DVD: Sibling Rivalry is King in Tale of Boleyn Girls
Posted on: Friday, 27 June 2008, 06:02 CDT
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (15)
Also available to buy pounds 19.99.
AN all-star cast featuring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, David Morrissey and Mark Rylance appear in this slice of British history.
Scarlett Johansson plays Mary who is betrothed to William Carey to the obvious annoyance of her older sister. "Younger than me, more beautiful than me. I am eclipsed. I am the other Boleyn girl," says Anne (Natalie Portman) bitterly.
Then news arrives that the king has grown tired of Catherine of Aragon and seeks a new mistress.
Anne is the obvious choice, except King Henry (Eric Bana) takes a shine to Mary. The Other Boleyn Girl is a beautifully dressed and staged costume drama that has pomp and pageantry in abundance but paucity of emotion.
Portman and Johansson are cast effectively as the ambitious, ruthless vamp and the naive woman of virtue, whose worlds are turned upside down by their dalliances with the brooding monarch. *** THE BANK JOB (15)
Also available to buy pounds 19.99.
JASON STATHAM, Saffron Burrows, Keeley Hawes and David Suchet star in this thriller about a daring robber.
Statham is shady car dealer Terry Leather who thinks he has hit the jackpot when beautiful model Martine (Burrows) invites him to take part in a robbery targeting the safety deposit boxes in the vault of Lloyd's Bank.
But he is unaware that one security box contains compromising photographs of a member of the Royal Family - the real reason that Martine targeted the bank.
The Bank Job is a fascinating story of government corruption, coverups and criminal daring inspired by truelife crime on the streets of 1971 London.
Unfortunately, Roger Donaldson's film tunnels through familiar ground and fails to capture the excitement of what was Britain's biggest ever robbery.
Extras include director and actor commentary, featurettes, world premiere red carpet interviews and extended scenes. ***
BE KIND REWIND (12)
Also available to buy pounds 19.99.
MOS DEF plays Mike who works in a small, New Jersey video rental store.
When the boss is away, Mike will play... with his auto mechanic chum Jerry (Jack Black), who inadvertently manages to wipe all of the tapes in the store when his body is magnetised by the local power plant.
With nothing but blank tapes to flog to customers, Mike and Jerry hurriedly create nobudget versions of Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2 and 2001: A Space Odyssey for the loyal clientele.
The film is a testament to writer-director Michel Gondry's creativity and distinctive, off-kilter perspective on modern life. The remakes are the best bits: Jack Black's impersonation of a scrap metal Robocop, complete with hairdryer gun, is simplyunforgettable and the cheap and cheerful interpretation of the spinning space station from 2001: A Space Odyssey is inspired.
DVD extras include featurettes, Fats Was Born Here short film as featured in Be Kind Rewind and audio description. ***
DIARY OF THE DEAD (18)
Also available to buy pounds 17.99, two-disc pounds 22.99.
AN aspiring filmmaker and his ramshackle crew are shooting a horror film in the Pennsylvania woods when they see bewildering news reports about re-animated corpses.
Cramming into an old Winnebago, the friends drive through the night to reach their loved ones, invariably coming into contact with the undead and other survivors of the plague.
Director George A Romero revisits his low-budget, guerrilla filmmaking roots for this latest brush with the slavering undead, employing a film within a film stylistic device (a la Cloverfield) to relate the story in the form of fractured imagesinterspersed with CCTV footage.
Special effects are suitably yucky but without a meaty storyline, the zombies have little substance to sink their teeth into.
Bonus features include director, editor and director of photography commentary, featurettes and Into the Camera actor interviews.***
CSI: MIAMI - SEASON FIVE EPISODES (15)
To buy pounds 34.99.
HORATIO CAINE (David Caruso) from the Miami-Dade crime lab and his colleague Erik Delko (Adam Rodriguez) seek revenge for the murder of Horatio's wife Marisol in the thrilling opening to the fifth series.
While the CSIs pursue their bloody agenda in Rio de Janeiro, back in Miami, cohorts Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) and Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) solve local cases using the latest forensics instruments and techniques.
TORCHWOOD - THE COMPLETE SECOND SERIES (15)
To buy pounds 49.99.
CAPTAIN Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and his fellow investigators from 21st-century Cardiff return in 13 episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off.
This series, rogue time agent Captain John Hart (James Marsters) runs amok, dividing the team and even kidnapping old flame Jack in order to force long buried secrets into the open.
Extras include The Lives and Deaths of Captain Jack featurette, 13 Torchwood de-classified cutdowns, deleted scenes and outtakes.
FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS (12)
To buy DVD pounds 15.99.
FEATURE-length animated sequel to Bender's Big Score that sees the fabric of space rip open, unleashing a giant multi-tentacled creature that threatens the future of mankind. Bender, Fry, Leela and the rest of the crew put their lives on the line tobattle this intergalactic foe, sowing the seeds of a strange, otherworldly love story in this sci-fi animated adventure.
Extras include cast and crew commentary, featurettes, Blooperama: The Futurama Cast at Work, outtakes, deleted scenes and storyboards.
(c) 2008 Coventry Evening Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Coventry Evening Telegraph
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds