Such is his popularity at present that only four words - Will Ferrell does NASCAR – were required to convince Sony to commission his last project, the $150 million making Taladega Nights.

And so, treading a similar path, we now have "Will Ferrell does figure skating" in this hit and miss comedy from former ad directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon.

Ferrell plays the ridiculously named Chazz Michael Michaels, a skater from the wrong side of the tracks with addictions to sex, alcohol and abysmal haircuts.

His main rival is Jimmy MacElroy (Heder), a goody two shoes child protegee who despises Chazz’s uncouth demeanour and risqué routines. When the duo ties for gold in the Olympics singles competition they get into a brawl on the podium, which ends up with the tournament mascot being set ablaze and small children crying in the stands.

Stripped of their medals and banned from the competition for life their careers go into freefall until, three and a half years later, one of them spots a loophole that would allow them to compete again as the Olympic’s first all male figure skating pairing.

The dopey repartee, gruesome nudity and quick witted improvisation are textbook Ferrell and his willingness to make himself look utterly ridiculous on screen is unusual for such a huge star.

The chemistry with Heder, in his usual geek chic mode, is surprisingly good too and some of the homoerotic dancing sequences between the pair are certainly worthy of a 6.0 for artistic impression.

Ferrell’s skating probably won’t have impressed legends Dorothy Hamill or Nancy Kerrigan (both of whom make cameos), the paper thin storyline is bogged down in formulaic clichés and a sub plot involving William “Prison Break” Fichtner disappears without a trace after the first hour. However, plenty of decent jokes - “they laughed when Louis Armstrong said he was going to land on the moon” – an attractive love interest (Fischer) and Ferrell walking around in his pants, means that Blades will no doubt take box office gold this weekend.

As with all Ferrell DVD releases, this special features package is stuffed to the gills with behind the scenes footage, bloopers and deleted action.

Frustratingly, however, there is no talk track of any kind, and it would have been interesting to hear how newcomers Josh Gordon and Will Speck attacked their first big screen directing job.

We do get decent contributions from all the major players in an amusing making of featurette entitled “Return to Glory” however, which also sees producer Ben Stiller talking about his involvement in the project. Ferrell, Heder and Will Arnett later brave a Q&A session with fans in “Moviephone Unscripted”, while Nick Swardson gets his own shot at glory in the hit and miss “Hector: Portrait Of A Psychofan” featurette.

Also included is Bo Bice's Blades Of Glory music video, some MTV spots, and 20 questions with real life skate champion Scott Hamilton.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Comedy

Blades of Glory - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Gone is a low budget Brit thriller that sees a post university backpacking holiday turn into “Dead Calm in the desert” for two 20-something love birds.

Evans (best known for his work in series two of Teachers) plays Alex, a ginger Scouser – it’s not often that you hear that description of a leading man – who heads out to Australia to meet his girlfriend Sophie (Warner) on the east coast.

Things as you might expect take a turn for the grizzly however when the happy couple meet Taylor (Mechlowicz), a seemingly charming American who offers to give them a lift across the Outback in his beat up station wagon. Three soon becomes a crowd though when Taylor reveals his true intentions, and the chances of Alex and Sophie getting out of the desert alive appear to be going … going … gone.

In his first outing behind the camera, bin man turned director Ringan Ledwidge builds the tension slowly but effectively, making clever use of ominous portents and the hostile Australian Outback (shot beautifully by Ben Seresin).

Mechlowicz is the pick of the acting talent, showing a nice blend of charm and menace, but Warner - who was married to Colin Farrell for about five minutes as a teenager - and Evans fail to convince as a couple, and the overall lack of gore will be a let down for those of you (us included) hoping for more Wolf Creek gruesomeness.

Due to its (surprisingly) disappointing performance at the worldwide box office, Universal have decided to cut their losses with this lazy DVD release, adding only six deleted scenes and a perfunctory “Making of” featurette.

Director Ledwidge spends most of the time complaining about the oppressive heat that plagued the shoot, while lead man Evans makes insightful comments about the wilderness such as “It’s bad … there’s like … nothing there!”

As normal, the deleted scenes bring little extra to the party, and it is easy to see why they were chopped from the original cut which flew by at a rollicking pace in only 88 minutes.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Thriller

Gone - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Catch a Fire is the true story of political activist Patrick Chamusso who was sentenced to 24 years in prison after attempting to blow up a South African oil refinery in 1980.

Derek “Antwone Fisher” Luke plays Chamusso, a loving husband and father of two renowned for his apolitical views and subservient nature.

So when the Secunda oil plant where he works is attacked by political terrorists, he is more than a little shocked to be pulled in for questioning. Starved, abused and beaten to within an inch of his life, Derek is finally released when his torturer Nic Vos (Robbins) - colonel in the country’s Police Security Branch – realises he’s got the wrong man.

But Derek is changed forever by his experience and decides to take a stand against his oppressors, becoming an operative in the ANC and plotting to return to Secunda to destroy the remainder of the refinery.

Teaming a director, Phillip Noyce, famed for his intelligent political thrillers (The Quiet American, Rabbit Proof Fence) with a writer, Shawn Slovo, whose father was the one-time leader of the ANC combat wing, should have been a case of lighting the blue touch paper and standing well back.

Despite their efforts to paint Chamusso and Vos as similar characters, both fighting to protect what they believe in, there is little doubt where our sympathies should lie thanks to Robbins’ pantomime villain performance.

And for such a complicated issue there are no grey areas, with Chamusso clearly painted as a freedom fighter rather than a terrorist, and Vos the scary-eyed nutcase who embodies everything terrible about apartheid era South Africa.

While the predictable story moves along at a decent pace for the first hour, the last third, which should be the most exciting section of the story as Patrick’s mission reaches its explosive climax, fizzles out with a whimper rather than the bang we had hoped for.

And although Luke takes another step towards the Hollywood A-list, Catch a Fire will no doubt be looked back on as a missed opportunity for everyone involved.

In the extras, director Philip Noyce, producer Roby Slovo, screenwriter Shawn Slovo, actors Robbins, Luke and Henna all contribute to an unusual audio commentary that provides plenty of background information about the story but virtually no technical details about the film or shoot.

Noyce and Robbins give insights into the apartheid regime that were strangely lacking in the final product, while Luke explains the challenges he faced in portraying such a legendary character.

Also included are a few deleted scenes, which combine to less then three minutes of footage, that serve no other purpose than to fill space on this under-populated special features package.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

Catch a Fire - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:00:00 +0100

You wait years for a movie about early nineteenth century magicians to come along and then, hey presto, two turn up at once. Hot on the heels of Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige" comes the big screen adaptation of Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist".

Eisenheim (Norton) is a famous conjuror in early-1900s Vienna, who falls in love with a woman (Biel) well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to the Crown Prince (Sewell), the magician uses his powers to free her and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna.

The combination of great source material, quirky cast, and Jessica Biel's spectacularly toned derriere seemed like a sure fire cinematic hit but, much like everything else in director Neil Burger's twisting movie, this proved to be little more than an illusion.

Blighted by soporific pacing, obvious twists, and a plethora of dodgy facial hair, The Illusionist is a strangely passionless exercise that suffers poorly in comparison with last year's "Prestige". While Giamatti does his best to inject some life into proceedings and Norton is well cast as the enigmatic magician, Rufus Sewell's mad eyes/shouty shouty routine has become rather tired over the years and Burger's final "reveal" (the movie is shaped like a trick) proves that he actually doesn't have much up his sleeve at all.

Unfortunately it's not an illusion, there really is only a lightweight, 15-minute "Making Of" featurette to accompany director Neil Burger's talk track on this below par special features package. Burger talks eloquently about magic history and reveals that most of the tricks used in the film are based on real illusions. However, we never learn much about the actual mechanics of the magic, making the whole exercise rather futile.

In fact, the absence of all the big name cast is the most revealing aspect of the whole package and, whereas the Prestige's initial DVD release was a prelude to a special edition later this year, don't expect to see a more complete version of The Illusionist out any time soon.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD

The Illusionist - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:00:00 +0100

After hearing that his chain-smoking old man is about to die from lung cancer (someone really should warn people that these things aren’t good for them!) motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Cage) makes a deal with Mephistopheles (Fonda) to save his pop’s life.

In exchange, Johnny is turned into the Ghost Rider, a bounty hunter of rogue demons who must track down the Devil’s over enthusiastic young protégée, Blackheart (Bentley), before he destroys the universe.

But thankfully it’s not all doom and gloom for JB, as he also manages to find time to romance hot-shot television reporter Roxanne Simpson, played by the delectably curvaceous Eva Mendes.

After the flops that were Daredevil and Elektra you might have thought that Sony would have grown tired of writer / director Mark Stephen Johnson. But Hollywood is a funny old place and rather than handing him his P45 form, the powers that be decided to give Johnson $120 million and send him off to adapt Ghost Rider - another Marvel comic - for the big screen instead.

While Johnson’s script contains the odd witty moment (bad ass motorcycle dare devil Johnny Blaze is a huge Karen Carpenter fan), the plot is as predictable as England losing on penalties, and the expensive CGI trickery is neither memorable nor especially entertaining.

To compound matters, Wes Bentley (the weird bloke in American Beauty) is horribly miscast as Mephistopheles’ son, and being forced to utter some of the dialogue he is given here is far worse a punishment than anything the Devil could have come up with.

The 13 minutes of additional footage that justify the DVD’s “Extended Version” tag will be of little interest to non-Ghost Rider enthusiasts, and focus mainly on the young Johnny Blaze and his relationship to his chain-smoking pop.

The 60-minute “Spirit of Vengeance” making of documentary has more to offer however, with a section on the Australian stunt riders that brought Blaze to life particularly enjoyable.

Also included is a quirky talk track from Director Mark Stephen Johnson (the same can’t be said for producer Gary Foster’s lazy effort), a nuts and bolts post production featurette, and a hefty 90-minute “Sin and Salvation” documentary tracing the history of the comic book character.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD

Ghost Rider - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Sat, 07 Jul 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) is a high flyer at Yale University in 1939 when he is recruited to join the American secret service.

His hidden life gives him first hand experience of the Second World War and the Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe while his beautiful wife, Clover (Angelina Jolie) and only son, Edward Junior (Eddie Redmayne) suffer in ignorance.

By 1961, Edward is involved in a failed invasion of Cuba. “A stranger in the house” has leaked the plan to the Russians and the search is on to find the double agent. His family life in ruins and his loyalties severely stretched, Edward discovers that friends can be enemies and enemies can be friends.

The Godfather it ain’t but in only his second movie as a director, Robert De Niro has come up with something pretty impressive.

OK, it’s long and very slow moving – it has an elegant and stately tread in slow 2/2 time – but it is stylish and absolutely refuses to compromise.

Spies don’t usually come from exotic Mafioso families. They are anonymous, silent and secretive. This, of course, is Robert De Niro’s problem. He has set out to dramatise the deafening silence of counter intelligence without falsifying a world where very few cards are ever put on the table and where it is not wise to wear your heart on your sleeve.

And, in case we Brits think we have a monopoly on stiff upper lip, the movie’s CIA agents make Jeeves look like Jade Goody on a bad day.

You will hate it if you were one of those kids who kept asking “are we there yet?” but if you are prepared to enter De Niro’s tightly organised, beautifully shot and carefully orchestrated world then you will be moved by its humanity and, when the shocks do come, you will be stirred beyond your expectations.

Matt Damon, who has never had Jim Carey’s facial elasticity or Jet Li’s rubber limbs, brings all his sober and solid charms to the central role of Edward Wilson, the perfect spy who has the stiffest upper lip anywhere outside of a mortuary.

It is a tough call with most of the acting concentrated around his mouth which can be kept resolutely shut as required by the job, but which can flicker with emotion or tension and very occasionally and most movingly, burst into life when he allows his real self to emerge.

When he falls in love with the profoundly deaf Laura (the excellent Tammy Blanchard) who has to lip read his usually deadpan face, he is forced to move those lips and the screen virtually explodes. This film is very good on the slow burn.

Robert De Niro has drawn some mightily impressive names into his cast – it would have been an impossible dream for any other trainee director to assemble such a line up.

Joe Pesci’s brief cameo reprises, wittily, his long line of dodgy Italian Americans whilst Michael Gambon delivers another of his magnificent human ruins.

William Hurt demonstrates his ability to impersonate nice guys with troubled interiors and De Niro finds time for a powerful performance as the tough but fair general.

It isn’t just the big stars that shine. Some of the best acting comes from lesser names such as John Turturro as a no nonsense CIA operative and Eddie Redmayne as Wilson’s neglected and vulnerable son.

Angelina Jolie is the problem casting here. Beautiful, gorgeous even, she is just too exotic for this movie with its varying shades of grey. We just don’t get why she would fall for a guy like Wilson. If she can fancy him then none of us are safe from marauding screen goddesses whenever we go out at night.

Her other problem is that, while Matt can get away with the tricky age range from fresh faced eighteen to baby faced forty, Angelina just can’t get away with young any more. She has wrinkles now, sexy ones for sure, but wrinkles just the same and her hands have “gone”. Looks like she’s been hand washing too many of Brad Pitt’s smalls.

For a film that puts such a premium on detail and commitment it’s rather a surprise to see that there are only a handful of deleted scenes included in the special features package, with no contribution from De Niro whatsoever. As normal, these scenes add nothing to the movie – which is why they were omitted in the first place – making their inclusion here all the more baffling. Some sleep-inducing information about cryptography is about as good as it gets, and only die hard Jolie fans will be eager to see more of her playing the dowdy housewife, surely one of the worst casting decisions in recent memory.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama Angelina Jolie

The Good Shepherd - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:00:00 +0100

Set amid the carnage of the Sierra Leone civil war of the late-1990s, Blood Diamond tells the story of Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a Mende fisherman forced into slavery after his village is decimated by rebel guerrillas.

Put to work in the diamond mines, Solomon discovers a very rare pink gem, which he keeps hidden from his captors until a chance intervention by Government forces allows him to escape one day.

He then sets about finding his son, Dia (Kuypers), who has also been kidnapped and is being trained as a child soldier by the rebels. To do this he strikes a bargain with Danny Archer (DiCaprio), an unscrupulous mercenary with illegal connections in the diamond trade: help find Dia and the priceless stone is his.

Ploughing a similar furrow to 2005’s The Constant Gardener, Blood Diamond is an intelligent political thriller tackling Western corporate greed in Africa.

Hounsou - best known as Maximus’ mate in Gladiator – also gives an accomplished performance as the moral foil to Leo’s unprincipled anti-hero. Although the last half hour descends into clichéd Hollywood action formula, and writer Charles Leavitt might have benefited from omitting one of the numerous plotlines from his crowded and occasionally preachy screenplay, Blood Diamond is a 24-carat gem.

While the standard single disc release includes no extras whatsoever, this two-disc “Special Edition” boasts a wide array of informative features with contributions from all of the main players. In his lively audio commentary director Edward Zwick describes the months of preparation he and his cast endured before filming began, and guides us through the nuts and bolts process of putting together the huge “Siege of Freetown” action sequence that kick starts the movie.

DiCaprio talks on location about his approach to the film in the “Becoming Archer” featurette, while Jennifer Connelly pays tribute to the female journalists who risked their lives to report on the Sierra Leone war. Rounding off the package is a moving 50-minute documentary, “Blood on the Stone”, that features interviews with former child soldiers forced to commit atrocious acts of brutality in the diamond mines. Rap fans may also enjoy Nas’ “Shine On ‘Em” music video.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

Blood Diamond - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Loved by some and hated by a whole lot of others, Darren Aronofsky’s latest movie is every bit as weird and, some would say, wonderful, as his previous highly original movies, Pi and Requiem for a Dream.

Tom (Hugh Jackman) is a scientist trying to find a cure for cancer. He is spurred on by a very real problem - his wife Izzi (Rachel Weisz) has been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. Can he find the cure in time? Izzi doubts it and is more interested in coming to terms with life and death. Can Tom find an equally calm acceptance of mortality? Maybe he’ll find understanding in Izzi’s novel about a Spanish conquistador in search for the Tree of Life in a remote South American jungle.

Meanwhile, as it so happens, a few hundred years earlier, a Spanish conquistador called Tomas (Hugh Jackman again) is sent on a quest by the beautiful Queen Isabella (Rachel Weisz again – can you see where this is going yet?) to find the Tree of Life in a remote South American jungle.

Meanwhile, thousands of years into the future a taichi practising astronaut called Tommy (Hugh Jackman yet again, naturally) is floating in space in a bubble complete with that same Tree of Life.

Will Tom/Tomas/Tommy find the secret of eternal life or will he/they find some other enlightenment? The answers, if you can find them, are wrapped up in three epic tales.

Imagine if this movie had starred Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, well that’s exactly what Darren Aronofsky did until Pitt walked off the project just weeks before the start of filming. There were artistic difficulties apparently so Brad moved on to the artistically challenged and truly appalling Troy. Then the studio withdrew the money, compensated Cate Blanchett and left Aronofsky with a script but no stars and no cash.

Eventually, at half the original budget, the film got made with Jackman as a very acceptable replacement for Pitt and Rachel Weisz equally fetching in the Blanchett role.

So let's hear it for Darren Aronofsky who stuck to his guns and made his film in spite of the forces of Hollywood evil that assailed him.

But was it worth all the hassle?

For all its spectacular effects and giant leaps through time, it is above all a moving tale about a man and a woman, in love and having to face the reality of death.

Ok there is a touch of mystic crap in the futuristic scenes and the actors turn into over the top luvvies for the historical section but, against all the odds, the pieces do come together to make a film that delights the eye, the ears and challenges the mind.

The slashed budget meant that there was very little money for computer graphics (alleluia!) so for the outer space sequences they used old fashioned sets, brilliant lighting and then filmed microscopic chemical changes in laboratory dishes transformed into gigantic screen images. The results are truly spectacular.

Aronofsky is nothing if he is not a cinematic stylist and he does a lot with a very little. A hospital corridor is lit with the same rich gold light that distinguishes the Spanish court and the dying star that haunts the storylines. This is contrasted with a bright, washed out, white light that is associated with Izzi/Isabella’s enlightenment. No special effects department could achieve anything more special or more effective.

Hugh Jackman is a natural in the shaggy conquistador role and surprisingly poignant as the shaven headed mystic astronaut doing a very impressive lotus position. He is at his best though in the present day sequences bringing real depth to his scenes of tenderness and grief.

Rachel Weisz isn’t really challenged in the acting department as she spends most of the film either looking very poorly in bed or very queenly behind a screen at the Spanish court. Though she is every bit as good as Cate Blanchett would have been.

This is a director’s film though - inspired by a visual originality that stays in the memory. The epic scenes are sumptuous to behold but nothing is more impressive than when the screen is filled with Jackman’s back lit stubbly mouth and Weisz’s downy check in an image of powerful tenderness.

Anything that a nerdy film buff could possibly want in a behind the scenes documentary is here. The makers of The Fountain allowed the documentary filmmakers access to the aborted pre-production work in Australia and then to the actual filming in Canada and Guatemala.

If you were dismissive of the film then at least this documentary will make you admire the skills, the pain and the charm that went into its making.

In a separate piece, Rachel Weisz interviews Hugh Jackman whilst he is being made up for the final day’s filming. He comes across as surprisingly sensitive and thoughtful whilst she shows that she could be a brilliant interviewer if she ever gave up the day job.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD

The Fountain - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:00:00 +0100

Three years on from their big screen “Rom-Zom-Com” debut, Shaun of the Dead’s Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are back for another slice of genre busting action in Hot Fuzz, but does it match up to its predecessor? We get watching to find out.

Pegg plays Sergeant Nicholas Angel, a London supercop whose astonishing arrest rate is beginning to make the rest of the plods in his division look bad. To preserve their dignity Angel’s superiors pack him off to a sleepy Gloucestershire village where the police are so underworked that they spend most of their days eating ice cream and tracking down escaped livestock. But after a string of mysterious disappearances our man begins to suspect that something is afoot in the supposedly crime free haven of Sanford, and makes it his job to uncover the truth.

After months of “worthy” movies all vying for attention and adoration for the Oscars, it is a blessed relief to finally sit down for 2 hours of mindless action and uproarious laughs.

Relocating the traditional American buddy cop thriller to the mean streets of Gloucestershire (just as they transplanted the well trodden zombie format movie to London in SOTD) is ripe with comedic potential, and the chemistry between Pegg and Frost is a match for any of the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence or Mel Gibson-Danny Glover vehicles they are parodying.

Witty throwaways (“Judge Judy and executioner”), clever sight-gags (the troublesome neighbourhood watch association is known simply as “N.W.A.” - a reference to Niggaz With Attitude who sung “F*!k Tha Police”), and intentionally absurd action sequences (e.g., a carnage strewn shoot up in the local branch of Somerfield) make Hot Fuzz the funniest movie of the year so far.

As for the extras, where on earth do we begin? Four audio commentaries (including one from a bunch Somerset coppers), half an hour of video blogs, and a shed load of deleted scenes – also with additional commentary – are a pretty decent start … but there’s plenty more to come. A half-hour “Making Of” featurette - “Rural Weapon” - from writer / director Edgar Wright is next up, followed by interviews with the all-star Brit cast (Cate Blanchett even makes an uncredited appearance), and a wagon load of behind-the-scenes footage documenting everything from design to stunt work. Toss in those deleted scenes - all 22 of them, a couple of alternative openings and plenty of deranged ramblings from Pegg and you have one of the best special features packages we can remember.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Comedy

Hot Fuzz - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Three years on from The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson returns to the director’s chair for a brutal action thriller set against the backdrop of the fall of the Mayan empire.

When a savage tribe decimates a peaceful village, Jaguar Paw (Youngblood) is taken hostage while his pregnant wife and young child are left stranded in an underground pit with no food or water.

After a lengthy trek through heavy jungle he is then offered up by his captors as a human sacrifice to the Gods, who they believe have blighted the land with famine and disease. But through a handy “deus ex machina” Jaguar Paw makes a break for it and begins a high-octane race back to his village and his family as his blood-thirsty captors close in.

Despite what you may have heard, it appears that Jews aren’t actually responsible for all the violence in the world and that, in fact, Mel Gibson has been to blame for a good portion of it in recent times.

After the carnage-strewn Braveheart, Gibbo hit us with the most gruesome crucifixion scenes ever filmed in the Passion (as well as saying of one critic "I want to kill him. I want his intestines on a stick. I want to kill his dog"), and Apocalypto continues in much the same punctured vein.

Fountains of spurting blood, a man having his face chewed off by a jaguar, and an inventive POV camera shot from a decapitated head, make this Mel’s most gory effort yet.

But as well as being a visceral action thriller, which is effectively a glossy chase movie for the last hour, Gibson and his co-writer Farhad Safinia also make a decent attempt to explain why the Mayan civilisation mysteriously collapsed in the 15th century.

While not focusing on one particular aspect, we see how famine, disease, deforestation and warfare all contributed to the sudden decline, and interesting parallels are drawn between the Mayans’ abuse of nature and our own current environmental predicament – the pre-credits quotation notes: “A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within”.

In the extras Gibson takes us through a half-hour “Making Of” documentary covering all aspects of the 12-month shoot, including scouting trips, set-building, and the detailed research process he went through to accurately depict the Mayan civilisation.

Next up is a surprisingly lively audio commentary from Gibson and writer / producer / Cambridge academic Farhad Safinia which includes some entertaining tales involving the indigenous crew, hardly any of whom had ever acted before and a random deleted scene involving a deer running away from a menacing cloud of smoke rounds off the package.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

Apocalypto - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Following directly in the footsteps of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar winning turn in 2006, Toby Jones now takes on the role of Truman Capote - the famously eccentric American novelist, playwright and screenwriter - in Infamous.

The story begins as Capote is starting work on his most famous book, “In Cold Blood”, which chronicled the brutal slaying of a Kansas family in 1959. While researching the subject he grows close to one of the murderers, Perry Smith (a pre-Bond Daniel Craig), and faces an impossible - for the notoriously egocentric writer - decision.

Should he use his research to help his new friend’s appeal or let the execution go ahead as it is the only fitting conclusion to his masterpiece?

Typical, you wait years for a disaster movie about an asteroid destroying the world and then two come along at once. That was what happened in 1998 with Armageddon and Deep Impact, and a similar situation arose last year when two rival, but virtually identical, biopics about Truman Capote were completed.

To avoid a nasty clash that would have affected box office takings the producers of Infamous decided to push back the release date as they had begun filming slightly later.

But since then, of course, Philip Seymour Hoffman wiped the floor with all comers at the Oscars and now the question on everyone’s lips is “what’s the point in going to see another Capote film when we know the story and the performances can’t be topped?”

And the answer? Toby Jones.

The English character actor has given a performance that also would have won at last year’s Academy Awards, mimicking Capote’s bizarre voice and camp mannerisms (he is described at one point as a “talking Brussels sprout”) with astounding accuracy, but also bearing a far more natural resemblance to the writer than Hoffman’s stature afforded.

The script from writer/director Douglas McGrath also injects more humour into proceedings, particularly for the first half hour and shows what a lively and charismatic man Capote was before he began working on In Cold Blood. The device of bringing Capote back from Kansas to New York at various intervals during the film also shows how the experience begins to affect the writer, so that by the end of the film he is almost unrecognisable from the comic entertainer that we met at the start.

An intelligent audio commentary from writer / director Douglas McGrath is the only extra (apart from the trailer - for anyone that’s actually interested in such things) offered on this lightweight special features package.

While McGrath chronicles the detailed research process he undertook before writing the movie, he fails to make even passing mention to “that other Capote film”. Hearing his reaction when he first learned about the rival biopic – or explaining the logic behind Warner Bros’ decision to delay the release of Infamous – would have enlivened the talk track no end.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama Daniel Craig

Infamous - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Bobby follows the stories of 22 fictional characters in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel on the night of June 4th 1968, when Presidential hopeful Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated moments after claiming victory in the crucial California primary.

Director Emilio Estevez interweaves a dozen separate storylines as party-goers, performers, hotel employees and campaigners descend on the hotel in preparation for the big night.

Among those involved are a young bride-to-be (Lohan) who is about to marry one of her friends (Wood) to save him from going to Vietnam; a Latino worker (Rodriguez) desperately trying to get out of his shift to watch the World Series decider; and a stifled switchboard operator (Graham) who has embarked on an illicit affair with the hotel manager (Macy) in the hope of getting a promotion.

After showing early promise in the 80s with St. Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club Emilio Estevez eventually became a bit of a joke in Hollywood, and after his third Mighty Ducks film was virtually unemployable (he also married American Idol nutcase Paula Abdul, and the less said about that the better).

But after nearly a decade in the wilderness he is back as the writer, director, and co-star of Bobby, a multi-stranded polemic reminiscent of the work of the recently deceased Robert Altman.

Backed by his father (Sheen) and producer Anthony Hopkins, Estevez has assembled an astonishing array of acting talent but, curiously, this is one of the main problems with the movie.

Trying to cram 22 big name stars into the story means that it is impossible for Estevez to flesh out all of the characters efficiently, and some appear to have no function whatsoever other than to get another famous face on screen.

The “comic” interludes featuring an LSD-popping Ashton Kutcher are also an unnecessary distraction that take away vital screen time from the more important plot strands and clash with the tone of the rest of the film.

Demi Moore tells us in the “Making of” featurette that "the message is love..." and she’s not kidding.

Everyone from Anthony Hopkins to Lindsay Lohan (two legends of modern American cinema) bang on about how great a man Kennedy was, although they fail to tell us anything that the movie itself hasn’t already done.

More interesting is Estevez’s (who everyone seems to love just as much as Bob) struggle to bring this very personal story to the big screen, and after a decade in the wilderness it’s good to see him finally back in the spotlight.

A round-up of eyewitness accounts from The Ambassador Hotel complete the package.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

Bobby - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Despite looking more like his mum than the Italian Stallion we remember from his Oscar-winning 1976 debut, Sly Stallone is back for his sixth, and final, outing as Rocky Balboa.

Having hung up his gloves in the early-90s, Rock now spends his days regaling fans with old stories in a restaurant he set up after his wife Adrian’s death from cancer 3 years earlier.

But there’s still a fire in his heart, or as he puts it “the beast’s still in the basement”, so when a computer program that compares fighters from different eras calculates that Rocky could still beat today’s current champion - Mason “The Line” Dixon – his curiosity is aroused.

And before you know it Rock is back doing what he does best, chinning raw eggs, pumping iron and legging it up those famous Philadelphia Art Museum steps, in preparation for an exhibition bout against the champ.

Good to see that brain damage from episode IV has miraculously cleared up Rock!

The key to being remembered as a great champion is knowing when to go out on top, something Stallone certainly didn’t manage with the execrable Rocky V. It was the cinematic equivalent of seeing Muhammad Ali, once the people’s favourite but now an embarrassing shadow of his former self, being pounded by Trevor Berbick in the last bout of his career.

But in a remarkable rope-a-dope turn around, Stallone has stunned us all with an uplifting, charming and rousing sixth instalment that is a fitting finale to the Rocky legacy.

Sly has gone back to basics, ditching the flashy 80s excess of the sequels and recreating the template of the award-winning original. Using archive footage from episode one and setting all the action on the same Philadelphia streets, Stallone takes us back to the heart of Rocky.

Spending the first half of the movie fleshing out our hero’s character is a masterstroke, as by the time Bill Conti’s iconic theme tune finally kicks in and Stallone begins his training routine the audience is hooked.

Too old for any grace or technique Rocky’s trainer opts for a strategy of “blunt-force trauma … We’re gonna hit him so hard his ancestors are gonna feel it. He’s gonna feel like he just tried to kiss an express train” which leads to a nostalgic montage that sees him knocking out the one-arm press-ups and thumping carcasses in Pauly’s (Young) meat factory.

The climactic fight is expertly handled by Stallone (it was shot in the ring before a Bernard Hopkins world title fight last year), and although his guard still offers about as much protection as Britney’s birth control pills Rocky can still handle himself pretty well at 60.

After writing, directing and starring in Rocky Balboa, it’s no surprise to see Sly also making a generous contribution to this lively special features package. As well as a detailed and intelligent audio commentary – this may surprise some as the majority of the public have always written Stallone of as a bit of an idiot – Sly appears in an amusing “Making of” featurette called “Skills Vs Will” that deals with the difficulties he faced convincing people, including himself, that he was still capable of stepping back into the ring as a sexagenarian.

“Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky's Final Fight” deals with the technical details of the pugilism in greater details, chronicling his 6-month training programme and the final bout at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas.

Also included is a sappy alternative ending and a handful of deleted scenes and bloopers.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD

Rocky Balboa - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 28 May 2007 09:00:00 +0100

The third collaboration between Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) is a multi-stranded epic, spanning three continents.

A rifle shot in the African desert sparks a chain of events linking a group of Western tourists, two Moroccans schoolboys, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico, and a deaf Japanese teenager desperately trying to lose her virginity. Warning: also featuring Brad Pitt with “serious” beard and dyed-grey hair.

Babel is a worthy, thought-provoking epic that attempts to examine man’s inability to communicate - hence the title based on the biblical tale about the Tower of Babel – but, ironically, left us wondering exactly what point it was trying to make.

Using the same scrambled chronology and jumbled plotting as in his previous scripts, Arriga draws comparisons between different societies and races across the globe by linking them together through one freak accident.

However, whereas the car crash in Amores Perros had an obvious, direct impact on all of the individual storylines, the same can not be said of Babel and the four plots are far too remotely connected for us to accept the premise that the film is based on.

Also, unlike Crash or Syriana - two similarly-constructed movies that did convince in this respect - the final resolution linking the plots together is irritatingly unsatisfying.

This is exacerbated by the 142 minutes running time, and despite some brilliantly tense moments, stunning cinematography, and fine acting (from Pitt in particular), the ponderous pacing soon begins to grate.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

Babel - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 25 May 2007 09:00:00 +0100

Based on Giles Foden’s best selling novel, The Last King of Scotland is an enthralling political thriller set amid the destruction of Idi Amin’s (Whitaker) murderous reign as Ugandan president during the 1970s.

A mixture of fact and fiction, the story is told from the perspective of Nicholas Garrigan (an amalgamation of three white advisors who worked for the tyrant), a cocky young Scot who heads to Africa looking for adventure straight out of medical school.

By chance he meets Amin and, thanks to the dictator’s love for all things Scottish, is soon convinced to become his personal physician. At first entranced by his charm and magnetism, Garrigan soon sees a darker, menacing side to Amin but after selling his soul to the Devil is it too late for him to escape?

Award winning documentary maker Kevin Macdonald’s (Touching the Void, One Day in September) fiction debut is a gripping combination of political drama, biopic and Hollywood thriller, fuelled by an astonishing central performance from Forest Whitaker.

By filming exclusively in Uganda (the first movie made there for over 30 years) Macdonald injects the film with a palpable sense of authenticity, and Peter Morgan’s sharp paced script combines fact and fiction with the same confidence he showed in last year’s The Queen.

It turns out that had it not been for casting director Jina Jay, Forest Whitaker may never have got the part of Idi Amin as Macdonald initially felt he was too gentle for the role. Fortunately for us, however, the director was persuaded to let the star audition for him and the rest, as they say, is history.

As well as his interesting director’s talk track (although it would have been nice to have heard writer Peter Morgan’s point of view too), Macdonald provides commentary for a handful of deleted scenes, including one, which sees the young doctor diagnosing Amin with a syphilis.

There is also a decent documentary on Amin’s life, starting with his time in the Scots Guards and culminating in his eventual downfall. The package is completed by an “Idi Amin” featurette which includes reflections from both Whitaker and McAvoy. Overall, a right royal treat.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

The Last King of Scotland - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 23 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Kelly (Lorraine Stanley) is a prostitute, forced by Derek (Johnnie Harris) her bullying pimp to find a child to satisfy a ruthless gangland boss’ sexual appetite.

When things turn nasty, Kelly escapes with 11-year-old Joanne (Georgia Groome) to the uneasy peace of Brighton. But gangland does not forgive or forget and soon Kelly and Joanne realise that they are being followed.

Paul Andrew Williams used to make pop videos and he has brought all his imaginative flair, learnt in that very different business, to his first feature film.

Williams wrote the script over a weekend and then raised, by Hollywood standards, a very small budget but the result is a very classy film that looks a million dollars.

The story is a simple one – a tart with a heart and her innocent friend go on the run and the bad guys come after them. It's a short film at 86 minutes and, in reality, it could have been made as a television hour, but Williams has spun his material into a small, but stylish masterpiece of suspense that never lets us go.

The narrative style is simple too. The chase, from London to Brighton, is inter-cut with flashbacks of the messy and sordid incident that forced Kelly and Joanne to go on the run.

Throughout the movie, the editing is so well timed, even radical, and the camerawork and lighting so vivid, that we never feel any sense of inevitability.

Not having much money to spend, the director lets his and our imaginations compensate for the lack of filming days and the small number of locations. He's learnt that you do not have to show everything for a scene to make its impact. Sometimes partially revealed images, cleverly lit close ups or even shots of almost total darkness are used to glamourous effect.

Williams can make a great spectacle out of simple means too. When Kelly and Joanne are lead into the paedophile’s mansion, the camera follows the three characters, in one long beautifully controlled shot, which matches the ceremonial pace of their steps with the delicately ominous tones of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The tension is unbearable.

When we're allowed a panoramic view, it's of a gloomy, very unglamourous and semi-derelict Brighton seafront with its gaudy pier and angry sea or a London of boarded up shops and damp graffiti-daubed back streets. Charles Dickens would recognise this territory.

The central characters owe something to Dickensian high drama too. Not just Duncan Allen, the quietly spoken paedophile boss (Alexander Morton) and Stuart, his sinister, creepy son (Sam Spruell) but also Kelly, the battered but kind hearted tart and Derek the bullying but fear-driven pimp.

Lorraine Stanley, as Kelly, is in complete possession of her character. In a fearless performance, she offers up her body to the camera with all its blemishes and bulges. Her tussled hair is pulled back to reveal her bruises, her closed blackened eye and her reluctantly given smile. She wears her injuries as tools of her trade, flaunting them, knowing that they will attract a certain type of customer who will pay more for the smell of violence and an extra tenner if she forgoes the condom.

Johnnie Harris makes Derek similarly vivid. He is no Al Capone, rather a shaven headed, flabby low flying middleman. A remorseless bully to the women he employs and a snivelling "yes man" to his superiors. Give him a gun and a defenceless victim then he is all man, disarm him and he’s as defenceless as a child.

Williams’ excellent director’s commentary (and question and answer session) reveals that he had never actually been to Brighton before he wrote the film – which he did in a single weekend – and that the whole thing only cost £80,000 to make, with much of the action shot in his friends’ houses and cars. He also reveals that the clever flashback structure was an afterthought, designed at injecting the narrative with some “pace and tension”. Eight deleted scenes, an alternative ending, and Williams’ 2001 short film, Royalty – on which London to Brighton is based – completes this thorough special features package.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

London to Brighton - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 17 May 2007 13:00:00 +0100

From the creator of gritty undercover cop thriller Narc, comes a furiously bloody action flick set in the murky underworld of the Las Vegas mafia. When Buddy “Aces” Israel (Piven), a magician and small-time crook, decides to turn state’s evidence against the mob, the head of the Sparazza family puts a $1 million contract on his head.

Fortunately for Aces the FBI hear about the plot and place him into protective custody under the supervision of two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) in his Lake Tahoe hideout. But what they don’t realise, is that Sparazza’s seven-figure offer has enticed an army of bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, female assassins and double-crossing mobsters out of the woodwork, all with their eyes firmly set on the $1 million dollar reward.

All of the promise shown by writer/director Joe Carnahan in 2002’s realistically gritty, low-budget cop thriller Narc has gone out the window in favour of wannabe-Tarantino / Guy Ritchie gangster nonsense.

As well as unsuccessfully trying to recreate QT’s black humour and milking Mr Madonna’s flashy camera trickery for all it’s worth, Carnahan also resorts to lifting ideas from past classics such as Mission Impossible, The Big Lebowski, and True Romance.

The first half hour is bogged down with reels of confusing exposition as the director attempts to interweave six separate storylines, although the haste he shows in then bumping his characters off at random makes you wonder why half of the 12-strong main cast were needed in the first place.

Admittedly, the second act shows more promise thanks to Carnahan’s visual energy and entertaining cameos from Affleck and Bateman, but the final third is a bloody, literally, mess.

Rather than one almighty final showdown that we had been promised, there are a series of unspectacular shoot-outs that soon border on the tedious.

If you thought the movie was riddled with idiocy then wait until you hear the commentary from Carnahan and editor Robert Frazen which sees the duo attempting to guess the bra sizes of the scantily clad beauties on show.

The five deleted and extended scenes add little to proceedings apart from yet more exposition and gunfire. The alternative – and inferior - “Cowboy” ending follows on in much the same vein, while the “Line-up” featurette takes us through the convoluted plot again, introducing us to each of the principle players and outlining their involvement with the story.

Rounding things off is a 10 minute stunts and effects featurette which contains, yup you’ve guessed it, yet more shoot ‘em up action, yawn.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Comedy

Smokin' Aces - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 16 May 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Deemed “unfilmable” since its release in 1985, Patrick Süskind’s best-selling novel finally makes its big-screen debut after a decade in development hell that saw both Ridley Scott and Tim Burton pass on the project after showing early interest.

Set in eighteenth-century Paris the story begins with the gruesome birth of the book’s anti-hero, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Whishaw), a borderline autistic blessed with a super-human sense of smell. Initially unsure what to do with his unique talent, Grenouille eventually discovers his calling when he becomes apprentice to master perfumier Baldini (Hoffman).

But after a violent accident in a Paris backstreet he develops an unhealthy fascination with the scent of a woman (nothing to do with Al Pacino’s 1992 weepie thankfully) and devotes his life to bottling the perfect female scent - a gruesome pursuit that ultimately leads to bloody murder.

Author Patrick Süskind refused to sell the rights to his novel for nearly 15 years as he strongly believed that translating Grenouille’s remarkable sense of smell to the big screen - without the use of the now defunct “Smell-O-Vision” - was an impossible task.

But fortunately his concerns have proven to be unfounded, thanks mainly to director Tom Tykwer’s clever use of close-ups on Whishaw’s twitching proboscis and the glorious attention to period detail.

Frank Griebe’s lush cinematography, funded by a relatively large $60 million budget, must also take much of the credit, competently bringing the filthy realities of 18th century Paris to life.

An insightful, hour long, “making of” documentary deals thoroughly with producer Bernd Eichinger’s struggles to bring this “unfilmable” novel to the big screen. After finally securing the rights from Author Patrick Süskind, he then met resistance from screenwriter Andrew Birkin who didn’t feel capable of translating such a hefty narrative to the big screen.

The “odour conversion” featurette highlights the further problems faced by director Tom Twyker in trying to bring the smells of Perfume to a cinema going audience, with particular reference to his use of close ups on Whishaws’ nose. Completing the package is a detailed look at the work of director of photography Frank Griebe, and a superfluous “Location Scouting” featurette.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Thriller

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 11 May 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's oddball career has given us classics such as Robocop and Basic Instinct, but also howlers like Showgirls. We're happy to say that Black Book is in the first camp.

A beautiful Jewish singer, Rachel (Carice van Houten) is bombed out of her hiding place and has to resort to dangerous measures to survive Nazi persecution in The Netherlands as the World War II comes to its messy conclusion.

Hiding her identity means more than just dying hair blond (literally all of it), she has to dedicate her all her charms to the Dutch Resistance and that means getting dangerously, even if that means intimately, close to the enemy.

Duty forces her into the arms of Ludwig Mentze (Sebastian Koch), a charming and sensitive SS Officer. But with Europe in turmoil, who are her friends and who are her enemies?

Like all his films, Black Book is technically brilliant with good old fashioned values such as clear but no nonsense editing, vivid lighting and thought through camera angles. There are big set piece sequences with large areas of The Hague taken over for panoramic shots of streets dressed in period style with hundreds of extras and enough vintage vehicles and planes to stock a motor museum. Every shot, whether vast panorama or the biggest of close ups, is lit with a painter’s eye and the design is immaculate with its saturated 1940s colours.

It is packed with action too. Planes zoom towards us and drop their bombs with terrifying proximity. Cars screech to a halt inches from the camera lens and the shootouts are exciting, violent and painfully realistic. Verhoeven celebrates the beauty of period machinery, none more so than the many steam trains that crash across the screen.

Everything is for real - the guns, the bombs and the blood but also the characters and the terrible situations that they have to endure. So flesh is there in abundance too. Naked, provocative, vulnerable, gross, bloated or mutilated. Verhoeven shows it as it is and, consequently, moves us by the humanity and the tragedy of this exciting, painful and largely true story of wartime heroism and cruelty.

He is more than helped by an outstanding cast of actors - none more so than his leading lady, the beautiful and charismatic Carice van Houten as the Jewish girl whose ordeal forms the backbone of the story.

Almost constantly on the screen, she is totally captivating from her first shot all the way through to the emotionally draining conclusion. She is quite simply a star who rises to every opportunity in a role rich in possibilities.

Rachel, we are told was a singer before the war, and Van Houten demonstrates her abilities as a performer whilst at the same time showing the vulnerable and true face of her suffering. She hides her trauma, revulsion and fear so that she can “work” for the Resistance as a spy, a cabaret singer and as a seductress using her extrovert personality, her charm and her body to inveigle her way right to the heart of the Nazi war machine.

With the utmost subtlety, she drops her beguiling mask every now and then for the camera and we see the tragic face of a woman whose life has been ravaged by the course of history. This is a great performance.

Cinema over the last half century or so has given us many noble, harrowing, sometimes exciting, sometimes horrifying accounts of the Second World War. Verhoeven has succeeded in making a thrilling adventure movie without trivialising or minimising any of the suffering or underplaying any of the bravery that characterised the lives of millions during those terrible years.

Don’t be put off by the subtitles or you will miss one of the classic films of the year.

In contrast to the film’s bulky running time, this special features package is frustratingly slight. With no behind the scenes footage we are forced to settle for a couple of above average interviews with director Paul Verhoeven and the film’s star Carice Van Houten.

Verhoeven explains how he became disillusioned with Hollywood after 2000’s disappointing Hollow Man, and spent 6 years looking for a project that really mattered to him before Black Book finally came along.

Meanwhile, Van Houten does her best to dispel the image of the director as a dirty old man who conned Sharon Stone into doing the infamous leg crossing scene in Basic Instinct against her will … with mixed results.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama

Black Book - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 07 May 2007 13:00:00 +0100

Just the sight of the name in the title may have some people clicking quickly to another review but, thankfully, this Potter film has nothing to do with the four-eyed dope that has blighted our Christmas schedules for the last 6 years.

Miss Potter is in fact a quirky biopic of Beatrix Potter, the children’s writer who created characters such as Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, and, most famously of all, Peter Rabbit.

Born into a traditional Victorian family, Beatrix defies social convention by branching out on her own with her debut book “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, before falling in love with her publisher Norman Warne (McGregor), much to the disgust of her social-climbing parents.

Zellweger (who may well pick up her fourth Oscar nod in 6 years) is perfectly cast in the lead role, with her ruddy cheeks, well-honed English accent, and comic timing all suited to Beatrix’s eccentric character.

As her bumbling love interest McGregor is also an inspired choice - not least because his namesake was the villain in the author’s most famous work! – and his chemistry with Zellweger works far better here than in their previous big screen pairing in “Down With Love”.

Richard Maltby Jr’s debut script is an entertaining comedy of manners and, despite his American roots, he has crafted a very English movie, which is backed up by authentic period designs and some dazzling photography of the Lake District.

When a music video from Katie Melua takes second (and last) billing on a special features package you know you’re in trouble. The only other extra on offer here (excluding the trailer – God knows why anyone wants to watch this when they’ve already got the film in their DVD player) is a 30-minute “Making of Miss Potter” featurette.

As well as a chat with director Noonan, all of the stars make brief appearances, giving some background information on what attracted them to the project and how they went about preparing for their roles. The half hour is filled out with a perfunctory look at the production design and costumes.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Drama Ewan McGregor

Miss Potter - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:00:00 +0100

Eragon is a lifeless fantasy adventure based on 15-year-old Christopher Paolini’s phenomenally successful novel, the first book in his epic “Inheritance Trilogy”.

Newcomer Ed Speleers plays the titular character, a young farm boy from the mystical land of Alagaesia who happens upon a dragon’s egg one day while out hunting. Unaware of the significance of his find, Jeremy Irons pops up to hit him with reel upon reel of confusing exposition about the history of “dragon-riders” and an evil king called Galbatorix (Malkovich) who now rules the land through fear. After 5 minutes of sword training and a quick flying lesson from his new pet, Eragon sets off to save the day, although with two books left in the series he doesn’t get much done by the time the credits finally appear.

Buchman has struggled to chop down the 500+ page book into a manageable narrative and the plot may prove too confusing for youngsters, who are clearly the target audience, to follow.

Stefen Fangmeier, a visual effect wizard in his directorial debut, takes everything far too seriously and rather than lightening the mood with moments of comic relief piles one scene of uninspiring CGI trickery on top of another, culminating in a final battle that resembles a cheap Peter Jackson knock-off.

Of the big name cast, Irons (who should have known better after his outing in 2000’s abysmal Dungeons & Dragons) injects some oomph but gets knocked off far too soon, while Carlyle and Malkovich are reduced to pantomime cameos, and Weisz is horribly miscast as the voice of the dragon. As for Speleers, who looks like he has stumbled onto the set looking for an Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot, the less said the better. Before the climactic battle he boldly states, “I know what I have to do” before flying off. Let’s just hope he’s talking about getting some acting lessons before episode two.

For any fans out there, and there must be some as Eragon took $75 million at the US box office (some way off its $100 million budget however), this special edition DVD release certainly won’t disappoint.

As well as an enthusiastic audio commentary, German director Stefen Fangmeier gives his take on seven deleted scenes, none of which add much excitement to proceedings but do give us a bit more background on the main characters. Next up is a behind the scenes documentary which tracks the movie from its initial conception to the post-production stages, via the wilds of Hungary and Slovakia where most of the action took place.

There’s also plenty of detailed discussion about the design process – Fangmeier’s bread and butter – in the “Vision of Eragon” featurette, and a host of other extras including Speleers’ original audition tape and an interview with Eragon author Christopher Paolini, who has now sold over 8 million copies of his books worldwide and is still only 23.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Sci-Fi

Eragon - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:19:55 +0100

Aardman, the Bristol-based team behind Wallace and Gromit, join up with animation giants DreamWorks (Shrek) for their third big-screen adventure. Leading a strong list of A-List stars Hugh Jackman plays Roddy, a pet rat from a luxurious Kensington apartment who is accidentally flushed down the toilet and deposited in the London sewers below.

Amidst the garbage and festering faeces Roddy meets Rita (Winslet), a feisty fellow rodent who promises to help her new friend get back to his luxurious life above ground … for a price.

Although billed as a traditional Aardman movie, Flushed Away is closer in quality and style to American offerings such as Madagascar and Shark Tale.

Another contributing factor to this dip in performance is the absence of Aardman creator Nick Park who is presumably taking time off after his 10 year journey with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ended in Oscar glory last year.

The movie does have its high point however, with a stunning high speed chase through the underground sewer system, buckets of movie in-jokes referencing everything from Terminator to Mary Poppins, and a remarkable level of attention to background detail filling every shot.

Of the cast, Ian McKellen is on top form as a megalomaniac toad and Shane Ritchie is an inspired choice to play an obese sewer rat, although Jackman lacks charisma in the central role and Winslet is wasted in a poorly written supporting part.

Much like the film itself, this special features package offers plenty of attractions for kids and adults alike.

An 8-minute “Meet the Cast” featurette introduces us to the A-list talent on show (as well as Shane Ritchie), while a chat with composer Harry Gregson-Williams reveals the difficulties he faced creating a score before the animation process was actually finished.

Perhaps the best bonus feature, however, is the talk track from directors Sam Fell and David Bowers, who thoughtfully point out all of the in-jokes and parodies hidden in the film. Ankle biters will no doubt be entertained by the “Super Slug Stuff” section which includes interactive games, creative activities and a load of slugs singing a bizarre version of the Scissors Sisters' “I Don't Feel Like Dancing”.

There is also a DreamWorks video jukebox featuring tunes from past glories including Shrek and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Animations

Flushed Away - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:00:00 +0100

Tenacious D - the folk-rock band created by Jack Black and Kyle Gass on HBO’s comedy sketch programme “The Mr. Show” - make a premature leap to the big screen in this meandering comedy written by the film’s stars.

Rebelling against his puritanical upbringing JB (Black) heads off to Los Angeles and teams up with metalhead guitarist/bald beach busker KG (Gass). After weeks of rock training the pair form the band Tenacious D, and embark on a quest to recover a fabled guitar pick that will make them the most powerful group the world has ever seen.

Going into this film we had no idea what the “D” of the title stood for, but after sitting through 95 minutes of Black’s familiar crazy-eyed rock act we can think of a few.

Directionless: the plot could be written on the pack of the fabled guitar pick they are searching for, and serves only to tie a collection of unoriginal set-pieces together.

Deafening: the soundtrack is cranked up to 11 on the volume scales and despite the occasional moment of inspiration (Meat Loaf’s early cameo as JB’s disapproving Dad) the tunes soon become monotonous. Dated: We’ve all seen Black’s tired routine before - most notably in the superior School of Rock. It is about time we saw him tackling more varied roles such as his unconventional turn in last year’s King Kong.

Dull: While the final “rock-off” with the Devil raises some much needed late laughs, and there are decent cameos from Tim Robbins and Ben Stiller, most viewers will be scratching at the cinema door by the time the credits finally start to role.

As for the extras Black, Gass and director Liam Lynch produce an energetic, if slightly inane, talk track while Lynch also introduces 15 deleted and extended scenes and a decent outtake reel. A 25-minute “Making Of” featurette reveals that Black and Gass spent nearly 10 years working out the plot, suggesting that they may be the least productive duo in movie history.

Rounding off the package is an “In the Studio” featurette that sees the duo working on their tunes, and the finished music video for Pick Of Destiny.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Comedy Jack Black

Tenacious D: In The Pick Of Destiny - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Apr 2007 09:00:00 +0100

Four years on from their first big screen outing, the Jackass crew are back for another 95 minutes of bone crunching, testicle crushing mayhem. Dispensing with any pretence of a plot the gung-ho gang launch themselves into a string of uproarious skits and life threatening stunts that are likely to have you sniggering and squirming in your seats in equal measures. Highlights include “The Butt Chug”, “Anaconda Ball Pit” and - our personal favourite - “Medicine ball Dodgeball” (in the dark).

We were slightly worried that his increasing age (35) and budding film career (next year’s Killshot looks like he may finally have a hit) might have mellowed Jackass frontman Johnny Knoxville, but, thankfully, we couldn’t have been further off the mark.

Perhaps expecting that this will be his last hurrah in the daredevil action stakes our man nearly dies on a huge Wile E Coyote style rocket, is repeatedly gored after trying his hand at bull fighting (blindfolded) and gets knocked out three times during a host of other lunatic stunts.

While this year’s grotesque Dirty Sanchez movie was marred by homophobic taunting, sadism and violent invective, Jackass is an originally comic creation from a team of loveable rogues.

The other crucial difference is the pace at which the movie flows, with a non stop stream of incidents that include Steve-O being used as bait in shark infested waters, Pontius drinking horse semen and Margera having a huge penis tattooed on his buttocks with a cattle brand.

With nearly a whole other film’s worth of equally entertaining footage on this superb special features package, Jackass 2 may well be the best value for money DVD release of the year so far.

As well as 16 minutes of deleted scenes (and some extended footage of sequences included in the film) there is half an hour’s worth of brand new segments including cameos from John Waters and Luke Wilson. Virtually the whole cast appear on the unsurprisingly boisterous talk track, which involves plenty of Mickey taking and hyena-style laughing, but little of much cinematic interest.

Completing the package (as well as a handful of outtakes and award spots) is a half hour “making of” featurette, which has some amusing interviews and more behind the scenes footage.

By the sounds of things the boys aren’t going to do a third movie, possibly because their insurance bills must now cost more than their appearance fees.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Comedy Steve-O

Jackass number two - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:00:00 +0100

Acclaimed documentary from first time director Ward Serrill that follows a high school girls basketball team and their unconventional coach Bill Resler over a seven-year period.

The story begins with Resler’s first season in charge of the Roosevelt Roughriders, an underperforming all-white team from an affluent Seattle neighbourhood. Over the years he turns them into a crack unit, likening his players to a pack of wolves who he tells: “sink your teeth in their necks! Draw blood!” during games.

The tactic begins to work and the Roughriders soon become one of the top teams in the State, but they are still missing one crucial ingredient … Enter Darnellia Russell, a poor black girl from a troubled background who takes them all the way to the State final against bitter local rivals the Garfield Bulldogs.

Billed as a female version of Hoop Dreams, this riveting underdog story follows a familiar Hollywood pattern.

The struggling team brought together by a maverick coach, the star player overcoming obstacles in her personal life, and a final showdown with a rival team that have hammered them in the past. But what sets The Heart of the Game apart is that it is a true story featuring real girls that are completely unrecognisable from the array of fake-breasted beauties we normally see in teen flicks.

After a heavy session in the gym one of the players, who looks like she has never even heard of make-up, says "We might not be able to win every match, but if we get into a fist fight we will".

So why isn’t it destined to be a classic like Hoop Dreams? Director Ward Serrill lacks focus at the start of the movie, wasting time on minor players who play no part in the final games.

This time would have been spent better getting to know more about the central character, Darnellia, who remains something of a closed book throughout. There are virtually no reflections on the difficulties she has faced, and we discover little to nothing about her boyfriend who plays a crucial part in the latter half of the story.

There is also a lack of information on coach Resler, and it would have been interesting to see how the all-consuming job had impacted on his personal life – all we discover is that he was divorced at some point and later remarried.

Tags: Home Cinema DVD Documentary

The Heart of the Game - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:00:00 +0100