"Actor: Robert Willar"

• Robocop Trilogy | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-7.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £32.99

  Paul Verhoeven was almost unknown in Hollywood prior to the release of RoboCop in 1987. But after this ultra-violent yet strangely subversive and satirical sci-fi picture became a huge hit his reputation for extravagant and excessive, yet superbly well-crafted filmmaking was assured. Controversial as ever, Verhoeven saw the blue-collar cop (Peter Weller) who is transformed into an invincible cyborg as "an American Jesus with a gun", and so the film dabbles with death and resurrection imagery as well as mercilessly satirising Reagan-era America. No targets escape Verhoeven's unflinching camera eye, from yuppie excess and corporate backstabbing to rampant consumerism and vacuous media personalities. As with his later sci-fi satire Starship Troopers the extremely bloody violence resolutely remains on the same level as a Tom and Jerry cartoon. The inevitable sequel, competently directed by Irvin Kershner, thankfully continues to mine the dark vein of anti-consumerist satire while being reflexively aware that it is itself a shining example of that which it is lampooning. Sadly the third instalment in the series, now without Peter Weller in the title role, is exactly the kind of dumbed-down production-line flick that the corporate suits of OCP might have dreamed up at a marketing meeting. Its only virtue is a decent music score from regular Verhoeven collaborator Basil Poledouris, whose splendid march theme returned from the original score. On the DVD: Packaged in a fold-out slipcase these three discs make a very collectable set. All are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic prints, although only the first movie has any extra material worth mentioning. Here the Director's Cut option allows the viewer to see Paul Verhoeven's more explicitly violent versions of Murphy's "assassination", ED-209's bloody malfunction and the shootout finale. These extended sequences are handily signposted in the scene selection menu, and the filming of them can be seen in a sequence of Director's Cut footage. Deleted scenes include "Topless Pizza" ("I'll buy that for a dollar!") and there are two contemporary "making of" featurettes plus a good, new half-hour retrospective. Both the latter and the director's commentary make abundantly clear the Reagan-era satire and are chock full of quotable lines from Verhoeven--"I wanted to show Satan killing Jesus"--and his producer--"Fascism for liberals". Stop-motion animator Phil Tippett gives a commentary on the storyboard-to-film comparisons, and there are the usual trailers and photos. Showing just how much the sequels are rated in comparison, the second and third discs have nothing but theatrical trailers and their sound is just Dolby 2.0 whereas the original movie has been remastered into Dolby 5.1.--Mark Walker

• Love Me If You Dare | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £9.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (100.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Some say love is a game. But what happens when the game becomes more thrilling than love (and life) itself? With an irresistible mix of romance fantasy and dark comedy 'Love Me If You Dare' transforms this notion into a wildly fantastical love story. Eight-year-old Sophie and Julien are two outcast children whose lives change forever on the day that they meet. Together they invent an outrageous game of ""Dare"" to keep their spirits alive. As they grow older the game becomes a glor

• The Nutcracker And The Mouseking | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £5.04   |  Saving you £9.95 (197.42%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Based on the Fairytale By E.T.A. Hoffman Christmas in Czarist Russia 1900. A spoiled prince lives in a magnificent palace with his magician uncle Drosselmeier. To test the young prince Drosselmeier gives him one of two magic nuts. Each one has the power to make a wish come true. The prince carelessly plays with the nut as he muses that life would be much more fun if everyone was a toy. In a flash the prince and his servants are turned into toy nutcrackers. The evil mouse king that lives within the palace walls hatches a plot to take over the kingdom. Drosselmeier persuades Clara a young girl who is enchanted by the nutcracker prince to set off on a mission to save the kingdom. Will they be able to reverse the magic spell and save the kingdom from tyranny?