Piranha 3D: Meet The Mummy

By Leo Owen

6th January 2011 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director/ Producer: Alexandre Aja
Writer: Pete Goldfinger, Josh Stolberg
DVD and Blu-ray release date: December 27 2010
Studio: Entertainment In Video
Number of discs: 2
Price: From £9.99-£14.93
Running Time: 89 mins
Certificate: 18
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Eli Roth, Jerry O’Connell, Ving Rhames, Kelly Brook

Favouring the horror genre and previously dabbling in remakes (Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes), the Director of Switchblade Romance and the less successful, Mirrors, brings us Piranha 3D.

Instantly more brutal than its 1978 predecessor, Piranha 3D’s opening underwater sequence shot through a red lens is somewhat misleading in that what follows is far more tongue-in-cheek than is at first suggested.

Thousands of scantily clad hotties and ogling youths annually hit the 25 miles of beach along Lake Victoria for Spring Break with their party motto “Dying to get wet”, wet t-shirt competitions and bikini dancers. But in “cowboy country” a quake has caused a rift under the lake unearthing a subterranean lake full of two million year-old Piranha. Evolving into cannibals to survive, these flesh hungry Piranha hunt in packs.

Jake, the son of the town’s Sheriff, is sick of having to babysit every Spring Break so instead bribes his younger sister, Lola, and brother, Jake, to occupy themselves while he takes a trip out on the “Wild Girls” soft porn boat. Unfortunately for Jake, the Piranhas are out in force and his siblings have their own ideas, venturing out to Sand Island where they end up stranded. Rescue is up to kick-arse mum, Julie (Elisabeth Shue), who can more than hold her own, tasering Piranhas and warning partygoers: “You boys take one more step, you’ll be pissing lightning bolts all year.”

Picking up on Piranha’s original B movie reputation, everything about Piranha 3D, is drenched in smuttiness. What Piranha 3D lacks in script it makes up for in large-breasted women and inventive gore with boob slashing and head squashing scenes; a parasailing corpse; gruesome underwater camera shots and the piece de resistance – a penis fight.

With the odd cliched hardened line (“Chow on this motherfucker”), girl-on-girl action, Bible bashers trying to convert partygoers, Piranha cam and skinny dipping, Piranha 3D has an 80s feel and is a less effective Lake Placid in its character creation. All set for a sequel, “Piranha: Meet The Parents” , Piranha 3D’s carnage scenes and ridiculous special effects are suitably bloody to at least satisfy goresters.

**

Special Features:

3D Edition DVD

• Filmmaker commentary
• Behind-the-scenes featurettes

Blu-ray 3D Edition

• Filmmaker commentary
• Behind-the-scenes featurettes
• 2D version of the film

Blu-ray – 2D Edition

• Filmmaker commentary
• Deleted scenes with optional commentary
• Deleted storyboard sequences
• 10 Behind-the-scenes featurettes
• Storyboard gallery
• Trailer & TV spots

Review: Scott Pilgrim Conquers The World

By Leo Owen

4th January 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director: Edgar Wright
Writer: Edgar Wright, Michael Bacall, Bryan Lee O’Malley
DVD and Blu-ray release date: December 27 2010
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Number of discs: Available on double disc DVD/Blu-ray, solo Blu-ray
Price: From £9.99-£16.99
Running Time: 112 mins
Certificate: 12
Starring: Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kenricks, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aubrey Plaza

Previous Edgar Wright projects give a good indication of what to expect from comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and fans won’t be disappointed – our jobless bumbling 23 year-old hero rarely gets a haircut, doesn’t drink, plays computer games, is guitarist in Sex Bob Bomb and lives in a “secret lair” opposite the house he grew up in.

After meeting a girl from a dream at a party, Scott embarks on the quest to re-find Ramona Flowers but is hindered by Knives Chou, his 17-year-old Chinese “fake high school” girlfriend. In order to go out with Ramona, Scott must shed Knives and battle Ramona’s seven evil exes who all have their own touch of the ridiculous: there’s seventh grade ex- Matthew Patel and his bollywood back-ups; the skate-boarding movie star, Lucas Lee, complete with a stunt double team; the evil Vegan Todd; half Ninja Roxanne; the Japanese Katayanagi twins – expert roboticists and ringleader Gideon.

Steeped in popular culture, as might be expected Wright pays homage to the world of manga, video games and comic books. When asked what instrument he plays, Young Neil instinctively replies “Tetrus”, character stat boxes are displayed, opponents are reduced to a spray of coins when defeated, there are plenty of smack down moves and best of all a depleting pee bar.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is a neon all-out assault on the senses, with onomatopoeic words wafting across the screen, dingy venues and clubs aglow with technicolour, a Seinfeld tribute complete with studio audience laughter, a kick-arse soundtrack, including a Frank Black and The Catholics favourite and plenty of witty repartee.

The script has a similar style to Diablo Cody’s (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) writing with plenty of new blend creations, such as “hasbian”, nods to popular culture (“Nega-Scott”) and inventive fast talking: “He punched the highlights out of her hair.” Scott’s gay housemate, Wallace, masterfully played by Kieran Culkin gets most of the funny lines, alongside Scott’s nemesis, Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman pulling off his usual quirky performance): “You made me swallow my gum – it’s going to be in my digestive tract for seven years.”

Experimental and daring throughout, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World occasionally feels like it is trying too hard to be cool but cool it is, nonetheless. Roxanne’s knee fetish, the Vegan police, passwords for Gideon’s exclusive venue, montage fight scenes and the bass battle are all ingenious – the latter surely a nod to the equally surreal and colourful, Japanese oddity Electric Dragon 80,000 V.

Lead Michael Cera plays his usual geeky typecast but manages to pull off fight scenes but it’s Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ramona) and Ellen Wong (Knives) who really steal the show, aptly realising Wright’s exquisite direction.

Certainly a film for the ADHD generation, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World plays out like multi-media pop art, paying homage to South Park’s on-going Canadian-American feud gag. Amid all the colour and clever one-liners, Scott Pilgrim is a coming of age flick, harbouring a serious message – accepting responsibility for one’s actions. After all his arse-kicking Scott realises “If you want something bad you have to fight for it” and admits “I feel like I learned something.”

****

Special Features

DVD

• Deleted and alternative scenes with commentary from director/producer/co-writer Edgar Wright
• Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Bloopers
• Feature commentaries: Feature Commentary with director/producer/co-writer Edgar Wright, co-writer, Michael Bacall and Author Bryan Lee O’Malley; Technical Commentary with director/producer/co-writer Edgar Wright and director of photography Bill Pope; Cast commentary with Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong and Brandon Routh and Cast commentary with Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Kieran Culkin and Mark Webber
• Behind the scenes photo gallery, including Edgar Wright’s photo blog
• Trivia pack
• Galleries: Production photos, art galleries and marketing concepts.

Blu-Ray

• Insider Documentaries: Making of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Music Featurette and You Too Can Be Sex Bob-Omb
• Alternate footage: A special look at alternative edits to the film.
• Pre-production: A look inside the film’s pre-production process including storyboards, pre-visualizations, animatics, motion capture tests, rehearsal footage, casting tapes, hair/make-up tests and more!
• The music of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: This feature includes four complete music videos and video remixes from legendary DJ Osymyso.
• Visual Effects: This feature takes a second look at the movie’s inventive visual effects.
• Sound Work: A mini documentary about the creation of the film’s super-powered sonic landscape.
• Trailers & TV Spots from the theatrical release of the film
• Adult Swim™: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation
• Scott Pilgrim Vs The Censors: TV safe version
• Behind-the-scenes Production Blogs from the set of Scott Pilgrim vs.the World by director /producer/co-writer Edgar Wright.
• Free Bonus Movie For a Limited Time Only: Blu-ray Combo Pack consumers will have instant access to stream action hits Tremors or Pitch Black via BD-Live, Smartphone or computer
• U-Control: Universal’s exclusive signature feature allows viewers to delve into the making of the film with the click of the remote without ever leaving the movie.
• Storyboard picture-in-picture
• Digital copy of the film: Blu-ray™ consumers can download a digital version of the movie to their Mac® and or Windows® PC for a limited time only.
• BD-LIVE™: Access the BD-Live™ Centre through your Internet-connected player to watch the latest trailers and more.

Review: Not The Last But A Memorable Exorcism

By Leo Owen

4th January 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director: Daniel Stamm
Writer: Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland
DVD and Blu-ray release date: December 27 2010
Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
Number of discs: 1
Price: From £9.99-£15.93
Running Time: 87 mins
Certificate: 15
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Caleb Landry Jones, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum

Indie writer and director, Daniel Stamm returns to the award-winning ingredient of his directional feature debut, A Necessary Death. The Last Exorcism takes the well-worn fake doc style of recent horrors and gives it a new spin courtesy of a strong lead preacher in doubt.

Reverend Cotton Marcus was brought up a preacher, performing his first exorcism at the age of ten. Now all grown-up he’s seen forcing his son to go to church while having doubts himself. When he reads an article announcing the pope is to open a new exorcism academy, Cotton decides to expose exorcism for the scam it is. Previously believing exorcism “delivers a service” for those in need, he’s decided rather than healing, it’s harmful.

Taking a camera crew with him Cotton randomly opens an envelope begging for an exorcism and promises to follow the request wherever it takes him. The letter leads to Louis and his family – hostile son Caleb and apparently possessed sickly-sweet 16-year-old daughter, Nell. Louis’ wife and Nell’s best friend died of cancer two years ago, causing Caleb to start hating God and the start of Nell’s home-schooling.

Cotton rationalises, Nell’s crucifix burning as a nickel allergy but continues to “perform” the rituals of exorcism. With a book of demons handed down through family generations, Cotton identifies Abalam as the culprit to have possessed Nell – the most powerful demon listed who “defiles the flesh of the innocent”.

After the sham exorcism, Nell surprises Cotton by showing up speechless at his motel five miles from home and tries to strip off before vomiting. Since his wife’s death, Louis has lost faith in the medical system and no longer trusts “big city priests”; Refused treatment, Nell’s inexplicable behaviour becomes more disturbing and threatens more than the farm cattle.

One of the greatest strengths of The Last Exorcism is its unusual lead. Watching a priest criticising a community he describes as a “stopped in time place – the perfect breeding ground for demons and evil,” is highly entertaining. Humour is created by exposing Cotton’s unethical preparations to booby trap Nell’s room and watching him mock the locals by matter-of-factly asking where the UFO landing site is. Seeing a priest relishing explaining his trickery and contraptions to his crew, giving comically dramatic bible readings and boasting about the programme he uses with over 800 demon sounds, is strangely satisfying.

Convincing performances from the supporting cast make this mock documentary almost seem believable. A snarling Caleb threatening Cotton: “If anything happens to her. I will hurt you”, contrasts effectively with the seemingly harmless childlike Nell, who’s endearingly chuffed by the novelty of “Miss Iris’” DMs. The almost role reversal of these troubled teens helps build the suspense, leading to a crescendo of face slashing, cautionary notes (“Don’t leave her alone with him”), chains, the expected bone snapping and body contortion, doll drowning, sinister drawings, crazed eyes and ultimately a very limber Nell demonstrating some seemingly impossible gymnastic moves.

A fine follow-up to Stamm’s debut, The Last Exorcism, certainly isn’t an end to the genre as the title suggests but will take some topping. Introducing some talented new movie industry fodder and exploring the concept from a refreshing new angle, the film’s skimpy running time certainly leaves no room for boredom but unfortunately leads to a rushed-feeling ending.

***

Special Features

DVD Special Features

• Actor and Director commentary with Daniel Stamm, Ashley Bell, Patrick Fabian and Louis Herthum
• Audio commentary with Producers Eli Roth, Eric Newman and Tom Bliss
• “The Devil You Know: The Making of The Last Exorcism” featurette
• “Real Stories of Exorcism” featurette
• 2009 Cannes Film Festival teaser trailer

Blu-Ray Special Features

• Actor and Director commentary with Daniel Stamm, Ashley Bell, Patrick Fabian and Louis Herthum
• Audio commentary with Producers Eli Roth, Eric Newman and Tom Bliss
• “Witnesses to an Exorcism: An Audio Commentary with a Haunting Victim, Deliverance Minister and Clinical Psychologist”
• “The Devil You Know: The Making of The Last Exorcism” featurette
• “Real Stories of Exorcism” featurette
• 2009 Cannes Film Festival teaser trailer
• Audition footage
• Theatrical trailer
• BD Touch and Metamenu Remote
• Lionsgate Live™ enabled, featuring extra content for Internet-connected players

Review: Jonah, hexed from the beginning

By Leo Owen

4th January 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director: Jimmy Hayward

Writer: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, William Farmer

DVD and Blu-ray release date: December 27 2010

Studio: Warner Home Video

Number of discs: Available on solo DVD, double disc Triple Play (DVD, Blu-ray and digital copy)

Price: From £7.99-£12.99

Running Time: 81 mins

Certificate: 15

Starring: John Malkovich, Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon

With so many comic book releases these days it’s no wonder the latest, Jonah Hex, delves into DC comic’s 70s back catalogue. Unfortunately evidence of its troubled production past is easily traceable in the final product; Before hitting the big screen Jonah Hexswitched Crank and Gamer directors, Neveldine and Taylor, to Pixar veteran, Jimmy Hayward with I am Legend’s Francis Lawrence “overseeing” the project.

During the American Civil War after an order Hex didn’t agree with, he betrays his commanding officer, Quentin Turnbull, killing his son in the process. Avenging his son’s death, Turnbull sets fire to Hex’s house, murders his family and brands Hex, leaving him for dead. Indians find Hex and save his life but in doing so kick-start his connection with the other side, allowing him to revive and speak to the dead.

Years later hearing Turnbull has died, Hex becomes a bounty hunter with a price on his head. That is until he discovers that “Terrorista” Turnbull faked his own death and was recently involved in train-jacking, successfully stealing the components to make a “nation killer” weapon. With the president on his side, Hex is paid to hunt down Turnbull and receive a pardon.

Resembling an old skool undertaker escorted by a murder of crows, Josh Brolin plays Hex, a good man driven to violence who’ll pay for unnecessary damages he causes but is essentially a feared badass. With the wisdom of the dead who can see the comings and goings of anyone they knew when alive, Hex is a one man army.

Malkovich is disappointing as his nemesis, Turnbull, although Michael Fassbender playing his right-hand man, Burke, was certainly a good call. The inclusion of Megan Fox as Lilah, a local prostitute sweet on Hex, is frankly pointless and wasted. What little screen time Fox has does nothing to further propel her career and her interest in Hex is entirely unconvincing.

Part spiritual, part western and bizarrely effectively set to a metal soundtrack, Hex’s short running time is to the detriment of the story. Characters feel underdeveloped, actors underused and there is no real sequence of events – just a series of poorly explained and realised happenings. Hex seems to have a laughable knack of being repeatedly rescued by spiritual-healing Indians, a strange scene involving a savage slack-jawed vampire creature fighting in a ring doesn’t fit and the film’s conclusion feels rushed and involves the most implausible ridiculous escape.

The slick opening graphic sequence and interesting concept character hint at the potential for what could have been. Aside from the supernatural element, Jonah Hex is your typical western revenge quest not done very well and dragging in time despite its dwarfed length.

*

Special Features

DVD

• Deleted scenes

Blu-ray

• Featurettes, including “The Inside Story of Jonah Hex” and “The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex”
• Digital copy of the movie

Inception: The Mind-bending Reality Behind The Hype

By Leo Owen

6th December 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director/Writer: Christopher Nolan
Release Date: December 6 2010
DVD and Blu-ray release date: November 6 2010
Studio: Warner Home Video
Number of discs: Available as a solo DVD or Triple Play Blu-ray, DVD and Digital
Price: From £9.99-£14.99
Running Time: 148 mins
Certificate: 12
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Caine, Lukas Haas

Christopher Nolan is the Director and Writer of some of the best films of the last decade (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Begins, Insomnia, Momento) so it’s no surprise his latest epic project, Inception, has been long awaited. The secrecy shrouding Inception, only heightened media interest and spawned a whole array of theories. Watching Inception, it all becomes clear why Nolan took years to realise this long-running idea and obsession.

In many ways, Inception’s long-running-time is necessary to give audiences enough time to adjust to the confusing concept the film is based around. Dreams expert, Cobb, acts as our teacher, explaining to other characters in order to help us understand. In dream-states, thoughts are apparently vulnerable to theft but it is possible to teach someone to have their defences up, even in sleep. It is also possible to construct dreams within dreams and killing someone in a dream will merely wake them up, although pain is just as much in the mind as a result of a physical act.

Cobb and his highly-skilled gang require a dreamer to “build” a world and a subject to fill it with their subconscious. Once these conditions are met, they can infiltrate the dream and extract and steal contracted information. Five minutes in the real world is an hour in dream-time, allowing the team long enough to complete each mission. As dreamscapes feel so real, team members take personal “totems” with them to root themselves in some sort of reality and ensure they realise they have filtrated someone else’s dream. Head spinning yet?

Blamed for his wife’s death, Cobb is a wanted man and exiled from his own children. When business tycoon, Saito (Ken Watanabe), offers him a deal in order for him to safely return home, he agrees to attempt Inception – the planting of an idea in someone’s head. Unfortunately his own complex past history almost compromises the mission. Ever warning and mysterious, speaking from personal experience Cobb talks of “The idea [being] the most resilient parasite – the smallest seed of an idea can grow and destroy us.”

Amid an exceptionally strong talented cast of big and growing names, DiCaprio plays the lead, Cobb, a guilt-ridden grief-stricken character of complexities. His background explores the blurring of reality and the terrifying concept of dreams becoming more desirable than the daily grind. Constantly haunted by his dead wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), Cobb occasionally finds it difficult to differentiate between fiction and reality, having to force himself to remember how the idea of death as a means of escape “grew in her like a cancer”; Mal, like others, entered the dream state “to be woken up” – the dream became a reality.

Visually beautiful and mesmerising, Inception is ambitious in its scope, concept and cinematography. Although on the surface Inception is the story of one man’s fight to be reunited with his children, it also plays with the occasional irrational and paranoid fear of: “What if it’s all a dream and how can I tell when I’m asleep or waking”; Like the Inception process, to believe in its central premise, requires a “leap of faith”. Through Saito, Cobb and Mal, the possibility of living alternative lives, starting over and extending life, albeit it in a dream world, is also explored. Like this review, confusing it is, but well worth the mental grapple. Depending on the degree of your apres-viewing headache, Inception is possibly the film of the decade.

****

DVD Special Features

• The Inception of Inception
• The Japanese Castle: The Dream is Collapsing
• Constructing Paradoxical Architecture
• The Freight Train

Blu-ray Triple Play Special Features

• Extraction Mode – Infiltrate the dreamscape of “Inception” – with this in-movie experience – to learn how Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio and the rest of the cast and crew designed and achieved the movies signature moments.
• Dreams: Cinema of the subconscious – Taking some of the most fascinating and cutting-edge dream research to-date on lucid dreaming, top scientists make the case that the dream world is not an altered state of consciousness, but a fully functional parallel reality.
• Inception: The Cobol Job – Now in full animation and motion, check out this comic prologue to see how Cobb, Arthur, and Nash came to be enlisted by Cobol Engineering and perform an extraction on Saito.
• 5.1 Inception soundtrack – Composer Hans Zimmer teams up once again with Director Christopher Nolan to create the soundtrack for “Inception”. Enjoy this feature in full 5.1 surround.
• Conceptual Art Gallery
• Promotional Art Archive
• Inception Trailers
• Inception TV Spots
• Via BD-Live – Project Somnacin: Confidential Files – Get access to the highly secure files that reveal the inception of the dream-share technology.

Eclipse Review: The Unresolved Rivalry Continues

By Leo Owen

6th December 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director: David Slade

Writers: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephanie Meyer

Release Date: December 6 2010

Studio: E1 Entertainment

Number of discs: Available as a solo or double DVD

Price: From £9.99-£14.93

Running Time: 124 mins

Certificate: 12

Starring: Kirsten Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Billy Burke

To non-Twilight fans and perhaps followers of the book alike, Eclipse is the cheesy mildly disappointing drawn-out anti-climax it proved difficult not to expect.

Headlines speak of murders and disappearances in Seattle that are possibly the work of a serial killer; the vampires and werewolves remain bitter foes faithfully sticking to their own territories; Victoria is Bella blood-hungry and Jacob and Edward continue to fight for Bella’s affections. “I’m tired of this” complains one of the lovestruck and so are we – the continuous personal rivalry drawn out across the trilogy and particularly in Eclipse has become extremely tedious.

Bella and Edward remain like magnets drawn together – the convincing sexual tension between the two could be cut with a garrote as Edward still insists sex is dangerous. For much of the film they have the “marry me”/ “turn me” argument, while a ripped Jacob stubbornly insists: “You feel something else for me – you just won’t admit ,“ as he parades around topless with burgeoning muscles, even on a snowy mountain-top. Risking losing Bella as a friend, Jacob knows time is short so tactlessly fires lines like: “Better you really be dead than one of them” amid vomit-inducing cheesy slush: “Imprinting on someone is like when you see her, everything changes. All of a sudden, it’s not gravity holding you to the planet.”

Almost a backdrop to this romantic rivalry is the threat of a “New Born” vampire army marching on Cullen territory. Some of Eclipse’s most interesting footage is presented in flashback - Rosalie’s flashbacks reveal her thirst for missing possibilities while Jasper’s give insight into his past experiences with “New Borns” during the Civil War when a vampire called Maria “turned” him in order to win land territories.

There are plenty of sigh-inducing scenes that reek of unoriginality like the scene disturbingly familiar to that of Land of the Dead with vampires crossing over the water, or the tiresome repeat of vampire history originally involving Japsper and Maria and now featuring Victoria and Reilly or Bella’s painfully obvious brazened copy of werewolf tribal stories.

The script is also torturously “teen deep” from the outset as Bella’s introductory monologue begins: “Some say the world will end in fire and some say ice, I prefer fire,” but later main characters equally gush: “I’m exactly right for you Bella – it would be as easy as breathing” and “You will always be my Bella… just less fragile.”

Amid all the cliches and elongated resolve, Eclipse borders on pain while teetering on pleasure. Although the tent scene drags out when Edward and Jacob spend a night together sitting out a freezing storm, their hypothetical banter and communal teasing is one of the most genuinely amusing parts of the film – only rivalled by the kick arse graduation speech and the optimistic prospect that every time a cast member says “something’s coming – bigger than any of us alone,” they’ll break out into West Side Story song and dance.

***

Special Features:

DVD

• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Audio Commentary with Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
• Audio Commentary with Stephenie Meyer & Wyck Godfrey
• Photo Gallery
• Six-Part “Making of” Documentary
• Music Videos
• Edward Fast-Forward: Jump to all your favourite Edward scenes
• Jacob Fast-Forward: Jump to all your favourite Jacob scenes

Blu-ray/ DVD Combo

• Audio Commentary by Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
• Audio Commentary by Stephanie Meyer & Wyck Godfrey
• Six-Part “Making Of” Documentary (PIP mode on Combo only)
• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Photo Gallery
• Music Videos
• Edward Fast-Forward
• Jacob Fast-Forward
• Fast-Forward: Love Triangle
• Fast-Forward: The Cullens
• Fast-Forward: The Wolfpack
• Fast-Forward: The Humans
• Fast-Forward: Victoria’s Army

Splice Review: Characteristically Dark Del Toro Without Slick Direction

By Leo Owen

25th November 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writers: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryanti
DVD and Blu-ray release date: November 29 2010
Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
Number of discs: Available as a solo DVD or Double Play Blu-ray and DVD
Price: From £9.97-£14.97
Running Time: 104 mins
Certificate: 15
Starring: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac, David Hewlett

Mexican visionary Director, Guillermo del Toro, Executive Produces Splice but unfortunately the film merely takes his characteristically dark subject-matter without the slick direction to create a modern day reworking of the Frankenstein story.

“Splicemaster extraodinaires”, scientist couple Clive and Elsa are combining animal DNA to create new creatures. Their first creations Ginger and Fred look like giant live stress balls and are described as “perfect – just perfect,” until they meet each other in public that is. Undergoing hormonal changes Ginger becomes male and caged with Fred, the two attack each other, showering studio audience members with their remains.

Project splice is shut down to isolate a regenerating protein inside the doomed Fred and Ginger – without this discovery the facility will be completely closed and refurbished. Ambitious scientists and keen to further medicine, Elsa and Clive decide to go against orders and splice human and animal DNA. Armed with plenty of warning signs, they continue their secret project, even after Elsa’s hand is maimed trying to manually deliver their creation, they repeatedly think it’s dead and it displays days of growth within a matter of minutes.

Developing like a foetus outside the womb, craving high sucrose food stuffs, with amphibious features, “Dren” soon appears almost human but her mind remains a mystery. Elsa grew up on a farm where her mother went crazy but somehow doesn’t see putting her own DNA into Dren was a bad idea. Chained up, locked away from the world and maimed, through creating Dren and leaving her in such conditions, Elsa has begun a dangerous psychological experiment with her family history of mental health issues.

Dren clearly possesses intelligence as with alphabet letters she complains her existence is “tedious” and craves “outside”. Her animal DNA prevents her from understanding Elsa’s motherly chastisement: “You can’t always get what you want is part of growing up too”, and also makes her threatening to those around.

With a constant soundtrack of underwater gargles, beeping and screeching heard through air vents, Splice is at times creepy and at its most effective, unsettling, as Dren forms her first spoken words “inside you” and enters a stage of sexual awareness. French actress, Delphine Chaneac, is the star of the show as Dren, convincingly combining animal movement and human suprasegmental features to create a being truly worthy of our sympathy in her child-like vulnerability.

Through Splice, Director, Vincenzo Natali, crafts a modern day cautionary tale with an exceedingly dark, depressing and bleak ending, possibly setting up for a sequel in its uncertainty and ambiguity. Elsa repeatedly asks: “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” and through Dren she gets her answer.

***

Extras:

A Director’s Playground: Vicenzo Natali on the Set of Splice featurette

Iron Man 2 Review: Surprisingly Sassy Sequel

By Leo Owen

3rd November 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director/ Producer: Jon Favreau

Writer: Justin Theroux

DVD and Blu-ray release date: October 25 2010

Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment

Number of discs: Available on solo DVD, double disc DVD and three disc combo DVD/Blu-ray

Price: From £9-£15.93

Running Time: 119/124 mins

Certificate: 12

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau, Clark Gregg, John Slattery, Kate Mara, Leslie Bibb, Garry Shandling, Christiane Amanpour

The super hero genre is still going strong and quite rightly with releases like Favreau’s sequel to his first surprisingly entertaining Iron Man Stan Lee comic book adaptation. Full of the same tongue-in-cheek gags and fun-filled action that kept audiences chuckling the first time around, Iron Man 2 follows a disillusioned Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) who’s publicly recognised as Iron Man and is having to fight to keep possession of his suits – the only things keeping him alive while also rather paradoxically gradually killing him.

Action packed from the outset, the film opens with Tony free-falling and then blasting off into a cheesy American flag clad expo, featuring scantily “dressed” dancers in US colours to complement his dramatic entrance. Tony is full of the same feigned arrogance seen first time around, cockily claiming: “I have successfully privatized world peace” but as his blood toxicity levels fluctuate, his behavior becomes more erratic, seen by his hedonistic late grand prix entry, his sudden promotion of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to CEO of the Stark family business and characteristic flippant remarks, such as “I want one”, referring to Ms Rushman (Scarlett Johansson).

While he worries about his life, in true comic book style an ex-colleague of his father’s and his nemesis, comes back from the grave through his son seeking revenge. Keen to bring down Iron Man, Mickey Rourke stars as the unrelenting ex-con scientific mastermind – a Jaw’s like villain with predominantly silver teeth.

Other new characters come in the shape of a kick-arse Johansson, complete with black lycra cat suit and swift leg work, taking out an entire corridor of guards in the time it takes Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) to floor one. With her double identity, mysterious personality and quick-witted boss (Samuel L. Jackson), she’s set to either win Tony’s heart or bring him down.

Iron Man 2’s lengthy running time passes unnoticed in action packed sequences and cheeky humour. Although Samuel L Jackson’s character is underdeveloped and explained, Downey Jr’s repeat charismatic performance, the endearing chemistry between Stark and Pepper Potts and scenes like Starks’s party and the dumb-bell fight more than make up for it.

***

Special Features:

DVD

• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Jon Favreau -

Alternate Opening

Coulson at the Senate

Natalie Wears the Gauntlet

Element Rediscovered (extended)

• Featurettes -

Creating Stark Expo

Practical Meets Digital

Music Video: AC/DC “Shoot To Thrill”

• Digital Copy

Blu-ray

• Feature film with optional commentary by Jon Favreau (HD)

• S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault (HD) — Extend your knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with high-level clearance into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s digital data vault. Interact with select scenes from the movie that include new layers of graphics and insider information. View case files, dossiers, S.H.I.E.L.D. training films, tech details and more.

• Previsualization and Animatics (HD)

• Ultimate Iron Man: The Making of Iron Man 2 (HD) – including Rebuilding the Suit, A Return to Action, Expanding the Universe and Building a Legacy.

• Featurettes (HD), including Creating Stark Expo, Practical Meets Digital, Illustrated Origin: Nick Fury, Illustrated Origin: Black Widow, Illustrated Origin: War Machine and Working with DJ AM.

• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Jon Favreau (HD), including Alternate Opening, Coulson at the Senate, The Sub-Orbital Jet, Tony’s Workshop (extended), Natalie Wears the Gauntlet, Flying Party Girl, Mark II Security and Element Rediscovered (extended).

• Concept Art Gallery

• Theatrical Trailers (HD)

• Music Video: AC/DC “Shoot To Thrill”

Sensation: Delving Into Sexuality And The Self

By Leo Owen

27th October 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Director/Writer: Tom Hall
Country: Ireland
Running Time: 107 mins
Starring: Doomhnall Gleeson, Luanne Gordon, Patrick Ryan, Kelly Campbell, Owen Roe

Director/writer Tom Hall finds an inventive solution to the monotony and loneliness of countryside living in his latest feature, Sensation.

Living alone in Limerick on the farm of his recently deceased father, what Donal lacks in social skills, he makes up for in sex drive. From the opening shot of Donal masturbating in a field to his internet activity using pseudonym “Sweetdick”, it’s clear with little else to occupy himself, sex takes up a large part of his daily thoughts.

When Donal contacts independent escort, Courtney from New Zealand, little does he know one dial of her digits will change his life. As he gets to know Courtney during his “full date experience”, he learns she too has invented her own persona. As she leaves the next day, he’s introduced to Kim. With this slight human contact, Donal is back for more discovering her dire situation and offering her a temporary place to stay. Both directionless, alone and dreaming of “management”, they agree to set up their own escort service recruiting more girls but soon emotions get in the way.

Doomhnall Gleeson plays Donal with the perfect combination of depravity and sensitivity. Donal’s early attempts at communication in his local are painful to watch and hardly surprising given that the only sex education he’s ever had is how to shag a sheep. His first meeting with Kim at Divas is equally clueless as he actually orders food for both of them and seems unsure of what he wants. His isolated existence is highlighted by his four entry mobile phone address book and only contact being his best friend, Karl.

Karl and Kim are given the best lines by Hall, making them as interesting to watch as the central character. Karl tells Donal he’s like “a rapist in [his] own head” and warns him that Kim is “the one grooming [him]”. Although slightly more successful with the ladies, when Donal contemplates finding “how to pick up women courses”, Karl complains perhaps “there are some things the computer can’t teach us” – both eventually rather desperately resorting to conversations with supermarket staff because “checkout chicks are girls that have to talk to you”.

Kim is a very blunt character who matter-of-factly talks about her past and current work as merely business: “cum and baby wipes still make me gag sometimes… I’ve got a pussy like a magician’s sleeve”. As she opens herself up to Donal, he learns that “there’s more to life than sex” and actually becomes more interested in self-grooming and personal hygiene. His complex relationship with Kim finally gives Donal the confidence to meet other girls.

Sensation is an original captivating character studying charting the growth and development of the protagonist Donal. A tense courtroom trial leads to an unexpected but ultimately hopeful ending that almost transforms Sensation into a contemporary fairytale.

***

Showing as part of the London Film Festival in various venues across London on Thursday 21, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 October.