DVD Review - February 8

By Damon Smith

New to rent on DVD/Blu-ray

DVD of the week

Prisoners (Cert 15, 153 mins, Entertainment One, Thriller/Action/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terence Howard, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Paul Dano, David Dastmalchian, Melissa Leo, Dylan Minnette, Erin Gerasimovich, Zoe Soul.

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), his wife Grace (Maria Bello), teenage son Ralph (Dylan Minnette) and daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) visit their neighbours Franklin (Terence Howard) and Nancy Birch (Viola Davis) for Thanksgiving lunch. Soon after, Anna and the Birch's girl, Eliza (Zoe Soul), leave to look for a missing whistle and never return. The two sets of parents are distraught and Ralph remembers a suspicious RV parked down the road. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) and local police arrest the driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), who has the mental age of a 10-year-old. Without any evidence to link Alex to the crime, police are forced to let their prime suspect go back into the care of his mother, Holly (Melissa Leo). So Keller kidnaps Alex at gunpoint and holds the young man hostage. "We hurt him until he talks or [the girls] are going to die," Keller tells Franklin. Although it ultimately lacks the courage of its twisted convictions, Prisoners is a provocative thriller that plays out its nightmarish scenario without any sense of urgency. Desperate times call for desperate measures and, when authorities fail to solve the case, Aaron Guzikowski's script pulls no punches as it depicts the father's transformation from doting family man to snarling judge, jury and executioner. Jackman is mesmerising as a protector willing to ignore his moral compass to reunite his fractured family. Gyllenhaal invests his rebellious cop with an array of twitches and ticks while Dano is both pathetic and creepy as a man-child, whose innocence remains shrouded in doubt until the tricksy closing frames.

Rating: ****

Released

About Time (Cert 12, 123 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Comedy/Romance/Drama/Sci-Fi, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lindsay Duncan, Tom Hollander, Lydia Wilson, Margot Robbie.

Shortly after he turns 21 years old, nice guy Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that he harks from a long line of male time travellers, who can go back along their own timeline to correct past mistakes and relive fond memories. Slowly, Tim masters his new skill, which comes in very handy when he crosses paths with an insecure beauty called Mary (Rachel McAdams) and bungles their first meeting. With the benefit of time travel, Tim corrects wrinkles in the relationship and romance blossoms. However, every correction risks ripples through time and Tim gradually learns there are some imperfections which must never be smoothed. "All the time travel in the world can't make someone love you," Tim's father reminds him tenderly. Set largely in London with occasional forays to the picturesque Cornish coast, About Time is a bittersweet rom-com about saying goodbye to the people you love and bidding farewell to childhood and the safety net of a parent's guiding hand. This is purportedly Richard Curtis's final film in the director's chair and it is a fittingly amusing and heartbreaking swansong. Cast in the everyman role usually reserved for Hugh Grant, Gleeson is a loveable hero and catalyses wonderful screen chemistry with McAdams and Nighy. Laughter abounds, tempered by the poignancy of sequences between Tim and his father. Admittedly, Curtis is guilty of old habits. Characters are almost exclusively white, upper middle class, and seem to be able to afford sizeable properties despite modest salaries. Once you accept realism is a distant stranger to certain elements of the writing, About Time casts a heady spell.

Rating: ****

Runner Runner (Cert 15, 91 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Thriller/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie, Ben Schwartz, Oliver Cooper, Bob Gunton.

Wall Street wizard Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) loses his high-salary job and entire fortune then returns to university to gain his Masters in Finance. At Princeton, he pays his way as an affiliate for gambling websites, introducing fellow students as new players for a small commission. When the Dean (Bob Gunton) learns about this enterprise, he threatens Richie with expulsion. So the risk-taking student transfers his earnings into an account on the Midnight Black poker website and attempts to win his tuition fees. The gamble doesn't pay off and Richie identifies peculiar betting patterns in his losing games, which two classmates (Ben Schwartz, Oliver Cooper) confirm must be the result of insider betting. He travels to the Costa Rican headquarters of Midnight Black and confronts owner Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) and personal assistant Rebecca Shafran (Gemma Arterton) about the irregularities. Taking its title from a hand in poker that is vastly improved by other cards on the table, Runner Runner is an enjoyable yet lightweight tale of corporate skullduggery, lacking both directorial brio and verbal fireworks. Director Brad Furman deals himself a potentially winning hand with an attractive cast and gorgeous Puerto Rican locations (standing in for Costa Rica). Screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien pretend to have a couple of aces up their sleeves as they plunge conflicted, greedy characters into a moral quagmire. Unfortunately, they're bluffing, because when the chips are down, Furman's film folds at the key juncture and opts for a neat resolution to all of the backstabbing.

Rating: **

Justin And The Knights Of Valour (Cert PG, 97 mins, Entertainment One, Animation/Action/Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £17.99/3D Blu-ray £19.99)

Featuring the voices of: Freddie Highmore, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong, Rupert Everett, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Williams, Julie Walters, Tamsin Egerton, David Walliams, James Cosmo, Charles Dance, Barry Humphries.

Justin (voiced by Freddie Highmore) is a sweet-natured boy, who dreams of becoming a valiant knight like his grandfather, Sir Roland. However, the Queen (Olivia Williams) has banished knights from her kingdom and placed her trust instead in lawyers including Justin's father Reginald (Alfred Molina). During a visit to his gran (Julie Walters), Justin is inspired to embark on a quest to locate his grandfather's sword. En route, the lad joins forces with a plucky barmaid called Talia (Saoirse Ronan) and a soothsayer called Malquiades (David Walliams), and gains valuable training from three wise monks - Blucher (James Cosmo), Legantir (Charles Dance) and Braulio (Barry Humphries) - at the fabled Tower of Wisdom. Meanwhile, banished Sir Heraclio (Mark Strong) and his sidekick Sota (Rupert Everett) exploit the absence of the knights to stage a coup. Justin And The Knights Of Valour is a computer-animated tale of derring-do set in an olde worlde kingdom steeped in myth and magic and once ravaged by dragons. Manuel Sicilia's film lacks visual sophistication but does boast one stand-out sequence: a history lesson styled as a tapestry come to life. A predominantly British voice cast adds lustre to the simplistic screenplay including over-the-top comic turns from Walliams and Everett. The setting is reminiscent of the splendid 2010 animation How To Train Your Dragon but Sicilia's picture lacks that film's heart and soul. A flame-throwing toothless crocodile is hurled merrily into the sweet and inoffensive mix as the narrative ambles at a gentle pace, building to the inevitable moment when fears are cast aside and gallantry struts forward to win the day.

Rating: ***

Girl Most Likely... (Cert 12, 103 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Comedy/Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £21.99)

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, Christopher Fitzgerald, Darren Criss, Bob Balaban, Natasha Lyonne, Brian Petsos.

Feted as a promising playwright, Imogene (Kristen Wiig) squandered the money attached to a prestigious annual award and now wrings out the last drops of her creative juices to pen five-line blurbs for forthcoming Broadway shows. Her relationship with workaholic boyfriend Peter (Brian Petsos) is stagnating and her coterie of well-to-do female friends - Dara (June Diane Raphael), Georgina (Michelle Morgan), Hannah (Mickey Sumner), Sloane (Elizabeth Inghram) - repeatedly remind Imogene of her humble origins. "She's from New Jersey," sneers one in pity. In short, Imogene is a crisis waiting to happen. And happen it does when she loses Peter and her job in quick succession, followed by a faked suicide attempt, which reunites Imogene with her errant, gambling addicted mother Zelda (Annette Bening) at her hospital bedside. Thus Imogene returns to her ramshackle childhood home, where her eccentric brother Ralph (Christopher Fitzgerald) and a handsome lodger (Darren Criss) shake her out of her fug. Scripted by Michelle Morgan, Girl Most Likely is a sweet-yet-slight coming of middle age comedy that trades heavily in cliches and familiarity. Wiig is a gifted actress but she has meagre raw materials to work with here, alternating between ungrateful and whiny until her heroine's obligatory catharsis and redemption in the eyes of the people she truly loves. Bening essays an appealing ditzy mom, who has coped as best she can raising two kids on her own, while Fitzgerald brings innate likeability to her painfully shy sibling. The romantic subplot between Wiig and Criss simmers but never truly comes to the boil.

Rating: **

Also released

42 (Cert 12, 128 mins, Warner Home Video, Drama, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £24.99 - see below)

Austenland (Cert 12, 97 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Comedy/Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £17.99 - see below)

Odd Thomas (Cert 15, 93 mins, Metrodome Distribution, Thriller/Action, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 - see below)

Penthouse North (Cert 15, 82 mins, Image Entertainment, Thriller, also available to buy DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99 - see below)

Romeo & Juliet (Cert PG, 118 mins, Entertainment In Video, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99 - see below)

Thanks For Sharing (Cert 15, 112 mins, Koch Media, Comedy/Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

The To Do List (Cert 15, 104 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

Wadjda (Cert PG, 97 mins, Soda Pictures, Drama, also available to buy DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £24.99 - see below)

New to buy on DVD/Blu-ray

The Bridge - The Complete Season Two (Cert 15, 577 mins, Nordic Noir, DVD £29.99/Seasons One & Two DVD Box Set £39.99/Blu-ray £34.99/Seasons One & Two Blu-ray Box Set £44.99, Thriller)

Set 13 months after events of the first series, this 10-part Scandinavian crime drama reunites Swedish detective Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) and Danish detective Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia) for another testing case on the border of the two countries. A ship crashes into the Oresund Bridge. On board, authorities discover five kidnap victims, who later die from pneumonic plague. Saga and Martin discover eco-terrorists are responsible for the outrage and are planning further attacks. They become embroiled in a race against time to unmask the culprits before more victims are abducted and infected. A six-disc box set comprising both series is also available

Vikings - The Complete First Season (Cert 18, 398 mins, MGM Home Entertainment, DVD £24.99/Blu-ray £29.99, Action/Drama)

Old adversaries clash in nine episodes of the historical drama chronicling the adventures of a Viking clan. Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) is a chieftain, who is a formidable warrior on the battlefield, leading his men to bloodthirsty victory over bitter rivals. Aided by his brother Rollo (Clive Standen) and wife Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), Ragnar schemes to become king of all Vikings but there are traitors in his midst, plotting his downfall.

The Bletchley Circle - Series Two (Cert 12, 180 mins, Acorn Media, DVD £19.99/Series One & Two DVD Box Set £24.99, Drama)

A group of former Second World War code breakers continue to put their unique talent to good use in four episodes of the ITV1 drama. This series, a Bletchley Park graduate is imprisoned under a murder charge and Jean (Julie Graham), Lucy (Sophie Rundle), Millie (Rachael Stirling) and Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin) reunite to prove their friend's innocence. A three-disc box set comprising both series is also available.

Bates Motel - Season One (Cert 18, 420 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, DVD £21.99/Blu-ray £27.99, Thriller/Romance)

All 10 episodes from this contemporary prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's seminal thriller Psycho from the producers of Lost and Friday Night Lights. Socially awkward teenager Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) stumbles upon the lifeless body of his father. Soon after, the lad and his controlling mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga), move to White Pine Bay in search of a new life. They purchase a motel and begin to integrate with the locals. However, Norma and Norman discover there are dark secrets in this idyllic seaside town and the only people they can trust are each other. The deeply twisted relationship between mother and son intensifies forcing Norman to make painful choices about his future.

Austenland (Cert 12, 97 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £17.99, Comedy/Drama/Romance)

Based on the novel by Shannon Hale, who co-wrote the script, Austenland is a romantic comedy about a thirty-something single woman who takes her obsession with the Regency era to the extreme. Jane Hayes (Keri Russell) is fixated on the writing of Jane Austen and, in particular, on how men of the time wooed young ladies. Determined to meet her own Mr Darcy, Jane embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to an English resort called Austenland, where visitors are encouraged to don suitably historic attire and live out their fantasies. Mimicking the vacillations of her favourite literary heroine, Jane finds herself torn between dashing aristocratic suitor Henry Nobley (JJ Field) and warm-hearted grounds man Martin (Bret McKenzie).

Romeo & Juliet (Cert PG, 118 mins, Entertainment In Video, DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Drama/Romance)

Romeo (Douglas Booth) and Juliet (Hailee Steinfeld) are the youngest children of the Montague and Capulet clans, who are sworn enemies. Despite the rivalry, the teenagers fall madly in love. Their happiness is cut short when Juliet's brother Tybalt (Ed Westwick) fatally wounds Romeo's loyal servant, Mercutio (Christian Cooke). In retaliation, Romeo kills the murderous Capulet and re-ignites the bitter war of words between the two dynasties. Romeo is banished to Mantua for his actions and Juliet is told that she will marry a respectable young suitor, Paris (Tom Wisdom). Plunged into despair, Juliet seeks advice from Friar Laurence (Paul Giamatti) so that she and Romeo might be reunited despite the bad blood that flows between their two clans.

Thanks For Sharing (Cert 15, 112 mins, Koch Media, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Drama/Romance)

Sex addict Adam (Mark Ruffalo) has been 'sober' for five years and celebrates in the company of his sponsor Mike (Tim Robbins) and other addicts. "I remember when I couldn't go five days," jokes Adam, who has developed techniques, which he hopes to pass on to his sponsee, ER doctor Neil (Josh Gad). The young medic initially lies about his progress but the arrival of a hairdresser called Dede (Alecia Moore) unexpectedly helps Neil to bare his soul: "I'm out of control, I'm scared and I need help!" Meanwhile, Mike confronts the demons of the past when his drug addict son Danny (Patrick Fugit) returns home to make amends, and Adam dips his toes back into the dating pool with a breast cancer survivor called Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow).

42 (Cert 12, 128 mins, Warner Home Video, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Drama)

Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) directs and writes this true-life story of sporting triumph against the odds set in 1947 when racial segregation was in force and African-American players were yet to be introduced to the highly lucrative Major League Baseball. Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), the trailblazing General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, challenges the establishment and the mood of the time by signing Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman). Some of the players and fans react violently to Robinson in the dressing room, who suffers each blatant episode of racism with good grace, knowing that a single act of retaliation or rebellion could end his career and destroy Rickey's hopes of a fully integrated league. With the number 42 on his shirt, Robinson lets his talent speak for him on the field and he gradually wins over fans and team mates, paving the way for other players to join him in the Major League.

Wadjda (Cert PG, 97 mins, Soda Pictures, DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Drama)

Shot entirely in Saudi Arabia by the country's first female filmmaker, Wadjda is a moving story of empowerment and hope centred on the eponymous 10-year-old (Waad Mohammed), who is streetwise and smart beyond her tender years. Wadjda sees a beautiful green bicycle in the local shop and becomes determined to raise enough money to buy it so that she can race her friend Abdullah (Abdullrahman Algohani). Such a race would be frowned upon in present day Riyadh but Wadjda is unperturbed, and her feistiness and boundless spirit frequently lead to visits to the headmistress's office. To raise the money for the bicycle, Wadjda decides to compete in her school's Koran recital competition. Meanwhile, the school curtails the individual rights of its students but Wadjda refuses to kowtow, believing that she has the right to self-expression even if the men in power in Riyadh believe otherwise.

Hidden Kingdom - Series 1 (Cert E, 171 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99/3D Blu-ray £24.99, Documentary)

Stephen Fry narrates a three-part BBC documentary series filmed on location in the Arizona Desert, the woodlands of Borneo and urban terrain in Rio and Tokyo, which explores the life cycles of some of the planet's smallest animals. These creatures, including chipmunks, beetles, marmosets and elephant shrews, employ surprising tactics to survive in fluctuating environmental conditions and overcome the threat posed by predators.

Odd Thomas (Cert 15, 93 mins, Metrodome Distribution, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Thriller/Action)

Based on the novel by Dean R Koontz, Odd Thomas is a supernatural thriller about an ordinary man with an incredible talent. Odd Thomas (Anton Yelchin) works as a chef in a small town, where the locals adore him. Little do they know that Odd Thomas can see dead people and he is channelling these clairvoyant powers to help police chief Wyatt Porter (Willem Defoe) drive the criminals off the streets. However, when Odd Thomas encounters a stranger, he comes to the realisation that dark forced are gathering over the town and the locals are being targeted by black magic. The only person capable of averting catastrophe is the plucky chef.

David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive (Cert E, 110 mins, 2entertain, DVD £17.99/3D Blu-ray £19.99, Documentary)

Recently broadcast on Sky1, this feature-length documentary joins David Attenborough in London's famous museum where the exhibits come to life courtesy of state of the art computer trickery. Famously extinct creatures such as the dodo and dinosaurs roam the hallways as the presenter discusses how these fascinating residents may have lived and died.

Force Of Execution (Cert 15, 95 mins, Studio Canal, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £17.99, Action/Thriller)

Steven Seagal headlines this straight-to-DVD thriller directed by Keoni Waxman. Mr Alexander (Seagal) is a crime boss, who presides over his empire with an iron fist. Ruthless drug dealer Ice Man (Ving Rhames), who has just been released from prison, sets in motion a plan to bring down Mr Alexander. So the wily kingpin turns to his best hit man, Roman Hurst (Bren Foster), to keep the odds firmly in his favour. Ving Rhames and Danny Trejo co-star.

The To Do List (Cert 15, 104 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Romance)

Written and directed by Maggie Carey, The To Do List is a coming-of-age comedy about a high school student on the cusp, who believes she should embark on a journey of sexual discovery before she heads off to college. Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) is a model student and she graduates at the top of her class at the expense of personal relationships. She's never slept with a boy, but came close once with a lad called Rusty Waters (Scott Porter). Brandy's sexually experienced, older sister Amber (Rachel Bilson) teases her about still being a virgin and Brandy resolves, with the help of her best friends Wendy (Sarah Steele) and Fiona (Alia Shawkat), to find Rusty and make him her first conquest. So she gets a job alongside Rusty as a lifeguard at the local pool and begins her pursuit of the object of her affections, blissfully unaware that her colleague Cameron (Johnny Simmons) might be a far more suitable match.

Penthouse North (Cert 15, 82 mins, Image Entertainment, DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99, Thriller)

Michael Keaton and Michelle Monaghan headline this suspense thriller directed by Joseph Ruben. Sara (Monaghan) is alone in her penthouse apartment on the night of New Year's Eve. Her current boyfriend Hollander (Keaton) turns up unannounced and Sara learns that he was once a diamond thief, who turned his back on a life of crime. Unfortunately, Hollander also turned his back on a sadistic partner, who will stop at nothing to locate a stash of stolen diamonds, which are concealed somewhere in Penthouse North.

Angelina Ballerina: Musical Medleys (Cert U, 66 mins, HIT Entertainment, DVD £10.99, Animation/Children)

The graceful mouse and her chums stage their own musical in these five episodes of the popular animation children's series. The DVD includes Angelina And The Musical Theatre, Angelina And The Art Show, Angelina's Camembert Parade, Angelina And The Dance-athon and Angelina's Opera.

DVD retail top 10

1 (2) Sherlock - Complete Series 3

2 (1) The Walking Dead - Season 1-3

3 (-) Mad Men - Season 6

4 (-) Boardwalk Empire - Season 1-3

5 (-) Rush

6 (3) Davina - Fit in 15

7 (6) Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred

8 (5) Vicky Pattison's 7 Day Slim

9 (7) Downton Abbey: The London Season

10 (9) Homeland - Season 1-2

Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk

DVD rental top 10

1 (-) The Great Gatsby

2 (-) The Wolverine

3 (-) Pacific Rim

4 (-) Riddick

5 (-) The Internship

6 (-) The Frozen Ground

7 (3) The Lone Ranger

8 (-) Elysium

9 (2) 2 Guns

10 (-) What Maisie Knew

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com

Film streaming top 10

1 (1) Blood Glacier

2 (2) Midnight's Children

3 (4) In Time

4 (3) The Hangover Part II

5 (-) Son of Rambow

6 (5) The Impossible

7 (-) Awaydays

8 (6) Tangled

9 (-) Space Jam

10 (-) Byzantium

Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com