Movies to watch on Blu-Ray and DVD: The Wolfpack, more...
Out on 28 December and 4 January
NWA are straight outta cinemas to your home. And a chance to witness Tarantinos biggest fans. Yes, heres the new DVD and Blu-Ray releases coming out in the next two weeks. Click on for our reviews of Straight Outta Compton, The Wolfpack, Heist, Dope, The Angry Silence and Ricki And The Flash. For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
N.WA. get the bio they deserve as Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and co become hip-hop hard-hitters. Cubes real-life son OShea Jackson Jr. is particularly impressive, and director F. Gary Grays concert scenes are electric. Capturing the anger of the era, the first half grips; pity the second succumbs to ego stroking, with peripheral figures (Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight) squeezed in. Thankfully, SOC never forgets that the late Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) was the groups ticking heart. EXTRAS: Commentary > Featurettes > Deleted scenes > Directors cut Director: F. Gary Gray Starring: OShea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti Digital HD release: 28 December 2015 DVD, BD release: 11 January 2015 James Mottram
THE WOLFPACK
What if film was your only window on the world? Imprisoned in their New York apartment by their domineering father, the six Angulo brothers know life only from the movies they act out at home (they do a mean Reservoir Dogs). Director Crystal Moselles dark, tender documentary wanders their cramped, creative world, slotting candid interviews with the engaging siblings alongside their bizarre home movies, like a teenage Grey Gardens. Watching them break out into the city they both crave and fear is riveting stuff. But the film crackles with unasked questions about the fine line between eccentricity and abuse. EXTRAS: None Director: Crystal Moselle DVD release: 28 December 2015 Kate Stables
HEIST
Impressive names on the poster dont count for anything in this thinly plotted crime thriller, which takes cues from Oceans Eleven and Speed and leaves gaping logic holes in the process. Jeffrey Dean Morgan carries the film as a casino dealer who hatches a plan to steal from his violent gangster boss (Robert De Niro) to pay for his daughters operation. Despite a faintly clever ending, most plot turns are bafflingly lazy, and most of the stellar cast including lead actress Kate Bosworth who appears in just one scene phones in every word of the junky dialogue Director: Scott Mann Starring: Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth DVD, Blu-Ray release: 28 December 2015 Matthew Leyland
DOPE
A smart, opinionated film whose teen heroes really heart the 90s, Rick Famuyiwas fleet-footed dark comedy sets high-school geek Malcolm (Shameik Moore) spinning when a drugs raid lands him with a backpack of Molly he has to shift pronto. Unafraid to mix Boyz N The Hood-style action, Spike Lee-influenced social comment and funky Pharrell Williams-penned musical numbers into its caper comedy, its an exuberant piece. But warm performances from newbie Moore and Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel) keep it grounded rather than gangsta-struck. EXTRAS: Featurettes Director: Rick Famuyiwa Starring: Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons DVD, Digital HD release: 4 January 2016 Kate Stables
RICKI AND THE FLASH
A spiritual sequel of sorts to Jonathan Demmes 2008 drama Rachel Getting Married, this Diablo Cody-scripted musical drama gives Meryl Streep another chance to exercise her vocal chords as Ricki, a failed rocker clinging to the dream she never saw fulfilled. When her estranged daughter (played by Streeps own lookalike daughter Mamie Gummer) attempts suicide, Rickis drawn back into the fold of a family who despise her. Demme directs relatively anonymously, while Codys script is less spiky than youre used to. Naturally, Streep shines, but even she seems to be coasting in a film that settles for frustratingly easy fixes. EXTRAS: Making Of > Featurette > Deleted scenes > Photo gallery Director: Jonathan Demme Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Sebastian Stan DVD, BD, Digital HD release: 28 December 2015 Josh Winning
THE ANGRY SILENCE
Guaranteed to infuriate Corbynites, Guy Greens gritty melodrama embeds one of Richard Attenboroughs strongest roles in a welter of union-bashing. Dickies a machine operator in a provincial engineering works, with an Italian wife (Pier Angeli) and a third kid on the way. When a lefty agitator stirs up an unofficial strike, Sickies one of the few to carry on working and soon the only one. So when the strikes over hes shunned by his fellow workers, and things get steadily nastier. Unsubtle stuff, but redeemed by its committed turns not least Angeli and Alfred Burke as the insidious agent provocateur. EXTRAS: Interviews Director: Guy Green Starring: Richard Attenborough, Pier Angeli, Michael Craig DVD, BD release: 4 January 2016 Philip Kemp