Drama

• Bob Roberts | DVD | (02/11/2015) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-10.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Written and directed by actor Tim Robbins (who also plays the title role), this 1992 mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate is smart, funny, and scarily prescient in its foreshadowing of the Republican revolution of 1994. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the filmmakers follow his campaign, Robbins gives needle-sharp insight into the way candidates manipulate the media. While the film follows Roberts's campaign, it also covers a fringe journalist (Giancarlo Esposito), who may have dug up the kind of dirt to push Roberts's campaign off the rails. Robbins captures the chilly insincerity of this right-wing populist and fills his cast with terrific supporting players, including Alan Rickman as the campaign's shadowy financier and Susan Sarandon and Peter Gallagher as a pair of airhead TV news anchors. --Marshall Fine

• The Mile High | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Fasten your seatbelts for the flight of a lifetime! What do pilots and cabin crew get up to both in and out of uniform? Mile High is the sexy drama series which follows the lives and loves of six airline crew from sharing a house in London to travelling across different countries and time zones. Young and sexy they work hard and play even harder!

• Double Exposure | DVD | (15/05/2017) from £8.89   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A news magazine hires an out-of-town photographer and the antics begin. Some comic relief.

• The Romantic Englishwoman | DVD | (16/11/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Superbly acted drama adapted by Tom Stoppard in which Lewis (Michael Caine) suspects that his wife Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson) must be having an affair. Frustrated with her husband’s jealous attempts to manipulate her Elizabeth decides to confirm Lewis’s suspicions by embarking on a steamy affair with a handsome young German Thomas (Helmut Berger) who claims to be a poet but is in fact a drug dealer...

• A Man Of No Importance | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Dublin the early 1960's: passengers on Bus Conductor Alfie Byrne's route are entertained by a daily diet of poetry pose and excerpts from Oscar Wilde. Alfie delights his 'brethren' and attempts each year to put on a play in the church community hall. This year he wants to stage 'Salome'. When he finds his 'star' in the unsuspecting form of the delightful Adele he tries to convince his driver who has affectionately nicknamed 'Bosie' to tread the boards for the first time to no avail. Alfie soon discovers that Dublin can turn quickly into 'Peyton Place' when local butcher Carney the usurped former leading man recruits Alfie's sister and the elders from the church to condemn 'Salome' as 'the work of the devil'!

• O Lucky Man! | DVD | (19/05/2008) from £39.99   |  Saving you £-24.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Malcolm McDowell provides the original idea for and stars as wide-eyed innocent (not for long) Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's epic comedy O Lucky Man! Armed with ambition and a work ethic coffee salesman Mick hits the road and finds that desire alone can't bring wealth and status. He meets rich and poor alike... and finds cunning and cruelty across the social spectrum. Ralph Richardson Helen Mirren Arthur Lowe Rachel Roberts Mona Washbourne and other stars in multiple roles knit Mick's picaresque adventures together. And commenting with wit and irony is Alan Price providing a memorable song score. Once you meet Mick you're the lucky one.

• Code 46 | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £5.38   |  Saving you £4.61 (46.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton star as a pair of doomed lovers in a strictly controlled society in the near future.

• Life As We Know It | Blu Ray | (28/03/2011) from £9.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (130.13%)   |  RRP £22.99

  In Life as We Know It, Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel discover that their closest friends have appointed them guardians of their child in the unlikely event of their joint death--an unlikely event that has just happened. Make no mistake: There's no reason this movie should have been any good. The premise is the worst kind of formulaic Hollywood claptrap; the pleasant but cautious Heigl (Knocked Up) is playing yet another uptight fussbudget; since a promising movie debut in the underrated Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, Duhamel has largely coasted on his looks in tripe like the Transformers movies--yet Life as We Know It is surprisingly likable. After the movie gets through the basic exposition--and navigates some radical shifts in tone with unexpected deftness--the script somehow manages to make its clichés into something resembling real human situations. The colorful supporting characters are all entertainingly written and well played by a solid cast. And both Heigl and Duhamel give understated, engaging performances that manage to make the inevitable conclusion seem almost not inevitable. Director Greg Berlanti (The Broken Hearts Club) deserves kudos for skillfully balancing humor and pathos and turning this unpromising material into a sincere and enjoyable movie. --Bret Fetzer

• Blue Velvet | DVD | (17/06/2008) from £9.87   |  Saving you £-0.89 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Possibly the most influential American film of the 1980's Lynch's bizarre erotic mystery spawned a whole raft of imitations with its portrayal of the dark underside of American small-town life. Critics and audiences responded to Lynch's original and startling images of sex and violence and made the film a box-office smash. Blue Velvet is renowned for creating in Dennis Hopper's Frank one of the greatest screen villains of all time.

• Bond Street | DVD | (08/02/2016) from £5.22   |  Saving you £1.36 (26.05%)   |  RRP £6.58

  Based on a story by Terence Rattigan, Bond Street is a compelling portmanteau drama which tells the secret story of a wedding day with four vignettes revealing the hidden tales behind each of its most essential items. Presented as a brand-new transfer from the original film elements, Bond Street features a strong cast which includes Jean Kent, Kathleen Harrison, Hazel Court, Roland Young and Derek Farr.There is romance in every wedding, but more so, perhaps, in that of Julia Chester-Barratt and Frank Moody. The bride's dress, her veil, her pearls, her flowers all must be perfect, but all have tales to tell. Tales of birth, death, love and deception...SPECIAL FEATURE:Image GalleryPromotional Material PDFs

• Conviction/ Never Let Me Go Double Pack | DVD | (04/06/2012) from £7.27   |  Saving you £5.72 (78.68%)   |  RRP £12.99

  ConvictionHilary Swank gives another tremendous performance--steely, determined, vulnerable--in the courtroom/family drama Conviction. The film is based on a real case, of Betty Anne Waters (Swank), who as a last resort puts herself through law school to take on the case of her brother, Kenny (Sam Rockwell, also outstanding). Kenny is convicted of murder, despite a weak prosecution case, but Betty Anne can't get any lawyer to explore a retrial or appeal. Director Tony Goldwyn (Dexter, Damages) keeps the action moving along crisply and believably, even during the almost interminable stretches of Kenny's imprisonment. The terrific script by Pamela Gray (Music of the Heart) weaves in occasional shadows of doubt about whether Kenny is actually innocent, so that a story that could be formulaic is anything but. The viewer isn't sure most of the way through Conviction if Kenny is guilty or not--but is completely swept up in Swank's incredible performance depicting Betty Anne's own conviction--that "you do anything for your family. Period." As she did in Boys Don't Cry, Swank puts her own gritty spin on a real-life character, whom she inhabits like a second skin. Her Betty Anne is a blue-collar pit bull, and her sheer determination is itself a force of nature. The supporting cast of Conviction also shines, including Minnie Driver as Betty Anne's law school pal, and an especially effective Juliette Lewis playing Kenny's broken-down ex-girlfriend, who's buried some secrets of her own. Also a standout is Melissa Leo as the policewoman whose initial arrest of Kenny might have been loaded with her own agenda. The chemistry, especially between Rockwell, a man very nearly defeated after years behind bars, and Swank, is palpable and will capture the viewer in intense dramatic territory that won't be soon forgotten. --A.T. Hurley Never Let Me GoIn adapting Kazuo Ishiguro's celebrated novel, director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and screenwriter Alex Garland (Sunshine) transform dystopian fiction into period drama by presenting an alternate past in which people routinely live beyond 100--at a cost to those who make it possible. In the 1970s, Kathy (Isobel Meikle-Small) and Ruth (Ella Purnell) attend Hailsham, a British boarding school where Miss Emily (Charlotte Rampling) holds sway--and no one ever mentions their parents. When new teacher Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky) arrives, she reaches out to the awkward Tommy (Charlie Rowe), with whom Kathy becomes close--until jealous Ruth steals him away. Then Lucy reveals what will happen when they leave. By the 1980s, Kathy (a poignant Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) live in the country until they're ready to fulfill their purpose. With Ruth and Tommy an item, Kathy becomes a carer, a sort of social worker. Over the years, the three go their separate ways until the 1990s, by which point their time will run out unless they can arrange for a deferral. Throughout, Romanek never presents alternate points of view; the audience experiences this brave new world only through the eyes of its sheltered protagonists. If the story raises issues that recall Orwell, the unhurried pace echoes The Remains of the Day, Merchant Ivory's Ishiguro adaptation. Similarly, Never Let Me Go is a work of great skill and compassion, but make no mistake: it's also very, very depressing. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Sargeant Musgrave's Dance | DVD | (03/09/2012) from £7.98   |  Saving you £9.00 (150.25%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Serjeant Musgrave's Dance

• The Conquest of the Air | DVD | (14/09/2015) from £11.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Charting man's complicated journey towards and mastery over flight, this fascinating film uses both drama and documentary footage to present a highly cinematic account of the evolution of aviation, encompassing early experiments in automated flight, the development of bombers and aircraft carriers, and the earliest experiments in vertical rotary flight. A project initiated in 1935 by Alexander Korda as a potential collaboration with Winston Churchill, The Conquest of the Air was produced in fits and starts over the following five years eventually being released in 1940 as a propaganda film to help the war effort both here and in America. The film is featured here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements in its as-exhibited aspect ratio.

• Emma | Blu Ray | (19/09/2011) from £16.18   |  Saving you £8.81 (54.45%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In the lush countryside of 19th century England, there's a young woman so devoted to meddling in the affairs of others that she fails to recognise the longings of her own heart. Her name is Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow), and although she's never one to interfere, Emma manages to make a mess out of every romance she sets up. But her biggest blunder may lie ahead when she discovers her own feelings for her handsome brother-in-law, a man she can't decide whether she loves or loathes.

• Mo' Better Blues | Blu Ray | (11/09/2017) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington gives a riveting performance in Spike Lee s breathtaking film on music and love. Talented trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Washington) is obsessed by his music and indecisive about his girlfriends Indigo (Joie Lee) and Clarke (Cynda Williams). But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend Spike Lee, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined. Stunning cinematography, a rousing score and superlative performances come together in this unforgettable feast for the senses.

• Sex and the City: Series 3 | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £17.98   |  Saving you £19.00 (118.82%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The Sex and the City phenomenon continues in Series 3 of this outrageously addictive cult show. The four highly sexed thirtysomethings share their hopes, fears and even boyfriends (when Charlotte decides to throw a "used boyfriend party") in a New York where you can buy Manolo Blahniks on the proceeds of one article a week and eat mountains of junk food yet stay as thin as a pencil. But if the peripheral details remain somewhat fantastical, the searing honesty of the main storyline takes this third season to dramatic heights only suggested by the previous seasons. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) falls head-over-heels for chunky furniture designer Aidan Joff (John Corbett) but still embarks on a disastrous affair with her newlywed ex, Mr Big (Chris Noth). The resulting triangle, set against the background of Charlotte's outwardly perfect marriage to Trey (Kyle MacLachlan), proves to be electrifying viewing. But the humour is as sharp as ever too: Samantha's run-in with her drag-queen prostitute neighbours, Miranda pretending to be an air stewardess so as not to frighten men away and one of Charlotte's boyfriends talking dirty to her in bed are all moments of great high comedy. It just gets better and better. --Warwick Thompson

• Longtime Companion | DVD | (10/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Hailed as the first mainstream film to put a human face on the AIDS epidemic Longtime Companion is a drama that takes an honest unflinching look at how this devastating disease changes everyone it touches. During the summer of 1981 a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumour about a mysterious ""gay cancer"" soon turns into a major crisis as one by one some of the friends begin to fall ill leaving the others

• Be Cool / Get Shorty | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Be Cool (2005): Everyone is looking for the next big hit... Disenchanted with the movie industry Chili Palmer (Travolta) decides to try his hand in the music industry he romances the sultry widow (Thurman) of a recently whacked music exec poaches a hot young singer (Christina Milian) from a rival label and discovers that the record industry is packin' a whole lot more than a tune! Get Shorty (1995): Drug Smuggling. Racketeering. Loan Sharking. Welcome to Hollywood!

• Conversation Piece | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An explosive love story of two women who lead a reclusive professor (Lancaster) into a complex web of sexual intrigue...

• The Lion of the Desert (DVD) | DVD | (02/07/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Destined to remain a dubious footnote in books of movie trivia, Lion of the Desert--an occasionally impressive epic from 1981--was financed with a budget of $35 million by Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who previously attempted the role of movie producer with the critically roasted Mohammad: Messenger of God. This effort didn't fare much better (it grossed approximately $1 million worldwide), and although some of its wartime action sequences are intelligently filmed, it's not likely to gain much more of a reputation on home video. Under a shaggy Muslim beard, Anthony Quinn stars as Omar Mukhtar, the Arab hero and guerrilla fighter who defended Libya against Benito Mussolini and Italy's attempted conquests during World War II. As straightforward biography, the movie's got an admirable epic sweep, but a cliché-ridden script and uniformly bad performances (from a cast that includes John Gielgud, Oliver Reed and Rod Steiger) make this little more than a curiosity for those wanting to learn more about Libyan history. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com