"Actor: Parker"

• The Sound Of Music - 2 disc Special Edition | DVD | (09/04/2001) from £12.96   |  Saving you £7.03 (54.24%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The most widely seen movie produced by a Hollywood studio, The Sound of Music grows fresher with each viewing. Though it was planned meticulously in pre-production (save for the scene where Maria and the children take a dipping in an Austrian lake that nearly cost a life), on each viewing one is struck anew by the spontaneous almost improvisatory air of the acting, notably of Julie Andrews under Robert Wise's direction. There are also the little human touches he brings to, for instance, the scene where Maria leads the children to the hills, over bridges and along tow paths where the smallest boy trips up and momentarily gets left behind: it creates a feeling that most of us have encountered. From the opening pre-credit sequence of muted excitement as the camera roves over the Austrian Alps (photographed in magnificent colour), where little phrases from the wind instruments on the soundtrack are flung as if on the breeze, foreshadowing the title song to follow, the production never puts a foot wrong. On the DVD: On the first disc the film itself has never looked or sounded better since its original presentation in Todd AO (prints of which are said to have disappeared forever). The disc also contains a separate audio guide that takes the viewer through the film sequence by sequence, with director Robert Wise commenting on the weather, the production design by Boris Leven, the sequences filmed on location and in Hollywood (like the interiors of the Von Trapp villa), and the naming of other actors who were eager for the lead roles, notably Doris Day and Yul Brynner. On the second disc there are the documentaries. "Salzburg Sight and Sound" was Charmian Carr's own record of her time on location in the summer of 1964, playing Liesl, the eldest Von Trapp daughter. "From Fact to Fiction", running two hours, begins with the birth of Maria in 1905 who inspired the film, charts her subsequent marriage to Captain Von Trapp, their escape from Nazi Germany not across the Alps but via a train across the Italian boarder, their home in Vermont and thence to the German film of the family that was brought to the attention of Rodgers and Hammerstein as an ideal vehicle for a stage musical. A second group of documentaries covers previews, television and radio commercials and a 1973 interview with Wise and Andrews. Overall, this is a marathon package but in its way is as compelling as the film itself. --Adrian Edwards

• Mars Attacks | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.95   |  Saving you £5.04 (56.31%)   |  RRP £13.99

  It's enlightening to view Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! as his twisted satire of the blockbuster film Independence Day, which was released earlier the same year, although the movies were in production simultaneously. Burton's eye-popping, schlock tribute to 1950s UFO movies actually plays better on video than it did in cinemas. The idea of invading aliens ray-gunning the big-name movie stars in the cast is a cleverly subversive one, and the bulb-headed, funny-sounding animated Martians are pretty nifty, but it all seemed to be spread thin on the big screen. On video, however, the movie's kooky humour seems a bit more concentrated. The Earth actors (most of whom get zapped or kidnapped for alien science experiments) include Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, Michael J Fox, Lukas Haas, Jim Brown, Tom Jones and Pam Grier. --Jim Emerson

• Tremors | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £6.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (20.04%)   |  RRP £5.99

  They say there's nothing new under the sun. But under the ground... Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward star as two country handymen who lead a cast of zany characters to safety in this exciting sci-fi creature comedy. Just as Val McKee (Bacon) and Earl Basset (Ward) decide to leave Perfection Nevada strange rumblings prevent their departure. With the help of a shapely seismology student (Finn Carter) they discover their desolate town is infested with gigantic man-eating creatures that live below the ground.

• The 9th Life of Louis Drax | DVD | (06/02/2017) from £7.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When nine-year-old Louis Drax inexplicably reawakens from the dead after his latest life-threatening accident, he becomes the patient of celebrated neurologist Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan), who specialises in child psychology. Determined to uncover the truth of Louis' bizarre existence, Pascal is drawn into both the child's life and that of his fragile mother Natalie (Sarah Gadon), whose affections begin to cloud his judgements. While Louis recuperates in a comatose state, Pascal sets about putting the mysterious pieces of the Drax family together, the truths of which begin to test the boundaries of fantasy and reality. Also starring Aaron Paul and Oliver Platt, and directed by Alexandre Aja.

• Ealing Studios Rarities Collection: Volume 6 | DVD | (16/09/2013) from £6.59   |  Saving you £8.40 (127.47%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A global byword for cinematic quality of a quintessentially British nature, Ealing Studios made more than 150 films over a three decade period. A cherished and significant part of British film history, only selected films from both the Ealing and Associated Talking Pictures strands have previously been made available on home video format - with some remaining unseen since their original theatrical release. The Ealing Rarities Collection redresses this imbalance - featuring new transfers from...

• I Was Monty's Double | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £9.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (30.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In World War II North Africa an actor is set the task of posing as Field Marshal Montgomery in an effort to confuse the Nazis. Based on a true story.

• Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £9.24   |  Saving you £-3.25 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) an overweight middle aged woman is in a rut. Her husband Ed ignores her and even his bedridden aunt throws blunt objects at her! But a chance encounter with a spry octogenarian Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) leads to an unexpected friendship. Ninny tells Evelyn an absorbing story of two very different women who lived half a century ago in the town of Whistle Stop Alabama: the irrepressibly daredevilsih tomboy Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the demure and good-hearted Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker). Together they ran the Whistle Stop Caf'' a railside eatery serving good old southern food as well as a good helping of friendship and laughter and even an occasional murder. The events of the past inspire Evelyn to make changes in her own dowdy life - the results are often hilarious in this endearing tale of friendship and courage.

• One Body too Many | DVD | (13/10/2014) from £9.43   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Old Yeller | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £7.35   |  Saving you £7.64 (103.95%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Available on DVD for the first time! No film better captures the powerful emotions of hope courage and friendship than Disney's treasured and much-loved classic Old Yeller. The quintessential tale of a boy's love for his dog has touched the hearts of millions its enduring legacy growing with each new generation. Set amidst the landscape of 1860s Texas a young boy named Travis (Tommy Kirk) wants nothingito do with the lop-eared stray. But Old Yeller quickly proves him

• South Park - Season 8 | DVD | (15/09/2008) from £22.93   |  Saving you £2.06 (8.98%)   |  RRP £24.99

  All fourteen episodes from South Park's eighth season are now available for the first time in this 3-disc collector's set. Stan Kyle Kenny and Cartman find themselves in the middle of hot-button political issues and celebrity shenanigans. Season eight is capped off with a very special Christmas episode done in the way only South Park does Christmas!

• Black Sails 1-4 | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  2 Limited Collector Edition Steelbooks Bound In A Clear Slipcase (13 Discs + Bonus Features) 1715. The Golden Age of Piracy. New Providence Island is a lawless territory, controlled by history's most notorious pirate captains. The most feared is Captain Flint, a man who would resist civilization at all costs. A man prepared to wage war on the world. This battle will reach across land and sea, from the brothels of the Bahama islands, to the halls of power in London, to the blood-stained decks of a Spanish man-of-war; and be fought by men and women whose names will be forever forged into our collective memory. Names like Captain Charles Vane. Edward Teach, Jack Rackham, and Anne Bonny. And last but not least Long John Silver.

• Black Sails Season 2 | DVD | (06/04/2015) from £3.74   |  Saving you £31.25 (835.56%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The Walrus crew is stranded with an army of Spanish soldiers standing between them and the precious Urca gold. And with their crimes against their brethren no longer a secret Flint and Silver must join forces in a desperate bid for survival. Meanwhile Eleanor Guthrie struggles to maintain her grip on Nassau as a new breed of pirate arrives in the form of Ned Low a man for whom violence isn’t just a tool... it’s a pastime. As blood is spilled and tensions mount Charles Vane must decide which he values more: Eleanor’s life or the respect of his men. And unbeknownst to all of them a prize of immeasurable value has already been smuggled onto the island... one whose discovery will alter the very landscape of their world and force everyone in Nassau toward the ultimate judgment: are they men or are they monsters?

• Our Friends In The North (4 Disc Set) | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  An epic saga stretching from 1964 to 1995, Our Friends in the North follows the lives of four young people in North-East England. Nicky Hutchinson (Christopher Eccleston) is initially courting Mary Soulsby (Gina McKee) but the relationship cools when it takes second place to his campaigning for Harold Wilson's Labour Party. She weds Tory Tosker Cox instead, but their marriage is a miserable one, living in a rot-infested high rise block built following a dubious new housing scheme. Meanwhile, "Geordie" Peacock, finally tiring of his drunken, abusive father, headbutts him and hitches down to London, where he ends up working for a surrogate "family" led by Malcolm McDowell's flash Soho sex club baron. Over the years, the paths of these characters intertwine, diverge then cross again, albeit occasionally stretching the bounds of plausible coincidence. The drama takes place against the backdrop of local authority and police corruption in the 60s, the radical far-left militancy of the early 70s, Thatcher's election, the 1984 miner's strike and the subsequent "murder" of Northern communities. What's brilliant about Our Friends is its melding of the personal and the political, with the soap opera of family estrangement played out against a backdrop of social decline. Peter Vaughn, playing Nicky's Dad as a former Jarrow marcher stricken by Alzheimer's, is especially poignant. If you didn't see this the first time, do so now. On the DVD: Our Friends in the North has a bonus disc featuring a discussion with writer Peter Flannery and the producers and directors in which the making of the programme is revealed to have been as epic and protracted a saga as the drama itself. There are interviews also with stars Christopher Eccleston and Gina McKee. --David Stubbs

• Sex and the City: Series 2 | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £17.98   |  Saving you £19.00 (118.82%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Much like the novels of Fanny Burney or Jane Austen 200 years before, Sex and the City tackles that perennial female conundrum, how to maintain independence from men (intellectual, sexual, financial) while seeking the ideal life-partner for whom that much-cherished independence can safely be sacrificed. So it is that Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha prowl relentlessly the canyons of Manhattan in search of mates, all of whom fall woefully short of their needs in one crucial way or another. Yet, with biological clocks ticking and suppressed nesting instincts fighting back, the foursome occasionally find themselves dangerously close to despair. The dating game can be deadly serious sometimes. Which is why Sex and the City is not just good TV, it's great TV: for all its refreshingly cynical wit and superficial vivaciousness, the show has at its heart a streak of pathos and painful truth that resonates deeply with its audience. In the show's second season, the scrutiny falls more on the women than their succession of useless dates. Carrie has to learn the painful truth about Big all over again; Miranda has panic attacks about being alone for the rest of her life; Sam is humiliated by the ladies who lunch into confessing that she's a whore; and Charlotte is reduced to trading kinky foot massages for free shoes. Savage love, indeed. On the DVD: Sex and the City, Season 2 has all 18 episodes on three discs. Frustratingly, the menus have no "Play All" facility so you can't just sit back and enjoy--each episode requires navigation from the main menu to an episode list to a redundant preview screen before the play selection is offered. There are mini trailers for each episode and a short (eight-minute) promo featurette. The picture is a little fuzzy in places, doubtless the result of transfer from NTSC format, but is still an improvement over the first season. --Mark Walker

• Josie And The Pussycats | DVD | (17/12/2001) from £7.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (125.44%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Based on the 70s comic book and cartoon show, this is the tale of a girl band that tries to stop the government and record companies corrupting the nation's youth.

• The John Wilson Orchestra - Celebrating Frank Sinatra (Live from the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall) | DVD | (23/10/2015) from £14.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Sex And The City - Series 1 To 6 | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £129.99

  All 94 episodes from the six series of the acclaimed comedy/drama! Join Carrie Samantha Miranda and Charlotte as they plot a course through Manhattan's tricky social scene in a search for the perfect relationship - or orgasm!

• Ed Wood | Blu Ray | (01/02/2016) from £10.75   |  Saving you £-1.76 (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  The significance of Ed Wood, both man and movie, on the career of Tim Burton cannot be emphasised enough. Here Burton regurgitates and pays homage to the influences of his youth, just as he would continue to do with Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow. Everything is just right, from the decision to shoot in black and white, the performances of Johnny Depp (as Ed) and Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi), the re-creation of 1950s Hollywood and the evocative score by Howard (Lord of the Rings) Shore. The plot struck a poignant familiar chord with Burton, who saw the relationship between the Ed and Lugosi mirroring his own with Vincent Price. Most importantly Burton responded to the story of the struggling, misunderstood artist. For all Burton's big-budget blockbusters (Batman, Planet of the Apes), he still somehow retains the mantle of the kooky niche director. And in the mid-90s, this film actually represented the last vestiges of his independent film production. Fans can only hope he'll soon return to those roots soon. On the DVD: Ed Wood on disc has a good group commentary in which Burton is interviewed rather than expected to hold forth on his own, making his insights alongside the screenwriters, Landau, and various production heads very worthwhile. Also worthy are the featurettes on Landau's Oscar-winning make-up, the FX and the Theremin instrument employed in the score. Best of all is an extremely exotic Music Video based on that score. This doesn't seem to be a new transfer of the film, but in black and white you're less likely to notice. --Paul Tonks

• The Sound Of Music | DVD | (02/03/2015) from £7.87   |  Saving you £12.12 (154.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the most beloved family film of all time! Rodgers & Hammerstein’s cinematic treasure and Winner of five ACADEMY AWARDS® including Best Picture* stars Julie Andrews as Maria the warm-hearted young woman who leaves the convent to bring joy and music to Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) and his children. Experience this magnificent movie musical filled with unforgettable songs including “Do-Re-Mi ” “My Favorite Things” and “The Sound of Music.” Includes All-New 60-Minute Documentary – The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg and more!

• The Lady Vanishes | Blu Ray | (19/01/2015) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  One of cinema’s greatest auteurs Alfred Hitchcock's six-decade career generated an unmissable run of suspense-packed thrillers strongly characterised by macabre plots and twist endings. Made in 1938 this classic comedy-thriller was arguably his most popular and significant pre-war feature and one of the films that helped pave his way to Hollywood success. Featuring a whimsically suspenseful script from Launder and Gilliat The Lady Vanishes boasts one of the all-time great ensemble casts and is featured here in a brand-new High Definition transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Intrigue and espionage abound when a young woman travelling aboard a transcontinental express train strikes up an acquaintance with a charming elderly English governess who then disappears without a trace. Is the young woman hallucinating or is something altogether more sinister afoot..? Special Features: Introduction by Charles Barr Original Theatrical Trailer Image Gallery PDF Material