DVDfever.co.uk – New Blu-ray & DVD releases – week commencing February 7th 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.
- Alien Vs Ninja (£8.99 DVD, Revolver)
- Bad Girls Series 1 (£14.99 DVD, Acorn)
- Bambi Diamond Edition Double Play (£16.79 Blu-ray/DVD, £17.99 Bambi 1 & 2 Blu-ray, Disney)
- Bella (£9.93 DVD, Kaleidoscope)
- Above Suspicion 1 & 2 (£22.99 DVD, Acorn)
- Californication Season 3 (£24.93 DVD, Paramount)
- Charlie St. Cloud (£12.99 Blu-ray, £9.99 DVD, Universal)
- CSI: Las Vegas Season 10 (£35.93 DVD, Momentum)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Free Book with DVD) (£17.93 Blu-ray, £12.93 DVD+book, Fox)
- Eat, Pray, Love (£16.93 Blu-ray, £12.93 DVD, Sony)
- Footballer’s Wives Series 3 (£15.93 DVD, Acorn)
- Garrow’s Law Series 2 (£11.99 DVD, £27.93 Complete DVD, BBC)
- Great British Railway Journeys Series 1 (£24.93 DVD, Fremantle)
- The House of Eliott Series 1 (£22.99 DVD, Acorn)
- I Spit On Your Grave (2010) (£12.93 Blu-ray, £9.93 DVD, £15.93 1978/2010 Blu-ray Collection, Anchor Bay)
- Just Wright (£9.99 DVD, Fox)
- Last Of The Summer Wine: Series 19 & 20 (£15.93 DVD, Universal)
- The Lovers’ Guide 3D: Igniting Desire: How to have the best sex of your life (£14.93 Blu-ray, £9.99 DVD, Optimum)
- Michael Bentine’s Potty Time Series 3 (£9.93 DVD, Network)
- Midsomer Murders Series 13: Fit for Murder (£10.99 DVD, Acorn)
- New Year’s Eve Concert 2010 (£10.99 DVD, Deutsche Grammophon)
- The Office: An American Workplace Season 5 (£25.93 DVD, £58.93 Complete Boxset, Universal)
- Once Upon a Time in America (£11.93 Blu-ray, Warner)
- The Rebound (£12.93 Blu-ray, £10.93 DVD, Momentum)
- Repo Chick (£9.99 DVD, Scanbox)
- The Runaways (£9.99 DVD, E1)
- Scrubs Season 9 (£16.99 DVD, Walt Disney)
- Takers (£14.97 Blu-ray, £7.49 DVD, Sony)
- True Grit (£12.93 Blu-ray, Paramount)
- Upstairs Downstairs (2010) (£12.93 DVD, BBC)
- Waterloo Road Series 6: Autumn Term (£15.93 DVD, Acorn)
- The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club Series 3 (£11.99 DVD, Network)
- Wild at Heart Series 5 (£15.93 DVD, Acorn)
Upstairs Downstairs (2010)
One of the most loved television series of all time is brought back to life with a stellar cast and a story full of scandal, romance and intrigue set against a sweeping historical backdrop.
1936. The house at 165 Eaton Place has stood empty since the Bellamy family sold it six years earlier. Now the doors are finally flung open by new owners, diplomat Sir Hallam, his wife Lady Agnes, and, back from the Raj, Maud, Lady Holland, his mother. With the arrival of Agness debutante sister, Lady Persie, the sumptuous home is ready to come to life.
And who better than Rose, the houses former parlourmaid, to recruit the new staff? The new ‘downstairs’ family is as full of characters as its previous incarnation with the highly strung butler Mr Pritchard, cook Mrs Thackeray, chauffeur Harry Spargo and a vivacious and spirited young team.
Soon both the elegant upstairs world and the downstairs staff have built their own labyrinth of secrets, lies and scandal, and as they feel the tremors of royal and political upheaval and the ominous threat of war, the house reverberates to the familiar sounds of rumour, excitement and dread
Upstairs Downstairs (2010) is released on DVD (£11.93).
A woman who once made it her goal in life to marry and rear a family finds her priorities suddenly shifting in Ryan Murphy and Jennifer Salt’s adaptation of author Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling memoir. In the eyes of many, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) was a woman who had it all — a loving husband, a great career, and a weekend home — but sometimes one realizes too little too late that they haven’t gotten what they truly wanted from life.
On the heels of a painful divorce, the woman who had previously looked forward to a contented life of domestic bliss sets out to seek her true destiny by travelling first to Italy, where she learns to appreciate nourishment; then to India, where she discovers the power of prayer; and finally to Bali, where she unexpectedly finds the meaning of true love.
Eat, Pray, Love is released on Blu-ray (£16.93) andDVD (£12.93).
It always comes up when people are comparing their most traumatic movie experiences: “the death of Bambi’s mother,” a recollection that can bring a shudder to even the most jaded filmgoer. That primal separation (which is no less stunning for happening off-screen) is the centerpiece of Bambi, Walt Disney’s 1942 animated classic, but it is by no means the only bold stroke in the film. In its swift but somehow leisurely 69 minutes, Bambi covers a year in the life of a young deer. But in a bigger way, it measures the life cycle itself, from birth to adulthood, from childhood’s freedom to grown-up responsibility. All of this is rendered in cheeky, fleet-footed style–the movie doesn’t lecture, or make you feel you’re being fed something that’s good for you.
The animation is miraculous, a lush forest in which nature is a constantly unfolding miracle (even in a spectacular fire, or those dark moments when “man was in the forest”). There are probably easier animals to draw than a young deer, and the Disney animators set themselves a challenge with Bambi’s wobbly glide across an ice-covered lake, his spindly legs akimbo; but the sequence is effortless and charming. If Bambi himself is just a bit dull–such is the fate of an Everydeer–his rabbit sidekick Thumper and a skunk named Flower more than make up for it. Many of the early Disney features have their share of lyrical moments and universal truths, but Bambi is so simple, so pure, it’s almost transparent. You might borrow a phrase from Thumper and say it’s downright twitterpated.
Bambi Diamond Edition is released on Blu-ray/DVD (£16.79) andBlu-ray Double Pack (£17.99).
Based on an acclaimed novel, Charlie St. Cloud is a romantic drama starring Zac Efron as a young man who survives an accident that lets him see the world in a unique way. In this emotionally charged story, he begins a romantic journey in which he embraces the dark realities of the past while discovering the transformative power of love.
Accomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud (Efron) has the adoration of mother Claire (Oscar® winner Kim Basinger) and little brother Sam (newcomer Charlie Tahan), as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown. But his bright future is cut short when a tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it.
After his high-school classmate Tess (Amanda Crew) returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between honoring a promise he made four years earlier and moving forward with newfound love. And as he finds the courage to let go of the past for good, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own.
Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes
- Deleted Scenes with commentary
- On Location With Zac Efron
- Zac Efron, Leading Man
- The in-Between World
Charlie St. Cloud is released on Blu-ray (£12.93) andDVD (£9.99).
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.