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DVDfever.co.uk – New Blu-ray & DVD releases – week commencing April 25th 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.
- a-ha: Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert (£12.99 Blu-ray, £8.99 DVD, UMC)
- Animals United 3D (£13.97 Blu-ray, £9.93 DVD, EIV)
- Burlesque (£12.99 Blu-ray, £12.93 DVD, Sony)
- Chatroom (£13.99 Blu-ray, £9.93 DVD, Revolver)
- Confessions (£12.93 Blu-ray, £8.99 DVD, Third Window)
- Ink (£8.99 DVD, 4Digital)
- In Our Name (£9.99 DVD, Artificial Eye)
- Joanna (£11.99 DVD + Blu-ray, BFI)
- Lewis Series 5 (£14.93 DVD, ITV)
- Lunch Hour (£11.99 DVD + Blu-ray, BFI)
- On Tour (£9.99 DVD, Artificial Eye)
- Street Wars (£12.49 Blu-ray, £8.99 DVD, Optimum)
- Top Gear Series 11 (£12.93 DVD, BBC)
- The Tourist (£13.54 Blu-ray, £9.93 DVD, Optimum)
- Woochi: The Demon Slayer (£11.93 Blu-ray, £8.93 DVD, Cine Asia)
The Tourist
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie use their star power to help propel The Tourist to its ultimate, satisfying destination. It just takes a little while to get there. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) sets a leisurely pace for The Tourist, which lets the film be equal parts mystery, romance, thriller, and comedy. But because of its lush cinematography and location-based shooting, The Tourist is perhaps first and foremost a valentine to the city of Venice. Jolie plays Elise, an international woman of mystery, somehow caught up with a glamorous thief who’s double-crossed a gangster, Shaw (Steven Berkoff, splendidly menacing). On a train from Paris to Venice, Elise meets Frank (Depp), a schlumpy math teacher from Wisconsin on holiday.
Before the train hits Venice, poor Frank has become entangled in a dangerous web that he can’t begin to understand. As the plot unfolds, a group of stone-headed thugs dashes after Frank and Elise, darting through canals, across tile rooftops, and into some of the most beautiful hotel rooms in the world. The cinematography of John Seale and the score by James Newton Howard set an immersive tone. Depp and Jolie do a respectable job with their roles, though perhaps because of the mysteries in the plot, as a couple, Elise and Frank lack a certain oomph. But the supporting actors, including Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, and Rufus Sewell, are uniformly excellent, and the story (based on the French film Anthony Zimmer) wraps up nicely.
Yet the true star of The Tourist is enchanting Venice, and anyone dreaming of a romantic getaway will not want to miss this trip.
The Tourist is released on Blu-ray (£13.54) andDVD (£9.93).
a-ha: Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert
A-ha played four farewell concerts in their hometown, Oslo. The first homecoming farewell show was November 30th,followed by December 2nd, 3rd and 4th 2010. This release is taken from the last one and runs for 127 minutes.
a-ha: Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert is released on Blu-ray (£12.99) andDVD (£8.99).
Lewis Series 5
Kevin Whately returns as Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis, ably assisted by his young sidekick, D.S. Hathaway (Laurence Fox), in the fifth series of this hit detective drama full of intriguing murder mystery. Set in the idyllic surroundings of Oxford and its university campus, Whately and Fox are joined by a star studded cast.
The Mind Has Mountains
When a student dies during a controversial clinical trial for a new anti-depressant drug, is it murder or suicide? As the body count rises, Lewis and Hathaway uncover a web of lies, jealousy, and madness–to which Lewis himself could fall victim.
Wild Justice
In the run-up to an election at Oxford’s prestigious St Gerard’s Hall, the college is shocked by a string of brutal murders. Someone seems to be picking off the candidates one-by-one. As Lewis and Hathaway investigate further, they become embroiled in a revenge tragedy which began thirty years ago.
The Gift of Promise
When a local businesswoman is brutally bludgeoned to death, it appears to be a blackmail plot gone wrong. But as the bodies begin to pile up, Lewis and Hathaway realise there is a decades-old secret at the heart of the case, which they must uncover in order to stop the present-day murders.
Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things
Oxford’s last surviving all-female college is holding a Gaudy to reunite its old girls. But the evening takes a tragic turn when one of the alumna is found murdered; and Lewis is convinced that the killing is connected to a brutal attack which occurred at the same college 10 years earlier.
Lewis Series 5 is released on DVD (£14.93).
Burlesque
There is, according to Burlesque, a nightclub on the Sunset Strip that looks like a blend of Cabaret and Moulin Rouge and employs a full contingent of dancers and musicians in the service of a neo-retro-burlesque-blues program. Presiding over the craziness within is Tess, a grande dame who also performs occasionally and who could only, under these circumstances, be played by Cher. Entering the scene is a young leather-lunged hopeful from Iowa named Ali, played by Christina Aguilera in her movie-acting debut. The vibe of this glitzy concoction is more Flashdance than Showgirls, despite prerelease predictions that the film would be a campfest of epic proportions.
In fact, it’s more cornball than trashy. Ali hits most of the clichés of the genre: defying Tess’s skepticism by proving her mettle during an impromptu stage number; flirting with the nice-guy bartender (Cam Gigandet, of Twilight) whose home she shares for a while, in a purely platonic way, of course, just until she gets her feet on the ground; and keeping a wary eye on the high roller (Eric Dane, of Grey’s Anatomy) who wants to possess her, because, you see, he takes whatever he likes. And did we mention that Tess is facing foreclosure on the club in a month’s time? Seriously, you didn’t see that coming?
Writer-director Steve Antin has no embarrassment about putting any of this across, which may be why it all feels weirdly innocent, if relentlessly silly. Stanley Tucci revives his gay assistant from The Devil Wears Prada, Alan Cumming lurks about in an undefined role that might well have been filmed months after everybody else, and Kristen Bell enjoys a few wicked-witch moments as Ali’s main rival. Aguilera, needless to say, belts out her songs as only someone with a very large voice can, and Cher stops the show with an old-fashioned torch song (“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me”) that is clearly designed as a roof-raiser. (And, by gum, it works.) This is a ridiculous movie, but it gets points for never claiming to be anything else.
Special Features:
- movieIQTM+sync featuring the Burlesque playlist
- Director’s Commentary
- Alternate Opening
- The Burlesque Lounge: Alternate Full Musical Performances!
- Blooper Reel
- Burlesque is Back!
- The Performers: The Cast of Burlesque
- Setting the Stage: Production Design & Performers
- Inside the Dressing Room: Creating the Burlesque Look
- The Set List: The Music & Choreography of Burlesque
Burlesque is released on Blu-ray (£12.99) andDVD (£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.