Drama

• The Last Tree | DVD | (27/01/2020) from £5.94   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After a happy childhood in the countryside, a teenager moves to London, where he must navigate an unfamiliar environment on his road to adulthood.

• Under Fire | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £8.23   |  Saving you £4.76 (57.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Under Fire was one of a trio of notable films from the mid-1980s about journalists involved in Third World war zones. While certainly a lesser film than Salvador (1986) or The Killing Fields (1984) Roger Spottiswoode's movie is still a commendable work from a director who later brought a similarly political edge to Noriega: God's Favourite (2000). Nick Nolte plays an American photo-journalist covering the civil war in Nicaragua in 1979, finding himself caught in a dangerous and cynical web of duplicity and self-interest, as well as falling in love with fellow American, Claire (Joanna Cassidy). Nolte gradually uncovers the degree of his own government's involvement with the corrupt regime, and inevitably ends up crossing the line from neutral observer to helping the rebel cause. Under Fire is in essence a reworking of Casablanca, especially as Gene Hackman's network newsman proves to be Cassidy's ex-lover, yet thanks to an intelligent script, strong support from Ed Harris as a mercenary and some genuinely unnerving and frightening scenes of the random chaos of war, it's one which packs a powerful punch. Jerry Goldsmith's evocative score is among his best of the 1980s.On the DVD: Under Fire is presented in an anamorphic 1.77:1 transfer which is very clean and clear with minimal grain. The well-mixed Dolby Pro-logic soundtrack is highly effective, if not so startling as a 5.1 track. Beyond multi-language and subtitle options, the only extra is the original trailer, which is also anamorphically enhanced. --Gary S Dalkin

• Dawson's Creek - Season 5 | DVD | (30/05/2005) from £24.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (80.03%)   |  RRP £44.99

  It's goodbye to Capeside, hello to Boston in Dawson's Creek's fifth season (a.k.a.: Dawson's Creek: The College Years). While the end of the fourth season sent the five friends their separate ways--Dawson (James Van Der Beek) to USC Film School, Joey (Katie Holmes) to Wilmington College, Jen (Michelle Williams) and Jack (Kerr Smith) to Boston Bay College; and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) to the high seas--it doesn't take them long to find themselves together again. That's a good thing, especially when tragedy strikes a family member and threatens to tear the survivors apart. More than anything, the fifth season seems to be about falling into bad relationships. Jen dates a cute but sleazy musician (Chad Michael Murray), Pacey gets a job in a restaurant where he pursues a woman (Lourdes Benedicto) already having an affair with a married man, then fends off a vampish new boss (Sherilyn Fenn, Twin Peaks). Joey is drawn to her handsome English professor (Ken Marino). And Jack joins a frat, becomes a jerk, and starts a devoted relationship with his beer bottle. Dawson meets an eccentric young filmmaker (Jordan Bridges) which in turn leads to a meeting with his favorite Boston film critic (Meredith Salenger). And Joey's new roommate, the annoyance-with-a-heart-of-gold Audrey (Busy Phillipps), becomes the newest major addition to the cast. The irritation factor is high this season, a couple of "Joey is threatened" interludes don't have the punch that they could have, and in the season finale, the inevitable resolution of the show's central relationship doesn't really resolve anything at all. But viewers who have followed the Capeside crew for four seasons will still want to see what happens in the fifth. The fifth season is the first to have no DVD extras at all, and it continues the music-replacement strategy (which, since the second season has replaced much of the music, and since the third season has replaced Paula Cole's theme song, all due to licensing expenses). In addition to the usual background-music switches, some scenes have been edited (for example, the episode "Highway to Hell" has cut two of the performances on-stage at the Drunk & Dead). Also, the opening credits of "The Long Goodbye" and "Downtown Crossing" had originally used instrumental versions of "I Don't Want to Wait," which had underscored the emotion of those episodes. In the DVD set, those have been replaced by the standard version and an instrumental version, respectively, of "Run Like Mad." --David Horiuchi, Amazon.com

• Bronson | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £12.97   |  Saving you £8.28 (70.71%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Featuring a blistering lead performance from Tom Hardy, "Bronson" charts the life and times of notorious prisoner Charles Bronson.

• The Great: Season Two | DVD | (21/11/2022) from £19.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Land Of The Free | DVD | (05/07/2005) from £8.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A politician's campaign manager (Speakman) discovers that the candidate (Shatner) is a front for a military organization plotting a political overthrow of the government. In trying to expose the candidate's right-wing activities he puts himself and his family in danger of being killed.

• Goodbye First Love | DVD | (10/09/2012) from £27.99   |  Saving you £-12.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Following the critically acclaimed Father if my Children, Mia Hansen-Lvereturns with the equally impressive Goodbye First Love. Loosely auto-biographical in style, the film deals with what Hansen-Lve has described as the defining and central part of her adolescence. The blooming of first love, subsequent heartbreak and renewal are portrayed with a simple directness of stye which nevertheless allow the complexity of emotions to be given full range. Lola Crton (Bluebeard), playing the central character of Camille, creates an incredibly subtle performance allowing the audience to embrace our protagonists growth into maturity and personal liberation.

• The Zero Theorem | Blu Ray | (21/07/2014) from £15.26   |  Saving you £7.73 (50.66%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Near-future London. Shut-in mathematician Qohen Leth (Waltz) is assigned by his employer (Damon) to work at home on solving the near-impossible Zero Theorem. Qohen begins a virtual and perhaps actual relationship with cyber-companion Bainsley (Thierry): either a distraction or the means to find an answer.

• Yellowstone: The First Four Seasons | Blu Ray | (31/05/2022) from £62.93   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Holy Motors | DVD | (28/01/2013) from £8.95   |  Saving you £7.04 (78.66%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Leos Carax returns to cinema after a 13-year hiatus with Holy Motors, a brilliant, visually striking film that was one of the toasts of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

• My Dog Tulip | DVD | (11/07/2011) from £9.98   |  Saving you £6.01 (60.22%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Beautifully animated and featuring an all-star cast voiced by Christopher Plummer the late Lynn Redgrave and Isabella Rossellini My Dog Tulip is a touching bittersweet adaptation of the late British author J. R. Ackerley's enduring memoir exploring the 16-year relationship with his adopted Alsatian bitch Tulip. A profound and subtle mediation on the strangeness that lies at the heart of all relationships My Dog Tulip was written and directed by the award-winning filmmakers Paul and Sandra Fierlinger.

• Maps To The Stars | Blu Ray | (02/02/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Weiss family are an archetypical Hollywood dynasty - Dr Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a psychotherapist whose self-help books have made him a fortune. His wife Cristina (Olivia Williams) is the overbearing mom-ager of their thirteen-year old son Benjie a prodigious child star fresh out of drug rehab and their estranged daughter Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. Agatha is now back in Hollywood making friends with a wannabe actor named Jerome (Robert Pattinson) and has landed a new job as PA to one of Stafford’s clients - the neurotic and tempestuous actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) whose dream of reprising her dead mother’s starring role from the 1960s is beginning to haunt her.

• The Lair Season 3 | DVD | (29/03/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Prepare to leave Twilight to the tweens as cult horror hit The Lair returns for another round of blood-curdling sexploits. Revenge is on the cards for the members of the notorious men-only sex club as evil vampire Colin returns from beyond the grave to create havoc for the small town as he masterminds a rival nightspot to bring down the original murderous coven. Meanwhile Thom struggles with being the only human member of The Lair is it only a matter of time until hes dragged to the dark side? Featuring a slew of sexy new characters and all the high-camp drama and bloody action youve come to expect The Lair Season 3 takes the smash hit series to wild new heights!

• Midnight Express | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £11.38   |  Saving you £-5.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Forever embroiled in controversy, Midnight Express divides viewers into opposing camps: those who think it's one of the most intense real-life dramas ever made, and those who abhor its manipulative tactics and alteration of facts for the exploitative purpose of achieving a desired effect. That effect is powerfully achieved, regardless of how you may feel about director Alan Parker and Oscar-winning screenwriter Oliver Stone's interpretation of the story of Billy Hayes. It was the American Hayes--played by the late Brad Davis in an unforgettable performance--who was caught smuggling 2kg of hashish while attempting to board a flight from Istanbul in 1970. He was sentenced to four years in a hellish Turkish prison on a drug possession charge, but his sentence was later extended (though not by 30 years, as the film suggests), and Hayes endured unthinkable brutality and torture before his escape in 1975. Unquestionably, this is a superbly crafted film, provoking a visceral response that's powerful enough to boil your blood. By the time Hayes erupts in an explosion of self-defensive violence, Parker and Stone have proven the power--and danger--of their skill. Their film is deeply manipulative, extremely xenophobic, and embellishes reality to heighten its calculated impact. Is that a crime? Not necessarily, and there's no doubt that Midnight Express is expertly directed and blessed with exceptional supporting performances (especially from John Hurt as a long-term prisoner). Still, it's obvious that strings are being pulled, and Parker, while applying his talent to a nefarious purpose, is a masterful puppeteer. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Damage | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £14.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Stephen Fleming a respected Member of Parliament and Junior Minister is comfortable with his life as he approaches his fiftieth birthday. Secure in his enduring marriage he has no premonition of the storm that is about to engulf him when he is drawn to an attractive woman at an embassy cocktail party.

• The Sender | DVD | (05/07/2005) from £12.85   |  Saving you £-8.86 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  In 1965 an American fighter squadron encountered a spaceship while flying over the Bermuda Triangle. After getting into a brief dogfight with it one of the fighters is shot down and the others agree to keep what they've seen a secret...

• Trinity | DVD | (09/11/2009) from £11.98   |  Saving you £3.00 (30.03%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Trinity (3 Disc)

• Little Women | DVD | (28/06/2013) from £8.73   |  Saving you £9.26 (106.07%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Little Women is a "coming of age" drama tracing the lives of four sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. During the American Civil War...

• Tyrannosaur | Blu Ray | (06/02/2012) from £11.07   |  Saving you £11.92 (107.68%)   |  RRP £22.99

  TYRANNOSAUR is a powerful and affecting drama from feature writer / director Paddy Considine. It follows the story of two lonely, damaged people brought together by circumstance.

• Cinema of Conflict: Four Films by Krzystof Kieslowski Limited Edition | Blu Ray | (20/04/2020) from £54.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Few names are as synonymous with Polish cinema as that of Krzystof Kieślowski, the renowned auteur responsible for the Dekalog and Three Colours trilogy. Prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and his subsequent creative and critical success in France, Kieślowski plied his trade within the confines of the Eastern Bloc, capturing the realities of everyday life under Soviet rule. This collection gathers his four earliest narrative feature films, encapsulating the years 19761984. In 1976's The Scar, a well-intentioned Party loyalist is charged with overseeing the construction of a new chemical plant in the face of fierce resistance and is forced to confront the conflict between his good intentions and local opposition. In 1979's Camera Buff, a family man and amateur filmmaker experiences a dramatic change in fortunes when his newfound hobby opens up new horizons but also results in deep marital and philosophical conflicts. Blind Chance, completed in 1981 and denied a release in its native Poland until 1987, presents three possible outcomes to a single, seemingly banal event a young medical student running to catch a train and, in the process, explores the relationship between chance and choice. Finally, in 1984's No End, a recently bereaved translator juggles the conflicting demands of her work, caring for her son and her continued visions of her late husband, all against the backdrop of a Poland under the grip of martial law. As socially conscious as Kieślowski's earlier documentary shorts, this quartet of films covers a tumultuous period in Polish and Eastern European history, shot with unflinching realism by a filmmaker of distinction. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS: Limited Edition collection (2000 copies) High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all four films Original lossless mono audio for all films Optional English subtitles for all films Brand new audio commentary on Camera Buff by critic Annette Insdorf Brand new audio commentary on Blind Chance by film historian Michael Brooke Ghost of a Chance, a brand new visual essay on No End by Adrian Martin and Cristina Alvarez Lopez Moral and Martial Anxieties, a brand new discussion with Michael Brooke, exploring the brief and remarkable Polish film renaissance of the turn of the 1980s Brand new introductions by scholar and critic Michał Oleszczyk to all films Michał Oleszczyk looks through archive materials for each film Archival interviews with filmmakers Agnieska Holland and Krzysztof Zanussi, cinematographers Slawomir Idziak and Jacek Petrycki, actress Grazyna Szapoloska, sound designer Michal Zarnecki, critic Annette Insdorf and Kieślowski collaborator Irena Strazakowska Three short films by Kieślowski: Talking Heads (1980), Concert of Requests (1995) and The Office (1995) Workshop Exercises, a 1987 short film by Marcel Lonzinski Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Corey Brickley Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by scholars and authors Ewa Mazierska, Marek Hatlof, Dina Iordanova and Joseph G. Kickasola, and original writing by Kieślowski