Christmas is peak TV time. As the evenings draw in and there’s loads of time to catch up on the year’s offerings we’re here to help you pick out the very best entertainment in the very best quality.
So, if you’re looking for a bargain for your Christmas shopping – check out this list…
You can find great deals on a range of Blu-rays™, 4Ks and DVDs and more right here until Wednesday the 3rd of December.
Better Call Saul Season 6 Blu-ray
The TV works of Vince Gilligan are up there with the very best the twenty-first century has to offer. The most majestic pillars in the VinceVerse are Breaking Bad (and its sequel film, El Camino) and the follow-up prequel/sequel Better Call Saul – both incredible series, with a cinematic style and characters Shakespearean in their complexity.
This release brings to an end the saga of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, with each episode an essential piece of the puzzle. The final chapter is a high point, a pitch perfect culmination of everything that has come before. It is your reward for sticking with the series all this time. A genuinely perfect finale. Also – Rhea Seehorn (currently leading Gilligan’s latest – Pluribus) is the MVP. Accept no substitutes.
Sisu 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
If you want a gloriously over the top and never less-than-satisfying action film this festive season you can do no better than Jalmari Helander’s gore-soaked Nazi cull Sisu. It’s a film perfect for those late nights by the fire, when nothing vengeance against fascism will do.
The film has won plaudits on the festival circuit and has found a welcome home with action movie buffs, so much so that as this article goes to print the aptly-titled sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge is released. Love Christmas and hate Nazis? This is the film for you.
Venom: The Last Dance 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
“A highly entertaining film, offering a satisfying blend of thrills, humour, and emotion[…]It leans fully into what makes Venom unique: a wild, chaotic energy that refuses to play by the rules. I loved it – it’s a real crowd-pleaser.” Not my words, but the words of our esteemed Linda Marric in her review of Venom: The Last Dance.
Tom Hardy’s superanti-hero trilogy comes to a close with Kelly Marcel’s film, and Hardy’s excellent work as the blackened soul caught in turmoil is given new life with a great cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans and Stephen Graham. It’s over the top and always exciting.
Kraven the Hunter 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
More rugged comic-book shenanigans for the Yuletide – this time Nowhere Boy Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets another origin story featuring a turbulent relationship with his father. Again, vengeance and brutality reign, but what director J. C. Chandor does with his cast (our lead stars alongside Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and the legendary Russell Crowe) is to create an anti-hero whose sympathetic troubles endears us to the revenge and reconciliation on offer.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Perfectly timed to coast the wave of excitement for David Fincher’s Tarantino-scripted follow up, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a Tarantino classic. Margot Robbie fits perfectly into the world of Tarantino with style and charm to spare, while the double leads of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are a one-two punch of wit, wistfulness and cool.
The film is a sprawling epic, a warts-and-all love letter to a bygone era. Pitt is the jewel in the crown here, and walks and talks the Tarantinoese with such effortless cool it’s just as well he’s leading the new film, The Adventures of Cliff Booth.
Here’s the man himself talking to us on the red carpet at the film’s UK Premiere.
Spider Man: Across the Spider Verse 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Ok – now we’re talking. This film starts off with a sequence so exciting and demanding of your attention that this writer wasn’t sure if it would be able to sustain it. And oh man – was I wrong. From the pulsating beats of the introduction to the nuanced character dynamics driving the film to the chaotic collision of graphic styles – this film grabs you and runs through a multiverse of mayhem and never puts a foot wrong.
If you thinking you’ve seen it all, or have the weight of superhero fatigue on your shoulders, this film will smash your expectations and leave you breathless in its wake. A near perfect film, it also has my favourite line reading of the entire year when Spider-Punk reacts to a panicked call of ‘You’re not helping…’ with a perfectly delivered, deadpan ‘Good.’ Sublime.
Gen V Season 1 Blu-ray
These next two picks run perfectly together. The first season of The Boys spin-off Gen V gives us a look into the wider world of Homelander and friends. Focusing on a group of students with superpowers, this teen-focused sister series has all the over the top Boys-esque fun set in a University with secrets of its own.
Season 1 was a huge success, and a follow-up season greenlit almost instantly. The subversive nature of the shows translates perfectly to the next generation, while expanding on the themes so beloved from the original Boys.
Once you’ve done with this season you can move right along to…
The Boys Season 4 Blu-ray
This is one superhero show that doesn’t (ever) keep its feet on the ground. The comic books by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson have added a satirical swipe to the usual superhero fare seen on the big and small screens. Season 4 continues the trials and tribulations of The Seven and assorted supers with a focus on the White House and saving the world in the bloodiest, boldest way possible. The Boys (and Gen V) show no signs of slowing…
Justified City Primeval Season 1 Blu-ray
If your seasonal celebrations have taken their toll and you want to escape into a world of neo-Western crime drama then the return of Timothy Olyphant in the role of Raylan Givens is just the ticket.
Back in the world of Elmore Leonard, Olyphant reprises his role to great effect in this new show, with Kentucky in the rear-view mirror Givens is tasked with tracking down a lovely chap who goes by the name of The Oklahoma Wildman (a savage Boyd Holbrook leaning into his dark side once again). You’ll be gripped as you search for the last non-coconut flavoured Quality Street.
Outlander Season 7 Blu-ray
Finally, if neon-soaked crime drama isn’t your bag, why not try sweeping romance?
Outlander fans (Outfanders?) have kept the faith through seven seasons of swoon-worthy time-travel, and Season 7 is the show’s penultimate outing so there’s a genuine momentum and worthy miles to go before journey’s end.
Diana Gabaldon’s novels have been very well served by the series, and we’ve spoken to Caitríona Balfe many times over the years and fans have yearned to find out what fate has in store for Claire and Sam Heughan’s Jamie Fraser.
Here’s our chat with Sophie Skelton & Richard Rankin on Outlander Season 7, the destiny of Brianna & Roger & looking ahead to the final season.
All of these and more can be found below, and with an ever-dwindling number of days before Christmas, this is the time to get your bargains bought.
You can find great deals on a range of Blu-rays™, 4Ks and DVDs including SISU, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Spider Man: Across the Spider-Verse and more until Wednesday 3rd December.
