"Actor: Peter (III)"

• Brassed Off | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Take The Full Monty, add a sharper emotional edge and replace the strutting strippers with a dignified British band. That's the essence of Brassed Off, a bittersweet gem released in 1996, a year before its more popular (and Oscar-nominated) counterpart. In the Yorkshire town of Grimley, there has always been a coal mine, just as for the last 111 years there has been a brass band and it seems that Danny (the wondrous Pete Postlethwaite) has been the director for every one of those years. Tory economic policies, however, are closing coal mines around the country in favour of nuclear power and Grimley appears to be next on the list. Danny is unfazed by the threat, claiming, "It's music that matters." But some of the men are about to quit the band until the appearance of Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald at her most radiant), who dazzles the all-male group (including old flame Andy, played by Ewan McGregor) first with her beauty, then with her flügelhorn playing. The new member gives the band a boost as they continue to perform and compete but closure remains very real, as director Mark Herman (Little Voice) accompanies the band's performances (played with gusto by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band) with scenes of angry labour-management confrontations and family strife. In this context, some of the characters claim that the music is an irresponsible form of escapism. It becomes clear, however, from a touching performance of "Danny Boy" to the stirring conclusion at Royal Albert Hall, that music is an expression of the human spirit, a bit of beauty and sanity in a harsh world. With defiance, the band can play "Land of Hope and Glory" even when the land offers them neither. --David Horiuchi

• Inspector Gadget 2 | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £7.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (125.72%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Inspector Gadget 2 sees the unlikely detective with higher-tech gadgets and more special effects. French Stewart (from TV's Third Rock from the Sun) replaces Matthew Broderick as the bumbling detective in a plot that revolves around the glitch-ridden Gadget being replaced by a completely robotised female. Parent Trap's Elaine Hendrix does what little she can with the one-dimensional role of "G2". Still, Gadget falls for his rival and the pair team up with his smart-as-a-whip niece Penny and her brainy beagle for a showdown with Claw. Where Broderick struggled to humanise the caricature of an inept detective in the 1999 original, Stewart doesn't even try. Instead he plays Gadget as a cartoon with endless over-the-top theatrics. The enhanced special effects may placate young viewers, but without the comedy of the original, that's small comfort. --Kimberly Heinrichs

• The Abominable Dr. Phibes | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £19.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Abominable Dr Phibes is an unusually beautiful horror classic in which Vincent Price stars as the titular genius who specialises in organ music, theology and concocting bizarre deaths for anyone who wrongs him. Discovering why is half the fun, so for now let's just say that Phibes is a little mad and very, very angry. Aided by his assistant, the lovely, silent Vulnavia, Phibes begins cutting a gory swathe through London's medical community, with the dogged Inspector Trout hot on his tail. The film contains many pleasures--exquisite art direction and a dark sense of humour among them--but the real treat is in watching an old pro such as Price at work. Whether he's playing his organ, staring down a victim or drinking through his neck, Price is at the top of his game. He mixes dark menace with wry comic touches, revealing both Phibes' maniacal obsession and offhanded confidence in his own genius. Settle in for an evening of elegant gore--and if an attractive, mute deliverywoman comes to the door, whatever you do, don't answer! --Ali Davis

• Robin And Marian | DVD | (12/08/2002) from £12.63   |  Saving you £0.36 (2.85%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Robin Hood (Connery) is an old man when he returns with his best friend Little John to England after the Crusades. Maid Marian (Hepburn) has entered a nunnery King Richard is a raving lunatic his Brother John a moron and the age of great adventure has seemed to have passed Robin by. But when The Sheriff of Nottingham (Shaw) once again threatens Sherwood Robin gathers his faithful men and band of peasants to fight oppression in this high-spirited adventure in which Robin Hood and Maid Marian rediscover their love...

• Road To Bali | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Widely regarded as one of the best of the Road To series Bing and Bob play two song and dance men who are forced to leave Melbourne in rather a hurry in order to avoid various marriage proposals which have come their way and so sign on as deep sea divers working for a Balinese prince. Whilst he hopes that they will manage to locate a chest of lost treasure that lies at the bottom of a bay he omits the fact that it is guarded by a sea monster. Or that if they do manage to locate it

• Thomas And Sarah - Episodes 1 To 7 | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The continuation of the Upstairs Downstairs saga which follows the lives of the two servants Thomas and Sarah. Episodes included: The Vanishing Lady Made In Heaven Alma Mater Birds Of A Feather The Silver Ghost The Biters Bit and A Day At The Metropole.

• Forgive Me | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £18.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (5.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  FORGIVE ME: By openly exceeding the borders of the acceptable the idealistic filmmaker Cyrus Frisch hopes the stream of violence and misery on television will finally come to an end. The praise he gained after the first screening of brutal scenes with social outcasts he filmed made him outrageous. The director sells himself to the devil and goes even further in the abuse of his protagonists. How long can the viewer stay a passive accomplice?