"Actor: Sully Boyar"

• dvd - The Jazz Singer ( 25th anniversary ) (1 DVD) | DVD | (05/01/2010) from £11.47   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Jazz Singer | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Back in 1927, The Jazz Singer entered the history books as the first true, sound-on-film talking picture, with Al Jolson uttering the immortal words, "You ain't heard nothing yet!" But even then it was a creakingly sentimental old yarn. By the time this second remake showed up in 1980 (there was a previous one in 1953) it looked as ludicrously dated as a chaperone in a strip club. Our young hero, played by pop singer Neil Diamond in a doomed bid for movie stardom, is the latest in a long line of Jewish cantors, but secretly moonlights with a Harlem soul group. When his strictly Orthodox father (Laurence Olivier, complete with painfully hammy "oya-veh" accent) finds out, the expected ructions follow. Though the lad makes it big in showbiz, it all means nothing while he's cut off from family and roots. But in the end--well, you can guess, can't you? Diamond comes across as likeable enough in a bland way, but unencumbered by acting talent, and the music business has never looked so squeaky clean--nary a trace of drugs, and precious little sex or rock 'n' roll. As for anything sounding remotely like jazz, forget it. This is one story that should have been left to slumber in the archives. --Philip Kemp

• Dog Day Afternoon | DVD | (13/02/2006) from £7.19   |  Saving you £9.80 (136.30%)   |  RRP £16.99

  The robbery should have taken ten minutes. Eight hours later it was the hottest thing on live TV. And it's all true. On a hot Brooklyn afternoon two optimistic losers set out to rob a bank. Sonny (Al Pacino) is the mastermind Sal (John Cazale) is the follower and disaster is the result. Because the cops crowds TV cameras and even the pizza man have arrived. The ""well-planned"" heist is now a circus. Based on a true incident this thriller earned six Academy Award nomina

• Dog Day Afternoon | DVD | (13/02/2006) from £10.78   |  Saving you £-0.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A gripping true crime yarn, a juicy slice of overheated New York atmosphere and a splendid showcase for its young actors, Dog Day Afternoon is a minor classic of the 1970s. The opening montage of New York street life (set to Elton John's lazy "Amoreena") establishes the oppressive mood of a scorching afternoon in the city with such immediacy that you can almost smell the garbage baking in the sun and the water from the hydrants evaporating from the sizzling pavement. Al Pacino plays Sonny, who, along with his rather slow-witted accomplice Sal (John Cazale, familiar as Pacino's Godfather brother Fredo), holds hostages after a botched a bank robbery. Sonny finds himself transformed into a rebel celebrity when his standoff with police (including lead negotiator Charles Durning) is covered live on local television. The movie doesn't appear to be about anything in particular, but it really conveys the feel of wild and unpredictable events unfolding before your eyes, and the whole picture is so convincing and involving that you're glued to the screen. An Oscar winner for original screenplay, Dog Day Afternoon was also nominated for best picture, actor, supporting actor (Chris Sarandon, as a surprise figure from Sonny's past), editing, and director (Sidney Lumet of Serpico, Prince of the City, The Verdict and Running on Empty). --Jim Emerson

• Richard Pryor | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A 4 disc box set featuring a quartet of the finest films starring motormouth funnyman Richard Pryor! R.I.P Ritchie... Car Wash ((Dir. Michael Schultz 1976): An earthy irreverent but affectionate look at a typical day in Los Angeles car wash! An ensemble piece which interweaves the lives of employees customers and passers-by Car Wash stars a galaxy of gifted actors most of whom are relatively unknown to movie goers and spotlights an array of guest stars in vivid cameo rol

• Best Seller | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £4.15   |  Saving you £10.10 (349.48%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Flynn has directed some good, tough, pacy thrillers and Best Seller, along with the 1973 The Outfit, can claim to be the best of them. It kicks off with not one but two slam-bang action sequences and then, having grabbed our attention, pitches us straight into its twisty plot premise. Brian Dennehy, reliably watchable as ever, plays an ageing cop-turned-novelist who has hit a writer's block since his wife died. James Woods at his most suavely sinister is a hitman with dirt to dish on the head of a big corporation. Woods proposes a Faustian pact. He provides Dennehy with the full crooked story on the mobster-turned-corporate boss and the cop writes it up. Dennehy gets a best seller; Woods gets his revenge and comes out looking like a hero. The dialogue, courtesy of screenwriter and horror-movie director Larry Cohen (It's Alive; Q--The Winged Serpent), is satisfyingly hard-boiled and slips in plenty of subversive sideswipes at rampant capitalism. ("It's the American Way, Dennis," says Woods, detailing how he helped his boss rise via robbery and murder. "I'm a businessman, an executive.") This certainly isn't the only movie to get mileage out of the symbiotic relationship between cop and crook (see Michael Mann's Heat), but it works several neat variations on the theme, with Dennehy and Woods both at the top of their respective forms. If the film never quite lives up to its potential--the required final confrontation between the two principals doesn't materialise and Victoria Tennant is thrown away as Dennehy's love-interest--it remains a way better than average thriller with its roots deep in the best B-movie traditions. On the DVD: Best Seller on disc has no extras apart from the theatrical trailer. The transfer is good and clean, and preserves the original's full-width framing. --Philip Kemp

• The King Of Marvin Gardens | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  'The King Of Marvin Gardens' is a dark drama about two brothers who team up for an odd real estate scheme involving a Hawaiian island. Jason (Bruce Dern) summons his younger sibling David (Jack Nicholson) a Philadelphia radio personality to join him in Atlantic City to get the deal going. But when David arrives he finds that a local crime boss has had Jason thrown in jail. David intervenes on his brother's behalf and succeeds in bailing Jason out. But the charges won't be dropped

• Dog Day Afternoon (2 Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  The robbery should have taken ten minutes. Eight hours later it was the hottest thing on live TV. And it's all true. On a hot Brooklyn afternoon two optimistic losers set out to rob a bank. Sonny (Al Pacino) is the mastermind Sal (John Cazale) is the follower and disaster is the result. Because the cops crowds TV cameras and even the pizza man have arrived. The ""well-planned"" heist is now a circus. Based on a true incident this thriller earned six Academy Award nominations.