"Actor: Robin"

• H.M.S. Defiant | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Set in 1797 at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, HMS Defiant is an enthralling British naval drama made to capitalise upon MGM's epic remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, also released in 1962. Based on the novel Mutiny by Frank Tilsey and starring Alex Guinness as a fair-minded captain locked in psychological conflict with Dirk Bogarde, his manipulative, coldly malicious first officer, the parallels with the famous true story are clear. However there were many naval mutinies at this period and this large-scale saga, which includes some spectacularly staged widescreen naval battles, offers a realistic depiction of life in the British navy at the time--from the press gangs and floggings, to the appalling food and living conditions. Director Lewis Gilbert--who previously helmed Sink the Bismarck! (1960)--strikes a good balance between the personal drama and sweeping maritime adventure. Guinness successfully varies his firm-but-fair officer from The Bridge on the River Kwai, Bogarde is chillingly hateful and Anthony Quayle gives strong support. ITV's recent Hornblower cumulatively offers a more detailed portrait of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars, though the TV series cannot match the visual scale of this big-screen production. On the DVD: HMS Defiant is presented anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1, though a little of the original CinemaScope frame is still cropped at the sides. The image is generally very good, though a handful of scenes near the end show considerable print damage and there is an inconstancy of colour grading between some shots. Grain is variable, but not generally a problem, though some unattractive "ringing" from edge enhancement is noticeable, particularly around Alex Guinness when he stands against a bright sky. The sound is in very clear mono with just occasional distortion on the music score. The disc offers the option of watching with dubbed French, German, Italian or Spanish soundtracks. The original trailer is included--under the American title of Damn the Defiant!--as are trailers for three other classic war films. The only other extra features are a small gallery of original publicity materials and three very basic filmographies. --Gary S Dalkin

• Men Behaving Badly - Series 5 | DVD | (03/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The ultimate small-screen representation of Loaded-era lad culture--albeit a culture constantly being undermined by its usually sharper female counterpart--there seems little argument that Men Behaving Badly was one of 1990s' definitive sitcoms. Certainly the booze-oriented, birds-obsessed antics of Martin Clunes' Gary and Neil Morrissey's Tony have become every bit as connected to Britain's collective funny bone as Basil Fawlty's inept hostelry or Ernie Wise's short, hairy legs. Yet, the series could easily have been cancelled when ITV viewers failed to respond to the original version, which featured Clunes sharing his flat with someone named Dermot, played by Harry Enfield. Indeed, it was only when the third series moved to the BBC and was then broadcast in a post-watershed slot--allowing writer Simon Nye greater freedom to explore his characters' saucier ruminations--that the show began to gain a significant audience. By then, of course, Morrissey had become firmly ensconced on the collective pizza-stained sofa, while more screen time was allocated to the boys' respective foils, Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash. Often glibly dismissed as a lame-brained succession of gags about sex and flatulence, the later series not only featured great performances and sharp-as-nails writing but also sported a contemporary attitude that dared to go where angels, and certainly most other sitcoms, feared to tread. Or, as Gary was once moved to comment about soft-porn lesbian epic Love in a Women's Prison: "It's a serious study of repressed sexuality in a pressure-cooker environment." Series 5 includes: "Hair" in which Tony returns from holiday to discover Dorothy has convinced Gary she should move in. And that Tony should move out; "The Good Pub Guide" in which our heroes are dismayed when The Crown gets a new look and new landlord (The Fast Show's John Thomson). Tony rescues the pub's old condom machine as a present for Deborah ("I thought it was something we could enjoy together."); "Cowardice" in which Tony becomes convinced Deborah is going through a lesbian phase; "Your Mate Vs Your Bird" in which increased tension in the household persuades Dorothy to reconsider her living arrangements; "Cardigan" in which Gary, concerned he's becoming middle-aged, suggests they go to a rave; "Rich and Fat" in which Tony goes on a diet after Gary accuses him of being "a bit of a podgemeister"; "Home Made Sauna" in which temptation comes Gary's way when Dorothy and Deborah go away for a sailing weekend. The DVD version also features aquiz.

• The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires | DVD | (28/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Hammer Horror! Dragon Thrills! The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular! Count Dracula journies to a remote Chinese village in the guise of a warlord to support six vampires who are dispirited after the loss of a seventh member of their cult. At the same time vampire hunter Prof. Van Helsing happens to be lecturing in the country and is persuaded by villagers to help them fight this curse of the ages... Possibly the only film to combine the traditions of a vampire story with Kung Fu!

• Beverly Hills Ninja | DVD | (09/10/2003) from £2.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (50.10%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A slapstick comedy starring Chris Farley, Beverly Hills Ninja is part prop-gag movie and part testament to the late comedian's physical comedic abilities. As a baby, Haru (Farley) appeared on the coastal shores of Japan. Legend has it that a foreigner would arrive and become the greatest ninja ever, known as the "Great White Ninja." As Haru grew, it became apparent: he was not the one. But when a beautiful stranger named Sally (Nicollette Sheridan) appears at the dojo seeking a ninja's help, Haru finds his calling. Through a series of mix-ups (generally caused by Haru himself), Haru is framed for murder and he follows Sally to Beverly Hills to set things right. Finding out Sally's boyfriend is a counterfeiter and murderer, Haru with the help of hotel bellboy Joey (Chris Rock) and unknowingly with the help of his ninja brother Gobei (Robin Shou) takes down the counterfeit ring and finds his place among the ninja clan.

• The Glass Castle | DVD | (05/02/2018) from £3.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on one of the longest-running New York Times bestsellers, 'The Glass Castle' tells the story of Jeannette Walls' unconventional upbringing at the hands of her deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant parents.

• Gotham - Season 3 | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  The origin story continues on GOTHAM: MAD CITY and the stakes are higher than ever, as Super Villains more ambitious and depraved are introduced, and a realignment of alliances shakes up the fight for power in Gotham City. With the Indian Hill escapees on the loose, Jim Gordon (series star BEN McKENZIE) must take matters into his own hands as a bounty hunter in Gotham, making it his mission to find Hugo Strange (recurring guest star BD WONG), the mastermind behind the horrifying Indian Hill experiments, and Fish Mooney (special guest star JADA PINKETT SMITH), one of Strange's subjects. Meanwhile, Gotham City Police Detective Harvey Bullock (series star DONAL LOGUE) and Captain Nathaniel Barnes (series star MICHAEL CHIKLIS) remain at the forefront of the fight against crime in the monster-ridden city. Also, a young Bruce Wayne (series star DAVID MAZOUZ), with the help of his trusted butler and mentor, Alfred Pennyworth (series star SEAN PERTWEE) and former Wayne Enterprises employee, Lucius Fox (series star CHRIS CHALK) discovers there are still more secrets to uncover regarding his parents' murders as he peels back the curtain on the infamous criminal organization known as the Court of Owls. As the city sinks deeper into chaos, GOTHAM continues to follow the evolving stories of the city's most malevolent villains: The Penguin (series star ROBIN LORD TAYLOR), Edward Nygma/The Riddler (series star CORY MICHAEL SMITH), Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman (series star CAMREN BICONDOVA), Barbara Kean (series star ERIN RICHARDS), Tabitha Galavan aka Tigress (series star JESSICA LUCAS), and Butch Gilzean (series star DREW POWELL). The series also catches up with the future Poison Ivy (new series regular MAGGIE GEHA), who, after an Indian Hill encounter, finds herself reborn as a young woman who's harnessed the full power of her charms. In addition, GOTHAM dives into the origin stories of the Tweed Brothers and Jervis Tetch aka Mad Hatter (new series regular BENEDICT SAMUEL), a talented hypnotist, teetering on the edge of madness.

• The Angriest Man in Brooklyn | DVD | (08/09/2014) from £3.74   |  Saving you £11.25 (300.80%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A curmudgeonly man is mistakenly told that he has 90 minutes to live by his doctor and promptly sets out to reconcile with his wife brother and friends in the short time he believes he has left.

• Comrades | Blu Ray | (27/02/2012) from £15.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (43.78%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Bill Douglas’ beautiful film Comrades tells the epic story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six Dorset labourers deported to Australia in the 1830s for forming a trade union. Unfolding in the pastoral haze of Dorset and the blinding light of Australia, Douglas has created a film rich with carefully layered visual illusions and nuances. With lovely, profound performances throughout, the story – a compelling account of struggle and injustice – becomes an epic tale about history, storytelling and the way we see our world. This three disc set from a director of singular vision – better known for his autobiographical Trilogy (My Childhood (1972), My Ain Folk (1973), My Way Home (1978) is presented in a new HD restoration on DVD and Blu-ray, with a wealth of special features.

• Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings Of Sherlock Holmes (1999) | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• Hook | DVD | (03/11/2008) from £5.49   |  Saving you £4.50 (81.97%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Peter Pan - the hero who never grows old - has grown up! And he's even forgotten how to fly! Enter the magical mystical world of a hundred fun summers as the ageless avenger and faithful fairy Tinkerbell return to Never Never Land in search of Peter's forgotten childhood his lost children and a fearless confrontation with his evil pirate enemy - Captain Hook. Dustin Hoffman Robin Williams Juila Roberts and Bob Hoskins hook up for the fantasy flight for a lifetime as dream-maker Steven Spielberg brings this amazing tale of adventure to the screen. All children grow up...except one!

• Leonardo (Italy) - Season 01 | Blu Ray | (18/10/2021) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A compelling look at one of the most restlessly brilliant men of all time, Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo gets inside the mind of the genius, showing the drama behind his art and exploring a tantalizing murder-mystery.

• Macgyver: Season 1 | DVD | (11/09/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.53

  Like James Bond--but without the high-tech gadgets--Angus MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) is one of those rare beings who can avert any crisis without mussing a hair. (The rest of us should be so lucky.) In the pilot alone, the secret agent dismantles a missile using a paper clip and fashions a rocket thruster out of a pistol. Is there anything MacGyver can't do? As the first season of ABC's long-running adventure series proves, the answer is a resounding no. MacGyver's secret: the everyday items he "finds along the way," like matches or gum wrappers, and the ingenuity to put them to a myriad of uses (a background in physics and chemistry doesn't hurt). Unlike Alias' Sidney Bristow, he isn't a multi-linguist, a martial artist, or a master of disguises. Wits are MacGyver's weapon of choice. Produced by Henry Winkler (Arrested Development), The Complete First Season includes all 22 episodes from 1985-1986 (alas, there are no extras). MacGyver is joined by Phoenix Foundation director of operations Pete Thornton (Dana Elcar), who is introduced in "Nightmares." Also, his grandfather, Harry Jackson (John Anderson), makes his first appearance in "Target MacGyver," while friend Penny Parker (Teri Hatcher of Desperate Housewives) makes hers in "Every Time She Smiles" (they will appear more frequently in future seasons). Other notable guest stars include Joan Chen (The Last Emperor) in "The Golden Triangle," Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) in "Hellfire," and John De Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation) in "The Escape." MacGyver ran for seven seasons and was followed by two made-for-TV movies in 1994, Lost Treasure of Atlantis and Trail to Doomsday. In 1997, after a short-lived series for UPN (1995's Legend), Anderson landed the lead in an even longer-running series, Stargate SG-1, based on the sci-fi extravaganza with Kurt Russell. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Gentlemen Broncos | DVD | (03/05/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Benjamin (Angarono) home-schooled by his eccentric mother (Coolidge) is a loner whose passion for writing leads him on a journey as his story first gets ripped off by the legendary fantasy novelist Ronald Chevalier (Clement) and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town's most prolific homespun filmmaker. Starring Jermaine Clement from 'Flight Of The Conchords' and directed by Jared Hess ('Napoleon Dynamite' 'Nacho Libre').

• Paparazzi | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £8.99   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  When a bunch of photographers almost kill him and his family, a Hollywood star sets out to exact revenge.

• And Mother Makes... The Complete Series | DVD | (26/11/2012) from £46.92   |  Saving you £13.07 (27.86%)   |  RRP £59.99

  This duo of sparkling Thames comedies provided an early hit for BAFTA-winning comedienne Wendy Craig showcasing her talents as a harassed well-meaning but scatterbrained young widow doing her best to bring up two rambunctious sons.

• Night Listener | DVD | (16/04/2007) from £3.78   |  Saving you £2.21 (58.47%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A radio show host's life is thrown into chaos after a conversation with his biggest fan.

• Private Parts | DVD | (25/10/1999) from £7.51   |  Saving you £8.48 (112.92%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Give credit to director Betty Thomas for making the notorious Howard Stern, self-proclaimed "king of all media", into a nerdish but appealing media rebel who loves his wife and family. Even if you hate Stern's rude radio show, you may discover that the underdog charm of this warm, whimsical film (based on Stern's autobiography) turns you into a fan--for the length of the film at least. Stern delivers a winning performance as the clumsy college kid and aspiring disc-jockey-turned-demon-shock-jock, who becomes an unlikely hero as he battles station managers, network executives and conservative "arbiters of decency" in the name of unfettered bad taste. Mary McCormack is fine as his understanding wife, Alison, and long-time Stern sidekicks Robin Quivers and Fred Norris acquit themselves nicely appearing as themselves. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Star Trek 4 : The Voyage Home | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £10.50   |  Saving you £9.49 (90.38%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The most popular movie in the "classic Trek" series of feature films, Star Trek IV was a box-office smash that satisfied mainstream audiences and hardcore fans alike. The Voyage Home returns to one of the favourite themes of the original TV series--time travel--to bring Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov from the 23rd century to present-day (ie, mid-1980s) San Francisco. In their own time, the Starfleet heroes encounter an alien probe emitting a mysterious message--a message delivered in the song of the now-extinct Earth species of humpback whales. Failure to respond to the probe will result in Earth's destruction, so Kirk and company time-travel to 20th-century Earth--in their captured Klingon starship--to transport a humpback whale to the future in an effort to communicate peacefully with the alien probe. The plot sounds somewhat absurd in description, but as executed by returning director Leonard Nimoy, this turned out to be a crowd-pleasing adventure, filled with a great deal of humour derived from the clash of future heroes and contemporary urban realities, and much lively interaction among the favourite Trek characters. Catherine Hicks plays the 20th-century whale expert who is finally convinced of Kirk's and Spock's benevolent intentions. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Unbreakable -- 2-disc Collector's Edition | DVD | (29/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  In Unbreakable, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan reunites with Sixth Sense star Bruce Willis, comes up with another story of everyday folk baffled by the supernatural (or at least unknown-to-science) and returns to his home town, presenting Philadelphia as a wintry haunt of the bizarre yet transcendent. This time around, Willis (in earnest, agonised, frankly bald Twelve Monkeys mode) has the paranormal abilities, and a superbly un-typecast Samuel L. Jackson is the investigator who digs into someone else's strange life to prompt startling revelations about his own. David Dunn (Willis), an ex-jock security guard with a failing marriage (to Robin Wright Penn), is the stunned sole survivor of a train derailment. Approached by Elijah Price (Jackson), a dealer in comic book art who suffers from a rare brittle bone syndrome, Dunn comes to wonder whether Price's theory that he has superhuman abilities might not hold water. Dunn's young son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) encourages him to test his powers and the primal scene of Superman bouncing a bullet off his chest is rewritten as an amazing kitchen confrontation when Joseph pulls the family gun on Dad in a desperate attempt to convince him that he really is unbreakable (surely, "Invulnerable" would have been a more apt title). Half-convinced he is the real-world equivalent of a superhero, Dunn commences a never-ending battle against crime but learns a hard lesson about balancing forces in the universe. Throughout, the film refers to comic-book imagery--with Dunn's security guard slicker coming to look like a cape, and Price's gallery taking on elements of a Batcave-like lair--while the lectures on artwork and symbolism feed back into the plot. The last act offers a terrific suspense-thriller scene, which (like the similar family-saving at the end of The Sixth Sense) is a self-contained sub-plot that slingshots a twist ending that may have been obvious all along. Some viewers might find the stately solemnity with which Shyamalan approaches a subject usually treated with colourful silliness offputting, but Unbreakable wins points for not playing safe and proves that both Willis and Jackson, too often cast in lazy blockbusters, have the acting chops to enter the heart of darkness. --Kim Newman

• North and South | DVD | (08/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Margaret Hale 19 has her life turned upside down when her father the pastor leaves the Church of England and settles with his wife and daughter in the Black Country. A textile-producing region it is engaged in cotton-manufacturing and is smack in the middle of the industrial revolution where masters and workers clash in the first organized strikes. Margaret finds the bustling smoky town of Milton harsh and strange and she is upset by the poverty all around and by her meetings with a Mr Thornton (Patrick Stewart). From the outset Margaret and Thornton are at odds with each other: she sees him as coarse and unfeeling; he sees her as haughty. But he is attracted to her beauty and self-assurance and she begins to admire how he has lifted himself out of poverty. This classic four part BBC series is based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell and stars Patrick Stewart and Rosalie Shanks. Special Features: Patrick Stewart Filmography Picture Gallery Subtitles