Patrick Jane returns to DVD in the third season of the CBS crowd puller about a quasi-famous psychic who helps the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Jane playing with typical wave of charisma by the suave Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada). He has a track record for pinpointing the perp using razor sharp skills of psychological observation and body language analysis.
The show follows a familiar trend of police procedural; a crime is commited, Jane appears with his senior agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney - House) who takes the heat for Jane's non-protocol behaviour. Lisbon's initial refusal to work with a non-officer has slowly relented to include him in the cases more and more as he is able to crack more complex cases due to his unusual abilities.
The strength and lineage of Patrick Jane can be traced all the way back to the creation of Sherlock Holmes, the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a character who led many people it seemed down a darkened path before finding the light and the answers seemingly on a hunch, but really displaying major abilities of deduction. Jane like Holmes was also able to seek an answer from a witness/prisoner just by watching their physical behaviour and a look in their eye.
Critically, I would say the better the episodes are when Patrick Jane is left out of the loop and we the better audience are ahead of him as in the 'Red John' episodes, too often Jane can look smug and arrogant as a character who knows perhaps too much and suspects everyone. Also the glorification of the rich and their lifestyle give the majority of the plotlines, whilst other police procedurals do not mind looking at the lowlifes.
In the same vein clearly as the Tim Roth vehicle 'Lie to Me' but with a second string cast; and along the same set up as 'Castle' which features Nathan Filion (Firefly, Serenity) as a crime novelist suffering writer's block who helps police officers with their cases. Whilst not original by using a main character as anti-authority who is then used by said authority to help their deficiency in doing the job properly, the series now in its third season is nonetheless entertaining helped by the engaging performances and high production values.
Released by Warner Home Video on 10th October for £39.99RRP for the five disc set. Extras include deleted scenes; a portrait of Red John - the serial killer and key recurring character and a featurette on 'Red Moon' directed by Simon Baker.
Showing posts with label DVD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DVD. Show all posts
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Abel (Diego Luna, Mexico, 2009)
Mexican actor, Diego Luna, most famous for Y Tu Mama Tambien, makes his directorial debut with Abel a script by Augusto Mendoza, with executive production from Gael Garcia Bernal and John Malkovich.
Abel is played by Christopher Ruiz-Esparaza, is a young boy who after the abandonment of his father from the family home has fallen silent and been confined to a mental institute for two years. His mother, Cecilia, feels that a reunion with his siblings Paul and Seline will lead to an improvement in his behaviour and speech.
Granted a week's sabatical by the doctor, Abel's speech returns but only in the form of an adult - and the belief he is his own father, the same father who left home. Cecilia feels it is best to encourage such behaviour, so Abel talks to his siblings as if they are his children, and Cecilia dotes on him like any loving wife would.
This leads to funny proceedings and exchanges between the much older Seline and the younger Abel, whilst there is a touching connection between Abel and Paul (played by real life brothers). The doctor comes and states it is okay to carry on, as long as he takes the requisite medication; that is until his father unexpectedly returns to the home. Abel does not recognise the father, believing himself to fit that role; tensions mount as a solution is looked for Abel's condition.
This Oedipal story is told with great deftness and a lightness that marks Luna out as a genuine talent, and the use of the camera at a child's level throughout in the family home and emphasising an adult's presence with the use of low angle to show their height and threat.
Not surprisingly, considering he is a talented actor in his own right, Luna elicits commendable performances from all the cast especially Ruiz-Esparza in the titular role; who is both commanding and affecting.
A film that is both intelligent and entertaining, continuing Latin America's recent renaissance in the cinematic field.
Abel is released by Network Releasing and is Out Now for £19.99RRP, and the DVD is packed with extras: a booklet by London Film festival programmer Maria Delgado; footage of the film's premiere at the LFF in 2010 and a Q&A from the VIVA! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival at Manchester in January 2011 with Luna and producer Pablo Cruz; Chile premiere video diary; stills gallery; trailer. More extras than is usual for such a small title, and an unusual pleasure.
Abel is played by Christopher Ruiz-Esparaza, is a young boy who after the abandonment of his father from the family home has fallen silent and been confined to a mental institute for two years. His mother, Cecilia, feels that a reunion with his siblings Paul and Seline will lead to an improvement in his behaviour and speech.
Granted a week's sabatical by the doctor, Abel's speech returns but only in the form of an adult - and the belief he is his own father, the same father who left home. Cecilia feels it is best to encourage such behaviour, so Abel talks to his siblings as if they are his children, and Cecilia dotes on him like any loving wife would.
This leads to funny proceedings and exchanges between the much older Seline and the younger Abel, whilst there is a touching connection between Abel and Paul (played by real life brothers). The doctor comes and states it is okay to carry on, as long as he takes the requisite medication; that is until his father unexpectedly returns to the home. Abel does not recognise the father, believing himself to fit that role; tensions mount as a solution is looked for Abel's condition.
This Oedipal story is told with great deftness and a lightness that marks Luna out as a genuine talent, and the use of the camera at a child's level throughout in the family home and emphasising an adult's presence with the use of low angle to show their height and threat.
Not surprisingly, considering he is a talented actor in his own right, Luna elicits commendable performances from all the cast especially Ruiz-Esparza in the titular role; who is both commanding and affecting.
A film that is both intelligent and entertaining, continuing Latin America's recent renaissance in the cinematic field.
Abel is released by Network Releasing and is Out Now for £19.99RRP, and the DVD is packed with extras: a booklet by London Film festival programmer Maria Delgado; footage of the film's premiere at the LFF in 2010 and a Q&A from the VIVA! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival at Manchester in January 2011 with Luna and producer Pablo Cruz; Chile premiere video diary; stills gallery; trailer. More extras than is usual for such a small title, and an unusual pleasure.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Ballast DVD review
The debut feature from Lance Hammer finally reaches the UK screens, and this is the DVD release of the film that graced selected scenes in April. The film took 3 years to reach our shores after it won major prizes - Directing and Cinematography - in 2008, and also major critical reaction from cineastes in America, including Roger Ebert.
Ballast is a gritty evocation of life on the Mississippi Delta, as three people encounter tragedy and the weight of it that befalls them.
Three black people encounter each other. Lawrence (Michael J.Smith) is paralyzed with grief after the death of his twin brother. Twelve year old James (JimMyron Ross), comes under the wings of terrible youths with unfortunate results, whilst his mother Marlee (Tarra Riggs) is unbeknowst of his behaviour. When violence erupts in the life of the mother and son, they flee in the night and safe harbor is on Lawrence's door step. This then rekindles a bitter longstanding conflict between Lawrence and Marlee, who was once married to Lawrence's twin; whilst James has robbed Lawrence to try and pay off the youths who have attacked him.
Director Lance Hammer, graduated as an architect and with the British cinematographer Lol Crawley (Four Lions), has created a film of real humanity where race does not enter the equation. If this was a film depicting white people, there maybe a possibility of sentimentality or happy endings, but on this occasion, the non-professional actors provide the neorealism and independent feel of a film unlike anything seen before in American cinema.
Credit to the actors for taking us on this emotional rollercoaster, but the true credit belongs to the writer-director Hammer who shows a real command of proceedings which is genuine and surprising for a feature debut.
The DVD is released by Axiom Films, is certificate 15 and a running time of 93mins. The DVD features a 'Ballast Scene Development', a featurette that runs 36mins, also an exclusive limited edition booklet, theatrical trailer and English HOH (Hard of Hearing) subtitles.
The DVD is out now and is £15.99RRP
Ballast is a gritty evocation of life on the Mississippi Delta, as three people encounter tragedy and the weight of it that befalls them.
Three black people encounter each other. Lawrence (Michael J.Smith) is paralyzed with grief after the death of his twin brother. Twelve year old James (JimMyron Ross), comes under the wings of terrible youths with unfortunate results, whilst his mother Marlee (Tarra Riggs) is unbeknowst of his behaviour. When violence erupts in the life of the mother and son, they flee in the night and safe harbor is on Lawrence's door step. This then rekindles a bitter longstanding conflict between Lawrence and Marlee, who was once married to Lawrence's twin; whilst James has robbed Lawrence to try and pay off the youths who have attacked him.
Director Lance Hammer, graduated as an architect and with the British cinematographer Lol Crawley (Four Lions), has created a film of real humanity where race does not enter the equation. If this was a film depicting white people, there maybe a possibility of sentimentality or happy endings, but on this occasion, the non-professional actors provide the neorealism and independent feel of a film unlike anything seen before in American cinema.
Credit to the actors for taking us on this emotional rollercoaster, but the true credit belongs to the writer-director Hammer who shows a real command of proceedings which is genuine and surprising for a feature debut.
The DVD is released by Axiom Films, is certificate 15 and a running time of 93mins. The DVD features a 'Ballast Scene Development', a featurette that runs 36mins, also an exclusive limited edition booklet, theatrical trailer and English HOH (Hard of Hearing) subtitles.
The DVD is out now and is £15.99RRP
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Blue Valentine DVD review
Blue Valentine is released by Optimum Entertainment on Monday 9th May for £12.99RRP and is also available on Blu-Ray
Director, Derek Cianfrance, has taken a long while to get his screenplay to the screen - supposedly nine years from treatment to production; what has to be asked is why did theoretically a two-hander between the man, Dean (Ryan Gosling) and wife, Cindy (Michelle Williams) take so long to get to the screen. The dual narrative tells the story of a breakdown of a marriage, whilst also showing how they came together in the first place.
This narrative of a breakdown of a marriage due to an overblown ego of a male and a derailment of romance has been seen previously in American independence cinema and is a familiar trope to be executed, most notably by John Cassavettes' Faces and most recently in Francois Ozon's memorable 5x2, which showed the breakdown of a marriage in chronological order but in reverse - starting in the divorce lawyer's office and ending with the meet cute.
On this occasion we start with the couple with their child and then sending child to grandfather to indulge in a romantic getaway at a fleabag themed hotel, ironically they choose the 'Future Room' which is exactly what they do not have by journey's end. This narrative is interrupted by flashbacks to the time when they first encountered each other, the meet cute and personal dilemmas involved once Cindy becomes pregnant with someone else's baby.
After she refuses an abortion, Dean offers to be a father to a child that is not his and husband in a new family. The film shows them 6-8 years after this life-changing decison and the effect it has had on Dean is startling; a shadow of his younger, viral self with a receding hairline and alcohol addiction, which is alluded throughout the film and admonished by the film's chronological end.
This is a bold and brave piece of filmmaking, especially by the two leads who helped with the film's flow in terms of improvising dialogue but at times some scenes come across a little too self-indulgent, such as when Dean serenades Cindy with a solo ukelele performance with a high voice as she dances in a doorway; whilst this is romantic, could the flashback just be too indicative of how perfect it all was back then and perhaps too sentimental to punch the message home.
Cindy wants to be a doctor but ends up as a nurse who is hit upon by her new boss, another example of a man in this film who is a douchebag. Most of the men in this film are douchebags, especially Dean who at times is both irritating and selfish, as is Bobby (the man who impregnated Cindy), a boy all full of testosterone. And Dean could be a renaissance man, but puts his idea of virtue above providing financial stability for his family by becoming a house painter.
Interestingly, the scene where Cindy bumps into her child's father, Bobby (Mike Vogel) in a liquor store is a weird scene but played perfectly by Williams - her eyes lighting up at meeting an old flame with excitement burning in her heart for the first time in quite a while.
However, even good production values such as switching of camera style - from handheld video for the contemporary scenes giving it a harsher, grittier quality and then harking back to 16mm for the flashback scenes giving them a warmer, happier tone - cannot save the film from the requirement of a tighter script that on occasions in the modern day scenes pleads for the less is more approach, as Dean repeats another vital line to death. Sometimes the audience, especially the independent cinema one should be respected enough to get the message straight away.
Not to do a disservice to Williams and Gosling in their performances, whilst Gosling is all brooding and showy with his sunglasses hiding inner turmoil, Williams is brilliant as a young woman whose ambition and drive to be a better person and wife than her own browbeaten mother is shot to pieces by the sheer over-inflated ego of her husband. But it is these two performances from two esteemed actors of their generation that raises this film above from passable to watchable.
Released on May 9th by Optimum Entertainment on Blu-Ray and DVD
Director, Derek Cianfrance, has taken a long while to get his screenplay to the screen - supposedly nine years from treatment to production; what has to be asked is why did theoretically a two-hander between the man, Dean (Ryan Gosling) and wife, Cindy (Michelle Williams) take so long to get to the screen. The dual narrative tells the story of a breakdown of a marriage, whilst also showing how they came together in the first place.
This narrative of a breakdown of a marriage due to an overblown ego of a male and a derailment of romance has been seen previously in American independence cinema and is a familiar trope to be executed, most notably by John Cassavettes' Faces and most recently in Francois Ozon's memorable 5x2, which showed the breakdown of a marriage in chronological order but in reverse - starting in the divorce lawyer's office and ending with the meet cute.
On this occasion we start with the couple with their child and then sending child to grandfather to indulge in a romantic getaway at a fleabag themed hotel, ironically they choose the 'Future Room' which is exactly what they do not have by journey's end. This narrative is interrupted by flashbacks to the time when they first encountered each other, the meet cute and personal dilemmas involved once Cindy becomes pregnant with someone else's baby.
After she refuses an abortion, Dean offers to be a father to a child that is not his and husband in a new family. The film shows them 6-8 years after this life-changing decison and the effect it has had on Dean is startling; a shadow of his younger, viral self with a receding hairline and alcohol addiction, which is alluded throughout the film and admonished by the film's chronological end.
This is a bold and brave piece of filmmaking, especially by the two leads who helped with the film's flow in terms of improvising dialogue but at times some scenes come across a little too self-indulgent, such as when Dean serenades Cindy with a solo ukelele performance with a high voice as she dances in a doorway; whilst this is romantic, could the flashback just be too indicative of how perfect it all was back then and perhaps too sentimental to punch the message home.
Cindy wants to be a doctor but ends up as a nurse who is hit upon by her new boss, another example of a man in this film who is a douchebag. Most of the men in this film are douchebags, especially Dean who at times is both irritating and selfish, as is Bobby (the man who impregnated Cindy), a boy all full of testosterone. And Dean could be a renaissance man, but puts his idea of virtue above providing financial stability for his family by becoming a house painter.
Interestingly, the scene where Cindy bumps into her child's father, Bobby (Mike Vogel) in a liquor store is a weird scene but played perfectly by Williams - her eyes lighting up at meeting an old flame with excitement burning in her heart for the first time in quite a while.
However, even good production values such as switching of camera style - from handheld video for the contemporary scenes giving it a harsher, grittier quality and then harking back to 16mm for the flashback scenes giving them a warmer, happier tone - cannot save the film from the requirement of a tighter script that on occasions in the modern day scenes pleads for the less is more approach, as Dean repeats another vital line to death. Sometimes the audience, especially the independent cinema one should be respected enough to get the message straight away.
Not to do a disservice to Williams and Gosling in their performances, whilst Gosling is all brooding and showy with his sunglasses hiding inner turmoil, Williams is brilliant as a young woman whose ambition and drive to be a better person and wife than her own browbeaten mother is shot to pieces by the sheer over-inflated ego of her husband. But it is these two performances from two esteemed actors of their generation that raises this film above from passable to watchable.
Released on May 9th by Optimum Entertainment on Blu-Ray and DVD
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Louise-Michel DVD review
The directors of the cult French classi Aaltra, return with a tale in tribute to a French anarchist that gives the film its name. Louise-Michel tells the tale of a laid off factory worker who takes her redundancy pay to hire an assassin to kill the boss who fired her; in doing so she hires an inept security guard with fantasist dreams of guns, this happen stance leads to many misunderstandings but a black humour mixed with memorable sight gags.
Louise (Yolande Moreau) is an ex-con who is laid off by the toy factory, and who after her colleagues pool the 20.000euros together convinces them to knock off the boss. After losing contact with her initial choice, she happens across Michel (Bouli Lanners), who proudly carries his gun and seems perfect but his ineptitude leads him to sub-contract the job to inexperienced gunmen, leading to hilarious results.
In this current global recession, where money is of the essence you sympathise with the female workers at the factory, but you cannot feel morally conflicted about their subversive decision to seek justice. (Oddly, this film was released one week after the crisis at Lehman Brothers in its homeland; but has had to wait two years for a UK release.)
The cult classic Aaltra had the premise of two wheelchair users trailing across Belgium to seek vengeance on the manufacturers whose machinery led to their disability, this sight gag of two wheelchairs on the road led to many a sight gag. And the directing pair repeat this trick on numerous occasions; such as when they the two leads first meet and he tries to find his home in the caravan park, a simple task leads to a maze of wondering where he is going; and when he attempts target practice but mistakenly shoots a cow to uproarious effect.
Much like their previous work, the film soon descends into a cross-European odyessey as the answer to Louise's question of who sacked her becomes ever longer. This movement of characters from town to next town is a bit of a shame, as any film reliant on gunplay and assassins should be geographically restricted to the town where the action initialises, it is a generic convention a la In Bruges, unless it has the geopolitical spectrum of The Bourne Trilogy or the leisure of expense that James Bond has.
What does not get mentioned in the reviews upon its theatrical release is the question of gender in the two leading roles, and how they have both transgressed from the gender they were born as - whilst alluded to earlier in the film, it does not get spoken about until near the film's conclusion and then washed over somewhat, as the directors seek laughs.
The directors perhaps did not realise they had a convincing drama about sexuality, disability and moral fortitude in their hands. The pursuit of laughs sometimes goes down a dead end, such as the poor in taste sight gag of an ill chosen hitman, who shows of a scale demonstration of the Twin Towers. Just as in poor taste, was Michel utilising his terminally ill cancer-stricken cousin, in attempting to bump off said boss. After this, the film's laughs are harder to come by as they tried too hard to get a laugh.
Whilst the film fails to deliver on the moral quandries it poses, it does deliver on sheer inventiveness and absurd behaviour by less than perfect characters. The surreal nature of the film may lend Benoit and Kervern another cult following.
The DVD features a nice set of deleted scenes, theatrical trailer and stills gallery; somewhat good set of extras for a foreign title.
The film is released by Axiom Films on DVD on Monday 25th April for £15.99RRP
Louise (Yolande Moreau) is an ex-con who is laid off by the toy factory, and who after her colleagues pool the 20.000euros together convinces them to knock off the boss. After losing contact with her initial choice, she happens across Michel (Bouli Lanners), who proudly carries his gun and seems perfect but his ineptitude leads him to sub-contract the job to inexperienced gunmen, leading to hilarious results.
In this current global recession, where money is of the essence you sympathise with the female workers at the factory, but you cannot feel morally conflicted about their subversive decision to seek justice. (Oddly, this film was released one week after the crisis at Lehman Brothers in its homeland; but has had to wait two years for a UK release.)
The cult classic Aaltra had the premise of two wheelchair users trailing across Belgium to seek vengeance on the manufacturers whose machinery led to their disability, this sight gag of two wheelchairs on the road led to many a sight gag. And the directing pair repeat this trick on numerous occasions; such as when they the two leads first meet and he tries to find his home in the caravan park, a simple task leads to a maze of wondering where he is going; and when he attempts target practice but mistakenly shoots a cow to uproarious effect.
Much like their previous work, the film soon descends into a cross-European odyessey as the answer to Louise's question of who sacked her becomes ever longer. This movement of characters from town to next town is a bit of a shame, as any film reliant on gunplay and assassins should be geographically restricted to the town where the action initialises, it is a generic convention a la In Bruges, unless it has the geopolitical spectrum of The Bourne Trilogy or the leisure of expense that James Bond has.
What does not get mentioned in the reviews upon its theatrical release is the question of gender in the two leading roles, and how they have both transgressed from the gender they were born as - whilst alluded to earlier in the film, it does not get spoken about until near the film's conclusion and then washed over somewhat, as the directors seek laughs.
The directors perhaps did not realise they had a convincing drama about sexuality, disability and moral fortitude in their hands. The pursuit of laughs sometimes goes down a dead end, such as the poor in taste sight gag of an ill chosen hitman, who shows of a scale demonstration of the Twin Towers. Just as in poor taste, was Michel utilising his terminally ill cancer-stricken cousin, in attempting to bump off said boss. After this, the film's laughs are harder to come by as they tried too hard to get a laugh.
Whilst the film fails to deliver on the moral quandries it poses, it does deliver on sheer inventiveness and absurd behaviour by less than perfect characters. The surreal nature of the film may lend Benoit and Kervern another cult following.
The DVD features a nice set of deleted scenes, theatrical trailer and stills gallery; somewhat good set of extras for a foreign title.
The film is released by Axiom Films on DVD on Monday 25th April for £15.99RRP
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