Category: DVD & Blu-Ray
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Italian gangster Renato Vallanzasca’s life, before being sentenced to hundreds of years in prison, may have been full of robberies, brutal slayings, torture, sex and drug use, but it makes for a strangely dull biopic. Established and capable director Michele Placido’s take on his violent and unpredictable life is visually striking, but the narrative just…
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It’s hard to be a Scrooge about a film called The Search for Santa Paws, especially when there is an adorable dog on the cover. But I’m sorry to say that this straight-to-DVD/BD spin-off from the Disney Buddies series is cheap rubbish. But what else were you expecting? For those who don’t know, the Disney…
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This incredibly tedious political thriller, from The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman, tries and fails to make an intelligent and compelling drama out of the 2003 Valerie Palme scandal. Palme was a CIA agent involved in international operations. During the WMD fears of the early 2000s, her husband Joseph Wilson – due to his knowledge and…
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Biopics are always dangerous territory for any film director; the fact is that real life is actually quite dull, thus biographical films are often prone to being over-dramatised, sentimentalised, and even completely fabricated. Control, which focuses on the life of Ian Curtis and his band Joy Division, manages to steer clear of these pitfalls. The…
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As the holiday season fast approaches can Saint (Sint), a Dutch horror film which turns Saint Nicholas into a murderous zombie, liven people’s spirits? The film’s basic premise is intriguing: every time there’s a full moon on the fifth of December, which apparently occurs every 25 years or so, Saint Nicholas (aka the Dutch version of Santa…
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If you’ve seen cult phenomenon A Serbian Film, then you’ll know what to expect from this review. If you haven’t seen it, then this review will do one of two things: either it will intrigue you into watching it, or it will disgust you and warn you away from ever setting eyes upon it. Either…
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Battle: Los Angeles tries desperately to be Independence Day meets The Hurt Locker, but sadly it has neither the brains nor the characterisation of either of those two superior pictures. Directed by South African filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman (to whom we have to thank for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), the film is a derivative…
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This hazy and unsatisfying college life thriller tries to be hip, cool and out there, but ends up feeling dull, deranged and more than a little pretentious. Jesse Bradford, a competent young actor who handles the silly script as best he can, plays Jack, a partying druggy who spends most of his time on the…
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A group of good-looking youngsters party, deal drugs and murder people in this terribly bad straight-to-DVD dud from Alan Pao. The clunky story sees hot rich boy Tristan (Desperate Housewives’ Jesse Metcalfe) escape from his domineering father with his younger brother Hayden (Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford) for a night out drinking, partying and ogling at strippers.…
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Released on Blu-ray this autumn, Pulp Fiction (1994) — arguably Tarantino’s most successful and critically acclaimed film — gets the high-definition upgrade fans have been waiting for… and what a beauty it is to watch. The non-linear and multiple narrative brainchild of Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction follows the fast-paced and violent lives of a group…
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A movie deemed so disturbing it was only released in the UK in its entirety in 2002, Straw Dogs concerns American mathematician David (Dustin Hoffman) and his wife Amy (Susan George), who move back to her fictional hometown of Wakely, Cornwall and face increasing hostility from the locals. Naturally, these actions escalate in their intensity…
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The makers of Ice Age take off on a tropical adventure with this vibrantly coloured animation whose musical numbers get you instantly shaking your tail feathers. The soundtrack is an integral part of this film, with the musical duo of will.i.am and Jamie Foxx – two rapping slum birds – bringing to life the sounds of…
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An interesting addition to a crowded genre
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Game of Death is one of the latest releases from Stage 6 Films, Sony’s B-movie department that turns out cheap trash at an incredible rate, producing up to 15 features per year. This awful straight-to-DVD dud sums up the quality of most of their output. Wesley Snipes plays a special ops agent, charged with the…