Week of 26 October 2009
Alan Bennett at the BBC **** (4 discs - A Visit from Miss Prothero; Sunset Across the Bay; A Day Out; A Woman of No Importance; Our Winnie; An Englishman Abroad; Dinner at Noon; The Insurance Man; 102 Blvd Haussman; A Question of Attribution; Portrait or Bust. Stars James Fox, Alan Bates, Prunella Scales, Jim Broadbent, Janet McTeer, Trevor Peacock, Daniel Day Lewis; £29.99; UK cert 12) Bringing together a selection of previously uncollected television programmes by Alan Bennett, broadcast on the BBC between 1972 and 1994, this collection is full of gems. From A Day Out, Bennett’s first play for television, (and one of the last ever in black and white), to 1994’s highly personal documentary about Leeds City Art Gallery, taking in Cambridge spies, Proust, and Daniel Day Lewis as Kafka along the way, there’s 20 years of classic wry, dry Bennett here. The collection is stuffed with star turns (of the subtle, spot-on performance variety rather than flashy splashes) and there’s quality directing too from the likes of Richard Eyre, Stephen Frears and John Schlesinger. Includes brief introductions from the northern soul himself, that offer both interesting insights and amusing anecdotes. This collection would delight the serious Bennett fan, and provides a fascinating selection of easily overlooked top TV programmes for the uninitiated. No extras — Holly Williams
Coming of Age: Series 1 * (Stars Anabel Barnston, Tony Bignell, Hannah Job, Ceri Phillips, Joe Tracini; £15.99; UK cert 18) From the same writer behind Two Parts of Lager and a Packet of Crisps comes a cringe-worthy sitcom about a group of annoying sixth form students from Abingdon. Each episode devotes the whole script to crude sexual references a-la The Inbetweeners, however falls embarrassingly short of funny despite the canned laughter. Without the rude language, sex and potty humour, Coming of age would be better suited on Cbeebies. The characters are difficult to warm to and although hapless DK (Joe Tracini) shows flashes of mildly funny (if not uncomfortable) moments, this sitcom is one I wouldn’t bother watching again. Extras: Pilot and behind the scenes footage. — Pia Webley
Also Out (But Not Reviewed)
• Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)
• Dances With Wolves (Blu-ray)
• Clive Barker's Book Of Blood
• True Blood: Season 1
• Monsters vs Aliens
• Bones: Season 4
• ABBA In Japan
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Week of 19 October 2009
Halloween Hi-Def Horror Pack **** Three great films get the Blu-ray treatment from Warner Bros in time for Halloween. First up is the Joe Dante classic Gremlins (Stars Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain, Judge Reinhold, Dick Miller, Corey Feldman, Chuck Jones, Steven Spielberg; £17.99; UK cert 15) Dante's live-action cartoon is, to my mind, one of the all time great Christmas films. It's also one of the best comedies of the 1980s. The plot (in case you're one of the 3 people in the world that have never seen it!) involves inept inventor Randall Peltzer brings a strange creature home as a Christmas gift for son Billy. The ultra-cute Mogwai, named Gizmo, comes with three rules: don't expose him to bright light, don't get him wet, and don't feed him after midnight. Of course, Gizmo gets wet - and multiplies - but things get much worse after the new Mogwai trick Billy into feeding them in the middle of the night ... and turn into wicked Gremlins that soon overrun the town. This great new hi-def transfer of the film includes a host of extras, including two audio commentaries from director Dante and cast members; a six-minute making of featurette from 1984; 10 minutes of deleted scenes and additional footage, including an extended opening; a photo gallery; and three trailers. Next we have the original slasher classic Friday the 13th (Stars Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Robbi Morgan; £17.99; UK cert 18) Camp Crystal Lake (aka Camp Blood) has been closed for more than 20 years after a string of vicious and unsolved murders. The camp's new owner and seven young counselors are readying the property for re-opening despite warnings of a from local residents. But the warnings prove true - on Friday the 13th, one by one each of the counselors is stalked by a violent killer. Low budget and full of corny dialogue and so-so acting, it's the film that iontroduced the unstoppable killer Jason Voorhees to the world. Oh, and Kevin Bacon, too. The decent array of extras includes an audio commentary from writer/director Sean Cunningham, a making-of featurette, a cast reunion, an interview with Cunningham, two other featurettes (Friday the 13th Chronicles and Secrets Galore Behind The Gore), deleted scenes and trailers. Finally there's 2002's Ghost Ship (Stars Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades, Steve Beck, Karl Urban; £17.99; UK cert 18) Ocean liner Antonia Graza disappears while on a cruise in 1962. In the present day, a salvage crew comes across the derelict ship in the Bering Sea. Seeking, riches, they get more than they bargained for when the discover what happened to the original passengers and crew. It's pretty cheesy, unscary but gross – so if that floats your boat, then Ghost Ship will fit the bill. The extras include four behind-the-scenes features (Max On Set, Visual Effects, A Closer Look at the Gore, and Designing the Ghost Ship), a music video from the band Mudvayne, for the song Hot Falling, a puzzle game, and trailers. — Stuart O'Connor
Sexy Killer (Not reviewed; £12.99; UK cert 18) A hip fashionista at a trendy design school takes the concept of 'fashion victim' soaring to bloody new heights as she embarks on a brutal killing spree, all the while flying comfortably beneath the radar of the clueless homicide detectives frantically searching for clues in all the wrong places. When a collection of corpses are unearthed at the Med School on a large university campus, the authorities scramble to land a lead before the case goes cold. No one suspects design school trendsetter Barbara could be the homicidal maniac behind these vicious slayings, but what better way to rid the world of bad dressers than kill them slowly and bury them in shallow graves?
Also Out (But Not Reviewed)
• Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
• Monty Python: 40th Anniversary Collection
• JAG: The Complete Sixth Season
• Subway (Blu-ray)
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Week of 12 October 2009
Zombie Transfusion * (Stars Garrett Jones, Juliet Reeves, William Howard Bowman, Rowan Bousaid, Ashley Elizabeth Pierce, Kendra Farner, Joel Hebner; £12.99; UK cert 18) "How is reanimating dead corpses that feed on human beings saving lives?" Don't be fooled by the high production values of this film's DVD sleeve, this zombie chomp romp is about as low-fi as they come. It seems anyone with a few wannabe actor mates, a video camera, a family sized bottle of ketchup and a good deal at the local butcher shop thinks they can make a zombie movie at the moment, such are the undead creatures popularity with the horror fraternity right now, but any consideration towards plot or building tension is forsaken for cheap scares and buckets of gore. At least Zombie Transfusion, elsewhere known as Automaton Transfusion (which sounds like an android going in for its annual service), doesn't disappoint on the blood and guts front, it's just that it is so amateurishly produced (from the turgid acting to the 'go from point A to point B to point C' plot) that it produces howls of laughter rather than screams of terror. For those who still intend to see, the plot (what there is of it) sees a group of high school kids fleeing from zombies and getting eaten in a variety of ridiculous ways. Extras: The trailer, which features all the film's gory bits and will save you from wasting 74 minutes of your life. — Todd Hunter
Also Out (But Not Reviewed)
• Eddie Murphy: Delirious (25th Anniversary Edition)
• At Last Smith and Jones: Volume 1
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Love Actually (Blu-ray)
• Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray)
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Week of 5 October 2009
Time Bandits **** (Stars Craig Warnock, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Mike Edmonds, Jack Purvis, Tiny Ross, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, David Warner; £19.99; UK cert PG) A young lad named Kevin (Warnock) gets caught up in the adventures of a bunch of time-travelling midgets who have stolen God's map of the universe. They travel through time stealing treasure wherever they can, and getting up to all sorts of midget mischief. It's got an amazing cast - John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Ian Holm, Palin, Warner - who pop up in what amounts to little more than a series of cameos. The real stars of former Python Terry Gilliam's second solo feature film as director are the team of midgets, plus the terrific Warnock as Kevin. Ultimately, the film is a story of good versus evil, as the gang are pursued by both the Supreme Being (aka God) and his opposite number, known here as Evil Genius (but we all know he's really Satan). Time Bandits is one of Gilliam's finest solo efforts. It's got a consistent plot and storyline, plenty of laughs, is as visually mind-boggling as all Gilliam's films and it doesn't all fall into a horrible mess in the final half hour. Extras: An 18-minute interview with Gilliam, a gallery of behind-the-scenes stills, and the trailer. — Stuart O'Connor
Hamlet 2 * (Stars Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Joseph Julian Soria, Skylar Astin, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Poehler, Phoebe Strole, Melonie Diaz; £15.99; UK cert 15) A terrible missfire by Coogan in his bid to gain a toehold on the Hollywod totem pole (where Ricky Gervais seems to have the prime position for expat British actors). It was screened for film critics last year, but failed to get a theatrical release, and I can see why. Coogan plays an untalented actor working as a high school drama teacher in Tuscon, Arizona. He specialises in putting on plays based on big Hollywood films, and that he's written himself. They're all exceedingly awful (as is this film). When the drama department is threatened with closure, he decides to stage an original piece he's been working on - Hamlet 2, a sequel to the Shakespeare classic. The play (like this film) is terrible, unfunny and offensive. What a complete clunker Hamlet 2 is - the normally reliable and very funny Coogan seems stifled here, and he can't even stick to the one accent. This is one to avoid at all costs. Extras: An audio commentary with co-writer/director Andrew Fleming and co-writer Pam Brady; deleted scenes; a making-of featurette; a comparison of the Erin Brokovich scene with the real film; a "singalong" with two of the musical numbers.— Stuart O'Connor
Surviving Evil ** (Stars Billy Zane, Christina Cole, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Colin Moss, Louise Barnes; £12.99; UK cert 18) A group of documentary film-makers producing a TV survival special in the Philippines run into hellish trouble when they encounter a pack of shape-shifting vampire creatures in this jungle horror, turning their would-be wilderness adventure into a rather unpleasant holiday from hell. A British and South African co-production, this film boasts an entertaining first hour, sagging dialogue aside, with some great performances from the strong cast, especially Billy Zane as you might expect, but this picture really falls out of place in the final 25 minutes, which is a shame as that is pretty much when anything actually horror-orientated gets screen time. Part of the final act makes me wonder if they couldn't afford Zane for another few days, you'll see what I mean. Surviving Evil shows off some great practical creature effects (awesome suits) and limited use of CGI, which is always a good thing in a monster movie. It's sad that this appears to have been rushed at the last minute, otherwise it would have been an impressive little movie. No extras— Adam Stephen Kelly
Also Out (But Not Reviewed)
• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Uncut Edition (Blu-ray)
• American Virgin Uncut (Blu-ray)
• House: Season 5
• Chuck: Season 2
• Autopsy