"Actor: Oprah Winfrey"

• The Princess and the Frog Superset (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) | Blu Ray | (21/06/2010) from £40.48   |  Saving you £-14.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  After the visual bombast of many contemporary CGI and motion-capture features, the drawn characters in The Princess and the Frog, Walt Disney Studio's eagerly awaited return to traditional animation, feel doubly welcome. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), The Princess and the Frog moves the classic fairy tale to a snazzy version of 1920s New Orleans. Tiana (voice by Anika Noni Rose), the first African-American Disney heroine, is not a princess, but a young woman who hopes to fulfill her father's dream of opening a restaurant to serve food that will bring together people from all walks of life. Tiana may wish upon a star, but she believes that hard work is the way to fulfill your aspirations. Her dedication clashes with the cheerful idleness of the visiting prince Naveen (Bruno Campos). A voodoo spell cast by Dr. Facilier (Keith David) in a showstopping number by composer Randy Newman initiates the events that will bring the mismatched hero and heroine together. However, the animation of three supporting characters--Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a jazz-playing alligator; Ray (Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly; and 197-year-old voodoo priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis)--is so outstanding, it nearly steals the film. Alternately funny, touching, and dramatic, The Princess and the Frog is an all-too-rare example of a movie a family can enjoy together, with the most and least sophisticated members appreciating different elements. The film is also a welcome sign that the beleaguered Disney Feature Animation Studio has turned away from such disasters as Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons and is once again moving in the right direction. --Charles Solomon Stills from Princess and the Frog (Click for larger image)

• The Women of Brewster Place | DVD | (02/04/2007) from £9.59   |  Saving you £-3.61 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A gripping and loving portrait of seven women who's back are literally against the wall; a surrounding wall whose brick facade has turned the address of Brewster Place into both a real and symbolic dead end.

• Beloved | DVD | (05/02/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This layered film, a labour of love from director Jonathan Demme and star Oprah Winfrey, covers a lot of turf in its nearly three-hour running time. Part slavery fable, part mother-daughter tale, part ghost story, Beloved demands an audience's full attention from its dramatic, slightly bewildering opening, when a family dog comes down on the wrong side of some angry, unseen force. But Demme and his talented cast provide an unforgettable payoff for those who surrender. The film traces the life of Sethe (played in her middle years by Winfrey), a former slave who has rebuilt what seems to be a peaceful, productive life in Ohio. Yet through chilling, sparing use of flashback, Demme slowly unveils, as does the Toni Morrison masterpiece on which the film is based, the horrors of Sethe's former life, and the terrible event that led to the haunting of Sethe's home. While the horrors of slavery and the bloody event in Sethe's family leave undeniable impressions, the film's brilliance is also evidenced in smaller, equally satisfying ways. Rachel Portman's spiritual-influenced score is as uplifting as it is haunting, and the glimpses of the post-slavery African American world--as with a simple family outing to a local carnival, or a ladies' sewing-and-gospel circle--make this a treat for the intellect as well as the heart. The members of the cast, especially Kimberly Elise as Sethe's struggling daughter and Thandie Newton as the mysterious title character, are supremely affecting. --Anne Hurley, Amazon.com

• Barack Obama - The Power Of Change | DVD | (02/02/2009) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-5.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Barack Obama's campaign for president is a grassroots movement powered by passionate and diverse Americans who demand change. This DVD is a collection of speeches by Obama as well as by Oprah Winfrey Caroline Kennedy Stevie Wonder and Michele Obama. Everywhere Obama goes he draws huge crowds that cut across ethnic religious racial class gender and ideological lines. At 46 Obama is one of America's youngest presidents and the first Black president in the country's 232 year history. In his phenomenal run for the most important office in the world Obama speaks directly to us. He brings his friends along with him to deliver his message of change hope and inspiration. Admired for his charismatic and caring persona Obama announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003 won the Democratic-party nomination primary in March 2004 and was elected to the Senate in November 2004. He was also the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008. Take a glimpse behind the scenes at the man who truly believes in the power of change.