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DVDfever.co.uk – New Blu-ray & DVD releases – week commencing February 14th 2011
Once again, we look at a few titles in more detail which are due out next week. The prices listed are the currentprices on Amazon.
- 30 Rock Season 4 (£15.93 DVD, £49.99 Complete DVD, Universal)
- American Beauty (£12.93 Blu-ray, Paramount)
- Buried (£9.99 Blu-ray, £9.97 DVD, Icon)
- The City Season 2 (£12.93 DVD, Paramount)
- Doctor Who: The Ark (£12.93 DVD, BBC)
- Edwardian Farm (£22.93 DVD, Acorn)
- Heart: Night At Sky Church (£10.93 Blu-ray, £9.93 DVD, Eagle)
- The Illusionist (£12.93 DVD, Fox)
- Marmaduke (£17.93 Blu-ray, £12.93 DVD, Fox)
- Not Going Out Series 4 (£12.99 DVD, BBC)
- Red (£14.93 Blu-ray, £10.99 DVD, E1)
- The Social Network (£16.93 Blu-ray, £12.93 DVD, Sony)
- Some Mothers Do Ave Em Series 1-3 Box Set + Christmas Specials (£17.99 DVD, BBC)
- Up Pompeii (£9.99 DVD, Optimum)
- Vampires Suck (£17.93 Blu-ray, £10.99 DVD, Fox)
The Social Network
They all laughed at college nerd Mark Zuckerberg, whose idea for a social-networking site made him a billionaire. And they all laughed at the idea of a Facebook movie–except writer Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher, merely two of the more extravagantly talented filmmakers around. Sorkin and Fincher’s breathless picture, The Social Network, is a fast and witty creation myth about how Facebook grew from Zuckerberg’s insecure geek-at-Harvard days into a phenomenon with 500 million users. Sorkin frames the movie around two lawsuits aimed at the lofty but brilliant Zuckerberg (deftly played by Adventureland’s Jesse Eisenberg): a claim that he stole the idea from Ivy League classmates, and a suit by his original, now slighted, business partner (Andrew Garfield).
The movie follows a familiar rise-and-fall pattern, with temptation in the form of a sunny California Beelzebub (an expert Justin Timberlake as former Napster founder Sean Parker) and an increasingly tangled legal mess. Emphasizing the legal morass gives Sorkin and Fincher a chance to explore how unsocial this social-networking business can be, although the irony seems a little facile. More damagingly, the film steers away from the prickly figure of Zuckerberg in the latter stages–and yet Zuckerberg presents the most intriguing personality in the movie, even if the movie takes pains to make us understand his shortcomings. Fincher’s command of pacing and his eye for the clean spaces of Aughts-era America are bracing, and he can’t resist the technical trickery involved in turning actor Armie Hammer into privileged Harvard twins (Hammer is letter-perfect).
Even with its flaws, The Social Network is a galloping piece of entertainment, a smart ride with smart people who sometimes do dumb things.
Disc 1:
- Audio Commentary with Director David Fincher
- Audio Commentary with Writer Aaron Sorkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer and Josh Pence
Disc 2:
- How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook? – Four-Part Feature-Length Documentary on the Making of the Film, from the Script to the Screenplay to Casting to Production
- Featurette: Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter and Ren Klyce on Post – Editors Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter and Sound Designer Ren Klyce Discuss Editing the Film and the Different Layers They Created Using Different Takes, Angles and Sound Effects
- Featurette: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and David Fincher on the Score – David Fincher, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Discuss the Process of Creating the Score
- Featurette: Jeff Cronenweth and David Fincher on the Visuals – David Fincher and DP Jeff Cornenweth Discuss Creating the Look for the Film
- Featurette: Swarmatron – Atticus Rose Explains the Swarmatron Sound Machine Used to Create Parts of the Score
- Featurette: In the Hall of the Mountain King: Music Exploration – Multi-Angle Music Exploration which Allows Viewers to Watch the Same Scene Four Different Ways with Different Layers of Music
- Ruby Skye VIP Room: Multi-Angle Scene Breakdown
The Social Network is released on Blu-ray (£16.93) andDVD (£12.93).
Red
A group of former government assassins fights back against the CIA after they’re targeted for knowing too much in this adaptation of Warren Ellis’ acclaimed DC Comics graphic novels. Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) used to be a hired gun for the CIA. Along with Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich), and Victoria (Helen Mirren), Frank’s specialty was carrying out contracts that the government didn’t want the public to know about. These days, Frank and his old gang are all retired, but the powers that be are still concerned that they know too much, and dispatch a team of top assassins to ensure their silence.
Now, Frank and his former team members realize that their only hope for survival is to break into CIA headquarters and expose the truth. But once they’re in, the group uncovers evidence of a massive cover-up that promises to rock the very foundation of our government. Karl Urban, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ernest Borgnine co-star.
Red is released on Blu-ray (£14.93) andDVD (£10.99).
30 Rock Season 4
Liz Lemon, (Tina Fey) is the head writer on a variety series on NBC Studios. With the Jack Donaghy as Vice President of East Coast Television, played by Alec Baldwin, Series four sustains the same standard that has maintained it so far with plenty of exceptional moments. The characters are all hugely dysfunctional and written with enormous affection and comic effect. The situations beautifully constructed.
This set contains all the episodes from the shows first to forth series.
30 Rock Season 4 is released on DVD (£15.93) andComplete DVD Boxset (£49.99).
Doctor Who: The Ark
The TARDIS arrives some ten million years in the future on a giant spaceship carrying all the Earth’s surviving plant, animal and human life (much of it miniaturised and in suspended animation) on a 700 year voyage to a new home on the planet Refusis II. Dodo is suffering from a cold – an unknown affliction in this era – and as the human Guardians of the ship and their servant race the Monoids have no resistance, a plague breaks out.
The Guardians place the travellers on trial and Steven is forced to defend them against allegations that they spread the disease deliberately. Fortunately, the Doctor finds a cure. The TARDIS leaves the spaceship, which Dodo has nicknamed the Ark, only to arrive back there as it is approaching the end of its voyage. Partly as a result of the earlier plague, the Monoids have now grown strong and enslaved the humans.
They plan to make Refusis II their own but, with the help of the invisible Refusians, the Doctor is able to persuade the two races to live together in peace.
Special Features:
- Commentary by Peter Purves (Steven), Michael Imison (director), and Toby Hadoke (Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf)
- Alls Wells That Ends Wells A new documentary exploring the influence of H. G. Wells on Doctor Who
- One Hit Wonder What gives a monster staying power?
- Riverside Story Peter Purves returns to Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, home to numerous 1960s Doctor Who stories
- Radio Times Billings (PDF DVD-ROM PC/Mac)
- Production Information Subtitles
- Programme Subtitles
- Photo Gallery
- Coming Soon Trailer
- Digitally remastered picture and sound quality This story was originally broadcast on BBC1 between 5th March 26th March 1966
Doctor Who: The Ark is released on DVD (£12.93).
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.