Tropic Thunder (Cert 15, 102 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, Comedy/Action, also available to buy DVD £19.99/three-disc DVD £26.99/Blu-ray £26.99)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T Jackson, Brandon Soo Hoo, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride.

Inept British director Damien Cockburn (Coogan) watches in horror as his big budget war movie, penned by Vietnam vet John ‘Four Leaf’ Tayback (Nolte), spirals out of control. With obnoxious producer Les Grossman (Cruise) on his back, Damien takes extreme action. He strands his pampered stars – Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Black), Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr), Kevin Sandusky (Baruchel) and rapper Alpa Chino (Jackson) – in the jungle, hoping to capture the raw fear as they battle the elements for real. Unfortunately, the actors stumble into the domain of a bona fide drug lord (Hoo). Life imitates art imitates life as the cast takes on a well-armed militia with only prop weapons and method acting to save them. Ben Stiller’s latest directorial offering unites some of Hollywood’s finest comic talents in a slam-bang satire of war epics including Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. Tropic Thunder promises so much but fails to deliver, burdened with a flimsy screenplay and an irritating turn from Black as a jittery heroin addict, who attempts to go cold turkey by asking his co-stars to tie him to a tree. The pre-film frolics – a fake advertisement for an energy drink called Booty Sweat and a trio of bogus trailers – are hysterical, making the main feature seem dull in comparison. Stiller plies his usual shtick while Downey Jr steals every scene as the blond, blue-eyed Australian thesp who undergoes a skin pigmentation procedure to convincingly portray a wisecracking African-American sergeant. “I don’t drop character until I done the DVD commentary,” he boasts. An Oscar nomination would be deserved.

DVD Extras: Cast commentary, 3 behind the scenes featurettes (”Blowing S&*t Up”, “The Hot LZ”, “The Cast Of Tropic Thunder”), “Make-Up Test With Tom Cruise” featurette, Full Mags, “Rain Of Madness” trailer, MTV Movie Awards footage; three-disc version & Blue-ray: Cast and crew commentaries, 5 behind the scenes featurettes (”Blowing S&*t Up”, “The Hot LZ”, “The Cast Of Tropic Thunder”, “Before The Thunder” featurette, “Designing The Thunder” featurette), “Make-Up Test With Tom Cruise” featurette, “Rain Of Madness” mockumentary, “Dispatches From The Edge Of Madness” featurette, 2 deleted scenes, 2 extended sequences, alternative ending, video rehearsals, 3 Full Mags, “Rain Of Madness” trailer, MTV Movie Awards footage.
Rating: **

(Cert U, 79 mins, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Comedy, also available to buy DVD £13.99)
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone, Eshaya Draper, Kim E Whitley, Donny Osmond, Molly Ephraim.
James Porter (Lawrence) is the chief of police in the sleepy Illinois community of Fox Springs. He is also a control freak and wraps his daughter Melanie (Raven-Symone) in cotton wool to protect her from the bad people he regularly puts behind bars. To that end, James takes an active interest in selecting Melanie’s university, earmarking nearby Northwestern. But his 17-year-old daughter has her heart set on pre-law at Georgetown and lands an admissions interview. James insists on driving his little girl to the campus, bidding farewell to wife Michelle (Whitley) and young son Trey (Draper). When the wheels quite literally come off the road trip, James and Melanie have to rely on maniacally cheerful Doug Greenhut (Osmond) and his ultra-perky daughter Wendy (Ephraim) to reach the interview in time. College Road Trip continues Lawrence’s unbroken run of flops, contriving some truly ridiculous situations to force the inevitable reconciliation, like a tandem father-daughter skydive to make the interview with seconds to spare. Lawrence alternates between smug and outraged while Raven-Symone squeals her lines at increasingly high pitches, edging towards ultrasonic as the end credits roll. Osmond and Ephraim’s deranged, show tunes-warbling double act provides fleeting comic relief. En route, there are tears, karaoke, a flying pig and confessions of the heart worthy of the inside of a cheap greetings card: “Dads don’t know everything. We just do the best we can.” In the case of Kumble’s film, his best just isn’t good enough, not by a long way.
DVD Extras: none stated.
Rating: **

Fly Me To The Moon 3D (Cert U, 81 mins, Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment, Family/Comedy/Action, also available to buy DVD £15.99)
Featuring the voices of: Trevor Gagnon, David Gore, Philip Daniel Bolden, Christopher Lloyd Tim Curry, Kelly Ripa.

In the summer of ‘69, intrepid housefly Nat (voiced by Gagnon) and his best friends Scooter (Gore) and IQ (Bolden) yearn for excitement. Unfortunately, Nat’s mother (Ripa) tends to smother him. Inspired by the antics of his globetrotting grandpa (Lloyd), who had a close encounter with Amelia Earhart’s mucus, Nat encourages Scooter and IQ to join him on the voyage of a lifetime by hitching a ride inside the helmets of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Nat’s mother discovers the plan too late – “Oh my lord of the flies, they are going to the moon!” – and like the rest of the world, she witnesses history in the making. However, once Russian insects discover America’s triumph, they dispatch operative Yegor (Curry) to sabotage mission control. Fly Me To The Moon is the first ever computer animated feature film designed, created and produced exclusively for 3D, re-imagining one of the proudest moments in modern American history through the eyes of three young insects with a proboscis for trouble. Director Ben Stassen and his team take us on an incredible journey through photo realistic environments with the tiny flies as they swoop through gargantuan blades of grass or buzz around discarded toys. While time and effort have clearly been lavished on the visuals, the same cannot be said for the dreadful script. Following the example of the winged protagonists, screenwriter Domonic Paris collects rotten one-liners from the recycling bin. The DVD includes the 2D and 3D versions of the film plus four sets of glasses so the entire family can watch the film together.
DVD Extras: Game and DVD-ROM content.
Rating: **

NEW TO BUY ON DVD

Doctor Who: E-Space Trilogy (Cert PG, 300 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £34.99, Sci-Fi/Drama/Action)
Three-disc box set bringing together three of the Time Lord’s most exciting adventures in the alternate universe of E-Space. The Doctor (Tom Baker), his trusty assistant Romana (Lalla Ward) and K-9 (John Leeson) come face to face with the Marshmen, vicious vampires and the enslaved Tharils in the storylines Full Circle, State Of Decay and Warriors’ Gate.
DVD Extras: Full Circle: Actor, writer and script editor commentary, “All Aboard The Starliner” featurette, “K-9 In E-Space” featurette, Swap Shop segment, “E-Space – Fact Or Fiction?” featurette, BBC continuity announcements, photo gallery, isolated score, Coming Soon, PDF material, subtitle production notes; State Of Decay: Director, actor and writer commentary, “The Vampire Lovers” featurette, Film Trims, “Leaves Of Blood” featurette, “The Blood Show” featurette, “The Frayling Reading” featurette, BBC continuity announcements, photo gallery, isolated score, Coming Soon, PDF material, subtitle production notes; Warriors’ Gate: Director, actor, script editor and visual effects designer commentary, “The Dreaming” featurette, “The Boy With The Golden Star” featurette, “Lalla’s Wardrobe” featurette, extended and deleted scenes, BBC continuity announcements, photo gallery, isolated score, Coming Soon, PDF material, subtitle production notes.


Little Dorrit (Cert PG, 464 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £34.99, Drama/Romance)
An all-star cast including Matthew Macfadyen, Tom Courtenay, James Fleet and Amanda Redman adds lustre to this lavish 14-part BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens, adapted for the screen by Andrew Davies. Arthur Clennam (Macfadyen) returns home and is shocked to find that his mother has been uncharacteristically charitable in his absence and taken in a pretty seamstress, Amy Dorrit (Claire Foy). As he delves into Amy’s past, Arthur uncovers an intricate web of deceit and betrayal which has shocking repercussions for his own family.
DVD Extras: none stated.

Good Dick (Cert 15, 82 mins, Universal Pictures (UK), DVD £15.99, Comedy/Romance)
A nameless Los Angeles video store clerk (Jason Ritter) becomes obsessed by one female customer (Marianna Palka), whose viewing tastes defy expectations: rather than renting chick flicks, the young woman always takes out handfuls of hardcore adult films for the night, and she doesn’t seem embarrassed about bringing them to the checkout. Determined to get to know the object of his affections a little better, the shy yet determined clerk copies her address details from the store computer and attempts to talk his way into the woman’s apartment, gradually wearing her down with his incessant gabbling. The seeds of a most unlikely romance blossom in Palka’s surprisingly sweet, offbeat romantic comedy with a dark edge.
DVD Extras: none stated.

Survivors (Cert PG, 390 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £29.99, Sci-Fi/Thriller)
Based on the novel by Terry Nation, this re-imagining of the classic ’70s BBC drama is a startling vision of a world ravaged by a disease that kills almost every human being. The few that survive the apocalypse must rebuild society together without any electricity, clean running water or the trappings of the 21st century technological age. Julie Graham, Max Beesley, Paterson Joseph, Freema Agyeman and Nikki Amuka-Bird lead the cast.
DVD Extras: none stated.

The Fall (Cert 15, 112 mins, Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Drama/Romance)
Made more than two years ago and only now seeing the light of day, Tarsem Singh’s ambitious fantasy is a dazzling feast for the retinas. An invalid girl called Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) befriends a bed-bound patient, Roy (Lee Pace), a stuntman who was badly injured leaping from a railroad bridge in a silent western. Roy transports the lonely tyke far from harsh, bleak reality with magical stories of a masked avenger called The Black Bandit (Pace again), who is on a quest to rescue his beloved (Justine Waddell) from a villainous governor (Daniel Caltagirone). Filtered through the five-year-old girl’s feverish imagination, Roy’s tall tale becomes a colour-saturated spectacular, shot in more than 20 countries.
DVD Extras: Director, actor, producer and writers commentaries, 2 behind the scenes featurettes (”Wanderlust”, “Nostalgia”), deleted scenes.

Married Life (Cert PG, 87 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, DVD £19.99, Drama/Romance/Comedy)
Domestic drama of infidelities and betrayal inspired by John Bingham’s novel Five Roundabouts To Heaven, set against the backdrop of late ’40s city life. Hard-working Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) finds refuge from his bland wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) in an extra-marital affair with sexy blonde Kay (Rachel McAdams). He quickly falls in love with Kay and resolves to leave his wife to pursue the fledgling relationship. However, Harry arrogantly fears that his wife will be completely lost without him and so rather than abandon Pat, he secretly schemes to poison her, thereby putting his spouse out of her misery. When Harry’s charming bachelor pal Richard (Pierce Brosnan) discovers the dastardly plan, he schemes to steal Kay for himself while preventing Pat’s murder.
DVD Extras: none stated.

The Moonstone (Cert 12, 70 mins, BBC DVD, DVD £15.99, Family/Drama)
Greg Wise and Keeley Hawes lead the cast of this BBC adaptation of the classic Wilkie Collins detective story. When Colonel John Herncastle passes away, executor of the estate Franklin delivers a diamond to the late man’s niece, Rachel Verinder (Hawes), as decreed in the will. Rachel and Franklin fall madly in love but then the gem, the Moonstone, disappears without trace and the niece actively thwarts an investigate to learn its whereabouts.
DVD Extras: none stated.

Linha De Passe (Cert 15, 109 mins, Pathe Distribution Ltd, DVD £19.99, Drama)
Award-winning Brazilian director Walles Sales (The Motorcycle Diaries) ventures into the slums of Sao Paolo for this poignant tale of a family coming apart at the seams, co-directed by Daniela Thomas. Taking its title from the offside rule in football, as well as a popular children’s game of knock-about, Linha De Passe explores the shattered hopes and dreams of four brothers, who have grown up without a father figure to guide them. Single mother Cleuza (Sandra Corveloni), a pregnant housemaid in danger of losing her job, struggles to keep control of her boys, especially the youngest, Reginaldo (Kaique de Jesus Santos), who is obsessed with tracking down his biological father. Eldest child Denis (Joao Baldasserini) works as a motorcycle courier but is contemplating a life of crime to ensure he can pay child support. Dinho (Jose Geraldo Rodrigues) works at a gas station and is seeking absolution at the local evangelical church, while talented footballer Dario (Vinicius de Oliveira) lies about his age to secure a try-out for the youth squad. Having falsified his identity card, Dario must impress a visiting scout to guarantee first-team play. “If you tip him it’s a done deal,” advises the coach. “Three thousand: take it or leave it.”
DVD Extras: none stated.

El Bano Del Papa (The Pope’s Toilet) (Cert 15, 93 mins, Soda Pictures, DVD £19.99, Drama)
Enrique Fernandez and Cesar Charlone pay tribute to the determination of the common man in this heart-warning drama set in the Uruguayan town of Melo as it braces itself for a visit from the Pope and the subsequent influx of Brazilians from across the border. It’s 1988 and the residents of Melo sense a once in a lifetime opportunity to make their fortunes by selling food, drink and hand-made souvenirs to the hundreds of people, who will flock to their close-knit community to see the holy leader. Family man Beto (Cesar Troncos) hits upon her novel idea of constructing a public toilet outside his home and then charging people to use the facilities. As his long suffering wife Carmen (Virginia Mendez) looks on, Beto attempts to outwit policeman Meleyo (Nelson Lence) by smuggling the materials for his convenience from across the border, before enlisting the services of the entire family to ensure customers queue in an orderly fashion and don’t take too much time to complete their ablutions.
DVD Extras: none stated.

Jar City (Myrin) (Cert 15, 91 mins, Universal Pictures UK, DVD £15.99, Thriller)
Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur adapts Arnaldur Indridason’s celebrated crime novel, centred on chain-smoking, homicide detective Erlendur (Ingvar Eggert Sigurosson), whose grim outlook on life is informed by the gradual loss of his daughter Eva (Agusta Eva Erlendsdottir) to sex and drugs. The murder of an old man called Holberg leads back to a rape investigation 30 years earlier and an intricate web of secrets and lies involving some of Erlendur’s colleagues. As he sifts through the evidence, Erlendur journeys to a remote, isolate island where the locals harbour a chilling secret.
DVD Extras: none stated.

The Times Of Harvey Milk (Cert E, 83 mins, Drakes Avenue Pictures, DVD £12.99, Documentary)
Timed to coincide with the cinema release of Milk, Rob Epstein and Richard Schmeichen’s Oscar-winning 1984 documentary is available on DVD for the very first time, paying tribute to the first openly gay man elected to public office and his crusade for equal rights in ’70s San Francisco until his murder at the hands of a work colleague. Interviews with people close to Harvey are inter-cut with archive footage and stills photographs, building to the moving, candlelit parade through the city streets to honour Harvey and slain Mayor, George Moscone.
DVD Extras: “Harvey Speaks Out” out-takes featurette, Dan White update, alternative ending, 1985 Academy Awards presentation, theatrical trailer.

Import Export (Cert 18, 137 mins, Trinity Films, DVD £18.99, Drama)
Ulrich Seidl’s epic drama draws together two seemingly unrelated narrative strands set in the freezing wintertime of the Ukraine and Austria. Young nurse and mother Olga (Ekateryna Rak) leaves behind the east for a better life in the west, finding work as a housekeeper, then as a cleaning lady in a geriatric hospital. Meanwhile, security guard Paul (Paul Hoffman) loses his job, but needs money fast to pay off crippling debts and various loans. So he secures a lowly position installing video gambling machines in the Ukraine. His search for meaning takes an unexpected turn in this foreign land.
DVD Extras: none stated.

Ashes Of Time Redux (Cert 15, 91 mins, Artificial Eye, DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £19.99, Drama/Action/Romance)
Based on the novel by Louis Cha, this heavily re-edited version of Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 film hopes to shed new light on his ponderous interpretation of a martial arts thriller. Swordsman for hire Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who abandoned the woman he loved to follow his bloodthirsty vocation, now grows old in the desert, hoping to leave behind the exploits of his youth. Yet his services are very much in demand, to help a penniless young woman (Maggie Cheung) to avenge her brother and to bring a band of horse thieves to justice. Ouyang’s crosses paths with two rival swordsmen: Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung), who possesses magical wine with the power to forget the past and Hong Qi (Jacky Cheung), who has abandoned his wife. Together these three men seek purpose to their pitiful lives.
DVD Extras: none stated.

The Unwinking Gaze (Cert PG, 67 mins, Joiningthedots.tv, DVD £12.99, Documentary)
Subtitled The Inside Story: The Dalai Lama’s Struggle For Tibet, Joshua Dugdale’s documentary grants us unparalleled access to one of the world’s most revered and fascinating men, who remains a spiritual figurehead for Buddhism and its followers worldwide, and an important political statesman bridging the divide between Tibet and China. Filmed over the course of three years, Dugdale’s film reveals a man coolly shouldering the hopes and fears of an entire nation, determined to promote Tibet to the west and out-manoeuvre the notoriously secretive Chinese government.
DVD Extras: none stated.

Zero: An Investigation Into 9/11 (Cert 12, 101 mins, Joiningthedots.tv, DVD £12.99, Documentary)
On September 11, the world watched in horror as passenger airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center; a terrorist outrage which provoked the Bush administration into declaring a war on terror and sending troops into Iraq. This Italian documentary questions the official version of events surrounding the attacks that fateful day, intercutting commentary from Gore Vidal and Dario Fo with new witness testimony and the latest scientific data, some of which conflicts with the US government’s account.
DVD Extras: none stated.

DVD RETAIL TOP 10

TITLE
1 (-) PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
2 (-) RESIDENT EVIL – DEGENERATION
3 (7) SEX AND THE CITY – THE MOVIE
4 (1) MAMMA MIA – THE MOVIE
5 (9) BLOOD DIAMOND
6 (3) IRON MAN
7 (5) I AM LEGEND
8 (2) THE DARK KNIGHT
9 (10) HOT FUZZ
10 (4) CLOVERFIELD

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