DVD Review - March 27

Starring: Bill Murray, Jaeden Lieberher, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O'Dowd, Terrence Howard, Donna Mitchell.

Vincent (Bill Murray) lives in a ramshackle house in Brooklyn with a pet cat and dreams of the past. He owes a small fortune to bookie Zucko (Terrence Howard), who is reluctantly threatening to smash Vincent's kneecaps unless fortunes change. Lady Luck smiles on the sexagenarian loner when struggling single mother Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) move in next door and Vincent exploits Maggie to become the lad's babysitter. While Maggie works long hours, Vincent introduces Oliver to horse racing, his feisty Russian companion-for-money Daka (Naomi Watts) and an elderly woman with Alzheimer's called Sandy (Donna Mitchell), who he visits at an expensive nursing home. When Oliver's schoolteacher Brother Geraghty (Chris O'Dowd) asks his impressionable charges to deliver a verbal report on someone they consider a 21st-century saint, the boy knows exactly who he wants to canonise. St Vincent is a touching and frequently uproarious character study, which exposes glimmers of hope for each dysfunctional protagonist and encourages them to walk towards the light comedy. Murray is in riotous form, deploying split-second comic timing to devastating effect as he reveals a beating heart of gold beneath the shambolic appearance of his penny-pinching curmudgeon. McCarthy abandons her usual schtick to embody a mother in crisis and Watts plies a thick cod-eastern European accent as the working girl looking for a break. Newcomer Lieberher is magnificent as the spirited tyke, whose innocence and unwavering faith provide a beacon of hope for Vincent. Writer-director Theodore Melfi wrings us dry of laughter and tears in the process.

Rating: ****

RELEASED

Interstellar (Cert 12, 168 mins, Warner Home Video, Sci-Fi/Adventure/Action/Drama, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99/Limited Edition Digibook Blu-ray £32.99 or on-demand from various streaming services)

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Timothee Chalamet, Mackenzie Foy, John Lithgow.

Planet earth is dying. Former test pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) toils the parched soil with his 15-year-old son Tom (Timothee Chalamet) and 10-year-old daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy). He answers a call from Professor Brand (Michael Caine) and agrees to lead a mission to locate a new planet capable of sustaining human life. "We're not meant to save the world. We're meant to leave it," explains Brand, whose scientist daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) will be part of the four-strong crew along with astrophysicist Romilly (David Gyasi) and pilot Doyle (Wes Bentley). Leaving his brood in the care of his father-in-law (John Lithgow), Cooper undertakes the most important mission in human history, knowing that failure would mean certain death for the people he loves. Epic in scope and wildly ambitious, Interstellar doesn't quite achieve its bold vision of a love story between a father and daughter set against the vast backdrop of mankind's final roll of the dice to avoid extinction. Oscar winners McConaughey and Hathaway add emotional heft to their embattled astronauts, wringing out tears after Amelia sternly warns Cooper: "You might have to choose between seeing your children again and saving the human race." A couple of dense, wordy philosophical discussions about gravity and love orbit the moon of unintentional hilarity but thankfully, writer-director Christopher Nolan avoids the crash and burn in the nick of time. Composer Hans Zimmer, who collaborated with the London-born director on The Dark Knight trilogy, provides another bombastic orchestral score to complement the majestic imagery that loses some of its impact on the small screen.

Rating: ***

Penguins Of Madagascar (Cert U, 92 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Animation/Comedy/Adventure/Action, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £27.99 or on-demand from various streaming services)

Featuring the voices of: Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Peter Stormare.

Plucky penguin Skipper (voiced by Tom McGrath) leads a crack squad comprising Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (Conrad Vernon) and Private (Christopher Knights) on a daring mission to break into Fort Knox in search of treasure: a luminous orange snack called Cheezy Dibbles. The penguins subsequently fall into the clutches of nefarious octopus Dr Octavius Brine (John Malkovich), who intends to take over the world using his mutation serum. Thankfully, Skipper and co escape and a chase along the canals of Venice leads the penguins into the company of a grey wolf called Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch), who works for an elite inter-species task force known as North Wind. Fellow agents include harp seal demolitions expert Short Fuse (Ken Jeong), snowy owl intelligence analyst Eva (Annet Mahendru) and plucky polar bear Corporal (Peter Stormare). The unlikely heroes join forces to defeat their tentacled arch-nemesis but this collaboration will amount to nothing unless Skipper allows Private to discover the hero within. Penguins Of Madagascar is a misfiring computer-animated spin-off from the Madagascar films, which haphazardly sketches the back story of the four plucky Antarctic critters with a beak for adventure. The colour-saturated animation is a feast for the eyes and there are a few neat visual gags such as the penguins' novel approach to navigating a zebra crossing undetected. However, the four lead characters, who are boundlessly charming in small doses as sidekicks of the Madagascar films, grate as heroes of their own half-baked story. Birds of a feather somersault, karate kick and bicker together. The underlying message of tolerance and acceptance has been preached countless times before.

Rating: ***

Get On Up (Cert 12, 139 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Drama/Musical/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99/Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray £29.99 or on-demand from various streaming services)

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis, Lennie James, Jill Scott, Octavia Spencer, Jordan Scott, Jamarion Scott.

As a boy growing up in 1940s South Carolina, James Brown (Jordan and Jamarion Scott) witnesses violent clashes between his parents. Consequently, his battered mother (Viola Davis) walks out, leaving James with his hotheaded father (Lennie James). The old man delivers the boy into the care of Aunt Honey (Octavia Spencer), who runs a brothel. Under her tutelage, James (now played by Chadwick Boseman) attends church and develops his passion for music in the choir, before meeting Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis). They form a rhythm and blues vocal group called The Famous Flames and sign to King Records, releasing their first single "Please Please Please" in 1956. Ben Bart (Dan Aykroyd) becomes James' manager and pushes the flamboyant showman to the fore at the expense of the other members of the group. Get On Up is a handsome biopic directed by Tate Taylor (The Help), which charts the rise of soul brother James Brown against a backdrop of civil unrest. Three hours in a make-up chair to apply full-body prosthetics and a bouffant hair-piece aids Boseman's stunning metamorphosis across five decades that defined the face of multi-cultural America. Costumes and wigs would be superfluous without the actor's startling ability to capture every facet of Brown's personality from the raspy voice and cool cat swagger to his fleet-footed shuffles on stage. Jez and John-Henry Butterworth's fragmented script feels emotionally underpowered. However, concert sequences are electrifying, including a recreation of a 1971 gig in Paris that sees Brown whip the audience into a frenzy with "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine" and "Super Bad".

Rating: ***

Horrible Bosses 2 (Cert 15, 108 mins, Warner Home Video, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Two Film DVD Box Set £24.99/Blu-ray £24.99 or on-demand from various streaming services)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Kevin Spacey.

Best friends Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) launch their invention, Shower Buddy, which dispenses shampoo directly into the cascading water. Burt Hanson (Christoph Waltz), multi-millionaire owner of a giant mail-order retailer, places an initial order of 100,000 units. Once the final Shower Buddy has been lovingly manufactured and packaged, Burt ruthlessly cancels his order and unveils a rip-off called Shower Pal, which is manufactured cheaper abroad. Faced with financial ruin, Nick, Dale and Kurt foresee one way out: kidnap Burt's son Rex (Chris Pine) and ransom the younger Hanson for a small fortune. The hare-brained plan spirals out of control and the trio crosses paths once again with cool cat associate Dean Jones (Jamie Foxx), jailbird David Harken (Kevin Spacey) and Dale's old boss, sexual predator Dr Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston). Horrible Bosses 2 is a raunchy sequel that subjects the unfortunate characters from the first film to a barrage of potty-mouthed humiliations that might be tolerable if we could muster an iota of sympathy for anyone in this redundant and joyless mess. Alas, the lumbering script, scrawled by director Sean Anders and John Morris, has its mind in the gutter. Bateman's solid low-key performance contrasts starkly with the irritating double-act of Day and Sudeikis. Like a pair of wasps trapped in a jam jar, they buzz endlessly as dim-witted dullards, who barely seem capable of drawing breath, let alone carrying out a kidnapping. An early demise for their numbskull characters would be a blessed relief. A two-disc set comprising the original Horrible Bosses and the sequel is also available.

Rating: **

NEW TO BUY ON DVD/BLU-RAY AND ON-DEMAND

Top Gear: Patagonia Special (Cert 12, 120 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £17.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Special Interest)

The front page headlines about Jeremy Clarkson should only intensify interest in this feature-length special of the popular BBC motoring show, which takes Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May on a gruelling 1,600-mile trip through Patagonia. As they drive through Chile and Argentina in their respective Porsche 928, Ford Mustang and Lotus Esprit, the three presenters encounter controversy and misfortune, ultimately bound for the world's southernmost city of Ushuaia where they will take on the Argentines in a game of car football.

DCI Banks - Series Three (Cert 15, 267 mins, ITV Studios Home Entertainment, DVD £19.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Thriller/Drama)

Stephen Tompkinson reprises his role as grizzled Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks in three two-part investigations of the gritty ITV1 drama based on the crime novels by Peter Robinson. This series, DI Helen Morton (Caroline Catz) leads a raid on a house belonging to Banks' former neighbour while DCI Banks and ambitious DS Annie Cabbot (Andrea Lowe) probe the kidnapping of an 11-year-old boy and the murder of a journalist, whose body is discovered in a holiday chalet. The two-disc DVD includes Wednesday's Child, Piece Of My Heart and Bad Boy.

Silent Witness - Series Eighteen (Cert 15, 580 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Thriller/Drama)

Dr Thomas Chamberlain (Richard Lintern) continues to earn the trust and respect of forensic pathologists Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Dr Harry Cunningham (Tom Ward) in five two-part investigations from the long-running BBC One crime drama. This series, the team wanders into the cross hairs of a sniper, who is slaying people at random, and they investigate the case of a man who is pushed to his death in front of a train. The DVD includes Sniper's Nest, Falling Angels, Protection, Squaring The Circle and One Of Our Own.

Veep - The Complete Third Season (Cert 15, 224 mins, Warner Home Video/HBO, DVD £24.99/Blu-ray £29.99 or on-demand from various streaming services, Comedy/Romance)

Politics is a messy business for Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in another 10 episodes of the hilarious spin-off from the award-winning British political comedy, The Thick Of It, created by Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell. This series, Selina quietly prepares for her run for the White House and she calls upon Chief of Staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky) and her personal assistant Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) to secure political allies. Also, personal trainer Ray (Christopher Meloni) attempts to whip Selina into shape, and her Director of Communications Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh) struggles to achieve a perfect work/life balance. The two-disc set includes Some New Beginnings, The Choice, Alicia, Clovis, Fishing, Detroit, Special Relationship, Debate, Crate and New Hampshire.

Roald Dahl's Esio Trot (Cert U, 90 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99, Romance/Drama/Comedy)

Originally broadcast on New Year's Day on BBC One, this adaptation of Roald Dahl's book stars Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench as fated lovers, with a script co-written by Richard Curtis (Love Actually) and Paul Mayhew-Archer. Retired bachelor Mr Hoppy (Hoffman) is head over heels in love with his neighbour Mrs Silver (Dench) but she only seems to be interested in her pet tortoise Alfie. So Mr Hoppy hatches an audacious plan to win her love by convincing Mrs Silver that he can help her tortoise grow using a magic chant. Sure enough, Alfie's size miraculously increases, just as Mr Hoppy promised. Little does Mrs Silver realise that her neighbour is replacing Alfie with increasingly larger tortoises.

That Day We Sang (Cert 12, 90 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £19.99, Musical/Drama/Romance)

Originally conceived as a stage production for the Manchester International Festival, Victoria Wood's musical drama unfolds in 1929 and 1969, and centres on two middle-aged people gifted a second chance at life. As schoolchildren, Tubby (Michael Ball) and Enid (Imelda Staunton) were part of Manchester Children's Choir and famously recorded a stirring rendition of Purcell's Nymphs And Shepherds with the Halle orchestra. Forty years later, a Granada TV documentary about the recording brings together insurance salesman Tubby and spinster Enid, who is romantically entangled with her married boss. Sparks of attraction fly as the two old friends reconnect.

TOP 10 DVD RETAIL

1 (-) Paddington

2 (1) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

3 (2) The Imitation Game

4 (3) Game Of Thrones - Season 4

5 (4) Charlotte Crosby's 3 Minute Belly Blitz

6 (-) Divergent

7 (9) Wolf Hall

8 (5) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

9 (-) Davina - Fit In 15

10 (6) The Grand Budapest Hotel

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

TOP 10 DVD RENTAL

1 (2) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

2 (3) Paddington

3 (1) The Imitation Game

4 (8) Interstellar

5 (9) The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

6 (6) Fury

7 (4) Mr Turner

8 (5) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

9 (7) Gone Girl

10 (10) Fifty Shades Of Grey (Pre-Orders)

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

TOP 10 FILM STREAMING

1 (1) Divergent

2 (-) Need For Speed

3 (2) Delivery Man

4 (3) Pitch Perfect

5 (6) Cloud Atlas

6 (4) That Awkward Moment

7 (5) Secret Of The Wings

8 (9) Monsters, Inc.

9 (7) Aladdin

10 (8) 12 Years A Slave

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