Saw V (Extreme Edition) (Cert 18, 91 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Saw DVD Gorology £44.99/Blu-ray £24.99)
Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Julie Benz, Meagan Good, Greg Bryk, Carlo Rota, Laura Gordon.

Diabolical killer Jigsaw (Bell) continues his bloodthirsty reign of terror in the fifth installment of the horror franchise, full of more devilish booby traps and gruesome deaths worthy of that 18 certificate. At the end of the fourth film, Detective Hoffman (Mandylor) outwitted FBI profiler Strahm (Patterson) to continue Jigsaw’s grotesque and ghoulish plan. In Saw V, Hoffman revels in the applause of his colleagues for apparently outwitting Jigsaw, successfully concealing his involvement in the carnage. When this secret is threatened, Hoffman is forced to go on the offensive, targeting all of the loose ends including Strahm.

Meanwhile Jigsaw’s embittered ex-wife Jill (Russell), who is guardian to all of the killer’s secrets, receives a message from beyond the grave and five apparent strangers – Ashley (Gordon), Brit (Benz), Charles (Rota), Luba (Good) and Mallick (Bryk) – find themselves at the mercy of yet more diabolical inventions designed to severe their extremities. With Saw VI unfathomably in pre-production, this fifth installment isn’t the last after all, although it does neatly tie up Jigsaw’s back story via a patchwork of flashbacks that revisit key scenes from other sequels. Previous knowledge of the series is essential to follow the chronological mish mash, interspersed with the usual, gleeful torture of two-dimensional supporting cast who squeal and whimper before their grisly exit. As with earlier films, nothing is quite what it seems, and somebody has a final ace up their sleeve to ensure Saw V ends with an almighty… whimper. The Saw Gorology DVD box set, comprising all five films, is also available.

DVD Extras: Director, first assistant director, producers and executive producers commentaries, “The Coffin Trap” featurette, “The Pendulum Trap” featurette, “Slicing The Cube” featurette, “The Fatal Five” featurette, “Cube Trap” featurette.
Rating: *

(Cert 18, 85 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Horror/Thriller/Action, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Jay Hernandez, Johnathon Schaech, Columbus Short, Greg Germann, Marin Hinkle, Joey King, Rade Serbedzija.

Television reporter Angela Vidal (Carpenter) is despatched to a Los Angeles fire station with her regular cameraman Scott (Harris) to make a behind the scenes segment on life for these brave men. The TV duo shadows Jake (Hernandez) and George (Schaech) through the night shift, including an apparently routine 911 call to rescue an old woman, who is barricaded inside her apartment. No sooner are the fire fighters, Angela and Scott inside the building than agents from the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) seal off the exits.

The TV crew and the residents, including vet Lawrence (Germann), mother Kathy (Hinkle) and her daughter Briana (King) and building manager Yuri (Serbedzija), learn they are in the midst of an outbreak of a rabies-like contagion, which incites deadly aggression in victims.

Quarantine is the English language remake of the chilling Spanish horror film REC. Director John Erick Dowdle adheres closely to the template of Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s gory, suburban nightmare, employing the same faux documentary style a la Blair Witch Project. Indeed, sections of this film unfold almost shot for shot, word for word, scream for scream and splat for splat. Transplanting the carnage to Los Angeles necessitates some tweaks, such as the addition of a claustrophobic elevator to the apartment block: the perfect setting for a couple of breathless set pieces, one involving an unfortunate resident and a dog. Violence is more graphic, including a fire fighter with a repulsively gammy leg and a radical approach to tackling the building’s rat infestation.

DVD Extras: Director commentary, behind the scenes featurettes.
Rating: **


The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (Cert 12, 90 mins, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Drama, also available to buy DVD £17.99/DVD Gift Pack £20.99)
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Amber Beattie, Rupert Friend.

Bruno (Butterfield) arrives home from school one day to discover that his Nazi commandant father (Thewlis) has been promoted and the entire family must relocate far from the city and their friends. While his mother (Farmiga) and older sister Gretel (Beattie) embrace the fresh start, Bruno is desperately lonely in the new house. Hungry for adventure, Bruno sneaks into the woods and stumbles upon what appears to be a farm and a young boy in striped pyjamas called Shmuel (Scanlon).

Separated by a barbed wire fence, the two boys become friends, until Bruno learns the truth: that Shmuel is a Jew and the farm is actually a concentration camp under the control of his father. Based on the best-selling novel by John Boyne, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas refracts the unimaginable suffering and tragedy of the Holocaust through the prism of one family’s experiences. Writer-director Mark Herman tries to distance his characters from obvious Nazi cliches by having the Germans speak in clipped English, which is a little distracting at first.

However, the device ultimately brings us closer – whether we like it or not – to the family. Thewlis and Farmiga embody opposing voices in the conflict and Butterfield and Scanlon deliver remarkably natural performances as friends, who should be sworn enemies. Their scenes together at the wire fence, playing draughts or concocting hare-brained schemes, are sensitively handled by Herman, who lulls us into a false sense of security before a finale that doesn’t quite deliver the knockout blow. A DVD gift pack, including the film and the book, is also available.

DVD Extras: Director and author commentary, “Friendship Beyond The Fence” featurette, deleted scenes with option director and author commentary.
Rating: ***

(Cert 12, 127 mins, 2entertain, Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi.

Army officer Charles Ryder (Goode) reminisces about his turbulent past at Oxford University, where, as a shy, middle-class student, he meets Sebastian Flyte (Whishaw). Charles accepts an invitation to join the aristocrat’s inner circle, forging an intimate bond with the fey, fragile student, who describes himself as “the family shadow”. Sebastian invites his new friend to the childhood estate, Brideshead, where Charles meets the formidable Lady Marchmain (Thompson) and Sebastian’s sister Julia (Atwell). The two young men grow close, culminating in a brief kiss, but a trip to Italy to visit Sebastian and Julia’s father, Lord Marchmain (Gambon), and his mistress (Scacchi) kindles a betrayal that will drive apart Charles and the prodigal Flyte son forever. Brideshead Revisited never escapes the shadow of ITV’s lavish 1981 mini-series, condensing Evelyn Waugh’s text into a simplistic menage a trois, riven by Catholic guilt. Goode is too restrained as the tragically naive interloper, internalising Charles’s anguish so deeply it barely registers.

In contrast, Whishaw is terrific, powerfully conveying the emotional devastation as Sebastian succumbs to alcoholism and self-loathing. He tugs the heartstrings during a final meeting with Charles in Morocco, confiding sadly, “I asked too much of you. I knew it all along really. Only God can give you that kind of love.” Thompson imposes herself upon the role of Lady Marchmain, walking a fine line between icy and resolute as her matriarch sacrifices the children at the altar of her faith.

Visually, at least, this Brideshead Revisited takes the breath away. Alas, the script barely makes our hearts flutter let alone skip a beat. The Blu-ray also includes a director’s cut of the film in high definition.

DVD Extras: Director commentary, cast and crew interviews, “Creating Brideshead” featurette, four pivotal scene featurettes, picture gallery.
Rating: ***


The Rocker (Cert 12, 98 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99)

Starring: Rainn Wilson, Teddy Geiger, Emma Stone, Josh Gad, Christina Applegate, Samantha Weinstein.

Rising band A.D.D. loses its drummer to suspension on the eve of the high school prom. Singer-songwriter Curtis (Geiger) and bassist Amelia (Stone) resign themselves to cancelling the gig. However, keyboard player Matt (Gad) has a solution: recruit his slobbish uncle, Robert “Fish” Fishman (Wilson), one-time drummer of rock supergods Vesuvius, who was famously kicked out of the band and has been in an emotional tailspin ever since. Fish picks up his sticks and subsequently becomes an internet sensation with A.D.D. when footage of his naked antics hits Youtube, courtesy of Matt’s precocious sister Violet (Weinstein).

The band quickly gains popularity, compelling Curtis and Amelia to confront their feelings for one another and Fish to woo Curtis’ smokin’ hot mom Kim (Applegate). Strumming to the same beat as School Of Rock – albeit with a younger target audience – The Rocker hits most of the right notes but there’s nothing here we haven’t heard before. Screenwriters Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky tease out some gentle laughs, from one musician’s strange pre-concert ritual of vomiting (“Some people carry a rabbit’s foot, I like to rock with a pocket of puke”) to an excruciating flirtation worthy of a slap in the face (“I would love to spend nine months inside of you.”) Wilson is a poor facsimile of Jack Black as the anarchic force of nature hoping to inspire his young charges to greatness. The Rocker builds to an inevitable grandstand finish at a concert where A.D.D. are asked to support Vesuvius. We know the outcome before Curtis belts out a single note.
DVD Extras: none stated.
Rating: ***

No related posts.