"Actor: Tony Church"

• Krull | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  There's something inescapably appealing about Krull, a camp Star Wars-meets-The Lord of the Rings knock-off, that encourages the viewer to overlook it's very many silly shortcomings and simply enjoy the fun. James Horner's rollicking music score--written soon after his similarly memorable contribution to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan--certainly helps, as does the epic-scale CinemaScope photography of the breathtaking Italian landscapes. The costumes and extravagant production design are also great to look at, and much of Derek Meddings' visual effects work still looks striking if not exactly state-of-the-art. Of the cast, Freddie Jones stands head and shoulders above all others as the Obi Wan Kenobi-meets-Gandalf character Ynyr: his trip to the centre of the spider's web is both genuinely scary and genuinely touching. The two romantic leads, Ken Marshall as the Luke Skywalker-meets-King Arthur clone Prince Colwyn and Lysette Anthony (with an overdubbed American voice) as his Leia-Guinevere Princess Lyssa, are mere formalities on which to hang the plot. Ironic fun can be had with the all-British supporting cast, which includes Todd Carty of Eastenders fame and Carry On's Bernard Bresslaw, as well as Robbie Coltrane, Liam Neeson and the gorgeous Francesca Annis. On the DVD: Krull comes to DVD in an anamorphic widescreen print, preserving the luscious CinemaScope look of the theatrical release. The Dolby 5.1 sound lives up to the picture. There are two commentary tracks: on the first, director Peter Yates talks through the movie, with contributions from other crew members and leads Ken Marshall and Lysette Anthony. Oddly, the second audio track is just a reading of an article that originally appeared in the November 1982 issue of Cinefantastique magazine. There's also a half-hour "making-of" featurette originally produced to promote the movie at the time, the usual trailer, stills gallery and three talent profiles. --Mark Walker

• Tess | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £8.82   |  Saving you £4.17 (47.28%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Roman Polanski adapted Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles and came up with this moody, haunting film starring Nastassia Kinski as the farm girl who is misused by the aristocrat for whom she works and who is then caught in a marriage where her initial happiness soon turns to grief. Fans of the novel may feel unpersuaded by Polanski's effort to marry Hardy's Dorset vision with his own fascination with psychosexual impulses toward survival, but the film is an often stunning thing to see, and Kinski's sensitive, intelligent performance lingers in the memory. --Tom Keogh

• Sharpe's Enemy | DVD | (15/01/2007) from £4.49   |  Saving you £3.50 (77.95%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Action and romance follow Sharpe as he and his chosen men once again risk their lives on a dangerous and heroic mission.In Sharpe's enemy Sharpe first has to do battle with a gang of deserters led by the evil renegade Sergeant Hakeswill (Pete Postlethwaite).Hakeswill uses hostages including Sharpe's old flame the beautiful Isabella as innocent pawns in his wicked game to win a ransom. This is only the beginning of the problems facing Sharpe. A far greater threat is on the horizon. One where failure would mean the end of the war for the allied armies ....

• Roman Polanski | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  A collection of films from controversial Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski. The Pianist (2002): Roman Polanski's remarkable Oscar and Palme D'Or winning film 'The Pianist' tells the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody). Managing to survive in the Krakow ghetto while the vast majority of the Jewish population have been transported to concentration camps Szpilman leads a lonely dangerous existence sheltering in abandoned houses... Directed by a film artist who