Drama

• Mister Johnson | DVD | (02/12/2013) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Working for the British in Colonial Africa a young Nigerian starts to delude himself that he is really an Englishman - and finds himself despised by blacks and whites alike. Bruce Beresford's triumphant adaptation of the famous Joyce Cary novel stars Pierce Brosnan Edward Woodward and Maynard Eziashi.

• Danny Boyle Collection - Sunshine/The Beach/28 Days Later | DVD | (08/10/2007) from £25.63   |  Saving you £4.36 (17.01%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Sunshine (2007): Fifty years from now the sun is dying and mankind is dying with it. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage out of radio contact with Earth their mission is starting to unravel. There is an accident a fatal mistake and a distress beacon from a spaceship that disappeared seven years earlier. Soon the crew is fighting not only for their lives but their sanity. The Beach (2000): Richard (DiCaprio) a young American backpacker is willing to risk his life for just one thing: that mind-blowing rush you can only get from braving the ultimate adventure. But on a secret deceptively perfect beach Richard will discover that ""heaven on earth"" can instantly change into a jungle of seduction and danger. 28 Days Later (2002): In this film from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland a powerful virus is unleashed on the British public following a raid on a primate research facility by animal rights activists. Transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating within seconds the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. Within 28 days the country is overwhelmed and a handful of survivors begin their attempts to salvage a future little realising that the deadly virus is not the only thing that threatens them...

• Captain January | DVD | (20/02/2006) from £9.95   |  Saving you £3.04 (30.55%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A lighthouse keeper finds a little girl who is washed ashore tied to some wreckage. He adopts her and they become inseparable. Eventually her real family finds her and tries to take her away.... Often considered as Shirley Temple's finest film with sterling support from a talented cast making this a firm family favourite!

• Mills And Boon - Diamond Girl | DVD | (01/02/2010) from £12.93   |  Saving you £-4.94 (-61.80%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Claire Barnard is an attractive if somewhat dowdy paralegal who works for playboy lawyer Denny Montana at his San Francisco practice. Her loyalty and dedication are largely taken for granted by Denny who is quite happy to have her take care of the everyday running of the practice since this affords him the time for more pleasurable pursuits. Denny is of course completely oblivious to the fact that Claire harbours romantic feelings for him.

• Jane Doe | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  She's mysterious she's exciting and she's turning his life upside down. Straight from the mean streets of New York the waif-like Jane (Calista Flockhart - TV's Ally McBeal) works her way into the life and heart of a cynical young writer. The spark that ignites between them sends them on a drug fuelled rollercoaster ride through the underbelly of New York City and Atlantic City. Jane's inner demons begin to haunt their relationship. The ride gets wilder until the stakes are lif

• Finding Neverland / Chocolat | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An amazing double-bill for lovers of all-things Depp! Finding Neverland (Dir. Marc Foster 2004): Unlock your imagination... Finding Neverland is a tale of magic and fantasy inspired by the life of Peter Pan author James Barrie. Set in London 1904 the film is a fictional account of Barrie's creative struggle to bring Peter Pan to life from his first inspiration up until the play's premiere - a night that will change not only Barrie's own life but the

• Moonlight Sonata | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-8.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  In this romantic tale Paderewski the famed pianist and two other plane crash survivors are guests of a Swedish baroness. Interwoven throughout this gentle and charming story are exquisite piano solos performed superbly by the elderly pianist Paderewski.

• Inside Man/Clockers | DVD | (26/12/2006) from £9.89   |  Saving you £3.10 (31.34%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Clockers (Dir. Spike Lee 1995): When there's murder on the streets everyone is a suspect. A gritty realistic adaptation of Richard Price's best-selling novel director Spike Lee examines the violent world of urban drug dealing through the eyes of Strike (Mekhi Phifer) a 19-year-old ""clocker "" short for round-the-clock pusher. Strike agrees to kill a fellow employee of his boss Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo) an influential popular drug lord. But when the hit goes down it is Strike's moral law-abiding brother Victor (Isaiah Washington) who confesses shocking everyone. The detective assigned to the case Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) doesn't believe Victor - the more that Klein along with others in Strike's life start putting the heat on the more the clocker finds himself up against the wall. The question is: Who is the real killer? Shot on location in New York City and Mexico. 'Clockers' was originally supposed to be directed by Martin Scorsese with Robert DeNiro in the role of Rocco Klein. The pair decided to film 'Casino' instead and Lee stepped in - Scorsese remained a producer. Inside Man (Dir. Spike Lee 2006): It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you can't judge a crime by its cover. Acclaimed actors Denzel Washington Clive Owen and Jodie Foster come together to explore the lure of power the ugliness of greed and the mystery of a perfect robbery in a combustible new crime drama from Spike Lee. The hardbitten but unorthodox Detective Fraiser (Washington) pits his wits against a high-class bank robber Dalton Russell (Owen) following the robbery of a Manhattan bank. As the chase unfolds political corruption and hidden agendas threaten to destabilise an already volatile situation.

• A Soldier's Story | DVD | (17/08/2009) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charles Fuller adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play for the big screen in 1984. The film version, A Soldier's Story is essentially a murder mystery, played out against a background of inter and intra-racial conflict at a Second World War training camp. To the consternation of his white opposite number at the camp, a black captain (Howard W Rollins) arrives to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar). Suspicion immediately falls on a pair of bigoted white officers but as the tale unfolds in a series of flashbacks, it soon becomes clear that a different kind of prejudice is also at work. Assisted by some excellent performances, director Norman Jewison opens the story out from its stage roots. There's a wonderful baseball scene (filmed on location at Little Rock) in which the double standards of Dennis Lipscomb's fidgety white captain are exposed with neat irony; he'll cheer his successful black team all the way home in the name of sport. His gradual, forced liberalisation provides the film with an important comic element. A Soldier's Story wears its heart on its sleeve without being superficial in any way. It's a compelling tale, well told and often highly entertaining, in which nobody gets off lightly, least of all the good guy. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation helps give an epic feel to what could, in other hands, have been a claustrophobic production. The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music--an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary--is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. --Piers Ford

• The Mind Snatchers | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Christopher 'Barking Mad' Walken in his first leading role. In this his first leading role Christopher Walken plays a misfit G.I. who finds himself as a guinea pig in a bizarre brain research experiment. A compelling tale of mind-numbing drugs boisterous soldiers and a sinister German scientist. Hailed as One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest meets A Clockwork Orange The Mind Snatchers is adapted from the Broadway play The Happiness Cage and features a very young Walken showing his early talent for spontaneous menace giving a chilling performance as Private James Reese who has his mental stability stolen from him. It seems that Walken never really got it back as he went on to build an illustrious film career playing killers gangsters and plain barking mad psychos. Reese is a constant offender sociopathic bordering on schizophrenic. His wild behaviour means he has inadvertently caught the attention of the army shrinks who have sinister plans for him. A German scientist Dr. Frederick (Joss Ackland) is working on a way to pacify overly aggressive soldiers by developing implants that directly stimulate the pleasure centres of the brain. Reese is 'volunteered' by his superiors for the secret medical experiment and finds himself in a military hospital. There are two other patients only one of whom Sgt. Boford Miles (Ronny Cox) can speak. Reese's attempts to discover the nature of the experiment are unsuccessful - he knows that Miles and the other patient have fatal diseases and that the work has been sanctioned by The Major (Ralph Meeker) but when enlightenment finally comes Reese wishes he had been kept from the truth after all. In 1970 Walken had screentested for the Ryan O'Neil part in Love Story. They didn't think he was right for the part but things could have been so very different if they had. Following a brief appearance in The Anderson Tapes as Sean Connery's sidekick Walken's mesmerisingly dark performance in The Mind Snatchers in 1972 meant that he was never going to play the romantic lead and instead went on to become our favourite screen weirdo. Daring Brilliant - NEW YORK TIMES

• Lola And Bilidikid | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Kutlag Ataman's highly charged thriller takes us into the shadowy world of Berlin's Gay Turkish emigres, who live lives of double jeopardy - from extreme homophobia within their own ethnic culture and from lethal German xenophobes who may also be homophobes. The pivotal figure is 17 year old Murat, who is struggling with his own homosexuality when he meets the disowned, older gay brother he never knew he had, a popular female impersonator known as Lola.

• Little Annie Rooney | Blu Ray | (20/11/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Remote | Blu Ray | (11/02/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Comment J'ai Tue Mon Pere | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Cool, subtle psychological drama is a French speciality, and Anne Fontaine's Comment J'ai Tue Mon Pere ("How I Killed My Father") is an ultra-classy specimen of the genre. A study in the way emotional paralysis gets passed on from one generation to the next, it often recalls Philip Larkin's famous lines, "They fuck you up, your mum and dad; they may not mean to, but they do." Jean-Luc, a wealthy gerontologist to the ageing rich of Versailles (that's the town, rather than the ex-royal palace) gets a letter from Africa telling him his father's dead. Since his parent walked out on him and his brother when they were little, he's not too shattered by the news. But next thing he knows, the old boy has shown up and invited himself in for an indefinite stay. And under his blandly disruptive gaze, all the hidden faultlines in Jean-Luc's life--in his marriage, his relationships with his mistress and his failed-actor younger brother--start cracking wide open. Fontaine's film has points in common with Nanni Moretti's masterly The Son's Room, which also showed a professional man's seemingly flawless life crumbling under unforeseen family stresses. But befitting its Italian setting, that was a far warmer and less inhibited set-up. As Jean-Luc, Charles Berling's ice-blue eyes and chiselled good looks seem frozen in a mask of tight repression, and he's superbly matched by veteran actor Michel Bouquet as Maurice, his manipulative father. Both actors, and Stéphane Guillon as Jean-Luc's brother, are impeccably cast and it's easy to believe these three are closely related. The stiffly formal architecture of Versailles makes an ideal backdrop, and there's a quietly ominous score from British composer Jocelyn Pook, who also scored Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Ultimately Fontaine tantalisingly leaves us guessing whether Maurice really does return, or whether he's a ghost conjured! up from his son's guilt-ridden subconscious. On the DVD: How I Killed My Father on disc offers nothing but the theatrical trailer; a missed opportunity given that Fontaine, whose fifth feature this is, is little-known outside France. The transfer is full-screen; visual and sound quality is flawless. --Philip Kemp

• Brotherhood | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £1.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (703.52%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Adam Buckley finds himself in the middle of a convenience store robbery during his last night as a pledge for a college fraternity. When the initiation ritual goes horribly wrong and every move proves disastrous Adam is forced to confront a new challenge all together and he has to take a stand in one ther year's most nerve shredding thrillers.

• The Wolves Of Kromer | DVD | (10/02/2003) from £7.90   |  Saving you £5.09 (39.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In a small British town Seth and Gabriel are gay in love and werewolves. While their lunar lycanthropic secret remains hidden the townspeople begin to sense that these two young men are very different in many ways indeed...

• Double Platinum | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A soapy backstage melodrama originally produced for network broadcast, Double Platinum downplays showbiz verisimilitude to turn on the tears. With 60s soul queen Diana Ross and 90s pop princess Brandy sharing production credit as well as billing, this formulaic tearjerker focuses on its stars' dramatic chops more than their musical prowess, a choice that won't deter their respective audiences, even as it disappoints less partisan music fans who might have hoped for a stronger musical component.Olivia King (Ross) is the former St. Louis housewife who abandoned her family for pop stardom, only to return 18 years later determined to meet, and reconcile with, her daughter, Kayla (Brandy), now nurturing her own footlight fantasies. But when the prodigal mom finally does reveal herself to the bright, feisty teen, Kayla is outraged and then hard-boiled. Olivia's offer to help the undeniably talented girl make industry contacts is accepted, with the bitter caveat that the superstar should abandon any hopes of a true maternal bond with her embittered daughter. The usually imperious Olivia meekly accepts those terms, while the secretly yearning Kayla keeps up her tough-cookie cover, but the plot telegraphs its ultimate destination, even as the tears flow.Both stars acquit themselves well in the story's stormier clashes, and the emotional tug of the story is well engineered to soak hankies. Less credulous viewers will be hampered by the original songs--when Ross steps on-stage, her regal demeanour and flashy (if occasionally silly) gowns support her supposed status as a legend, but the utterly forgettable, generic songs she mouths deflate that image. That said, viewers less interested in the actual music than the glitzy idea of the two characters may well be content to wallow in the waterworks of a story that could as easily have been titled Divas: The Next Generation. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

• Cracker - One Day A Lemming Will Fly | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £5.01 (100.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A fourteen year old boy is found hanging in the local woods. The pathologist's report finds that he was strangled left face down and then strung up. Fitz is brought in to comfort the grieving family and the victim's character is revealed - it appears Tim was a loner and gay. His death has a profound effect on his English teacher Mr Cassidy who makes two unsuccessful suicide attempts. Suspicious of Cassidy's motives and apparent guilt he is brought in for questioning. His relationship with Tim proves to be more than just teacher-pupil and his own sexuality is brought into question. As the investigation proceeds the local community turns lynch mob and Fitz has the terrible burden of trying to find the truth amongst all the madness.

• Jean-Luc Godard DVD Collection - Vol. 2 | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Includes the classic Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) Godard films 'Pierrot Le Fou' Made In USA and Prenom Carmen. Pierrot Le Fou: Described as the film where Godard tried everything and almost pulled it off 'Pierrot Le Fou' is his deconstruction of the American crime thriller. Ferdinand escapes Bourgeious society with the babysitter Marianne in tow... When a dead body is found in Marianne's apartment the two lovers head for the South of France to escape being caught up in gangster activities. On an island on the C''te d'Azur Ferdinand is content to read and write poetry but Marianne's impatience gets the better of her and she disappears to join her brother a notorious gun runner. Another dead body is found then armed gangsters arrive on the scene to menace Ferdinand.... Made In USA: A journalist Paula Nelson arrives in Atlantic City France to look for her missing ex-boyfriend Richard Politzer. Her enquiries soon reveal that he is dead murdered by an unknown assassin. Suspecting that Richard may have been the victim of a political intrigue Paula allies herself with gun-toting gangsters and shady police agents to try to uncover the truth.... Prenom Carmen: During a failed bank raid a terrorist named Carmen is seduced by a security guard Joseph. To escape arrest Carmen appears to submit to her obsessed lover and the two take refuge in a seaside apartment. However Carmen remains committed to her terrorist activities and plans a kidnapping whilst pretending to film a documentary for her uncle once a great film director. How will Joseph react to Carmen's apparent indifference to their relationship?

• Arcadia | DVD | (12/08/2013) from £5.49   |  Saving you £10.50 (65.70%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Sundance regular John Hawkes an Oscar nominee for Winter's Bone stars in this road movie about a father trying to get his confused kids across the country to California while protecting them from the truth about their mother.