DVD: Arresting Tale of an Outlaw’s Final Days
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (15)
To buy pounds 16.99/collector’s edition pounds 20.99.
IT is 1881 and the final year of Jesse James’s extraordinary life.
The James Gang continues to rob banks and railroad owners and the story is told by Brad Pitt as Jesse, Casey Affleck, Mary-Louise Parker and Sam Shepard.
The movie is a visually arresting tale of obsession and betrayal, melding an A-list Hollywood cast with New Zealand director Andrew Dominik’s arthouse sensibilities.
Affleck blows Pitt and everyone else off screen as James’s historically-maligned assassin, with a performance of such naked emotion and intensity, it takes your breath away. Crawling beneath the skin of a callow, envious pup, Affleck delivers a virtuosoturn of nuance and rare conviction.
Roger Deakins’s cinematography and Patricia Norris’s production design create some truly unforgettable imagery.
The two-disc collector’s edition DVD comes with a 44-page book and the documentary Death of an
Outlaw. *****
BLACK SHEEP (15)
To buy pounds 19.99.
NEW ZEALAND – famous for its beautiful landscapes, the All Blacks, and lots and lots of sheep.
All well and good as long as they stay placid and simple, but introduce a mutant outbreak and bad times are ahead.
This debut from director Jonathan King takes me back to very early Peter Jackson films. I’m not talking about hobbits and wizards, it was all about pus, blood and guts. Like Jackson’s Bad Taste and Braindead, this film has that in abundance asgenetically- modified mutated sheep chomp, chew and eviscerate the inhabitants of a small farming community. Honestly, when will mad scientists leave DNA alone?
Black Sheep has its fun moments.
It’s entertaining to watch but if you don’t manage to catch it, you really won’t be missing much.
Extras include director commentary, featurette, deleted scenes, blooper reel and Icon trailer reel. *****
Matt Barron
HITMAN (15)
To buy pounds 19.99.
NAMED after the numerical barcode on his head, Agent 47 is one of the most revered assassins for hire in the business.
Years of training prove invaluable when Agent 47 agrees to kill moderate Russian president Belicoff and finds himself dodging bullets from the Russian military and Interpol, headed by agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott).
Hitman successfully recreates the mood and iconography of the topselling video-game series, from the anti-hero’s shadowy past (he is bred to kill by an exiled brotherhood of the church) to the elaborate weaponry and signature look (smart black suit,white shirt, red tie, shaved head with a unique barcode tattoo at the back.)
New Bond girl Olga Kurylenko flaunts her breasts to order and sheds tears from those big eyes as her feisty femme tells her protector “if you’re looking for a reason not to kill me, I don’t have one”.
DVD extras include featurettes, deleted scenes, an alternative ending and gag reel. *****
VEGAS BABY (15)
To buy pounds 12.99.
POINTLESS, clumsy and at times downright embarrassing, this juvenile comedy revolves around five friends who head to Las Vegas for a wild bachelor party.
Limousines, gambling and strippers are on the agenda. That is until Mr Kidd, their party planner, turns out to be a bank robber looking to turn over a casino.
Featuring a half-decent cast led by Kal Penn (Superman Returns) and Donald Faison (Scrubs), the movie is let down by a script full of nonsensical plot twists and one-joke scenes that seem to go on for hours. Bonus material includes a behind-the-scenesfeature and a trailer. *****
Pete Reid
SOUTHLAND TALES (15)
To buy pounds 19.99.
DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’ JOHNSON stars alongside Seann William Scott, Justin Timberlake, and Sarah Michelle Gellar in this sci-fi thriller about a post-apocalyptic California after the Third World War.
Action movie star Boxer Santaros (Johnson) vanishes without trace and reappears in the desert suffering from amnesia.
Boxer has, during his absence, apparently penned a screenplay with fame-seeking glamour puss Krysta Now (Gellar), whose words of wisdom include “deep down, we all wish we were a porn star”.
Richard Kelly’s ambitious sciencefiction fantasy bears fleeting similarities to his quixotic debut, Donnie Darko. Unfortunately, in the case of Southland Tales, Kelly’s dystopian vision makes little sense. Literary references pile on top of each other,until the whole thing comes crashing down during the special effects-laden finale.
DVD extras including a making of featurette. *****
THAT MITCHELL & WEBB LOOK – SERIES 2 (15)
To buy pounds 19.99.
SIX episodes of the BAFTA awardwinning sketch show written by and starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, including the return of the mathematics quiz show Numberwang! and detective Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
DVD extras include Interviews with David Mitchell, Robert Webb and producer Gareth Edwards, behind the scenes featurette and out- takes.
(c) 2008 Coventry Evening Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.