"Actor: Sandra Smith"

• Conan the Barbarian | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.09   |  Saving you £-2.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The film that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's international career, Conan the Barbarian is still regarded by many as his finest hour. Limited to a mere handful of lines and expertly directed to play up the Nietzschean strength of the character by John Milius, the Austrian Oak has never looked more suited to a role, his muscle flexing and sword twirling apparently effortless. The extraordinarily finely detailed production design ensures that the barren Spanish countryside perfectly suits the Hyborean-era backdrop envisioned by author Robert E Howard. Whether dressed in rags or riches, Schwarzenegger and companions Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) look believably born to their surroundings. Backing their own very fine performances are brilliant supporting roles from James Earl Jones as serpentine baddie Thulsa Doom and Max Von Sydow as doomed King Osric. Plot-wise the film is simply the transformation of a wild barbarian into a worldly-wise king who, via a quest for revenge, finally learns the riddle of steel. The script is highly regarded for its dazzling set-pieces (the opening village raid, the orgy of body parts) and quotable dialogue ("They shall all drown in lakes of blood"), and it comes complete with an anti-peace movement reactionary subtext for anyone who cares to look close enough. One other element deserving mention is the extraordinary score by Basil Poledouris, which inspires the film with a sense of operatic grandeur. On the DVD: Conan the Barbarian appears as a suitably mythic special edition DVD. Sadly the magnificent score can only be heard in a mono mix, but the very fine picture is presented in 2.35:1. The extras package is phenomenal, too. Several deleted scenes have been re-edited into the film, but are available to view independently as well. There's a quick split-screen special effects feature showing how the ghostly spirits were added to Conan's resurrection. "The Conan Archives" is an 11-minute slide show of drawings, costumes and advertising. Best of all is the fantastic 53-minute "Conan Unchained" documentary interviewing every conceivable contributor who all reminisce with great fondness. It's slightly better seeing Schwarzenegger and Milius than hearing them talk in their commentary, which inevitably re-tells many of the same anecdotes in between puffs of Arnie's stogies. --Paul Tonks

• Conan The Barbarian | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Thief. Warrior. Gladiator. King. Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of 'Conan The Barbarian'. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom...

• Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £6.19   |  Saving you £7.80 (126.01%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A prominent young playwright upsets her mother in an interview and is soon kidnapped by her mother's lifelong friends, who slowly reveal the truth about her mother's turbulent history.

• Lucky / Chances | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Jackie Collins' sweeping story of passion power greed and betrayal spans over 40 years from the tough streets of depression bit New York to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and Las Vegas.

• 2 Point 4 Children | DVD | (24/01/2005) from £29.69   |  Saving you £-12.70 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  The complete first series of familial mishaps with the dysfunctional Porter family! On the Surface the Porters are a normal family - indeed even the series' title 2 Point 4 Children the fabled average family size alludes to their normality (as well as the fact that the husband/father is still a bit of a child himself). Yet though the individual members - central-heating engineer Ben; his wife catering worker Bill; and their teenage children David and Jenny - are unexceptional t

• Love Potion No. 9 | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-19.00 (-317.20%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The premise of Love Potion No. 9--that a magic potion makes the user irresistible to the opposite sex--could be the setup for the crassest sex farce imaginable. Instead, this film is a surprisingly subtle romantic comedy. Nebbishy scientist Paul (Tate Donovan) goes to a Gypsy fortune teller (Anne Bancroft), who tells him she sees no women in his entire life. To make up for this depressing news, she gives him a few drops of a love potion--number 8. Paul, a biochemist, scoffs; but when his pet cat accidentally gets a taste and attracts every female cat in the neighborhood, he enlists fellow dweeby scientist Diane (Sandra Bullock) to analyse it. After experimenting on monkeys, they decide to test it on themselves; soon Diane is being pursued by handsome Italians in the street and comes close to marrying the Prince of England (sic), while Paul gets a little revenge on a woman who previously rejected him, then embarks on his own love spree. Shortly they discover that they really want each other; but before they can get married, an old boyfriend of Diane returns with his own dose of love potion number 8. Paul's only hope is to get something even more powerful. Love Potion No. 9 is genuinely clever and sweet, and both Donovan and Bullock work well with the low-key but effective humour of the movie's well-written script. It's a tribute to her talent and her girl-next-door looks that Bullock, unlike most pretty stars dressing down, is effective as both a lovelorn loser and the confident glamour-girl she becomes. Altogether, a charming and enjoyable film.--Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Elvira's Haunted Hills | DVD | (28/05/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Yes, Elvira's back and she's fabulous! With her voluptuous milky-white cleavage, voluminous black hair and hilarious one-liners, the essence of camp oozes from her pores. Elvira's Haunted Hills culls its outrageousness from the classic Vincent Price/Edgar Allen Poe/Roger Corman films of the early 60's along with a little Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fearless Vampire Killers.The tale begins in 1851, Carpathia when Elvira and her maid ZouZou are en route to perform in the Parisian Revue Yes I Can Can but inadvertently end up at the sinister Lord Vladimere Hellsubus' medieval castle. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Vladimere's long-dead wife, Elvira learns of the Hellsubus curse and finds her life in danger. What's a girl to do? Well, break out into song and dance, of course. Continuing our saga, love-torn Vladimere chases our heroine on her high heels around the castle. Will she escape the family curse and the evil Vladimere, and can she keep her hands off the studly stable master long enough to save the day?

• Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 3 | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £69.99

  Saved from the brink of cancellation by its loyal fanbase, Star Trek's third and final season rewarded them with a number of memorable episodes. Tight budgets and slipping creative control, however, made it the most uneven, though it did have some of the coolest episode titles ("For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", "Is There in Truth No Beauty", "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"). Some of the best moments involved a gunfight at the OK Corral ("Spectre of the Gun"), a knock-down drag-out sword battle with the Klingons aboard the Enterprise ("Day of the Dove"), the ship getting caught in an ever-tightening spacial net ("The Tholian Web"), TV's first interracial kiss ("Plato's Stepchildren"), Sulu taking command ("The Savage Curtain"), and Kirk's switching bodies with an ex-love interest ("Turnabout Intruder"). Also appearing in the set as a coda are two versions of the series pilot, "The Cage", a restored color version and the original, never-aired version that alternates between color and black and white. Starring Jeffery Hunter as Captain Pike, Leonard Nimoy as a relatively emotional Spock, and Majel Barrett (the future Nurse Chapel and Mrs. Gene Roddenberry) as a frosty Number One, this pilot was rejected, but a second was commissioned, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", now considered the "official" beginning of the series. But "The Cage" is very recognizably Star Trek with its far-out concepts (telepathic aliens collecting species samples), sexy humanoid women, character development, and of course cheesy costumes and special effects. Footage was later reused in the season 1 two-parter, "The Menagerie". The best of the 63 minutes of bonus material focuses on three of the actors: Walter Koenig, George Takei, and James Doohan. Koenig discusses how he was cast and shows off his various collections, one consisting of Chekov figurines. Takei speaks movingly about the Japanese American internment and, in what is probably his last Star Trek appearance, Doohan, slowed by Alzheimer's but still with a twinkle in his eye, recalls his voiceover roles and his favorite episodes. The Easter eggs are amusingly called "Red Shirt Files" in tribute to those poor saps who everyone knew were only in the landing party so they could die. --David Horiuchi

• 2 Point 4 Children - Series 3 | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Statistically the Porters may just be an ordinary family. But there's nothing average about this razor-sharp comedy an endearingly demented portrait of modern family life by Andrew Marshall writer of the Emmy-winning Alexei Sayle's Stuff. Head of the household is Ben a dedicated central-heating engineer and easy-going husband and father. His idea of helping in the house is to change TV channels provided the remote control is within easy reach. Mainstay of the household is Bill a

• Lucky Chances 2 | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on the novels ""Chances"" and ""Lucky"" by Jackie Collins this miniseries features the rise of Gino Santangelo in the Las Vegas casino industry... After the brutal murder of her mother the wild teenage Lucky Santangelo is packed off to an elite Swiss finishing school by her heavy-handed father Gino. Frustrated by her over-protective father the self-destructive Lucky soon skips school to go thrill-seeking in Europe's glittering hot spots. The exasperated Gino is not to be denied

• Lucky Chances 1 | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on the novels ""Chances"" and ""Lucky"" by Jackie Collins this miniseries features the rise of Gino Santangelo in the Las Vegas casino industry... The story begins in 1933 with handsome young street punk Gino Santangelo bootlegging illicit booze while he desperately searches for a way to climb the ladder of success. Catching the eye of a man-hungry socialite he becomes her willing pupil in love-making and her sleazy Senator husband is soon guiding him into the lucrative world of b

• Janice Beard 45 wpm | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Janice is a young woman who travels to London and takes a job as a typist, where she begins to learn about the world.

• Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood / Two Weeks Notice | DVD | (24/04/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood: Mothers. Daughters. The never-ending story of good vs. evil... After years of mother-daughter tension Siddalee (Bullock) receives a scrapbook detailing the wild adventures of the 'Ya-Yas' her mother's girlhood friends... (Dir. Callie Khouri 2002 Cert. 12) Two Weeks' Notice: Attorney Lucy Kelson wants to save the world. Instead she's choosing ties and interviewing prospective girlfriends for her handsome and hapless billion

• Conan The Barbarian (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £6.73   |  Saving you £3.26 (32.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night. - Thulsa Doom Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of Conan The Barbarian. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom.

• Love Potion #9 | DVD | (13/07/2009) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Biochemist Paul (Tate Donovan) has no luck at all with women and is persuaded by his friends to visit a fortuneteller who gives him a love potion # 8 to make him irresistible to women. Being a scientist Paul believes none of this until his cat accidentally gets a taste and attracts every female cat in the neighborhood. He enlists fellow scientist Diane (Sandra Bullock) to help him analyze it and after experimenting on monkeys they decide to test it on themselves and both embark on a quest to find romance. In the end they discover that they really want each other; but before they can get married an old boyfriend of Diane's returns with his own dose of love potion number 8. Paul's only hope is to get something even more powerful Love Potion #9.