"Actor: William Cain"

• Kennedy | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £3.79   |  Saving you £16.20 (427.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Made in 1983, the US TV mini-series Kennedy has Martin Sheen playing a president well before his stint on The West Wing. All of the momentous events of JFK's remarkable term are covered (with actual news footage used to excellent effect), but it is the portrayal of the entire Kennedy family as real, flawed people that gives Kennedy its power. The Kennedys gossip, snipe, joke and bother each other like a real family rather than rigid historical figures or threadbare caricatures. Sheen plays JFK as a man with lofty ideals who is more than willing to dirty his hands to serve his greater purpose. Blair Brown plays Jacqueline Kennedy with a shrewd understanding of politics, but also a whiff of vanity. In addition to the strong performances by both leads, Vincent Gardenia gives a brilliant performance as J Edgar Hoover: stiff, quirky and strange, prurient and moralistic at the same time and boiling with hatred. --Ali Davis

• The Muppets - It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Kermit takes centre stage in A Very Muppet Christmas Movie, a hilarious, parody-laden celebration of muppetry, pulsating with original music, a star-studded cast of human cameos, and a heartwarming story reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life. Joan Cusack plays the deliciously villainous Miss Bitterman, a ruthless banker who succeeds in foreclosing on the Muppet Theatre only days before Kermit's Christmas extravaganza. As Kermit loses his livelihood, he plunges into the "I wish I'd never been born" mind-set instantly recognisable to George Bailey fans. It's going to take some divine intervention (Whoopi Goldberg is cast as God, no less), plus a little help from a heavenly "Clarence". Despite some moments where the script seems adrift and some humour that borders on the risqué, Fozzie and the gang are in fine form. The message is sweet: dreams are as vital to life as loyal friendships are to see them through. --Lynn Gibson

• Alvarez Kelly | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £6.78   |  Saving you £6.21 (91.59%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Alvarez Kelly (1966) doesn't really justify the description of "Western Classic" which Columbia Tristar attach to it, but it's a pleasant enough Western directed by Edward Dmytryk. The rather convoluted plot (adventurer plays one side off against the other on a cattle drive from Mexico during the Civil War) relies heavily on the charm of the two stars, William Holden and Richard Widmark, but the two prove as reliable as ever. There are some so-so action scenes, but it's the battle of wits between the two principals that supplies all the fireworks. By contrast Janice Rule is just adequate as the love interest. On the DVD: It's a good-looking DVD transfer, with a 1:2.35 aspect ratio and Dolby Digital sound. Subtitles are available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch and Polish with dubbing into French, German, Italian and Spanish. For extras there are trailers and some filmographies, so partial as to be not much use. --Ed Buscombe

• The Soldier | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Soviet spies disguised as Middle Eastern terrorists hold the entire world hostage by threatening to annihilate a large portion of the planet's oil supply. With no-one else to turn to the US government enlists its best intelligence officer simply known as 'The Soldier'...