DVD Review - January 18

By Damon Smith

New to rent on DVD/Blu-ray

DVD of the week

The Frozen Ground (Cert 15, 90 mins, Koch Media, Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99)

Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Vanessa Hudgens, Radha Mitchell, Dean Norris, 50 Cent, Kevin Dunn.

Detective Jack Halcombe (Nicolas Cage) is preparing to leave Anchorage with his wife Allie (Radha Mitchell) and children when he receives a call that the body of a young woman has been found in the icy wilderness. Soon after, Jack receives a file on Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens), a 17-year-old prostitute who claims that she escaped from the clutches of Robert Hansen (John Cusack), who held her hostage in his basement den and raped her. Jack interviews Cindy and is moved by her tearful testimony, his interest piqued when the young woman reveals, "He said there were seven girls before me and I was lucky because they usually stay for a week". Convinced that Hansen is a dangerous serial killer, Jack works tirelessly to build a case against his prime suspect aided by Sergeant Lyle Haugsven (Dean Norris). Based on the real-life hunt for serial killer Robert Hansen, The Frozen Ground is a solid genre piece, which embraces hoary archetypes: the grizzled cop close to retirement, the working girl who has been abused by the system, the family man with a sadistic streak. Cage is unusually subdued, almost sleepwalking through some scenes, but Hudgens continues to impress in her transition from wholesome Disney Channel princess to gritty actress and Cusack is suitably menacing. The stark sub-zero locales send a similar chill down the spine. The plot gathers a slow, steady momentum. It's certainly a slow burn and writer-director Scott Walker is in no hurry to draw his debut feature to a nail-biting conclusion.

Rating: ***

Released

Riddick (Cert 15, 119 mins, Entertainment One, Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, Conrad Pla, Nolan Gerard Funk, Karl Urban.

Hulking killing machine Riddick (Vin Diesel) is left for dead on a sun-scorched planet awash with alien predators. The mercenary's only hope is to activate an emergency beacon and steal aboard a rescue ship. The beacon alerts bounty hunters to his position and they descend on the planet determined to kill Riddick and collect their fee. Santana (Jordi Molla) and his men are first to answer the distress signal and they set up sensors around their craft to track Riddick's movements. A rival squad led by Boss Johns (Matt Nable) and his sassy sidekick Dahl (Katee Sackhoff) arrive next, but they have a slightly different agenda for wanting to track down their muscular prey. However, time is of the essence - a deadly storm approaches that will sweep across the surface of the planet, killing everything in its path. The third film in the Riddick series, which began in 2000 with the muscular sci-fi thriller Pitch Black, is the most dramatically unsatisfying chapter of the ongoing saga. This new instalment pares back the pyrotechnics, focusing on the lead character as he adjusts to hazardous new surroundings, even throwing in a canine sidekick to humanise the anti-hero. Diesel reprises his role as the visually impaired "zulu warlock" with unabashed gusto, flinging himself into the various action sequences that director David Twohy uses to punctuate his flaccid storyline. The leading man can growl Twohy's dialogue in his sleep, and since his character wears darkened goggles for sections of the film, perhaps, considering the lack of emotion in his delivery, he does just that. The Blu-ray includes an extended director's cut of the film, replete with eight minutes of previously unseen footage.

Rating: **

You're Next (Cert 18, 91 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Horror/Thriller/Action, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Nicholas Tucci, Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton, Margaret Laney, Ti West, Wendy Glenn.

Aubrey Davison (Barbara Crampton) and her husband Paul (Rob Moran) celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary by driving to a remote mansion for a meal with their four grown-up children. Their son Crispian (AJ Bowen) and his plucky Australian girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson) arrive first. His brother Drake (Joe Swanberg) and snobbish partner Kelly (Margaret Laney) pull up the following morning, followed by sister Aimee (Amy Seimetz) and her filmmaker beau, Tariq (Ti West). Felix (Nicholas Tucci), the black sheep of the children, arrives last with his moody girlfriend Zee (Wendy Glenn). Rivalry between Crispian and Drake catalyses a full-blown argument over the dinner table, which is cut short when three maniacs wearing animal masks infiltrate the house, armed with an axe and machete. The body count rises and the distraught revellers search for a means of escape from the bloodbath. Penned by Simon Barrett, You're Next is a gruesome horror about a home invasion that turns violent at frightening speed. The script doesn't stray too far from convention, providing minimal back stories for protagonists who are marked for death first. Titters escalate into snorts of derision as one partygoer drops a bombshell and is transformed into an expertly trained killing machine, stopping one attacker in his tracks with a handy kitchen appliance. Director Adam Wingard slathers on the entrails at the expense of characterisation and common sense to ensure almost every character is destined for the mortuary slab before the 91 minutes are up.

Rating: **

Promised Land (Cert 15, 107 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99)

Starring: Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, Hal Holbrook, John Krasinski, Rosemarie DeWitt, Scoot McNairy, Titus Welliver.

Steve Butler (Matt Damon) travels from town to town with colleague Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand) persuading cash-strapped communities to sign lucrative leases that grant their energy company, Global Crosspower Solutions, the right to drill for natural gas. Having grown up in a small Iowa farming community, which sold its land rights to survive, Steve is a fervent advocate for the cause. He expects a quick turnaround in his next target, the close-knit Pennsylvania farming town of McKinley. Residents elect to put the GCS proposal to a public vote and Steve feels confident these hard-working people will respond favourably to his terms. Then beloved high school teacher Frank Yates (Hal Holbrook) and a vociferous out-of-town environmentalist Dustin Noble (John Krasinski) cast doubts on the safety of fracking, and spearhead a campaign to drive GCS out of McKinley. Written by co-stars Damon and Krasinski, Promised Land is a well-intentioned drama with a big heart that beats loudly in all of the right places. Their script lays out arguments for and against - mostly against - the controversial practice of fracking, which extracts natural gas from shale rock formations. Cold, hard facts and figures are ultimately obscured by the film's sentimentality. Damon uses his natural likeability to tether us emotionally to Steve, who is essentially the villain of the piece. We root for him to see the anti-fracking light and hopefully beat smug Dustin in the affections of pretty schoolteacher Alice (Rosemarie DeWitt). The means to this end is a clumsy, contrived final 20 minutes replete with a plot twist.

Rating: ***

Also released

Any Day Now (Cert 15, 98 mins, Peccadillo Pictures, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

The Great Beauty (Cert 15, 141 mins, Artificial Eye, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 - see below)

Harrigan (Cert 15, 99 mins, High Fliers Distribution, Thriller, also available to buy DVD/Blu-ray £15.99 - see below)

Kelly + Victor (Cert 18, 94 mins, Verve Pictures, Romance/Drama, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 - see below)

We Are The Freaks (Cert 15, 72 mins, Metrodome Distribution, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £12.99 - see below)

New to buy on Dvd/Blu-ray

Mad Dogs - Series 4 (Cert 15, 90 mins, 2entertain, DVD £15.99/Series 1-4 DVD Box Set £27.99, Thriller/Drama)

Max Beesley, Philip Glenister, John Simm and Marc Warren get into more hot water in the fourth series of the acclaimed Sky 1 drama. Baxter (Simm), Rick (Warren), Woody (Beesley) and Quinn (Glenister) reunite to celebrate the impending nuptials of Baxter's beloved daughter. It's clear that none of the quartet is particularly content so when Rick reveals his hare-brained scheme to net a cool two million euros, the temptation to stray proves too great. A four-disc box set comprising all four series is also available.

The Great Beauty (Cert 15, 141 mins, Artificial Eye, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Drama/Romance)

Director Paolo Sorrentino crafts a gorgeous valentine to the city of Rome and its people with this drama about an ageing man, who embraces an unexpected second wind. Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) is a famous and charming 65-year-old journalist and cad, who loves to surround himself with young and beautiful socialites. He throws extravagant parties while every perfect smile is a facade for the disenchantment and sadness percolating beneath the surface. He enjoys a relationship with a stripper called Ramona (Sabrina Ferilli) but nothing touches his heart until a man arrives on the doorstep to reveal that his late wife, Elisa, was Jep's old flame and she never recovered from that first love. Haunted by memories of Elisa, Jep is compelled to re-evaluate his soulless existence and consider if he let the greatest beauty of his life slip through his fingers.

The Tunnel (Cert 15, 500 mins, Acorn Media, DVD £24.99/Blu-ray £29.99, Thriller/Romance)

Stephen Dillane and Clemence Poesy headline this 10-part Anglo-French co-production inspired by the critically acclaimed Scandinavian drama The Bridge. Authorities discover the body of a prominent French politician in a tunnel linking France and the UK. Jurisdictional boundaries are blurred so rival detectives Karl Roebuck (Dillane) and Elise Wassermann (Poesy) put cultural differences to one side to catch the killer. They quickly realise the politician is not the only victim and they are on the trail of a meticulous and diabolical serial killer.

Geordie Shore - The Complete Fifth Series (Cert 15, 336 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, DVD £16.99, Special Interest)

Two-disc set of eight episodes of the MTV reality spin-off from Jersey Shore, which chronicles the roller-coaster love lives of pleasure-seeking housemates in Newcastle upon Tyne. This series, Anna announces that she is setting up a company called Geordie Tours and will be sending the housemates around Europe to lead raucous stag and hen parties. Initially, the team visits Amsterdam where James tries to keep his distance from Holly, and Charlotte and Gaz fall back into bed after a drunken night out.

Parks And Recreation - Season Four (Cert 12, 471 mins, Fabulous Films, DVD £34.99, Comedy/Romance)

Four-disc box set of 22 episodes from the Emmy-nominated sitcom, which has been delighting viewers on BBC Four. This series, well-meaning bureaucrat Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is poised to run for office in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, but her relationship with Ben (Adam Scott) clouds her judgment. Later, an Indianapolis journalist (Sean Hayes) takes an interest in Leslie for an article, wealthy local Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd) enters the race for City Council and Chris (Rob Lowe) and Ron (Nick Offerman) search for inner calm at a meditation centre in the eye of an election storm.

Harrigan (Cert 15, 99 mins, High Fliers Distribution, DVD/Blu-ray £15.99, Thriller)

Filmed on location in Gateshead, Hartlepool and Newcastle upon Tyne and based on a script by detective Arthur McKenzie, Harrigan is a gritty 1970s-set thriller about a cop single-handedly waging war on the criminal fraternity. After a brief period working abroad in Hong Kong, Detective Sergeant Barry Harrigan (Stephen Tompkinson) returns to his beloved Tyneside to discover the region has been crippled by power cuts and coal strikes. Police are unable to keep the peace and his sink estate has fallen victim to crime and lawlessness. With his old community falling apart, Harrigan embarks on a crusade to save what little dignity and spirit remains, using force where necessary to achieve his noble aim.

Kelly + Victor (Cert 18, 94 mins, Verve Pictures, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Romance/Drama)

Based on Niall Griffiths's uncompromising novel of the same name, Kelly + Victor is a dark and disturbing drama about two lost souls, whose fledgling romance is scarred by sadomasochistic desire. Kelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is struggling to find direction in her life. Her best friend Victoria (Claire Keelan) is making serious money as a dominatrix but Kelly's first attempts at humiliation leave her feeling hollow. On the dance floor of a Liverpool nightclub she meets nice guy Victor (Julian Morris), who is embroiled in a haphazard drug-dealing scheme with his best mates Gaz (Stephen Walters) and Craig (William Ruane). From the moment Kelly and Victor fall into bed, the chemistry is electrifying but she is haunted by demons that force him to explore the darker side of sex, pushing both of them to the brink of self-annihilation.

Museum Hours (Cert 12, 107 mins, Soda Pictures, DVD £17.99, Drama/Documentary)

Part documentary, part drama, Museum Hours chronicles the relationship between two strangers against the magnificent backdrop of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Art Museum. Johann (Bobby Sommer) is a museum guard who offers friendly guidance to visitors and also stands watch over the priceless works of art. One day, he meets Anne (Mary Margaret O'Hara), a Canadian who has come to Vienna for the sake of a comatose cousin. Anne knows little of the art of the city but she enjoys the pleasure of Johann's company as they tour some of the museum rooms, marvelling at paintings by Bruegel and other priceless artefacts.

InRealLife (Cert E, 89 mins, Dogwoof Digital, DVD £14.99, Documentary)

The internet is tightly woven into the fabric of everyday life, not least for teenagers who journey into cyberspace to learn, communicate and establish their sense of identity. Director Beeban Kidron questions whether we should be worried about how heavily our children use the internet in this fascinating documentary, which journeys from the bedrooms of British teenagers to the high-powered offices of Silicon Valley to expose the commercial pressures that drive every click of a mouse, tap of a computer keyboard or swipe of a touch-sensitive screen.

Any Day Now (Cert 15, 98 mins, Peccadillo Pictures, DVD £15.99, Drama/Romance)

Set in the late 1970s but still painfully relevant, Any Day Now documents the true story of a gay couple, who faced prejudice when they attempted to adopt a child. Rudy Donatello (Alan Cumming) is one third of a popular drag act, struggling to pay the rent and keep his landlord off his back. When next door neighbour Marianna (Jamie Anne Allman) abandons her teenage son Marco (Isaac Leyva), who has Down's syndrome, Rudy offers the boy a roof, rather than consign him to the hell of the care system. Soon after, Rudy meets and falls in love with closeted lawyer Paul Fliger (Garret Dillahunt) and the men apply for custody of Marco while keeping the truth about their living arrangements a secret. When the authorities learn they are lovers, Rudy and Paul are forced to fight against a legal system that is weighted heavily against them to prove to Marco that love can triumph.

Having You (Cert 15, 92 mins, Matchbox Films, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Drama/Romance)

The course of true love never did run smooth, especially in first-time director Sam Hoare's romantic comedy. Jack (Andrew Buchan) plucks up the courage to propose to his long-term girlfriend Camilla (Romola Garai) and she excitedly accepts. His jubilation is cut short by the arrival of Anna (Anna Friel), with whom Jack enjoyed a one-night stand some eight years ago. With Anna is a young boy called Phoenix (Isaac Andrews) - their son. Suddenly, Jack must confront his responsibilities as a first-time parent and decide if he can still walk down the aisle with Camilla.

We Are The Freaks (Cert 15, 72 mins, Metrodome Distribution, DVD £12.99, Drama/Romance)

Justin Edgar writes and directs this tender coming-of-age story set in the 1990s and centred on academically bright teenager, Jack (Jamie Blackley), who comes from a poor background but hopes to be accepted for a university grant so he can chart a course through higher education. Jack heads out for the night with two mates: Chunks (Sean Teale), who comes from a world of wealth and privilege, and Parsons (Mike Bailey), who seems to be at the mercy of his controlling girlfriend Claire (Rosamund Hanson). The three young men, who call themselves 'The Freaks', intend to let down their hair and, over the course of the night, their lives change forever.

Winter Of Discontent (Cert 15, 96 mins, New Wave Films, DVD £15.99, Drama)

Ibrahim El-Batout's gripping thriller, set in the final years of President Hosni Mubarak's reign before his people rose up to overturn decades of dictatorial rule, could not be more timely. Activist Amr (Amr Waked) is arrested by state security officer Adel (Salah Al Hanafy) and removed from the Cairo apartment he shares with his elderly mother. Adel subjects his prisoner to extreme and horrific torture, almost pushing the dissident to breaking point with repeated mental and physical abuse. Then, without warning, Amr is released back into society where he learns that his mother has died and the love of his life, Farah (Farah Youssef), has forgotten him to pursue a career as a TV news announcer. Fearful for his life and haunted by memories of his ordeal, Amr is an emotional time bomb waiting to explode.

Evil Never Dies (Cert 15, 91 mins, 4Digital Media, DVD £15.99, Horror/Thriller)

You can't bury the past in this British horror directed by Martyn Pick. Ten years after being found guilty of the murder of gangland boss Eugene McCann (PH Moriarty), Harry Payne (Tony Scannell) leaves prison and retires to a close-knit Norfolk village to care for his wife Susan (Katy Manning). Soon after, the community is torn apart by a series of gruesome occult murders, which the locals believe to be the work of the ghostly White Lady Of Rayleton. However, Detective Inspector David Bracken (Graham Cole) and his plucky young assistant, DS Belinda Churchill (Fliss Walton), are wrongly convinced that Harry is to blame and they resolve to put the former jailbird back behind bars.

From Beneath (Cert 15, 82 mins, New Horizon Films, DVD £14.99, Horror/Thriller)

It isn't safe to go back into the water in David Doucette's low-budget thriller. Sam (Lauren Watson) and her boyfriend Jason (Jamie Temple) drive to a remote farmhouse in the country to meet up with Sam's sister and her family. After the long drive in scorching sunshine, the couple goes for a swim in a pond at the end of a freshly cut path and a strange leech-like organism bites Jason. When he attempts to remove the creature, part of the organism crawls into his leg and he begins to exhibit strange behaviour. As Jason's condition worsens, Sam realises that her sister and her family are absent from the property for a reason, and that their disappearance explains the horrors that lie in store for her boyfriend.

Super Shark (Cert 15, 88 mins, Lightning Pictures, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Horror)

Fred Olen Ray directs the latest low-budget B-Movie about a gargantuan predator on the loose. In Super Shark, a gigantic prehistoric fish terrorises the waters of a beautiful beach resort and marine biologist Kat Carmichael (Sarah Lieving) puts her knowledge to the test to destroy the blood-crazed monster. Alas, shady businessman Roger Wade (John Schneider) thwarts Kat's best efforts to destroy the shark and when the fish learns the ability to move on dry land, she joins forces with explosives expert Dynamite Stevens (Jimmie Walker) to bring the bloodbath to a swift conclusion.

DVD retail top 10

1 (-) Vicky Pattison's 7 Day Slim

2 (-) Davina - Fit in 15

3 (-) Sherlock - Series 1 and 2 Box Set

4 (-) Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred

5 (-) Downton Abbey: The London Season

6 (1) The Class of '92

7 (-) Star Trek Into Darkness

8 (5) Harry Potter - The Complete 8-Film Collection

9 (-) Josie Gibson's 30-Second Slim

10 (-) Breaking Bad - Season 5

Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk

DVD rental top 10

1 (-) Pain & Gain

2 (2) Oblivion

3 (-) The Lone Ranger

4 (-) 2 Guns

5 (-) The Purgea

6 (1) Now You See Me

7 (-) Red 2

8 (3) World War Z

9 (-) Lovelace

10 (-) Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com

Film streaming top 10

1 (-) Midnight's Children

2 (-) In Time

3 (1) Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger

4 (2) Tangled

5 (-) Tower Heist

6 (-) Holes

7 (5) The Place Beyond The Pines

8 (4) Immortals

9 (7) Scrooge

10 (6) Vehicle 19

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com