Movies to watch on Blu-Ray and DVD: The Diary Of A Teenage Girl, more...
Out on 11 January and 18 January
Jake Gyllenhaal has a mountain to climb. Owen Wilson has a holiday to escape. Yes, heres the new DVD and Blu-Ray releases coming out in the next two weeks. Click on for our reviews of Bad Bromance, 45 Years, Everest, No Escape, The Diary Of A Teenage Girl, 99 Homes, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Camp X-Ray and The Visit. For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film.
BAD BROMANCE
What are your options if your cracking comedy-drama nosedives at the box office? Well, changing the title from the action-y sounding The D Train might not be a bad idea, though youd have hoped they could have come up with something a little less offensive than Bad Bromance (to say more would be to deprive those yet to see it which, judging from that woeful box office, is just about everybody). Excelling as Dan Landsman, the self-appointed head of his high school reunion committee, Jack Black brings unexpected pathos to what might have been an insufferable sad sack. But its James Marsdens preening Oliver Lawless who steals the show. Spotted by Dan in a suntan lotion commercial, Lawless, who was always the cool kid at school, has now made it in LA. Thus Dan heads out there in an effort to secure Olivers attendance (and the kudos that will come with it) What follows is amusing, affecting and really rather daring, as debut writer/directors Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogul subvert genre conventions and go to places other bromances dont dare countenance. Marsden, like Black, turns his archetype inside out, and theres fine support from the ever-excellent Kathryn Hahn and Transparents Jeffrey Tambor as, respectively, Dans wife and boss. Lets just hope that this sharp-edged gem can survive its second terrible title to garner attention on DVD along with Magic Mike XXL, released two months prior, it represents a forward stride in US cinemas attitudes to sexuality. EXTRAS: Gag reel Directors: Andrew Mogel, Jarrad Paul Starring: Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn DVD, Digital HD release: 18 January 2016 Jamie Graham
45 YEARS
Shadows of the past loom over Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenays titular anniversary in Andrew Haighs insightful, brilliantly acted marriage drama. Repressed relationships are a speciality of British cinema and this is almost an inverted Brief Encounter, with age leaving passion long dormant beneath cosy complacency. Although the cerebral chill is a shift from Haighs romantic predecessor Weekend, he remains fascinated with meshing two personalities to see what music they make. You wouldnt necessarily match the irreverent Courtenay with stern Rampling, but that clash is key to the quietly heartbreaking effect. EXTRAS: Commentary > Q&A > FX reel > Shooting notes Director: John Erick Dowdle Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare, Pierce Brosnan DVD, BD release: 11 January 2016 Simon Kinnear
EVEREST
The true-life tale of two separate expeditions beset by disaster in 1996, Everest inevitably loses something in the transition from IMAX 3D to the living room. Even so, the mix of a suffering cast (the likes of Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin filmed at 10,000 feet) and invisible FX make for a teeth-chattering experience. And despite the unwieldy ensemble leaving little time to dig into characters, theres still an emotional kick. Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Robin Rright are especially shortchanged, left to fret on the phone. EXTRAS: Commentary > Making Of (BD) > Featurettes Director: Baltasar Kormkur Starring: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright DVD, BD, 3D BD, Digital HD release: 18 January 2016 Jamie Graham
NO ESCAPE
Owen Wilson and family touch down in Southeast Asia and become embroiled in a violent coup, forced to run and gun for their lives. If you can ignore the rampant xenophobia (the copy-and-paste mob is not even granted subtitles), No Escape passes muster as a fun, dumb, OTT action movie tense, frantic and enlivened by Pierce Brosnan as an estuary-accented poor mans Bond. Wilson mans up effectively and Lake Bell pulls off the thankless wife/mother role. Its a family drama masquerading as an action film, claims director John Erick Dowdle on the extras. EXTRAS: Deleted scenes > Featurettes Director: John Erick Dowdle Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare, Pierce Brosnan DVD, BD, Digital HD release: 11 January 2016 Jamie Graham
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL
I had sex today holy shit! says 15-year-old Minnie, setting a no-bull tone for Marielle Hellers boundary-busting coming-of-ager. Neither prurient nor prim, Hellers spin on Phoebe Gloeckners 70s San Francisco-set graphic novel gatecrashes the boys club of lusty teen-pics and owns it. A Royal Night Outs Bel Powley is a royal revelation as the sex-mad teen who shags mums (Kristen Wiig) boyf (Alexander Skarsgrd). And although the set-up could invite broad comedy, Heller anchors it in Ghost World-ly wit, bittersweet truths and a brash, believable female POV: canny choices for a debut crackling with forthright confidence. EXTRAS: Featurette Director: Marielle Heller Starring: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgrd, Kristen Wiig DVD release: 11 January 2016 Kevin Harley
99 HOMES
Unlike its hero, unemployed construction worker Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), 99 Homes has plenty going for it. Directed by Ramin Bahrani (of 2005s excellent Man Push Cart), it features a great set-up, strong performances and a genuine social conscience. Evicted by reptilian realtor Rick Carver (Michael Shannon), whos strip-mining the Orlando suburbs of foreclosed houses after the 2008 crash, Nash begins working for his nemesis, and a Margin Call -meets-Training Day narrative begins. Though well-made and well-intentioned, the results are one rewrite from greatness, the awful facts remaining slightly more compelling than the fiction. Director: Ramin Bahrani Starring: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern Digital HD release: 18 January 2016 DVD, BD release: 25 January 2016 Matt Glasby
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL
A teen weepie and joyous celebration of movies past, Alfonso Gomez-Rejons quirky book adap comes bursting with creativity as high-schooler Greg (Thomas Mann) befriends Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a girl recently diagnosed with cancer. The mortality plot mostly plays second fiddle to Greg and best bud Earl (R.J. Cyler) recreating their favourite movies on Super 8. But Gomez-Rejons second feature (after the Town That Dreaded Sundown remake) doesnt scrimp on emotion and succeeds as both oddball coming-of-ager and celluloid love letter. A DVD-only release, missing key extras from the R1 Blu-ray. EXTRAS: Commentary > Deleted scenes > Short film Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Starring: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke DVD, Digital HD release: 11 January 2016 Josh Winning
HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR
A complex meditation on memory and loss, Alain Resnais debut feature retains its hypnotic grip. A French actress (Amours Emmanuelle Riva), in Hiroshima to make an anti-war film, has an affair with a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada), whose family perished in the nuclear attack on the city. She too has a trauma haunting her; she loved a German soldier, and was cruelly punished for it. Resnais background in documentary informs the density of the images, while Marguerite Duras dialogue winds a skein of longing and regret around them. EXTRAS: Featurette > Interview Director: Alain Resnais Starring: Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas BD release: 18 January 2016 Philip Kemp
CAMP X-RAY
Kristen Stewart plays Amy, a rookie guard who forms an uneasy bond with Ali (A Separations Peyman Moaadi), a highly-strung detainee in Guantanamo Bay. Their relationship gets off to a bad start: Ali flings his own faeces at Amy. But writer/director Peter Sattler works hard to convince us of their coming together, with Ali barely clinging to his sanity and Amy increasingly disenchanted by the dehumanising routines in the controversial prison camp. Tightly framed, with much of the drama taking place in corridors and cells, its an excellent showcase for Stewart, but the real star is Moaadi, who puts heart and soul into Ali. EXTRAS: None Director: Peter Sattler Starring: Kristen Stewart, Peyman Moaadi, Lane Garrison DVD, VOD release: 18 January 2016 James Mottram
THE NINJA TRILOGY
These three Golan-Globus productions are thoroughly deserving of their latter-day cult status. Two parts camp to three parts cheese, Enter The Ninja (1981) finds Franco Nero (the original Django) taking on ruthless oil barons; Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) has legendary martial artist Sho Kosugi avenging his family in Salt Lake City; and Ninja III: The Domination (1984) sees an aerobics instructor possessed by, um, an evil ninja. Whatever: your inner 13-year-old will sincerely thank you for snapping these up EXTRAS: Commentaries > Interviews > Booklet Director: Various Starring: Various Dual format release: 18 January 2016 Ali Catterall
THE VISIT
M. Night Shyamalan makes B-movies with an alluring A-movie gloss. Sometimes theyre excellent (Unbreakable); sometimes theyre really not (The Last Airbender). This found-footage chiller veers entertainingly between the two extremes. Precocious kids Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould, the former a budding documentarian, are packed off to stay with Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop-Pop (Peter McRobbie) by their gadabout mum (Kathryn Hahn), but somethings up aside from a smattering of cinemas poorest parenting (and by proxy, plotting) choices. Shame, because there is delicious darkness here, too, not to mention a spectacularly pretentious Making Of. EXTRAS: Making Of (BD) > Alternate ending > Deleted scenes Director: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan DVD, BD, Digital HD release: 18 January 2016 Matt Glasby