DVD Review - August 31

By Damon Smith

New to rent on DVD/Blu-ray

DVD of the week

Olympus Has Fallen (Cert 15, 119 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Finley Jacobsen, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Phil Austin, Dylan McDermott, Melissa Leo, Rick Yune, Keong Sim.

Following a tragedy on his watch, grizzled Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is reassigned to a desk job at the Treasury Department. It's a far cry from his former detail, guarding US President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and son Connor (Finley Jacobsen). During a high-profile visit by the prime minister of South Korea (Keong Sim), terrorists storm the most iconic building in Washington, DC and take Asher hostage in a nuclear-proof bunker with Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin) and Secretary of Defence Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo). Without a second thought for his own safety, Mike races to the scene, determined to protect the president and atone for past mistakes. Meanwhile, Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the Speaker of the House, assumes temporary command, flanked by Secret Service head honcho Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) and highly decorated US Army General Edward Clegg (Robert Forster). Olympus Has Fallen is an exhilarating, testosterone-fuelled thriller cast in the mould of Die Hard In The White House. Overblown action sequences, realised with inconsistent digital trickery, guarantee a healthy three-figure body count in the opening hour alone. Common sense and plausibility are strangers to Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt's script, with its heavy-handed set-up of one brave man against the odds. Butler grimaces, growls and flexes his sweat-drenched pecs while spitting out an occasional potty-mouthed one-liner. Freeman lends gravitas to his underwritten role and Eckhart, Leo and co defy the captors to bang the drum for unabashed American patriotism.

Rating: ***

Released

All Stars (Cert U, 106 mins, Entertainment One, Family/Comedy/Drama, also available to buy DVD/Blu-ray £15.99)

Starring: Theo Stevenson, Akai Osei-Mansfield, Ashley Jensen, Fleur Houdijk, Dominic Herman-Day, Amelia Clarkson, Gamal Toseafa, Mark Heap, Ashley Walters, Javine Hylton.

Gina (Ashley Jensen) runs a ramshackle youth centre called The Garage, which is under threat from an evil developer (Mark Heap). Resourceful tykes Ethan (Theo Stevenson) and Jaden (Akai Osei-Mansfield) vow to save The Garage from destruction by organising a talent show. As the centrepiece, the lads challenge a local street dance crew to a battle against their own newly formed troupe including tomboy Amy (Fleur Houdijk), well-to-do siblings Tim (Dominic Herman-Day) and Rebecca (Amelia Clarkson), and exuberant Brian (Gamal Toseafa), who fears he won't learn the moves in time. The show must remain secret because Jaden has been forbidden from dancing by his parents Mark (Ashley Walters) and Kelly (Javine Hylton). Ultimately, the boy must choose between disappointing his folks and letting down his pals. Forged in the same creative fire as StreetDance and its sequel, All Stars is a resolutely feel-good family comedy about standing up for what you believe in. Stevenson and Osei-Mansfield are a likeable double-act and Heap camps it up as the pantomime villain of the piece. Some of the supporting performances are a tad wooden and the climactic showdown lacks the pizzazz of other dance films. However, choreographers Blue Boy Entertainment really excel in the visually stunning dream sequences, creating imaginative moves inside a Space Invaders video game and for a battle between Jaden and three samurai warriors made of paper. Screenwriter Paul Gerstenberger follows a well-worn template and it's clear the high-kicking upstarts will keep the bulldozers from the door. Predictability doesn't harm Ben Gregor's film though - we still enjoy it as inoffensive, upbeat wish-fulfilment.

Rating: ***

Also released

The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Cert 15, 96 mins, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Horror/Thriller, also available to by DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 - see below)

Get Lucky (Cert 15, 86 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99 - see below)

A Hijacking (Cert 15, 103 mins, Spirit Entertainment, Thriller, also available to buy DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £19.99 - see below)

I'm So Excited (Cert 15, 90 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £27.99 - see below)

Rebellion (Cert 15, 135 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Thriller, also available to buy DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £21.99 - see below)

New to buy on DVD/Blu-ray

The Vampire Diaries - The Complete Fourth Season (Cert 15, 934 mins, Warner Home Video, DVD £29.99/Seasons One To Four DVD Box Set £49.99/Blu-ray £39.99/Seasons One To Four Blu-ray Box Set £59.99, Drama/Romance/Horror)

Five-disc set of 23 episodes of the popular teen drama based on the books by LJ Smith. This series, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) help Elena (Nina Dobrev) come to terms with her transition into a vampire and the bloodlust she must sate to stay alive. One of the siblings reveals his desire to become human again and as the trio searches for a cure to vampirism, a diabolical new villain, Silas, emerges from the shadows and sends one of the brothers to a watery grave. Meanwhile Elena musters her courage to face Katherine. A 20-disc box set comprising series one to four is also available.

Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors (Cert PG, 150 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99, Sci-Fi/Drama/Thriller)

Originally broadcast in winter 1967, this six-part adventure includes two episodes, which are missing from the BBC archives and have been recreated using animation. The timelord (Patrick Troughton) and his trusty companions Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) arrive on Earth in the middle of a second Ice Age. The Doctor and co meet scientists at the Brittanicus Base, where a body has been found perfectly preserved in the ice. Once flawed, the body turns out to be a reptilian creature called an Ice Warrior, which intends to wake other creatures from icy slumber and conquer the planet.

I'm So Excited (Cert 15, 90 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £27.99, Comedy/Romance)

Oscar-winning writer-director Pedro Almodovar returns to broad comedy for the first time since Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown with this colourful and saucy confection set almost entirely on an airplane. Leon (Antonio Banderas), a member of airport ground staff, is distracted by his beautiful wife Jessica (Penelope Cruz), who works in the baggage handling department, and accidentally damages the landing gear of a Peninsula Airlines flight heading to Mexico. The airplane takes off and develops mechanical failures, seemingly condemning passengers and crew to a grim fate. While an air of chemically induced calm settles over economy class, three gay stewards attending to first class - Fajardo (Carlos Areces), Joserra (Javier Camara) and Ulloa (Raul Arevalo) - attempt to buoy spirits of their passengers with heady cocktails and lip-synced dance routines to The Pointer Sisters. On board, psychic Bruna (Lola Duenas) uses her 'gift' to predict a crash-landing, bed-hopping actor Ricardo Galan (Guillermo Toledo) is gifted a chance at redemption with an old flame, and a honeymooning couple (Miguel Angel Silvestre, Laya Marti) decide that if this is to be their last flight, they should join the mile-high club as soon as physically possible.

Southcliffe (Cert 15, 208 mins, 4DVD, DVD £19.99, Drama/Thriller)

Rory Kinnear, Eddie Marsan, Shirley Henderson and Sean Harris star in this gripping four-part Channel 4 drama written by Tony Grisoni, set in a fictional market town on the North Kent Marshes, which has been torn apart by a shocking act of violence. Stephen Morton (Harris) carries out a shooting spree in Southcliffe and surviving residents are left to pick up the pieces. TV reporter David Whitehead (Rory Kinnear), who grew up in Southcliffe, returns to his childhood home to make sense of the tragedy and to witness the locals wrestling with the past. The DVD includes the episodes Hollow Shore, Light Falls, Sorrow's Child and All Souls.

A Hijacking (Cert 15, 103 mins, Spirit Entertainment, DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Thriller)

The timely issue of piracy in international waters provides a dramatic spark for this Danish thriller, written and directed by Tobias Lindholm. Somali pirates seize control of a cargo ship and hold the crew hostage, hoping to secure a sizeable ransom from the ship's owners back in Copenhagen. Company CEO Peter C Ludvigsen (Soren Malling) decides that he doesn't need an experienced negotiator to cloud the issue and he leads the discussions with the pirates, hoping to secure a speedy release. However, it's not a simple business transaction and Peter quickly realises he has bitten off far more than he can chew. On board the ship, the crew including cook Mikkel Hartmann (Johan Philip Asbaek) are used as pawns in the power games between the pirates and the company. As the agreed deadline approaches, the threat of violence escalates and Mikkel struggles to maintain control of his whirling emotions.

Rebellion (Cert 15, 135 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £21.99, Thriller)

In 1988, indigenous Kanaks led by Alphonse Dianou (Iabe Lapacas) storm into a police station on Ouvea, one of the islands of New Caledonia, a French territory in the Pacific Ocean. They kill four men and take the remaining police hostage, which sparks a bitter war of words back in Paris. Expert negotiator Capitaine Legorjus (Mathieu Kassovitz) and his team fly to the island to resolve the situation, arriving just as the two presidential candidates, Jacques Chirac and Francois Mitterand, throw their support behind military action to end the uprising, even if that means the loss of human life.

Blackfish (Cert E, 83 mins, Dogwoof Digital, DVD £14.99, Documentary)

Werner Herzog's acclaimed 2005 documentary Grizzly Man chronicled the life of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell, who was killed by one of the majestic creatures he adored and studied. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite's documentary Blackfish tells a similarly harrowing tale of man's relationship with nature, chronicling the true story of a performing killer whale called Tilikum, who killed several people while in captivity, including a trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Through emotional interviews and shocking footage, Cowperthwaite explores our treatment of these highly intelligent mammals at marine parks, the experiences of the men and women who work with killer whales, and the sadness of family and friends, who have lost loved ones in the course of their work.

Burton And Taylor (Cert 15, 81 mins, 2entertain, DVD £12.99, Drama/Romance)

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter portray two of Hollywood's most glittering stars in this BBC biopic set in 1982, six years after Richard Burton (West) and Elizabeth Taylor (Bonham Carter) divorced for the second time. The couple holds a press conference to announce they will be appearing together in a revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives. Old tensions resurface during rehearsals, creating friction on and off the stage, and as opening night beckons, art threatens to imitate emotionally raw life.

The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Cert 15, 96 mins, Anchor Bay Entertainment, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Horror/Thriller)

In February 1959, nine Russians hikers died in mysterious circumstances during an expedition into the Ural Mountains. Their tents were ripped to shreds and rescuers found the nine bodies at the mercy of the elements. In Renny Harlin's found footage horror, five student filmmakers (Gemma Atkinson, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright, Holly Goss, Ryan Hawley) from the University Of Oregon decide to conduct their own investigation into what might have happened more than 50 years ago. As the wannabe directors venture into treacherous terrain, they battle their own fears as well as the elements, unearthing myriad possible explanations that shed terrifying new light on the mystery.

In The Fog (Cert 12, 128 mins, New Wave Films, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Drama/War)

Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa revisits a shameful period in recent European history when Soviets collaborated with the Nazis during the wartime occupation, betraying friends and neighbours with the same cold detachment as the invading forces. Adapted from the novel by Vasil Bykov, In The Fog centres on railway worker Sushenya (Vladimir Svirskiy), who is mistakenly arrested with a group of saboteurs but spared the hangman's noose. Rumours circulate that Sushenya must be in cahoots with the Germans to have avoided his grim fate, so Burov (Vlad Abashin) and Voitek (Sergei Kolesov) kidnap Sushenya from his bed and march him into the forest, carrying the shovel that he will use to dig his own grave.

Beyond The Walls (Cert 15, 98 mins, Peccadillo Pictures, DVD £15.99, Drama/Romance)

Paulo (Matila Malliarakis) has a girlfriend and is pursuing his dream as a pianist in Brussels but he is struggling with his sexuality. One night, he meets Albanian barman Ilir (Guillaume Gouix) and is attracted to the older man. They spend the night together and when Paulo's girlfriend eventually dumps him, Ilir invites his lover to share his home. Then events spiral out of control, putting almost unbearable pressure on the relationship and Paulo must demonstrate how committed he is to Ilir.

Simon Killer (Cert 18, 101 mins, Eureka, DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Romance/Horror)

Writer-director Antonio Campos divided audiences at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival with this deeply unsettling portrait of a disturbed young man in crisis. Brady Corbet stars as college graduate Simon, whose future lies in tatters when he breaks up with Michelle, his girlfriend of five years. Simon seeks solace by travelling to Paris, where he drifts aimlessly around the French capital, enjoying films and exhibitions. However, his sense of isolation intensifies and when he meets a young prostitute called Victoria (Mati Diop) and falls under her spell, the true extent of his emotional wounds are revealed. We discover that Simon isn't a helpless victim after all and that his nervous smile and awkward manner belie twisted desires that make him not only a danger to himself but also to others, especially Victoria.

Get Lucky (Cert 15, 86 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99, Action/Thriller/Romance)

Sacha Bennett directs this fast-paced crime thriller about a young criminal, whose good fortune seems to be running out. Lucky (Luke Treadaway) and his brother Raphael (TJ Ramini) bungle a job and go on the run from fellow criminals Sebastian (Craig Fairbrass) and Kramer (Terry Stone). The only solution seems to be to pull off the heist of a casino owned by London crime boss Mr Zigic (James Cosmo) with the help of Zigic's duplicitous nephew, Niko (Marek Oravec). Complicating matters further, Lucky falls head over heels in love with Bridget (Emily Atack) and contemplates turning his back on crime to settle down with her.

Something In The Air (Cert 15, 122 mins, Artificial Eye, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Drama/Romance)

Written and directed by Olivier Assayas, Something In The Air is a rite of passage drama that unfolds in the aftermath of the May 1968 riots, which stirred revolutionary fervour in the hearts of France's youth. Gilles (Clement Metayer) is an aspiring painter, who passionately discusses the riots and their legacy with his friends. He intends to lend his voice to the movement sweeping across the country and shape a better future for the current and successive generations. A romance with girlfriend Laure (Carole Combes) ends when she dumps the teenager for an older man, so Gilles dates Christine (Lola Creton) instead. During a night of booze-fuelled vandalism, a security guard is accidentally caught in the crossfire and Gilles and Christine flee the scene. The teenagers head to Italy until the furore dies down and they become closely involved in the struggles of Italian workers.

Go Goa Gone (Cert 15, 108 mins, Eros International, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Horror/Action)

Bollywood ventures tentatively into the world of zombie horror with this action-packed comedy co-directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. Bunny (Anand Tiwari) embarks on a business trip to Goa and allows his sacker buddies, Hardik (Kunal Khemu) and Luv (Vir Das), to come along for the ride. Upon arrival, a beautiful girl called Luna (Puja Gupta) invites the travellers to a rave on a remote island organised by Indo-Russian kingpin Boris (Saif Ali Khan). Bunny, Hardik and Luv readily accept the invitation, looking forward to a night of excess. However, it quickly becomes clear that something is dreadfully wrong on the tropical idyll and when a zombie attacks the three friends, they become embroiled in a battle for survival against legions of the marauding undead.

Extraction (Cert 15, 82 mins, Signature Entertainment, DVD £14.99/Blu-ray £15.99, Sci-Fi/Thriller)

Nir Paniry directs this science fiction thriller set in the mind of a diabolical murderer. Tom Jacobs (Sasha Roiz) is the proud inventor of a revolutionary device that allows the user to enter someone else's head and access their memories. Unfortunately, funding is tight so when the Justice Department offers to introduce Tom to potential buyers, he readily agrees to a test run inside the mind of a convicted killer. A glitch in the technology traps Tom inside the targets subconscious and as he searches for a way out, the inventor accesses horrific memories, which reveal the truth about the murderer's crimes.

Outsourced - Season One (Cert 12, 471 mins, Fremantle Home Entertainment, DVD £24.99, Comedy/Romance)

Based on the 2006 film of the same name, Outsourced is a US sitcom about a hard-working manager, who must adjust to life in a foreign country. Todd Dempsy (Ben Rappaport) is the newly appointed head of the call centre for Mid America Novelties. When the company relocates to Mumbai, India, Todd struggles to acclimatise with limited help from ambitious assistant manager Rajiv (Rizwan Manji). Thankfully, fellow call centre managers Charlie (Diedrich Bader) and Tonya (Pippa Black) provide him with the advice and friendship he needs to keep the new workforce in line.

DVD retail top 10

1 (2) Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred

2 (-) Breaking Bad - Season 1

3 (2) Despicable Me

4 (6) The Jungle Book

5 (-) The Alan Partridge Complete Box Set

6 (-) Django Unchained

7 (-) The Place Beyond The Pines

8 (9) Quartet

9 (-) Rise of the Guardians

10 (-) Breaking Bad - Season 1-4 Complete Box Set

Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk

DVD rental top 10

1 (-) Lincoln

2 (-) A Good Day to Die Hard

3 (1) Side Effects

4 (2) Gangster Squad

5 (3) Zero Dark Thirty

6 (5) Life of Pi

7 (-) The Place Beyond the Pines

8 (-) Stolen

9 (-) Dark Skies

10 (4) Les Miserables

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com

Film streaming top 10

1 (1) The Smurfs

2 (2) Barbie - Princess Charm School

3 (-) Bridesmaids

4 (3) Looper

5 (4) Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Rodrick Rules

6 (5) 10,000 BC

7 (6) The Sweetest Thing

8 (9) Cars 2

9 (6) Sucker Punch

10 (-) The Sapphires

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com