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DVD & Blu-ray

UK DVD & Blu-ray Releases: Monday 31st October 2011

Including The Tree of Life, The Conversation and The Outsiders

DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS

The Tree of Life (20th Century Fox Home Ent.): Terrence Malick’s hugely ambitious exploration of human life through the lens of a family growing up in 1950s Texas won the Palme d’Or earlier this year. Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken and Sean Penn, it features some astounding visuals, a story rich in emotion and some innovative visual effects. Forget reports about critics being divided on the film (they weren’t) and savour one of the best of the films of the year so far. [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK] [Original theatrical review]

The Conversation (StudioCanal): One of two classic films Francis Ford Coppola managed to direct in 1974 (the other was The Godfather Part II) this psychological thriller played upon themes of paranoia and surveillance, which were timely in the year Watergate forced Nixon to resign.ย Starring Gene Hackman as an expert who gradually fears he may have uncovered something sinister, it is a masterclass in visuals, audio and editing. Co-starring John Cazale, Frederic Forrest and Harrison Ford it does for audio what Antonioni’s Blowup (1966) did for photography. [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]

The Outsiders (Optimum Home Entertainment): Coppola’s 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel included a remarkable array of young actors: C. Thomas Howell, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and Ralph Macchio all feature in this teen melodrama about fueding ‘greasers’ and ‘socs’ in 1950s Oklahoma. It showed Coppola could recover after the disastrous One from the Heart (1982) and seemed to pave the way for his accomplished period films in the resulting decade, such as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]

ALSO OUT

Bad Teacher (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Beautiful Girls (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Everything Must Go (G2 Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Helldriver (Bounty Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Maniac Cop (Arrow Video) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Mimic (StudioCanal) [Blu-ray / Special Edition]
Orphans (Park Circus) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Quentin Tarantino Collection (Miramax) [Blu-ray / Box Set]
Robin of Sherwood: Complete Series 3 (Network) [Blu-ray / Box Set]
Shrek (DreamWorks Animation) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Shrek 2 (DreamWorks Animation) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Shrek the Third (DreamWorks Animation) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Smallville: Season 10 (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Smoke (StudioCanal) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Tactical Force (Entertainment One) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Adventures of Mark Twain (Eureka) [Blu-ray / 25th Anniversary Edition]
The Princess of Montpensier (StudioCanal) [Blu-ray / Normal]
X-Men: First Class (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]

>ย UK Cinema Releases for Friday 28th October 2011
>ย The Best DVD & Blu-ray releases of 2010