Drama

• Stardust Memories | Blu Ray | (12/12/2016) from £22.52   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  "Doesn't he know he's got the greatest gift anyone can have, the gift of laughter?" Woody Allen stars as filmmaker Sandy Bates, who, like John Sullivan in Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels, no longer wants to make comedies. As studio executives threaten to wrest control of his latest film, he reluctantly attends a weekend film-culture festival in his honour, where he is besieged by journalists ("I'm doing a piece on the shallow indifference of celebrities"), groupies ("I drove all the way from Bridgeport to make it with you"), and persistent oddballs ("Can I talk to you about my idea I have for a movie? It's a comedy based on the whole Guyana mass suicide"). After the exhilarating Manhattan, Stardust Memories was a dramatic departure that threw critics and fans for an outraged loop. But out of all of Allen's films, it is perhaps the one most ripe for rediscovery. It poses the same dilemma Stephen King would later tackle in Misery: What happens when a popular artist is held captive by an adoring audience that doesn't want him to change? The answer may come from an extraterrestrial, who in one of the many fantasy sequences advises the comedian, "You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes." The film is impeccably cast with Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, and Marie-Christine Barrault (of Cousin/Cousine) as the three women in Sandy's life. There are also choice bits by Sharon Stone as a fantasy woman on a train, Daniel Stern as an aspiring actor, Louise Lasser as Sandy's overwhelmed secretary, Laraine Newman as an unimpressed studio executive, and Tony Roberts as Tony Roberts. My own aunt, Victoria Zussin, utters the film's most famous line as the patron who tells Sandy she loves his movies, especially "your early funny ones." --Donald Liebenson

• Suzanne | DVD | (14/04/2014) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spanning 25 years Suzanne is the story of destiny. Following Suzanne (Sara Forestier - Perfume: The Story of Murder) from her childhood through to her adult life we discover life as she does through family the ties that bind them keep them together and the love she pursues... to the point of leaving everything behind.

• Yasmin | DVD | (14/02/2005) from £14.11   |  Saving you £4.87 (43.79%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Yasmin (Archie Panjabi) is a spirited woman whose life in the North of England has become a precarious balancing act as she attempts both to please her traditional Pakistani family and enjoy the freedoms of Western life. Having rebelled against her family as a teenager Yasmin yields to the demands of her widowed father and agrees to marry a cousin 'from home'. The omens are not good when the goat-herder from Pakistani village meets the vivacious Westernised Yasmin. After the shocki

• Taming Andrew | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £6.97   |  Saving you £-1.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  When her abducted son finally returns home after 5 years Gail Carlson feels as if her prayers have been answered. However her nightmare is far from over when she is confronted with the emotional and mental trauma her son has endured.

• The Falklands Play | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Falklands Play tells the story of how the British Conservative Government led my Maggie Thatcher dealt with the country's biggest international crisis since the Suez incident.

• The Birth Of A Nation | DVD | (02/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on a play called 'The Clansman' this film was billed as 'the first feature film' and caused riots on its release because of its racist overtones. The film follows a family through the American Civil war. Includes 'The Making Of...' Silent. Tinted Version.

• Maeve Binchy: The Lilac Bus | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £13.93   |  Saving you £6.05 (55.30%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Drama based on the novel by Maeve Binchy which recounts the lives of five people catching the Lilac Bus.

• A Film With Me In It | DVD | (10/10/2011) from £10.98   |  Saving you £2.01 (15.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Starring stand-up comedian Dylan Moran of Blackbooks fame. A darkly comic tale about a dissolute scriptwriter and a dejected actor who become unwittingly drawn into a labyrinthine mess when several people experience bizarre accidental deaths in their flat. Fearing that they will be unfairly pegged as murderers they attempt to escape their predicament by re-writing the day's events as if it were a film. As the body count mounts they pitch ideas back and forth desperately searching for a way out. Stars Dylan Moran Mark Doherty Amy Huberman and Keith Allen.

• 8 minutes idle | DVD | (02/06/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £20.99

  Adapted from the award-winning novel by Matt Thorne and featuring an exciting ensemble of rising British talent 8 Minutes Idle is a darkly funny romantic comedy set in and around a dysfunctional Bristol call centre. Dan (Tom Hughes) has always taken the path of least resistance - at work at home even in his love life. But when he's kicked out of the family home he's faced with no option but to start secretly bedding down in the call centre where he works. Suddenly everything that he's previously taken for granted - hot showers clean clothes friends even his beloved cat - is either disappearing or conspiring against him. As Dan's work/life balance spirals hilariously out of control he finds himself fending off the attentions of his predatory boss (Montserrat Lombard) and being increasingly drawn to co-worker Teri (Ophelia Lovibond). But Teri is leading her own double life. One that will challenge Dan to do something he's never had to before - Care about someone other than himself!

• Le Bossu | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £29.19   |  Saving you £-9.20 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  French leading man Dainel Auteuil duels like a master in this swashbuckling adventure with swordfights treachery revenge and murder.

• He Was A Quiet Man | DVD | (26/05/2008) from £3.93   |  Saving you £12.06 (306.87%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A troubled loner and intent on killing his colleagues and himself Bob Maconel is easy to dislike. As he plans to put a revolver to his head and the heads of those around him he drops the bullet. While on the floor searching for it someone else in despair of life with the same plan beats him to it. As he emerges a hero he discovers the one colleague he actually liked was severely wounded. Through her company can he discover pleasure in life or is he destined to live a life of despair?

• Shower | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The award winning Chinese tale of a succesful businessman man who returns home to visit his father and brother who still live in and run a traditional bathhouse.

• Pulp | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Mickey King (Caine) is a writer of cheap paperback detective novels living in Rome churning out one noir book after another. When is offered an abnormally large sum to ghost write the autobiography of a mystery celebrity the intrigued author agrees and is transported to a remote island. The subject is none other than Preston Gilbert (Rooney) a one-time movie star known for playing gangsters notoriously hanging out with real-life mobsters off the set. Now dying of cancer Gilbert

• Byron | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The young poet Lord Byron had everything. He was beautiful aristocratic talented - and sexually irresistable. By his mid-twenties he was the most famous man in England - the world's first celebrity. Women flung themmselves at him. Men wanted to be like him. He lived for sensation and sexual excess indulging his darkest cravings and scandalising the nation until he could only be satiated by a passionate affair with his own half-sister. Too late he discovered that even a celebrity can go too far... Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting) stars as Byron in this erotic and compelling new BBC drama which co-stars Vanessa Redgrave (The Gathering Storm) Natasha Little (This Life) Julie Cox (The Scarelet Pimpernel) and Camilla Power as Lady Caroline Lamb.

• Pulp | DVD | (18/12/2017) from £9.29   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A year after they'd created one of the defining British gangster pictures with Get Carter, three Michaels writer-director Mike Hodges, producer Michael Klinger and star Michael Caine reunited for another crime picture, albeit with a more oddball flavour Caine plays Mickey King, a successful pulp novelist responsible for such titles as My Gun Is Long and The Organ Grinder, who is invited to ghost-write the autobiography of a mystery celebrity. His client turns out to be a former actor, played by Mickey Rooney, well-known for his gangster roles and real-life gangster connections but death is around the corner, and King finds his commission to be a lot more complicated than he first imagined. A favourite of J.B. Ballard, Pulp has long existed in the shadow of its predecessor. Tonally, it could not be more different Get Carter never had the time for sight gags and one-liners but it's a real gem in its own right and fully deserving of a wider audience. This brand-new restoration from Arrow Films aims to right than wrong. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements, supervised and approved by director of photography Ousama Rawi, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release Standard Definition DVD presentation Original 1.0 mono sound Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Brand-new interview with writer-director Mike Hodges Brand-new interview with director of photography Ousama Rawi Brand-new interview with assistant director John Glen Brand-new interview with Tony Klinger, son of producer Michael Klinger Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh

• Stone | Blu Ray | (28/03/2011) from £6.75   |  Saving you £13.24 (196.15%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Academy Award winner Robert De Niro and Oscar nominee Edward Norton deliver powerful performances as a seasoned corrections official and a scheming inmate whose lives become dangerously intertwined in Stone. As parole officer Jack Mabry (De Niro) counts the days toward a quiet retirement he is asked to review the case of Gerald Stone Creeson (Norton) in prison for covering up the murder of his grandparents with a fire. Now eligible for early release Stone needs to convince Jack he has reformed but his attempts to influence the older man's decision have profound and unexpected effects on them both. Also starring Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element) and Golden Globe winner Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under). Directed by John Curran (The Painted Veil We Don't Live Here Anymore) and written by Angus McLachlan (Junebug).

• Involuntary | DVD | (28/02/2011) from £12.13   |  Saving you £0.86 (7.09%)   |  RRP £12.99

  It's summer in Sweden... A primary school teacher decides to teach her colleagues a lesson they'll never forget. Teenage girls are indulging in a webcam tease and seducing strangers. University students are taking male bonding to a new level. And as day turns to night a coach driver decides enough is enough and won't drive his passengers any further. Showered with International awards and praised by critics the world over Involuntary is a dazzling and highly original comedy from the new enfant terrible of Scandinavian cinema Ruben stlund.

• Rough Crossings | DVD | (30/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's the Revolutionary War in 1776. You are an enslaved African in America. The British ask you to fight your American slave masters and gain your freedom. What do you do? This is one of the questions that intrigued historian Simon Schama about this incredible adventure story set against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in Anglo American history. Combining Schama's trademark compelling storytelling with reconstruction and dramatisation Rough Crossings challenges many of the preconceived notions of this period as it tells the story of the thousands of African-American slaves who decided their future freedom did not lie with the claims of liberty made by the American patriots but with the British and their King. Rough Crossings is the true drama of escape from cruel slave plantations through the fires of the war to the dream of freedom in bone-chilling Nova Scotia and sweltering Sierra Leone. It is the story of a turbulent historical moment with a cast of memorable characters such as Englishman John Clarkson a passionate advocate of the great moral crusade of his age - the abolition of slavery - and two remarkable African men Thomas Peters and David George who escaped slavery and hardship to join Clarkson on an epic journey in search of their freedom.

• Barabbas | Blu Ray | (08/07/2022) from £36.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  An epic account of the thief Barabbas, who was spared crucifixion when the Jews chose Christ in his place. Struggling with his spirituality, Barabbas goes through many ordeals leading him to the gladiator arena, where he tries to win his freedom and confront his inner demons.A 1961 religious epic film, directed by Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage) and starring Anthony Quinn as Barabbas, Silvana Mangano, Jack Palance & Ernest Borgnine.Product Features1080P High definition presentationTheatrical TrailerLimited Edition slipcase on the first 1500 copies with unique artwork.More features TBC

• Les Amants Du Pont-Neuf | DVD | (30/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Les Amants du Pont Neuf is a film that once more shows us Paris as a city of romance, but from a very different viewpoint than we might expect. The young lovers this time around are Alex and Michelle, two of the many homeless people sleeping rough on the streets of the capital. Their particular abode is the bridge of the title, the oldest such structure in the city, which they share with the older, wiser Hans. Gradually drawn together, they look for and find love in what is a particularly loveless and harsh environment. Director Leos Carax created a film that combined great beauty with an almost nightmarish reality, particularly in a gruesome opening image of a homeless hostel which seems to have a documentary feel to it. Juliette Binoche and Dennis Lavant are superb as the lovers, drawing us in to their world of joy, despair and anger. Ultimately, Les Amants du Pont Neuf manages to pull off that rare feat of being both visually stunning and emotionally engaging. On the DVD: Paris may have been filmed countless times before and since, but rarely has its beauty been so captured as here. With the action taking place mainly at night or twilight, the colours are rich and vivid or ghostly pale; both extremes are beautifully captured on this format. Resplendent with many stunning set pieces (noteably the fireworks that light up the city), this is one of the most visually sumptuous films of recent years. Carax, too, makes great use of silence, allowing the sounds of the city to reflect the mood of his characters. Extras are sadly virtually non-existent beyond the usual scene selection and biographies, but the film's style demands that it be seen on the only format to do it justice. --Phil Udell