DVD Review - January 31

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Tyler Perry, Missi Pyle, Sela Ward, David Clennon, Lisa Beth.

On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) calls detectives Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) to his home. There are signs of a struggle and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) is missing. Nick's sister Margo (Carrie Coon), who has never liked Amy, assures her sibling that everything will be fine. "Whoever took her's bound to bring her back," she quips cattily. Nick and Amy's distraught parents (David Clennon, Lisa Beth) front a high-profile media campaign to secure the safe return of "amazing Amy". In the glare of the spotlight, fractures appear in the Dunnes' marriage and police and public openly question Nick's innocence. Gone Girl is a spiky satire on media manipulation and the glossy facade of celebrity marriages, skillfully adapted by Gillian Flynn from her 2012 bestseller. Admittedly, you have to dig deep beneath the surface of David Fincher's polished film to find the jet black humour but it's there, walking hand-in-hand with sadism and torture that propel the narrative towards its unconventional denouement at breakneck speed. Oscar nominee Pike plumbs the depths of human emotion in a demanding and complex role, by turns brittle and steely, terrified and driven. In stark contrast, Affleck is solid but little more as the spouse who pleads his ignorance but hides secrets from the people he adores. As battles of the sexes go, it's a resolutely one-sided skirmish. Fincher's direction is lean, complemented by snappy editing and a discordant score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Rating: ****

RELEASED

Maps To The Stars (Cert 18, 111 mins, Entertainment One, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99 or on-demand from various streaming services)

Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Olivia Williams, Evan Bird, Sarah Gadon, Sean G Robertson, Carrie Fisher, Gord Rand.

Thirteen-year-old Benjie Weiss (Evan Bird) is the pre-pubescent prince of Hollywood, whose upward trajectory is carefully managed by his mother Christina (Olivia Williams). Back at home, Benjie's father, self-help guru Dr Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), realigns the chakras of wealthy clientele including fame-hungry actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), who is pinning her resurgence on a remake of the film that made her mother, Clarice Taggart (Sarah Gadon), a star. Havana hopes her friend Carrie Fisher (playing herself) might put in a good word with the remake's director, indie wunderkind Damien Javitz (Gord Rand). While Havana awaits news on the role, she employs a new personal assistant, a "disfigured schizophrenic" called Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), whose sardonic take on Hollywood attracts handsome limo driver Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson). Maps To The Stars is a relentlessly grim satire of ambition, greed and dark familial secrets. David Cronenberg's film is anchored by Moore's fearless and emotionally raw performance as a screen siren, who is haunted - literally - by the ghost of her more successful mother. Wasikowska is similarly impressive as a daughter undone by the sins of her father and Pattinson continues to shove a stake through the heart of his image as a swooning teen dreamboat in the Twilight saga. Screenwriter Bruce Wagner doesn't always achieve smooth transitions between black comedy, drama and tragedy. However, he is wickedly unflinching in his depiction of how far some starlets will go to extend their 15 minutes of fame... even if it means thrusting a stiletto heel into the head of a rival to clamber up the pecking order.

Rating: ***

If I Stay (Cert 12, 106 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99 or on-demand from various streaming services)

Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley, Joshua Leonard, Mireille Enos, Liana Liberato, Stacy Keach, Gabrielle Rose, Jakob Davies, Ali Milner.

Cello prodigy Mia Hall (Chloe Grace Moretz) has never felt like she fits in with her parents Denny (Joshua Leonard) and Kat (Mireille Enos) or little brother Teddy (Jakob Davies). "I've always felt like this Martian in my family," Mia tells Adam (Jamie Blackley), her school's resident dreamboat, who plays guitar in the band Willamette Stone and is destined for great things, including falling for Mia. Their romance burns bright until Willamette Stone are signed to a record label and the pressure of touring takes Adam away from Mia. Soon after, Denny and Kat pack the children into the car for an ill-fated drive down snow-laden roads. Mia wakes from a head-on collision and watches paramedics rush her lifeless body into an ambulance. At the hospital, where her grandparents (Stacy Keach, Gabrielle Rose) solemnly await news, Mia observes from a distance as medical staff attempt to save her life on the operating table. Based on Gayle Forman's bestselling novel, If I Stay is a heart-tugging drama that appeals shamelessly to young adults, who shed their body weight in tears at the far superior The Fault In Our Stars. RJ Cutler's film sidesteps a serious discussion of mortality by distilling Mia's ruminations into a series of flashbacks and montages of an enviably carefree childhood and a fairy-tale school romance. Moretz and Blackley are an attractive pairing and spark pleasing screen chemistry that sustains our interest through some mawkish and emotionally manipulative moments. The fractured chronology is unavoidable but hampers dramatic momentum, reducing a middle section laden with reminiscence and regret to a crawl.

Rating: **

Also released

In Order Of Disappearance (Cert 15, 116 mins, Metrodome Distribution, Thriller/Comedy, also available to buy DVD £14.99 or on-demand from various streaming services - see below)

Jessabelle (Cert 15, 90 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99 or on-demand from various streaming services - see below)

Life After Beth (Cert 15, 89 mins, Koch Media, Comedy/Horror/Romance, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 or on-demand from various streaming services - see below)

One Night In Istanbul (Cert 12, 93 mins, Spirit Entertainment, Comedy/Drama, also available to buy DVD £15.99 - see below)

NEW TO BUY ON DVD/BLU-RAY

Last Tango In Halifax - Series Three (Cert 12, 344 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99/Series One, Two & Three DVD Box Set £29.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Drama/Romance)

A second chance at love comes at a price for widowed seventy-somethings Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid) in six episodes of the popular BBC One drama created by Sally Wainwright. This series, Alan's daughter Gillian (Nicola Walker) goes on a date with Gary (Rupert Graves), unaware that her suitor is her father's long lost son, Celia's daughter Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) proposes to her heavily pregnant partner Kate (Nina Sosanya), and unexpected tragedy compels the two families to come together in a heartbreaking hour of need. A six-disc box set comprising all three series is also available.

Still Open All Hours - Series One (Cert PG, 196 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Comedy)

David Jason reprises his role as Granville in this modern update to the classic BBC sitcom Open All Hours. Granville inherits his family's corner shop from his deceased uncle Arkwright and runs the business with his son Leroy (James Baxter) by continuing to hoodwink customers into buying stock that he needs to shift. Efforts to woo old flame Mavis (Maggie Ollerenshaw) are extinguished by Mavis's odious sister Madge (Brigit Forsyth) so Granville attempts to soften her heart by setting Madge up with his pal Gastric (Tim Healy). The DVD includes six episodes plus the Christmas special.

One Night In Istanbul (Cert 12, 93 mins, Spirit Entertainment, DVD £15.99, Comedy/Drama)

Down-on-their luck taxi drivers Tommy (Stephen Waddington) and Gerry (Paul Barber) are lifelong fans of Liverpool FC and would love to take their sons to see Steven Gerrard and the team play in the Champion's League Final in Istanbul against AC Milan. So Tommy and Gerry strike an unusual deal with a local gangster to fund the once-in-a-lifetime excursion. As they head for the Turkish capital, the taxi drivers and their boys become embroiled in a series of comical escapes involving an alluring hotel chambermaid, counterfeit cash and a pair of cufflinks that reputedly belonged to Hitler.

Night Will Fall (Cert 15, 75 mins, BFI DVD, DVD £16.99, Documentary)

In the mid 1980s, an American researcher stumbled upon a rusty film can marked F3080 in the vaults of the Imperial War Museum in London. Inside was an incomplete film, made in the spring of 1945 and commissioned by Sidney Bernstein, chief of the Psychological Warfare Film Section of SHAEF, which documented the atrocities witnessed by Allied forces as they entered the German concentration camps. At the time, the British Government decided not to air the film, fearful that it would stall efforts to rebuild bridges across Europe with Germany. Dr Toby Haggith from the Museum has spent three years restoring the film, frame by frame, and recreated the missing final reel from the original shot lists. This feature-length documentary directed by Andre Singer recounts the incredible story of the making of the 1945 film, the people involved in its production - including Alfred Hitchcock and renowned editor Stewart McAllister - and the decision to never show the finished print.

Futurama - Season 8 (Cert 12, 286 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, DVD £24.99/The Complete Series DVD Box Set £84.99/Blu-ray £29.99, Animation/Sci-Fi/Comedy)

The end is nigh for Simpsons creator Matt Groening's futuristic animated comedy with these final 13 episodes concluding the misadventures of 20th century pizza delivery boy Philip J Fry (voiced by Billy West). This series, cyclopean Captain Leela (Katey Sagal) is looking forward to a romantic break with Fry until her old boyfriend Sean (David Herman) returns unexpectedly, Bender the inebriated robot (John DiMaggio) meets his idol, folk singer Silicon Red (Phil LaMarr), and Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) invents a contraption that sends shockwaves through space and time. A hefty 23-disc box set comprising all 124 episodes is also available.

Extant - The First Season (Cert 12, 403 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, DVD £29.99, Sci-Fi/Thriller/Action/Romance)

Oscar winner Halle Berry headlines this 10-part sci-fi drama from executive producer Steven Spielberg, about an astronaut who faces an agonizing and nightmarish dilemma. Molly Woods (Berry) returns safely to earth having carried out a 13-month solo mission aboard a space station. It takes her a little time to re-adjust to life back on terra firma with her husband John (Goran Visnjic), a robotics engineer who created their artificially intelligent android son Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) as part of his work spearheading the Humanichs Project. Molly's emotions are thrown into disarray when she discovers that she is pregnant and she conceived while alone in space. Unable to make sense of her condition, she searches in vain for answers.

Racing Hearts (Cert 12, 93 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, DVD £12.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Romance/Drama)

Fifty Shades Of Grey heartthrob Jamie Dornan delivers a more subdued performance in this romantic drama directed by Dominique Deruddere. American investment banker Colin (Dornan) is on the brink of a lucrative deal with a wealthy Arabian client (Ali Suliman) and he travels to Europe to win over the hearts and minds of the people. One of the locals, Isabelle (Charlotte De Bruyne), catches his eye and Colin falls head over heels in love with her when he should be concentrating on getting a signature on the contract. Torn between his career and his heart, Colin must decide between jeopardising his own deal and sacrificing his personal happiness.

Dominion - Season One (Cert 15, 450 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, DVD £21.99/Blu-ray £27.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Fantasy/Thriller/Romance)

Heaven and Hell are closer than we think in these nine episodes of the supernatural fantasy, which broadcasts on the Syfy channel and is set 25 years after God has turned his back on mankind. The archangel Michael (Tom Wisdom) sides with the humans in the war against Gabriel (Carl Beukes) and his army of fallen angels. The survivors of the apocalypse huddle together in fortified compounds such as Vega, where soldier Alex Lannen (Christopher Egan) leads the rebellion, flanked by his lover Claire (Roxanne McKee), whose father General Edward Riesen (Alan Dale) rules over the city with benevolence.

In Order Of Disappearance (Cert 15, 116 mins, Metrodome Distribution, DVD £14.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Thriller/Comedy)

A grief-stricken father investigates the circumstances surrounding his son's death in Hans Petter Moland's darkly comical thriller. Community leader Nils (Stellan Skarsgard) is awarded the prestigious prize of Citizen Of The Year but his joy is short-lived when news reaches him that his son has died from a heroin overdose. Nils is certain that his boy wouldn't have thrown away his life on drugs and suspects foul play. So he begins to trace his son's final movements and surmises that his boy was the victim of an underground turf war between Serbian drug dealers and a shadowy criminal masterminded nicknamed The Count. Regardless of the threat to his own life, Nils resolves to avenge his son and bring his child's killers to justice.

Vic & Bob's House Of Fools - Series One (Cert 12, 175 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Comedy)

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer write and star in this madcap BBC sitcom set in Bob's flat, which he shares with his reclusive Norwegian son Erik (Daniel Simonsen). Bob's best friend Vic regularly drops by to disturb the peace along with his convicted brother Bosh (Dan Renton Skinner) and two eccentric neighbours, Beefy (Matt Berry) and Julie (Morgana Robinson). The DVD includes the episodes The Conan Affair, The Pork Pie Affair, The Probation Affair, The Wig Affair, The Birthday Affair, The Ghost Affair and The Bobble Hat Affair.

Jessabelle (Cert 15, 90 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, DVD £15.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Horror/Thriller)

Jessie (Sarah Snook) is involved in a terrible car accident, which kills her fiance and causes her to miscarry. She also suffers horrific injuries to her legs and becomes a wheelchair user. Her estranged father Leon (David Andrews) spirits Jessie back to her childhood home in St Francis, Louisiana to recuperate. Surrounded by memories of the past, Jessie stumbles upon a videotape in which her mother Kate (Joelle Carter), who died of cancer, appears to be reading Tarot cards to her on camera. The recording suggests there is a malevolent female presence in the home and soon after, the spirit begins to torment Jessie. As the visitations become more vivid and violent, Jessie turns to her old high school boyfriend, Preston (Mark Webber), for emotional support.

Life After Beth (Cert 15, 89 mins, Koch Media, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Comedy/Horror/Romance)

Zach (Dane DeHaan) is plunged into grief when his girlfriend Beth (Aubrey Plaza) is bitten by a snake during a hike and subsequently dies. He seeks comfort in the company of Beth's parents Maury (John C Reilly) and Geenie (Molly Shannon) telling them about all of the things he wished they could have experienced had fate not cruelly intervened. A few days later, Zach visits Beth's grave and it is empty. He contacts Maury and Geenie and they eventually confess that they have been hiding their daughter, who turned up after the funeral with no memory of the past. Zach is delighted and he rekindles his romance with Beth but her increasingly violent behaviour drives a wedge between them. Then Zach notices that there are other people in town suffering from similar mood swings.

TOP 10 DVD RETAIL

1 (1) Charlotte Crosby's 3 Minute Belly Blitz

2 (3) Davina: 7 Minute Fit - New For 2015

3 (-) The Big Bang Theory - Season 1-7

4 (-) What We Did On Our Holiday

5 (2) The Grand Budapest Hotel

6 (6) Davina - Fit In 15

7 (4) Broadchurch

8 (7) Downton Abbey: A Moorland Holiday (Christmas Special 2014)

9 (-) The Equalizer

10 (-) The Boxtrolls

(Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk/DVD)

TOP 10 DVD RENTAL

1 (-) Lucy

2 (3) The Grand Budapest Hotel

3 (-) Gone Girl

4 (1) Guardians Of The Galaxy

6 (-) Boyhood

7 (-) The Equalizer

8 (-) A Walk Among the Tombstones

9 (-) Paddington

10 (6) The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

(Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk/DVD)

TOP 10 FILM STREAMING

1 (1) Django Unchained

2 (3) 12 Years A Slave

3 (2) Pitch Perfect

4 (-) Life of Pi

5 (5) Escape Plan

6 (6) Taken 2

7 (7) Monsters, Inc.

8 (-) Non-Stop

9 (8) Cars 2

10 (9) Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows

(Chart supplied by Amazon.co.uk/DVD)