{"id":4507,"date":"2009-01-19T14:23:28","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T14:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=4507"},"modified":"2009-01-19T14:23:28","modified_gmt":"2009-01-19T14:23:28","slug":"uk-dvd-releases-monday-19th-january-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/01\/19\/uk-dvd-releases-monday-19th-january-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"UK DVD Releases: Monday 19th January 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a> Recount<\/a><\/strong> (HBO): A fascinating drama that\u00a0chronicles the\u00a02000 United States Presidential Election<\/a>\u00a0Bush v. Gore<\/a><\/em>\u00a0case between Governor of Texas\u00a0George W. Bush<\/a>\u00a0and Vice President\u00a0Al Gore<\/a>. Made for HBO, it has all the class and depth that you would expect from their best work. It boasts an impressive cast including:\u00a0Kevin Spacey<\/a>\u00a0(as Gore’s campaign manager\u00a0Ron Klain<\/a>);\u00a0Tom Wilkinson<\/a>\u00a0(as\u00a0James Baker<\/a>);\u00a0Denis Leary<\/a>\u00a0(as\u00a0Michael Whouley<\/a>);\u00a0John Hurt<\/a>\u00a0(as\u00a0Warren Christopher<\/a>);\u00a0Laura Dern<\/a>\u00a0(as\u00a0Katherine Harris<\/a>) and\u00a0Ed Begley, Jr.<\/a>\u00a0(as\u00a0David Boies<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n Directed by\u00a0Jay Roach<\/a>\u00a0and written by\u00a0Danny Strong<\/a>, it manages to avoid the clumsy political stereotypes of this kind of drama and manages to convey the humour and despair of one of the most extraordinary elections in US history.\u00a0<\/p>\n Extras include:<\/p>\n It was screened on More4<\/a> just before the US election and more recently on Channel 4<\/a>, but if you didn’t see it then the DVD is an essential purchase just in time for the inauguration of Barack Obama<\/a>. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Eden Lake<\/a><\/strong> (Optimum): British horror films of late haven’t been very exciting or innovative but this one was something of an exception. Directed by James Watkins, it shows a\u00a0young couple (Kelly Reilly<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Fassbender<\/a>) on a romantic getaway who get terrorised by a gang of obnoxious kids. Although the setup is a familiar Deliverance<\/a>-style narrative, the acting and direction are a cut above films of this type and although there is violence, it avoids the tedious horror-porn cliches that have dragged the horror genre down of late.<\/p>\n Extras include:<\/p>\n * Listen to our interview with director James Watkins<\/strong> about the film<\/a> *<\/p>\n Masada<\/a><\/strong> (Universal Playback): Before the age of HBO, the established TV networks did actually invest in decent\u00a0high-quality made-for-TV dramas. Often these took the form of a miniseries<\/a>\u00a0such as Masada, which aired on\u00a0ABC<\/a>\u00a0in April 1981. It was a fictionalized account of the historical siege of the\u00a0Masada<\/a>\u00a0citadel by legions of the\u00a0Roman Empire<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a073 A.D.<\/a>.<\/p>\n The script is based on the novel “The Antagonists” by\u00a0Ernest Gann<\/a>. The siege ended when the Roman armies were able to enter the fortress, only to discover the\u00a0mass suicide<\/a>\u00a0by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.\u00a0<\/p>\n It starred\u00a0Peter O’Toole<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0Roman legion<\/a>\u00a0commander\u00a0Lucius Flavius Silva<\/a>,\u00a0Peter Strauss<\/a>\u00a0as the Jewish commander Elazar ben Ya’ir, and\u00a0Barbara Carrera<\/a>\u00a0as Silva’s Jewish mistress.\u00a0David Warner<\/a>, as Pomponius Falco, won an Emmy for his role. O’Toole was nominated for an\u00a0Emmy Award<\/a>\u00a0for his performance and it was his first appearance in an American miniseries.<\/p>\n Despite this being a made for TV drama, the costumes and production design are impressive and the performances are all solid, even if they occasionally slip into the Shakespearean style that seems to affect anything remotely historical doene in the English language.<\/p>\n Extras are limited to say the least but you are getting 6 hours of content, which is pretty good value.\u00a0<\/p>\n [ad]<\/p>\n ALSO OUT<\/strong><\/p>\n Dallas – Season 10<\/a><\/strong> (Warner) \u00a0 DVD PICKS Recount (HBO): A fascinating drama that\u00a0chronicles the\u00a02000 United States Presidential Election\u00a0Bush v. Gore\u00a0case between Governor of Texas\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0and Vice President\u00a0Al Gore. Made for HBO, it has all the class and depth that you would expect from their best work. It boasts an impressive cast including:\u00a0Kevin Spacey\u00a0(as Gore’s campaign manager\u00a0Ron Klain);\u00a0Tom Wilkinson\u00a0(as\u00a0James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2788,496,759,758,632],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0
\nDVD PICKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n
\nDawson’s Weekly<\/a><\/strong> (Network)
\nDoctor Who – The Next Doctor<\/a><\/strong> (2 Entertain)
\nLouis Theroux: The Strange and The Dangerous<\/a><\/strong> (2 Entertain)
\nScrubs – Season 7<\/a><\/strong> <\/span>(Disney)
\nThe Galton and Simpson Playhouse<\/strong><\/a> (Network)
\nThe Sullivans – On the Brink of War<\/a><\/strong> (Fremantle)
\nX-Cross<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/strong><\/span>2<\/a><\/strong> (4Digital Asia)
\nYou Don’t Mess With The Zohan<\/a><\/strong> (Sony)<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>>\u00a0Check the latest DVD prices at DVD Price Check
\n<\/a>>\u00a0Take a look at the current UK cinema releases<\/a>\u00a0(W\/C Friday 16th January)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"