"Actor: Tom Hyde"

• Sleepless in Seattle | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £5.26   |  Saving you £7.73 (146.96%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The director and stars of 1998's You've Got Mail scored a breakthrough hit with this hugely popular romantic comedy from 1993, about a recently engaged woman (Meg Ryan) who hears the sad story of a grieving widower (Tom Hanks) on the radio and believes that they are destined to be together. She's single in New York, he lives in Seattle with a young son, but the cross-country attraction proves irresistible and pretty soon Meg's on a westbound flight. What happens from there is... well, you must have been living in a cave to have let this sweet-hearted comedy slip below your pop-cultural radar. There's little complexity or depth to writer-director Nora Ephron's cheesy tale of a romantic fait accompli, and more than a little contrivance to the subplots that threaten to keep Hanks and Ryan from actually meeting. But the purity of star chemistry here is hard to deny, and this may be the first film to indicate the more serious and sympathetic side of Hanks that is revealed in later roles. With its clever jokes about "chick movies" and repeated homage to the classic weeper An Affair to Remember, this may not be everybody's brand of amorous entertainment, but it's got an old-Hollywood charm that appeals to many a movie fan. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - Series 2 | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  The year is 1987 and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William 'Buck' Rogers (Gil Gerard) are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to earth 500 years later... Episodes Comprise: 1. Time of the Hawk (Part 1) 2. Time of the Hawk (Part 2) 3. Journey to Oasis (Part 1) 4. Journey to Oasis (Part 2) 5. The Guardians 6. Mark of the Sauri

• Marilyn Monroe - The Diamond Collection | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £29.95   |  Saving you £50.04 (167.08%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Released to mark the 40th anniversary of her death in 1962, The Diamond Collection brings together all of Marilyn Monroe's films for 20th Century Fox. This handsome box set stands as a salutary reminder of the considerable achievements of an actress who still reigns supreme as the greatest screen goddess of them all. The uninitiated might be surprised at the versatility of someone whose legend is founded so much on her image as a sex symbol. In particular, her touching performance as the abused second-rate bar singer Cherie in Bus Stop (1956) is a rounded study of a woman still capable of dreaming when life has done everything to dull her. The box set as a whole offers plenty of evidence that while she certainly specialised in a unique and complex variation on the blonde bombshell stereotype--embodied in her timeless performances as Lorelei Lee (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and short-sighted Pola in How to Marry a Millionaire, both 1953--she could certainly diversify. The documentary, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days, provides a sympathetic take on the troubles and behaviour which led to her being sacked from her final picture, Something's Got to Give. The presentation of the restored footage from that movie is less successful, though, as the glimpses of Monroe's incandescent screen presence, belying her illness and depression, leave a palpable sadness in their wake. Better by far to focus on her earlier work. Whatever the role, her luminous beauty and statuesque figure, combined with an unselfconsciously joyful sexuality and an on-screen vulnerability, were always at their best under the careful guidance of directors like Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger. These qualities continue to give her an enduring appeal. On the DVD: The Diamond Collection has been digitally restored using, for the most part, the original negatives, making this a sumptuous package for any Monroe fan. Niagara and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes are both presented in standard 4:3 ratio but the rest--filmed in Cinemascope and presented here in letterbox format--are certainly better-served by widescreen viewing. The colours, like Monroe, come alive. The sound quality is crisp and Monroe's singing--she had limited but genuine musical talent--has polished up well. Multiple extras include before-and-after restoration comparisons, trailers from various countries, stills and posters, and newsreel footage. Eleven discs of Marilyn in one box, this is a veritable feast indeed. --Piers Ford

• The Quiet Earth | DVD | (15/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  'The Quiet Earth' centres around a scientist called Zack who wakes on morning to discover he is alone in the world. The global top-secret energy project (Operation Flashlight) which he has been working on for a year has changed the world. Humanity seems to have been wiped out. Zac begins a frantic search for other survivors. At the same time he has the chance to live out his fantasies. In a world where excess and wealth have no meaning he switches from dwelling to dwelling and vehi

• Attila the Hun | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £13.80   |  Saving you £4.18 (38.67%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Men Followed. Women Loved. Rome Trembled. Two worlds collide along with the two men who embody the values and essence of these worlds. Attila King of the Huns (Gerard Butler) is a visionary who sees more in his people than they see in themselves. While the Huns are content to plunder and extort the surrounding nations Attila looks beyond to the possibility of an empire and new world order. Roman General Flavius Aetius (Powers Boothe) embodies the best and worst of Rome in the final years of her existence. He is motivated by one overriding goal: Rome must continue to rule the world. Two different visions of destiny held by the two strongest men of the century; these conflicts are at the heart of 'Attila the Hun'.

• Up The Creek | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The forgotten H.M.S. Berkley has been without a commanding officer for two years in which time the skeleton crew has gone into the racketeering business with the landlord of a coastal village. When the Navy appoint Humphrey Fairweather as a long overdue replacement his unhealthy obsession with missile construction and the landlord's beautiful niece threatens to upset the balance of business.

• Attila The Hun | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Straight out of the American television movie school of historical thought, Attila the Hun is a glossy, at times long and often ridiculous re-telling of one of the great stories of Ancient Rome. How much of it is historically accurate is debatable--much of the action is ludicrously far fetched--and the image that most of us have of Attila is quite different to the bare-chested, longhaired reject from an 80s soft rock band that is presented here. The film does have its own slightly warped charm, though. The storyline is surprisingly complex, involving plots and counter plots, and the movie does exhibit a sense of epic somewhat in the vein of Gladiator, but is sadly lacking the budget, style or talent. The acting is awful (as befits anything that stars Steven Berkoff) and reduces the political machinations of Rome to little more than Dynasty in togas. Gerrard Butler is a fine actor--as he proved in the recent TV drama The Jury--but is woeful here, delivering his lines in a bizarre trans-Atlantic Scottish accent. At three hours it's way too long, too. There does remain something strangely compelling about Atilla the Hun, though you'll find more reliable facts about Roman history in an Asterix book. --Phil Udell