DVD Review - June 8

By Damon Smith

New to rent on DVD/Blu-ray

Wreck-It Ralph (Cert PG, 97 mins, Disney DVD, Animation/Comedy/Action, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £21.99/3D Blu-ray £25.99)

Featuring the voices of: John C Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Jack McBrayer.

Wreck-It Ralph (voiced John C Reilly) is the bad guy in a game called Fix-It Felix Jr, which has stood the test of time in an arcade. However, after years of destruction, Ralph yearns to be the hero for once. So Ralph abandons Felix (Jack McBrayer) and the other residents of his computerised world for a futuristic first-person shooting game called Hero's Duty, serving under the command of ballsy space trooper Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch). Ralph escapes the game and unwittingly transports an alien Cy-Bug from Hero's Duty into the neighbouring Sugar Rush racing game. While the creature lays eggs and prepares to overrun the realm of King Candy (Alan Tudyk) and his subjects, Ralph befriends diminutive misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) and helps the sassy tyke to beat her rivals to the chequered flag in her modified go-kart. Wreck-It Ralph is a feel-great computer-animated rollercoaster that leaves us unabashedly grinning from ear to ear, using a fictitious coin-operated arcade game as the backdrop to the pixellated characters' uplifting journey of self-discovery. Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee's script balances uproarious laughter with tears without shamelessly manipulating our emotions. Kids will squeal with glee at the turbo-charged action sequences; grown men, meanwhile, will shed silent tears into their popcorn as the film gently shifts through the emotional gears. Candy-coloured visuals burst with colour and detail, and the 3D version, available exclusively on Blu-ray, makes excellent use of the eye-popping format in stomach-churning action sequences that careen up and down undulating race tracks at dizzying speed.

Rating: ****

Flight (Cert 15, 108 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, Drama/Action/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99)

Starring: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, John Goodman, Tamara Tunie, Nadine Velazquez, Brian Geraghty, Melissa Leo.

Following a night of excessive boozing, Captain William "Whip" Whitaker (Denzel Washington) takes charge of a SouthJet flight to Atlanta alongside co-pilot Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty). En route, the airplane suddenly hurtles towards the ground at terrifying speed. Whip is forced to perform a daredevil manoeuvre to halt the rapid descent before crash-landing in a field. A subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, led by Ellen Block (Melissa Leo), threatens to expose Whip's alcoholism. Union rep Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) and attorney Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle) promise to help Whip survive the fallout on the proviso that he changes his self-destructive ways. Whip agrees to exorcise his demons, supported by a recovering heroine addict called Nicole (Kelly Reilly). Underpinned by John Gatins's intelligent script, Flight is a provocative drama that refuses to cast judgment on the central character as he repeats past mistakes and attempts to dodge the repercussions of his reckless actions. Oscar nominee Washington is riveting as a man in authority who can barely function without liquor. He lays bare Whip's insecurities and doesn't resort once to currying our sympathy. Reilly impresses in a pivotal supporting role and John Goodman injects humour as the supplier who knows the perfect cocktail of narcotics to counteract a hangover. Director Robert Zemeckis orchestrates the jaw-dropping centrepiece crash sequence with brio, but he is equally interested in quieter moments when the characters face their demons.

Rating: ****

I Give It a Year (Cert 15, 93 mins, Studio Canal, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Jane Asher, Olivia Colman.

Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) enjoy a whirlwind romance and look forward to getting to know each other better as husband and wife. A toe-curling speech from best man Danny (Stephen Merchant) at the wedding is the first bad omen and nine months later, the couple agree to counselling sessions with a sardonic therapist (Olivia Colman). A depressed Josh seeks refuge in the company of kooky old flame Chloe (Anna Faris), who has been abroad for years and clearly still adores him. Meanwhile, corporate high-flier Nat is wooed by charming American businessman Guy (Simon Baker). I Give It A Year is a bittersweet anti-rom com, which deviates from a well-trodden narrative path by quickly declaring its intention to split up the central married couple in order to pair them off with more suitable soulmates. The gamble that we'll whoop and cheer all the way to the divorce courts doesn't quite pay off because writer-director Dan Mazer tempers heartbreak with sentimentality, contriving a final flourish slathered in so much syrupy emotion, you can feel the teeth rotting in your head as the end credits roll. Spall and Byrne are likeable and the film makes a compelling case for Nat and Josh to find happiness in the arms of Guy and Chloe instead. However, when cinematic hearts can be broken and then seemingly mended in the blink of an eye, it's difficult to muster empathy for the characters or place any value in their new and supposedly healthier relationships.

Rating: ***

Bullet to the Head (Cert 15, 87 mins, Entertainment One, Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Jason Momoa, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Sarah Shahi, Jon Seda.

Tattooed hitman Jimmy Bobo (Sylvester Stallone) and his partner Louis Blanchard (Jon Seda) kill a corrupt ex-cop as instructed. They celebrate in a New Orleans bar where hulking assassin Keegan (Jason Momoa) stabs Louis and badly injures Jimmy in a furious bathroom brawl. Hungry for revenge, Jimmy tracks down people in the criminal food chain who could have betrayed him and Louis. All paths seem to lead to a powerful property developer, Robert Nkomo Borel (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). Meanwhile, strait-laced detective Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang), who is out of his Washington DC jurisdiction, arrives in New Orleans to apprehend Jimmy. The two men are forced to work together when Jimmy's daughter Lisa (Sarah Shahi) is abducted by Keegan and held hostage. Based on the graphic novel Du Plomb Dans La Tete, Bullet To The Head is testosterone-fuelled tosh peppered with bone-crunching action sequences that allow Stallone to play to his strengths: flex his muscles and growl without a flicker of emotion. The explosions and splatter promised by the title are disappointingly thin on the ground, leaving us wanting far more than either director Walter Hill or screenwriter Alessandro Camon can deliver. Bruising fights almost get our adrenaline pumping but the narrative is flimsy and the characters are poorly sketched, so there is no compelling reason to invest emotion in Stallone's tortured hero as he embarks on his suicidal crusade. Kang enjoys a few fist fights, while Christian Slater savours a cameo as a sleazy middleman. A couple of one-liners elicit a wry smile but most of the dialogue falls flat.

Rating: **

Also released

Apartment 1303 (Cert 15, 85 mins, Koch Media, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/3D Blu-ray £24.99 - see below)

Smashed (Cert 15, 77 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £17.99 - see below)

New to buy on DVD/Blu-ray

Breaking Bad - The Fifth Season, Part 1 (Cert 15, 359 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £24.99/Blu-ray £29.99)

In the final series of the Emmy award-winning drama, high school chemistry teacher Walt (Bryan Cranston) and ex-student Jesse (Aaron Paul) are pushed to the brink of self-destruction as their crystal meth empire threatens to crumble to its foundations. Walt's ruthlessness and carelessness bring him ever closer to arrest by his DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank (Dean Norris). Meanwhile, Jesse plans his escape from the business in the aftermath of a bungled train heist. The three-disc set includes the episodes Live Free Or Die, Madrigal, Hazard Pay, Fifty-One, Dead Freight, Buyout, Say My Name and Gliding Over All.

Dexter - The Seventh Season (Cert 18, 588 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, DVD £34.99/Blu-ray £49.99, Thriller/Drama)

The murderous truth about blood spatter expert Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall) is finally out in the seventh series of the award-winning drama. Following on from the cliffhanger at the end of last series, Dexter's ballsy sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), who works as a police detective, witnesses him kill Travis Marshall and then helps Dexter to cover his tracks by setting fire to the crime scene. She eventually learns that he is a serial killer and Dexter moves in with his sister so she can protect him. Meanwhile, Louis Greene (Josh Cooke) begins his campaign of terror against Dexter and the team begins to investigate deadly poisoner Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski), whose heinous actions are too much for Debra to bear and she asks Dexter to kill Hannah in the name of justice. The four-disc box set includes all 12 nerve-racking episodes.

Top Gear: The Great African Adventure (Cert 12, 115 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £14.99, Special Interest)

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May embark on their latest madcap mission - to locate the source of the mighty Nile in three estate cars. With typical bravado and dry wit, the three presenters set off in the intense African heat, encountering ferocious wildlife and thick mud that threatens to suck the tyres straight off their barely roadworthy vehicles.

Smashed (Cert 15, 77 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £17.99, Drama/Romance)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead has been garnering rave reviews and award nominations for her portrayal of a recovering alcoholic in James Ponsoldt's heartfelt drama. Schoolteacher Kate Hannah (Winstead) and her husband Charlie (Aaron Paul) both enjoy a drink but booze rules their lives and it is the glue keeping their marriage together. After a drinking binge that almost ends in professional suicide, Kate decides that she needs to quit the liquor and agrees to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with the school's vice principal, Mr Davies (Nick Offerman), who has been sober for nine years. At the meetings, Kate befriends her sponsor, Jenny (Octavia Spencer), and makes good on her promise to turn her life around. However, Charlie and her mother (Mary Kay Place), who both drink to excess, threaten to wreck Kate's good work and plunge her back into the pits of booze-fuelled despair.

Case Histories - Series 2 (Cert 15, 264 mins, ITV Studios Home Entertainment, DVD £19.99, Drama/Thriller)

In the second series of the BBC crime drama adapted from the novels by Kate Atkinson, grizzled private detective Jackson Brodie (Jason Isaacs) continues his investigative work in Edinburgh while dealing with troubles in his personal life. One job, to locate a woman's missing parents, feeds into a wider case of police corruption dating back to the 1970s. Guest stars include James Cosmo, Gary Lewis, Maurice Roeves and Victoria Wood.

Veep - The Complete First Season (Cert 15, 224 mins, Warner Home Video/HBO, DVD £24.99/Blu-ray £29.99, Comedy)

In the spin-off from the award-winning British political comedy The Thick Of It, created by Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell, Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) goes about her daily business in office, displaying a staggering lack of knowledge about global affairs. With her personal life in freefall, Selina relies heavily on Chief of Staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky) and her personal assistant Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) to ensure she is properly briefed for every emergency, big or small. The two-disc set includes the episodes Fundraiser, Frozen Yoghurt, Catherine, Chung, Nicknames, Baseball, Full Disclosure and Tears.

Doctor Who - The Mind of Evil (Cert U, 146 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99, Sci-Fi/Drama)

The Time Lord comes face to face with his most deadly enemy in this six-part adventure, which was originally broadcast in spring 1971. The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and his plucky companion Jo (Katy Manning) travel to Stangmoor Prison, where authorities are trialling a new scheme to curb criminality by removing evil from the minds of the inmates. The time travellers discover that the genius behind this scheme is none other than arch-nemesis the Master (Roger Delgado), and his mind machine actually contains a rapidly evolving alien parasite which confronts victims with their greatest fears.

For Ellen (Cert 15, 89 mins, Soda Pictures, DVD £15.99, Drama)

Paul Dano, Jon Heder and Jena Malone headline writer-director So Young Kim's low-budget feature about a musician faced with the prospect of losing his young daughter. Joby Taylor (Paul Dano) is a physical and emotional wreck. His rock band is on the verge of collapse and he must attend a meeting to sign an out-of-court divorce settlement with his estranged wife, Claire (Margarita Levieva). Sadness turns to disbelief when Joby learns that his legal counsel (Jon Heder) has failed to secure him any access rights to his six-year-old daughter, Ellen (Shaylena Mandigo). By signing the settlement agreement, he will forfeit any custody of the child. In order to make sense of the impending separation, Joby asks to spend a day with Ellen to discover if she needs him in her life.

Waterloo Road - Series 8, Spring Term (Cert 12, 500 mins, Acorn Media, DVD £25.99, Drama/Romance)

Head Teacher Michael Byrne (Alec Newman) continues to preside over the failing comprehensive school but professional woes pale next to accusations that he assisted in the death of his father. New teachers including Audrey McFall (Georgie Glen) and Christine Mulgrew (Laurie Brett), who is an alcoholic, help and hinder Michael in his quest to turn the school around. Meanwhile, glamorous single mother Carol Barry (Zoe Lucker) and her three children - Barry (Carl Au), Dynasty (Abby Mavers) and Kacey (Brogan Ellis) - arrive with a bang and cause endless headaches for the beleaguered staff and pupils.

Apartment 1303 (Cert 15, 85 mins, Koch Media, DVD £15.99/3D Blu-ray £24.99, Horror/Thriller)

Desperate to escape her domineering mother (Rebecca De Mornay), Janet Slate (Julianne Michelle) moves into a high-rise apartment in Detroit, where the previous tenants suffered an unfortunate fate. Ignoring the warnings of her new neighbours, Janet settles into her new place with a wonderful sense of freedom but she soon bears witness to a series of chilling events that lead to her taking a tumble from her balcony. The police rule Janet's demise as a suicide but her sister Lara (Mischa Barton) is not convinced and she moves into the apartment to understand what pushed Janet over the edge. The 3D version of the film is available exclusively on Blu-ray.

Deranged (Cert 15, 98 mins, 4Digital Media, DVD £15.99, Horror/Thriller)

Neil Jones directs this horror film about four friends on a hen party who will be lucky survive a weekend away under the Spanish sun. A bride-to-be and her three pals head to an isolated Spanish country house to celebrate a final weekend of freedom before walking down the aisle. The host is attacked and then a murderous maniac begins to target the women, luring them to a grisly demise. The bride and her friends must discover the killer's identity and find a way to repel the attacks.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Part 2 (Cert 15, 81 mins, Warner Home Video, DVD £11.99/Blu-ray £14.99, Animation/Action)

In the concluding part of the animated adventures of the caped crusader, Batman (voiced by Peter Weller) and teenage sidekick Carrie Kelley (Ariel Winter) struggle to protect the inhabitants of Gotham City from the diabolical Joker (Michael Emerson). Matters are vastly complicated by new commissioner Ellen Yindel (Maria Canals-Barrera), who disapproves of Batman's heavy-handed methods and joins the US government's calls for Superman (Mark Valley) to bring down the cowled hero.

DVD retail top 10

1 (1) Les Miserables

2 (3) Django Unchained

3 (-) Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred

4 (2) Quartet

5 (8) Broadchurch

6 (4) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

7 (-) Star Trek Into Darkness

8 (-) Fast & Furious 1-5 Box Set

9 (-) True Blood - Season 5

10 (6) The Impossible

Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk

DVD rental top 10

1 (1) Argo

2 (2) The Impossible

3 (3) Jack Reacher

4 (4) Quartet

5 (5) Alex Cross

6 (6) Seven Psychopaths

7 (7) Silver Linings Playbook

8 (8) Skyfall

9 (9) Taken 2

10 (10) Anna Karenina

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com

Film streaming top 10

1 (2) Bad Teacher

2 (1) Despicable Me

3 (6) Just Go with It

4 (-) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

5 (4) The Ugly Duckling and Me

6 (7) Rampage

7 (8) Matilda

8 (-) Paul

9 (9) Faster

10 (-) A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com

:: Please note: Here are the latest charts from Amazon and LOVEFiLM. The DVD DVD Reviews column was transmitted on Friday, May 24