{"id":5641,"date":"2009-05-18T16:09:40","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T15:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=5641"},"modified":"2009-05-18T16:10:33","modified_gmt":"2009-05-18T15:10:33","slug":"uk-dvd-releases-monday-18th-may-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/05\/18\/uk-dvd-releases-monday-18th-may-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"UK DVD Releases: Monday 18th May 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n DVD PICKS<\/strong><\/p>\n Frost\/Nixon<\/a><\/strong> (Universal):\u00a0When I first saw\u00a0Peter Morgan\u2019s stage play<\/a>about\u00a0David Frost\u2019s famous interviews with Richard Nixon in 1977<\/a>, I remember wondering what a film adaptation might look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although the hiring of\u00a0Ron Howard<\/a>\u00a0to direct might have raised some eyebrows, to his credit he not only kept the two lead actors from the production (Michael Sheen<\/a>\u00a0as Frost and\u00a0Frank Langella<\/a>\u00a0as Nixon) but also managed preserve the essential drama at the heart of the story and keep as faithful to it as possible.<\/p>\n For those of you unfamiliar with the background, Peter Morgan (who has become an expert in dramatising modern history scripting\u00a0The Queen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Last King of Scotland<\/a>) created a play which explored the tensions behind Frost pursuing and then conducting Nixon\u2019s first TV interviews since resigning in disgrace over the Watergate scandal.<\/p>\n What makes it so absorbing is the clash of two very different characters who for different reasons had a lot at stake: Frost was desperate to re-establish himself in America, whilst Nixon was keen to rebuild his shattered political reputation.\u00a0Technically, both lead performances are superb and after two years on stage together the chemistry between Sheen and Langella is magnetic.<\/p>\n The supporting cast is very solid with\u00a0Rebecca Hall,\u00a0Toby Jones,\u00a0Matthew Macfadyen,\u00a0Kevin Bacon,\u00a0Oliver Platt\u00a0and\u00a0Sam Rockwell all making fine contributions in key roles.\u00a0Perhaps the most striking aspect of the film is how it manages to be both a fascinating slice of history garnished with some fine period design yet also finds a way of commenting on the current concerns about US politics.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It also poses a fascinating question: will President Bush ever come out with the same anguished\u00a0mea culpa<\/em>\u00a0that Nixon delivered in these interviews?<\/p>\n Given that it didn’t perform as well as it might have done at the box office, it is definitely worth checking out on DVD if you missed it earlier in the year.<\/p>\n Extras on the regular DVD<\/a><\/strong> include:<\/p>\n The Blu-ray Disc<\/a> has a few extra features:<\/p>\n [ad]<\/p>\n Defiance<\/a><\/strong> (Momentum):\u00a0Set in the eastern regions of occupied Poland during\u00a0World War II<\/a>\u00a0this is an adaptation of\u00a0Nechama Tec<\/a>\u2019s book \u2018Defiance: The Bielski Partisans<\/a>\u2018, which was based on the true story of the Bielski partisans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Directed by\u00a0Ed Zwick<\/a>, it stars\u00a0Daniel Craig<\/a>,\u00a0Liev Schreiber<\/a>,\u00a0Jamie Bell<\/a>and\u00a0George MacKay<\/a>\u00a0as four brothers from Poland who escape from the Nazis and fight back to rescue fellow Jews.<\/p>\n Although the expected Oscar buzz for this film failed to materialize, it is a well made and admirable piece of work. Commercial prospects will be helped by a marketing campaign that has emphasised\u00a0Daniel Craig<\/a>\u00a0(aka James Bond) and the action aspects of the film.<\/p>\n The extras on the\u00a0regular DVD<\/a> and Blu-ray Disc<\/a>\u00a0include:<\/p>\n *\u00a0Listen to our interview with Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Ed Zwick on Defiance<\/a>\u00a0*\u00a0<\/p>\n ALSO OUT<\/strong><\/p>\n Adventurer \u2013 The Complete Series<\/a><\/strong> (Network) [ad]<\/p>\n > Browse more DVD Releases at\u00a0Amazon UK<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Play Including Frost\/Nixon and Defiance.<\/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":[717,304,632],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641"}],"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=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n Black Blood Brothers: Complete Series<\/a><\/strong> (Manga)
\n Bride Wars<\/a><\/strong> (Fox)
\n Dear Diary<\/a><\/strong> (Arrow Films)
\n ER Season 14<\/a><\/strong> (Warner)
\n How To Be<\/a><\/strong> (Network)
\n Shameless – Series 6<\/a><\/strong> (4DVD)
\n The Grudge 3<\/a><\/strong> (Icon)
\n The Inbetweeners Series 2<\/a><\/strong> (4DVD)
\n The Machine Girl<\/a><\/strong> (Cine Asia)
\n The Main Chance – Series 1<\/a><\/strong> (Network)
\n Underworld: Rise of the Lycans<\/a><\/strong> (EIV)<\/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 15th May)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"