"Director: David O. Russell"

• Silver Linings Playbook | DVD | (01/04/2013) from £8.75   |  Saving you £11.24 (128.46%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In lesser hands than director David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook could have been a typically cringe-inducing throwaway Hollywood rom-com. As it is, this unusual and deeply affecting story of crazy love is a bold observation about the joys and tragedy of life lived by deeply flawed characters facing triumph and adversity against a backdrop of painfully familiar family dysfunction. It's also a tremendous achievement in formal structure, with a flair for storytelling that's as moving as it is delightful. Bradley Cooper plays Pat, an until-recently undiagnosed bipolar person who's just home from a lengthy stay in a mental institution and doing his darnedest to get his head and his life back on track. His concerned parents, vividly embodied by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, have plenty of troubles of their own when they warily take him in and tiptoe around the eggshells of a psyche that still veers wildly from seeming self-control to scary bouts of mania. Pat has a plan to win back the unfaithful wife whose restraining order is still in force because of the violent episode that sent him away after he nearly killed her lover. Interjected into this wobbly family scenario is Tiffany, a friend of a friend who is embroiled in her own turmoil of mental instability following the recent death of her husband. Jennifer Lawrence is a charming revelation as Tiffany, flexing sensitive acting muscles that are as toned as her lithe form. She throws herself into the role of a depressed, promiscuous young woman who needs Pat in her life about as much as she needs another personal tornado to rip her apart. But the movie magically reveals that these two disturbed souls have a destiny that's never really in doubt; although the whirlwind turns the movie takes to get them there are often breathtaking. Russell liberally adapted the movie from Matthew Quick's 2008 novel, and he deftly imbues the story with a vibrant sense of place (suburban, blue-collar Philadelphia) and each character, no matter how tangential to Pat and Tiffany's journey, with quirks and nuances that brilliantly reveal their essence. The subject of mental illness has rarely been portrayed with such honesty and candid respect. Constantly keeping us off guard, Silver Linings Playbook soars from darkness to a kind of screwball comedy that is as tender and touching as it is unpredictable. There are several tour-de-force moments that Russell constructs with the surest hand of direction, dialogue, and the talents of his cast. A key scene unfolds in a small living room where eight people are crammed together, each adding important pieces to the whole, and which thrums with a masterfully rhythmic pace. Another sequence follows the buildup to one of Pat's manic outbursts with a dizzying and increasingly stressful manifestation of the madness careening around in his head. It seems hard to believe that a love story with real humour, real pain, and genuine resonance that gets from point A to point B--it begins with a lone figure mumbling to himself and ends with a jubilantly staged ballroom dance--can succeed with so few missteps. But Silver Linings Playbook turns it all into an absorbing reality wherein life stumbles heartwarmingly toward what real love is all about. --Ted Fry

• The Fighter | DVD | (20/06/2011) from £7.55   |  Saving you £12.44 (164.77%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale star in this inspirational and powerful true story of two brothers who against all odds come together to train for a historic title fight.

• American Hustle | Blu Ray | (28/04/2014) from £8.75   |  Saving you £16.24 (185.60%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A fictional film set in the seductive world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock the United States American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) who along with his equally cunning British partner and lover Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild unhinged FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito the passionate volatile New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell's previous films American Hustle defies genre hinging on raw emotion and life and death stakes.

• American Hustle | DVD | (08/01/2014) from £6.98   |  Saving you £15.00 (300.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A fictional film set in the seductive world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock the United States American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) who along with his equally cunning British partner and lover Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild unhinged FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito the passionate volatile New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell's previous films American Hustle defies genre hinging on raw emotion and life and death stakes.

• Joy | DVD | (25/04/2016) from £3.85   |  Saving you £16.14 (419.22%)   |  RRP £19.99

  'Joy' is the wild story of a family across four generations centred on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right.

• Three Kings | Blu Ray | (01/11/2010) from £10.35   |  Saving you £7.64 (73.82%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Absurdly comic highly kinetic at times shockingly emotional Three Kings begins when the Gulf War is over. Amid the partying and confusion four American soldiers (George Clooney Mark Wahlberg Ice Cube and Spike Jonze) determined to take home more than sand fleas go off into the Iraqi desert to find millions in stolen Kuwaiti bullion. They are plunged into the heart of a democratic uprising that spins the day and their lives out of control.

• Silver Linings Playbook | Blu Ray | (01/04/2013) from £10.75   |  Saving you £14.24 (132.47%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In lesser hands than director David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook could have been a typically cringe-inducing throwaway Hollywood rom-com. As it is, this unusual and deeply affecting story of crazy love is a bold observation about the joys and tragedy of life lived by deeply flawed characters facing triumph and adversity against a backdrop of painfully familiar family dysfunction. It's also a tremendous achievement in formal structure, with a flair for storytelling that's as moving as it is delightful. Bradley Cooper plays Pat, an until-recently undiagnosed bipolar person who's just home from a lengthy stay in a mental institution and doing his darnedest to get his head and his life back on track. His concerned parents, vividly embodied by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, have plenty of troubles of their own when they warily take him in and tiptoe around the eggshells of a psyche that still veers wildly from seeming self-control to scary bouts of mania. Pat has a plan to win back the unfaithful wife whose restraining order is still in force because of the violent episode that sent him away after he nearly killed her lover. Interjected into this wobbly family scenario is Tiffany, a friend of a friend who is embroiled in her own turmoil of mental instability following the recent death of her husband. Jennifer Lawrence is a charming revelation as Tiffany, flexing sensitive acting muscles that are as toned as her lithe form. She throws herself into the role of a depressed, promiscuous young woman who needs Pat in her life about as much as she needs another personal tornado to rip her apart. But the movie magically reveals that these two disturbed souls have a destiny that's never really in doubt; although the whirlwind turns the movie takes to get them there are often breathtaking. Russell liberally adapted the movie from Matthew Quick's 2008 novel, and he deftly imbues the story with a vibrant sense of place (suburban, blue-collar Philadelphia) and each character, no matter how tangential to Pat and Tiffany's journey, with quirks and nuances that brilliantly reveal their essence. The subject of mental illness has rarely been portrayed with such honesty and candid respect. Constantly keeping us off guard, Silver Linings Playbook soars from darkness to a kind of screwball comedy that is as tender and touching as it is unpredictable. There are several tour-de-force moments that Russell constructs with the surest hand of direction, dialogue, and the talents of his cast. A key scene unfolds in a small living room where eight people are crammed together, each adding important pieces to the whole, and which thrums with a masterfully rhythmic pace. Another sequence follows the buildup to one of Pat's manic outbursts with a dizzying and increasingly stressful manifestation of the madness careening around in his head. It seems hard to believe that a love story with real humour, real pain, and genuine resonance that gets from point A to point B--it begins with a lone figure mumbling to himself and ends with a jubilantly staged ballroom dance--can succeed with so few missteps. But Silver Linings Playbook turns it all into an absorbing reality wherein life stumbles heartwarmingly toward what real love is all about. --Ted Fry

• Joy | Blu Ray | (25/04/2016) from £6.96   |  Saving you £25.02 (630.23%)   |  RRP £28.99

  JOY is the wild story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road in this intense emotional and human comedy about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of unforgiving commerce. Allies become adversaries and adversaries become allies, both inside and outside the family, as Joy's inner life and fierce imagination carry her through the storm she faces. Jennifer Lawrence stars, with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Elisabeth Röhm and Dascha Polanco. Like David O. Russell's previous films, Joy defies genre to tell a story of family, loyalty, and love.

• Three Kings | DVD | (18/09/2000) from £11.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (40.04%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A confident hybrid of M*A*S*H, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Dr. Strangelove, Three Kings is one of the most seriously funny war movies ever made. Improving the premise of Kelly's Heroes with scathing intelligence, it explores the odd connection between war and consumerism in the age of Humvees and cellular phones. Writer-director David O. Russell's third film (after Spanking the Monkey and Flirting with Disaster) is a no-holds-barred portrait of personal conscience in the volatile arena of politics, played out by one of the most gifted filmmakers to emerge in the 1990s. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze (director of Being John Malkovich) play a quartet of US soldiers who, disillusioned by Operation Desert Storm, decide to steal $23 million in gold hijacked from Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's army. Getting the bullion out of an Iraqi stronghold is easy; keeping it is a potentially lethal proposition. By the end of their mercenary mission, the Americans can no longer ignore war-time atrocities, and conscience demands their aid to Kuwaiti rebels abandoned by President George Bush's fickle war-time policy. This is serious stuff indeed, but Russell infuses Three Kings with a keen sense of the absurd, and the entire film is an exercise in breathtaking visual ingenuity. Despite a conventional ending that's mildly disappointing for such a brashly original film, Three Kings conveys the brutal madness of war while making you laugh out loud at the insanity. --Jeff Shannon

• The Fighter | Blu Ray | (20/06/2011) from £6.30   |  Saving you £16.69 (264.92%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Dickie Eklund (CHRISTIAN BALE) is a former boxing legend whose life has become shattered by drug abuse whilst Micky Ward (MARK WAHLBERG), his half brother, has become the town's fighter and fading hope for a champion.

• I Heart Huckabees | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £4.96   |  Saving you £15.03 (303.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Albert Markovsky is an environmental poet at odds with a slick department chain salesman, so he seeks the aid of existential detectives, the Jaffees, to help him deal with it.

• Flirting With Disaster | DVD | (27/06/2005) from £6.13   |  Saving you £8.86 (144.54%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This sexy all-star comedy was cheered by critics and audiences nationwide! In a quest to find his biological parents Mel Coplin joined by his wife and a sexy adoption counselor embarks on a cross-country search for his roots. Yet as he careens from one outrageous situation to another Mel finds himself tempted by the seductive counselor - even as his wife starts a flirtation of her own! By the time they meet up with his free-spirited birth parents the whole situation is spinning

• Spanking the Monkey | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Looking forward to a prestigious summer internship in Washington D.C. pre-med college student Raymond has his dreams put on hold when he's forced to stay at home caring for his invalid mother. Constantly harassed by his domineering traveling salesman father Raymond struggles to deal with his mother's bed-ridden anxieties and his first stumbling attempts to romance the naive girl next door. In the spirit of The Graduate Spanking the Monkey is an award-winning film about coming of age and becoming unraveled.

• Perfect Storm / Three Kings / Deep Blue Sea | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Perfect Storm: George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg lead a talented cast in this harrowing special-effects adventure that intercuts the plight of seafarers struggling to reach safe harbor with the heroics of air/sea rescue crews. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen The Perfect Storm tosses excitement your way in waves. Three Kings: The Gulf War is over. Operation Desert Storm is no more. Now three American soldiers have the opportunity of a lifetime; to become Three Kings. Amid the partying and confusion three soldiers disappear into the Iraqi desert to find millions in stolen Kuwaiti bullion and are plunged into the heart of a democratic uprising that spins the day - and their lives - out of control. Deep Blue Sea: Researchers on the undersea laboratory Aquatica have genetically altered the brains of captive sharks to develop a potential cure for Alzheimer's disease. There is one unexpected side effect. The sharks are getting smarter. Which could mean trouble for the researchers. And lunch for the sharks.

• Greatest Ever Modern War Collection | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £32.95   |  Saving you £7.04 (21.37%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Titles Comprise: Born On The Fourth Of July: Tom Cruise delivers a riveting and unforgettable portrayal of Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone's Academy Award-winning masterpiece. Based on a true story the acclaimed film follows the young Kovic from a zealous teen who eagerly volunteers for the Vietnam War to an embittered veteran paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Deeply in love with his country Kovic returned to an environment vastly different from the one he left and struggled before emerging as a brave new voice for the disenchanted. Black Hawk Down: Ridley Scott directs this fast moving action adventure about the disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3 1993 where nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers commanded by Capt. Mike Steele were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord which leads to a large and chaotic firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen which destroys two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu. Casualties Of War: Witness to a vile crime Private Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) is forced to stand alone against his fellow soldiers and commanding officer Sergeant Meserve (Sean Penn). A powerful and charismatic man pushed over the edge of barbarism by the terror and brutality of combat. With sweeping scope action and raw power master filmmaker Brian De Palma creates a devastating and unforgettable tale of one man's quest for sanity and justice amidst the chaos of war. Jarhead: Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal star in this critically acclaimed brilliantly unconventional war story from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes. Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows Swoff (Gyllenhaal) from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty where he sports a sniper rifle through Middle East deserts that provide no cover from the heat or Iraqi soldiers. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully grasp. Three Kings: Absurdly comic highly kinetic at times shockingly emotional Three Kings begins when the Gulf War is over. Amid the partying and confusion four American soldiers (George Clooney Mark Wahlberg Ice Cube and Spike Jonze) determined to take home more than sand fleas go off into the Iraqi desert to find millions in stolen Kuwaiti bullion. They are plunged into the heart of a democratic uprising that spins the day and their lives out of control. David O. Russell's unique tapestry of humor violence and history makes Three Kings one of the best movies of the year. (Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times)

• Flirting With Disaster | DVD | (09/05/2011) from £4.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (75.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This sexy all-star comedy was cheered by critics and audiences nationwide! In a quest to find his biological parents Mel Coplin joined by his wife and a sexy adoption counselor embarks on a cross-country search for his roots. Yet as he careens from one outrageous situation to another Mel finds himself tempted by the seductive counselor - even as his wife starts a flirtation of her own! By the time they meet up with his free-spirited birth parents the whole situation is spinning hysterically out of control!

• Sideways/I Heart Huckabees | DVD | (28/05/2007) from £10.95   |  Saving you £-1.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Sideways (Dir. Alexander Payne 2004): A story about friendship and pinot envy. A wine tasting road trip to salute Jack's (Thomas Haden Church) final days as a bachelor careers woefully sideways as he and Miles (Paul Giamatti) hit the gas en route to mid-life crises. The comically mismatched pair who share little more than their history and a heady blend of failed potential and fading youth soon find themselves drowning in wine and women (Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen). Emerging from a haze of pinot noir wistful yearnings and trepidation about the future the two inevitably collide with reality. Now the wedding approaches and with it the certainty that Miles and Jack won't make it back to Los Angeles unscathed or unchanged... if they get there in one piece at all. Winner of the 2005 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. I Heart (Love) Huckabees (Dir. David O. Russell 2004): Convinced that a series of coincidences involving a doorman hold some secret to life's largest riddles Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) seeks the help of a detective agency unlike any other . . . which leads him down a path that questions the essence of existence itself. In an attempt to ferret out the meaning of these flukes he consults Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman Lily Tomlin) AKA the Existential Detectives a pair of married metaphysicians who fearlessly investigate the mysteries at the core of their clients secret innermost lives. When on a case these two follow their clients around closely observe their daily activities query their friends and employers and intently examine the lives they lead. The difference is that the Existential Detectives seek the solutions to the most persistent mystery of all -- the one that lies at the core of reality and existence itself . . . which means their investigations can get a little tricky. Bernard and Vivian kick off their existential exploration of Albert Markovski by probing his past and present reality. Along the way they uncover his festering conflict with Brad Stand (Jude Law) a golden boy executive climbing the corporate ladder at Huckabees a popular chain of retail super-stores that wants to sponsor Albert's Open Spaces Coalition for the PR value. The Existential Detectives are convinced that Brad -- seemingly Albert's opposite -- is the key to cracking Albert's case but then Brad turns the tables on their investigation by hiring the detectives himself. As Bernard and Vivian begin to dig deeper into Brads ambition and his relationship with Huckabees hot blonde spokesmodel Dawn (Naomi Watts) Albert begins to lose faith and rebels against their conclusions. Pairing up with another of the duo's clients -- firefighter tough guy and uncompromising soul searcher Tommy (Mark Wahlberg) -- he joins forces with the Jaffes arch nemesis the sexy French philosopher Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert) who valiantly battles for the contrasting point of view.

• Jude Law - The Collection - I Heart Huckabees/Road To Perdition/Enemy At The Gates | DVD | (12/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  I Heart Huckabees: Jason Schwartzman stars as Albert Markovski an environmental activist seeking the meaning behind a series of coincidental meetings with an enigmatic stranger. He enlists the help of existential detectives Bernard (Dustin Hoffman) and Vivian (Lily Tomlin) who agree to spy on his everyday activity in order to understand his psyche. The detectives discover that Albert is locked in a battle with Brad Stand (Jude Law) a smarmy executive at the Huckabees department store chain. Shallow and vain Brad defies Albert's protests about the proposed expansion of Huckabees into a nearby marsh... Road To Perdition: Two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan a father fighting to keep his only son from traveling the Road To Perdition. Directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes this towering motion picture achievement has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike as one of the year's most extraordinary films. Enemy At The Gate: While the Nazi and Russian armies hurl rank after rank of soldiers at each other and the world fearfully awaits the outcome of the battle of Stalingrad the celebrated Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) quietly stalks his enemies one man at a time. His fame however soon thrusts him into a duel with the Nazi's best sharpshooter Major Konig (Ed Harris) and the two find themselves waging an intense personal war while the most momentous battle of the age rages around them... Final Cut: Eleven friends gather at the wake of a successful writer Jude. His grieving wife reveals that he has been making a film of their lives and forces them to watch as stories emerge of secrets lies and disloyalty. Husbands are turned against wives and friends against friends as the true colours of their lives are revealed. But the biggest revelation is yet to come. Little by little the truth comes out about the circumstances of Jude's death his own part in it and the parts played by all of his friends.

• Flirting With Disaster | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-15.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Sometimes a filmmaker's second movie gets labelled as a sophomore slump. David O Russell shreds that fate with Flirting with Disaster, an outrageous, free-spirited comedy about private people forced into public situations. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) finds the opportunity he's been waiting a lifetime for: an adoption agency rep (Téa Leoni) has located his birth parents and the agency will fly him to California if they can record the reunion. With wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) and new son in tow, the neurotic Mel is compelled to discover his origins, despite the protests of his neurotic adoptive parents (a wonderful Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal). To give away the plot any more would be a crime, but as the title states, Mel is on a collision course of Oedipal proportions. Russell, who made incest an intriguing black-comedy topic in Spanking, is very liberal with sex, and permits dangerous situations. The two women along for the ride are not just bit players: Leoni (Deep Impact) keeps her high-energy comic routine flying, while the grounded Arquette looks after the baby, despite the mad wanderings of her husband. Stiller is a perfect comic foil.--Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

• Joy | Blu Ray | (04/05/2016) from £16.95   |  Saving you £9.23 (54.45%)   |  RRP £26.18

  JOY is the wild story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road in this intense emotional and human comedy about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of unforgiving commerce. Allies become adversaries and adversaries become allies, both inside and outside the family, as Joy's inner life and fierce imagination carry her through the storm she faces. Jennifer Lawrence stars, with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Elisabeth Röhm and Dascha Polanco. Like David O. Russell's previous films, Joy defies genre to tell a story of family, loyalty, and love.