"Actor: Ric Young"

• Bone Tomahawk | DVD | (13/06/2016) from £6.19   |  Saving you £11.80 (190.63%)   |  RRP £17.99

  When a group of cannibal savages kidnaps settlers from the small town of Bright Hope, an unlikely team of gunslingers, led by Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell), sets out to bring them home. But their enemy is more ruthless than anyone could have imagined, putting their mission and survival itself in serious jeopardy. Kurt Russell leads an all-star cast including Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox and Richard Jenkins in this gritty, action-packed thriller chronicling a terrifying rescue mission in the Old West.

• Monty Python's Life Of Brian | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £5.32   |  Saving you £7.67 (144.17%)   |  RRP £12.99

  There is not a single joke, sight-gag or one-liner in Monty Python's Life of Brian that will not forever burn itself into the viewer's memory as being just as funny as it is possible to be, but--extraordinarily--almost every indestructibly hilarious scene also serves a dual purpose, making this one of the most consistently sustained film satires ever made. Like all great satire, the Pythons not only attack and vilify their targets (the bigotry and hypocrisy of organised religion and politics) supremely well, they also propose an alternative: be an individual, think for yourself, don't be led by others. "You've all got to work it out for yourselves", cries Brian in a key moment. "Yes, we've all got to work it our for ourselves", the crowd reply en masse. Two thousand years later, in a world still blighted by religious zealots, Brian's is still a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Aside from being a neat spoof on the Hollywood epic, it's also almost incidentally one of the most realistic on-screen depictions of the ancient world--instead of treating their characters as posturing historical stereotypes, the Pythons realised what no sword 'n' sandal epic ever has: that people are all the same, no matter what period of history they live in. People always have and always will bicker, lie, cheat, swear, conceal cowardice with bravado (like Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea), abuse power (like Pontius Pilate), blindly follow the latest fads and giggle at silly things ("Biggus Dickus"). In the end, Life of Brian teaches us that the only way for a despairing individual to cope in a world of idiocy and hypocrisy is to always look on the bright side of life. On the DVD: Life of Brian returns to Region 2 DVD in a decent widescreen anamorphic print with Dolby 5.1 sound--neither are exactly revelatory, but at least it's an improvement on the previous release, which was, shockingly, pan & scan. The 50-minute BBC documentary, "The Pythons", was filmed mainly on location in 1979 and isn't especially remarkable or insightful (a new retrospective would have been appreciated). There are trailers for this movie, as well as Holy Grail plus three other non-Python movies. There's no commentary track, sadly. --Mark Walker

• Bone Tomahawk | Blu Ray | (13/06/2016) from £6.99   |  Saving you £16.00 (228.90%)   |  RRP £22.99

  When a group of cannibal savages kidnaps settlers from the small town of Bright Hope, an unlikely team of gunslingers, led by Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell), sets out to bring them home. But their enemy is more ruthless than anyone could have imagined, putting their mission and survival itself in serious jeopardy. Kurt Russell leads an all-star cast including Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox and Richard Jenkins in this gritty, action-packed thriller chronicling a terrifying rescue mission in the Old West.

• The Craft | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Imagine if you could make anyone love you look more beautiful or punish your enemies just by casting a spell... Sarah is a a 17-year-old with a troubled past. Uprooted by her parents and moved to LA where she begins the final year at St. Benedict's Academy Sarah is a lonely stranger - until she meets a brigade of black lipstick and nails: Nancy Bonnie and Rochelle. These girls may never be in with the in-crowd - they're barely in with each other but recently they have bee

• Dune | Blu Ray | (28/03/2016) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  David Lynch writes and directs this adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi novel. Set in the distant future on the barren desert planet Arrakis, aka Dune, where a precious life-enhancing spice is guarded by monster sandworms, young nobleman Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) leads his family and the native Freman people against the territorial designs of his family's arch-enemies, the Harkonnens. However, once on Dune, Paul discovers he is earmarked for an even greater destiny. The cast also includes Francesca Annis, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt and Sting.

• Soylent Green | DVD | (30/01/2013) from £6.45   |  Saving you £8.54 (132.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  While Soylent Green may be one of the many dystopian visions of the future, the film stands out because it's one of the few titles that addresses current environmental issues head on. Adapted from Harry Harrison's novel Make Room, Make Room, it gives us a nightmarish vision of an over-populated, polluted future on the brink of collapse--a vision that gets uncomfortably closer every year. Charlton Heston as police officer Thorn investigates a murder in between suppressing food riots and uncovers the nightmarish truth about Soylent Green, the new foodstuff being sold to the poor. The film neatly combines police procedural with conspiracy thriller. Heston's scenes are counterpointed by more elegiac ones in which the centenarian Edward G Robinson as his friend Sol broods on the world he has outlived--his death in a euthanasia chamber is a gloriously lachrymose moment, which he plays to the hilt. Heston, too, is good as Thorn, a morally equivocal cop who loots the apartments of the victims whose deaths he investigates--he's a man just getting by in an impossible world. On the DVD: Soylent Green on disc comes with a commentary from director Richard Fleischer, the highpoint of which is a memorable description of what it was like to work with the brilliant ailing, entirely deaf Robinson. He is joined by Leigh Taylor-Young whose work on the film as heroine led to years of serious environmentalist commitment. It has a useful contemporary making-of documentary and touching shots of Robinson's 100th birthday party with telegrams from Sinatra and others. The feature itself is presented in anamorphic widescreen with its original mono sound. --Roz Kaveney

• DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 4 | Blu Ray | (04/11/2019) from £8.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After defeating the demon Mallus by cuddling him to death with a giant stuffed animal named Beebo, the Legends are ready to ease off the gas. Sara (series star CAITY LOTZ) and her team join Ava Sharpe (new series regular JES MACALLAN) and the Time Bureau to help clean up the last few remaining anachronisms. The job seems straightforward enough until John Constantine (new series regular MATT RYAN) arrives to inform them that, in solving one major problem, they have created another, much larger one. When the Legends let time crumble in order to release and defeat Mallus, the barrier between worlds softened. History is now infected with Fugitives magical creatures from myths, fairytales, and legends. Having been expelled throughout time by people like Constantine, these Fugitives are now returning to our world in droves and making a real mess of things. As the Time Bureau is distrustful of and ill-equipped to deal with magic, the Legends must team up with everyone's favorite demonologist to set history back on track. Sara and Constantine are joined by compassionate inventor Ray Palmer (series star BRANDON ROUTH), hotheaded ex-con Mick Rory (series star DOMINIC PURCELL), rebellious totem-bearer Zari (series star TALA ASHE), and heartbroken historian-turned-superhero Nate (series star NICK ZANO) as they set out to save the world and their legacy. It's the familiar fun of the Legends time-travelling across historical events and encountering famous figures with an added shot of magical craziness!

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- Two-disc set | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second best comedy ever made, Monty Python and the Holy Grail must give precedence only to the same team's masterpiece, The Life of Brian (1979). Even though most of this film's set-pieces are now indelibly inscribed in every Python fan's psyche, as if by magic they never seem to pall. And they remain endlessly, joyfully quotable: from the Black Knight ("It's just a flesh wound"), to the constitutional peasants ("Come and see the violence inherent in the system!") and the taunting French soldier ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"). Not forgetting of course the migratory habits of European and African swallows... The film's mock-Arthurian narrative provides a sturdy framework for the jokes, and the authentic-looking production design is relentlessly and gloriously dirty. The miniscule budget turns out to be one of the film's greatest assets: Can't afford horses? Use coconuts instead. No money for special effects? Let Terry Gilliam animate. And so on, from Camelot ("it's only a model") to the rampaging killer rabbit glove puppet. True it's let down a little by a rushed ending, and the jokes lack the sting of Life of Brian's sharply observed satire, but Holy Grail is still timeless comedy that's surely destined for immortality. On the DVD: Disc One contains a digitally remastered anamorphic (16:9) print of the film--which is still a little grainy, but a big improvement on previous video releases--with a splendidly remixed Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (plus an added 24 seconds of self-referential humour "absolutely free"!). There are two commentaries, one with the two Terrys, co-directors Jones and Gilliam, the other a splicing together of three separate commentaries by Michael Palin, John Cleese (in waspish, nit-picking mood) and Eric Idle. A "Follow the Killer Rabbit" feature provides access either to the Accountant's invoices or Gilliam's conceptual sketches. Subtitle options allow you to read the screenplay or watch with spookily appropriate captions from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part II. The second disc has lots more material, much of it very silly and inconsequential (an educational film on coconuts, the Camelot song in Lego and so on), plus a long-ish documentary from 2001 in which Palin and Jones revisit Doune Castle, Glencoe and other Scottish locations. Perhaps best of all, though, are the two scenes from the Japanese version with English subtitles, in which we see the search for the Holy sake cup, and the Ni-saying Knights who want... bonsai! --Mark Walker

• Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition) | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £7.55   |  Saving you £17.44 (230.99%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Yoiks! Here be the Python's tale of good King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his knights as they quest for the Holy Grail. Watch as they face great odds and silly sods. See them wage battle against the fierce Killer Rabbit (""Run Away! Run Away!"") and (oh horrors!) see them confront the dreaded Knights Who Say ""Ni!"". Oh these be trying times. Can these good knights pass the test of valour and cut down yon tree with herring? Or will they blow themselves to smithereens with the Holy H

• The Last Waltz (Masters of Cinema) Blu-ray Edition | Blu Ray | (22/06/2020) from £13.09   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Perhaps the greatest rock documentary ever made, Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz captures what was advertised as legendary rock group The Band's final farewell concert appearance. Joined on stage by more than a dozen special guests, including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Muddy Waters and Joni Mitchell, The Last Waltz started as a concert, but it became a celebration. Interspersed with candid discussions between director Scorsese and members of The Band, The Last Waltz has been called the greatest rock concert movie ever made - and maybe the best rock movie, period, and The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this iconic documentary on Blu-ray. And remember, This film should be played loud! Special Features: 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray PCM 5.1 Audio Optional English SDH subtitles Audio Commentary by director Martin Scorsese and Musician Robbie Robertson Audio Commentary by The Band members Levon Helm and Garth Hudson, journalists Jay Cocks and Greil Marcus, creative consultant Mardik Martin, producers Jonathan Taplin and Steven Prince, Cameraman Michael Chapman, Music Producer John Simon, Irwin Winkler and performers Mavis Staples, Dr. John and Ronnie Hawkins (includes optional subtitles identifying who is talking) Revisiting The Last Waltz [22 mins] Archival Outtakes Stills gallery PLUS: A collector's booklet including essays and archival writing on the film

• DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 4 | DVD | (04/11/2019) from £11.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All 16 episodes from the fourth season of the US action drama based on the DC Comics heroes. Having fixed the many anachronisms they caused, the team of time-travelling superheroes and villains, including Dr Ray Palmer aka Atom (Brandon Routh), White Canary (Caity Lotz), Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell) and John Constantine (Matt Ryan), reassemble to apprehend the fugitives they inadvertently released throughout time. The episodes are: 'The Virgin Gary', 'Witch Hunt', 'Dancing Queen', 'Wet Hot American Bummer', 'Tagumo Attacks!!!', 'Tender Is the Nate', 'Hell, No, Dolly!', 'Legends of To-Meow-Meow', 'Lucha de Apuestas', 'The Getaway', 'Seance and Sensibility', 'The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe', 'Egg MacGuffin', 'Nip/Stuck', 'Terms of Service' and 'Hey, World!'.

• No Job For a Lady - The Complete Series 3 | DVD | (04/06/2012) from £3.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (225.56%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Comedy icon Penelope Keith stars as Jean Price, a newly elected Labour MP who finds her cherished principles severely tested in the unforgiving, often murky world of Westminster. Jean s ambition withstands the dreadful facilities and uncivilised hours that might drive a lesser woman out of the job, with the wife and mother managing to hold her own amid the swollen egos, rampant chauvinism and Machiavellian scheming of the political elite; husband Geoff provides much-needed moral support. Also featuring Ruth Rendell Mysteries star George Baker as Tory adversary Sir Godfrey Eagan and Garfield Morgan as Labour whip Norman, this cleverly scripted Thames comedy was directed by BAFTA Award winner John Howard Davies, whose high-profile credits include The Good Life, Fawlty Towers and Mr Bean.

• An Innocent Man | DVD | (23/09/2002) from £5.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (150.25%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Tom Selleck stars as Jimmie Rainwood an average citizen and hardworking honest man whose life becomes a living nightmare when he is framed by a pair of crooked cops and sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. Unable to prove his innocence he is thrown into a maximum security prison with a bunch of sadistic thugs and forced to endure dangerous subhuman conditions. During his incarceration Jimmy takes a crash course in prison survival from fellow inmate Virgil Cane (F. Murray

• The Last Emperor | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £16.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (17.73%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Bernardo Bertolucci does the nearly impossible with this sweeping, grand epic that tells a very personal tale. The story is a dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the emperors of China. It follows his life from its elite beginnings in the Forbidden City, where he was crowned at age three and worshipped by half a billion people. He was later forced to abdicate and, unable to fend for himself in the outside world, became a dissolute and exploited shell of a man. He died in obscurity, living as a peasant in the People's Republic. We never really warm up to John Lone in the title role, but The Last Emperor focuses more on visuals than characterisation anyway. Filmed in the Forbidden City, it is spectacularly beautiful, filling the screen with saturated colours and exquisite detail. It won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• Desert Fox, The / The Desert Rats | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £14.35   |  Saving you £0.64 (4.46%)   |  RRP £14.99

  James Mason plays Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in both The Desert Fox (1951) and The Desert Rats (1953), a WWII double-bill on DVD. The Desert Fox, released six years after the end of the War, is a solemnly respectful tribute to Erwin Rommel, Germany's most celebrated military genius. James Mason's portrayal of this gallant warrior became a highlight of his career iconography. The film itself is oddly disjointed, though: a pre-credit commando raid to liquidate Rommel is followed by a flashback to the field-marshal's lightning successes commanding the Afrika Korps--a compressed account via documentary footage and copious narration (spoken by Michael Rennie, who also dubs Desmond Young, the Rommel biographer and one-time British POW appearing briefly as himself). The dramatic core is Rommel's growing disenchantment with Hitler (Luther Adler), his involvement in the plot to assassinate the Fuhrer, and his subsequent martyrdom. The Desert Rats stars Richard Burton in only his second Hollywood role (between Oscar-nominated turns in My Cousin Rachel and The Robe), as a Scottish commando put in charge of a battalion of the 9th Australian Division defending Tobruk. The Aussies don't like him, and with a year of grim North African duty already under his belt, he's not too crazy about his new responsibilities either. The outfit is charged with staving off the battering assaults of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel for two months, to give the British Army time to regroup in Cairo and prepare for a counterattack. In the end, the "desert rats" play hell with the Desert Fox for 242 days, during which time they and their commander develop some mutual respect. This is a solid, workmanlike World War II picture that, having been made in 1953 rather than 1943, can acknowledge a degree of eccentric humanity and soldierly professionalism in the enemy. Featured guest star James Mason reprises his Rommel from The Desert Fox, playing all his scenes in German except for a scene of ironical repartee with Burton. Another distinguished Brit, Robert Newton, gets costar billing as a boozy, self-confessed coward who used to be Burton's schoolmaster. However, a goodly number of Australians--including Chips Rafferty and Charles "Bud" Tingwell rate at least as much screen time. Robert Wise directed, with a trimness that reminds us he started out as an editor, and the pungent black-and-white cinematography is by Lucien Ballard. --Richard T. Jameson

• The War Bride | DVD | (28/06/2004) from £4.90   |  Saving you £1.09 (22.24%)   |  RRP £5.99

  With all the men away to war Lily (Anna Friel) falls madly in love and marries a handsome Canadian soldier Charlie Travis (Aden Young). But Charlie is shipped off to the front and Lily discovers she's expecting his baby not knowing if she will ever see him alive again. Lily receives instructions from the Canadian Embassy that she is to be shipped across the sea to her new Canadian in-laws. Life for Lily is not about to improve on arriving in Canada she is met by cold-hearted mother-in-law Betty (Brenda Fricker) and crippled sister-in-law Sylvia. Lily finds she has swapped one horrendous existence for another as she must struggle to survive on a dilapidate farm in the bleak Canadian wilderness. Based on the true story and winner of two Genies (Canada's Academy Awards) this film is both heartfelt and funny and will genuinely keep you engrossed till the end.

• The Last Emperor | DVD | (10/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Bernardo Bertolucci's epic film tells the incredible story of Pu Yi who in 1908 at the age of three became ruler of nearly half of the world's population. He was the ""Son of heaven"" ""Lord of Ten Thousand Years"" and the last emperor of China. His reign was short and three years later a revolution ended three thousand years of imperial rule and a new republic was born. Allowed to remain in his palace and the enclosed walls of the Forbidden City he was unable to venture further than the city gates. Here he would stay for twelve years a prisoner protected from but also ignorant of the outside world. Eventually expelled by a republican warlord Pu Yi began an incredible journey of self discovery that would span a quarter of a century. Winner of nine Oscars The Last Emperor was one of the biggest and most ambitious productions ever undertaken. Director Bernardo Bertolucci and Producer Jeremy Thomas spent two years in negotiations before being granted the unprecedented permission to not only film in China but within the Forbidden City itself. The result was one of the most visually breathtaking and moving epics ever made.

• Glory | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £7.25   |  Saving you £12.74 (175.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The negroes fought gallantly and were headed by as brave a Colonel as ever lived", was one Confederate soldier's eyewitness verdict on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers immediately after 247 of their 600-man regiment had fallen in bloody swathes beneath the withering fire from Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina in 1863. Glory is their story: the mustering of the first black regiment in the US Army, their battles with the Southerners as well as with the Northern military authorities, and their own moment of glory when they paid a terrible price for the opportunity to demonstrate to the world their courage. In telling this little-known story, director Ed Zwick single-handedly changed perceptions of the American Civil War: when a Grand Review of the Armies was held in Washington at the end of the war, none of the almost 180,000 coloured troops who fought for the Union were present; when that parade was restaged in 1990 a year after the movie was released, the 54th Massachusetts re-enactors were at the front of the procession. Zwick's stirring, factually accurate account is greatly enhanced by obsessive period detail and frighteningly realistic battle reconstructions (which were not to be surpassed in scale until 1993's Gettysburg). But Zwick also illuminates individual characters in the regiment with great sensitivity. As crucial as the military set-pieces are the scenes of the men together: talking in the tent or baring their souls in song. Denzel Washington, as the embittered ex-slave, gives a performance of real depth; he richly deserved his Oscar win for the heartbreaking flogging scene alone. Morgan Freeman brings great gravitas to his paternalistic role, and Matthew Broderick's idealistic Colonel Shaw is the centre around which the story revolves. With a clutch of remarkable lead performances, a sensitive and touching script, one of James Horner's finest musical scores, and a director with both the vision and heart to pull it off it's easy to agree with the backcover blurb: "Glory is one of the greatest war movies ever made". Without even a hint of hyperbole, it undoubtedly is. On the DVD: This is a superb looking (anamorphic) and sounding (Dolby 5.1) print, and the disc has some excellent additional features. Ed Zwick's commentary is insightful and extremely detailed: here's a director who obviously cares deeply about this movie. Of the three featurettes, one is a short-ish promo piece but the other two are genuinely impressive: there's a 20-minute "Making of" feature with major contributions from Zwick, Freeman and Broderick, and best of all a 45-minute "The True Story Continues" feature narrated by Freeman which tells the complete story of the 54th Massachusetts from beginning to end using footage from the movie as well as archive material and film of battle re-enactments. Also included are two deleted scenes, although a third scene which was shot for the movie but not used (the Frederick Douglass' speech) crops up in the "True Story" piece. James Horner's emotive score gets an isolated track all to itself and there are also some filmographies and trailers. All in all, this is a superb DVD. --Mark Walker

• Dune | DVD | (28/03/2016) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  David Lynch writes and directs this adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi novel. Set in the distant future on the barren desert planet Arrakis, aka Dune, where a precious life-enhancing spice is guarded by monster sandworms, young nobleman Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) leads his family and the native Freman people against the territorial designs of his family's arch-enemies, the Harkonnens. However, once on Dune, Paul discovers he is earmarked for an even greater destiny. The cast also includes Francesca Annis, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt and Sting.

• Invasion | DVD | (03/11/2014) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Based on a story by Doctor Who legend Robert Holmes Public Eye creator Roger Marshall scripts this cult sci-fi thriller from Merton Park studios. Starring Edward Judd – memorably powerful in The Day the Earth Caught Fire - actor/writer Lyndon Brook and oriental beauty Yoko Tani this brilliantly entertaining gem from 1965 is featured here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Lawrence Blackburn driving home in thick fog brakes violently and swerves as a man of strange appearance suddenly looms into view. The stranger is knocked down and bundling the body into his car Blackburn takes him to his local hospital. Medical tests discover something extraordinary: the victim's blood is unidentifiable and he has a radio-opaque disc in his brain. Upon regaining consciousness he explains that he was escorting two prisoners from the planet Lystria when he crash-landed on Earth and his prisoners escaped. But the terrifying truth is that he is a murderer and his two female guards are now on his trail... Special Features: Image Gallery Original Promotional Materials PDFs