"Actor: Patrick Ewing"

• The Way We Were | DVD | (24/07/2000) from £7.55   |  Saving you £12.44 (164.77%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A classic early 1970s weepie, The Way We Were stars Barbra Streisand as a Communist activist in the late 30s and 40s and Robert Redford as the ambitious young writer who marries her, cheats on her and eventually leaves her in the early days of McCarthyism for the sake of his Hollywood screenwriting career. Arthur Laurent's intelligent screenplay, remarkable performances from the two stars and Marvin Hamlisch's Oscar-winning score and theme song combined to produce a film that even as hostile a critic as Pauline Kael had to admit worked. On the DVD: The DVD re-release includes the usual subtitling facilities, the theatre trailer and a documentary on the film's making, which includes one of the more political scenes deleted for commercial release; it is also possible to watch the film with a detailed commentary from Sydney Pollack about the problems of its making, problems which included writing new scenes so that Redford was not entirely upstaged by Streisand in the audience's sympathies. --Roz Kaveney

• Space Jam | DVD | (23/11/1998) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie co-starring the beloved characters from Warner Bros' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his co-stars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Warners' heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the original cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• NBA Dynasty Series: New York Knicks - The Complete History | DVD | (04/11/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• 12 Dogs Of Christmas: Great Puppy Race | DVD | (04/11/2013) from £8.52   |  Saving you £4.47 (34.40%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The dogs of Doverville are in trouble again... but Emma O'Connor (Danielle Chuchran) is back to save them in a song-filled, seasonal extravaganza. Mean-spirited mogul Finneas James (Sean Patrick Flanery) plots to shut down the local puppy orphanage, unless Emily can come up with the money to save it. With the help of some friends, she races against time to put together a musical holiday event that just might save the day. Don't miss the new chapter in the heartwarming saga.

• Desert Heat | DVD | (12/04/2004) from £6.97   |  Saving you £-0.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Versatility, thy name is Van Damme! So Arnold cries in End of Days? Hah! In this relentless revenge actioner, Jean-Claude not only cries, but has a drunk scene, suffers suicidal despair, does a little slapstick, and still manages to flash his ubiquitous butt. Which, of course, is what his legion of fans want to see him kick plenty of (other people's butts, that is; not his own). Van Damme may no longer generate any box-office heat (like 1998's Legionnaire, this bypassed cinemas to go straight to video), but he at least gives his fans what they want. Originally titled Coyote Moon, Desert Heat recalls that guilty pleasure Road House, as Eddie Lomax (Van Damme) comes to the rescue of a gallery of colourful characters terrorised by slobbering, drug-dealing bikers and rednecks in a dilapidated desert town. And this time, it's personal. As one denizen ominously observes, "There's trouble on the hoof and it's coming this way" for the three ill-fated bullies who beat up and shot Eddie and left him for dead. Despite its desert setting, Heat is an oasis for great character actors who pick up Van Damme's considerable slack. They include Danny Trejo (Con Air) as Eddie's Native American friend Johnny Sixtoes, Pat Morita (The Karate Kid), Larry Drake (Darkman), Vincent Schiavelli (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ghost), Bill Erwin (Candy Stripe Nurses), and luscious Jaime Preslly as Dottie the waitress. The director is credited as Danny Mulroon, a pseudonym for John Avildsen, the Academy Award-winning director of Rocky. His career, too, seems to be on the ropes, but he keeps punching with some welcome eccentric touches. At one point Johnny gives the recuperating Eddie a foot massage (didn't he see Pulp Fiction?). And the script offers such goodies as a lovelorn bus driver (Tom's brother, Jim Hanks) inviting Dottie to see Yojimbo, and one biker's plea for mercy from a local tough: "Jessie, we were in high school together. I signed your yearbook". --Donald Liebenson, Amazon.com

• Space Jam | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £20.99

  His Airness and His Hareness; what a team! Michael Jordon slams Bugs Bunny jams and a cavalcade of Looney Tunes and NBA stars hoop it up in the rim-rattlin out of this world roundball romp: Space Jam.

• The Astounding She Monster (Region 2) | DVD | (09/10/2009) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A