Categories
DVD & Blu-ray

UK DVD & Blu-ray Releases: Monday 5th March 2012

DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS

The Ides of March (Entertainment One): Adapted from Beau Williams’ stage play Farragut North, the basic story is a cocktail loosely inspired by the skulduggery of recent US presidential primaries. It focuses on a young, ambitious strategist (Ryan Gosling) who is assisting his campaign boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in getting an inspirational Democratic candidate (George Clooney) elected. With the Republican field bare, the primary takes on extra significance, especially when a rival campaign manager (Paul Giamatti), a journalist (Marisa Tomei) and an intern (Evan Rachel Wood) start to pose ethical and moral dilemmas. With a script credited to Williams, Clooney and Grant Heslov, it seems to be a deliberate attempt to apply the weary but wise tone of classic 1970s cinema to recent times. Clooney’s approach as director draws on the best work of Alan Pakula and Sidney Lumet, with moral ambiguity, composed framing and a considered use of long takes all adding to the atmosphere. [Read our full review here] [Buy on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]

Contagion (Warner Home Video): Director Steven Soderbergh’s latest is an all-star disaster movie that follows a global killer virus – think Traffic, only with disease. When Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns from a Hong Kong business trip to suburban Minneapolis, her husband (Matt Damon) is alarmed when she falls ill. When the virus spreads, the response team at the Center for Disease Control (Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Ehle) and the World Health Organization (Marion Cotillard) have to stop it spreading, whilst a Bay Area blogger Jude Law keeps ahead of the news media. Managing to avoid most horror/sci-fi clichés, Soderbergh channels to spirit of 1970s films like Earthquake, whilst updating it for out similarly bleak age. The script by Scott Z Burns is alarmingly plausible, drawing on the recent SAARS scare, whilst Soderbergh handles the global locations with such an assured touch, most people probably won’t notice. [Buy on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]

Anonymous (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): The very idea of Roland Emmerich making a movie about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays is enough to spark laughter, but the end result is a handsomely staged period piece. The premise revolves around Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans) and the conceit that he not only wrote the plays of Shakespeare, but did so as part of an elaborate political conspiracy involving Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave), playwright Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Sebastian Reid). The blizzard of stories that accompanied its cinema release centred around the authorship question and Sony Pictures staged a deeply misguided marketing campaign, baiting those upset with the premise. Not that it worked as early audiences seemed to have more problems with the ambitious jigsaw puzzle script, which cleverly mirrors the themes of Shakespeare’s plays. [Read our full review here] [Buy on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]

ALSO OUT

American Evil (Metrodome Distribution) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Columbus Circle (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Deviation (Revolver Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Dinosaur Jr: Live at 9:30 Club – In the Hands of the Fans (Wienerworld) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Dracula Prince of Darkness (StudioCanal) [Blu-ray / with DVD – Double Play]
Game of Thrones: Series 1 (Warner Home Video/HBO) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Immortals (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Nurse Jackie: Season 3 (Lionsgate UK) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Sket (Revolver Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Rum Diary (EV) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Tomboy (Peccadillo Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Urban Explorers (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / Normal]

Recent DVD & Blu-ray picks
The Best DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2011

Categories
Cinema

UK Cinema Releases: Friday 21st October 2011

KEY RELEASES

Contagion (Warner Bros.): Director Steven Soderbergh’s latest is an all-star disaster movie about a global killer virus – think Traffic, only with disease. Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Ehle star. [Nationwide / 12A]

We Need To Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye): Director Lynne Ramsay returns after a 9 year absence with this adaptation of the Lionel Shriver novel about a mother (Tilda Swinton) who has to deal with an unusual son (Ezra Miller). Co-starring John C Reilly. [Selected cinemas nationwide / 15]

Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount): The third installment of the low-budget/high profit horror franchise sees the makers of social media documentary Catfish direct. [Nationwide / 15]

ALSO OUT

Monte Carlo (20th Century Fox): Comedy about a teenager (Selena Gomez) who is mistaken for a British socialite and goes on a trip to Monte Carlo with her two friends. Directed by Thomas Bezucha, it co-stars Leighton Meester and Cory Monteith.

Restless (Sony Pictures): Drama about a teenage girl (Mia Wasikowska) who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals (Henry Hopper) and sees the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot. Directed by Gus Van Sant. [Selected cinemas / PG]

Reuniting the Rubens (Kaleidoscope Entertainment): Comedy about a Jewish man (Timothy Spall) who tries to re-unite his dysfunctional family in order to appease his ailing mother (Honor Blackman). Directed by Yoav Factor. [Selected cinemas / PG]

Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer (Universal): Comedy about a disgruntled girl (Jordana Beatty) whose boring summer is enlivened by a visit from her aunt. Directed by John Schultz, it co-stars Heather Graham.

Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (Soda Pictures): Documentary depicting the struggle for civil rights in the USA, resurrected from the vaults of Swedish TV. Directed by Göran Hugo Olsson. [Selected cinemas / 12A]

Blood in the Mobile (Dogwoof): Documentary about the connection between mobile phones and the civil war in the Congo. Directed by Frank Poulsen. [Selected cinemas / 12A]

> Get local cinema showtimes at Google Movies or FindAnyFilm
Recent UK DVD & Blu-ray releases