Drama

• Paradox | DVD | (22/02/2010) from £15.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (56.29%)   |  RRP £24.99

  If you could see the future would you change it? From the makers of 'Afterlife' and 'Persuasion' comes a high octane drama series that sees a team of detectives in a race against time to change the future. A series of mysterious images are transmitted from space. They appear to show an explosion a major incident in which many are killed - but the images also suggest the incident hasn't even happened yet - that it will take place in 18 hours. DI Rebecca Flint (Tamzin Outhwaite) and her team DS Ben Holt (Mark Bonnar) and DC Callum Gada (Chik'' Okonkwo) investigate alongside Dr Christian King (Emun Elliott) a top space scientist whose satellite picked up these rogue images. As Dr King attempts to find the source of these images in the infinite possibility of space the rest of the team struggle with their new found responsibility. Forced to intervene in the course of destiny never certain whether or not the future is in their control is it really their place to change the future to play God? And is their very involvement actually helping to cause the tragedies they are trying to prevent?

• It's a Wonderful Life - 65th Anniversary Edition | Blu Ray | (12/11/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton

• Elvis Presley : Films that Rock - Love Me Tender, Wild In The Country, Flaming Star | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £25.63   |  Saving you £-0.64 (-2.60%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Elvis: Films That Rock contains three of the King's early screen efforts: Love Me Tender (1956), Flaming Star (1960) and Wild in the Country (1961). It's pointless to suggest that they aren't among Elvis's best movies (you'll have to look elsewhere for King Creole and Jailhouse Rock, which probably are), partly because any fan's going to want them all anyway, but also because all three are interesting in their different ways. Love Me Tender, made in black and white in 1956, was Presley's first stab at acting, and this story of a family split by the American Civil War--one brother goes off to fight, the other doesn't--sees him short on screentime and being upstaged by pretty much everyone else. That said, it was a reasonably brave move for Presley to begin his movie career by dealing with this kind of subject matter, however sentimentalised. Four years later, Flaming Star took the steer by the horns with Presley portraying a young man of mixed parentage caught up in the ethnic conflict between Native Americans and the white race. Again, a brave choice of subject; this was a landmark movie insofar as it showed Presley certainly had enough acting ability to create a credible parallel career along the lines of, say, Sinatra. It wasn't to be, though, as even then his talents were being manipulated by others, which is why all his later movies--even the best ones--were little more than advertisements for his records. Wild in the Country, from the following year, saw Presley as a young tearaway who finds redemption in his talent for writing. It's pure melodrama, but the moralising is kept under control. This is a nice little collection, all in all, and an essential for any fan. On the DVD: Elvis: Films That Rock presents the three pictures in positively radiant transfers, which are absolutely gunge-free and make the very best of the beautifully stylised lighting and cinematography of the period, while the classic Cinemascope presentations translate perfectly into widescreen. Special features include trailers for all three movies. --Roger Thomas

• Three Films By Somerset Maugham - Trio / Encore / Quartet | DVD | (01/10/2007) from £24.93   |  Saving you £0.06 (0.24%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Three Films By Somerset Maugham: Trio Encore and Quartet (3 Discs)

• Mary Queen of Scots | DVD | (27/10/2014) from £7.33   |  Saving you £7.66 (104.50%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A queen who lost three kingdoms. A wife who lost three husbands. A woman who lost her head.

• Pioneers of African-Amercian Cinema (5-Disc Blu-ray Set) | Blu Ray | (21/11/2016) from £59.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This very special collection illuminates one of the most fascinating and unjustly neglected corners of American movie history Martin Scorsese Explore the landmarks of early African-American film with this extensive collection of features and shorts. One of the most fascinating chapters of film history, the so-called race films of 1920s, 30s and 40s America rallied against the prejudiced conventions of the time. Starring, written, produced and directed by African-Americans, these pioneering films refined an innovative style that set them apart from the Hollywood establishment. Showcasing the works of influential filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux, Spencer Williams, Zora Neale Hurston, and James and Eloyce Gist, the Pioneers of African-American Cinema is a newly restored collection of rare and nearly-forgotten films that celebrates the enduring influence of these overlooked visionaries.

• Blindspotting | DVD | (04/02/2019) from £2.01   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Collin (Daveed Diggs) must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles (Rafael Casal), work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men's friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighbourhood they grew up in. Longtime friends and collaborators, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about friendship and the intersection of race and class set against the backdrop of Oakland. Bursting with energy, style, and humour, and infused with the spirit of rap, hip hop, and spoken word, Blindspotting, boldly directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada in his feature film debut, is a provocative hometown love letter that glistens with humanity.

• Greyfriars Bobby | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The story of Edinburgh's most famous four-legged friend comes to life.

• J. Edgar | Blu Ray | (11/06/2012) from £9.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (150.15%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The complicated life of J. Edgar Hoover is thoughtfully and quietly distilled into a feature film by director Clint Eastwood. J. Edgar is a movie, therefore, that’s free of fuss. Told mainly through an older Hoover reciting back his life story, it’s a conventional structure that allows Eastwood to cherry-pick some of the most interesting moments from the contrversial life of the man who was the first director of the modern day FBI. J. Edgar, as a movie, is sometimes a little too cautious for its own good, sidestepping one or two areas of its subject’s life. But in the title role, Leonardo DiCaprio is in excellent form. Sometimes weighed down by ageing make-up, but always able to hold the screen, it’s his central performance that’s the compelling reason to watch the movie. Judi Dench has less to work with as his mother, although Armie Hammer fares better as Clyde Tolson, the man who may or may not have been Hoover’s lover. The disc release does dig into Hoover a little bit more, with a feature exploring the complexity of the man. At the very least, it serves as a starting point to find out more about one of the most fascinating people in modern American history. The film and disc certainly scratch the surface on him, and there’s plenty here to like and admire. They do leave you with a lot more to discover, though… --Jon Foster

• Madam Secretary - Seasons 1-4 Boxset (DVD) | DVD | (24/09/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Meet Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni): wife, mother, Ph.D, former CIA analyst... and now, America's newest Secretary of State. She left the world of covert intelligence behind for ethical reasons to lead an academic lifestyle with her supportive husband Henry (Tim Daly) and her teenage children. But the sensitive nature of her work creates tension at home when she's forced to keep secrets from Henry, who has recently been reactivated as an intelligence asset. As tensions mount with Russia and chaos brews in the Middle East, Elizabeth answers directly to President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine), trying to steer the world back from the brink of war while navigating the complex agenda of Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek). After the McCord family becomes the focus in a sinister stalking case, Henry is assigned to take down a violent doomsday cult, whilst Elizabeth uses her sage counsel to ensure President Conrad Dalton's re-election. Catch all the political and personal drama intertwined in 90 globe-spanning episodes, over 22 discs, accompanied by eye-opening special features.

• The Men (DVD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (16/05/2022) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Struggling to come to terms with his injuries, a paraplegic war veteran turns to his doctor, fiancé and former comrades as he adjusts to a new way of life. Featuring a powerhouse performance from Marlon Brando in his first feature film, The Men is a poignant reflection on the life-changing impact of paraplegia and the support networks that help those affected rehabilitate and integrate back into society. Directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring a stellar supporting cast including Teresa Wright (Shadow of a Doubt) and Everett Sloane (Citizen Kane), this Hollywood landmark is presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Product Features Audio commentary by filmmaker and film historian Jim Hemphill Illustrated booklet with new essays by Philip Kemp, Scott Harrison and Victoria Millington Other extras TBC Newly commissioned sleeve art by Jennifer Dionisio

• Shameless - Series 6 - Complete | DVD | (17/05/2010) from £13.98   |  Saving you £23.00 (191.83%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Shameless the BAFTA award-winning and brilliantly funny drama series from writer Paul Abbott follows the roller coaster lives and loves of the highly un-orthodox yet extremely tightly knit Gallagher family. Head of the family in name only is Dad Frank - a feckless charmless self-pitying unemployed bully - a model father. Since mum went AWOL dad hit the bottle leaving his six remarkably well-balanced children Fiona Lip Ian Debbie Carl and Liam to fend for themselves. But the Gallaghers need not worry anymore now they've teamed up with the local gangsters the Maguires who continue to explode the myth of a conventional family.

• Saturday Night Fever | Blu Ray | (17/07/2017) from £20.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The years have endowed Saturday Night Fever with a powerful, elegiac quality since its explosive release in 1977. It was the must-see movie for a whole generation of adolescents, sparking controversy for rough language and clumsily realistic sex scenes which took teen cinema irrevocably into a new age. And of course, it revived the career of the Bee Gees to stratospheric heights, thanks to a justifiably legendary soundtrack which now embodies the disco age. But Saturday Night Fever was always more than a disco movie. Tony Manero is an Italian youth from Brooklyn straining at the leash to escape a life defined by his family, blue collar job and his gang. Disco provides the medium for him to break free. It was the snake-hipped dance routines which made John Travolta an immediate sex symbol. But seen today, his performance as Tony is compelling: rough-hewn, certainly, but complex and true, anticipating the fine screen actor he would be recognised as 20 years later. Scenes of the Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge, representing Tony's route to a bigger world, now have an added poignancy, adding to Saturday Night Fever's evocative power. It's a bittersweet classic. On the DVD: Saturday Night Fever is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, both of which help to recapture the unique atmosphere of the late 1970s. The main extra is a director's commentary from John Badham, with detailed descriptions of casting and the improvisation behind many of the scenes, plus the unsavoury reality behind Travolta's iconic white disco suit. --Piers Ford

• Blue Sky (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (25/01/2021) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Relocated to a secretive Alabama army camp, military engineer Hank (Tommy Lee Jones) is assigned to work on a series of hazardous nuclear tests. Morally compromised, Hank becomes embroiled in a dangerous conflict with his superiors as he determines to expose the testing; a complex situation compounded by the volatility of his erratic wife, Carly (Jessica Lange). The final film by director Tony Richardson (released posthumously after his death), and featuring outstanding performances from Lee Jones as the whistleblowing patriarch and Lange, who won an Academy Award for her role, Blue Sky is a thrilling finale to one of cinema's most distinguished and celebrated careers. Extras Original trailer **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet with a new essay on the film by Jim Hemphill and full credits Other extras TBC

• Fatal Love | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  An inspiring commercial artist Alison Gertz was young white and upwardly mobile from a strong upper middle class family. She was heterosexual not promiscuous had never used intravenous drugs and had never had a blood transfusion. Yet her life and the lives of her family and friends are changed radically by her diagnosis as having AIDS at the age of 22. One moment of passion changed Alison Gertz's life forever.

• La Bamba | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Born to poverty. Destined for stardom. He lived the American dream. The life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens bursts across the screen in this celebrated music-filled movie with star-making performances by Lou Diamond Phillips as Richie and Esai Morales as his half-brother Bob. La Bamba depicts the 17-year-old Mexican-American's rocket rise to fame from field laborer to rock star with a string of hit singles and a date with destiny. Fueled by Valens' hit songs performed

• An Angel For May | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £10.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  After stumbling upon a portal to the past in the ruins of an old Yorkshire farmhouse Tom a troubled schoolboy is whisked back to the time of the Second World War. With a loveable sheep dog named Tess as his only guide he meets Sam Wheeler a kindly farmer (Tom Wilkinson) and May an orphaned evacuee about his own age. Learning to cope with the dangers and difficulties of life in this time helps Tom come to terms with his own family problems. Back in the present he discovers something terrible has happened to his friends just a few days after his visit and he is desperate to get back to the past to save them... even if doing so has consequences he could never dream of.

• Now Is Good | DVD | (21/01/2013) from £6.54   |  Saving you £9.45 (59.10%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Diagnosed with a terminal illness, Tessa must determine how she uses every moment, compiling a catalogue of things a normal teenager would experience, so that she doesn't miss out.

• Bad Lieutenant | DVD | (26/08/2003) from £8.76   |  Saving you £7.22 (125.13%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Gambler. Thief. Junkie. Killer. Cop... He's the kind of cop who steals drugs off a dead man's body the kind of father who'd rather feed his drug habit than his family... His badge means nothing to him other than the right to act like the very criminals he's supposed to be chasing and the fierce anger beneath his personality is only fuelled by his addiction to heroin crack and alcohol. But when a beautiful young nun (Frankie Thorn) is raped on the altar of a local church the 'Bad

• High Hopes (Remastered) | Blu Ray | (07/03/2022) from £10.60   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  High Hopes by award-winning Writer and Director, Mike Leigh (Mr Turner, Secrets & Lies) depicts a slice of the lives of Shirley (Ruth Sheen) and Cyril (Phil Davis), a working-class couple in London. Cyril finds it hard to cope with his family; especially when his elderly Mum (Edna Dore) locks herself out and must ask her yuppie neighbours for help, and his social-climbing sister Valerie and her crass husband decide to throw a surprise party for their mum's 70th Birthday which has disaster written all over it. On top of all of this, Shirley wants a baby but how does this fit in with Cyril's Marxist ideals of a perfect world? Created from the Newly Restored Director-Approved 2K Digital Transfer