DVD Review - March 1

By Damon Smith

New to rent on DVD/Blu-ray

DVD of the week

Gravity (Cert 12, 91 mins, Warner Home Video, Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99/3D Blu-ray £29.99/3D Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray £34.99)

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Phaldut Sharma and the voice of Ed Harris.

Commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a veteran of the space program on his final mission with the Space Shuttle Explorer, provides encouragement to fellow astronaut Shariff (Phaldut Sharma) and specialist Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), who is in space for the first time. Out of the blue, Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris) orders Kowalski to abort the mission and return to Explorer: a Russian missile strike on a defunct satellite has created a debris cloud that is heading straight towards the crew's current position. Razor-sharp debris rips through the craft, killing Shariff and hurtling Stone through space. If Kowalski cannot locate her before her dwindling oxygen supply runs out, silence will consume Stone forever. Scripted by director Alfonso Cuaron and his son Jonas, Gravity is a lean, nerve-shredding thriller about one woman battling against the odds in the one place that no one can hear her whimper and scream. Oscar winner Bullock delivers a compelling lead performance that might be her finest work to date, struggling to keep her emotions in check as she prepares to take her final breaths. The film employs the latest ground-breaking technology to realise Cuaron's startling vision and the effortlessness with which the Mexican director orchestrates it is jaw-dropping. It's a giddy whirl of bravura camerawork and spectacular visual effects, accentuated by Steven Price's propulsive orchestral score, that pushes the boundaries of 3D, available exclusively on Blu-ray. Thankfully, on a large screen television, the film loses little of its impact: you still get the sensation of floating with the astronauts as they face life-or-death choices.

Rating: *****

Released

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Cert 15, 92 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, Comedy, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99)

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Nicoll, Georgina Cates, Kamber Hejlik.

A female doctor (Kamber Hejlik) nervously approaches 86-year-old Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) in a hospital waiting room. "Your wife passed," the medic says solemnly. A woman sitting next to Irving offers her condolences. "I thought she'd never die!" he cackles, confiding that his beloved Ellie denied him sex and is now in a better place. At the subsequent funeral attended by unsuspecting mourners, Irving's heartfelt eulogy is interrupted by his pot-smoking daughter, Kimmy (Georgina Cates), who is heading to prison and needs her cranky father to look after her eight-year-old son, Billy (Jackson Nicholl). "I'm a free man for the first time in 46 years and I can't be saddled with him!" growls Irving, as the stunned congregation overhears every word. Thus Irving finds himself on a road trip to North Carolina to deliver the boy to his estranged father. En route, the unlikely double-act terrorises unsuspecting members of the public including a gaggle of women attending a male stripper show and fiercely competitive parents at the Carolina Cutie Beauty Pageant. The Jackass pranksters led by clown extraordinaire Knoxville take their wince-inducing brand of tomfoolery to the next level in Bad Grandpa. They hang the usual daredevil stunts and bad-taste humour on a gossamer thin narrative that is by turns touchingly sweet and eye-rollingly preposterous. Gags in the film hit more than they miss, and some victim responses are priceless, like two women in a courier delivery store, who can't decide whether they can let Irving send Billy through the mail. The relationship between Knoxville and Nicholl is lovely and the youngster scene-steals with aplomb, ad-libbing like a pro.

Rating: ***

The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia (Cert 15, 101 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99)

Starring: Abigail Spencer, Chad Michael Murray, Emily Alyn Lind, Katee Sackhoff, Morgana Shaw, Lance E Nichols, Cicely Tyson, Brad James, Grant James.

In June 1993, Lisa Wyrick (Abigail Spencer) and her husband Andy (Chad Michael Murray) move into a remote house with their cherubic daughter, Heidi (Emily Alyn Lind). Lisa's no-good sister Joyce (Katee Sackhoff) arrives soon after, looking for a place to live after her romance with an alcoholic married man turns sour. Joyce takes up residence in an old trailer close to the house and helps Heidi to make sense of strange visions. "You were born with a veil," Joyce tells her cherubic niece, "It means that sometimes you can sense things other people can't." The 'things' in question are the house's previous owner, Mr Gordy (Grant James), and the spirits of slaves, who were hidden from harm in an underground railroad that runs beneath the property. The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia is a lacklustre companion piece to Tom Elkins's 2009 supernatural horror, which once again relies on spooky documented footage. Large portions of the film take place in darkness, in part to conceal workmanlike special effects. Lind cries and whimpers up a storm - she is livelier than her older co-stars, who go through the motions. David Coggeshall's script trades in hoary cliches. When the winsome child stares at her ramshackle home and asks, "Who lived here before?" and her mother cheerfully replies, "Nobody honey. That's why the bank gave us such a good deal," the stench of impending doom is overpowering. Mild scares, which take the form of shadowy figures moving unseen behind protagonists, are repetitive and unlikely to jolt viewers out of a soporific stupor.

Rating: **

Also released

Devil In The Woods (Cert 15, 94 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

The English Teacher (Cert 12, 93 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Comedy/Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

For Those In Peril (Cert 18, 92 mins, Soda Pictures, Drama, also available to buy DVD £17.99 - see below)

The Outsider (Cert 15, 94 mins, High Fliers Video Distribution, Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

The Patience Stone (Cert 15, 102 mins, Axiom Films, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

We Are What We Are (Cert 18, 105 mins, Entertainment One, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 - see below)

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (Cert PG, 134 mins, Eros International, Romance/Drama, also available to buy DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99 - see below)

New to buy on DVD/Blu-ray

The Americans - The Complete First Season (Cert 15, 575 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, DVD £29.99/Blu-ray £38.99, Thriller/Romance)

A seemingly normal family conceals a deadly secret in this award-winning drama set during the early 1980s when the Cold War between Russia and America is at its height. Phillip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) and his wife Elizabeth (Keri Russell) are KGB spies, who are living in suburbia as a cover to gather intelligence on the enemy and transmit this highly sensitive information back home to Mother Russia. As part of their cover, Phillip and Elizabeth must juggle childcare responsibilities with the usual social gatherings with neighbours. Their covert plan is thrown into jeopardy when one neighbour, Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), turns out to be an FBI counter-intelligence agent, who is trained to spot double agents and could blow Phillip and Elizabeth's cover.

Lost Girl - The Complete Third Season (Cert 15, 550 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £24.99, Fantasy/Drama)

A further 13 episodes of the Canadian fantasy drama, which follows the adventures of Bo (Anna Silk), who discovers at an early age that she is a Succubus - a mythical being who feeds on the sexual energy of humans. This series, sassy human sidekick Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) is kidnapped by a creature, who assumes her identity with malevolent intent, police detective Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) gets a new partner (Rachel Skarsten) and Bo prepares for the final rite of passage as one of the creatures of legend known as the Fae.

Fleming - The Man Who Would Be Bond (Cert 15, 178 mins, 2entertain, DVD £14.99, Drama/Romance/War/Action)

Dominic Cooper is shaken but not stirred as the creator of James Bond in this four-part mini-series, which broadcast on Sky Atlantic. As a young man, Fleming (Cooper) harks from a wealthy family and enjoys the trappings of this privileged existence, attending various parties and seducing the female guests. Then the Second World War erupts and Fleming assumes the role of a Naval Intelligence Officer and discovers he has a natural flair for this battle war of wits. Inspired by his experiences as part of the spy game and a series of affairs with married women, Fleming turns to the page and gives birth to the character and novels that will cement his name in literary history.

We Are What We Are (Cert 18, 105 mins, Entertainment One, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Horror/Thriller)

Jim Mickle directs this English language remake of the 2010 Mexican horror of the same name. Frank Parker (Bill Sage) presides over a close-knit family that harbours a dark and disturbing secret. The Parkers keep to themselves - for good reason - and continue their gruesome customs behind closed doors. However, when Frank falls ill, Iris (Ambyr Childers) and Rose (Julia Garner) are forced to take care of their old man as well as their younger brother Rory (Jack Gore). In the midst of this emotional turmoil, a storm hits the town and exposes a number of gruesome finds to the authorities. The trail of evidence leads to the front door of the Parkers and the police stumble tantalisingly closer to uncovering the Parkers' gruesome ancestral secret.

For Those In Peril (Cert 18, 92 mins, Soda Pictures, DVD £17.99, Drama)

Paul Wright's impressive debut feature premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Aaron (George Mackay) is part of a close-knit community for which fishing is a traditional way of life. A terrible accident at sea claims the lives of five men including Aaron's older brother, Michael (Jordan Young). Aaron is the sole survivor but he has no recollection of the horrors at sea and can offer no words of comfort to his family, friends and neighbours in this time of grief. His sense of helplessness escalates and gradually, Aaron clings onto the belief that Michael and the other men didn't die after all and somehow survived their ordeal.

The English Teacher (Cert 12, 93 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Drama/Romance)

Education can turn a life around, even when the future seems hopeless, in Craig Zisk's comedy drama. Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is an English teacher in the small town of Kingston, Pennsylvania. She is strict and does everything by the book, but gets results from her students by challenging them. Her simple life is turned on its head when former star pupil Jason (Michael Angarano) returns to Kingston. Jason confides that his dream of becoming a successful playwright has been dashed to smithereens and he is ready to admit defeat. Linda refuses to let her star pupil fail and she contrives an ambitious plan to stage the play at the school. For the hare-brained scheme to succeed, Linda must ignore the obvious sexual tension with Jason and contend with a reluctant school principal and familial woe.

Devil In The Woods (Cert 15, 94 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, DVD £15.99, Horror/Thriller)

Richard Vineyard (Richard Moyer) takes his family on a camping trip deep into forests steeped in myth and legend. As the clan pitches its tent, fellow campers tell Richard and his brood the story of the Jersey Devil: a monster, which supposedly lives in the forest and feasts on the flesh of the innocent and unwary. Needless to say, Richard's young children are terrified by the legend and Richard assures them there is no such thing as the Jersey Devil and they are perfectly safe. However, the father's own imagination goes into overdrive and as their trek through the forest leads them down a path of deer carcasses and disembowelled campers, Richard confronts the terrifying realisation that perhaps the Jersey Devil is real after all.

The Outsider (Cert 15, 94 mins, High Fliers Video Distribution, DVD £15.99, Action/Thriller)

British military contractor Lex Walker (Craig Fairbrass) is devastated to learn that his daughter has been killed. He travels to Los Angeles to identify her body but is shocked to be faced with the corpse of a stranger. Lex's initial relief turns to confusion and he resolves to find out what has really happened to his daughter. So he embarks on a mission to track down his child and ensure she is safe, leaving death and destruction in his wake. James Caan and Jason Patric co-star in Brian A Miller's straight-to-DVD crime thriller.

The Patience Stone (Cert 15, 102 mins, Axiom Films, DVD £15.99, Drama/Romance)

Atiq Rahimi directs and co-writes this award-winning drama about a woman, who tends to her comatose husband. The man (Hamidreza Javdan) suffers a bullet wound to the neck and is abandoned by all of his friends and family except for his young spouse (Golshifteh Farahani). She tends to him, even though he is unable to communicate. As her husband lies motionless in her care, the wife seizes the opportunity to regale him with the truth about her dreams and desires, and to lay bare her loneliness and heartbreak.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (Cert PG, 134 mins, Eros International, DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99, Romance/Drama)

Ayan Mukerji directs this Bollywood romance charting the fortunes of characters at crossroads in their lives. Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) and Naina (Deepika Padukone) first meet shortly after college, with myriad futures stretching out before them and their dreams still intact. They fall deliriously in love and choose their respective paths, hoping that the strength of their feelings will allow them to remain in each other's orbits. In their late twenties, having moved apart, Bunny does indeed gravitate back towards Naina, but now they have very different expectations and dreams. The love of the past still binds them but the road ahead is littered with obstacles and there is no guarantee that they can engineer a happy ending. Aditya Roy Kapur, Kalki Koechlin and Evelyn Sharma co-star.

The Cloth (Cert 15, 100 mins, Metrodome Distribution, DVD £12.99, Horror/Thriller)

Time is running out before Satan and his demonic minions take over the world. A secret organisation funded by the Catholic Church is determined to banish evil once and for all. Father Connely (Danny Trejo) and Father Tollman (Eric Roberts) lead this battle for the forces of good but the holy men are unprepared for the sacrifices they must make to ensure the safety of mankind in Justin Price's apocalyptic horror.

The Hospital (Cert 18, 91 mins, Point Blank, DVD £15.99, Horror/Thriller)

The spirits of the past torment the living in Tommy Golden and Daniel Emery Taylor's bloodthirsty horror. Attractive student Beth Stratman (Constance Medrano) joins a group of paranormal investigators at a disused hospital in Bridgeport, which is supposedly haunted. Unbeknown to the interlopers, the hospital is the hunting ground of a madman called Stanley Creech (Daniel Emery Taylor), who targets the investigators with sadistic glee. However, Stanley doesn't know that the legends about ghosts and ghouls are very real and he falls victim to the spirits of the hospital who are determined to make the killer pay for his heinous actions.

Raanjhanaa (Cert 12, 140 mins, Eros International, DVD £12.99/Blu-ray £15.99, Romance/Drama)

Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor fall deliriously in love in Aanand Rai's Bollywood romance. Kundan (Dhanush) has been smitten with Zoya (Kapoor) since he was a teenager but he realises those feelings are not reciprocated so he hides his heartache for the sake of the friendship. Zoya moves to Delhi to study and she returns home to the town of Benaras to inform Kundan that she has fallen head over heels in love with college friend Akram (Abhay Deol). Zoya implores Kundan to help her woo Akram and he agrees, hiding his pain to ensure the woman he adores gets her man. In the process, Zoya begins to see Kundan in a flattering new light.

After Death (Cert 12, 92 mins, Three Wolves Ltd, DVD £19.99, Drama/Thriller)

Martin Gooch writes and directs this British mystery drama about three estranged siblings who return home after the death of their father. Widowed inventor Mr Jones (Paul Freeman) inadvertently killed one of his children and lost touch with the remaining three siblings, Eloise (Claira Watson Parr), Suki (Nicola Goodchild) and Yossarian (Ben Shockley). Following several years of estrangement from his brood, Mr Jones passes away and his offspring return to the house to pay their last respects. Family solicitor Rupert Deadlock (David Acton) tells Eloise, Suki and Yossarian that their father was heavily in debt and he borrowed against the house, which now belongs to the bank. Faced with the prospect of losing their childhood home, the three children reluctantly use their father's very last invention - a window to the supernatural world - to confront the ghosts of the past.

Inescapable (Cert 15, 93 mins, Signature Entertainment, DVD £14.99, Thriller/Action)

Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei and Joshua Jackson headline Ruba Nadda's tense abduction thriller. Adib (Siddig) is a former Syrian intelligence officer, who fled his homeland many years ago and now works as an IT manager for a bank in Toronto. Out of the blue, he receives a telephone call explaining that his beloved daughter has disappeared in Damascus. With the help of a Canadian embassy worker Paul (Joshua Jackson), Adib reluctantly returns home to search for his daughter, reuniting with his old flame, Fatima (Marisa Tomei).

Top 10 DVD retail

1. (1) Game of Thrones - Season 3

2. (-) Thor: The Dark World

3. (2) Captain Phillips

4. (-) Downton Abbey: The London Season

5. (-) Downton Abbey - Series 4

6. (-) Blue Jasmine

7. (9) Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred

8. (5) Rush Sunshine On Leith

9. (-) House Of Cards - Season 1

10. (-) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: Revenge of the Leftovers

(Chart supplied by amazon.co.uk)

Top 10 DVD rental

1. (1) The World's End

2. (2) The Wolverine

3. (3) The Great Gatsby

4. (4) The Heat

5. (5) Elysium

6. (6) Pacific Rim

7. (7) Rush

8. (8) Despicable Me 2

9. (9) The Internship

10. (10) The Frozen Ground

(Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com)

Top 10 film streaming

1. (1) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

2. (2) Warm Bodies

3. (3) Bullet to the Head

4. (4) Cars

5. (5) The Black Cauldron

6. (7) Cass

7. (9) The Brothers Grimm

8. (6) Awaydays

9. (8) Son of Rambow

10. (-) X - Night of Vengeance

(Chart supplied by www.LOVEFiLM.com)