Also out on DVD ... December 2008

Week of 29 December 2008

Cass *** (Stars Nonso Anozie, Gavin Brocker, Peter Wight, Linda Bassett, Leo Gregory, Natalie Press, Paul Kaye, Tamer Hassan; £17.99; UK cert 18) Football violence meets candid autobiography, in this life story of renowned terrace hardman Cass Pennant. It’s traditional rights of passage stuff, as Cass (Anozie), a black kid adopted by white working class parents, grows up suffering racist insults and abuse. He eventually finds a sense of belonging and comradeship amid the fists of West Ham United’s notorious hooligan mob, the Inter City Firm (ICF), but he faces a dilemma over whether to change when he falls for Elaine (Press). Well acted, with convincing violent clashes as football firms battle each other, Cass, is a neat and tidy little tale. However, its lack of budget betrays a few telltale shortcuts, making DVD the natural place to enjoy this bruising encounter rather than the widescreen splendour of the multiplex. Extras: behind-the-scenes features, Cass Pennant in His Own Words,  the trailer, TV spots, and a short film called It’s a Casual Life. — Robert Hull

Rab C Nesbitt: The 2008 Return of ** (Stars Gregor Fisher, Elaine C Smith, Tony Roper, Barbara Rafferty, Andrew Fairlie, Brian Pettifer, Gary Lewis, Julie Austin; £12.99; UK cert 15) This extended-Christmas-special brings back a comedy character (and Scottish institution) not seen on TV for 10 years. Gregor Fisher’s "turn" as the ranting Nesbitt, a modern-day Don Quixote, tilting at what he considers wrong with the world, has proved incredibly popular but can it endure the comeback treatment? The answer is a qualified "yes", as the show has managed to reunite its key cast and its original writer, Ian Pattison. Plot was never the series’ strong point, and here again Rab's conversion to being a new man, his love of cooking and his non-drinking, are merely hooks to hang new rants and tirades on. While it’s not an embarrassing return there does feel to be little real point to the endeavour. A fact confirmed on the extras, where the producer describes how they had to shoot the show in one week – the only time they could get the cast together at the same time. Extras: 30-minute making of featuring interviews with all the key actors and production staff, as well as Rab C Nesbitt writer Ian Pattison. — Robert Hull

Ben X ***½ (Stars Greg Timmermans, Laura Verlinden, Marijke Pinoy, Pol Goossen, Titus De Voogdt, Maarten Claeyssens, Tania Van der Sanden, Jakob Beks, Peter De Graef; £15.99; UK cert 15) Autism. Not the most funfilled subject for a movie, but it has been done quite a few times. The most well-known example, of course, is Rain Man, with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, but there have been others – I Am Sam, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Little Man Tate and Forest Gump. Now you can add to that list Ben X. Teenager Ben (Timmermans) suffers from Asperger's syndrome, which makes it hard for him to communicate with people. So while on the outside he seems to be your average, angsty Emo teen, Ben struggles simply to cope with day-to-day life. What makes it worse is that he's bullied at school, often quite savagely. What helps Ben to cope is his retreat into the world of the online roleplaying game ArchLord. And it's within that game that he has his one and only friend — another player, who goes by the name of Scarlite ((Verlinden). But when Scarlite decides she wants to meet Ben in real life, he knows his life is about to change. Ben X is an audacious debut from writer/director Balthazar. Said to be based on a true story, it began life as a book, then a play and now it's being remade (agin by Balthazar) for Hollywood. More an examination of bullying in school than of autism, it's an emotional rollercoaster ride that leaves the viewer quite drained. Extras: The theatrical trailer, plus the PC game Archlord. — Stuart O'Connor
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Week of 22 December 2008

Wallander **** (Kenneth Branagh, Sarah Smart, Tom Beard, Tom Hiddleston, Richard McCabe, Sadie Shimmin, Jeany Spark, David Warner;  £29.99; UK cert 15) The British like their detectives to be dour, miserable sods don’t   they! Morse, Taggart, Dalziel and Pascoe, Frost… even the bloke from  Midsomer Murders is a shade on the grumpy side; so it’s no surprise that the journey of Henning Mankell’s Wallander from novel to screen has been greeted by critical praise and solid viewing-figures. Kenneth Branagh is superb as the shabby, socially inept Swedish detective across these three 90-minute episodes but even more awards should be heaped on cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, who creates wondrous shimmering tapestries out of the Swedish landscape, rich in colour and detail and just begging to be gawped at. The pace of each drama is slow but builds intelligently and though there isn’t anything particularly different in terms of story or plot, the end result is perfectly satisfying every time. Extras: Good value package that includes a lengthy documentary, Who is Kurt Wallander?, that features an interview with author Henning Mankell, plus The Wallander Look describes how the show achieves its signature style. Also includes a featurette and Branagh and Mankell interview chat. — Robert Hull

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter *** (Stars Dermot Mulroney, Emily Watson, Gretchen Moll, Jamie Spilchuk, Krysal Hope Nausbaum; £19.99; UK cert PG) Based on a novel by Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter has   made-for-TV written all over it – that’s because it was originally made for American television, early in 2008. However, don’t be fooled by the small-screen nature of this Emmy nominated family drama, for all its budgetary concessions and episodic nature (you can see where all the ad breaks go) it’s still well-made and well-acted entertainment. A brilliant, successful doctor (Mulroney) pretends that one of his twins died in childbirth when he discovers it has Down’s syndrome. A nurse (Watson) is asked to take to the child to an orphanage but can’t bear to leave the baby - and decides to bring it up herself. Neither the doctor or his wife ever come to terms with his secret or her grief. Eventually the truth comes out. Extras: Just some trailers. — Robert Hull

The Children *** (Stars Kevin Whately, Lesley Sharp, Geraldine Somerville and Ian Puleston-Davies; £19.99; UK cert 15) Kicking off proceedings with the discovery of a dead eight-year-old girl could be seen as a cheap trick to keep us watching, but The Children is far from your average whodunit. With a tagline "When adults play, the children suffer", the painful truth of the statement becomes evident as we follow the devastating emotional and physical damage done to two children, Emily and Jack – played brilliantly by Sinead Michael and Freddie Boath – as their parents move on from their messy divorces and into each others' beds. The action is punctuated by flash-forwards to Emily's murder in the garden, and the resulting fractured feel is an effective metaphor for the children's plight as victims of the pass-the-parcel politics of parents blind to their responsibilities. If all that sounds a little depressing, it is – but surprisingly compelling nonetheless. No extras — Miriam Brent

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Week of 15 December 2008

Cirque Du Soleil: Corteo ** (Blu-ray; £19.99; UK cert PG) In an old Simpsons episode, the world’s favourite yellow family go to see the Cirque du Puree, a pretentious French Canadian circus that doesn’t believe in animal exploitation or refunds. As mickey-takes of the Cirque du Soleil go, it was pretty spot on as their insistence on endless hippy drippy music and linking their admittedly dazzling circus skills with nonsensical, whimsical stories has long been their weak spot. Sadly, as well shot as Corteo is, by removing the scale of the live spectacle, the things that spring to the fore in this Blu-Ray adaptation are the naff music and the annoying story: in this instance, it’s something about a clown on his death bed and angels and assorted other bollocks. When they focus on the performers though, there are some jaw-dropping moments. Extras: *** The Blu-Ray is padded out with a stack of decent documentaries, such as Through The Curtain (45 mins, following  the set-up of the show), A Day In The Life of Corteo Artists and Filming Corteo, a behind-the-scenes look at how they made this particular record of the show. — Neil Davey
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Week of 8 December 2008

So this is Christmas. And what have you done? If it’s not Christmas shopping – which, let’s face it, it probably isn’t — and you’ve got stocking fillers to find, Neil Davey says there’s some help around in the form of this season’s comedy DVDs…

Tim Minchin: So Fucking Rock ***** I was introduced to the joys of Australian comic Minchin this year and, ever since, have championed him as the best possible replacement for Bill Bailey on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Like Bailey, Minchin is a musician and comedian. Unlike Bailey, he’s less esoteric and much darker: think Doug Anthony Allstars with better lyrics. However, as well as occasionally pushing the boundaries in terms of taste, he’s got a childlike sense of glee and a keen observational eye, that he’s then capable of turning into a song. More than that, he occasionally puts the more extreme humour aside and delivers lyrics that could make Neil Finn jealous. He is, frankly, a genius. Extras: None, but with over two hours of stellar stand-up and songs, this is still a damn near essential purchase.

Lee Evans: Big Live At The O2 ** Lee Evans. Big arenas. Big arenas. Lee Evans. Nope, however you say it, it doesn’t sound any more appealing. Evans’ humour derives from his manic intensity and physicality which gets lost in the big venue. It doesn’t work that well on TV these days either and as for his observations, they’re typically sweary over-generalisations and the painfully obvious: five minutes on how much pigeons crap anyone? Nah. Didn’t think so. Extras: * Making It Big — a  whopping 13-minute documentary on the tour.

Michael McIntyre: Live & Laughing ***** On the face of it, chubby, middle-classed Londoner Michael McIntyre shouldn’t be as funny as he is. His humour is rooted in the social mores and the sort of obvious subjects – domestic life, driving, hotel stays, the difference between the sexes – that fuelled every frilly-shirt wearing comic of the 70s. The difference? He’s tear-inducingly funny. Hugely good natured, sharp as a knife and, in ‘Man Drawer’ perhaps the funniest 10 minutes of stand-up I’ve heard this century. That alone is worth the price of admission, while his take on the skill set needed to replace Carol Vorderman – ‘they’re basically looking for an autistic shelfstacker’ – is just one small bit of the icing on an already great cake. Best of all, even with the occasional rude word, he’s so smiley and gentle, you could still give this to your mum. Extras: His Live At The Apollo BBC special. You may have seen it before but that means one disc, two-and-a-bit hours of McIntyre. Brilliant.

The Armstrong & Miller Show **** With the inexplicable success of Little Britain, both in domestic and American formats, and a distinct tailing off in quality for season two of That Mitchell & Webb look, the kings of quality sketch comedy at the moment are, undoubtedly, Armstrong & Miller. Season One of their mostly high-quality now hits DVD and, happily, it bears up to the second viewing. Is it slightly smug and ‘North London’ compared to the lowest-common-denominator Little Britain? Possibly. But at least it has varied punchlines, more interesting characters and a classically British sense of the absurd. Extras: * Rather disappointingly, just some interviews.

Sean Lock: Sean Lock Live **** Best known now for Eight Out of Ten Cats, Sean Lock has been one of the UK’s most consistent stand-ups for years. Remarkably, after 15 years or so on the circuit, this is his first DVD. Worth the wait? Just about. Dry, witty and gently surreal, it’s easy to see why he’s regarded as the comic’s comic. Extras: **** A video diary of the tour and, like the McIntyre,  the whole of Lock’s Live At The Apollo performance.

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Week of 1 December 2008

Dr Dolittle 4: Tail to the Chief * (Stars Kyla Pratt, Peter Coyote, Malcolm Stewart, Niall Matter, Elise Gatien, Norm MacDonald, Jennifer Coolidge, Richard Kind, Greg Ellis; UK cert PG) A third sequel to the so-so Eddie Murphy remake of the 1967 Rex Harrison original. And as you'd expect, Eddie Murphy himself is nowhere in sight. But that doesn't help to make this dog of a film any funnier. Pratt plays college student Maya Dolittle, who has inherited her father's ability to talk to animals. When the pet dog of the US president (Coyote) begins misbehaving, he calls in Maya to help. Cheaply made, badly acted and written by a chimp with a crayon, Tail to the Chief has absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever. Oh yes, actually, it does have just the one redeeming feature ... with a DVD, you can switch it off. And smash the disc with a hammer. If you really, really hate your kids, buy them this for Christmas. Extras: four behind-the-scenes featurettes. — Stuart O'Connor

Bad Santa (Blu-ray) **** (Stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Lauren Tom, Bernie Mac, John Ritter; £17.99; UK cert 15) Sadly, ths is not the "Badder Santa" uncut version that's been around in Region 1 for some time. Nevertheless, it's still a fine film - rude, crude and utterly hilarious. It's produced by the Coen Brothers, who came up with the initial idea, but director Terry Zwigoff brings a unique touch to this tale of a cynical, misanthropic alcoholic thief who gets a job as a department store Santa each Christmas  so he and his pint-sized partner (Cox) can rob the place from the inside. A woman with a Santa fetish and a strange, withdrawn little fat kid do their utmost to redeem our foul-mouthed "hero". But do they succeed? Bad Santa is, like many black comedies (such as the Coens' Fargo or Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave) and acquired taste, and a film that's hated by many. But I love my humour dark and dirty, and Bad Santa is one of my favourite festive films, thanks to sharp performances all around and an ending that is not quite what you'd expect. Extras: Featurette, deleted scenes, a gag reel and some trailers.. — Stuart O'Connor