Drama

• In A Lonely Place | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £14.24   |  Saving you £-1.25 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  One of the classics of the noir psychological thriller, In a Lonely Place is one of Humphrey Bogart's finest performances. He is almost unbearably intense as Dixon Steele, a screenwriter with high standards and a nasty temper who finds himself under suspicion when Mildred, a hat-check girl he knows, is found murdered. Immediately he gets an alibi from a neighbour, Laurel, and equally quickly, he recognises that this is a woman who meets his standards: the question is, as suspicion of his involvement in Mildred's death continues, can he make himself meet hers? This is a wonderful study in trust and suspicion and the limits of love; Bogart's performance is impressive simply because he is prepared to go well over the limits of our sympathy in the name of emotional truth. The scene where he explains imaginatively to a cop and his wife how the murder might have happened is a spine-chilling, creepy portrait of amoral artistic brilliance. Gloria Grahame is equally fine as the woman who lets herself love him, for a while. On the DVD: In a Lonely Place comes with an excellent documentary in which Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential) explains the importance of the film to him and discusses its place in the work of Bogart and the director Nicholas Ray; there is also a quick interesting documentary about the restoration and digitisation of classic films. The film is presented with a visual aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and with restored Dolby Surround sound that does full justice to the film's snappy dialogue and the moody George Antheil score. --Roz Kaveney

• Scarface 1983 - 35th Anniversary | Blu Ray | (21/10/2019) from £21.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio.

• Pride | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.05   |  Saving you £12.94 (183.55%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Set in the summer of 1984 – Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on strike. At the Gay Pride March in London a group of gay and lesbian activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners. But there is a problem. The Union seems embarrassed to receive their support. But the activists are not deterred. They decide to ignore the Union and go direct to the miners. They identify a mining village in deepest Wales and set off in a mini bus to make their donation in person. And so begins the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.

• A Time To Kill | DVD | (11/05/1998) from £14.89   |  Saving you £-0.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  You wouldn't know it by watching the Batman movies they collaborated on, but this smart adaptation of John Grisham's novel proves that director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman have some talent when the right project comes along. Schumacher had previously directed Grisham's The Client, and brought equal craft and intelligence to this story about a young Southern attorney (Matthew McConaughey, in his breakthrough role) who defends a black father (Samuel L Jackson) after he kills two men who raped his young daughter. Sandra Bullock plays the passionate law student who serves as McConaughey's legal aide and voice of conscience in the racially charged drama. Added to the star power of the lead roles is a fine supporting cast, including Kevin Spacey, Ashley Judd and Oliver Platt. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Greatest Showman | Blu Ray | (14/05/2018) from £8.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (114.45%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The Greatest Showman is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, starring Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerising spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

• Respect | DVD | (13/12/2021) from £5.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Following the rise of Aretha Franklin's career from a child singing in her father's church's choir to her international superstardom, RESPECT is the remarkable true story of the music icon's journey to find her voice.

• The Comedy Man (Vintage Classics) | Blu Ray | (18/03/2024) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Brexit: The Uncivil War | DVD | (21/01/2019) from £9.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Everyone knows who won. But not everyone knows how. The result of the Brexit referendum in the summer of 2016 caused a political earthquake that laid waste to the normally stable British establishment and sent political tremors across the world. This punchy and provocative feature length drama goes exclusively behind the scenes of the Vote Leave campaign, unpacking the personalities, strategies, and feuds of the winning side, and exploring the new world of data driven campaign tactics. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings and Rory Kinnear as Craig Oliver, BREXIT: THE UNCIVIL WAR is written by playwright James Graham, taking inspiration from All Out War by Tim Shipman (the Sunday Times political editor), Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit by Craig Oliver (former Number 10 Communications Director), and is directed by Emmy award-winning Toby Haynes. BREXIT: THE UNCIVIL WAR is not an analysis of who was right and who was wrong. It is the story of how it happened, and why - on the high street, in the campaign offices, and the darker corners of the internet. A drama of political ambition and personal betrayals with nation-changing results.

• PARIS, TEXAS 4K UHD Dolby Vision+Blu-ray | Limited Edition | Blu Ray | (09/12/2024) from £36.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Blue Story (DVD) | DVD | (20/04/2020) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A gripping, timely and powerful urban drama, Blue Story marks the remarkable feature debut of grime artist, YouTube sensation and director Andrew Onwubolu aka Rapman. Best friends Timmy (Stephen Odubola) and Marco (Micheal Ward) go to the same high school in Peckham but live in neighbouring London boroughs. When Marco's beaten up by one of Timmy's primary school friends, the two boys wind up on rival sides of a never-ending cycle of postcode gang war in which there are no winners... only victims.

• Zodiac | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £5.88   |  Saving you £14.11 (239.97%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From David Fincher, director of "Seven" and "Fight Club" comes this new thriller about four investigators obsessed with finding a serial killer who is terrifying the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Somewhere In Time | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It's silly, it's superficial, it's so desperately earnest about its tale of time-spanning love that you almost wish for a cheap flatulence gag just to break the solemn mood. But there is something so unabashedly gushy and entertaining about Somewhere in Time that you can't begrudge its enduring popularity. The film has become a staple of romantic-movie lovers since its release in 1980, and endless showings on cable TV have turned it into a dubious classic of sorts--a three-hanky weepy that anyone can enjoy as a guilty pleasure or a beloved favourite, with no apologies necessary. In his first film after the star-making success of Superman, Christopher Reeve stars as a contemporary playwright who visits a posh hotel and sees the portrait of an actress (Jane Seymour) who had performed there in 1912. He becomes obsessed with this beautiful woman and learns all he can about her, and then discovers a method of hypnotically transporting himself backward in time to meet her. "Is it ... you?" she says upon seeing the lovestruck playwright, and it's clearly a mutual attraction. But even the slightest reminder of the playwright's modern time can jar him from his seemingly real existence in the past, so his wonderful love affair is constantly just a step from being stolen away. Based on Richard Matheson's novel Bid Time Return, this flaky film may strain one's tolerance for plot holes and corny romance, but it's hard to deny its lasting appeal--and let's face it, guys, it'll make wives and girlfriends swoon if they are in a tearjerker mood. --Jeff Shannon

• Gathering Storm | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (100.43%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Gathering Storm is a fictionalised portrayal of Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine during their wilderness years of the 1930s. It deservedly won numerous awards, including an Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe in recognition of Albert Finney's wonderful central performance. Equally deserving were those for all aspects of the production design: period wardrobe, set dressing and use of location are equally impressive, apparently ensuring that this production has everything going for it in its depiction of pre-War Britain. The snag is that its restriction to TV movie format, a mere 90 minutes, excludes a lot of historical context that ought not to have been left out. Seeing Churchill's adoration of his wife (Vanessa Redgrave) or the family woes troubling Ralph Wigram (Linus Roache) is all very emotionally dramatic, but it uses precious screen time that might have been better devoted to highlighting the political situation abroad, or indeed the monarchy's situation at home. The enterprise smacks a little too much of sentimental contrivance, lionising Churchill in rose-tinted retrospect. True, some attempt is made to acknowledge the personality traits that excluded him both from office and popularity prior to Germany's re-building, but like so much else pertinent to the machinations of anticipating the war, these are glossed over for familial feel-goodery and button-pushing poignancy. This is a film that's easy to admire, but ought not to be mistaken for well-rounded history. On the DVD: The Gathering Storm doesn't look or sound quite as crisp and clear as you'd hope for a recent TV-movie transfer. That's down to some obvious grain in the picture, and the 2.0 surround audio that tends to lose quieter dialogue moments. There are extensive cast and crew biographies that will no doubt help international viewers place the naggingly familiar British faces. There's also the accumulatively enthusiastic commentary from director Richard Loncraine and producer Frank Doelger, which happily points many of them out. --Paul Tonks

• Kiss of the Spider Woman | Blu Ray | (02/02/2026) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Kiss of the Spider WomanFeaturing indelible performances from Raul Julia and an Academy Awardwinning William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman is a work of radical compassion that boldly expands notions of love, gender, and revolution. In the filmdirected by Héctor Babenco following his international breakthrough with Pixote, and adapted from the novel by the iconoclastic writer Manuel PuigJulia and Hurt play Valentin and Molina, a militant leftist activist and a queer, cinema-obsessed window dresser, imprisoned together under a repressive military dictatorship. The two gradually forge a bond that transforms the way they both understand politics, sexuality, and masculinity. Blending raw realism with Molina's imaginative escapes into sumptuous movie fantasy, this searing human drama offers a powerful vision of personal liberation embedded within broader political struggle.4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURESNew 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrackAlternate uncompressed monaural soundtrackOne 4K UHD disc of the film presented Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special featuresInterview with Suzanne Jill Levine, biographer of Kiss of the Spider Woman author Manuel Puig, about the adaptationTangled Web: Making Kiss of the Spider Woman (2008), a feature-length documentaryShort program on PuigTrailerEnglish subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearingPLUS: An essay by critic B. Ruby RichNew cover by Greg Ruth

• Mighty Joe Young | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £6.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (157.37%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Charlize Theron is the latest stunning blonde to be hanging around some big ape in a Hollywood movie, this one a remake of the 1949 semi-classic with echoes of the superior King Kong. Theron plays the daughter of an American researcher killed by poachers in Africa. The baby gorilla left in her care grows up to become a hugely tall and broad specimen named Joe, living in the mountains as a mostly unseen legend among people who live there. Along comes an eco-minded emissary (Bill Paxton) from a California sanctuary, who talks the jungle girl into providing safe haven for Joe at the LA facility. The transition is not without discomfort but everything is aggravated via a conspiracy of poachers to get Joe into their own greedy hands. Director Ron Underwood (City Slickers) uses a combination of special-effects techniques to give Joe life and personality, and he succeeds quite effectively. The requisite giant-ape-goes-amok scenes are all in place-a couple of them pretty intense--as is a conclusion that finds the simian hero performing a stunning feat of escalation. Underwood attempts to give a little modern spin to some classic Hollywood conventions regarding wild hearts lost in civilization and the results are pretty agreeable family fare. --Tom Keogh

• The Color Purple | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.95   |  Saving you £5.04 (56.31%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, DW Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality of a rape by showing hanging leather belts banging against the head of the shaking bed. In a way it's a shame that Whoopi Goldberg, a stage monologist who made her screen debut in this movie, went on to become so famous, because it was, in part, her unfamiliarity that made her understated performance as Celie so effective. (This may be the first and last time that the adjective understated can be applied to Goldberg.) Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and actress (supporting players Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery were also nominated), it was quite a scandal--and a crushing blow to Spielberg--when The Color Purple won none. --Jim Emerson

• Taxi Driver | DVD | (22/11/1999) from £7.55   |  Saving you £12.44 (164.77%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence. It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration ("I just knew I had to make this film", Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political and societal anxiety. Robert De Niro, as the tortured, ex-Marine cab driver Travis Bickle, made movie history with his chilling performance as one of the most memorably intense and vividly realised characters ever committed to film. Bickle is a self-appointed vigilante who views his urban beat as an intolerable cesspool of blighted humanity. He plays guardian angel for a young prostitute (Jodie Foster), but not without violently devastating consequences. This masterpiece, which is not for all tastes, is sure to horrify some viewers, but few could deny the film's lasting power and importance. --Jeff Shannon

• Thelma & Louise | Blu Ray | (29/01/2024) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Two women, a turquoise Thunderbird, the ride of a lifetime. With this pop-culture landmark, screenwriter Callie Khouri and action auteur Ridley Scott rewrote the rules of the road movie, telling the story of two best friends who find themselves transformed into accidental fugitives during a weekend getaway gone wrong leading them on a high-speed southwestern odyssey as they elude police and discover freedom on their own terms. Propelled by irresistible performances from Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (plus Brad Pitt in a sexy, star-making turn) and nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one for Khouri the exhilaratingly cathartic Thelma & Louise stands as cinema's ultimate ode to ride-or-die female friendship Product Features DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Ridley Scott, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features Two audio commentaries, featuring Scott, screenwriter Callie Khouri, and actors Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon New interviews with Scott and Khouri Documentary featuring Davis; Khouri; Sarandon; Scott; actors Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt; and other members of the cast and crew Boy and Bicycle (1965), Scott's first short film, and one of his early commercials Original theatrical featurette Storyboards and deleted and extended scenes, including an extended ending with director's commentary Music video for Glenn Frey's Part of Me, Part of You; from the film's soundtrack Trailers English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: Essays by critics Jessica Kiang and Rachel Syme and journalist Rebecca Traister

• Loving Vincent | DVD | (12/02/2018) from £4.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (20.04%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Loving Vincent is a biographical drama film about the life of painter Vincent van Gogh. It is the world's first fully oil painted animated film and brings his artwork to life in an exploration of the death of one of history's most celebrated artists. A true labour of love, written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, each of the film's 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 115 painters.

• Mrs. Miniver | DVD | (27/01/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A