"Actor: franklin"

• Asteroid | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £16.58   |  Saving you £-10.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A two-part US TV miniseries here edited into a 122-minute feature, Asteroid was originally rushed onto (television) screens in 1996, well before the one-two big screen punch of Deep Impact and Armageddon. Single mum-cum-astronomy boffin Dr Lily McKee (Annabella Sciorra) works out that a comet is about to divert a meteor shower towards Earth ("at its present rate, Helios would hit with the force of a thousand Hiroshimas and the heat of the Sun") and spends the first half of the film alerting the authorities to the danger, and the second half helping rugged rescue guy Jack Wallach (Michael Biehn) haul survivors out from under the rubble caused when a bunch of minor asteroids collide with the planet (well, America); all while as the usual shenanigans go on to cope with the big, preventable chunk. The script explains everything in children's science lecture terms ("Mom, are we going to die like the dinosaurs?" "I don't think so, honey, we're much smarter than the dinosaurs") and is written in pure comforting cliché-speak ("I'm sure she's serious, but is she for real?"). With its hymn to the quick-thinking authorities and intently cooperating heroes, this may be the most pro-Establishment disaster film ever made: only a few panicky civilians cause any trouble, and we need plot contrivances to get made-for-TV he-man Biehn into danger as he outruns a flood in Kansas City or searches for the heroine's missing kid (Zachary B Charles) in the burning wreckage of Dallas. A large supporting cast of no-name labcoats, uniforms and victims clutter up the screen between the effects. Of course, this can't compete with its big-screen counterparts, but it did get there first, coopting the CGI and modelwork techniques of Independence Day to the rock-from-space sub-genre (cf: Meteor) as cities are smashed, crowds submerged, the planet battered and multitudes saved to order. --Kim Newman

• Greatest Speeches - Franklin Delano Roosevelt | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £12.96   |  Saving you £8.02 (80.44%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Set Comprises: Inaugration Speech Grilled Millionaires Nothing To Fear Democratic Convention Yalta Conference The European Conflict Social Security Act Fireside Chats From The White House

• Wall Street | DVD | (20/08/2001) from £4.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (162.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Shia LaBeouf stars as a budding Wall Street broker taken under the wing of the financial district's prodigal son, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas).

• Che - Vol.1-2 - The Argentine/Guerilla | Blu Ray | (29/06/2009) from £11.98   |  Saving you £25.00 (250.25%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Part One: A labour of love for Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic Ocean's Eleven) Che features a career defining performance from Benicio Del Toro (Sin City Traffic) in the title role which won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes film festival 2008. The first film in Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che Guevara epic tracks the charismatic revolutionary as he joins Fidel Castro's band of Cuban exiles and journeys to the island on a leaky boat in 1956. From these humble beginnings the small team of rebels mobilise popular support and recruit an army which will ultimately topple the U.S. friendly regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista while Che himself undergoes a transformation from a simple doctor to one of the most iconic political figures of the modern age. Part Two: Following the success of the Cuban Revolution Che Guevara is at the peak of his fame and power when he vanishes without a trace. Resurfacing some time later in the jungles of Bolivia Guevara sets about recruiting a new band of insurgents to help him spread the revolutionary message across the rest of Latin America. But as the Bolivian government and the CIA close in on him this will prove to be his most dangerous campaign yet. The second part of Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh's epic two part war movie charting the life of Che Guevara Che Part Two sees Benicio Del Toro once again taking up the role of the iconic revolutionary.

• Blues Brothers 2000 | Blu Ray | (26/06/2017) from £7.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Eighteen years after the Brothers original mission from God , Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) is getting out of prison and discovering that much has changed in the time he s been away. His partner Jake is gone, his band is no longer together and the orphange where he grew up has been demolished. Elwood soon realises that he must embark on a whole new mission- to assemble the old band, this time with the help of a soulful bartender (John Goodman), compete at Queen Moussette s (Erykah Badu) Battle of the Bands and set a wayward orphan named Buster on the path to redemption. Special appearances by B.B King, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Johnny Lang, Blues Traveler, Eric Clapton and many more. It s an action packed comedy with lots of Rythmn and Blues.

• Amazing Grace | Blu Ray | (02/09/2019) from £6.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1972, Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul, recorded an album of gospel music at The New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, before an ecstatic live audience. The result, Amazing Grace, went on to become one of the biggest albums of Aretha Franklin's career and one of her most beloved works. But even as the album gained fans around the world, few realised that the inspirational sessions had not only been recorded, they had been filmed by a camera crew led by Oscar winning filmmaker Sydney Pollack. However, due to technical problems, the film has never been seen. Until now. Music lovers won't want to miss this thrilling film, which is both an extraordinary look at a key moment in American musical and social history, and an invaluable record of one of America's greatest artists doing what she did best. One of the great music films New York Times Pure, soaring joy James King, BBC Radio 2

• And Soon The Darkness | Blu Ray | (14/10/2019) from £14.88   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Two young English women go on a cycling tour of the French countryside. When one of them goes missing, the other begins to search for her. But who can she trust? Extras: Interview with Kim Newman

• The Legend Of Hell House | DVD | (27/05/2013) from £11.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A group of psychic investigators steel their nerves and make ready to visit Hell House, an old haunted mansion which has already seen off one team of researchers. Entering its foreboding walls, they determine to reveal the house's secrets - but they will have to broach the very limits of madness before they do so.

• Muscle Shoals | DVD | (10/02/2014) from £5.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.94%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Located alongside the Tennessee River Muscle Shoals Alabama is the unlikely breeding ground for some of America's most creative and defiant music. Under the spiritual influence of the 'Singing River' as Native Americans called it the music of Muscle Shoals changed the world and sold millions upon millions of copies. At its heart is Rick Hall who founded FAME Studios. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies he brought black and white together in Alabama's cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations while giving birth to the 'Muscle Shoals Sound' and 'The Swampers'. Mick Jagger Keith Richards Percy Sledge Gregg Allman Clarence Carter Etta James Alicia Keys Bono and others bear witness to Muscle Shoals' magnetism mystery and why it remains influential today.

• Convoy | Blu Ray | (30/09/2013) from £9.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (100.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sam Peckinpah's classic road-movie based around the hit song by C.W. McCall. Long-distance trucker Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson) is on the run from corrupt sheriff Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine). He makes a call on his CB radio asking for assistance from other truckers, many of whom have also fallen foul of Wallace in the past. What follows is a massive truckers' convoy, plenty of CB banter, and a whole lot of smashed-up police cars.

• The Private Life of Henry VIII | DVD | (27/04/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Set almost entirely within the Royal Castle The Private Life Of Henry VIII tells the story of Henry's love affairs with his last five wives.

• Children Of The Corn | Blu Ray | (08/02/2016) from £19.47   |  Saving you £-3.48 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A travelling couple who unwittingly become trapped in the fictional town of Gatlin, Nebraska, and find themselves stalked by a creepy clan of young cultists. No adult is allowed to survive in Gatlin or else, their prophecy predicts, the harvest will collapse. Suffice to say, all hell soon breaks loose (literally) and demonic entities ensure that Hamilton and her husband are in for a long night. Children Of The Corn remains one of the most spine-tingling terror titles of the 1980s.

• Cucumber / Banana | DVD | (16/03/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Cucumber Life for 46 year old Henry (Vincent Franklin) and his boyfriend Lance is comfortable and settled. But after the most disastrous date night in history – involving a threesome two police cars and Boney M – Henry’s old life shatters and his new life begins. While Lance gets to know the mysterious Daniel Henry soon finds himself with unexpected companions. 24 year old Freddie and 19 year old Dean have only been passing strangers until now. But when they all find themselves under the same roof they need to work out; are they friends or enemies? Can men from such different generations ever get on? Henry’s sister Cleo can only stand and watch as Henry’s life spins off in wild new directions helped by his nephew Adam. But Cleo’s hiding secrets of her own. And with his dangerous old friend Cliff prowling around Henry has to think fast and forge a whole new life while facing truths about himself which challenge his entire identity. Extras The Making of The History of Canal Street Interview with Russell T Davies Julie & Vince Featurettes Banana Banana offers an intriguing and often outrageous peek into the individual lives loves and losses of a range of characters who are only glimpsed in Cucumber now given space to expand into their own one-off stories. Young lesbian Scotty pursues an unrequited love; 19 year old Dean has mysterious family secrets and a sexually charged liaison with the enigmatic Geordie Man; Sian struggles to choose between lover Violet and her over-protective mum Vanessa; Helen is besieged by unwanted attention from an ex; and law student Josh goes home to find his childhood friend and the life he left behind. The stories are charming witty and at times heartbreaking as they follow the lives of a wide variety of characters be they gay lesbian transgender or anything in between. Extras Cast & Crew Interviews

• Carefree | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A lawyer sends his girlfriend who cannot decide whether to marry him to a psychiatrist to help her increase her confidence. However she falls hopelessly in love with the charming psychiatrist who is uncertain of his best course of action... This delightful film features a superb score from Irving Berlin including the songs 'I Used To Be Colour Blind' 'The Yam' and 'The Night Is Filled With Music'.

• The A-Team - Vol. 2 | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Initially one of NBC network's most successful series, The A-Team ran for 90 one-hour episodes (with a few feature-length specials thrown in) from 1983 to 1987. The premise of the series was certainly different. A group of US operatives is sent to rob the Bank of Hanoi during the Vietnam War in an attempt to destabilise the country's economy, but the bigwig who organises the raid is killed, leaving no indication that the mission was officially sanctioned. Returning home, Smith (George Peppard), BA (it stood for "Bad Attitude") Baracus (Mr T), Face (Dirk Benedict) and that "crazy foo" Murdoch (Dwight Schultz) suddenly find themselves accused of criminal activity, obliging them to set up as benevolent mercenaries. They tear around the country in what looks like a delivery van, generally do-gooding while keeping one step ahead of the inept military police. Snappy, witty and fast paced, the series began as a spoof of the action-thriller genre. It wasn't until the later episodes that an element of seriousness crept in, which may have caused the decline in audience figures eventually resulting in the show's cancellation. On video and DVD though, it remains a feast for fans of classic cult TV.--Roger Thomas

• Quatermass - Chapters 1 To 4 / The Conclusion | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  John Mills stars as the eponymous Professor in 1979s Quatermass, the fourth, final and best of the celebrated television science fiction serials. The Professors early adventures were 1950s TV productions, all made into cult Hammer films, including the excellent Quatermass and the Pit (1967). Here Quatermass, now an elderly scientist searching for his missing grand-daughter, finds himself facing a new alien nightmare in a convincingly bleak near-future Britain of urban decay, social collapse and unchecked violence. Written by Nigel Kneale, as were all the Quatermass stories, this was an intelligent extrapolation of 1970s industrial-strife-ridden Britain, a continuation of the apocalyptic British SF tradition of John Wyndham (The Day of the Triffids was serialised by the BBC two years later). Thanks to a generous budget sufficient to allow for an international theatrical version, the production values are impressively large-scale, and the naturalistic performances from a cast including Simon MacCorkindale, Barbara Kellerman and Brenda Fricker add greatly to the sense of reality. Best of all, John Mills brings tremendous class to an adventure which remains a rare example of serious, ideas-based adult TV SF. Director Piers Haggard (Pennies from Heaven) packs considerable tension and not a few scares into Kneales epic canvas. On the DVD: Quatermass is presented on three DVDs with two 50-minute episodes and perfunctory production notes on each of the first two discs. The 4:3 picture is good for a 1970s TV series, though there is some minor print damage. Sound is adequate two-channel mono. Disc 3 offers the 101-minute international theatrical version, called The Quatermass Conclusion. This version contains some slightly stronger, 15-rated material, and different credits. The disc also features an oddly presented but interesting 18-minute interview with Nigel Kneale which is centred on the original three Quatermass BBC serials. A 16-page booklet is informative and the packaging is among the most attractive to grace a DVD set thus far. --Gary S Dalkin

• Our Girl - Complete Series Three | DVD | (30/07/2018) from £28.43   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Brand New NOT Sealed

• Farscape 3.1 | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  It's clear from the opening episodes of its third season that Farscape has developed into a grown-up show. There's a new self-confidence and maturity here that's entirely welcome after the often wildly erratic tone of the second season. The production design and high-quality effects remain true to the show's original quirky style, although both the look and the more adult-themed scripts have become progressively darker. It's also clear that anyone who has not followed Farscape extremely closely from the very first episode of Season One will be utterly baffled by the convoluted plotting and complex character interactions. This is not the best place to begin your interstellar journey. All the principal actors know their characters inside and out by now, and delight in showing off their many weaknesses and flaws. Refreshingly, the crew of Moya are a squabbling, bickering, selfish bunch most of the time, who somehow and against expectations manage to pull together (just) at the crucial moment. The writing has matured, too, remaining as witty as ever but equally unafraid to push both genre and censorship boundaries as villains bloodily torture their victims (usually Crichton) and the main characters become more and more obsessed with their sex lives (or lack thereof). Farscape is a whole galaxy away from the clean, cosy world of Star Trek. On the DVD: with a number of key personnel changes on the horizon, these first five episodes are evidence that Farscape knows where it's going even as it delights in keeping the audience guessing. Will Aeryn survive? If so, at what cost to her crewmates? What will D'Argo do when he discovers that Chiana and his son are having an affair? Can Zhaan really be dying? Just who is Neeyala? And can Crichton keep one step ahead of S&M fetishist Scorpius, various Skarrans and sundry other bloodthirsty aliens all intent upon getting into his mind, sometimes literally? Aware that no one is going to be able to start Season Three without knowing a lot of background, sensibly the main extra is a 45-minute "Farscape Undressed" documentary, hosted by Ben Browder and Claudia Black, which introduces all the key characters and themes of the show and sets up the backstory for the new season. There are "Info Pods" on Aeryn (with interview) and Zhaan, an interview with new series composer Guy Gross, some text trivia pieces, plus a gallery. There's also a bonus sampler disc of the pilot episode, though if you really want to keep up you'd better start but not stop there. --Mark Walker

• The Food Of The Gods | Blu Ray | (30/10/2023) from £12.21   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Yesterday (4k Ultra HD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (04/11/2019) from £21.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He's about to become a very big deal. From Academy Award®-winning director DANNY BOYLE (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) and RICHARD CURTIS, the Oscar®-nominated screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill, comes a rock 'n' roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life. Jack Malik (HIMESH PATEL, BBC's EastEnders) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (LILY JAMES, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed and he finds himself with a very complicated problem indeed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (Emmy Award winner KATE MCKINNON, TV's Saturday Night Live), and his kind-but-wildly-unreliable roadie Rocky (JOEL FRY, HBO's Game of Thrones), Jack's fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Elliethe one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old and new life closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love.