Out on 24 August and 31 August
Vin Diesel makes the most out of his driving license. Kenneth Branagh has a fairytale to share. Maisie Williams and her classmates cant keep falling down whats the cause? Yes, heres this fortnights new DVD and Blu-Ray releases. Click on for our reviews of Fast & Furious 7, Eyes Without A Face, Colors, State Of Grace, Cinderella, Medium Cool, The Falling, Monsters: Dark Continent, Bad Words, Far From The Madding Crowd, Ride, Child 44, Love Me Like You Do, The Ang Lee Trilogy and The Decline Of Western Civilisation. For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film.
FAST & FURIOUS 7
Ever since 2009s four-quel, with its canny cast reunion (tagline: New model. Original parts), the Fast & Furious franchise has been on an unstoppable roll. Each successive outing has been bigger, louder, more outrageous than the last and outgrossed it at the box office to boot. But not even star/producer/ driving force Vin Diesel couldve envisaged the moolah made by this seventh instalment: $1.5 billion at time of writing. Thats almost double the $788 million grossed by 2013s Fast & Furious 6. Not bad for a B-movie about muscle cars. Especially one made in such tough circumstances. The untimely tragic death of co-star Paul Walker, midway through production, left the cast traumatised and incoming director James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring) with a blockbuster in tatters. While the necessary revisions reportedly skyrocketed the budget up by a fifth, to $250 million, quite how the team pulled the film together, creating a poignant tribute to Walker in the process, is nothing short of miraculous. Getting the movie back on track required a judicious mix of re-writing, editing and digital cunning. Old unseen footage of Walker from earlier Furious instalments is blended, almost seamlessly, with scenes shot by Walkers brothers Caleb and Cody, on to whose bodies the late actors face was digitally grafted. The moments you can sense the trickery are far outweighed by the emotional pay-off of seeing Walker for one last time in the franchise that defined him. For a film series thats always been about the importance of family, the sentiment surrounding the loss of one of their own is fully earned. By the time the final parting of the ways comes around, even the most hardened petrol head will be struggling to hold back the tears. Yet Fast & Furious 7 has more in the tank not least the confidence to pull off every last ludicrous scenario that returning scripter Chris Morgan dreams up. Cars parachuting from planes? No problem. A vehicle jumping from one Abu Dhabi skyscraper to another? Easy-peasy. What about The Rock exploding a plaster cast off his arm just by flexing his bicep? Oh, go on then. In truth, the plot isnt as tight as earlier outings (and, yes, the soapy story still sees Michelle Rodriguezs Letty plagued by amnesia). Here, Jason Stathams rock-hard Deckard, older brother to Luke Shaws now-hospitalised villain from Furious 6, sets out to gain revenge on the gang. Up pops Kurt Russells mysterious government agent, telling Diesel and co. that if they scratch his back, by locating a kidnapped computer hacker, hell scratch theirs by helping them get the jump on Deckard. Mind you, hes not exactly hard to find, absurdly popping up everywhere from Azerbaijan to Abu Dhabi like a cockney Terminator. Another niggle is Dwayne Johnsons limited screen time (presumably he was off shooting San Andreas). But then with martial arts master Tony Jaa and UFC champ Ronda Rousey making their F&F debuts, fans wont want for hand-to-hand combat scenes. Early on, a brief return to the Race Wars contest suggests Wan hasnt forgotten what made the original 2001 movie purr: hot beach bods and gleaming hoods. Mostly, though, he and stunt coordinator/second unit director Spiro Razatos aim to super-size the spectacle. The results are frequently astounding, even if some of the more outlandish set-pieces feel a bit pixel-heavy next to Mad Max: Fury Roads gritty in-camera thrills. With franchise favourites Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) enjoying their share of the limelight, the story manages to keep its ever-growing ensemble busy even if Doms sister/Brians wife Mia (Jordana Brewster) is left holding the baby once more. Then again, when theres so much to gawp at from a bus sliding towards a cliff edge to Johnson/Statham fighting their way through the scenery like Iron Man/Hulk you probably wont care too much about characters arcs or plot holes. Blu-ray comes with an extended cut (two minutes worth of stretched-out scenes) and 100-odd minutes of extras. Theyre mostly mini-featurettes, breaking down the fights, stunts, cars and Universals F&F theme park ride. Nothing mind-blowing, then, though Talking Fast is a slick alternative to a chat-track, with Wan, Rodriguez, Brewster and Gibson on camera to steer you through select scenes. Only in Back To The Starting Line does the team address Walkers death (he is the original fast and furious, says Ludacris) but, perhaps out of respect, theres nothing on how the production faced the difficulties of completing the film without him. Deleted scenes and the promo for Wiz Khalifas closing-credits tune See You Again complete the package. But with $1.5 billion already in the bank, we can surely expect a bigger, louder, more outrageous and exhaustive special edition down the line EXTRAS: > Extended cut (BD) > Featurettes (BD) > Deleted scenes (BD) > Music video Director: James Wan Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez Digital HD release: 24 August 2015 DVD, BD release: 7 September 2015 James Mottram
EYES WITHOUT A FACE
Georges Franjus skin-peeling chiller famously made seven people faint at its 1960 Edinburgh Film Festival screening. On release, it was reviled as an artists excursion into trash cinema. Nonetheless, this oddly lyrical tale of a plastic surgeon maiming kidnapped girls to restore his daughters monstrously damaged beauty is the first great surgical horror film. Only Franjus second feature (after 1959s harrowing psychiatric drama The Keepers aka Head Against The Wall), its ironically less bloody than arty abattoir expose Blood Of The Beasts (1949), which made his name. But Franjus horror, as the well-made doc packaged here insists, is unsettling and faintly surreal, not a series of screaming shocks. Scripted by crime-masters Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, hot from their Les Diaboliques and Vertigo triumphs, the film has a unique mix of pulp story and visual poetry. Forbidden to include gore, animal experiments or mad-scientist shenanigans for fear of European censors, Franju included all three but with enviable delicacy. Franjus poetic and peculiar universe is the key to the films success, real and surreal all at once, with a genre mix that throws the viewer subtly off balance. Melodrama and crime thriller meet dark fairytale here as Louise (The Third Mans Alida Valli), the face-finding, girl-snatching secretary, roams Paris just ahead of the police. Meanwhile, Edith Scobs masked heroine Christiane is both princess and prize experiment locked up in her fathers clinic. What gels it are Franjus tense sequences of exquisite images carried along by Maurice Jarres jaunty waltz themes Valli driving a mysteriously floppy passenger through an inky rainstorm, the scraping horror of a tomb being crowbarred. By contrast the terrifyingly realistic face-removal scene (Pliers!) is so visually unsparing and surgically accurate that its still a squirm-inducing experience. Yet Eyes Without A Face retains a subtly un-natural quality. Woods, car rides and even a caf coffee chat are shot through with dread, their pearl-and-velvet monochrome luminous in this deft Blu-ray transfer. Deliberate but detached performances from Pierre Brasseurs arrogant Genessier, and a guilt-ridden Valli keep things subdued but never naturalistic, as they plot and slice. Behind her eerily blank mask, Edith Scob is riveting, her eyes, gestures, and gliding walk conveying the anguish that her immobile face cant. Tim Lucas classy chat track underlines the films pivotal position, resonating with Universal 1930s classics like Bride Of Frankenstein, and exerting a lasting influence on everything from Mario Bava and Jesus Francos 60s Euro-horror, to John Carpenters Halloween and Leo Caraxs Holy Motors, which managed to lob in a masked Scob. An authoritative, meatily packaged release thats positively cultural catnip for horror lovers. EXTRAS: > Commentary > Documentary > Short films > Featurette > Booklet Director: Georges Franju Starring: Edith Scob, Pierre Brasseur Dual format release: 24 August 2015 Kate Stables
COLORS/STATE OF GRACE
As his recent ill-advised foray into Liam Neeson territory shows, The Gunmans Sean Penn was never really cut out for action stardom. But the closest he came to it are probably these two crime sagas, made in the late 80s long before the activism and the Oscars when Penn was Hollywoods Madonna-marrying bad boy du jour. Think punches and posturing, as a youthful Penn dukes it out with some heavyweight peers. Released in 1988, Colors pairs him with Robert Duvall and, behind the camera, Dennis Hopper a delicious-sounding combo that doesnt quite stand the test of time. Set amid LAs gang war between the Crips and the Bloods, Penn and Duvall are two cops on patrol, the hothead and the street-smart veteran. It doesnt get much more sophisticated than that, with a pumped-up Penn cracking skulls on the trail of the new drug-dealing gang on the block. Being far removed from fantasy gangland dramas like The Warriors, though, Colors was arguably one of the first films to explore rising racial tensions and casual police brutality, several years before the real-life Rodney King riots would shake Los Angeles. Driven by a menacing title track from Ice-T (living life like a firecracker, quick as my fuse) and muscular support from the likes of Don Cheadle, its influence on everything from Boyz N The Hood to video game GTA: San Andreas is undeniable. Arriving in 1990, State Of Grace was inevitably overshadowed by GoodFellas, Scorseses own New York gangland epic, which was released the same year. But it demands revisiting, not least for a combustible turn from a greasy-haired Gary Oldman as Jackie Flannery, an Irish hoodlum living in Hells Kitchen. (One brilliantly unhinged scene sees him and Penn set a building on fire, sprinting through the flames for kicks.) Penn is Terry, the prodigal son returning to his old neighbourhood after years away. There he hooks up with Jackie and his older brother Frankie (Ed Harris), a cold-blooded gang leader who doesnt think twice about slitting the throat of a close ally. The Flannerys have a sister, Kate Robin Wright, before she added Penn to her name who inevitably becomes entwined with the tormented Terry as he gets lured back into a life of crime. Rather like Colors, its not Penn at his most powerful. But theres something compelling about watching him jostle with Oldman and Harris, as well as supporting players John Turturro and John C. Reilly. Director Phil Joanou, then hot off U2 tour doc Rattle And Hum, occasionally veers towards style for styles sake. But theres no denying the potency of the shoot-out finale as it cuts back and forth with a St. Patricks Day parade. Its proof that Penn is a gunman after all. COLORS EXTRAS: > Deleted scenes > Interviews
Director: Dennis Hopper Starring: Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, Mara Conchita Alonso BD release: 24 August 2015 STATE OF GRACE EXTRAS: > Featurette > Interview
Director: Phil Joanou Starring: Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman BD release: 24 August 2015 James Mottram
CINDERELLA
Kenneth Branaghs live-action update of the Disney classic proves that fairytale movies dont need to be revisionist to score big at the box-office. With a worldwide tally of more than $500m, Cinderella sticks closely to the template of the 1950 animation. Breaking from the Maleficent mould, there are no alternative perspectives here, and barely a whiff of a reimagining. While Cinders has always been something of an inactive protagonist, Lily James embodies the character with no small charm, and as much moxie as the story allows. After losing both parents to a double-whammy of bereavement in the first act, James Ella has to adapt to life with wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine, a masterclass in mean from Cate Blanchett. Calmly sinister, Blanchett never resorts to pantomime theatrics. Along with the nasty stepsisters, all the iconography you remember is present and correct Fairy Godmother, pumpkin coach, glass slipper, friendly vermin but theres no notable attempt to give the story modern resonance or shake up the gender dynamics. But, frankly, its pretty easy to get swept up in the pomp of it all. Some of the exterior shots suffer from a sheen of CGI-artificiality, which makes Dante Ferretis production design and Sandy Powells costumes sparkle all the more brightly, with the ball centrepiece rightfully the standout sequence. Like Richard Maddens Prince Kit, the film itself is immaculately groomed and inoffensively likeable; perfect Sunday afternoon fodder. Special features include an understandably snipped alternate opening, a handful of featurettes and the cute Frozen short that accompanied the film in cinemas. EXTRAS: > Featurettes > Alternate opening > Frozen Fever short Director: Kenneth Branagh Starring: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden DVD, BD, Digital HD release: 24 August 2015 Matt Maytum
MEDIUM COOL
Taking the French New Wave and cinma verit as his springboard, ace cinematographer Haskell Wexler (Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, In The Heat Of The Night) launched himself headlong into feature directing with a masterly, tantalising mix of fiction and grim reality. A native-born Chicagoan, hed sussed out well in advance that something was brewing in his home town so by the time the Chicago riots broke out during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Wexler and his crew were ready and waiting, equipment in hand. So much so, he was even accused in some quarters of inciting the disturbances. The riots, most of the footage filmed for real, form the climax of Medium Cool and compelling viewing they make, too. But leading up to that, we follow two fictional narrative strands that gradually converge. In one, a TV news cameraman (played by Robert Forster) pursues his career, always remaining detached from what hes filming. In the other, a young Vietnam war widow from West Virginia (Verna Bloom) moves to the city with her young son. The boy has a passion for homing pigeons which brings him, and then his mother, into contact with the cameraman. Attracted to the widow, the man starts to feel emotional, and political, engagement. The whole world is watching! chant the Chicago demonstrators, as the police move in to quench the action with nightsticks and tear gas. Medium Cool captures that key confrontation but also addresses what Wexler calls the crucial moment when you have to put the camera down, when to stop observing and get involved. EXTRAS: > Booklet Director: Haskell Wexler Starring: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz Dual format release: 31 August 2015 Philip Kemp
THE FALLING
Carol Morleys follow-up to Dreams Of A Life is a broody puzzler about an all-girls school in the late 1960s thats mysteriously afflicted by a spate of mass faintings. The chief instigator would appear to be Lydia (Maisie Williams), a bright young troublemaker in the thrall of glamorous classmate Abbie (Florence Pugh). Yet the actual cause is nowhere near as clear-cut in a film whose blend of sexual repression, folklore and hysteria makes for a spine-tingling throwback to the golden age of 70s arthouse. Maxine Peake, Greta Scacchi and Monica Dolan all add fine support. EXTRAS: > None Director: Carol Morley Starring: Maisie Williams, Florence Pugh, Maxine Peake DVD, BD release: 24 August 2015 Neil Smith
MONSTERS: DARK CONTINENT
The sequel to Gareth Edwards awesome 2010 indie sci-fi, Tom Greens war-torn feature debut meanders but its way better than its critical reception suggests. Homegrown talents Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Joe Dempsie and Nicholas Pinnock are fantastic as the American grunts battling insurgents in the Middle East, while the gorgeously rendered CG aliens provide intermittent menace. Although the unfocused ending disappoints, its tense, thorny and thematically interesting stuff, overcoming cliches with craftsmanship at just about every turn. EXTRAS: > None Director: Tom Green Starring: Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Joe Dempsie DVD, BD release: 31 August 2015 Matt Glasby
BAD WORDS
After years of seeing Jason Bateman in nice guy/loser roles, its a joy to watch him cut loose in this acerbic comedy about a mean-minded grump who exploits a loophole that allows him to enter national childrens spelling bees. Bullying his rivals and exasperating their parents, hes deliciously unrepentant until, alas, he starts to bond with a puckish 10-yearold (Rohan Chand) and the film reverts to sentimental formula. Essentially Bad Santa with tougher vocabulary, the actors first feature as a director is at its best when hes being a jerk. EXTRAS: > Commentary > Featurette > Deleted/extended scenes Director: Jason Bateman Starring: Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Rohan Chand DVD, BD release: 31 August 2015 Neil Smith
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
The biggest shock with Thomas Vinterbergs adap of Thomas Hardys novel is just how conventional it is. The former Dogme co-founder plays it straight, from casting corset-queen Carey Mulligan as feisty Bathsheba to shooting more magic hour sunsets than you can shake a shovel at. Not that this is a criticism; Vinterberg vividly captures the rhythms of Hardys Wessex, while Mulligan is fully rounded. Its Hardy-lite, though Vints ensures the dark clouds still gather. EXTRAS: > Featurettes > Gallery > Deleted scenes (BD) Director: Thomas Vinterberg Starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen DVD, BD release: 31 August 2015 Neil Smith
RIDE
Helen Hunt writes, directs , produces and stars in a stagey coming-of-middle-age dramedy that wrings every metaphor it can out of watching an uptight woman learn how to surf. Hunts wired New York editor has a cloyingly close relationship with her college-dropout son (Brenton Thwaites), following him to a California beach and hooking up with Luke Wilsons boho surf instructor to learn how to go with the flow, ride the waves etc. Hunt is better at writing than directing, but still much better at acting; her decent performance gets lost amid a choppy sea of faux-Mamet dialogue and sub-sitcom clichs. EXTRAS: > None Director: Helen Hunt Starring: Helen Hunt, Luke Wilson, Brenton Thwaites DVD release: 24 August 2015 Paul Bradshaw
CHILD 44
Tom Hardy adds another accent to his repertoire in this gloomy thriller, a grim saga of child murder and state-sponsored intimidation thats equally as bleached of colour as it is of joy. Set in Stalins Russia, its complex story finds Hardys disgraced intelligence officer hunting a killer his government wont admit exists: an Orwellian scenario that allows director Daniel Espinosa to supply traditional genre thrills, as well as more thoughtful musings on how character is shaped under a suppressive ideology. Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace lend solid support; at two hours plus, though, its a bit of a slog. EXTRAS: > Featurette Director: Daniel Espinosa Starring: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace DVD, BD, Digital HD release: 24 August 2015 Neil Smith
LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO
Formerly known by the titles Jackie & Ryan and Your Right Mind before skipping straight to DVD , Ami Canaan Manns follow-up to Texas Killing Fields couldnt be more unassuming if it tried. A barely strummed duet between a rail-riding folk singer (Ben Barnes) and a struggling single mum (Katherine Heigl), it feels a lot like listening to a Woody Guthrie song after gorging on Nicholas Sparks novels. Yet theres still a lot to like the cinematographys sunset hues, Clea DuValls scenestealing support turn and it all adds up to a patiently told slice-of-lifer that at least deserves a decent title. EXTRAS: > Featurette Director: Ami Canaan Mann Starring: Katherine Heigl, Ben Barnes, Clea DuVall DVD release: 24 August 2015 Paul Bradshaw
THE ANG LEE TRILOGY
A box set of Ang Lees first three Taiwan-made films, including a UK bow for his 1992 feature debut Pushing Hands. All three are tasteful, sedate affairs which show little of the exuberance hed bring to later films like Crouching Tiger or Life Of Pi, but are nonetheless well worth your time. The standout is the Oscar-nominated Eat Drink Man Woman, about a widowed chef, his three adult daughters and cuisine thatll have you poking chopsticks at the screen. Groundbreaking gay romance The Wedding Banquet only compounds disappointment that the set comes with minimal extras contextualising these early films from a big-name director. EXTRAS: > Booklet Director: Ang Lee Starring: Various DVD release: 24 August 2015 Andrew Lowry
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION COLLECTION
Focusing on LAs hardcore punk and glam-metal scenes circa 1979-1997, Penelope Spheeris (Waynes World) cult docs may be invaluable slices of social history, yet together they offer very mixed pleasures. Part 2: The Metal Years is the most perversely enjoyable (I must have snorted all of Peru, leers Aerosmiths Steven Tyler) which really cant be said for Part 3, with its 15-year-old homeless speed-addicts. Spheeris would be so moved by their plight, shed take up foster parenting. Copious extras include Part 1s Dave Grohl commentary. EXTRAS: > Commentaries > Featurettes > Interviews > Additional band performances Director: Penelope Spheeris DVD release: 24 August 2015 Ali Catterall
VIVRE SA VIE
The most poignant of the cinematic love letters composed by Jean-luc godard to his then-wife, Danish actor Anna Karina, Vivre sees her play a Parisian hooker. Odd way to express romantic devotion? Maybe, but JLGs always been a law unto himself and watching the film (divided into 12 tableaux) with its long, fixed-take contemplations of Karinas face, intimately framed as she sits in a cinema weeping at Dreyers Trial Of Joan Of Arc, the warmth behind Godards supposed objectivity is unmistakable. Moving climax, too. Generous extras include no less than three of Godards early shorts. EXTRAS: > Commentary > Introduction > Shorts > Interview > Booklet Director: Jean-Luc Godard Starring: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, Andr S. Labarthe DVD release: 24 August 2015 Philip Kemp
