edition) | Blu Ray | (18/04/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Fade To Black | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £7.25   |  Saving you £-1.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Shy lonely Eric Binford delivers film cassettes and film-related supplies in Los Angeles for a living. But he really exists only to see movies and immerse himself in fantasies about cinematic characters and stars. Frequently bullied and betrayed Eric comforts himself by pretending to be one of the many tough heroes or villains who have captivated him from the silver screen. When a series of unpleasant incidents loosen Eric's already weak grip on reality it sends him into a homicidal rage. He launches a series of grotesque murders all patterned after characters and incidents from his beloved movies. He becomes known as the Celluloid Killer one of the most horrifying murderers the city has ever known.

• Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-10.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The ground-breaking 'Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain' is undoubtedly one of the most famous and influential films to emerge from Hong Kong - the inspiration for John Carpenter's 'Big Trouble In Little China' and heavily borrowed by director Ang Lee to re-create the style for his epic 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. Featuring breath-taking art design striking cinematography and stunning locations in the Sichun Mountains Zu Warriors revolutionised the Hong Kong special-effect

• Bedtime Story | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £13.95   |  Saving you £0.04 (0.29%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When conman and former soldier Freddy Benson arrives in the south of France he clashes with fellow conman Lawrence Jameson. To determine who will leave they arrange a wager to see who can con $25 000 from next woman they see.

• Monstro! | DVD | (29/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Killer vixens vs The Creature from the Deep in this retro-style creature feature gore-fest. Three gorgeous but deadly assassins land in a sleepy seaside town, and are warned not to go in the water, for fear of awakening a vicious sea creature. When they don’t listen, and they take a booze-fuelled dip, they are soon left fighting for survival, along with the locals, as the creature awakes and reaps its fury on the town, culminating in a blood-soaked uber-violent finale between the girls and the monster.

• The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  John, Paul, George and Ringo's first big screen adventure is re-released in cinemas; an exaggerated "Day In the Life" of the Beatlemania era Beatles.

• Local Hero | DVD | (19/02/2001) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Long before The Full Monty there was this lovely fish-out-of-water comedy by deft Scots writer-director Bill Forsyth (Gregory's Girl). Set in the 1980s during a period of controversy over North Sea oil drilling, Local Hero follows a likeable, woolly American junior executive (Peter Riegert) dispatched from Texas by his blustering boss (a high-spirited Burt Lancaster) to a small fishing village on the coast of Scotland for the purpose of swindling the presumably simple-minded locals out of their drilling rights. The surprise isn't that the villagers turn the tables on the American schemers, but that they do so without displaying a hint of malice. They get a kick out of flummoxing the city slickers. Even Lancaster's greed-head Felix Happer eventually has a change of heart. In outline, this may sound more ordinary than it feels as you're watching it. The fine young British actor Denis Lawson, who had a tiny role as one of the fighter pilots in Star Wars plays Riegert's UK contact, Gordon Urquhart, a sad sack with a noble soul. --David Chute

• The Stone Killer (Charles Bronson) | DVD | (06/05/2009) from £40.39   |  Saving you £-20.40 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Stone Killer teams Charles Bronson with director Michael Winner again in this hard-hitting classic 1973 cop movie released on DVD for the first time ever. Detective Lou Torey (Bronson) is transferred to Los Angeles and uncovers a plot by Sicilian Mafioso Vescari (Martin Balsam) to use Vietnam veterans to murder all his enemies in a rerun of the 'Sicilian Vespers' when the previous generation of Sicilian Mafioso were all killed on a single day. Torrey sets out to ruin Vescari's plans. Torr...

• Home And Away - Secrets And The City | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £7.36   |  Saving you £2.63 (35.73%)   |  RRP £9.99

  'Shattered Homes' and 'Broken Dreams': 2 episodes previously aired on TV plus 'Secrets And The City' an exclusive DVD episode never to be seen on TV!

• The Walking Dead Seasons 1-5 Boxset | DVD | (28/09/2015) from £15.98   |  Saving you £28.23 (217.32%)   |  RRP £41.22

  After the world is ravaged by a zombie apocalypse a group of survivors led by police officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) find themselves traveling in search of a safe and secure home. As they struggle to fend off the zombie hordes they soon find themselves being threatened by other survivor groups who are prepared to do whatever it takes to survive. Based on one of the most successful and popular comic books of all time written by Robert Kirkman The Walking Dead vividly captures the tension drama and devastation following a zombie apocalypse.

• Spooner's Patch - The Complete Series | DVD | (13/08/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, two of Britain's most successful comedy writers, teamed up to create this Top 20-rated, wryly comic look at daily life in a suburban police station where corruption is rife and unenlightened attitudes abound. Lasting three series and paying homage to the immortal Will Hay, Spooner's Patch stars Ronald Fraser (in series one only) and Donald Churchill as the eponymous police inspector, alongside sitcom stalwarts Norman Rossington, Peter Cleall and Patricia Hayes...

• Blade II | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £5.16   |  Saving you £14.83 (287.40%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After an accident triggers the deadly "Blood Tide," human/vampire warrior Blade must find a way to reverse the process and save the world which has been completely overrun by vampires.

• Belly Of The Beast | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £5.35   |  Saving you £14.64 (273.64%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jake Hopper once an operative on the inside on his way to retirement receives some startling news. While vacationing in Thailand his daughter has been kidnapped by a notorious terrorist group. The C.I.A. launches an attack mission to save her but that's not good enough for Hopper. He has never been one to play by the rules and this time there are no rules!

• Inspector Morse - The Complete Series (33 Disc Box Set) | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £79.99   |  Saving you £120.00 (150.02%)   |  RRP £199.99

  When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whately's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter said he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford

• The Walking Dead Season 11 | Blu Ray | (03/07/2023) from £18.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The final season finds Daryl, Maggie, and our heroes on a fraught mission with Negan to confront the mysterious Reapers. Meanwhile, Eugene's group must assimilate to the Commonwealth, in order to get aid for Alexandria. Product Features New Haunts Deleted Scene Rogue Element Deleted Scene

• Inspector Morse - Disc 15 And 16 - Masonic Mysteries / Second Time Around | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £5.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (150.67%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and story lines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep-down sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford

• Cobweb | DVD | (30/10/2023) from £7.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Metropolitan/Levine | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £45.99

  The James Levine cycle of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen is humane and emotionally powerful rather than monumental or spiritual; Levine is more interested in finding our sympathy for the characters than inspiring pity or terror. These are very traditional productions in which you see a rock where you need to see a rock, a dragon where the libretto says a dragon (the Metropolitan Opera has never been a place for experiment). What Levine and the Met can and do offer is excellent orchestral playing and some of the best singers in these roles in the world. Siegfried Jerusalem is boyish and naive and touching as Siegfried, and he is also surprisingly good as the detached mischievous Loge of Das Rheingold. James Morris is uniformly impressive as Wotan and makes the character evolve from the young ruthless god of the first opera to the tired old god of Siegfried, who seeks nothing more than his own necessary defeat and death. As Brunnhilde, Hildegard Behrens makes a convincing shift from goddess to woman, from callousness to tenderness and on to vindictiveness and self-sacrificing wisdom. Overall, this is an attractive Ring cycle, well-cast and beautifully played; others have greater strengths in some areas, but Levine is reliable across the board. On the DVD: Der Ring des Nibelungen has all four operas, which are also available individually, contained in a single box. All the DVDs come with a photo gallery of the Metropolitan Opera productions and with menus and subtitles in German, French, English, Spanish and Chinese. Its a little disappointing, though, that they are presented in American NTSC format, not European PAL, and the picture ratio is standard TV 4:3. On the plus side, they all have an excellent clear acoustic in the three audio options: PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. --Roz Kaveney