Categories
DVD & Blu-ray

UK DVD Releases: Monday 13th July 2009

DVD Picks 13-07-09

DVD PICKS

Religulous (Momentum): A smart and frequently hilarious documentary directed by Larry Charles in which US comedian Bill Maher explores the subject of religion.

Travelling to numerous religious places, such as Jerusalem, the Vatican and Salt Lake City, where they interview believers from a variety of backgrounds and groups including a former member of Jews for JesusChristiansMuslims, former Mormons and Hasidic Jews.

For some strange reason there are no DVD extras on the UK DVD, even though there are a few on the Region 1 DVD release.

* Listen to my interview with director Larry Charles about the film *

Mad Men Season 2 (Lionsgate): The second season of the best show currently on television continues to explore the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City’s Madison Avenue during the early 1960s.

The story lines still centre around creative director Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and the people in his work and personal life.

With the action now moving to 1962, notable plot lines in the second season include more revelations about Don’s personal life and big changes at Sterling Cooper.

After the first season proved a huge critical hit, it won numerous awards including three Golden Globes, a BAFTA and six Emmys and became only the second cable series ever to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.

US cable network AMC deserve a credit deal of credit for green lighting the show and when an HBO exec like Richard Plepler says: “Mad Men is a magnificent show, and the only problem with it is it’s not on HBO”, you know that the quality must be high.

The level of writing, direction, acting and production design is as good as anything you can currently see on TV or at the cinema.

The true genius of the show, created by Matthew Wiener, is that it manages to put a modern slant on the past by going beyond the period detail into something genuinely absorbing and profound.

The regular DVD has episodes are spread across three-discs presented in anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio.

Extras include:

  • Those Who Think Young: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner
  • The Gold Violin: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Elisabeth Moss
  • Six Month Leave: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, John Slattery and Joel Murray
  • The Inheritance: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser
  • “Birth of an Independent Woman, Part 1 and Part 2” – from housewives to working women, this featurette examines the rise of female independence in the Mad Men era
  • “An Era of Style” – featurette explores the fashion of the 1960’s and its lasting influence on designers today

On the Blu-ray Disc there are a few more extras, with a lot more audio commentaries:

  • For Those Who Think Young: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner
  • For Those Who Think Young: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm and January Jones
  • Flight 1: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm
  • Flight 1: Audio Commentary by Lisa Albert and Vincent Kartheiser
  • The Benefactor: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Elisabeth Moss
  • The Benefactor: Audio Commentary by Lesli Linka Glatter, Melinda McGraw and Rich Sommer
  • Three Sundays: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Marie and Andre Jacques
  • Three Sundays: Audio Commentary by Elisabeth Moss and Colin Hanks
  • The New Girl: Audio Commentary by Jennifer Getzinger and Robin Veith
  • The New Girl: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Melinda McGraw
  • Maidenform: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith
  • Maidenform: Audio Commentary by Phil Abraham and Mark Moses
  • The Gold Violin: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Elisabeth Moss
  • The Gold Violin: Audio Commentary by Bob Levinson, Josh Weltman and Bryan Batt
  • A Night To Remember: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith
  • A Night To Remember: Audio Commentary by Lesli Linka Glatter and January Jones
  • Six Month Leave: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Mike Uppendahl
  • Six Month Leave: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, John Slattery and Joel Murray
  • The Inheritance: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Lisa Albert
  • The Inheritance: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser
  • The Jet Set: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner, Phil Abraham and David Carbonara
  • The Jet Set: Audio Commentary by Scott Hornbacher, Dan Bishop and Amy Wells
  • The Mountain King: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Blake McCormick
  • The Mountain King: Audio Commentary by Robin Veith, Christina Hendricks and Robert Morse
  • Meditations in an Emergency: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and January Jones
  • Meditations in an Emergency: Audio Commentary by Kater Gordon, Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser
  • “Birth of an Independent Woman, Part 1 and Part 2” – from housewives to working women, this featurette examines the rise of female independence in the Mad Men era
  • “An Era of Style” – featurette explores the fashion of the 1960’s and its lasting influence on designers today
  • ”Time Capsule” – interactive featurettes paying homage to historical events of the 1960’s and the daring generation that lived through them

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The Young Victoria (Momentum):  A period piece about the early years of Queen Victoria stars Emily Blunt in the title role and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert.

There are also supporting performances from Paul Bettany (as Prime Minister Lord Melbourne) and Miranda Richardson as Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.

Although it might look like a conventional costume drama, the level of acting is very strong and the unlikely combination of Graham KingMartin Scorsese and Sarah, Duchess of York as producers (an unlikely trio, to say the least), screenwriter Julian Fellowes (a shrewd observer of England’s social layers) and director Jean-Marc Vallée is a winning one.

All of them have combined to make a much more substantial film than may have been expected which explores part of Victoria’s reign not really seen on screen before, namely the problems of her accession to the throne and her early relationship with Albert.

Extras include:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Making of The Young Victoria
  • The Coronation & The Wedding: Behind the scenes look at the production
  • Lavish History: Look at the costumes and locations

* Listen to my interview with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend about The Young Victoria *

Genova (Metrodome): Directed by the prolific Michael Winterbottom, this drama is the story of two American girls and their British father (Colin Firth) who move to Italy after their mother dies.

Co-starring Catherine Keener and Hope Davis, it was filmed in the titular city of Genoa (Genova in Italian) during the summer of 2007.

DVD extras include:

  • Bringing Genova to Life: the journey from story to screen
  • Shooting Genova: on location with the cast and crew
  • Original Score: Melissa Parmenter’s acclaimed complete score

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ALSO OUT

Anti-Clock (BFI)
Driven to Kill (Optimum)
Duplicity (Universal)
Fight Night (E1 Entertainment)
Hotel Babylon Series 3 (2Entertain)
How Not To Live Your Life (2Entertain)
In Sickness and In Health Series 4 (2Entertain)
Living With Monkeys – Tales From The Treetops (2Entertain)
Separation (BFI)
Table for Three (Anchor Bay)
The Burrowers (Lionsgate)
The Last Patrol (Anchor Bay)
The Other Side of the Underneath (BFI)
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon (Icon)
Torchwood: Children of Earth (2Entertain)

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> Browse more DVD Releases at Amazon UK and Play
> Check the latest DVD prices at DVD Price Check
> Take a look at the current UK cinema releases (W/C Friday 10th July)

Categories
Competitions DVD & Blu-ray

Competition: The Young Victoria on DVD

We have 3 DVD copies of The Young Victoria give away courtesy of Momentum Pictures.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée from a script by Julian Fellowes, it chronicles the early years of Queen Victoria (Emily Blunt) and her romance and marriage to Prince Albert (Rupert Friend).

There are also supporting performances from Paul Bettany (as Prime Minister Lord Melbourne) and Miranda Richardson as Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.

It was produced by Graham KingMartin Scorsese and Sarah, Duchess of York.

Extras include:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Making of The Young Victoria
  • The Coronation & The Wedding: Behind the scenes look at the production
  • Lavish History: Look at the costumes and locations

To stand a chance of winning a copy just answer this question:

Which current film at cinemas stars Emily Blunt alongside Amy Adams?

Just email your answers and postal address to [email protected]

Closing Date: Monday 20th July 2009

The Young Victoria is out on Monday 13th July on DVD from Momentum

> The Young Victoria at the IMDb
> Listen to our interview with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend about the film
Find out more about the real Queen Victoria at Wikipedia

Categories
Cinema

UK Cinema Releases: Friday 6th March 2009

Watchmen and The Young Victoria

NATIONAL RELEASES

Watchmen (Paramount): The long awaited adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons finally reaches cinema screens after 20 years of development hell and legal wranglings.

If you are unfamiliar with the story it explores what happens to a group of superheroes in an alternative 1985 – a place where Richard Nixon is a 5-term president and the world stands on the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

The plot begins with the vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) investigating the murder of a former hero called the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and he uncovers a wider conspiracy involving his now retired colleagues. 

The good news is that director Zack Snyder has been given unprecedented freedom with the notoriously unfilmable book after the success of 300. 

Visually it is a real treat with some stunning production design and SFX along with some fine performances by Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup.

Warner Bros are releasing it in the US, with Paramount distributing it here in the UK. Both studios can expect a huge opening weekend, but the big question is how it will do after then.

My gut feeling is that fans of the original comic and young males are going to eat this up but it may struggle with female audiences.

It runs to 2 hours and 40 minutes, has a sombre tone, keeps much of the heavy flashback material and – even for an 18/R-rated film – contains quite brutal scenes of violence, rape and even full frontal nudity.

This may limit its word of mouth appeal but with 300 and The Dark Knight doing so well in recent times maybe the current climate is ripe for the dystopian fantasies of Watchmen. [Nationwide / Cert 18]

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The Young Victoria (Momentum): In what is probably the clearest example of counter-programming since Notting Hill took on The Phantom Menace ten years ago, this period piece about the early years of Queen Victoria should appeal to audiences not up for comic book material.

Although on the surface it might seem like just another costume drama about rich people in large houses, it benefits enormously from having some real energy and talent involved.  

In the lead role of Victoria Emily Blunt brings a real sense of passion and feistiness to a character many still think of as a dour widow, whilst as Rupert Friend does an equally impressive job as Prince Albert.

There are also fine supporting performances from Paul Bettany (as Prime Minister Lord Melbourne) and Miranda Richardson as Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.

Perhaps the key to why the film works is the combination of Graham KingMartin Scorsese and Sarah, Duchess of York as producers (an unlikely trio, to say the least) allied with screenwriter Julian Fellowes (a shrewd observer of England’s social layers) and director Jean-Marc Vallée.

All of them have combined to make a much more substantial film than may have been expected which explores part of Victoria’s reign not really seen on screen before, namely the problems of her accession to the throne and her early relationship with Albert.

Momentum can expect solid box office from those audiences who don’t fancy watching Watchmen. [Nationwide / Cert PG]

* Listen to our interview with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend here *

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IN SELECTED RELEASE

American Teen (Optimum Releasing): A documentary directed by Nanette Burstein set in Warsaw, Indiana that focuses on five graduating high school seniors as they struggle through school and life.

The five students prominently featured in the film fit typical high school archetypes, such as a popular student, a nerd, a jock, and a loner (like The Breakfast Club, which inspired the poster).

It competed in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Directing Award for Documentary.  [Cineworld Wandsworth, Vue Shepherd’s Bush & Key Cities/ Cert 15]

Flame And Citron (Metrodome): A World War Two film based on the true story of two of the most active resistance fighters in the Holger Danske resistance group during World War IIBent Faurschou-Hviid (known as Flame) and Jørgen Haagen Schmith (known as Citron).

The two resistance fighters are portrayed by Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen, and it was directed by Ole Christian Madsen.[Barbican, Cineworld Haymarket, Renoir & Key Cities / Cert 15]

Reverb (Guerilla Films): A horror written and directed by Eitan Arrusiset in a recording studio where a musician discovers a voice hidden in an old record – one that sets into motion a series of horrific events. It stars Leo Gregory and Eva Birthistle. [London & Key Cities / Cert 15]

Surveillance (Odeon Sky Filmworks): An independent thriller set in the Santa Fe desert, directed by Jennifer Lynch and starring Julia OrmondBill PullmanMichael Ironside, and French Stewart. [London & Nationwide / Cert 15]

Wendy & Lucy (Soda Pictures): A drama directed by Kelly Reichardt and adapted from Jonathan Raymond‘s short story Train Choir. It stars Michelle Williams as an alienated woman who sets her sights on moving to Alaska in hopes of a new life with her dog, Lucy. [London & Key Cities / Cert 15]

Get the latest showtimes for your local cinema via Google Movies
Check out our latest DVD picks (W/C Monday 2nd March)

Categories
Cinema Interviews Podcast

Interview: Emily Blunt & Rupert Friend on The Young Victoria

Emily Blunt (Queen Victoria) and Rupert Friend (Prince Albert) in The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria is a new film, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée from a script by Julian Fellowes, which chronicles the early years of Queen Victoria (Emily Blunt) and her romance and marriage to Prince Albert (Rupert Friend).

I spoke to Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend in London recently about their roles in the film.

Listen to the interview here:

You can download this interview as a podcast via iTunes by clicking here

The Young Victoria is out at UK cinemas on Friday 6th March

Download this interview as an MP3 file
Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend at the IMDb
> Official UK site for The Young Victoria
> Find out more about the real Queen Victoria at Wikipedia