DVD Review - September 21

By Damon Smith New to rent on DVD/Blu-ray DVD of the week Fast And Furious 6 (Cert 12, 124 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Action/Thriller/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/6 Movie Collection DVD Box Set £39.99/Blu-ray £24.99/Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray £29.99/6 Movie Collection Blu-ray Box Set £59.99) Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Jordana Brewster.

Tenacious federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his new partner, Riley (Gina Carano), offer to expunge the criminal records of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and driving partner Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) in exchange for capturing criminal mastermind Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and his henchwoman Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). Dom and Brian reconvene the old team: fast-talking Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), technical wizard Tej (Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges), drift racer Han (Sung Kang) and his speed freak girlfriend Gisele (Gal Gadot). Engines roar and rubber burns as Dom, Brian and co head to London to put a handbrake on Shaw's plans. Fast & Furious 6 isn't as satisfying as the previous chapter in the series and the plot springs a puncture in the middle third but director Justin Lin ups the action ante with a runaway armoured tank and a climactic battle inside a gargantuan Russian airplane. Diesel and Walker can play their roles in their sleep while Carano is a ballsy new addition. Evans is ineffectual but the script woefully short-changes him and the big showdown with Diesel is an anti-climax. Screenwriter Chris Morgan, who has tinkered under the hood with director Lin since the ill-fated third film, relies on a trusted set-up to deliver adrenaline-pumping thrills. Bigger isn't always better and there are only so many times one of the gung-ho heroes can fly through the air from a moving vehicle to certain death then emerge from twisted metal with barely a cut, before our excitement down-shifts to neutral. A six-disc box set comprising The Fast & The Furious and all five sequels is also available.

Rating: ** Released Fire With Fire (Cert 15, 93 mins, Warner Home Video, Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £22.99) Starring: Josh Duhamel, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Richard Schiff, Vinnie Jones, Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson.

Hunky fireman Jeremy Coleman (Josh Duhamel) is buying groceries late at night when kingpin Hagan (Vincent D'Onofrio) and two thugs burst into the store, and kill the clerk and his son. Jeremy barely escapes with his life and agrees to testify in court against Hagan and his Aryan Brotherhood goons to the delight of Detective Mike Cella (Bruce Willis) and his police colleagues. The psychopath makes threats against Jeremy and the fireman agrees to go into the witness protection programme until the trial. So he gives up his old life, is rechristened Jeremy Douglas and moves to New Orleans where US Marshal Talia Durham (Rosario Dawson) closely scrutinises his every move. Shortly before the trial, Hagan's slimy lawyer (Richard Schiff) secures his client's release and Hagan sets about tracking down Jeremy and his loved ones. Fire With Fire is a lacklustre thriller hamstring by Duhamel's lifeless lead performance and some curious narrative twists and turns. Tom O'Connor's script is festooned with cliches and contrivances, and a pivotal showdown between the film's two acting heavyweights, Willis and D'Onofrio, makes absolutely no sense. Director David Barrett extinguishes any smouldering embers of dramatic tension early on while Vinnie Jones delivers a risible supporting performance as one of Hagan's henchmen, and Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, who produced the film, is equally forgettable as a thug from Jeremy's old California stomping ground.

Rating: ** Run For Your Wife (Cert 12, 90 mins, Ridge Films, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £12.99) Starring: Danny Dyer, Denise Van Outen, Sarah Harding, Neil Morrissey, Ben Cartwright, Nicholas Le Prevost, Lionel Blair, Christopher Biggins.

First staged in 1983, Ray Cooney's farce Run For Your Wife enjoyed an eight-year jolly in the West End. The playwright and John Luton co-direct this film adaptation shot on location in London. Danny Dyer plays bigamous taxi driver John Smith, who enjoys the attention of two beautiful wives: Michelle (Denise Van Outen) in Stockwell and Stephanie (Sarah Harding) in Finsbury. The two women are blissfully unaware of each other's existence, believing that John is working the streets of the capital whenever he isn't home with them. Keeping the spouses apart necessitates a domino rally of lies that must eventually topple over. That day comes when John is concussed during a mugging and emergency services alert Michelle and Stephanie. The situation spirals out of control and John calls on bumbling best mate Gary (Neil Morrissey) to throw the two women and local cop DS Troughton (Ben Cartwright) off the scent. Run For Your Wife is a huge disappointment. Wildly over-the-top performances, which work on stage, are toe-curling in close-up on the small screen and one member of main cast is more wooden than the sets. Dyer plies his usual roguish charm in the thankless title role to no avail. An end credits title card promises Smith will return in a film version of stage sequel Caught In The Net. Run for your life.

Rating: * Also released Dead Drop (Cert 15, 86 mins, Studio Canal, Thriller/Action, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below) The Moth Diaries (Cert 15, 78 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Drama/Thriller/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below) Our Idiot Brother (Cert 12, 88 mins, Entertainment In Video, Comedy, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99 - see below) The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Cert 15, 125 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Drama/Thriller/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £17.99 - see below) New to buy on DVD/Blu-ray Vera - Series Three (Cert 12, 356 mins, ITV Studios Home Entertainment, DVD £19.99, Drama/Thriller) Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) and her team face more tough cases in four gripping episodes of the ITV crime series based on the acclaimed books by Ann Cleeves. This series, Vera, Sergeant Joe Ashworth (David Leon) and the rest of the team race against time to track down two abducted girls, uncover dark secrets about an extreme sports fanatic who was set on fire and probe the brutal slaying of a physiotherapist. The DVD includes the murder investigations Castles in The Air, Poster Child, Young Gods and Prodigal Son.

Californication - The Fifth Season (Cert 18, 324 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, DVD £19.99, Comedy/Drama/Romance) Old habits die very hard in the raunchy Golden Globe award-winning comedy starring David Duchovny as sex-crazed bachelor Hank Moody. This series, Hank endures a messy break-up from his latest girlfriend, Carrie (Natalie Zea), which becomes even more painful than he could have ever imagined. He gravitates back towards old flame Karen (Natascha McElhone), while juggling responsibilities to his daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin), who is in college and has a boyfriend Tyler (Scott Michael Foster), who Hank doesn't trust one bit. The two-disc set includes all 12 episodes.

Doctor Who: Scream Of The Shalka (Cert PG, 78 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99, Animation/Sci-Fi) Originally posted on the Doctor Who website in 2003 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the landmark TV sci-fi series, this six-part animated adventure follows the Doctor (voiced by Richard E Grant) as he travels to the leafy village of Lannet in Lancashire and learns that an alien force called the Shalka is preparing a full-scale invasion of Earth. So the timelord joins forces with plucky local barmaid Alison (Sophie Okonedo) and her boyfriend Joe (Craig Kelly) to avert Armageddon.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Cert 15, 125 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £17.99, Drama/Thriller/Romance) Adapted from the 2007 novel by Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a taut drama directed by Mira Nair about a conversation between a Pakistani professor and an American investigative journalist that might in fact be a battle of wits between a terrorist and a CIA operative. An Islamic fundamentalist group kidnaps an American college professor and holds him in exchange for a ransom and the release of prisoners. Writer Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) sits down with Changez (Riz Ahmed), who claims to be a friend and colleague of the abducted man. Bobby listens intently as Changez recounts the story of his life, detailing his journey from Lahore to New York City, where he worked in finance. Following the September 11 attacks, Changez confesses that he endured prejudice due to his appearance, which put a strain on his relationship with his beautiful girlfriend, Erica (Kate Hudson). Changez's journey of self-discovery takes him back to Pakistan, where he lectures on revolution, making him a person of interest to US authorities. As the professor shares his story, CIA agent Ludlow Cooper (Martin Donovan) listens intently to the conversation, hoping Changez might inadvertently give away clues about the abduction.

The Big C - The Complete Third Season (Cert 15, 267 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £24.99, Comedy/Drama) Wife and mother Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney) receives some encouraging news about her battle with cancer in 10 episodes of the Golden Globe award-winning black comedy. Also this series, Cathy's jealous husband Paul (Oliver Platt) faces a health scare of his own, her eccentric brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) shares a Valentine's Day dinner with Andrea (Gabourey Sidibe) and Cathy is forced to take drastic action with a young couple, who are willing to give up their unborn baby for adoption.

Top Boy - Series Two (Cert 15, 184 mins, Warner Home Video, DVD £19.99/Series One And Two DVD Box Set £29.99, Drama/Romance) Gang warfare in east London spirals out of control in four episodes of the gritty Channel 4 crime drama headlining Ashley Walters. This series, Dushane (Walters) has clambered to the top of the pile of rival drug dealers in Hackney but his supremacy is threatened by one-time associate Sully (Kane Robinson). When arch-nemesis Kamale is slain, both men are prime suspects for the crime and have to prove their innocence. Meanwhile 15-year-old Ra'Nell (Malcolm Kamulete) and his friend Gem (Giacomo Mancini) struggle to stay out of trouble. A two-disc set comprising both series is also available.

Dead Drop (Cert 15, 86 mins, Studio Canal, DVD £15.99, Thriller/Action) Renegade cop Elijah Kane (Steven Seagal) edges closer to unmasking arch-villain The Ghost in two more episodes of the US TV drama True Justice, which are repackaged as a single feature-length instalment for British viewers. Kane and his team - Johnny Garcia (Jesse Hutch), Mark Simms (Lochlyn Munro) and Sarah Montgomery (Sarah Lind) - continue to track two suitcases, which contain nuclear bombs that could prove deadly in the hands of terrorists. The cops begin to suspect that someone within the CIA is working against them so Kane aligns himself with an old friend, one of the few people he knows he can trust.

The Eye Of The Storm (Cert 15, 114 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, DVD £15.99, Drama/Romance) Fred Schepisi directs this drama adapted by Judy Morris from Patrick White's 1973 novel of the same name. Elizabeth Hunter (Charlotte Rampling) is the ferocious grand dame of a wealthy family in the Sydney suburb of Centennial Park who is now dying and beckons her two children, Basil (Geoffrey Rush) and Dorothy (Judy Davis), to her bedside to secure their inheritance. Despite her deteriorating health, Elizabeth continues to pour scorn on her offspring, berating them for their failures: actor Basil's most recent outing as King Lear has been savaged by the critics, while neurotic Dorothy has never forgiven her mother for stealing a German boyfriend. While the Hunter children wait for their mother to die so they can be free of her iron fist, sexy nurse Flora (Alexandra Schepisi) plots to seduce weak-willed Basil so she can fall pregnant with his love child and claim her share of the family fortune.

Our Idiot Brother (Cert 12, 88 mins, Entertainment In Video, DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Comedy) Jesse Peretz directs this feel good comedy about a dysfunctional family, which is unexpectedly brought together by the misfit sibling they previously shunned. Ned (Paul Rudd) serves time behind bars for supplying a police officer with cannabis but he gains early release and is promptly dumped by his girlfriend Janet (Kathryn Hahn) and denied custody of his beloved dog, Willie Nelson. Cast emotionally adrift, Ned seeks refuge with his three sisters: unhappily married Liz (Emily Mortimer), Vanity Fair journalist Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and bisexual hipster Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), each of whom grows to love their pot-smoking, eternally cheerful brother and draws strength from him to make life-changing decisions about the future.

Devoured (Cert 18, 86 mins, Matchbox Films, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Horror/Thriller) Immigrant worker Lourdes (Marta Milans) has a sick child back home, who requires expensive medical treatment, and so the doting mother works long hours for meagre pay as the night-shift janitor at a posh French restaurant in New York. Her boss Kristen (Kara Jackson) lacks compassion and male co-workers treat her with disdain yet Lourdes persists until she begins to experience disturbing visions of shadowy figures at the restaurant. Fear turns to paranoia and Lourdes becomes convinced that dark forces are gathering around her, intent on doing her harm.

Here Comes The Devil (Cert 18, 97 mins, Metrodome Distribution, DVD £15.99, Horror/Thriller) Felix (Francisco Barreiro) and his partner Sol (Laura Caro) go on holiday to Tijuana with their two children, Adolfo (Alan Martinez) and Sara (Michele Garcia). He family visits the local caves then the tykes beg their parents to be allowed to go on a hike to the nearby hills. Felix and Sol agree, seizing the opportunity to spend some time alone. Night falls and the children fail to return to Felix and Sol alert the local police and spend the night in a motel, terrified of what might have happened to their little ones. The next morning, Adolfo and Sara reappear, but they behave erratically, which leads the parents to suspect that someone might have abused the children. As the youngsters' conduct becomes increasingly bizarre, Felix and Sol wonder if their cherubs have fallen victim to even darker forces.

The Moth Diaries (Cert 15, 78 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, DVD £15.99, Drama/Thriller/Romance) Adapted from the book of the same name by Rachel Klein, The Moth Diaries is a coming of age story about a teenager, who fears that one of her classmates might be a vampire. Sixteen-year-old Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is devastated by her father's suicide and the girl's mother decides to spirit Rebecca far away to a boarding school, where she can escape painful memories of the past. Roommate Lucy Blake (Sarah Gadon) gradually brings Rebecca out of her shell and the grief-stricken teenager opens her heart to a close circle of friends. A mysterious girl called Ernessa Bloch (Lily Cole) arrives at the school and immediately exerts her influence over the students, especially Lucy. Rebecca grows deeply concerned about Ernessa but when she tries to voice her fears to Lucy, they are rejected as jealousy. Girls fall victim to strange accidents and Rebecca's sense of foreboding becomes overwhelming. She records her dark suspicions in a diary - her only refuge from the madness.

After Lucia (Cert 15, 100 mins, Studio Canal, DVD £19.99, Drama) A teenage girl suffers horribly at the hands of bullying classmates in Michel Franco's tense drama. Seventeen-year-old Alejandra (Tessa Ia) struggles to come to terms with the death of her mother in a car accident. Her father Roberto (Hernan Mendoza), who is a talented chef, decides to start anew by taking a job offer in Mexico City and Alejandra settles in well at her new school, where she is instantly attracted to classmate Jose (Gonzalo Vega Sisto). An incident at a house party makes Alejandra a sitting target for bullies and she is subjected to an increasingly brutal barrage of violence, humiliation and abuse that drives the teenager to the brink.

The Punk Syndrome (Cert E, 85 mins, November Films, DVD £15.99, Documentary/Musical) Punk rock band Pertti Kurikan Nimipaivat have caused a big stir in their native Finland. All four members, Pertti Kurikka, Kari Aalto, Sami Helle and Toni Valitalo, have learning disabilities and they use music to shatter taboos and challenge perceptions. Documentary filmmakers Jukka Karkkainen and J-P Passi chart the rise of the band from relative obscurity to national celebrity, witnessing the triumphs and setbacks firsthand as Pertti, Kari, Sami and Toni take umbrage with uncaring politicians and vent their frustrations against a world that belittles people with disability.

Cake Boss - Season Three (Cert E, 585 mins, Go Entertain, DVD £19.99, Special Interest) Another 24 episodes of the popular reality TV series charting the fortunes of baker Buddy Valastro, who owns Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey, and is renowned for his flamboyant designs for celebration cakes. This series, Valastro and his team create an edible life-size replica of his wife for her 30th birthday, they celebrate National Train Day in typically flamboyant style and Buddy takes time off from work in New Jersey to embark on a family tour of Italy.

Dora The Explorer: Perrito's Big Surprise (Cert U, 69 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, DVD £7.99, Children/Animation) The animated heroine (voiced by Kathleen Herles) and her monkey pal Boots (Harrison Chad) are given a lovely surprise in three episodes of the Nickelodeon series, which teaches basic Spanish to pre-schoolers. The DVD includes Perrito's Big Surprise, Bark, Bark To Play Park and Benny The Castaway.

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